Guys, I have bad news and good news. Bad news is, I’m going to be totally deaf and there’s nothing the doctors can do to stop that from happening. Good news is, it won’t happen give or take another six months.


~*~

As if driving on the wrong side of the road in a foreign country wasn’t bad enough, he had to do it in the middle of the night. Kevin Richardson pondered on his luck, this was the fourth time he found himself having to take the night shift. He almost scolded himself for agreeing to this trip until he quickly remembered why he had said yes in the first place.

It wasn’t all that bad actually. In fact, it was Kevin who had suggested England when his friends were throwing out ideas of places to go when they had decided for a little vacation, just like the old times. Of course this time it was a little bit different. Everything they did together just felt extra special than the ones they had before.

“I’m not sure I like seeing that vacant look on your face while you’re driving Kevin.”

Kevin chanced a quick glance at his friend sitting on his left.

“It’s not vacant.”

“Of course; when I said vacant I also meant you had a hundred and one things running inside that head of yours.”

“I don’t have a hundred and one things running inside my head Nick.”

“Right, silly me. Is a thousand and one things about right?”

Kevin sighed to show that he didn’t have a better comeback for that remark. Nick chuckled at this before deciding to leave his friend alone and went back to typing on his laptop.

“How’s the writing going?” Kevin asked conversationally. When his question was met with silence, he gave a quick tap on his friend’s shoulder to get his attention.

“What? Want me to whip out the map again?”

“Nope. I asked how’s the writing going so far.” Kevin said. Nick Carter wasn’t only one of his childhood friends, he was also the author to US No.1 Best Selling children’s books. His best one yet was The Adventures of Carrie Series.

“Oh…I haven’t started yet, would you believe it? I’m beginning to think I’m not up to writing novels, maybe I should stick to children’s books.”

“Please, you wrote plenty of adult stuff back in school. And don’t be so humble, I’ve seen you typing away in that laptop of yours plenty of times since we’ve been here.”

“That’s for my journal. I-”

“You have a friggin diary?”

“Journal.” Nick stressed. “Pieces of thoughts of the stuff we visited today and people we’ve met. It’s helpful when you’re trying to come up with fictional characters and talk about places.”

“But you don’t even know what you’re going to write about.”

“Yet.” Nick reminded him.

“You could write about a young, good looking teacher.”

“I don’t feel like writing about the story of your life Kevin.”

“My life story happens to be very interesting.”

“I might give you a cameo though?”

“It’s overdue. You put Carrie in your books in a heartbeat.”

“I can’t believe you’re jealous of your own daughter.”

“She still makes me read ‘The Adventures of Carrie and a bunny named Ribbit’ every damn night. I have it memorized by heart, do you want to hear it?”

“That’s okay Kevin.” Nick laughed as he went back to typing away in his journal. Kevin squinted ahead and realized there were more buildings by the road than before, which could only mean they had entered Pickering.

“What’s the time?” Kevin asked.

“Did you say something?” Nick asked distractedly.

“I asked for the time.” Kevin repeated and then chanced a glance over at his blonde haired friend as he checked the clock on his laptop.

“Fifteen minutes to eleven.”

“Seriously?”

“Yup…you still have fifteen minutes before shift ends.”

“This is really weird man.”

“Yes, for the hundredth time, I know it’s weird to drive on your right side.”

“Hey I wasn’t even complaining before!”

“Yeah, but those three at the back had and it’s getting old.” Nick retorted as he waved his hand lazily to the three sleeping men on the backseat.

Kevin looked from his rearview mirror and true enough, their three other buddies were very deep in slumberland. “They look so peaceful aren’t they?”

Nick looked back and scrunched up his face. “To the point of nausea.”

Kevin sniggered. “How come you’re not asleep?”

“Because I’m typing?” Nick snorted.

“Well then you should take a break from typing and sleep. God knows when we’ll reach there at this stage.”

“Aww but you love my company Kevin. It keeps you awake and that’s important, keeping you awake.”

“I could turn on the radio if I want company.”

“What’s the point of making us sleep if you’re gonna turn on the radio.”

“Good point.”

Kevin went back to concentrating on driving, trying to read some of the road signs ahead. The last thing he wanted to do was getting them lost. For one thing, he knew he’d be the receiving end of his friend AJ’s jokes. And he would bet his entire saving that Brian would start lecturing and repeat the whole ‘I’m the better driver, I should be the one driving at night’ speech. And then there was Howie. Kevin pondered for a moment what his curly haired friend’s reaction would be if he made the ‘guys, we’re lost in the middle of friggin nowhere’ announcement. Kevin didn’t get to think for long when he heard Nick called his name.

