It was cold, way too cold and it hit me hard as I fell into and then underneath the water. It was the kind of cold when you feel it creeping up over every inch of your body and the chill you feel slowly creeping up is almost unavoidable, culminating in a harsh stinging in your ears. I had a really hard time coming up from below, no matter how much I flailed my arms I felt like I was going nowhere. Just like in my dream, the one where Brian transformed into that lady.
I managed to finally pull myself up out of the water and blew out some cold air as I yelled for Kevin and Brian, “Can you guys hear me?” I asked. There was a mist coming up from the water creating a dense fog. I couldn’t see very far at all. I turned my body around to face the huge log we had fallen from and could just barely make it out.
“Brian…Kevin! Can you guys hear me?” I asked again, the air was so cold around me now I was shivering. What if they were stuck under the water or worse yet, what if something was preventing them from coming up! That thought made me take a huge breath and venture back under. I forced myself to open my eyes even though I didn’t want to. I was afraid of what I might see under there, but the water was so murky I couldn’t see a thing.
I pulled myself up again and took in a big gulp of air. I was panicking and I knew that wasn’t a good thing. It’s bad to panic in water…in the middle of haunted woods where death is looking for you….yes very, very bad!
“Kevin!” I screamed once again this time slowly paddling closer to the place where we dropped. Maybe they fell back onto the other side and were with Howie and AJ. Although if that was the case, wouldn’t they be up there on the log looking for me? How come AJ wasn’t up on that log?
“AJ! Can you hear me?” I screamed as loud as I could. I knew I wasn’t going to get any response.
“Can’t anybody hear me?” I asked, my voice breaking as I finally allowed my fear to take hold in the form of tears.
Calm down Nick….deep breaths…you need to make it to the shore….come on…I found myself saying over and over again paddling around in search of land, any land. Maybe this is just another one of those dreams. Maybe we never left the camp ground and I’ll wake up and be snug as a bug in a rug right in my sleeping bag.
I closed my eyes, hoping that when I opened them again I would be in my tent; but before I could open them, I felt a huge wave hit me from the back. I instantly fell under the water before I had a chance to take in a breath. The taste of salt water hit my lungs and made me want to throw up. This was it; I was going to die right here in the middle of an ocean all alone… or lake… or large-ish body of water.
Another wave hit me, but I saw it just in time to take a breath. I went under and started to flail to get myself back up to the top. It was getting harder to swim now, like my body suddenly started to weigh a ton. “Somebody help me!” I screamed as loud as possible.
I thought maybe by now at least Casper would have come to me, but I was really all alone. I started to full on cry now, letting my emotions get the best of me. I knew if I didn’t get to solid ground soon, I was going to drown. “Come on Nick…you can do this…stop crying and get to land…” I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down and tried my best to forget how cold I was.
Happily, I soon saw what looked like grass; I reached over and pulled myself up and out of the water, coughing like crazy the entire time. Lying on my back, cold and scared I yelled once more, “Brian…Kevin!! Where are you?” But I didn’t get an answer. “Please, don’t leave me all alone…” I sat up crying like a damn baby now, even wiping my nose with my sleeve.
“Why is this happening to me?” I was so cold I couldn’t make myself warm no matter how hard I tried. I sat with my hands wrapped around my knees and my head resting on my arms, rocking back and forth.
I missed my family so much. Why did they have to go away without me? They knew how much I needed them to be with me. How could they pawn me off on the guys yet again? I mean yeah, I got to go camping but still, it wasn’t what I really wanted. I really wanted to just spend time with my family as if we were a real family. I know Aaron is busy and he needs them too, but so do I. “It’s not fair.”
This was supposed to be so much fun, all of us doing something together like camping. I feel so special when they want to do something with me, but then this happens. I have to ruin everything. I always ruin everything.
“Nick…” I turned to the sound of Casper’s voice. “Stop with the negative thoughts, it only makes him stronger.”
“Where were you? How come you keep leaving me all alone?”
“I told you I’d watch your friends…they are safe.”
“All of them? I can’t find Brian and Kevin…” I started to cry again. If they got hurt because of me, they’d hate me forever.
“They are okay…they’re looking for you right now.” Just a few seconds after he said that I heard them coming towards me.
When Brian saw me, he came running, “Nick….thank God, we thought we lost you!” He grabbed me in a hug and I felt his tears hit my cheek. He gave me that odd tingly feeling again and even though I was soaked to the bone, when he hugged me all I felt was warmth.
“Don’t ever do that again little man…do you understand me?” Kevin asked, grabbing me in a hug as well. Once again he was warm as the sun. I didn’t want to let go. Why weren’t they wet?
“Didn’t you guys fall into the water?” I asked them pulling away and feeling very confused. They were bone dry while I was soaked like a wet rat.
“Water?”
“Yeah…when the earthquake happened didn’t you fall off the log into the water?”
They both looked at each other as if I had said the stupidest thing in the world, and then Kevin placed his arms around my shoulder. “We fell but luckily ended up on the grass. We couldn’t find you anywhere, you fell into water?”
