“End of the road, Carter,” Officer Lamb stated as he opened rear door of
the police car. “Hey, Steve, grab me some latex, he’s got blood all over him
and everything.” The officer shot a look at me. “Sit tight for a minute.”
I waited quietly as the officer put surgical gloves on both hands. I felt like
some sort of animal with a deadly disease. He grabbed my by my good arm
and steadied me once I was out of the vehicle.
“So, Steve, did you catch the end of the Knick’s game last night?” Officer
Lamb asked as they walked me through the sliding glass doors on the
entrance of the jail.
“Yeah, boy it sure was touch and go during the second period,” Steve replied.
As we walked in, the stale smell of the air in the building first caught my
attention. I looked around the room quickly. There were dozens of people in
police uniforms walking around the room. Long steel benches were on either
side of the walls, big hooks jutting out from them. Two people on opposite
sides of the room were sitting on the benches, one wrist handcuffed to the
hook.
“Okay, step up here,” Officer Lamb pointed to a white line on the floor. “You
can either co-operate with us or we can do this the hard way.”
As I stepped up to the glass window, Officer Lamb did a quick swipe on the
side of my face, wiping up some of the blood that was dripping down.
“Hey Steve, I could sell this on ebay for some cash,” my arresting officer
joked.
“Name?”
The clerk that sat behind the window barely looked at me, she sat and
waited for my answer, fingers poised over the keys.
“Nick Carter,” I mumbled.
Officer Lamb jerked my arm a little. “Full name,” he barked.
“Nickolas Gene Carter,” I replied.
“N-i-c-h-o-l-a-s?” the woman asked.
“No, N-i-c-k-o-l-a-s,” I replied, cursing my mother’s decision to spell my
name differently under my breath.
After they finished going over the info of my name, social security number,
date of birth and address, I was led down the hall to another room with
some more steel benches. Officer Lamb unhooked the handcuffs and then
attached one to the hook on the bench as he directed me to sit down.
“Hey Beth, need for you to get this one done first, he’s going directly to the
infirmary,” Officer Lamb stated as he tossed a chart down on the counter.
Kyung shivered as she listened to Dale and Marcus bickering in the front
seat of the surburban. She was cold, tired and stressed out. Not a good
combination for her. She ran a short fuse when she was stressed out and she
was desperately fighting the urge to lash out at her kidnappers.
“Ya know, old man, you’re towing a thin line here. I’ve just about had it with
you, I’m sick of you, sick of mom and especially Terri. To hell with all of this!
I’m stopping at the next town and dropping your ass off. I don’t need your
sorry ass dragging me down.”
“Think again boy!” Dale yelled as he jerked the steering wheel sharply
towards the right.
Kyung barely had enough time to brace herself for the certain impact that
was coming. There was yelling, swearing, tires screeching, the sound of steel
crunching and then it was silent.
Dazed, Kyung found herself on the roof interior of the flipped over vehicle.
As the smoke and dust started to settle, she quickly took inventory of her
arms and legs, checking to see if everything was still in place and functioned.
Moving her right arm caused a great deal of pain and Kyung decided that
since it looked definately deformed, she must have broken it.
Getting her bearings, Kyung looked around towards the front of the
overturned vehicle. Dale was laying half in and half out of the passenger side
window, the fixed look in his eyes told Kyung that he didn’t survive the
crash. Hearing moaning, Kyung looked for Marcus. She couldn’t see him from
the inside of the car. She crawled towards the back and after kicking out
the shards of glass from the broken rear window, she gingerly eased her
body through.
She found Marcus laying on the ground, his body pinned underneath the
surburban, only his upper torso exposed. There were short puffs of steam
that escaped from his mouth, so Kyung knew that he was still alive and
breathing.
Marcus turned his head from side to side, moaning loudly. His eyes finally
fluttered open and then focused on Kyung.
“Bitch, get me out of here,” Marcus demanded.
Why is it that during the day there is nothing good on TV? I don't watch soap operas and I liked talk shows even less. They were all the same. Either the woman’s husband was cheating on her with her sister and then it ends up being a double cross because he was cheating on her with that sister’s husband or something gross like that. There was a knock on the door and I welcomed the distraction. “Come in!” I called out.
“I bet you thought you were rid of us didn’t ya?”
My blood ran cold as I looked towards the door. Dale was standing in the doorway and he had Nick in front of him, his arms pinned.
