[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
"Nick?" I repeated. I was starting to wonder if he was even there anymore. "Niiccckkk?"

"S-sorry, Amy, um..."

"Nick, will you please tell me whats going on?"

"Well, I mean, he hasn't acted like this in a long time." He paused to take a deep breath. "He was like this a long time ago - at least it seems like a long time ago - before he met you."

"Okay... This tells me nothing. Nick, I have no idea what you're trying to tell me, but whatever it is, I doubt it can be that bad."

"Oh, I think it is..."

"Well I'd love to know what you're thinking, Nick."

"I-I don't know..." Nick finally said.

"WELCOME TO MY WORLD!" I yelled, then bit my lip as I realized that I might've yelled too loud.

"Okay, look, promise me you won't do anything irrational, 'kay?" I nodded, then remembered that I was on the phone. "Okay? Amy, promise me!" Nick whispered urgently.

"I promise! Nickolas," Since when do I call him Nickolas? "Just tell me."

"Okay..." He trailed off before taking another deep breath. "I think hes... on something."

"'On something? Like, what? A human, a bed, what?!" I put my forehead in my hand, trying to exhault regular breaths of air.

"I think he took something..." Nick whispered. His voice became low and scratchy, as if he didn't want anybody to know of our conversation, or what we were talking about in particular. "Again.."

"Something?! What the heck are you talking about, Nick?! First you say he's on something, and then you say he took something?" I peeled my hands off of my face and clenched them. Then I unclenched them. Getting exasperated at Nick was not the answer.

"I think he... He's high or something..."

"But why?"

"Well the way hes behaving! One second he was throwing stuff around in his room, the next he was sobbing on the floor 'cause you left."

"But why? Why would he get high, Nick?"

"I don't know, thats just it!"

"This is all my fucking fault, isn't it? Isn't it?!" I dropped my head back onto Kyle's bed, emitting a loud sigh. "Is he still smoking whatever it is right now?"

"I don't think so... Was he acting weird around you?"

"He started to after a while."

"Oh." Nick sounded like he was about to say something, but I guess he hesitated.

"Is there something else?"

"I don't think he smoked anything..."

"Okay, so one second hes on something, next he took something, now you don't think thats whats going on??"

"Amy, the doctor gave him painkillers. When he was in the hospital."

I shot up faster than my heart rate just did. Oh. My. Fucking. Gaw. "You're serious?"

"Amy," he sounded weary, as if he'd just run a marathon. "I wouldn't joke about something like this."

"But... Do you think he was trying to k-"

"Before you say it, no. I don't know why he did it, but I think you should come home."

"Right now?"

"Yes, Amy, now! Aaron's got to see you before he does something drastic, like-"

I cut him off before he said it. "Don't you dare say it too. Alright, I'm coming. I have to just tell Kyle where I'm going."

"Kyle? Who's Ky-"

"Never mind, Nick, I'll see you in a few."

"If I were you I'd hurry." Nick said before he hung up.

I sighed as I got up and left Kyle's room in search of him.

"Kyle? KYLE?!" I rushed around the house, nearly knocking over his family's antiques in search for him. If he doesn't answer in two minutes...

"Yeah?" Kyle's blond head poked out of the backyard through the screen door, his hair wet from swimming. "I was gonna ask you to go swimming, but you were -"

"Kyle, listen, I'm really sorry, but I hafta go to Aaron's house, like right now."

Disappointment draped his face. "You do?"

"Yeah. I need to help Nick out with something. Well, all of them, really."

"Is everything okay?" He rubbed his hair with a towel. "Do you need me to come with you?"

"No," I answered, "But I could use a ride home."

"Of course, m'lady."

"Thanks, Kyle, you're the best!" I stepped forward to give him a friendly hug, "And very wet."


~Meanwhile in front of the Carter's house~


Nick paced back and forth as he waited for Amy to get home. As much as he hated to think his brother did something as stupid as get high and shove his girlfriend to the ground, Aaron doing stupid things was becoming a trend these days. He didn't know what was going on in his kid brother's head, but he knew Amy was the only one who seemed to be able to help snap him out of it.

"Nick?" Angel asked, standing in the doorway. "What are you doing?"

"Waiting for Amy." Nick answered as Angel stepped outside and sat down on the front step.

"Shes coming back?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I told her something was going on with Aaron and she needed to get home."

"Did you tell her whats going on with him, or did you leave that blank?"

"I told her. She almost didn't believe me, but I convinced her to come home. Maybe he'll calm down and talk to us if he sees that shes home."

Angel stood up and hugged her brother lightly. "I hope so..."

"I just hate that he's turning to drugs and pills to help him out of situations like this again! I mean, why can't he see that we're here? That we could help him?" Tears pricked Nick's eyes, and he hurriedly wiped them away. "I mean, we're his family..."

Angel nodded and gazed out at the lonely street. "I know... You think maybe there's something else thats going on besides Amy that made him get high again? Or try to commit... commit... that?"

Nick shrugged. "Maybe the stress from that Claire bullshit... Or the trouble with his label..."

"You don't think he's hiding something like, big from us, do you?" Angel asked cautiously.

Nick shook his head. "I doubt it."

"How would you know? I mean, if he was hiding something, he wouldn't even tell you."

"Angel," Nick said, guiding her as he made his way to the front steps and sat down, "He's told us about everything else thats happened to him."

"But if its something really bad hes not gonna tell us..." Angel sniffled, trying not to cry again. She could only imagine what her twin could possibly be hiding from them...

"You're his twin sister. You'd know if something was seriously wrong with him."

"You're right." She hugged her brother again.

"Whats he right about?" Someone asked. The pair looked up and saw Amy standing three feet in front of them.



"Hey!" Angel exclaimed, jumping up and hugging me. I guess she was really relieved. She certainly sounded like it.

"Hey..." I said, patting her back. "How's he doing?" I asked, looking up at Nick.

The expression on his face didn't exactly say 'Hes doing great and hes waiting upstairs for you'. "Don't know. Last I saw of him was just about half an hour ago and he was throwing things out of his closet."

I remembered the other day, when Aaron was sifting through stuff in his closet looking for a game. I doubted this time he was looking for "Candyland" or something. "Oh." What can I say? I don't know what to do...

Angel, Nick, and I all walked inside. Angel walked with me upstairs, and we stopped outside Aaron's room door. I took a deep breath as I knocked on the door.

"I FUCKING TOLD YOU, NICK, I'M F-" he said, opening the door so fast I thought he was gonna tear it off the hinges, stopping mid-sentence when his eyes came to rest on my worried face. "Amy!" He exclaimed, pulling me into a tight hug. "I'm so, so, so sorry."

"Its okay, baby..." All I could do was rub his back and look at Angel. He just - didn't seem like he was himself... "Uh... Come on. I need to talk to you for a bit, baby..." I said, taking his hand and leading him into his room. His face went ashen. "Don't worry, it's nothing like that..." I comforted, when I saw the look on his face.

"...Um, sure..." he said, following me into the room. I couldn't believe how trashed it was. It looked like it had just been through a raid - scratch that, TEN raids!!

I sat on his bed and folded my hands in my lap, Aaron closed the door and joined me, but he opted to stare at the floor.

"Aaron, I don't know how to ask you this, so I'm going to just say it..." I took a deep breath and was about to ask him if he was doing drugs when I saw a plastic bag stuffed haphazardly into his bedside draw. "What's that?" I asked, grabbing the bag and pulling it out. When I saw tens of multicolored pills inside the bag, I gasped and let it drop to the floor.