Chapter 17

“Quick, get him off the ground,” Kevin snapped.

Brian moved slowly, the delayed action calling Kevin to help. Kevin took control and easily lifted Howie off the floor. Howie was almost a foot shorter than him, and it wasn’t hard to pick him up. Carefully, he laid his friend on the couch, his face pale. He was worried. He clamped his forefinger and middle finger on Howie’s wrist, relieved only slightly to feel a very, very weak pulse, erratic and distant.

Kevin hesitated, trying to figure out how he was going to control the situation without scaring his band mates and letting them know how terrified he was. “Brian, get a cloth or something from the bathroom, A.J. get ice,” he ordered. He knew the commands were without purpose, but he had to get them out of the room.

Both his friends nodded dumbly and left the room reluctantly, tossing concerned looks at Howie. Nick was ignored.

Kevin bit his lip. How in God’s name was he going to save Howie? He didn’t know the first thing about trinicerite. He glanced up and locked eyes with Nick. But Nick did.

Kevin stood up slowly and approached Nick cautiously. Tears were rolling down Nick’s face, the younger man’s body shivering. “You did this,” Kevin whispered. “Now you tell me how to fix it. Because I swear if he dies, you will never experience another day in the sun again.”

Nick gasped in a breath before losing his composure completely, sobbing shamelessly. “Is he gonna die for real, Kev?” he choked out, tears filming his cheeks.

Kevin scowled. “There’s no doubt he will if you don’t tell me how the hell to cure him.”

Nick whimpered. “I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry,” he breathed, covering his face with his hands and hanging his head. “I couldn’t control myself. I didn’t take my medicine and then it had already happened and he took over and…” He caught sight of Howie’s pale form through slivers in between his fingers and began to wail. “Jesus, I’m sorry, Kevin! I don’t want him to die!”

Kevin frowned and grabbed Nick’s shoulders, shaking him forcefully. “How the hell do I cure him?” he shouted.

Nick faltered to come up with words for a few moments, but finally managed to blurt out, “you have to get him to take coglyceride. It’s the only antidote for it.”

Kevin nodded. “Good,” he said, his tone losing a bit of its sharp edge. “Now how do I get him to take it?”

Nick shook his head. “I-I don’t know. I always put it in his drinks or his food… He’s unconscious now, I don’t think you can…” He sobbed. “Don’t let him die, Kevin, please.”

Releasing the blonde, Kevin stepped back. “I won’t, Nick,” he said. “I’ll try at least.” His mind raced. How was he going to get the coglyceride into Howie’s system?

Then it made sense.

“Nick, where’s the coglyceride?” Kevin snapped.

Nick blinked in shock. “How are you going to get him to take it, Kevin?”

“JUST TELL ME,” Kevin barked.

“Right,” Nick said, shaking his head dazedly. “Um, there’s a water bottle filled with the stuff in A.J.’s car.”

Kevin frowned. “Why A.J.’s car?”

Nick scowled self-loathingly, pushing his knuckles under his eyes and smearing his tears away. “Because I poisoned him when we went out for fast food that day,” he whispered.

Kevin worked his mouth to say something angry, something threatening, but all he succeeded in doing was converting oxygen into carbon dioxide. He spun away from his teary-eyed friend and quickly hurried to the door. He grabbed A.J.’s keys and opened the door, dashing out into the blackness.

Oh God. Which car? His mind was blurry. What car had they taken? Was it the BMW or the black one? Calm down, Richardson, he chided himself. You’re not helping Howie by panicking. It had been neither. They had taken the white car.

Kevin struggled with the keys. Which one, which one, which one? There had to be a dozen keys on the ring! He tried four until he found one with a symbol on the top of it. He checked the hood and saw an identical symbol on the hood ornament. Kevin opened the passenger’s side door and searched the front seats.

Time was running out, and if he didn’t hurry up, he would lose his chance at preventing Howie from dying. He saw Nick’s water bottle lying under the one of the backseats. He slammed the door shut and went around to the other side, almost tearing the door off its hinges. He grabbed the water bottle and hurried back inside.

He was met with a most unpleasant – yet not unexpected – scene. A.J. was standing over Nick’s curled up form, fist clenched in front of him, breathing hard. Brian was holding a damp cloth filled with ice to Howie’s forehead, ignoring the background noise.

Kevin pushed A.J. back away from Nick, immediately wondering why he was standing up for Nick. A.J. blinked at him, apparently wondering the same thing.

“Wait until Howie’s better to kill him,” Kevin said slowly, waiting until A.J. nodded reluctantly and went to Howie’s side before letting his glare fade.

“How is he, Brian?”

Brian repeated the procedure Kevin had performed before and checked Howie’s pulse, this time at the Latino’s neck. Kevin’s cousin blanched. “He’s so weak,” he croaked.

Kevin nodded. “I’ll be right back.” He glimpsed the floor to where Nick was still lying, crying quietly. He felt a pang of sympathy for the young blonde before shaking it off and running upstairs. Nick was a lunatic. He had proved that much over the past few hours.

Kevin went into his room and retrieved the syringe needle from underneath his pillow. He knew Howie was deathly afraid of needles, but Kevin also knew that if forced with the choice between death and injection, Howie would have chosen injection.

When he reached the living room again, Nick was huddled at the far side of the room in a chair, watching Brian and A.J. worry over Howie, crying silent tears. Kevin once again felt pity for Nick, but he forced himself to focus on Howie, the victim of Nick’s insanity.

He lightly pushed Brian and A.J. away from Howie and knelt in front Howie on the floor. Kevin popped the top of the water bottle and threw the cap away. With trembling fingers, he dipped the needle into the clear chemical, sucking the liquid into the needle with the catch at the end. He handed the water bottle to Brian who took it silently. Kevin was about to inject the needle into Howie’s arm when A.J. made a noise of objection.