“No!” I gasped.
“Or how about your best friend here?” Suddenly Marcus appeared, carrying Kyung’s limp body in his arms.
“Kyung?” I whimpered.
“She isn’t dead, but she’s gonna be!” Marcus barked.
“Where’s Brian?” My eyes darted back and forth between them.
Marcus laughed. “We already took care of him.”
“No.” I whispered.
“See, we’re giving you a choice.” Dale began, releasing Nick’s arms. Surprisingly, he didn’t try to escape or anything. But then I saw why. Dale was holding a gun. At the end of the gun was a silencer.
“You get to choose which one we kill next.” Marcus continued, grinning sadistically.
“No! No! I can’t...You can’t make me...” I cried.
“Fine! Then they both die. Say goodbye Lizz!” Dale yelled.
“NOOOOOO!!!!” I screamed as the muted sound of a shot rang out. It as immediately followed by another and I started to struggle in my bed. Dale grabbed me by the arms and I knew I was next. I thrashed in attempt to tear free of his grasp, ignoring the pain I was causing myself.
“Lizz! Lizz, calm down!” Sheila tried to hold Lizz down. She was thrashing all around and was going to bust her stitches if she kept it up.
“LET ME GO!” I hollered frantically.
“Lizz you need to stop thrashing! It’s Sheila! Lizz!!” Sheila persisted.
Finally I opened my eyes and sure enough, Sheila was standing over me. Dale and Marcus weren’t anywhere to be seen. I sagged against the pillows behind me and let out a choked sob. “They...they were here...he shot...he killed them...my fault...all my fault!” I gasped between my sobs. The pain from moving around so much was starting to catch up with me.
“Shhhhh. There’s no one here okay? You’re fine now. I’m going to give you some Demerol for the pain, alright? I want you to concentrate on taking slow deep breaths. Can you do that for me?” Sheila soothed.
“Where are they? Where are my friends?” I choked out.
“Sweetie, you need to worry about yourself right now.” Sheila started as she pushed the pain medication through my IV.
“No! Don’t you understand? All of this is my fault. I need to know what’s happened to them! Is Kyung in the hospital too? And where’s Brian? They didn’t give him his meds and he got hurt in the plane crash. And what happened to Nick? Something’s wrong! I know it is. I can feel it.” My voice got more and more frantic.
“Shhhh. You need to try to stay calm sweetie.” Sheila rested her hand on my forehead. “You are really warm.”
I started to feel sleepy from the Demerol, but I didn’t want to sleep anymore. I wanted answers. I didn’t care how much pain I was in. I needed to know where my friends were. Sheila stuck that temperature thing in my ear and waited for the beep. I tried my hardest to fight the drowsiness, but it didn’t matter. The drug was winning and I barely heard her tell me I had a temperature before I fell asleep.
“So you’re saying that Nick was taken to jail?” AJ demanded.
Laura sighed. “Yes. I tried to convince the state troopers that he needed to stay longer, but they wouldn’t listen.”
“He went through a window?” Brian whispered, still shocked at what he was hearing.
Laura immediately noticed the look on his face. “I don’t think he was seriously injured though. Just some cuts and scrapes from the glass.” She added quickly to allay his fears.
“Does he even know why he was taken to jail? He had amnesia.” Brian could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes.
Laura looked away from him. “I don’t think he did.”
“He’s gotta be totally freaked out.” AJ muttered darkly. “I wish I was in here when they tried to take him away.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you really would have helped matters.” Brian raised an eyebrow at AJ, knowing how he was around authoritative figures.
“I could’ve done something.” He insisted.
“What about Kyung? Is she okay?” Brian asked suddenly
.
Laura flinched. She didn’t want to have to be the bearer of bad news once again. It occurred to her that he might have assumed that Kyung had been with Lizz this entire time. He didn’t know that she was still being held by the kidnappers.
“Excuse me?!” Kyung narrowed her eyes at Marcus.
“I said, get me out of here, bitch“ He repeated, putting emphasis on the last word.
“I don’t think you are in any position to be talking to me like that.” Kyung glared at him.
“I don’t care what position I’m in. Get your ass over here and get me out of this. What do you think you are gonna do, wander off and get help all on your own? We’re out in the middle of fuckin nowhere. You’ll die.” Marcus sneered.
“Oh is that right? Looks to me that I will have a better chance at surviving than you will, pinned under that suburban.” She retorted.