“What?”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“That would be insulting my brain Nick.”

“I’ll let that pass for now only cause my life’s safety is in your hands.” And then Kevin watched as the sly grin appeared on his friend’s face.

“I’ve known you for too long to know that nothing good could ever come out while you have that look on your face.”

Nick just snickered and without warning, reached out for the steering wheel…and pressed the honk with all his might.

The reaction was almost instantaneous.

“Did we hit something? Is everyone OKAY?”

“God Brian, stop yelling!” Nick said as he tried to suppress the laughter. Brian Littrell had the most comical look Nick had ever known, even when he was in a state of panic.

“What the fuck was that?” Alexander James, their tattoo clad friend exclaimed next. He appeared to still be half asleep.

“Did we hit something?” Brian stressed again.

“No Brian, we didn’t hit something.” Kevin said lazily.

“Then why the fuck were you honking Kev?”

“I didn’t honk it AJ!”

“Then who-Nick! Man, I was having a good dream!”

“You were? That’s good.” Nick mused. It also hadn’t passed him to notice that one of this friend was still fast asleep and seemed to be unaffected by his earlier prank at all.

“We really didn’t hit something?” Brian asked again.

“No Brian we didn’t.” Nick said, almost attempting to roll his eyes.

“What about someone?” Brian asked again.

“Look Bri, you won’t go back home and six months later found a mysterious letter saying I know what you did last summer okay?”

“Nick I swear, even the kids in my class behaves better than you.” Kevin pointed out.

“Kevin, I did that for you! Is this the thanks I get?”

“You didn’t do that for me you moron.”

“Yes I did! Here you are driving on the wrong side of the road at night, tired after spending an entire day harassing some locals about the history of Castle Howard and they’re back there, in dreamland. I thought waking them up would cheer you some Mr. Moody.”

Sometimes, the way Nick speaks, Kevin always thought his friend was reading them a story.

“Speaking of Howard, Howie’s dead as a log.” AJ pointed out as he looked past Brian, who was sitting in the middle. Howie Dorough had his head lolled to his left and the side of his head pressed against the window. He was definitely still deep in sleep.

“He can sleep through a nuclear bomb.” Brian joked.

“I’m half deaf but I still wake up to the sound of a car honking; especially when I’m IN the said car.” Nick pointed out as he kept his gaze on his sleeping friend, obviously amused.

“But this is an art form Nick, not a defect. It takes years of skill to reach the standard Howie’s in.” AJ said.

Nick frowned. “Did you just call me a defect?”

“You know what I mean.” AJ waved it off. Nick still gave him the finger. “Touche.”

“Hey Brian, maybe you can whip out your stethoscope and check if he still has his pulse.”

Brian groaned. “That’s not funny Nick.”

“Actually it is. Go on Bri, I can even take a pic of you two. I’ll have it in my next Summer collection and call it, Playing Doctor.”

“Are you sure it’s not for your porn Collection AJ?” Kevin asked.

“We’re going somewhere with this now…great…will you both contribute something for my collection then?” AJ asked Kevin and Nick, entertaining the idea.

“Why AJ, we’re humble nobodys dude. But you know what would be awesome though?” Nick said.

“What?”

“Since you’re one of Hollywood’s famous photographer and all…you should really make a collection of say, famous female actress in role playing…costumes.”

Brian sighed wearily. “You know, sometimes I wonder if parents worldwide would be so excited to buy those children books Nick wrote for their kids if they ever get to be a fly on the wall when he speaks like this.”

“And you’re a pediatrician yourself Brian, and you’re my buddy…my downfall will be yours as well.” Nick said.

“And mine too. I teach young kids.” Kevin added.

“Hey, at least everyone will know you’re all friends of Alexander James, the guy who gets to see Angelina Jolie stripping down in between her photoshoot.”

“Right. That’s nice to hear AJ.” Brian said sarcastically. “Where does Howie fit in this mix?”

“Nowhere. He doesn’t get to play this game since he’s still sleeping like a dead log!” AJ claimed.

There was a short pause before Nick looked back at his friend and said, “I really think you should check his pulse Brian, it’s not normal for someone to still be asleep when we’re talking about our porn tendencies and role playing thing.”

Brian made to pull out his stethoscope before everyone, save Howie, laugh out loud. It wasn’t really all that funny if you think about it, but for some reason, they felt tickled by the little act and Kevin appreciated that. The kinks on the back of his neck had been aggravating on his nerves for quite awhile now.

