Chapter 36

“Nick, is it ok if we share a room?” Aaron asked tapping his brother’s shoulder. Nick had been in his own world since they had left the pharmacy. He grumbled to himself ever so often, “Nick?”

“What?” Nick looked like he had been caught by surprise.

“A room... You want to share?” Aaron asked. He frowned at the odd expression that came over Nick’s face before he nodded hastily, “Y...yeah. Sure.”

“You ok?” BJ asked him, taking his arm. She had been on the hyper alert ever since Nick had left the security of the hospital. Nick’s haunted look was quickly stifled and gone by the time her looked over to his sister, “I’m fine! Will you people just accept that answer and leave me alone!”

And there he went back into his own world again; it was like he had slipped on a set of headphones. He slumped back against the chair and stared out the window the rest of the way home. Aaron stared at the back of Nick’s turned blond head. He knew that he was upset about finding out he had asthma. Aaron was surprised. He thought it ran in families, and you had to have it when you’re little or something. He didn’t see why Nick was so upset about it though. So what? It wasn’t gonna kill him; it wasn’t aids. And frankly, his attitude towards the situation stunk! He wanted to gripe at him about it, but every time he opened his mouth to comment on something Nick had snapped he remembered what had happened to his brother. He wondered just what all he had seen, what all had happened in that building. He wondered how he felt when he was taken off the bus.. When he was....? He couldn’t even begin to imagine the story Nick might tell him. And the look Nick got in his eyes sometimes was enough for Aaron not to want to ask.

The silence in the car was thick with tension. Everyone was wanting to say or ask something that they just couldn’t voice out loud. The driver pulled into the back parking lot of the hotel. Before the doors to the car opened, both Carter parents said, “Get your jacket back on Nick.”

No one missed Nick’s infamous rolling of the eyes. He did put his jacket on though, much to everyone’s relief. They got out of the car in a herd, Carters and a few bodyguards, Nick in the middle. No one wanted anything to touch him. They had just gotten him back and couldn’t lose him again.

“...This room is a suite leading into Mom and Dad’s room,” Aaron was telling Nick who was opening and closing closet and bathroom doors. He felt the bed and gazed around in daze. He went to window and drew up the blinds a notch. He stared into the beautiful light blue sky of the morning hour... the sky contradicted everything that was going on that day... It mocked him really. He stood there glaring at the sky... Just how long had it been since he had seen the sky? He remembered back to the night of the concert.... had he looked up then? He didn’t recall. Such simple things like looking at the sky could be taken for granted. He never realized that. He used a finger to touch the frosty pane of glass in front of him. How long had it been since Brian, AJ, Kevin, or Howie had looked up to the sky? He sighed quietly, and cursed himself as he felt a tear slide down his face.

“Nick?.......k? Hey...... Are you even.....? Nick!” He felt something shaking him and he turned to face his brother with wide eyes, “What Aaron?”

“Stop doing that! It’s like you leave your body and go somewhere else, Nick,” Aaron stared at Nick, looking deep into his eyes trying to find something that Nick hoped he was doing his best to hide. “You’re crying?”

Nick shook his head and wiped his eyes, he whipped his head back to the window for one last glimpse of the hazy sky, “Aar... I wanna take a nap. I...I feel kind of dizzy.” Nick stood up and made his way to a bed and flopped down. His whole body hit the bed at once making a “oof” sound. He lie there flat on his face for a while. Aaron stared at his brother’s fully clothed body. He was still wearing his outdoor jacket and his shoes, yet he seemed to be trembling. “Ok, Nick,” Aaron said softly. He moved to turn out the light and leave the room.

“Aaron?” Aaron jumped, Nick’s voice had startled him.

“What?” Aaron was jumpy. He looked around the room nervously.

“Don’t leave. Stay here, with me, please?” Nick raised his face to look at Aaron, his eyes shined with torment... the haunted look that never failed to chill Aaron was back. Aaron blinked and nodded, “Ok, ok, sure. I’ll just get the light.”

“NO!” Aaron jumped again at this, “What?”

