“How does it look?” Howie questioned Dr.
Karebyn who was exiting the room Nick was in holding his black doctor bag.
“It
could be worse,” Dr. Karebyn said briefly, “but basically gentlemen if you
can’t get him to eat and soon, I’m afraid he’ll have to be hospitalized again.”
They
all groaned, “But at a hospital he can check himself out,” Brian argued.
“In
this house he can still...” Dr. Karebyn paused as he stared at the adamant
faces of the four men surrounding him, “Ok, I get your point... but in this
house he is slowly starving himself to death.”
They
swallowed hard at those words, “What can we do about it? He refuses to eat and
we can’t ram it down his throat...” Kevin was saying in frustration pulling at
his hair, “I swear this kid’s gonna give me grays.”
AJ
giggled, “I think I am starting to see some premature graying Kev...”
“Oh
shut up, at least I’m not gonna be bald when I hit 30...” Kevin was muttering
with a small smile.
“Well
I still got 8 years on that old man,” AJ grinned devilishly. Kevin put
him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. This made Brian and Howie laugh.
Dr. Karebyn watched the scene with a smile, he laughed lightly and
immediately the Boys’ full attention was back on him.
“We’re
sorry,” Howie was apologizing.
“No,
no, don’t be sorry. I was only going to say that with friends like you
boys, and this wonderful environment, Nickolas should be fine. You just
need to get him to eat, or drink a glass of milk, something,” Dr. K blinked and
looked thoughtful, “You could buy him some nutrient supplement drinks, the kind
he can take through a straw.”
Kevin
was nodding, “I’ve seen millions of those on the shelves of drug stores and
grocery stores. Anyone in particular I should get?”
“Hmmm,
I would go with Ensure, but anything of that nature would be good for him, even
the generic store brands.”
“Thank
you,” Kevin said, “for everything you’ve done so far.”
“Don’t
thank me yet. We still have a patient in there that has yet to show any
improvement... well except for the fact that he is now completely devoid
of any mind altering substances. The real problem here is
psychological...and I personally do not think he is going to get any better
until he releases some of the demons in his head. Has he talked to...”
“He
talked to me,” Brian butted in, “It was a real cathartic experience. He cried
himself to sleep.”
Dr.
K nodded, “Good. I’m no psychiatrist, but I know that talking and crying are
good. Just keep it up and you should definitely start to see a change in
his demeanor.”
The
Boys walked the doctor to the door. “Thank you again Dr. K,” Howie said
thanking his old family friend, “I don’t know what we would have done without
you.”
“You’re
welcome Howie, and if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to call me,” Dr.
Karebyn smiled and gave Howie a brief hug. Then he left for his car.
Howie closed the door after him.
“I’m
going to the store,” Kevin said after a few seconds, “I’ll be back in a little
while.” He left the front room to get his car keys.
BJ
entered the room with a stretching yawn, “Hey.... Was that the doctor I just
heard leaving?”
Brian
nodded, “Yeah. You have a good nap Beej?”
BJ
nodded and rubbed her eyes with her fists. She had been up all night with Nick
on a night watch, “What’d he say? Anything good?”
Brian
gave her a tight smile,” He needs to eat.”
BJ
frowned, “I know that... Is that all he said?”
Brian
nodded, “Yeah, and that he’s drug-free.”
“Hmmn,”
BJ bit her lip, “Well then what’d he say we could do about the fact that Nick won’t
eat anything?”
“He
said we should buy him nutrient crap he can drink,” Brian said with a sigh,
“something. Hell, he said a little milk will do.”
BJ
groaned, “God how are we going to do this? He won’t open his mouth for
anything unless it’s to tell us to go away. “ She carried the same look on her
face Kevin had earlier, “I swear I’m gonna be irregular this month!”
Brian
almost choked, he hadn’t been expecting that one.... The gray hair comment,
that’s what he was expecting. BJ grinned manically at him and pranced by, going
into the kitchen.
Girls!