“How far along are we anyway?” Brian asked after they had settled back down.

“I honestly don’t know. It’s so dark out there, I hardly can see what’s in front of me.” Kevin yawned.

“That’s not very comforting Kevin.” Nick pointed out.

“Which one? My yawning or lack of visual?” Kevin mused.

“Both, you dork.”

“I think you can stop by the road and let me take over now. My shift’s next isn’t it?” AJ said, already motioning to unfasten his seatbelt.

“Still have five minutes more.”

“Nevermind that. Since I’m wide awake no thanks to some git.” AJ said as he glared at the back of Nick’s head.

“You know you could pick up the good British slangs instead.” Kevin couldn’t help pointing out. He blamed it on the teacher in him.

AJ patted Nick’s shoulder to get his attention. “Would you prefer prat?”

“Sounds better than asshole.” Nick shrugged. Brian laughed.

“See, Nick doesn’t seem to have any problems with it.”

“You guys are hopeless. I hope you can refrain yourself from saying those words in front of my daughter when you – what the-”

Kevin didn’t finish what he wanted to say as he swerved the car violently to the left. There was a short screeched of tires before the sound of metal hitting a tree could be heard. In a matter of a few seconds, the world stopped spinning and everything was still.


“Is everyone okay!” Brian yelled as he struggled with his seatbelt. “Kevin? Nick? You guys okay up there?”

“Oh God, what was that?”

“Hey Howie, I’m surprised you’re awake!” AJ attempted to joke as he coughed.

“Did we just crash into a tree?” Howie gasped.

“Not really crash, just a little banged up I supposed; and you’re awake!” AJ coughed again.

“Why shouldn’t I be? We hit a friggin tree!” Howie screeched.

“Well, you slept through our porn talk…”

“AJ shut up, you’re not making sense at all!” Howie said and then turned to the others. “Guys?”

“Howie, are you all right?” Brian asked, already grabbing for his medical kit.

“Yeah…I think I bruised my shoulder but nothing serious.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. You?”

“I’m okay. I almost didn’t use the seatbelt.” Brian said as he shook his head. “Kevin you okay up there?”

“Something was out there, I was trying to avoid it.” Kevin said almost in a whisper. He looked pale, obviously shocked at what just happened.

“It’s okay Kev, you didn’t hit anything, I didn’t feel anything going underneath the car.” Brian assured him.

“Or above.” AJ said.

“That’s good.”

“Are you all right?” AJ asked.

“Should be.” Kevin replied as he rubbed his chest.

“You hit that wheel pretty darn hard if I say so myself.” Nick said.

“Yeah I did but I don’t think anything’s broken. You hit your head too.” Kevin said.

“It’s gonna bruise, I can so feel it.” Nick groaned.

“Not to mention headache I bet.” AJ pointed out.

“How about you bearer of bad news? Anything broken?”

“Nope, but you wish I did, didn’t you?”

“One can only hope.” Nick joked.

“Keep hoping then Blondie; for now, I think we should get the heck out of this car just to be safe.”

“You don’t think it’s going to explode do you?” Howie asked, eyes suddenly wide in terror.

“I’m just saying-”

“It’s not going to explode!” Kevin said as he glared at AJ. “But this doofus is right, we should at least go check out the damage.”

“This is going to cost us.” Howie said as he opened the door on his side.

“And the real estate agent has spoken.” AJ announced.

Brian laughed. Sometimes he wondered if they would all start killing each other if AJ weren’t there to amuse them with his stupid remarks.

The two front doors were jammed on impact so both Kevin and Nick waited for their turn to get out through the back door. By the time Kevin was out of the car, his friends were already unloading their bags from the boot.

Kevin took the time to look around him. Other than what looked like a grand house standing on the opposite side of the road, there was nothing else for about another mile or so. He tried looking for a sign to clue him as to where they might be and found one that simply said ‘Apricot Lodge 2 miles’

It still didn’t help him in finding out where they were but at least now he knew where to find lodging for the night.

He turned back, about to tell his friends that he had found lodging for the night, when he saw AJ excitedly telling their friends to pose in front of the shady tree and next to the wrecked car.

“We have to mark this incident down guys.” He heard AJ saying excitedly to their equally excited friends. They had all escaped a crash with minor cuts and bruises after all.

“Hey Kev! Get in the damn picture!” Brian yelled.

“No, no wait! Kevin you should sit out this one so Nick can make a scrapbook out of this and write a story of the day we turned our backs on Kevin for crashing the car in!” AJ joked.