I moved away from him and held my arms out to the side to show him how wet I was, the weird thing about that is, I was no longer wet at all…what the heck? “I fell into water I swear I did. I thought I was going to drown.”
Kevin sighed and smiled at me, putting his hand by my face, “Well, you’re okay now and that’s all that matters…but we should keep moving.”
I wanted to do what he said, just forget about what happened but I was having a hard time trying, “How did you not see the water? I mean look at it!” I turned and pointed to the huge lake that still had mist coming off of it.
“Nick…” Brian started, by his stammering I knew what he was going to say so I prepared myself for it. “There’s nothing there.”
“You can’t see that?” I asked again, how could they not see that huge ass body of water?
They looked at each other once again and then both shook their heads. Of course what I did next probably didn’t help in the ‘Nick is not insane’ defense; I turned towards Casper and asked him. “You see it don’t you?”
“Of course I do.”
“How come they can’t?”
“Nick, who are you talking to? Brian who is he talking to?” Kevin’s confused voice asked in the background.
“Because it’s almost time Nick. That’s why you have to keep moving. You just fell into the lake of regret, it’s one of the last places you go before stepping out of the woods.”
“So, that means I’m almost home? We’re almost there?”
“Brian…he’s freaking me out a little.”
“Not necessarily Nick…”
“Oh.”
I felt a hand on my shoulder and jumped. It was only Brian thankfully, he smiled at me and then over at Casper, even though he couldn’t see him, “We need to go Frack.”
“Okay…” I looked back at Casper but once more he was gone.
“Are you feeling okay little man?” Kevin asked me after walking in silence for a little while. It was nice not having to worry about climbing over logs or anything, seemed like they all disappeared. Maybe they were never there to begin with, who the hell even knows anymore?
I really was having a hard time, but it wasn’t only because I wasn’t feeling well, it was more of a mental thing. With every step we took, I found myself getting sadder and sadder. I wanted to just give up, what’s the use anyway? Once we got out of the woods and back home, it’s not like I would have anyone waiting for me. My parents would still be with Aaron and the guys would still be stuck with me. I’m sure they would all want to do their own things. Kevin will run for Kris the second we are out of here. Brian and Howie will call their families and AJ will have his mother waiting for him at the hotel.
I’ll be the only one all alone…again.
“Nick, you never answered me….how are you feeling?”
I looked over at Kevin and shrugged, “Okay I guess.”
“Are you tired? You look really tired and flushed.”
“Yeah…kind of.”
“What’s wrong? You’ve been too quiet.”
I shrugged again; I didn’t much feel like talking. What was the point anyway? It wouldn’t change anything.
“Talk to me kiddo, what’s wrong?”
That’s when I stopped walking and sat down on the ground, “I don’t think I can do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
Brian, who had been walking ahead of us and whistling, stopped when he saw me sitting down. He came over towards us, “We really need to keep moving Nick.”
“Why? What’s the point?”
“What are you talking about?” Brian looked annoyed, “you know what the point is!”
“Well, I give up…”
“What? You can’t give up…we’re so close to getting out of here! What’s going on with you?”
Kevin walked off by himself for a second as if to give the two of us some time to talk, that was odd. Normally he would jump in with his two cents by now. “Well, I can give up and I am!”
Brian’s reaction wasn’t the classic ‘Frick deals with angsty teen’ way. He walked over and grabbed my arm, pulling me off the ground kind of hard.
“AH! What the heck!”
“You aren’t giving up, not this time!” He yelled as he pulled me along.
“Brian you’re hurting me! Stop!”
“No, not this time…whenever anything gets too hard you quit, well I’m not letting you quit this time!”
“Brian stop it…Kevin!”
“Kevin’s not going to let you quit either!”
“But he’ll stop you from hurting me…I think you’re breaking my arm!” He let go then and I fell backwards. I swear I’m going to invent a built in ass buffer, like an air bag or something to put into all jeans. I will make millions.
I started rubbing my sore arm, knowing he’d feel bad. I don’t think it worked. “If you don’t get your ass up right now I’m dragging you by your hair!”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Yeah okay fine…I was crying again.
“We don’t have time for this Nick, just get up and let’s keep going!”
“You’re not Brian at all are you?” My eyes got big when it hit me that I was probably right, because Brian would have never ever done anything like that to me. Never in a million years.
Suddenly I felt that chill in the air, the same one I felt whenever evil Howie made an appearance. I started scooting back slowly on my behind when I realized I was able to see my own breath. “Stay away from me.” I warned as he slowly began walking towards me.
“Nick, stop being ridiculous, I’m only trying to help you.”
“How? By hurting me?”
“Oh come on, I didn’t hurt you…I barely touched you!”
“Stay away…I mean it!” My voice was shaking but I’ll be damned if I was going to let evil Brian win this round.
“Where is Brian?”
“I’m right here in front of you!”
“Kevin!”
“Stop calling Kevin!”
“No…Kevin!!” I screamed a little louder that time but still he didn’t show up. What in the world was going on?
“What did you do to Kevin?”
“The same thing I did to you…nothing!” I was about to stand when the earth around us started to shake once again. “Nick, you have to keep yourself calm can’t you see what’s happening?”