“If you don’t get me out of here...” He threatened.
“You’ll what? Shout more insults at me?” Kyung laughed bitterly. “My friends are probably dead because of you! Our plane fucking crashed and instead of giving up your vendetta against us, you continued on. You sick shit, I should leave you here to die. You deserve it!”
Marcus looked shocked at the amount of hatred that resonated from this girl’s voice. She wouldn’t really leave him here to die would she?
“You didn’t give a shit about Lizz when she was freezing to death in the snow. You didn’t care when Terri almost beat her to death. You only pretended to care about Brian being pinned against that seat, only to carry on that stupid charade. You freaked out when you shot Nick only because you didn’t want to go to jail. But then you proved that you didn’t give a shit when you had a chance to escape and you left him there to bleed to death. MY FRIENDS
ARE PROBABLY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!!” She screamed as she turned on her heel and started walking away.
A sense of panic started to creep over Marcus. “Kyung. Don’t leave me here. Don’t let me die.” His voice cracked.
Kyung halted midstep. As much as she wanted to leave him there, she couldn’t. She wasn’t like them. She couldn’t kill. She sighed loudly and turned back around.
After I was processed into the system, they led me to a small room telling
me that I had a visitor. I was guided towards a plastic chair across from my
attorney, Spencer Marshall and sat down.
“Take the cuffs off him!” Spencer growled.
The guard sighed and quickly snapped the hand cuffs from my wrists.
“Now leave the room,” Spencer ordered.
“Hey, I got explicit instructions to stay with this inmate during the
interview,” the guard replied.
“I don’t give a shit about your instructions, I’m taking full responsibility for
my client, now get the hell out of here,” Spencer demanded.
We waited until the guard had left the small room and then Spencer leaned
forward, evidentally looking over the cuts and scrapes on my face.
“That doctor did a piss poor job stitching your forehead up,” he remarked as
he brushed the hair away from my forehead. “That’s definitely gonna leave a
nasty scar.”
I didn’t answer him, I didn’t care at this point about scars or anything else.
Here I was stuck in a jail and I had no idea why or what I did.
After he pulled out a yellow legal pad and uncapped a pen, the attorney
sighed and started asking me questions.
“Nick, do you have any idea of why you were sent here?”
I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head no.
“Do you remember being kidnapped?”
I tried to think but nothing came to me. My memory was still pretty fuzzy.
“You know who you are though, right?”
I laughed at the stupidity of his question. “Yeah, I know who I am.”
He didn’t seem to believe me, he stared at me over the top of his glasses
that had slid down his nose.
“Nick..... Nick Carter, okay?”
“At least you have that figured out. I don’t understand why you can’t
remember specific events over the past few months. For right now, I need
to stall for time so we can gather a good defense for you. I’m going to
request psychiatric evaluation to declare you instane and unable to stand
trial. Don’t worry, it’s only to show that you’re mentally unable to defend
yourself, not to have you committed.”
AJ, Kevin and Howie took a seat in the crowded courtroom, waiting for Nick
to appear.
“I still am having a hard time believing they can pull this shit on Nick,” AJ
whispered harshly to Kevin and Howie.
“I know, AJ, I know,” Kevin replied.
“I mean the guy has fricken amnesia for crying out loud. How the hell is he
supposed to defend himself?”
A restless AJ kept shifting his weight in his chair and drumming his fingers
on the armrests. “What the hell is taking them so long?”
Howie nudged AJ and pointed towards the doors that were opening. “Here he
comes now.”
The threesome focused their attention to the opening doors. Nick slipped
through, escorted by two uniformed county deputies. His hands were
handcuffed together in front of himself. His face was scraped and red
looking. The fat lip with the cut across the corner of his mouth didn’t help
matters much with him looking like a trouble maker.
AJ wanted to get Nick’s attention, but he was walking with his head bowed,
not making any eye contact with anyone or anything in that courtroom.
“All rise for the honorable Justine Briggs,” the baliff called out.
“I don’t know what the hell you expect me to do. Especially with a broken arm.” Kyung huffed as she stared at Marcus.
“I can feel my legs. They’re just trapped.” He replied.
“Too bad they aren’t broken.” Kyung muttered.
Marcus started to respond, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to run the risk that she would leave him.
Kyung leaned down and tried to lift the part of the suburban that was covering his legs. Of course with only one arm, she couldn’t budge it.