“Ha, ha, that’s not funny AJ.” Kevin said as he rolled his eyes.

“You know, there’s a saying that if 3 people take a picture together, the one in the middle will die an untimely death.” Howie remarked.

The sight was comical to Kevin. Brian’s head immediately turned to Nick while Nick looked around before realizing he was in fact, standing in the middle before proceeding to smack the back of Howie’s head.

“What? I’m just saying what I heard!”

“Shut up and smile Howard.” Nick groaned before smiling for the picture. A quick flash later, and it was done.

“Here Kev, pose for me. Make it your sexiest mug shot ever.”

“Get the fuck away AJ.” Kevin groaned.

“Dude you’re such a party pooper. Come on, just one shot!” AJ urged.

Kevin rolled his eyes and then pretended as if he was posing for a Levi’s jean commercial. “Ah yes, wicked! That’s wicked mate! Now give me your ‘I just got shagged’ look.”

Kevin gave him the finger and walked back to the car. “I don’t even want to know what shag means Alex.”

“It means fucked, Kevin.”

Kevin sighed. “Thanks Nick.”

“You’re welcome.” Nick grinned. “You know you could-” Nick paused when he saw Kevin frowning. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you know your head’s bleeding?”

As if on reflex, Nick reached up to touch the bump on his head and came away with bloodied fingers. “Hmm, yeah, I guess I am.”

“Let me fix that for you.” Brian said, already making his way towards Nick with his medical kit. “So guys, what are we gonna do now?” Brian asked as he wiped the blood away with a medicated tissue.

“There’s a sign that says Apricot Lodge 2 miles ahead.” Kevin said. “I think we should go there and settle this little accident tomorrow morning. I doubt the car rental company is still open now.”

“You know, maybe we could go knock on the door to that house and ask for help? Who knows, they might let us spend the night. It could save us 2 miles of walk.” Brian suggested as he placed a gauze and held it with a patch of medicated plaster over the cut. “That’s going to need stitching Nick.” His friend groaned inwardly.

“That’s not going to work Bri.” Howie said.

“And why is that Howie?”

“Because that house is inhabited.”

“And how do you know this?” Brian asked, amused.

“There’s a ‘for sale’ sign on the front yard.” Howie pointed out.

“Annnddd the real estate agent has spoken, again!” AJ said, as if he was announcing a winner.

Kevin opted to ignore AJ for the moment and silently made it his mission to keep caffeine away from his hyperactive friend.

“So, we’re walking.” Everyone looked at him and resigned to their fate before hauling their traveling bags over their shoulder and began their walk. AJ started to sing a make up song about Apricots much to the annoyance of his friends.

2: Whispers

She was running. There seemed to be blood everywhere. On her hands, on her feet…it made it that much more difficult to run when the floor was slippery from all that blood. She could hear her chasing after her, her once soft voice now laced with anger. She couldn’t get caught, she needed to escape and just disappear…

She ran down the stairs, leaving a trail of bloodied footprint behind. She grabbed the railing as if her very life depended on it.


No debería haber acabado así... ella está aca.


The stairs seemed to last forever. Everything was spinning.


When she finally reached the landing, she made a sprint for the door. Her only escape.


“A dónde crees que vas?”


No…No…No…


Her head snapped back up the stairs and there she was, staring down at her, her face now a menace of pure hatred. She ignored her calls and kept on climbing down the stairs, almost slipping a step. She could hear her climbing down now, almost reaching her.


As she reached for the front door, she halted and turned around one last time, allowing herself to study her surrounding as if it was the first time she had stepped into the house. There was no turning back now. She had to get away from there.


She felt the yank of a hand pulling her by the hair. She let out a strangled cry, surprising even herself at how eerie it sounded. The last thing she saw was the glaring of the sun hitting her right on the face…


Nick was still battling with the residue of his sleep when he heard the cheery voice of none other than Brian Littrell urging him to wake up and face the new day. There was the sound of the curtain being drawn apart and the sudden intrusion of the sunlight glaring into the room they shared together the night before. Despite the air-conditioned atmosphere, he found himself sweating and groaned when he realized that AJ was right after all. He did wake up with a nasty headache. Not exactly the way he had expected to greet a new day.


“I thought it’s time I wake you the hell up.” Brian said while standing at the foot of his single bed, grinning.


“What time is it?”


“Ten.”


“Dude it’s still too damn early and I have a headache.” Nick moaned before burying his head under his pillow.


“Sorry man, but you know how I get when we’re in a strange place.”


“Go bother AJ or something then Bri.” Nick muffled under the pillow.