“What?” I managed to say before losing my footing and once again landing…you guessed it; into the water… you know the water that supposedly wasn’t even there! For not being there it sure was cold as hell!
“Guys!” I said once more flailing my arms trying to keep my head above water. It felt even colder this time and I found my energy waning rapidly.
“Help me please!!”
“Nick, you need to relax!” Brian called from the shore…nice, I guess at least he saw me this time.
“See? I told you there was water…I…” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because I got sucked under once again. This time I felt something grab at my ankle and really began to panic when I couldn’t break free of it.
I tried to open my eyes in the murky water to get a better look at what it might be and lo and behold holding my ankle was my very own father. He seemed to be smiling as he did it too.
“Where do you think you’re going Nick?” He asked me as if we were on dry land. I kicked at him furiously and hit him in the face which made him let go. Once out of his grip, I swam for the surface of the water and then once up, toward the shore.
There were a lot of ghosts in the water with me this time as opposed to last time when I was all alone. They all just kind of bobbed up and down with the current, their faces halfway covered by water as if they were alligators ready to attack.
My father then did the same thing, coming only up to the surface so I could see his eyes and nothing more. I turned and headed back to the shore, afraid to have my back to these people but more scared to be alone in the water with them. Suddenly, I became dizzy and started seeing double. “Not now!” I said to myself as I bit my lip, maybe if I inflicted pain on myself it would help me to focus, but it didn’t work. I felt myself going under again and this time, I felt helpless to stop it.
“He’s running out of time…I can’t handle this anymore!”
“Brian…he’ll be okay, I know he will.”
“How can you say that Kevin? We’re losing him.”
I felt a cool hand petting my cheek as if I was a dog. It felt nice and warm, but most importantly it felt safe. I opened my eyes to see Kevin looking down at me as I lay with my head on his lap. “Kevin…what happened? Did you get me out of the water? I thought I was going to drown.”
Gradually I sat up and immediately tensed up when I saw Brian sitting on a log staring at me, “Kevin, that’s not Brian…keep him away from me!”
“Relax Nick…you have to stay calm or else it’ll happen again.”
“What will happen again?”
“An earthquake.” Brian answered as if he wanted to tag a ‘duh’ on there or something. How on earth can an earthquake be my fault? I mean I know I tend to get blamed for everything that happens in the whole universe, but an earthquake?
I looked over at the water and the odd, creepy ghosts were still all doing there ‘I’m an alligator’ impersonation but happily, my father was nowhere near them anymore.
“How did I get out of the water?” I asked Kevin again; although why I asked I have no clue. It’s not like he was going to have an answer for me or anything.
“Nick…I think it’s time to show you something.” Uh oh…that was never a good thing to hear. Isn’t this usually the time in horror movies when the guy you always thought was your best friend takes off his mask and ends up being some kind of creepy sand monster who then proceeds to eat you slowly?
“I don’t think I want to see…”
“I know but…I really don’t know what else to do. We’re running out of time.”
“You aren’t that talking groundhog are you?”
“What?”
“Nothing…never mind…” I stood up and shook the dirt off of my jeans, “We better continue on or we’ll never get out of here by nightfall.”
“I knew you wouldn’t quit.” Brian said, smiling at me.
“I know I may whine and complain to the point you all want to kill me, but I’m not a quitter! Well, not always.”
“Good Nick.” Kevin said semi smiling, why wasn’t he full out grinning like a madman though? I mean I just said I wasn’t giving up; they should be doing a dance, right?
“So, let’s go then.” I said and started to walk in the same direction we had been going, but stopped when I didn’t hear them following me.
“What?” I asked confused as they just stood there looking at me, “You were just about to pull me by my hair to get me to keep moving but now you are just planted in one spot…let’s go Brian!”
Brian looked at his cousin who then looked at me, “You’re right Nick, it’s time to go…but I’m afraid you have to go the rest of the way alone.”
“What? Is this some kind of joke?” I asked, nervous laughing as I looked from one cousin to the next.
“I’m afraid not little man…come on, I need to show you something.”
Now Casper was standing there right next to Kevin and nodded slowly at me, “Remember how I told you things would start making more sense as you went along?” I nodded at my ghost friend.
“Well, now’s the time. You’re about to get all your answers.”
“But I don’t understand…” I said to Casper, but it was Kevin who answered me.
“You will…come on buddy.” He said patting my back and leading me towards a patch of trees.
We walked slowly towards the trees where I once again looked at Brian who was staring at me much the same way all the dead people in the water were. He looked away just as I walked through the trees and saw what Kevin had wanted me to see.
I gasped.
Hope you enjoyed and thanks for reading! I'm taking about a month off, so i'll see you I guess at the end of May. :O)
Kidding! lmao I had to, I couldn't resist. I would never leave you guys hanging like that. I'll be back next Wednesday with the second to last chapter I believe. :O) Have a Happy Easter! I know, i'm so evil :OP Oooh even after I was mean, The evil Ariana herself has made a site devoted to my book. Here's the link...if you have the time go check it out :O)
Wow lot's of :O) in this A/N lol