“Shouldn’t you clean the needle or something?” A.J. asked, his voice shaking.

Kevin shook his head. “No time for that. He could die if I waste time.”

“F-fine then,” A.J. muttered. “Just…” He hesitated. “Don’t hurt him.”

Kevin glanced at him through the corner of his eyes. The worry and intense concern in A.J.’s face and unmasked eyes destroyed any sarcastic crack Kevin had mustered. Kevin nodded. “I won’t.” For some reason, since Howie didn’t have the ability to speak on his own behalf, Kevin waited for A.J. to approve what Kevin was about to do.

A.J. folded his arms across his chest, looking terrified and anxious. Kevin saw the wheels in his mind turning. If he were responsible for giving the word that might kill his best friend, he would never forgive himself. But if he let him die, the same would be true. A.J. nodded his consent laboriously.

Kevin didn’t waste another second and settled his gaze on Howie. He took a deep breath and lifted the needle to Howie’s arm. He shut his eyes and got ready to push the needle into Howie’s skin when Brian cried, “Kevin! Open your eyes!” Kevin nodded and pealed his eyes open, concentrating on the task at hand.

“Don’t let him die, Kevin,” Nick begged from the desolate corner, hugging his knees to his chest.

Kevin nodded again. “All of you shut up,” he said irritably.

“Sorry Kev,” they mumbled.

Before allowing another interruption to stop him, Kevin brought the needle up to Howie’s arm and with a flinch, pressed the needle into Howie’s arm. A.J. turned his head away abruptly and Brian bit his lip. Kevin could see both of them out of the corner of his eyes while he pressed the end of the needle, the fluid entering Howie’s system.

He took the needle out slowly and immediately pushed the damp cloth against Howie’s arm, the ice inside spilling onto the ground.

“N-now what?” Nick whimpered.

A.J. tried to control the shaking in his voice as he whispered, “Now you tell us why you tried to kill Howie.”

Kevin cleared his throat to catch their attention. “No. Nick, get a dry cloth or something. Brian, hold this to his arm tight. A.J., come with me.”

Nick leapt up and dashed out of the room before A.J. could do so much as glare at him. Brian pressed his fingertips against the cloth, looking anxiously at Howie’s face. Kevin grabbed A.J.’s arm and led the younger man out of the room into the kitchen.

“There’s something wrong with Nick,” Kevin informed A.J. quietly.

A.J. regained his cocky, sardonic attitude and rolled his eyes. “Really, Kevin? I hadn’t noticed.”

Kevin glared at him. “No, I mean mentally wrong. Did you see how fast he went from being psychotic to normal?”

A.J. frowned. “What are you saying? He’s a schitzo?”

Kevin shook his head. “I don’t know, A.J. He’s acting weird.”

“Obviously,” A.J. snorted. He bit his lip. “What are we going to do?” He turned pleading brown eyes on Kevin’s emerald gaze.

Kevin took a deep breath and ran a hand through his raven hair. “We ask Nick what’s wrong with him and if we’re lucky, it’ll be something we can tackle on our own.”

A.J. smiled vaguely. “Luck isn’t something we’ve been blessed with over the years, Kevin.”

“Yeah. I know,” Kevin sighed.

<~*~>

“When does the antidote start working?” A.J. asked quietly, his eyes trained on Howie nervously. Just to soothe his nerves, he pressed his fingertips against Howie’s neck, checking for the faint pulse. It was still there.

Nick shook his head. “I don’t know. I just know it works. There was a lot of trinicerite in the dose I gave him, though.” He hung his head. “Do you think he’ll ever forgive me?”

“I don’t think even we can with the way things are now,” Brian said softly.

Nick groaned and buried his face in his hands. “I didn’t think so.”

Kevin hesitated. “Nick, there’s something wrong with you.”

Nick “heh”ed quietly, his shoulders bobbing up and then down. He pulled his head out of his hands and sighed, staring at the wall. “Yeah, there is.”

“What is it?” A.J. pressed.

Nick paused, gathering his words. “I’m diagnosed with bipolar.”

Brian’s eyes widened. “You have split personalities?”

Nick laughed slightly. “No. I only have one other one.” He sighed. “The one that tried to kill Howie.”

A.J. frowned. “Hold on. You’re bipolar? Meaning you have another personality?”

Nick nodded. “That’s what the medicine I was taking was for. To control it… For a while it worked out fine and I was normal and all…” He took in a shuddering breath. “But then A.J. had that whole episode and I stopped taking the medicine. I-I guess I forgot. So he started taking over.”

“Who?” Kevin inquired, frowning.

Nick smiled sadly. “I don’t know.” He sighed. “There was some voice in my head that kept telling me A.J. went into rehab because of Howie’s irresponsibility. At first I didn’t want to believe him and I ignored it, but after time it got stronger and stronger until I couldn’t help but begin to believe that it really was Howie’s fault.” He covered his eyes with one hand, leaning his elbow on his thigh. “He made me think Howie had to die because in my warped mind, it seemed like that whole you kill, you get killed thing was fair.”

“But Howie didn’t try to hurt A.J.,” Brian said softly.

Nick shrugged. “It didn’t matter. My judgment hasn’t been at its best lately,” he said with a weak grin.

A.J. blinked. “Nick, you have to get help for this again. You can’t keep runnin’ around killing your best friends like this.”

Nick nodded. “I know. I’ve been trying to fight it, but I got so confused so I just decided to trust it. I was paranoid and I thought no one was telling me the truth. I thought Howie was going to try and murder A.J.” He laughed without amusement. “It’s crazy, yeah, but so am–”

Howie groaned.

Everyone put their actions and words on hold as they fixed their gazes on Howie apprehensively.