“No Mom,” Leslie was saying into the phone.
She was talking to her mother on her sister’s cell phone. BJ would kill
her if she knew. She was in Nick’s room in the closet. She kept the
door open a crack so she could keep an eye on Nick who was sleeping fitfully on
the bed. Every now and again he would make a small whimpering noise and
utter words, talking to invisible people. Leslie trembled as some of the
things he said registered as something she had heard before.
“Nick
what is this all about?” Jane had taken Nick by his hands and sat him down at
the kitchen table. Five minutes earlier she had been on the phone with
Nick’s friend Brent. Leslie had smiled when she answered the phone and
had discovered who it was. It had been a long time since she had heard
Brent’s voice on the phone. He had requested to speak to her mother and
Leslie had reluctantly yielded the phone to Jane.
Pleasant
exchanges were made as Leslie wondered around the kitchen searching the pantry
for something to nibble on. She had discovered a box of snack cakes.
She removed the box and was pulling out a single plastic wrapped cake
when she heard her mother hang up the phone and call Nick downstairs.
Nick was home again from tour. He spent most of his time in his
room sleeping during the day. Leslie was aware that it disturbed her
mother that Nick slept so much during the day and sometimes wouldn’t find it in
himself to fall asleep at night.
Nick
was slow to appear. He had probably been asleep. Aaron appeared
beside him almost confirming Leslie’s assumption that he had been asleep. Aaron
had probably woken him up. Leslie frowned at Aaron. He was so
saturnine lately, especially when Nick was around. Leslie guessed it was
because Nick was ignoring him, but he shouldn’t take it to heart, Nick was
ignoring everyone. He was lukewarm and polite only when needed to
be, otherwise he was totally antisocial.
Jane
stared at him with an odd expression in her eyes. Her voice when she had
called him down had been odd too. She beckoned him closer. Nick
stood in the doorway of the kitchen looking pale and tired. His slow
movements toward Jane looked like they required every bit little bit of energy
he had.
BJ
came into the kitchen then. She looked every bit as pale and tired as
Nick did, but they all knew why. She ventured to the fridge oblivious to
the tense scene evolving in the kitchen.
“Brent
just called,” Jane said to Nick still staring at him in that odd way, her voice
so strange.
“Did
he want to talk to me?” Nick asked looking confused.
Jane
shook her head, “No, he wanted to talk to me.”
Nick
blinked, “So....?”
“Nick...
Honey,” Jane paused shortly, “are you ok?”
Nick
blinked and looked at her curiously, “I’m ok.”
Jane
bit her lip and drank in his appearance, which Leslie has to say was looking a
little sallow, “Were you sleeping?”
Nick
nodded.
“Did
you stay up again all night?” Jane questioned. Nick looked surprised, his
expression clearly read, “How did she know?”
“Nick...
when’s the last time you’ve eaten anything? Did you eat today at all?”
Every
eye in the kitchen was on Nick now, and Nick fidgeted uncomfortably. “Nick?”
Jane pressed.
“No,”
Nick shook his head, “I’ve been asleep, I’m not hungry.”
“You
sleep too much Nick,” Aaron said quietly coming to Nick’s side.
Nick’s
eyes glanced down at Aaron, “I’ve been really tired. I just got off tour, God!
What is this?” he backed away from Jane and Aaron.
That’s
when Jane took his hands, “Nick, Brent says you’re not eating. What is
this all about? Is he right? Nick, I want to believe him. I haven’t seen
you eat a thing since you got here, when usually I can’t keep you out of the
kitchen.”
Nick
pulled away from her, “It’s my business what I do with myself. I told
Brent to get his own because I didn’t need him in mine.”
The
kitchen was silent after Nick’s bitter confession.
“When’s
the last time you’ve had anything to eat?” Jane asked him grabbing his arm as
he tried to storm out of the kitchen.
Nick
whirled on her his eyes blazing with fury. It was the most life Leslie had seen
come into his eyes for a long time, “I don’t know mother, ok? I don’t
know! I’m fine. Nothing bad has happened, and I lost weight.”