“He’s out. Snapping more pictures I bet. And something about developing the pics and about something being out of memory? I don’t understand those photography crap.” Brian said while he moved to sit on his own single bed next to Nick’s.


“His memory card is out of space, it’s not that hard to understand doctor.” Nick teased. “What about Howie or Kev?”


“Howie left to deal about last night. I think he’s gonna show someone from the rental company where we crashed their car and hopefully they’ll let us rent a new one. And I was having breakfast with Kevin downstairs until he started shooting questions at Darran and bored me half to death with his fascination for history.”


Nick came out from under the pillow with a frown. “Who’s Darran?”


“The guy who owns this Lodge. He was the one behind the registration counter last night remember?”


Nick nodded his head. They were lucky that there were spare rooms for the night or they’d still be walking now.


“So are you going to wake up now or what? I need to take a look at that head of yours again.”


Nick frowned. “Only if you promise not to sew it. My skin is no cloth.”


“If you want it to get infected and eat your brains out, fine by me.” Brian said as he walked over to the study table to grab his medical kit. Nick’s laptop was on the table and logged online.


“By the way, I used your laptop earlier. I need to check my emails and stuff. I’m recharging the battery right now.”


“Bri, did you say something?” Nick asked.


Brian walked back to where Nick was now sitting on the edge of his bed with the medical kit in hand. “I said I used your laptop earlier, need to check my mails. Kevin said you had a diary in there, you owe me one, I stopped AJ from prying.”


Nick snorted. “It’s not a diary, it’s a journal.”


“I won’t think any less of you if you really have a diary.” Brian said as he proceeded to take off the patch and checked the wound.


“It’s not a diary.” Nick stressed. “I wrote about stuff we’ve seen so far and sometimes details of people we come across here, it’s for my new book.”


“I thought you were writing about how you’re dealing with stuff you know? I mean, I still find it hard to face it even though we’ve been dealing with it since you were twelve. It’s just…this is totally-”


“It’s going to be different I know that. And I’m not saying I’m okay with it but what choice do I have right? Hey, at least we know sign language and I’m getting good at lip reading.”


Brian grimaced. “Yeah, I’m not really thrilled about you and lip reading.”


Nick raised an eyebrow and grinned. “All you have to do is gossip behind my back and you’ll be safe.”


“Yeah well, thanks for the tip.” Brian smiled playfully before bringing the needle and the surgery thread where Nick could see them. “Try to stay very still while I do this okay?”


“No promises.” Nick said as he eyed the offending object. “How many do you think I need?”


“About five.” Brian said. “And your hair is long enough to cover the stitches. You’ll still look handsome.”


Nick laughed before Brian reminded him about being still.


He felt a sharp pain, like the sting from a fire ant before he felt the surgery thread being pulled and weaved in and out of his skin. Nick tried to block the pain away, to think of something else to distract his mind while his friend was at work. What came next was unexpected. He was beginning to feel drowsy and felt the need to lye down.


“So I didn’t know you can speak a foreign language.”


Nick blinked. “What?”


“You were talking in your sleep but for the life of me I don’t know what language it was.”


“Don’t know what you’re talking…ow…about.” Nick winced.


“Oops sorry, pulled too fast…anyway, you were talking in your sleep, which I’ve witnessed once back in Summer camp when we were fifteen.”


Nick wanted to laugh but winced instead as another searing pain hit him.


“You don’t remember then? Sounds like you were trying to impress some girl.” Brian joked.


“Bri…”


“Or maybe you were just mumbling stupid stuff.”


“No listen-”


“Might not even be a lang-”


“I’m going to pass out I thought I’d let you know.”


And that was what exactly happened. Brian was quick to support his friend’s head before Nick fell flat on the bed and pulled the surgery thread down with him. That would have been ugly.

---

Brian was making his way to the restaurant area of the lodge when he saw both Howie and AJ entering the Guest Lounge, deep in animated conversation. He smirked slightly, knowing how exaggerated AJ could be sometimes. Howie met his gaze first and quickly waved him over.


“Where are you both headed to?”


“Lead me to the kitchen, I could eat a cow.” AJ exclaimed.


“Well, they only serve breakfast here and it’s almost lunch time but I think we can whip some sandwich,” Brian said before looking at Howie. “Let me guess, they say ‘you bloody yanks and your driving on the left side of the road, why can’t you be normal for once and stop crashing on random trees and get a Queen to rule your country!’ speech?”


Howie frowned. “You’re weird.”


“Here’s a question. Why do they always call us Yankees when they realized we’re from the US?” AJ asked as they made their way to the restaurant.