“Leave it on,” Nick’s voice was shaky, his face had turned the same shade of pale it had been at the hospital, “I...I don’t like the dark.”

Aaron had always known Nick was a little insecure about darkness, and he had always teased him about it. Today was different though. The bleakness in Nick’s demeanor almost broke his heart.... What did those creeps do to my brother?

“We’re going back to the scene,” Bob told BJ as he and Jane donned their coats.

“Why?” BJ looked confused, she had assumed they would be planning a trip back home.

“Just because we have Nick back doesn’t mean we should stop caring about the others. We have to support the other families,” Jane said to her daughter.

“But...” BJ stared at her parents in disbelief, “They never supported us!”

“We’re good people BJ, and we intend to prove it to them,” Bob said flatly, “We’d want their support so now we’re giving them ours.”

BJ just stared, she guessed she understood why they were going... She was glad her parents were such good people. Much better people than she was. She would have told the Littrell’s, the Richardson’s... everyone to go kiss their assets! “Are you going to wake Nick?”

Both Jane and Bob glanced at each other, then at BJ with guilty expressions, “No.”

“Why not? Shouldn’t you tell him?” BJ pursued.

“He’s wiped out Beej, and looks it. He needs his rest more than anything right now. And if we tell him what good will it do him, it’ll just stress him out more. We want him better, not worse,” Jane said, “Just... just tell him where we’ve gone when he wakes up, and let him know its ok to call.”

“But... but....”

But they were gone. They opened the door and left their room leaving BJ to stare after where they once had been. Sure.... leave her with the easy job. Just what the hell was she going to say to Nick? His moods were impossible lately...how would she make him understand?

“Where are Mom and Dad going?” Leslie entered the room looking at BJ’s helpless expression.

“Back to the site,” BJ said in a small voice.

“Does N...”

“No, and guess who gets to tell him?” BJ said flatly.

“You?” Leslie’s eyes were wide.

“No, you, I’ve delegated my power,” BJ said smiling faintly. “Now you have the honor of waking up Oscar in there and telling him that Mom and Dad didn’t have the heart to tell him where they were going.. Or rather, the guts!”

“That’s not fair Beej!” Leslie shouted, “If Mom and Daddy said...!”

“SHHHHH!!!” Angel’s head peeped in through the adjourning bedroom door, “Nick is trying to sleep!”

Leslie immediately looked guilty. She slipped into the room Nick and Aaron were sharing. Aaron and Angel were in front of the TV playing a video game with the sound off. She spied Nick’s lanky frame curled up with his knees to his chest on the bed. “I’ve never seen him sleep like that.”

“Hey guys, great idea. Why don’t we all leave the room and let Nick get his rest in quiet?” BJ said sarcastically, “You’re going to wake him up!”

“Hey he didn’t want me to leave,” Aaron said looking special, “He specifically asked me to stay put.... and to leave the light on.”

BJ rolled her eyes, “Yeah, until he actually fell asleep genius. Now that he’s knocked out lets get out of here. The sooner he wakes up the sooner I gotta explain that Mom and Dad ran off.”

Aaron and Angel’s eyes widened at the new information, “They left?”

“Went back to the site.”

“They did? Why?” asked Angel.

“Some crap about supporting the other families, when I say who gives a damn about them?! I mean, they didn’t give a damn about Nicky!” BJ was angry, “I’m in favor of going home!”

“But Beej, don’t you want to be here when Brian and the others come out?” Aaron asked, shocked at his sister’s coldness.

BJ blinked, her ice mask melting, “Aaron, I know I sound really mean right now.... but Nick’s my brother, our brother, and I don’t know what I would do without him... And I almost got the chance to find out. You didn’t hear the doctors but I did... if Mom and Dad had gotten Nick out any later it would have been too late. TOO LATE! And those hypocrites couldn’t understand that! They know good and well they would have done the same thing Mom and Dad did if they had the money! But they only cared about their children, and they ganged up on our parents... I’m sorry, but I feel no sympathy for them. I want to go home, and if it were up to me we’d be on our way there already. It’s too cold here for Nick, and they’re too many people around trying to exploit this story and get his picture.”

