Chapter 5:

 

Scared

I must have stared at the door for fifteen minutes before I had the courage to grab the envelope. I then ran for the door, tore the letter off and threw it across the room. I treated it like it was a bomb or something. Way to go wussy-boy. It's just a friggin piece of paper! I then tried to calm myself down by taking long deep breaths and walked over to the letter, picked it up and sat down on my bed. I opened the envelope and read the letter. It looked the same but it was a little more legible than the previous ones. The words were still written in red ink complete with devil heads, angel on a noose and Mizpah,Nick but the consonants were only gibberish for two-thirds of the letter. The last few sentences were clear as a bell;

desfhvnfsijvrdfrejgepodwpefbhjtvkspckwprerrhepsaodwc,rgjeogvwjwjfc,gjergerjfoi

jfcersogferotnger..life is going to get more interesting for you my young friend. I hope you can handle it. I always get what I want and I want you!
Mizpah, Nick

I put the letter down and got angry. I ran toward the door, threw it open and looked down the hallway. No one was there. I was going to be damned if this chick thought that she can scare the be-Jesus out of me. Who the hell does she think she is anyway? I ripped up the letter and threw it in the trash, now I was pissed. How dare she break into my hotel room and leave that crap on my door. When I tried to rip the envelope I was met with resistance. That's when I realized that there was something else in there. I placed my fingers in the envelope and pulled out two pictures. My heartbeat raced again as I looked at them. The first one was of me getting ready in my hotel room before I met with Howie and Kevin and the second one was of the three of us sitting in the restaurant. There were little devil heads drawn over all of our faces. That's impossible. we had a private room, there was nobody even in there with us! And how could she have been in here while I was getting ready. Shivers ran down my spine as I thought about that last thing. She was in here for God knows how long. I then picked up the phone and called for help.

I realized who I called after I heard his voice on the line.  "Hello?"  Shit Carter why did you call Brian?  "Hello is anyone there?"  Shit. shit. shit.

 

"Um, Hi Bri, it's um."

"Nick, is that you?"

 

"Yeah, sorry dude I um.. must have dialed the wrong number."  Tell him your scared shitless you idiot. Ask him if you could go over
there. You know he'll say yes.

 

"Okay, well I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."  No Brian you can't hang up, I need you!

 

"Okay, sorry man. See you tomorrow. Bye."  I hung up the phone and felt so defeated. Why couldn't I just talk to him? I didn't know what to do next. I didn't want to bother Kevin or Howie so I dialed A.J's cell phone number. "

 

Yello?"

 

"Hi J, it's Nick"

"Did you dial the wrong number again dumbass?"

 

I was confused, "What?"

"Well, didn't you just call Rok like thirty seconds ago? Or was it me you were trying to call"

 

Dammit, they were together. I feel like a total ass!

"Uh...yeah,I was calling to see what time we had to be at the studio tomorrow?"

 

What a lame ass thing to say. I think A.J must have felt the same way because he sighed before he said "Why couldn't you just ask Brian that?" Ugh why couldn't I tell Brian that...because it's an obvious cover idiot!

 

"I guess I could have...I didn't even think about it. I guess I was also going to ask you if you wanted to do anything tonight. I'm kind of bored."

"Didn't you already do something with Howie?" I realized at that last statement, that it was a lost cause. I either needed to come clean or hang up.

"I guess your right J, I'm kind of tired anyways.I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Bye"

"Oh, Nick yoo-hoo, don't you need to know what time to show up tomorrow? Isn't that why you called?"

Now I felt stupid again. "Yeah"

"9a.m."

"thanks"

"no problem kiddo, bye"

"bye"

I hung up the phone and did the only thing I could think of to do. I headed for the bathroom, locked myself in and rocked back and forth hoping that I would get up the nerve to go back into the bedroom and go to sleep.

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I woke up with a start and was temporarily confused as to where the hell I was. My neck hurt and my cheek was cold against my pillow?...wait... That wasn't a pillow. That's when I realized that I had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor. I immediately sat up only to be met with a sharp pain in my neck and back. I stretched and pulled myself up off the floor. I looked at myself in the mirror and wasn't pleased with what I saw staring back at me. I looked awful. Deep circles under my eyes and my hair was a mess. I was just about to leave my sanctuary when I heard a creak. Oh my God someone just came into my room! The door than slammed shut and I heard footsteps pacing around right outside the bathroom door. I held my breath and placed my ear to the door hoping to hear that maybe it was housekeeping. The person sounded like she was going through my dresser drawers and tearing apart the room. I really was angry at myself for not bringing my cell phone in here with me. Then I heard the footsteps get closer....and closer..and KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK Oh my God Oh my God Oh my God The doorknob jiggled as if the stalker wanted to get in really badly. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK body slamming!!! My heart was racing as I stood like a dear about to meet an untimely death at the hands of a Jeep. My feet frozen, my brain shut off BANG

The door bursted open and Joe, came running in and stopped when he just saw me standing there looking at him dumbfounded.

"Why the hell didn't you answer Nick?"  I was still so scared that I couldn't move. He noticed my temporary paralysis and walked over to me, put a hand on my shoulder and said "What's wrong, you look like you just saw your pet rat die or something." His pet rat statement woke me out of my trance.

"I didn't here the phone, I slept in the bathroom and I don't have a friggin rat!!!" After staring at me for what felt like a small eternity he led me back into the bedroom where I explained to him what happened. When I was done, he looked at me with a very stern look.

"Nick, this is serious, you realize that right? You did everything wrong last night which could have ended with me finding your corpse in here instead of you cowering in the bathroom. You should have called my room immediately and then we could have moved you to another hotel and we could have given the envelope to the police."

 

I knew I shouldn't have thrown out the last letter. I not only threw it out, but I ripped it up. "I'm sorry Joe, I wasn't thinking clearly. I panicked."

"That's all right kid but I highly recommend that you sleep somewhere else tonight. What about Brian's or one of the guys. It would probably be safer for you to be with them then at another hotel." He was right, but I didn't feel like I could bother them about this. What I really felt was they wouldn't care.

"Okay Joe, I will ask one of them today."

"Great, now I'll leave you to get ready, you have to be at the studio in an hour," fantastic, I got maybe three hours of sleep on a floor nonetheless and now I had to be at the studio before I had time to process anything. With that thought I got ready feeling a little more safe knowing Joe was right outside the door.