“Probably the same reason why we keep asking them why the London Bridge is falling down.” Kevin said, appearing out of nowhere from behind them.


Brian, AJ and Howie looked at him questioningly and said nothing.


Kevin laughed nervously. “So that’s just me then?”


“I hope so.” AJ raised an eyebrow. “Forget Brian, you’re weird dawg.”


Kevin rolled his eyes. “By the way Bri, you don’t go around saying the Queen rule their country cause she doesn’t. It’s the Prime Minister who runs the country.”


“Hey what do I know? I’m a friggin’ Yank!” Brian declared as they entered the dining room. It was almost lunchtime but most of the tourists staying at Apricot Lodge had gone for another day of the ‘Pickering experience’.


They bumped into Darran Bilton, one of the owners of Apricot Lodge as they entered the Dining Room.


“How was your walk around Pickering earlier AJ?” Darran asked as he waved them over to one of the tables.


“Very good. I took some great pictures and talked to some local folks.”


“Yeah? So you have a list of places to visit today eh?”


“That’s the plan.” AJ replied.


“Here Howie, sit down, I know you just got back yourself, I hope those people at the car rental place didn’t give you a hard time about the crash, they can be right bloody gits sometimes.”


“Oh no, everything went well. Thanks Darran.”


“Well sit down you lot, I’ll make some sandwiches for you.”


“Oh that’s okay Darran, we’ll manage.” Brian interjected, already heading over to the main table where guests could make their own sandwiches for breakfast.


“I insist. We’re full house today so no new guests for the next few days and most of them already left for sight seeing.” Darran explained. “And Sarah decided to play tour guide to some of our guests from Germany so I’m left by meself.”


Darran and Sarah Bilton owned Apricot Lodge.


“Well, if it’s no trouble at all…thanks Darran.”


“Was Nick up at some point while you were up there Bri?” Kevin asked once Darran was out of earshot.


“Yeah…he kinda sorta passed out when I fixed that forehead of his.” Brian winced. AJ broke into a fit of giggle and vowing that Nick would be the receiving end of his mockery for that day.


“I do recall a certain someone who has a fear of needles.” Howie said sarcastically. “And it wasn’t Nick.”


AJ immediately stopped giggling and rolled his eyes.


“He’s okay though right?” Kevin asked.


“Yeah, good to go.”


“Great, cause we really need to get moving as soon as possible.” Kevin said.


“Yeah…we might have a little problem about that.” Howie said.


“What problem?” AJ asked.


“The company said we’re off the hook since we’re all insured and all that fun stuff, but there is a written policy saying we have to wait at least a day for a replacement car or whenever they can find one available for us but waiting period should not exceed three days.”


“So you’re saying unless they have a replacement for us by tomorrow, we might have to wait 3 days for it?” Brian asked.


“Exactly.”


“Well, don’t look so glum my friends, we have a day to explore Pickering and I’ve been talking to the locals on my way back here and they recommended some cool spots to check out.” AJ said as he dug into his bag. “And speaking of which, check out our pictures.”


Kevin took the pictures from his friend and started filing through it as they made their order to the waitress who had came to serve them.


There were candid shots of Kevin claiming his baggage at Heathrow when they first arrived in London three days ago.


There was one taken from the back of Brian’s shoulder, while he was reading the map of York, his finger trailing down a route.


Howie was looking out the window of their now crashed rented car; something was attracting his attention. It was almost like a silhouette.


And then there was one of Brian looking as if he was animatedly talking to Nick, who was bending down to pick his bag and seemed oblivious that he was spoken to.


Kevin felt the familiar weight on his chest every time he was reminded of his friend’s current situation. Often, he would be brought back to that evening when they had all meet up after almost a year of communicating through emails and text messaging.


Nick was declared partially deaf in both ears after falling ill with meningitis when he was twelve.


They had been childhood friends, living just a few blocks from each other, his slight complication never once hindered the five of them from being friends. It hadn’t been much of a problem for the five of them, most of the times Kevin forgot that his friend was even partially deaf. The only times they ever use sign language were in loud places, such as the clubs, which they frequent back in College. And then Nick started to learn lip reading because his fingers were often busy typing away on his laptop.


But when Nick told them that he was going to lose his hearing entirely, Kevin knew that some things would change. What he feared most though, was his friend’s emotional being. Nick might be a lot of things, but laying down his emotions for everyone to see wasn’t one of them.


Kevin pushed the dark thoughts away. It wasn’t the time to dwell on such things. They have six months, he kept reminding himself.


