[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter 17: Nick

“Aaron, don’t climb up on your brother! He’s hurt!”

Mom? What are you talking about?

“But mommy, I wanna give Nick a hug! It’ll help him feel better!”

“Aaron?” I called, trying to open my eyes. I felt something climb onto… whatever I was on… a bed, I think…

I finally opened my eyes and saw my little brother’s blue eyes staring right back at me. It was then that I realized I was on a bed. A hospital bed upon closer inspection. How did I get here? I tried to remember as I saw my left arm in a cast, but my memory went up until the Street festival.

“How are you feeling, son?”

I looked up and saw my mom standing over me like a hawk. My sisters BJ, Leslie and Angel were standing around the bed watching me. I realized that I had a headache, and I was hurting in a lot of places. I conveyed that to my dad and mom went to get a nurse.

“What happened?” I asked as mom returned with a nurse. “The last thing I remember is being at the festival, then waking up here.”

“Howie told us what happened,” mom explained. “He said that after the festival was over for the night, the two of you were heading home. Howie wasn’t paying attention… he’s torn up about that, too… and three members of the Alley Cats found you two and attacked. You both got injured, but you had the worst of it.”

“Oh.”

I didn’t remember any of that, but I thought I saw vague images in my mind when mom described it all. The nurse gave me some pills for the pain, then left us alone. Aaron crawled to my right side and snuggled up to me. I’m sure he was trying to be careful and not hurt me, but when he put his hand on a particular spot on my chest, I gasped at the resulting pain that shot through my upper body. He immediately apologized and tried to be as careful as possible. Looking around, I noticed a television up on the wall and had an idea.

“Mom, what time is it?” I asked.

“It’s almost noon, Nick.”

I smiled. Perfect timing.

“Hey, Aaron?”

“Yeah?”

“Isn’t it time for Scooby Doo?” I said. “It’s twelve o’clock.”

Aaron and Angel got excited so Mom turned the television to Scooby Doo. After a couple of hours, my family had to leave. I was bored after they left, so I decided to turn off the television and try to get some more sleep. I think I was out in less than five minutes.

~*~

I shot up in bed, my heart racing, soaked in sweat. I’d been reliving the night the Cats had attacked us. I had tried to run when Howie told me to, but I was already blocked by Juan and couldn’t get away. He kept coming at me with his fists, swearing at me and kicking me once I was on the ground. It kept happening over and over again until I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Nicky?”

I looked to my right, hearing the soft, Latino voice calling me. Howie sat in a chair by my bed looking at me with… guilt? … in his eyes. Why guilt?

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

Howie looked away and stared at his hands. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not being able to protect you better.” Howie murmured. “I should have been paying better attention that night. You might not be here if it hadn’t been for me.”

What on earth was he talking about? We were having a good time coming home from the festival. Until… well, it’s over now.

“Howie… don’t beat yourself up over it.” I said. “We were just having fun, that’s all.”

“But neither of us was paying attention!” Howie protested.

“Howard, stop. It’s all over now, okay? You’re still good with me if that’s what you’re afraid of.”

When I saw the relief on his face, I knew that was at least part of his fear. After that, he seemed happier and we chatted, talking and planning what we might do after I got home from the hospital. Only two more days or so to go, the doctor told me.

The next couple of days dragged by and flew by all at once. I was bored, so I had asked my mom to bring over some of my art stuff that I could do right-handed. Lucky for me I hadn’t broken that arm; that would have been a major crisis. Hey, I love art! Brian can tell you, that’s the only reason I’m still going to school!

Mom picked me up around ten in the morning… my siblings were still in school… and took me home. When I got home, I saw that there were cards from each of the guys in Garrison. There was even one from Precious! Man, Brian made the right choice when he fell in love with her. When I met her at the festival, I was almost jealous that I hadn’t been old enough to date. I got a call from AJ that afternoon, telling me that he was glad I was back. He told me to hurry up and get better so we could kick some Cat butt. I told him I’d do my best, since I wanted to pay them back, too. After I hung up with him, I had to go lie down for some rest.

The next morning, I woke up to seeing a note taped to the wall from my mom saying that she was out shopping for bigger winter clothes for Aaron and Angel… must be from Goodwill again… There was also a phone call from Texas mentioned saying that the Garrisons were planning on having a celebration for my coming home that afternoon at his house.

The day seemed to crawl by after that. I couldn’t wait to go to Texas’, but it seemed like every time I glanced at my watch, the only correct timepiece in the apartment, only a few minutes had passed by. Finally, it was three o’clock, and I was on my way to A.J’s, and we would walk together to Texas’ house.

Lance greeted us at the front door and led us to the kitchen where Howie, Texas, Harry, and even Kevin and Julia waited for me. We were so into the celebration and talking about Christmas that it took me about an hour to realize someone was missing.

Brian.

“Lance, where’s Brian?” I asked.

The room got real quiet, and I started worrying that something bad had happened to him.

“He’s out back.” Texas replied, nodding toward the back door.

I headed out and spotted my friend lying in the green hammock tied between to maple trees, one of which held a tree house that Brian and I would sometimes hide out in.

Green… Precious’ favorite color.

Why I had suddenly thought of that, I didn’t know. Little did I know I’d find out later.

“Hey, B.” I greeted with a smile. “How come you’re not inside?”

Brian managed to give me a small smile and scooted over so I could lay in the hammock with him. “It got kind of crowded. I was there when you came, but I needed some air.”

I heard something in his voice that told me needing air was not the only reason he had come outside. He had wrapped an arm around me in friendship and I noticed he was wearing a ring… a rather familiar ring, too… gold band, sapphire blue stone…

“Hey… isn’t that the ring you gave Precious?” I asked.

I was shocked when I heard him start to cry as he rolled over onto his side.

“Brian, what is it?”

“Precious…”

“What about her? What’s wrong?”

“Precious… dead… killed…”

I lay numbly as Brian rolled off the hammock onto the ground, his cries becoming vocal, no doubt reaching the house. Precious was dead? Was that what he had said? I climbed down beside Brian and tried to put an arm around him, but he shrugged me off and curled up.

“What happened?” I asked.

What he was about to tell me, I was going to regret asking.