“What if you put that bar under here and then put your weight on it and maybe I can slide out.” Marcus gestured to a piece of the suburban that was broken off. It was as long as the bumper and had a similar shape. Kyung wondered what part of the car it came from. She could shove one end under the car and put something there to see-saw it. Then she could put all her weight on the other end and see if it was enough for him to get himself out.
After many failed efforts and frustrated words, Kyung finally managed to use that method to budge the suburban. It just barely slid a little, but it was enough. Marcus slid out and shakily stood up. Amazingly he didn’t have any broken bones. Only some scrapes and bruises.
“Nice job bitch, now lets go before we get caught.” Marcus smirked at her as he grabbed her good arm.
Kyung balked. “What the hell are you doing?! I just saved your life you asshole!” She yelled as she tried to twist out of his grasp.
“Yeah and thanks, but that doens’t change anything. So shut up before I get mad.” Marcus shrugged.
Kyung boiled with rage. “Fuck you!” She twisted around and kicked him, as hard as she could, between the legs. Marcus let out a high-pitched scream and dropped to the ground, curling into a ball and moaning. Kyung took that oppurtunity to escape. She started running as fast as she could. To her dismay, his angry voice begane to follow.
“YOU BITCH! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!” He screamed as he ran to catch up with her.
The lack of food, sleep, and level of emotional stress was taking its toll on Kyung. He was gaining on her and she couldn’t do anything about it.
Agnes walked brusquely towards Lizz’s room. She had been advised to stay away from her, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to make sure that she was suffering as much as her Terri. Agnes smiled at the thought of Nick in jail. He was going to get it in there alright! She wanted to pay a visit to Brian as well, but security around him was too tight. She had to settle on Lizz.
I was just starting to wake back up when I heard a knock at my door. Before I could answer, the door opened. Terri’s mother walked in and smiled at me. I felt my heart move to my throat.
“What are you doing here?!” I whispered. I didn’t want her to see that I was afraid.
“Oh I just wanted to see how you were.” She smiled sweetly at me.
“Bitch, liar.” I glared at her.
Her demeanor changed. Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a viscious smile. “Oh but I did. I just wanted to see if you were suffering as much as you should. I’ve heard you are having a rough time of it. Poor baby.” She sneered. “It could be worse. You could be missing still. Or you could be in jail.”
Oh god, what did she mean? What was she talking about?! I started to shake.
Her grin turned even more sinister. “Oh! You mean you didn’t know?!”
“What’s wrong? Is she...is she?” Brian didn’t want to finish the thought.
“No! Well, I don’t know.” Laura said finally. “The kidnappers still have her.”
Brian felt sick. “No.” He whispered.
“We haven’t heard much.” Laura said, somewhat apologetically.
“And Lizz...” Brian trailed off. “Who’s with her?”
Laura shook her head.
“Oh god. I have to see if she is okay.” Brian shifted his eyes back and forth between AJ and his nurse.
“No way. Not yet anyway. Not until you are in better condition.” Laura stated firmly.
“AJ will you go check on her?” Brian asked anxiously.
AJ nodded. “Just stay calm okay?”
“Nick, god, what do you think is happening with him?” Brian felt even more sick at the idea of his best friend sitting in jail for something he didn’t do.
AJ froze when he heard Brian remark about Nick’s predicament. He didn’t
have the heart to tell him what had happen earlier in the afternoon in court.
“I’ll be back in a minute after I check on Lizz for ya,” AJ managed to call out
as he left the room.
As he walked down the hall, AJ’s mind filled with the scenes of the court
hearing earlier in the day. Nick never made eye contact with them, he just
stood in front of the judge, his head hanging down. They had chains wrapped
around his waist, connected to his wrists and they made a noise that AJ
decided he would never forget for the rest of his life. He shuddered when
the memory of the noise crept into his mind.
”Your honor, I wish to declare my client emotionally uncapable of
defending himself. He was insane at the time the alleged events took
place.”
”Nickolas Carter is remanded to Fulton State Emotional Rehabilitation
Institution for observation and testing and if need be, treatment. Court is
postphoned for a period of no less than thirty days and will reconvene at
that time on 20 June, 2001.”
AJ squeezed his eyes shut as the door to the elevator closed. The last image
he had was of Nick being led away to some state nuthouse and there wasn’t a
damn thing any of them could do to prevent it. How could he tell that to
Brian? That would kill him.
