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** HOWIE **

“Come on, Kev, wake up, wake up.”

I studied Kevin’s face to see if my chanting was having the desired effect. Nothing. I let out a sigh, sank back against the hard, plastic chair and rubbed at my swollen eyes. I didn’t know how much more of this I was going to be able to take. All I wanted to do was call Leigh and let her sooth away my fears. Of course, calling my wife and telling her the truth wasn’t an option. All I could do was sit and stare at Kevin’s lifeless form and listen to the steady beep of the machines that were doing their best to keep him alive.

“This blows.”

AJ was slumped back in his wheelchair on the other side of the room. In my misery, I had forgotten that the doctors had even agreed to let him join me. He had been staring at the ceiling for the past two hours; his eyes open but unfocused. To say that he wasn’t being the strong support system that I needed would be an understatement.

“No shit.” My voice was raspy from lack of use. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“Nothing.” AJ shook his head and checked the time on his phone. “Brian and Nick should be back soon.”

“Wonderful.”

I resisted the urge to say what I was really thinking; that it would be better if they didn’t come back. AJ may have chosen to forgive Brian and Nick for taking off, but I wasn’t ready to put aside my anger. The two of them had abandoned us, plain and simple. They didn’t deserve to be forgiven.

“You’ve got to let it go, Howie. Brian apologized. He said that he and Nick would explain ...”

Damn AJ for being able to read my mind. I hated that he knew me so well. Every time that I wanted to hold a grudge, AJ was always the person who was able to convince me otherwise. I swear half of the time he didn’t even know that he had managed to talk me out of it. Well, it wasn’t going to work this time. I was hurt. Nick hadn’t confided in me. For the past three years, Nick had told me everything. Why had he suddenly decided that I wasn’t worth talking to?

“Brian said that he and Nick have some new information ...”

AJ was still talking, but I was barely listening. I knew exactly why Nick had chosen not to confide in me. It was because Brian had suddenly decided that he wanted Nick back in his life. Something must have shifted in Brian’s personal life, because he was suddenly overly invested in re-establishing his relationship with Nick. Of course, Nick had leapt at the opportunity to have his best friend back. Nick had always valued Brian more than Brian had valued him. Unfortunately for Nick, he still didn’t realize that his precious “Frick and Frack” relationship was lopsided. What was it about Brian that made it so easy for both Nick and AJ to continuously take his side? Sometimes their loyalty towards the goofy southerner made me want to slam my head against the wall.

“D, are you even listening to me?”

“Mmmmmhmmmm” I hummed. “I’m listening.”

Maybe I could find out from AJ what had changed in Brian’s life. I figured that it must have something to do with Leighanne, but I wasn’t exactly sure. It was no secret that Brian’s wife was less than fond of Nick and his past behaviour.

“What did I just say?” AJ challenged. “I know that you weren’t paying any attention to me.”

“Sorry, AJ, you’re right I was totally zoned.” I admitted. “What were you saying?”

“Is Kevin awake?!” Nick burst through the door with enough force to wake the dead, cutting AJ off before he could even open his mouth. “Is he okay?!”

“Did it work?!” Brian was only steps behind Nick; his face flushed and his voice equally hopeful. “Is Kev okay?”

I couldn’t help it. I exchanged a ‘what the fuck?’ look with AJ as Nick and Brian practically fell over each other trying to reach the side of Kevin’s bed. The two of them often exhibited bizarre behaviour, but their level of excitement in such a sombre situation was strange even for them.

“Does he look awake?” My comment was biting, and I instantly felt bad as I watched the hope drain from Nick’s face.

“No. I mean – we just – we thought that ...” Brian stammered, his face falling. “It didn’t work!”

“What?” AJ looked baffled. “What didn’t work?”

“I don’t understand. She posted it!” Nick protested. “We saw her post it!”

I was well aware of the fact that my mouth was hanging open in confusion, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything as I looked back and forth between Brian and Nick. They both looked so disheartened that I was having a hard time holding on to the anger that I had been harbouring only minutes ago. Regardless of what was going on in my head, I hated to see Nick upset. He was my baby brother and I would always feel the need to protect him, to keep him sheltered from the harsh realities of the world.

“I’m sorry, cuz.” Brian reached out and placed his hand over top of Kevin’s. He drew his eyes up to the multitude of beeping monitors and wiped at his cheeks with his free hand. “I really thought that it would work.”

“Hello?” AJ was becoming increasingly agitated. “What the fuck are you two going on about? Did you really think that Kevin was going to magically wake up when you two dumb-shits walked into the room?”

