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Nick was pushing a cart up and down aisles at the grocery store. He and Brent practically had no food left. Someone had to do the shopping, even though he didn’t want to. He wanted to keep a low profile, but the many stares from the other shoppers told him that he wasn’t too successful with that.

There was a loud crash at the end of the aisle. A little boy ran a shopping cart right into a display of soda cans. Nick looked up to see what all the commotion was. He shook his head as he realized the young boy in the midst of the chaos.

He went back to his shopping. He stopped as he felt the familiar feeling of someone watching him. He looked around expecting to see a fan that was too timid to approach him. He wasn’t prepared for what he did find.

His eyes locked with the one man that he never wanted to see, or even think about again. Nick dropped what was in his hand and started breathing heavily. He was a step away from hyperventilation. The man’s gaze never broke away from Nick’s. He smirked at Nick then disappeared.

Nick abandoned his cart and started for the exit. He couldn’t get out of that store fast enough. At the moment he didn’t care that he would be going home to a house with no food.

“Well hello there.” Nick froze. He was lost in his own world and didn’t recognize the voice that addressed him. Nick cautiously turned around.

He sighed in relief when he realized that it wasn’t who he thought it was. “Abby?” His voice was soft.

“You know, we spent an awesome three weeks with you and I thought we had become friends, but yet 8 months passed and there was no word from you. Are we not good enough for you to keep in touch with because I’m a fan?” She kept on going, not realizing that Nick was looking everywhere but at her. She got annoyed when she actually realized it. “Jesus, you won’t even look at me. I thought you were better than this.”

Nick made the mistake of looking at her. Their eyes locked briefly before Nick directed his gaze elsewhere. She noticed in those brief seconds that Nick’s eyes were different. They lacked the vibrant color and spark that they usually held. She then looked at him closely. His demeanor changed. The confidence was gone, and replaced with vulnerability.

“What’s wrong Nick?”

He was looking around frantically again. “I can’t stay here. I can’t let myself be hurt again.” He was mumbling, but Abby still heard him.

After another frantic look around, Nick turned and ran, headed straight for the exit. Abby grabbed her cell phone and called Casey.

“Hello?”

“Casey.”

“Abby, what’s wrong? You sound out of breath.”

“I’m running after Nick. Something’s wrong with him.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know. Casey, I’m really worried about him?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Can you meet us…”

Nick heard the conversation that Abby was having and stopped. He went back to Abby and started to shake his head. “Hold on Case.” Abby covered the mouth piece with her hand. “Yeah?”

“Don’t bring Casey here.”

“Why not Nick?”

“I can’t see her, not like this, not here.” He quickly grabbed his car keys from his pocket and bolted across the parking lot to his car. Abby was hot on his heels. He reached the car, and unlocked it. He opened the door. He got in. Before closing the door he said, “Leave me alone Abby. Please.” He shut the door, turned the car on, blasted his radio and pulled out of the parking lot.

He arrived at his house. He got out of the car and ran straight for his door. He was fumbling with his keys. He was so anxious to get inside that he dropped his keys a few times. He got in the house, locked the door behind him. He ran upstairs and into his bedroom, and locked that door as well. He went to his bedroom window and bolted it shut. He walked backwards to his bed. Once he felt the bed behind his knees, he sat down and pushed himself up into the middle of his bed. He brought his knees up to his chest.

About an hour later, Brent pulled into the driveway. He spotted Nick’s car. He sighed since Nick didn’t leave the house for yet another day. He put his car keys into his pocket and headed for the front door. He was lost in thought as he reached the door. He was really worried about Nick and couldn’t find a way to get him to open up. He tried to open the front door, but the door wouldn’t budge. The door was locked, but why would it be locked if Nick was home. He grabbed his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. He left his briefcase on the couch and went upstairs. He knocked on Nick’s door, but as usual, Nick wouldn’t respond. He could hear Nick crying. He tried Nick’s bedroom door, but it too was locked. He kept trying to get Nick to open the door.

He sighed in defeat when the doorbell rang. He started to the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he stopped and looked at Nick’s door. The doorbell rang again, and he went downstairs. He opened the door. He looked at the visitors in shock. “Hi, I wasn’t expecting you two here.”

