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** NICK **

The expression on Ashley’s face said it all; she thought that I was clinically insane. She was probably thinking about a way to signal for help so that she could escape from the inane gibberish that was spewing out of my mouth. If she belonged to the fanclub, there was no way that she would be renewing her membership after today. She looked like she wanted to run and hide from me and Brian – a look that I was definitely not used to receiving from our fans.

“I’m sorry, what are you saying?” Ashley asked. “What do you mean that my story is coming true?”

“Everything that’s happened in your story has happened in real life.” I insisted. “You post an update and the next day the events that you’ve described come true.”

Ashley blinked once. “Is this some kind of joke? How did you guys figure out who I was? Where I lived?”

“I paid a private investigator to track your IP address.” I paused; Ashley looked stricken. “I was desperate. Kevin – Kevin went missing this morning.”

“You wrote about Howie being poisoned from drinking green tea ...” Brian interrupted. “... that actually happened.”

“And you wrote about AJ falling because the scaffolding on the stage had been tampered with. That also came true.” I added. “The last chapter that you posted ended with Kevin being followed and now he’s missing.”

“Howie was poisoned? You guys tweeted out that he was sick.” Ashley had started to, once again, back away from the two of us. “This is crazy! Listen, if you guys think that I have anything to do with what happened to Howie, or to AJ, or to Kevin then you’re wrong. I – I need to get back to work.”

“Wait!” I grabbed Ashley around the arm and pulled her back towards me with more force than I had intended. “We need to see the story!”

Ashley looked down at my hand that was wrapped securely around her arm. If she had looked afraid before, now she looked positively terrified.

“Please.” I let go of her arm and breathed a sigh of relief when she didn’t immediately turn and run away. “I know that what I’m saying sounds crazy, but we really need to read the rest of your story.”

Ashley swivelled her eyes to Brian. “You guys are being serious?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” Brian confirmed. “It’s like you’re somehow able to predict the future; the horrible future as far as we’re concerned.”

“The story – the story isn’t finished.” Ashley stammered. “Aside from the outline, I haven’t written anything beyond the last update that I posted this morning.”

“You posted something this morning?” My stomach was doing back flips as I pulled out my phone and hurriedly called up the website. “Did you reveal what happens to Kevin?”

Ashley’s face turned unnaturally pale. “He gets beaten up and ends up in the ICU.”

“Oh, God ...” Brian cut himself off as his phone began to ring. He pulled the device out of his pocket and checked the display before turning to me. “It’s AJ.”

“Answer it.” I mumbled; my attention focused on both Ashley’s spoken and written words.

“AJ, listen, I can explain ...” Brian answered the call.

I kept one ear on Brian’s end of the conversation as I quickly scrolled through the update that Ashley had posted only hours ago. Sure enough, the chapter ended with Kevin in the ICU fighting for his life after being beaten up by an unknown assailant. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely hold on to the phone. My fingers had turned ice cold. Why was this happening?

“He’s in the ICU?” Brian looked about as sick as I felt as he ramped up his end of the conversation with AJ. “What else has Agent Adams said? How are you feeling? When did the drugs wear off?”

Brian was spewing a barrage of questions into the phone, but I was no longer fully paying attention to what he was saying. I had heard all that I needed to hear; Kevin was non-responsive, just like he was in Ashley’s story. The events were too similar to be a coincidence.

Ashley was staring intently into my face. Her complexion was still sickeningly white. “Kevin’s in critical condition?”

“I told you.” My voice was shaky. “I told you that you’ve been predicting the future.”

“AJ’s pissed.” Brian disconnected the call and jammed his phone back into his pocket. “He’s never – he’s never been this mad at me before. He knows that I’m hiding something from him. Maybe we did the wrong thing by coming here. We should have waited, talked to the FBI ...”

“He’ll forgive you.” I brushed Brian’s feelings aside, ignoring the painful look that crossed his face.

Despite the fact that I was worried about Kevin, I felt a flicker of satisfaction. I hated that Brian and AJ had somehow become so close. AJ and I had gone down the same road of addiction and self-destruction, but Brian had never shunned AJ. When I had started using, Brian had abandoned me. He had left me to self-destruct at a time when I had needed him the most. When AJ had entered rehab, Brian had been there for him every step of the way. I would never tell Brian, but I despised his relationship with AJ. I hated that the two of them had bonded over the very thing that had torn the two of us apart. The fact that there was now a small crack in their relationship pleased me to no end. It was time for AJ to step aside; I was clean, I was sober, and Brian and I were on the mend.

“We need to go.” Brian was still talking. “I need to go and see Kevin. We should have been there for him when he was brought in.”

“We’re not leaving until we see the story.” I turned my attention back to Ashley. “We need to see whatever you have written; ideas, an outline, anything!”

“Fine.” Ashley relented. “I’ll show you what I have, but I don’t know what good it’s going to do.”

Ashley turned and motioned for me and Brian to follow her into the back. I could see Brian gazing longingly at the lavish spread of desserts as the three of us moved behind the counter and into the kitchen. Leighanne had the guy on a short leash. I hadn’t seen him eat anything worth eating in ages, aside from the chocolate banana cupcake that he had not-so-subtly inhaled while he was speaking with AJ on the phone.

Ashley led us through the small kitchen and into an even smaller office at the very back of the building. Ignoring the large desktop computer, she sat down at the desk and silently pulled a laptop out of the top drawer. Brian and I wedged ourselves onto the loveseat that occupied the rest of the space and remained equally silent. The skin on Brian’s arm was damp, and I could hear him breathing heavily beside me. He was clearly just as nervous as I was, if not more.

“Here.” Ashley spun the laptop in our direction and leaned back in her chair. “That’s all I have.”

I pulled the small computer off of the desk and placed it on my lap. Brian leaned over so that he could read the screen and the two of us skimmed the information in silence. Ashley hadn’t been lying; the only unfamiliar item on the screen was a brief story outline.

“I’m going to get stabbed?” Brian’s face had turned ashen. “Jesus.”

Ashley shrugged in embarrassment. “It’s nothing personal. Readers tend to like it when the really bad stuff happens to you.”

“It could be worse.” I interrupted. “Apparently, I’m going to get shot.”

“And readers always enjoy it when the really, really, bad stuff happens to Nick.” Ashley finished. “You guys seriously can’t take it personally.”

“I know.” I had read enough fan fiction to understand that the fans loved it when I got maimed, killed, or developed a life-threatening disease. It was a bit twisted, but I had to admit that those plot lines often made for the best stories. “We know that you don’t actually want us to die.”

“But we might!” Brian sounded like he was on the verge of a breakdown. He turned his attention to Ashley. “If you write that one of us dies then it will happen in real life.”

“I – I haven’t killed any of you yet.” Ashley still looked as though she were trying to wrap her head around the situation. “In the next chapter, Kevin is supposed to wake up ...”

“Then, you need to write that chapter right now!” Brian was now officially losing it. His eyes were wide and wild. “If you write that Kevin will be okay, then he will be!”

“And then what?” Ashley challenged. “Even if I write that Kevin wakes up and turns out to be perfectly fine, the two of you will still end up getting hurt. Is that what you want?”

“You don’t have to finish the story.” My mind was formulating the idea as I spoke. “All you have to do is post the chapter about Kevin and then discontinue the story. If you do that, everything will be fine.”

Ashley looked sceptical. “Are you sure?”

I shook my head. “No, but it’s the best idea that I have at the moment.”

“It will work.” Brian was forcing the confidence into his voice. “It has to work.”