“Yes, your little perfect friend, or should I say your six foot tall friend has
been arrested. I can’t believe you don’t know about that, it’s been on the
news,” Agnes taunted as she turned on Lizz’s television set. “Oh, and don’t
worry, he did put up a fight as they were taking him away from the hospital.
You see though, Nick isn’t very bright, he jumped through a plate glass
window on his way out instead of taking the door.”
Lizz narrowed her eyes at Agnes. “What are you talking about?”
“You again? What are you doing in her room?” AJ’s voice boomed from the
doorway.
“She’s the one AJ, she did this to us!” Lizz cried out.
Agnes tried to laugh Lizz off. “Oh, the stuff they put these people on,
makes their minds a bit crazy,” she made a circle with her finger next to her
temple.
“AJ! Her name is Agnes and she kidnapped us! Her and her daughter and the
rest of her freaked out family!”
AJ hadn’t moved from when he entered the room, his mouth hanging open.
Anges laughed.
“See Lizz, see how farfetched your story is? I mean, who would think a
fragile old woman like me would kidnap young and vibrant people like
yourself? Even this boy has difficulty comprehending your story.”
Almost as if on que, CNN showed a video of Nick, in bright yellow prison
grab, running in the hosptial lobby and then jumping through a window. Lizz
gasped when she watched it.
“I think you need to come with me and talk to the police,” AJ finally spoke.
“You seem to be forgetting our deal here,” Agnes whispered harshly to him.
“Huh?”
“No one, no family or friends are supposed to be here at the hospital! You
broke that and so now watch Brian or Lizz get their just rewards,” Agnes
spat.
“Lady, you just admitted you are one of the kidnappers!” AJ glared.
“Tsk... tsk.... tsk,” Agnes reprimanded. “Now, be a good little Backstreet Boy
and mind your own business or Brian could end up with a big ole injection of
air in his IV line, that could foul things up really bad. You know that would
travel to his heart and kill him in seconds.”
With that being stated, Agnes stormed past AJ, leaving him standing in the
doorway, stunned.
I stared out the window at the huge brown brick building. FULTON
STATE INSTITUTE was printed on a sign in the front. This was all a
really bad dream and I couldn’t wake up from it. I stared at the man as he
unhooked me from the heavy bolt on the floor in front of my seat.
“Okay, come along with me,” he said, glancing up as he handed a folder to me.
I glanced down at the big tan folder. It had my name and ID number written
across it. It looked odd, Carter, Nickolas Gene, 360825246.
They led me to a windowless room, two chairs and a table was situated in it.
The humming of the florescent lights made it sound like one of those
interrogation rooms you see on police movies and stuff. As I sat down in a
chair, a young woman with striking blue eyes and long dark hair entered the
room. She was dressed in tan khakis and a dark blue shirt with the word
Fulton embroidered on the left side of the shirt in white lettering. An
indentification tag had her picture on it and the name Mandy.
“Please, you can take those stupid handcuffs and chains off of him, I’m sure
he will behave,” Mandy said as she sat down in front of me.
She slid the folder away from me and opened it up, taking the papers out and
placing them in front of her.
“Hi Nick, my name is Mandy, I’m one of the counselors here at Fulton,” she
smiled.
I had a big lump in my throat and I knew if I opened my mouth to speak I
would either start crying or nothing would come out. I kept quiet.
“Okay, looks like you’ve been recovering nicely from the accident you had in
that plane crash, that’s good. You have no other medical history besides
that, right?” Mandy spoke aloud to me as she read through the chart. “Oh,
wait, you’re on meds for seizures? Okay, we’ll make sure you get those like
you should,” she looked up and smiled.
There was something about her that made me feel at ease. For the first
time in weeks, I found myself smiling. It wasn’t much but it was more than I
had been doing.
“Okay, looks like these people can come and see you, that’s good, we
encourage family and friends,” Mandy remarked as she continued to look
through the papers.
“He’s not to have any contact,” the man that brought me here remarked.
Mandy shot her head up and gave the man a not-so-pleasant stare. “Why are
you still here? He’s my patient and he’s in my care, go, your job is done now.”
I smiled again, I liked Mandy’s style...... a lot.
I barely noticed Agnes march past AJ. My whole focus was the television. They showed Nick running through the plate glass again and I flinched.
“That’s what I felt.” I said softly.
