Chapter 5
Los Angeles, California
Nick finally had some alone time, everyone decided that they needed to get back to their respective homes/hotel rooms to try and get some sleep. Which was exactly what Nick was planning on doing. But first, he needed a shower.
He went upstairs to his master bathroom and turned the water on in the shower, taking off his clothes, he stepped into the shower and closed his eyes. He stood there, trying to relax just a bit, trying to feel a little less tense and a little less stressed. Everything was happening so fast, too fast. His mind barely had time to absorb it all.
About twenty minutes later Nick stepped out and dried himself off. He wrapped his towel around his waist and walked out of the bathroom. He went and sat on his bed and heaved a sigh. Please God, just make sure he comes back in one piece, he prayed for the millionth time.
The sounds of Seether and Amy Lee’s ‘Broken’ suddenly filled the room, Nick groaned and went to answer his cell.
“Hello?”
“Hey man, how ya doin’?” Kevin asked on the other line.
“Oh, hey Kev. Not too good,” Nick answered truthfully.
“We all heard what happened, do you need anything?” he asked, concerned. “If you want Kristen and I can come and take care of the paparazzi and everything…?”
“Nah, it’s cool. Thanks though, hey listen, I’m gonna’ try and get some sleep. I’ll call you in the morning.”
“Yeah, you sound like you need it. I’ll talk to you later, take care man.”
“Thanks Kev,” Nick clicked his phone shut and went over to his bureau and put on a pair of boxers before collapsing onto his bed.
All the sleepless nights he spent worrying had finally caught up to him…
Hardin, Montana
“Oh my god…” Chris said, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “Aaron…that was-”
“I know what it was,” Aaron interrupted, tightening his grip on Chris.
“I have a feeling that neither of those thuds was that ‘third guy’ you were talking about…” Chris remarked with a quivering voice.
“Those two seemed to be friends, or as close to friends as murderers can get, anyway. I don’t doubt for a second that the guy that’s still standing is the guy I saw driving the van...”
They heard footsteps slowly coming down the stairs. From the line of vision that the window provided the man that was coming down was wearing boat shoes and plaid wool pants.
He took the bars off of the opening, all was silent for a moment, until he growled, “Get out here,” and they heard him cock a gun.
Chris began to shake uncontrollably as Aaron let go of her and began to climb out of their cell. She followed suit, but had a horrible feeling about what was going to happen.
Once they got out they stood side by side on the opposite side of the room as their captor. He was a plain looking man, he wore no mask, which, to Chris, only meant one thing: he didn’t care if they saw his face, because they wouldn’t be around for much longer. He wore thick glasses and his hair was beginning to thin out. He was slightly chubby, but not nearly as short as Butt Head had been, he stood about Aaron’s height.
Chris was still shaking, and she subconsciously grabbed Aaron’s hand, squeezing it every time a wave of shudders came over her.
The man walked forward towards the pair, examining them and taking in their features. It was obvious that they were both starved and had close to no strength left. So they weren’t much of a threat to him, in terms of whether or not they’d decided to retaliate.
Please, leave Chris alone… Aaron pleaded silently. He held her hand tighter and tighter as the man got closer. But, once again, his prayers were ignored.
The man approached Chris and looked at her intently. “Tell me your name. First and last,” he said, his expression impossible to read.
“C…C…Chris…Christy Butler…” she stammered. Shaking worse than ever as tears poured from her eyes.
He simply nodded and moved to be in front of Aaron. “And yours?”
“Aaron Carter…” he said, looking him straight in the eye.
“Good…very good,” he said doing an about-face and walking back to the other side of the room. “I’ll be bringing you some food down in a bit. Two hot dogs, two bags of chips, and two bottles of water each. I suggest you eat the hot dogs and share the bottled water and chips, so that you’ll have them for later,” he looked back at the two with a calm expression. Had he really just committed murder? Twice!? “Any questions?”
“J…just one,” Aaron dared to say. The man gave him an expectant look, apparently telling Aaron to continue. “Why are you giving us food?”
The man let out a somewhat maniacal chuckle. “Because you’re no good to me if you both starve to death, those imbeciles obviously didn’t think of that. From now on you will get the normal bread and glass of water along with one meal every other week,” he said with a voice so cold, it sent shivers down their spines. “Now get back in there.”
They both obeyed obediently, but only when they knew the man was upstairs did they dare talk.
“I think that being here might actually get easier with that guy…” Aaron said, not taking his eyes off of the bars that caged them in.
“No…” Chris replied, her gaze fixated on the same thing Aaron’s was. He looked at her confused, but her focus never wavered. “It’s about to get much, MUCH, worse…”
Author's Chapter Notes:
a bit short, but I think you'll all enjoy