The next picture was of the five of them feeding the pigeons at Times Square. AJ had asked a fellow tourist from Italy to take that picture, Kevin recalled. And a second before it was taken, a flock of pigeon had came barraging towards them because AJ had decided to pick that time to throw a fistful of dried food in the air. Everyone had a mixture of shock and fear on the face except for AJ, who managed to pose and pout for the camera.


“You’re really good at this AJ.” Kevin complimented as he looked at another picture.


“Tell me something I don’t know.” AJ said.


“Your ego is as huge as this lodge.”


“I said, tell me something I don’t know, Kevin.” AJ grinned.


“Hey, isn’t that the house by the road with that tree that Kevin decided to crash with our rented car?” Brian asked while pointing to the picture Kevin was currently looking.


“Hmm…no wonder it looks familiar.” Kevin commented.


AJ nodded. “Yup, that’s the one. I took it this morning.”


“How far is this shop really?” Howie asked. “You could have gone and meet the car rental guy you know.”


“Just a few blocks away,” AJ replied. “but I decided to take some pictures of this place before I got it developed. And I really wanted to take a good shot of the crashed car in daylight so I can mark the day Kevin crashed our rental car and hurt a tree. Oh and by the way Mr. Dorough, that house might be on sale but the owner is still living there. We could have knock on his door and saved us the long walk.”


Howie rolled his eyes. “I’m sure he would be thrilled to see five strange men on his porch in the middle of the night AJ.”


AJ was about to retort when Darran came back with their sandwiches.


“Wow, I have to confess Darran that I’m not a sandwich fan but these look good.”


“Dig in then lads!” Darran said almost too cheerful. “Now I don’t mean to pry, but where is your other friend? Was he hurt from the crash last night?”


“He’s fine, just tired. You got us the best room by the way, first floor and facing the garden is awesome.” Brian said.


“Wicked! Sarah designed that room herself, always have a knack for rooms that open up straight into the garden.”


“I’ll be sure to compliment her when I see her later.” Brian smiled.


“She’ll love you forever.” Darran laughed. “Well, I need to make some phone calls now. If you need anything, I’ll be around.”


They started passing around the pictures when Darran was halfway out of the dining room. The room was filled with silence for a while as they ate their sandwiches and sometimes broke into grins or sniggered at the pictures.


“Damn AJ, I always know you’re good at this shit, but this one is too damn brilliant, how did you do it?” Kevin asked in awe as he admired the picture in his hands.


“Lemme see!” Brian exclaimed as he leaned nearer to Kevin. “Jeez man, that looks real.”


Howie was asking for the picture while AJ scratched his neck. “I don’t think I know what picture you’re talking about.”


“Don’t be so modest Alex.” Brian teased as he passed the picture to Howie.


“Woah, this should come with a warning.” Howie laughed. “No more haunted castles for you Mister.”


AJ grabbed the picture as he took a sip of his drink and almost spat it out again.


There was an apparition of a woman dressed in white standing at the background, her head in between Nick and Howie. She was looking at Nick, as if whispering in his ear.


“This…this wasn’t there earlier!” AJ cried as he tore his gaze from the picture and looked at his friends. “I…that was…”


Brian laughed. “Damn AJ, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say you should change your career and nab an acting job in Hollywood instead.”


“I’m not making this up!” AJ stressed. “I checked the pictures earlier, it wasn’t there! And when the fuck do you think I had the time to do this?”


“AJ stop it. I don’t want you to show this to Nick, he’s going to freak out, especially after what Howie told him last night."

“I’m…I’m NOT making this up! And what the fuck did Howie tell him last night?”


Howie cringed. “I didnt mean anything by the whole untimely death thing.”


AJ shook his head, trying to make clear of the situation. “Okay…that was just an urban legend, you heard Howie!... and for the last time, I didn’t do this okay! You have to trust me!”


Kevin frowned. “Are you saying that that’s a REAL ghost you capture in this picture? That an hour ago wasn’t even in the picture when you checked?”


AJ nodded vigorously. “I’m NOT lying guys, this is not funny anymore.”


Brian gulped. “You know, this might be totally irrelevant, but Nick was talking in his sleep when I went to wake him up earlier.”


“Brian…”


“No Kev, I know what you’re thinking but just hear me out okay?”


Kevin waved his hand lazily for Brian to continue.


“He looked like he was frowning and then he started talking in another language.”


“Did you wake him up straight after that?” Howie asked, almost in a whisper.


“I didn’t know what to do so I drew the curtains away, figured sunlight would wake him up. I didn’t want to force it on him. That’s what we do with the kids in the hospital…less trauma…”


“You do realize Nick’s not a kid?”


