| Chapter 7 Brian slowly made his way down the slope. He was about 45 feet from the bottom when he lost his footing and began to tumble down the remaining hill. He landed hard against a tree. Damn it, I'm gonna kill myself before anyone finds me, he thought as he lay next to the tree trying to recover. As Brian tried to get back to his feet, he realized he had hurt his ankle. "Oh that's just great! What else is gonna happen?" he asked looking toward the sky. Just then the storm hit and Brian was immediately drenched with rain. "OK, I'm not gonna ask anymore." Brian knew he needed to find a way back to the highway soon. He could feel his strength leaving him. He was fighting the urge to go to sleep, which he guessed was from a concussion. He knew he had lost a lot of blood, and he couldn't tell if he was still bleeding or not. He managed to find a fallen branch that he used to steady himself as he walked. He made his way through the trees trying to stay parallel to the highway above. He was trembling with fatigue, but he pressed on. I've got to get out of this rain, he thought as he looked for some shelter. Just through the trees Brian spotted what looked like a small cave, he made his way toward it. He crossed what he thought was a trail as he entered the cave. Brian sat down and drifted off to sleep. Brian was in the wheat field again. He could still feel the pain in his shoulder as he looked for the mysterious girl. He saw her at the edge of the field. As he made his way to her, she turned staring at him with sad eyes. "You didn't listen." she said. Brian stopped and stared at her. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I told you not to trust anyone. You didn't listen." She said turning away from him. "Wait!" he said as he grabbed her arm. She turned to face him again. "Am I gonna die out here?" Brian asked. She looked at him a long time before she answered, "that is only for God to know." "Are you an angel?" Brian asked. She said nothing, but turned away from Brian and disappeared. "Wait!!" Brian yelled. Brian jerked awake. He looked around to get his bearings, and realized he wasn't alone in the cave. There was a girl on the other side of the cave, digging in her backpack. Brian raised his head up and saw that she had taken his shirt off and cleaned his shoulder wound, and had made some sort of brace for his ankle. He was about to say something when she noticed that he was awake. "Hey, how you feeling?" she asked as she walked toward him. Brian looked up to see the mysterious girl from his dreams. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kevin sat in the doctor's office waiting for him to come in with the results of the tests he had done earlier that morning. He had left the lodge after the state police officer had delivered the news of Brian's car being found. Nick was so upset after he heard the news that he had ran to his room, Howie and A.J. went with him to try and calm him down. I shouldn't have been so hard on Nick this morning, Kevin thought, I just don't know what got into me. I'm never like that. Kevin was still deep in thought when the doctor came in. "Kevin, I've got the results of your tests." the doctor said. Kevin sat straight up in his chair, prepared for the worst. "All the tests are normal, there is absolutely nothing physically wrong." Kevin breathed a sigh of relief. "But doctor, how do you explain the time lapses I've been having?" asked Kevin. The doctor sat back in his chair for a moment, "Kevin, there's nothing physically wrong. That doesn't mean there's nothing wrong. Have you considered seeing a psychiatrist?" Kevin was taken aback by the doctor's question. "Um, no. Should I?" he asked. "If you want to rule out all possibilities, yes I think you should," the doctor said, "I know a great psychiatrist, he's here in the building. Would you like me to call and get you an appointment?" "Yeah, I guess." Kevin said with some apprehension in his voice. As the doctor called, Kevin thought about the possibility of a mental condition. Oh great, I can see it now. Backstreet Boy mentally insane, film at 11:00. "Kevin," the doctor said pulling him from his thoughts, "your in luck, he just had a cancellation, he can see you now." ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nick lay in his bed staring at the ceiling. He had been there for most of the day, refusing to eat anything, or talk to anyone. Howie and A.J. had tried to comfort him, but nothing they said could take away his pain. He had done this to his best friend, he was missing and possibly dead because of him. Why can't I stand up to Brian? Nick wondered. Ever since he and Brian met, he couldn't say no to him. Brian just had this way of knowing what buttons to push with Nick to get his way. As Nick thought about that, he started to get a little angry. How dare Brian take advantage of my feelings like that, Nick thought. No, it's still my fault, if I'd stood up to Brian, then none of this would've happened. Howie stuck his head in Nick's room, "Nick, can I come in?" "Yeah, I guess." Nick said, not really wanting any company at the moment. Howie came in and closed the door behind him. "Nick, you've got to stop beating yourself up." Howie said, looking Nick in the eyes. "I can't D, it's my fault this happened." Nick said, trying not to make eye contact. "Nick, if Brian were here he'd be all over you for acting like this." Howie said. Nick looked Howie straight in the eyes, "Yeah, but he's not here is he?" Howie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, "Nick, if the tables were turned, and it was you that was missing, what do you think Brian would be doing?" Nick sat there for a moment thinking, "He'd be out looking for me." Nick said, knowing that would be exactly what he would do. "Your right," Howie said, "he would. He wouldn't be locked in his room beating himself up over something that he couldn't do anything about anyway." Nick said nothing for a long time, he knew Howie was right. "D, security won't let us out of the house, what else is there to do?" "Well, we can help man the phones, and we can support each other. Nick we all love Brian, and we're all hurting and worried." Howie said. Nick thought about what Howie had just said, he was right as usual. "All right, let's go find something constructive to do," Nick said getting up and heading toward the living room. Chapter 8 |