“What?”
I turned my eyes to AJ. He still looked stunned by Agnes’ confession. His gaze flickered from me to the television.
“A thousand needles stabbing my body all at once. It scared the hell outta me. Until now, I didn’t know what happened. It was him jumping through the window though.” I murmured. Her last words sunk in. “Where’s Brian? Oh god, AJ, you can’t let her hurt him.”
“I’m not letting her near him. Lizz who was that woman? She was involved in the kidnapping?” AJ pressed.
I nodded. “That was Terri’s mother. Remember, Terri is the one who sent the Enquiror pictures of Nick and I in here. She, her mom, dad, brother and boyfriend kidnapped us. They...they...” I stopped, my voice choking up. I shut my eyes, but that made it worse. Images of that basement, the cages, Kyung’s trance, Marcus carrying an unconscious Brian after he collapsed in the heat, Nick having a seizure, them whipping him when I tried to escape. Then the plane crash and when I first realized Nick had amnesia. How my heart sank when he thought I was the kidnapper. How he blamed me. And he was right. It was my fault. And now all this...I didn’t even realize I was crying until AJ put a hand on my shoulder.
“Hey, shhhhh, don’t cry. It’s going to be okay.” He soothed.
“What happened AJ? Why is Nick in jail? Where’s Kyung? Where’s Brian?” I whispered.
He looked pained. I know he was afraid of my reaction and hell, I was afraid of what I was going to hear. I rested my hand on his arm. “Please, AJ, I need to know.”
There was a knock at the door and both Nick and Mandy looked to see who it was. One of the employees opened the door partway.
“Carter, you have a visitor.”
Mandy looked at Nick and he shrugged. “Well I am going to go make a few phone calls and I will be back alright?”
Nick nodded, wondering who his visitor was when he wasn’t supposed to have contact with anyone.
His question was answered when a scruffy man walked in and sat down. He didn’t speak, but waited for the orderly and Mandy to leave. The door was shut behind them and it was only Nick and the scruffy guy in the small room. He was wearing dirty jeans and a blue shirt that indicated that he worked at a car repair shop. There was dirt and grease underneath his fingernails. Nick stared at him, trying to figure out who he was. The man didn’t make him feel very comfortable. The stranger seemed to take notice of that and was amused by it.
“Trying to figure out who I am?” The man smirked. “Trying to trying to work through all those holes in your head to place me? Well, don’t worry, you won’t. You have never seen me and you are going to forget my face as soon as I leave here. I am only delivering a message for my sister. I guess it sucks to be sitting in this nuthouse and being on trial when you have no idea what you did.”
Nick couldn’t believe what he was hearing. What the hell was going on?! He wanted to jump up and shout at this person to leave, but he felt frozen to the chair. The man continued.
“You’re on trial for the assault of two women, huh? You don’t believe you did this right?” When Nick didn’t respond, the man barked, “I asked you a question!”
Nick’s eyes widened and he shook his head slowly.
“Well I don’t give a shit about this Lizz person, but you messed up my niece. Don’t think you are getting away with it.” The man snapped.
Nick’s mind reeled. His memory was trying to come back and he vaguely remembered the scene that had transpired in the snow before they were rescued. He remembered Terri dragging Lizz over in front of him and yelling like a crazed lunatic at the top of her lungs.
“ Here's your truth, Carter. Seven months ago you tried to kill yourself. Lizz here tried to stop you by saying she was going to drink some medicine that would kill her. Well she was too late. She didn't quite do the job because you still took the pills. You both ended up in the hospital. You both almost died. I would have made a shitload of money off of both of you selling information to the National Enquiror, but you and your stupid friends had to ruin that. See?! It is her fault. If she would have stopped you, none of this would have happened." Terri screamed.
Then she started beating the crap outta Lizz. Nick’s jaw dropped. He didn’t assault Lizz! It was Terri. He didn’t really remember Lizz, but he knew he wouldn’t attack her.
The man narrowed his eyes. “I just have a little advice for you, Carter. It would be in your friends’ better interest to not fight these charges. See, my sis is pretty upset about her daughter and you still need to pay. Both Brian and Lizz are in the hospital and from what I have heard, they are having a pretty rough time. Brian has pneumonia and as you know, he was shot. Not to mention the complications of missing whatever the hell meds he takes. And Lizz hasn’t been able to even get off the morphine yet. You should see her. Ha! Oh, I heard her body might be rejecting her kidneys now too. The best part is that has to be sedated every time she wakes up. I guess she is having a hard time dealing with this.”