“Well, maybe it wouldn’t be such a shock if you’d kept in touch.” Casey pushed passed Brent pulling Abby with her.

Brent bit his bottom lip and looked guiltily at the girls. “I’m sorry. I could give you a million excuses for not keeping in touch, but none of them are a good enough reason for not keeping in touch, so I’ll spare you. I just got home from work, so I want to go change. You know you’re way around, so help yourself to our no food.” Brent went upstairs and returned a few minutes later. He joined the girls in the kitchen.

“So where is he?”

“Upstairs, locked in his bedroom.”

“Brent, what’s wrong with him?” Abby asked?

Brent sighed. “I wish I knew.”

“You mean, you don’t?”

“He won’t tell me. Wait a minute. How do you know something’s wrong with him?”

“I saw him at the supermarket this morning. He was acting like he was running away from something.”

“Whatever happened to him, it was definitely big. He’s been home for a week and a half, and I don’t think I saw him smile once. I’m really worried about him.”

“I’m sure he’ll be ok.” Abby said.

“I just wish that he’d talk to me. Ya know. The day after he came home, I woke him up from a nightmare, and he acted like I was going to hurt him.” Brent looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs. “Can you girls go out back? I want to talk to him alone.”

“Sure.” They went outside.

Nick entered the room. “Hey Nick.”

Nick looked up. “Hi.”

“Nick, come sit down please.” Nick reluctantly walked to the table and sat. He didn’t say anything. “Nick, can you please tell me what’s wrong?”

Nick sighed. “Brent, I told you. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I want to help you, but I can’t because you won’t tell me. I feel so helpless.”

Nick stood up. He walked to the fridge. He wouldn’t look at Brent. “I can’t.”

Brent stood up and put his hand on Nick’s shoulder. “Nick.” He turned Nick around a bit rougher than he had expected.

Nick pushed him back. Brent retaliated and pushed Nick a lot harder than he wanted. Nick lost his balance and fell. Brent approached him. He pushed himself back in fear. Brent stopped Nick from leaving. “No. You will tell me.” Brent hit Nick. Nick curled himself into a ball and started crying.

The girls saw Brent hitting Nick, so they ran into the house. “Brent, stop.” They pulled him off of Nick. Nick stood up and ran from the room. Casey ran after him.
Brent stood in shock in the kitchen. “I hit him. I can’t believe I hit him. I don’t know what came over me.” Abby rubbed his back.

Casey approached Nick’s door. She was pleased to see that he had left the door open a bit. She pushed it open all the way. She spotted Nick sitting on his bed. His tears were mixing with his blood. She went up to him and pulled him to his feet. He looked at her confused. “Casey?”

“Hi Nick.”

“What are you doing here?” Nick winced.

“Ssshhh, don’t talk Nick.” She gently pulled him to his bathroom. She put the toilet seat cover down and made Nick sit on it. She cleaned his cut and wiped his tears. “Can you tell me what happened to you Nick?”

“I won’t tell Brent, what makes you think I’d tell you?”

“Because I’m not as close to you as Brent is. You don’t have to fear disappointing me.”

Nick stood up and started walking away. “Come on Nick, you need to tell someone.”

“I don’t want to tell someone.”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t want to tell someone. All that matters is that you have to tell someone. You can’t keep living like this.” Nick didn’t say anything. He kept walking away from Casey as Casey continued to badger him to get him to tell.

He entered the living room. He saw Brent looking at him, so he looked back. “Nick I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

“I know.”

“Please Nick. What’s wrong with you?” Brent was pleading with Nick.

“Nick you need help. You need to get over yourself and tell someone what’s wrong?” Casey said as she grabbed his arm.

He pulled roughly out of her grasp and turned abruptly. “So that’s it huh? You think I’m a pity case because I like to keep some thing private.” He was getting angry. “Maybe I should have a press conference.” He said sarcastically. “Then everybody would know what’s wrong with me. Do you think then that everyone will leave me the hell alone? You want to know what’s wrong with me, but none of you will understand what I’m going through. None of you know what it’s like to be forced by someone.” They gave him a look that said, of course people force you for stuff; you’re famous. He saw the look. He became frustrated. “Don’t you get it? I was fucking raped.”