There was a knock on the door coming from the adjourning room. “I’ll get it,” Leslie said looking from her older sister who stood shaking slightly with tears in her eyes, and at her younger brother and sister who sat gazing away from BJ looking uncomfortable. Leslie walked into her parents’ suite shutting the adjoining door and peeping out of the peep hole of the adjourning door. Oh. What were they doing here?

“Damn those people... If the police can’t get their job done, then I will!” Tim Richardson was growling as he took a sharp left. Jerald and Hal had jumped into the car and had come along for the ride to make sure Tim didn’t kill himself... Now they were regretting it. Jerald gripped the bar above the window to keep himself from slamming into the door so hard, “Tim SLOW DOWN!”

“That doesn’t work,” Hal sang from the backseat. He had strapped himself in with every seatbelt he could find back there. The car came to a sudden jerking stop, “Get out.” They were parked in front o f the hotel. Jerald surveyed the area promptly to make sure they hadn’t been trailed. Nope, no one could drive crazy enough to keep up with his brother. Hal sighed and gave praise to the Lord. They then had to jog after Tim to keep up with his rapid pace. Security guards nodded at them as they passed. “I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I...” Tim was muttering as he stopped in front of Jane and Bob Carter’s room door on the 4^th floor. He knocked loudly and waited for the answer from inside. He knocked again, and the door slowly opened. “It’s about d... oh.” Tim stared at Leslie Carter’s startled face, her blue eyes were wide.

“Where are your parents?” Tim asked looking past the girl into the empty room.

Leslie blinked, “They went back to the site.”

“Huh?” Tim looked taken aback, “Why would they go there?”

“To support your parents,” Leslie said flatly. How she wanted to slam the door in their faces, and Tim read that desire clearly off her young face.

“That’s a load of bullshit,” Tim began, but before he could continue a new voice had broke into the conversation.

“No what you and your damn parents are saying is bullshit!” BJ Carter’s was in the doorway, she had shoved Leslie aside, “Hypocrites! That’s what you all are, BIGOTS!”

“Hypocrites?”

“Yeah, you know good and well that if you had had the money and your brother was....”

“Well we didn’t have the money... and you wanna know why? MY MOM DOESN’T STEAL HER KIDS’ MONEY! She had her own income! Why don’t your parents’ have real jobs BJ? Cause they don’t need them, not when they can mooch off their kids. I love the way your parents run business. One is coming to the age where he might finally realize what leeches your parents are and break away, so they slowly start bringing the others into the business too. They’ll be multi-millionaires by the end of...” Tim reared back as he was slapped crisply across his face.

“GET AWAY FROM HERE! NO ONE HERE WANTS TO TALK TO YOU!” BJ was yelling feeling her face flush red with her uncontrolled anger, “Do you know what almost happened? My older brother almost died you idiots! A few hours later and he would have been dead! Do you even care about that? You self-centered son of a...”

“Guys knock it off!” Hal interjected himself into the line of fire, “You guys want security over here? Tim you’re fighting with an 18 year-old girl. Do you have any idea how stupid you look?”

BJ snorted as Leslie turned her head, her ears perking to something, “You hear that?”

BJ quieted and trained her ears to the next room, “Oh shit! See what you’ve done!” The door was slammed brutally hard in the three faces of Tim, Jerald, and Hal. They stood there looking dumbfounded.

“Tim I can’t believe you yelled at her like that!” Jerald said staring at his brother.

“Did you hear what she said?” Tim said looking incredulous, “She said...”

“Yeah I heard what she said, but I also heard what you said,” Jerald said flatly, “and quite frankly bro, you deserved that slap.”

“She left a hand print,” Hal observed.

Tim stood staring at the door fuming, he was tempted to hit it again, but decided against it.

“Tim?”

“What?”

“Lets just go back, ok?” Jerald said lightly, “Lets get back and see what’s going on. You’ve caused enough trouble here.”

After a few seconds Tim nodded slowly rubbing his face in the area he had been slapped, “Ok.”

“Tim?”

“What?”

“I’m driving,” Jerald snagged the keys to the rental car from his brother and walked ahead of him.

< The Boys In The Basement >