“How the hell do you know all that?!” Nick demanded hoarsely. He hadn’t expected to hear any of this.
“Don’t ask questions Carter. Just know that if you are declared innocent, then you will make things a lot more complicated for your friends. Weigh your options carefully boy. And if I hear that you have told anyone of this conversation, either Lizz or Brian won’t be leaving the hospital.” The man smiled sadistically at Nick and let himself out.
Nick’s heart was pounding and the tiny room seemed to get smaller. He knew that Mandy would be back so he tried to get a handle on his emotions, but he couldn’t get past that man’s words. He felt like he was about to unravel.
“Marcus, why don’t you just give it up and turn yourself in?” Kyung sighed wearily. She was carefully holding her broken arm. Any sort of movement gave her chills, not to mention intense pain. Plus her face still stung from Marcus’ slaps when he finally caught her after she had kicked him. He was absolutely livid and he had let her have it good.
“Shut up.” He said sourly.
“Seriously, do you have any idea where we are going?” Kyung pressed. They had been walking for the past half hour into the middle of nowhere. It was very woodsy and Kyung was afraid they were lost.
“Shut up.” Marcus repeated.
“What happens when it gets dark and we are out here in BFE?! You don’t know where we are do you?!” Kyung continued stubbornly. God she was turning into Lizz.
“Shut up.”
“You ever think about expanding your vocabulary?” Kyung glared at the back of his head as she tried to keep up.
“Alright. Shut the fuck up.”
Kyung shook her head as they continued deeper into the forest. She knew it was pointless to try to escape, as she had gotten caught twice already. She was no match for Marcus and she knew it. She didn’t want to, but she let her mind drift towards her friends. Her eyes filled with tears and she wondered if they were alive and if they were would she would ever see them again?
I sat at the table, stunned. My best friend’s life was at stake and I was the
only one that could save him. I didn’t hear Mandy when she came back into
the room.
“Nick, I have your locker assignment and your room. There are a couple of
things I need you to do first before I show you to your room,” Mandy stated
as she sat back down at the table.
I must have been staring off into space because suddenly, her face was
directly in front of mine.
“Nick? Are you with me?”
I straightened myself up in the seat. ’I gotta stay focused, Brian needs me
to be focused.’ I kept coaching myself. “Oh, sorry what did you say
again?”
“Okay, this is just a quick assessment to check your cognitive level,” Mandy
said as she looked down at the chart. Okay, I need you to give me your full
name.”
“Nickolas Gene Carter.”
“Okay, when’s your birthday?”
“January 28.”
“Year born and how old are you?”
“1980 and I’m 20.”
“Okay, who’s the president?”
I was beginning to get bored with all the questions, this was getting a little
silly. It was almost like a mini interview. I hated those. “Bill Clinton.”
“Okay Nick, last question. Do you know what the date is today?”
That was a question I don’t think I could answer. Things had been mushed
together from the kidnapping to the hospital stay. I honestly didn’t have any
idea. With it being Florida, I definitely didn’t have a clue as to what time of
year it was either by looking out the window.
“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” I replied.
“Fair enough, how about the year then?”
“2000.”
“Very good Nick, let’s take you down to your room now,” Mandy said as she
walked over towards the door and held it open for me. “You seem to be okay
to be on a level c18,” Mandy said as we stopped at a scale. “I need you to
step up on the scales please.”
I did as I was told.
“Two twenty-eight,” Mandy said as she scribbled the numebrs into the chart.
“Okay Nick, with you being a level C18, you get to wear these,” she said as
she handed me a pair of dark green hospital scrubs. “you can change in this
room here.”
Once I changed into the green scrubs, Mandy led me down to another room
with a blue screen that was rolled down and a camera. “Nick, stand where
the white mark is on the floor and look at me please. Smile?”
I didn’t feel like smiling. I was sort of shocked to think that she would even
suggest it. Here I am, locked up in some mental hospital knowing that any
decision I make will affect either my life or the lives of two other people.
Mandy held a laminated identification badge out for me to look at before she
pinned it to my shirt. It was white with bold black lettering: PATIENT:
CARTER,NICKOLAS G 1/28/80 4976851-C18. It also had a picture of
me that she had just taken.
