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“Darn it.” Brian felt he hadn’t slept for more than thirty minutes when the alarm went on.

He turned off his alarm and lay back on his bed again.

He wanted to have a few more shut-eyes before finally getting out of bed.


“Brian, you need to go now.” Nick’s voice pierced the darkness surrounding him.

“Go where?” Brian asked nearly frantically.

“To the recording studio.” Nick’s voice faded away and was replaced by Leighanne’s urgent tone.

“Wake up, Brian.” Leighanne shook him awake, “You’re almost late for recording. You’ll have to get up now if you want to be on time for it.”

Brian went out of bed almost immediately. He had almost forgotten about the recording this morning.

He went to his wardrobe and picked out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to wear.

He looked at his watch. He had no time to shower and barely anytime to drive there.

After changing, he got his wallet, car keys, etc. and placed it in his pocket.

“Bye, Leigh.” he quickly pecked Leighanne’s cheek, who in return gazed at him annoyingly.

“Don’t be late, Brian.” she spoke firmly.

“I won’t.” Brian whispered in her ear even though he knew he’d barely make it.


Brian walked into the recording studio nearly 20 minutes late.

Howie looked at him disapprovingly as he entered.

“Where’s AJ?” Brian asked him.

“He’s singing his vocals.” Howie nudged his head towards the glassed area where AJ was singing with headphones on and a microphone in front of him.

“Where’s Nick?” Brian looked questioningly at Howie.

“I hope nothings happened to him.” he secretly pleaded.

“He hasn’t come yet.” Howie looked at his watch tapping his foot impatiently as he did.

“I’ll call him.” Brian brought out his cellphone and called Nick’s house number.”

“Hello?”

It was Aaron, Nick’s younger brother. Brian was secretly disappointed by this.

“Hi, this is Brian…”

“Oh, Brian, have you seen Nick? He hasn’t come home yet.”

Brian froze as he gripped the cellphone.

“He hasn’t come home yet?” Brian asked his voice only above a whisper.

“Yeah, have you seen him?” Aaron questioned him urgently.

“Uhm, I was about to ask about Nick,” Brian looked at Howie, who looked back at him, both fearing the worst had happened to him.

“My gosh, where is he?” Brian heard Aaron gasp over the phone as the same realization hit him: he was missing.


“I’m calling the police.” Brian replied grimly after telling them what Aaron relayed to him.

“Brian, Nick can be in some place out there without us knowing it. We shouldn’t alert the police yet.” AJ spoke calmly.

“”What do you think we’re suppose to do, AJ, drive around town and look for Nick?” Brian’s voice escalated by an octave due to his rage, “The police can post a missing person sign—whatever, and people might be able to recognize him. He doesn’t have a car, remember, so people would probably be able to spot him easily.”

“I think AJ’s right, Brian.” Howie put a hand on his shoulder, “We don’t want any publicity. What is Nick finally shows up, who knows? Let’s wait and if he’s not here by lunch, we call the police.”

Brian sat on the couch as he tried to absorb the things that were said to him. He just hoped Nick showed up before lunch.


Kevin lazily picked up the phone as it rang by his bedside.

“Hello, Richardson residence.” he drawled sleepily to the phone.

“You and your house are being watched. Don’t dare look for Nick or your wife will die.” an unfamiliar low voice said over the phone.

Kevin’s mind was suddenly alerted by what he said.

“Who are you? What do you want? Where’s Nick?” he asked, his mind racing with possible answers.

The anonymous person hung up in response.

“Oh gosh, I hope it’s not one of the boys’ tricks.” he thought.

The phone ran again and Kevin answered it determined to call off the pranker.

“Hello?” he barked to the phone.

“Hi Kevin, it’s me, Brian.”

“Did you just call me a few minutes ago?” Kevin asked suspiciously.

He expected Brian to burst into laughter and confess to him about the joke.

“What are you talking about? No, I just called now, why?” Brian responded innocently.

“Okay, so what did you call about?” Kevin questioned tiredly ignoring his question, “I need my beauty sleep.”

“Is Nick with you in your house, because he’s not here in the recording studio…”

“Did you check his house?”

“Yeah, Aaron answered and said he wasn’t there. Have you seen Nick?” Brian asked once more.

“Sorry, no, the last time I saw him was last night here in my…” Kevin was but off when Brian hung up the phone.