“We thought that we had it all figured out.” Brian answered cryptically. “We thought that Kevin was going to be okay.”

“There’s still a good chance that he will be okay.” I addressed my comment towards Nick who was now crying silently next to Brian. “There’s a really good chance that he’ll be okay.”

“You guys need to tell us where you went.” AJ demanded. “This is not the time for us to be keeping secrets from one another. Someone is clearly out to get us.”

“We went to Severna Park ...” Nick mumbled. “... to meet a fan.”

“I’m sorry, you did what?” I was barely maintaining my composure. The five of us were being hunted by a psychopath and Nick and Brian were running off to meet random fans. Either the stress of the situation was seriously getting to them, or the two of them were more selfish than I could have ever imagined.

“She writes fan fiction. We thought that her story was predicting our future.” Nick’s face was burning as he attempted to explain himself. “Every time that she posts a new chapter, the events actually start to happen in real life. So, we tracked her down and forced her to discontinue her story.”

“The last chapter that she posted was about Kevin waking up.” Brian added. “So, we thought that he would be awake when we got back ...”

My chin was resting on the floor. Nick and Brain looked as though they were being serious, but there was absolutely no way that what they were saying was true. The two of them had officially lost their minds. Maybe they were hopped up on some kind of drug.

“You two are shitting with us!” AJ voiced what I was thinking. “Where did you really go?”

“Her name’s Ashley.” Nick held out his phone to AJ. “This is her story.”

AJ accepted the phone with a loud sigh and reluctantly dropped his eyes to the screen. It was obvious that he was debating about whether or not to release a stream of obscenities in Nick’s general direction.

“Even if you’re not lying, how did you know about her story in the first place?” AJ kept his eyes glued to the screen as he spoke.

“I kinda, you know, like to read fan fiction ... about us.” Nick shrugged as though his admission was perfectly normal. “That’s what I was reading when you cornered me in the dressing room a few days ago.”

“You like to read stories about yourself?” I couldn’t stop the amusement from sneaking into my voice. “Isn’t fan fiction just a bunch of poorly written crap about us having sex with random women?”

“A lot of the writers have real talent!” There was an edge to Nick’s voice. “I don’t read the sex stuff, just the stories where we go on, ummmm, adventures and get stalked and stuff.”

“We go on adventures?” I pulled my chin off of the floor and raised my eyebrows. “You’re serious about this?”

“Okay, maybe ‘adventures’ was the wrong word.” Nick admitted. “What I’m trying to say is ...”

“Howie, she wrote about you being poisoned with green tea!” AJ interrupted. He raised his eyes to me. “Nobody aside from us and the FBI knew about that. How did this girl write about you being poisoned the day before it happened?”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Nick enthused. “This girl, Ashley, has been predicting all of the horrible stuff that has been happening to us.”

I looked over at AJ who was now nodding at Nick as if he agreed with him. Was I the only one who was still firmly rooted in reality?

“What did the two of you take?”

“You think that I’m on drugs?!” Nick turned to me. He looked utterly crushed by my insinuation. “You think that Brian and I made up this entire situation because we’re on some fucking drug-trip?”

“It all seems a bit farfetched ...” I trailed off as I caught sight of AJ shaking his head; clearly letting me know that I had crossed a line.

“I can’t believe that you would have the balls to say something like that ...”

Nick was interrupted by the appearance of Agent Adams. The portly man gave the four of us the once over before stepping fully into the room.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Agent Adams paused to wipe at his forehead. As usual, he was sweating more than the average human being. He pulled a young woman with long, wavy brown hair into the room by her elbow. “This young lady is claiming that she needs to talk to you.” He turned to direct the rest of his commentary towards Nick. “She was able to provide us with your cell phone number, as well as with Mr. Littrell’s.”

“They threatened me!” The young woman burst into tears as she struggled to pull herself out of Agent Adams’s grip. “They said that they would destroy the café and kill my family if I stopped writing! What am I supposed to do now?” She looked tearfully back and forth between Nick and Brian. “This is all your fault! Why did you have to come and find me?!”

I was well aware of the fact that my eyes were bugging out of my head as I watched Brian and Nick exchange a pained look. It was clear that they knew exactly who this woman was and what she was talking about. I couldn’t believe it; they had been telling the truth.

“Let me guess ...” AJ dropped Nick’s phone into his lap and slowly wheeled himself over towards the distraught young woman. He looked up into her eyes and extended his hand in greeting. “... you’re Ashley?”