“You have to wear this at all times Nick, for your safety and for ours. Okay,
now we get to go to your room. You are in the green section of the hospital. I
forgot to tell you that our sections are in different colors for each level.
You should be grateful you’re not in the purple section. Ah, here we are,
room number G23.”
As we entered the room, I noticed there were two single sized beds with a
brown dresser separating them. The room had white walls and dark green
carpet. A narrow window that overlooked the parking lot was covered with
thick steel bars.
“Nick, this is your room mate, Jalen. Here’s a list of rules and a layout of the
building. I’m sure he can help you if you have any questions. Dinner is at six,
I’ll see you tomorrow.”
With that stated, the door was closed and locked shut.
Welcome to my new world, this definitely was going to suck.
I waited as AJ shifted uncomfortably. I didn’t blame him. I was willing to bet he was familiar with my state of being as of late. He probably didn’t want to be the one to set off another panic attack. I was pretty upset with all this and I also had that familiar tense feeling. That, I knew, was Nick. I was used to that and it didn’t bother me so much. Ever since it started last spring he always apologized all over the place whenever it happened. I couldn’t say it enough. It wasn’t his fault and this happens for a reason. The only thing I hated about it is that everytime it happens, I know something is wrong. Nick is upset about something and there isn’t a damn thing I can do to make it better. I’d take it all away if I could, but at the same time, I’m sure he wouldn’t give it to me. “AJ, I need to know. Not knowing is worse than anything.” I urged.
“Okay, let’s start with Brian. He’s on a different floor, but it still treated like ICU. On top of missing his meds, and the injuries from the crash, he has pneumonia in both lungs.” AJ watched me carefully for a reaction.
I nodded. Pneumonia is bad. I’ve had to battle that on more than one occasion. “But he’ll be okay right?” I didn’t even want to think otherwise and I was relieved when he nodded.
“He’s going to be fine okay.” Even though he tried to sound reassuring, the worry in his voice was evident. “Nick...he’s in a state institution right now.”
I gasped.
AJ’s eyes widened. “Hold on, let me continue. His attorney wanted to stall for time so he could build up a good defense. Besides with Nick still having amnesia there is no way that he could stand trial and try to defend himself.”
I shook my head as the news settled in. “He can’t be there. Not a mental institute. You know what that’s gonna do to him on the inside? How that’s gonna affect him!”
“I know, but there isn’t much choice Lizz.” AJ shrugged helplessly. “I don’t like the idea any more than you do, but what other choice is there?”
I shook my head again, more vigorously. “AJ you don’t understand! You know what it’s like to not feel ‘normal’? It’s one of the worst feelings in the world. Being in that place, for whatever reason, is going to make it so hard. Whatever the reason.” My voice was reaching the point of desperation. What was going to happen when his amnesia started to wear off? It was something that I didn’t even want to fathom.
“Hey, you gotta stay calm okay? You won’t do yourself any good by getting worked up.” AJ tried to reason.
I took a couple deep breaths and winced at the pain it brought. I guess those saintly pain meds were wearing off. I didn’t want to freak out. If I did, they would sedate me and I wouldn’t hear the rest. “Where’s Kyung?” My voice was very small.
AJ sighed. “They still have her. We don’t know anymore than that. And your parents...none of you are allowed outside contact or harm could come to one fo you guys in here or Kyung. That was reported back from who has Kyung.”
Tears sprung to my eyes. “Dale and Marcus. They’re the only ones that are left. Oh god, what if she...if they...” I couldn’t finish the words. I never felt so alone. I pointlessly tried to fight the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. Agnes’ threat sprung to mind. “AJ you have to go make sure Brian is okay. You can’t let her hurt him again.”
He looked torn, but finally relented. “I’m going to get your nurse. I’ll keep you updated okay?”
I nodded, anxious for him to get back to Brian. Besides, I didn’t want him to see me cry. I hated when people saw me cry. I felt like my mind was in a whirlwind. It was torn between Brian, Nick and Kyung. They were all in trouble and I couldn’t help them. I pounded my fist down on the bedrail and then cried out when a sharp pain knifed through the lower side of my back. It was a pain I felt more than seven months ago. Same place. I bit my lip and reached my good arm back to feel the area. Every part of my body was sore from Terri’s beating and I was already tender to the touch. I pushed on the spot where my kidney was and tried not to gasp. This was bad. Very bad...
