August 15, 1989

“Lying beside you, here in the dark, feeling…” he immediately stopped singing when he noticed that he struck the wrong chord on his guitar, which caused an awful pitch to sound out.

“Nicky?”

“Feeling…” he sang out, picking his chords to see which one matched the pitch of the song.

“Nicky!”

When he finally found the right chord, he continue on. “Feeling your heart beat with mine, softly you whisper, you’re so sincere, how could our love be so blind…”

“Gosh damnit Nicky!”

“We sailed on together, we drifted apart, and here you are by my side… so now I…” before he could belt out the chorus to Journey’s song he had just learned to play on his guitar, someone began pounding on his bedroom door.

“Nick!” a female hollered on the other side as she continued banging on the door.

Nickolas Gene Carter sighed heavily as he placed his guitar down on his bed and walked over to open his door. “What?” he snapped as he ripped the door open, revealing his older sister, Billie Jean Carter, on the other side.

“Mom wants you to run to the grocery store and pick up a few things.” she replied as she turned to walk away.

Nick stepped out of his room to stop her from leaving, “Why can’t you go get it?” He didn’t understand it, his parents always sent him, the second oldest, to get or do everything. He was only 9-years-old, and his sister, who was the oldest, was eight years older than him, making her 17. Other kids his age weren’t even allowed to walk to school by themselves.

“I’ve got important things to do.” she answered with a shrug as she continued to walk away.

Nick was quick to follow her, “What do you have to do that’s so important?” he asked as he followed her into their living room. When she didn’t reply, he stood there and watched as she grabbed a video tape and had pushed it into their VCR. “BJ!” he whined when he realized what her ‘important’ duty was. “How in the hell is this so important?”

“Nickolas, language.” his mother said in a warning tone as she passed by the living room.

BJ snickered, “The faster you go to get the things Mom wants, the faster you can come back to play on your… ukulele.” BJ simply replied as she got into her yoga stance.

“It’s a guitar.” Nick gritted out. “And I still don’t see why you can’t go and get it, you’re older anyway.”

“I already told you that I’ve got some important things to do.”

“Well, the faster you go to get the things Mom wants, the faster you can come back to do your stupid yoga stuff!” Nick fired back.

“Aww Nicky,” BJ cooed as she moved to pinch Nick’s cheeks, “you’re too cute, learning from the best!”

Nick ripped himself away from the offending hands and glared at his sister; he really hated that nickname. “Mom!” he cried out as he walked out of the living room to find his mom. He walked into their bathroom and found his mom taking all of their dirty clothes out of the hamper and placing it into another basket. “Mom, why can’t-”

“Nick, sorry for asking you last minute, but I really need you to help mommy out and run to the grocery store to get a few things.”

“But I was busy too!” Nick tried to explain, but his mother kept rambling on.

“Look sweetie, I know and I’m sorry, but I really need you to go get these things because I’ll need it to cook dinner. I’m making your favorite by the way, lasagna.”

“I’m always doing everything, and BJ never does shit!” Nick snapped.

“Nickolas, I already told you about that language! And for your information, I’m gonna be having your sister watch your other younger siblings, so help from both parties would be GREATLY appreciated. I would run to the store and get the things myself, but your father is on the way home and this house is still a mess, so I’d like to have everything at least descent before your father gets home.”

“But Mom…” Nick tried again, but his mother ignored him.

“Thank you honey.” she said as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and proceeded to carry the full laundry basket out of the bathroom. “The list and the money is on the kitchen counter by the way, and don’t forget to put on a jacket before you leave.”

Nick sighed heavily as he watched his mother walk away. He began muttering his protest as he made his way into their small kitchenette, and just like his mom said, there was the list and the money on the counter. He grabbed the two items and had shoved it into his pocket, making his way out of the house, not even bothering to grab a jacket on the way out.

He opened the door and stepped out into the long hallway, looking around to find one of their neighbors just entering their apartment unit. “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Scavelli.” he voiced out, causing the couple to turn around.

“Hi Nickolas.” Mr. Scavelli answered in a quick tone as he hurriedly opened his door and walked inside, his wife soon following suit and quickly closing the door behind her.

Nick stared at the now closed door in confusion, but shrugged it off and began making his way over towards the elevators. Sighing heavily, he pushed the “down” button and waited for a while; but finally looked up to find that both elevators were on the eighth floor.

“Great.” Nick groaned out. He really didn’t want to wait for the elevators, but then again they were only on the third floor. Without wasting another second, he turned and began sprinting down the stairs down to the lobby.

When he reached the bottom, he started to walk out of the complex but found himself walking slower than usual when he passed by a group of men that stood out rather painfully. They were all dressed in nice suits, almost a business attire, and while three of them stood at the receptionist counter, the other suited men lingered and stood around.

Nick kept his head down but his attention alert, and he could’ve swore that he heard the receptionist tell the three men that stood before her “Apartment number 308.”, but he wasn’t entirely sure what he heard. Due to the fact that he was not paying attention, Nick slammed hard into something, causing him to fly back and land on his rear.

“Whoa kid!”

Nick looked up to realize that he had just walked into one of the suited men that made him feel really uncomfortable. He was a large Italian looking man, decked out in a black pinstriped tuxedo. Nick found himself gaping at the man as he watched him rip off his dark shades. Before Nick could say or do anything, the suited Italian man he walked into bent down and had grabbed Nick by his shoulders, hauling him up to his feet with ease.

“You should really watch where you’re going next time.” he said in a stern voice.

Nick nodded mutely and quickly made his way out of the complex. Once he walked out, he began walking down the sidewalk towards the nearest grocery store. He winced slightly, a dull ache throbbing through his backside with every step he took. He wasn’t sure why those men made him feel uneasy, all he could wonder was why they were there and which unit they were going to.