“Nick,
you’re hurting yourself. When you don’t eat your body starts feeding off
itself,” Jane was explaining to him, “Who cares if you lost weight?”
“I
do!” Nick snapped, and muttered something else to, and tried to leave the
kitchen again.
“Uh-uh,
you’re not going anywhere young man. You sit down there, and I’m going to make
you something to eat. And you are going to eat every single last bite of
it, too,” Jane was furious, “How could you be so stupid? You’re supposed
to be an adult now... you’re always insisting that you are, and telling me how
much you don’t need me in your life, but then you do something like this!“
Nick
was leaving again, but Aaron caught his arm, “Nick, please.” He tried to shake
him off, but Aaron held on, “Please...”
“Aaron
let GO!” Nick was yelling, but then another arm grabbed him on the other side.
Where had Angel came from? Leslie wondered. She stared at her
younger sister, whose face was disguised with make-up. Angel had turned
out to be quite superficial over the past few months.... AD. After the
divorce... that’s what they had taken to calling it. Leslie realized that
most of the major changes and problems in the family had taken place AD.
“Oh
just sit down Nick and shut up, they’re not going to let you go!” BJ snapped in
an ill-tempered manner. She pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and
sat down in the one across from it, “SIT!”
Nick
shot a wild glance around the kitchen at everyone’s purposeful face. He
groaned loudly and plopped down in the chair BJ had pulled out. The
clinking of pots and pans could be heard. Leslie came to sit in the chair
next to BJ; she stared at Nick who had leaned his head in his hands.
Aaron and Angel stood together. It was a weird sight to Leslie’s eyes to
see the twins together again. They had grown apart, AD. Leslie
watched her mother set down a bowl of steaming soup in front of her older
brother. She handed him a spoon and stood next to him waiting for him to
eat it. Nick rolled his eyes and took the spoon. The whole family
(minus Dad) sat and watched Nick leisurely finished the contents of the
bowl. He pushed the dish aside and pushed away from the table, “Can I go
now?”
Jane
gapped at him, “Nick...? Ah, well yes.” Her face was slightly flushed with
embarrassment. Nick left the kitchen with Aaron and Angel trailing behind
him. Jane collapsed in the chair Nick had been sitting in, “Oh my God...”
she rested her head in her arms on the table and her shoulders shook as she
cried.
“Mom?”
Leslie asked in alarm, she tentatively touched her mother’s arm.
“It’s
all wrong,” Jane said, “this family has fallen apart...” She sat up and gripped
Leslie’s hand suddenly, “I’m sorry.”
“For
what Mom?” BJ stood up on her side of the table, “For being a good wife to a
backstabbing son-of-a-bi...”
“BJ!”
Jane yelled in warning.
“Well
it’s true!” BJ slammed the chair into the table and left the kitchen.
“BJ’s
gone wild... Angel’s transformed into a selfless Barbie Doll, Aaron’s gonna have
an ulcer before he’s 16, and Nick’s...” she shook her head.
“He’s
what Mom?”
“Have
you seen inside his eyes Leslie?” Jane asked her daughter. When Leslie shook
her head Jane said, “They’re empty. No soul in there... It’s like he’s
not Nick anymore, and he no longer gives a damn about himself. I’m afraid he’s
gonna...”
“Gonna
what Mom?” Leslie inquired.
“I’m
afraid he’s going to kill himself, when no one is around to stop him...”
“Leslie,
are you still there?” Jane Carter’s voice spoke sounding a little fuzzy on BJ’s
cell phone waves.
“Yes,
Mom, I’m still here,” Leslie spoke finally, keeping her gaze on Nick, who slept
on his side with his back to her now.
“Where
are you?”
Leslie
blinked and took a gulp, BJ’s wrong, she told herself. BJ is wrong, Mom needs
to know, “We’re in Florida. We’re staying at Kevin’s house, and yes Nick is
with us.”