“I know that Kevin but that’s besides the point, he was talking some other language and when I asked him he said he doesn’t know what I’m talking about.” Brian claimed and then pointed to the picture again. “And how do you explain this?”


“Look, you have my word, this is NOT a prank.” AJ said with no glint of mischief in his eyes like it usually would when he was up to no good.


“Ok fine.” Kevin sighed as he collected all the pictures and placed them back in the envelope. “Maybe we did hit a tree…ghost…it didn’t harm us and we’re far, far away from that place anyway right? Now we can only hope we get a replacement car by tomorrow and then we get the fuck out of here.”


“You’re forgetting the whole Nick talking in his dream in another language.” Howie pointed out.


“He might be mumbling nothing and Brian would think it’s a foreign language.”


“What about that picture? Why was she whispering in his ear?” Brian demanded.


“We don’t even know if she was really whispering in his ear now do we? And like I said, we got out of there safe and sound. Nick’s asleep…or passed out…upstairs and we’re still breathing, we’ll be all right. And I know it’s tempting to keep it AJ but I really suggest you get rid of that picture ASAP.”


“Yeah,” AJ nodded. “Besides, if she was really whispering in that picture, she picked the wrong guy. Nick can’t hear whispers.”

---

The baby was crying. He doesn’t seem to want to stop. Her head is pounding and if he doesn’t stop this instant, she will get very, very mad.


The wind chime kept moving and she was tired of listening to metals clanging on metals. It wasn’t cute, at all.


The baby is still crying.


She rushed across the nursery and picked him up from his crib and gave him a little pat and telling him to stop crying. The baby didn’t stop. She grabbed for the bottle of milk and tried to feed him but he kept pushing the bottle away.


“Cállate! Cállate! Cállate!”


He actually stopped crying and looked at her with his big, round eyes, in shock. And then he cried even louder.


Someone ran into the nursery and grabbed him from her before she realized what had just happened.


“Señora, por favor, déjeme a mí hacerme cargo de Nicolas, sí? Por qué no descansa? El señor Winchester llegará pronto a casa y usted no querrá que la vea así de preocupada.”

She nodded and looked longingly at the crying baby. She was sorry for scaring him like that but sometimes, she couldn’t help it.


“Lo siento bebito”


“Estará bien señora. Por favor, permítame hacerlo dormir y le prepararé una taza de te.”


“Sí, eso estaría bien.” She walked out of the room, the voices in her head kept raging on.



Nick woke up with a headache but it was the constant jabbing of a finger on his shoulder that woke him. Brian was sitting at the side of his bed, frowning.


“You really did a number on my head Brian.”


“I got a cup of good ole English tea for you and some food and then I’ll give you something for the headache.”


Nick pushed himself up slowly, afraid that he would pass out again half way. “You didn’t happen to tell AJ that I passed out earlier did you?”


“Ah…that…”


Nick sighed. “You did.”


As if on cue, AJ came barging into their room with Howie hot on his heels.


“Hide me.”


Nick almost spat out his drink while Brian had no reply to that request.


“AJ for the last time, my flat iron is NOT for you to iron the sleeves of your shirts!” Howie barked.


Nick and Brian burst out laughing but Nick was cut short by another pounding going around in his head. “You’re going to be the death of me.”


“What’s wrong with you?” AJ asked, concerned.


“Headache. I did stitch the man up earlier you know.” Brian explained.


“I wish you’d let me sleep the day away.”


“You need to eat something.” Brian argued.


“Yeah Nick, we’re going out on a trip early tomorrow morning so we can’t have you and your headache, there’s just not enough room.” Howie said. “So the headache needs to go.”


Nick shrugged. “I am kinda hungry…besides, I was having this very weird dream…I think…”


Brian stole a glance over at AJ and Howie and both of them seemed as alarmed as he was. “Um…yeah? What’s it about?”


“Dunno…I can’t remember…just felt weird.”


The room was silent for a few seconds as Nick took a bite of his chicken sandwich. AJ cleared his throat and then grinned. “Yeah well, a lot of people said that about you.”


Nick nodded lazily before he realized what AJ had said. “Hey!”


Kevin entered the room to the sound of his friends’ laughter. He was relieved to see Nick awake and eating. The whole picture incident was a one time thing, he was sure. Something to look back and tell his kids when they’re old enough to listen to ghost stories.


Besides, he had ended up volunteering to burn the picture himself, there was nothing left to worry about regardless what that little voice in his head kept saying.