Chapter One:
Weeks passed. The phone calls informing Leslie�s parents of her splotchy attendance records increased as the months went by. Her parents had sent in another missing person report that had gone into effect until she came home a week later. The police refused to listen to any other subsequent reports, claiming that it seemed she always had the intention of coming home eventually.
Nick made sure she kept every doctor�s appointment, saying that he�d feel guilty until he heard a professional say she was all right. As time passed, both their physical conditions became better as they locked themselves into Nick�s scantily furnished apartment doing nothing more than just being together.
Leslie had become accustomed to wearing Nick�s shirts, while Nick became accustomed to holding Leslie in his arms at any given moment. She rarely found herself at home, but when she did, there was always a letter or phone message from Kevin or A.J. Neither of them ever bothered responding to the pleas for knowledge of their mutual well-being. The dreamtime contact with Brian draped off until they were left by themselves.
And as summer moved into fall, October into November, both Nick and Leslie found themselves more reliant upon each other � not even considering what would ever happen if they were separated for more than a few hours. Their souls began to bond together and submerge into a dark bog of shadows that they didn�t even attempt to clamber out of.
Because why bother when they only needed � and had � each other?
~*~*~*~
�You�re going Angel,� Nick stated, little emotion, positive or negative, playing in his voice.
�Why?� she asked, standing in their bedroom in her black jeans and bra, one of his sweatshirts in her hands.
He groaned, trying to refrain from letting his hormones take over. If he didn�t, she would have found herself pinned to the wall with his hands and lips all over her, allowing all his feelings and fears to be forgotten as he found pleasure in her body.
But he didn�t want to do that. Unless she would find equal pleasure in his.
They�d slept in the same bed night after night for nearly three months, but nothing happened. He feared pushing her away, and she just wanted to not be alone. Normally, he was fine with that. The exception came at moments like this, when he saw so much skin that he�d die to touch, kiss, feel against his own. It drove him nuts.
Nick was brought back to reality by the slumping of Angel�s shoulders, tears pooling in her green eyes.
�I don�t want to go Nick. Please don�t make me,� she whispered, dropping the shirt on their bed before wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest. �Don�t make me.�
Hesitantly, carefully choosing his words, he tangled one hand in her hair and placed the other on the small of her back. �Just today. Just this once. The doctor said you�d do better if you got out and saw some people.�
He placed a kiss on the top of her head before pulling back, forcing Angel to look him in the eyes.
�Just today. If anything goes wrong, call me. I�ll be here. And I�ll never make you go back again.�
Angel swallowed hard before pulling his head down so their foreheads rested against each other�s.
�For you.�
She slowly, seductively brushed her lips across his cheek, lingering for a few moments before walking away to pull his shirt over her head. Walking back, he noticed a dullness in her eyes, half hidden by her glasses, a dullness that resembled the one he saw in his own eyes every time he looked in the mirror.
Nick felt her grab his hand and allowed himself to be pulled towards the door and his car.
The blind leading the blind.
~*~*~*~
Rubbing at her eyes, Leslie fought to keep her attention on something � anything � besides the fact she wasn�t with Nick. Waves of panic attacks kept trying to wash over her, but she refused to let them win. She refused to let anything or anyone win. She would win.
A bell rang and Leslie watched her classmates file out of the room, each trying to glance at her, the poor insane pale girl who used to have so much potential, without being noticeable.
Someone grabbed her arm, pulling her from the desk she had rooted herself in. What was next? Lunch? Or history? How long had she been here?
Turning to the owner of the vise-like grip, she found someone she hadn�t expected, and so preceeded to allow her to drag her along through the hallway. Leslie�s eyes blurred as she watched people turn and look at her. Everyone knew who she was. She was the freak that kept turning up missing. Who passed out in the hallway during the first week of school. She was weird.
Laura, her one-time female best friend, slammed open the door to an empty classroom, pushed Leslie in, and glared at anyone who might have dared to follow them before slamming the door shut behind her.
Upon closer inspection, Leslie found the room not completely empty, eyeing Albert and Zach indifferently. Walking to an empty corner of the room, she sat on the floor curling her legs under her. Even though she�d neither seen nor talked to her three friends in over a month, she knew them still and an inquisition was about to occur.
�Told ya she was here,� Zach said to Albert, who looked at her sadly.
Leaning her head back, staring at them, Leslie dared them to begin.
�Where have you been?�
�What the hell is going on?�
�Who the fuck have you been with?�
Closing her eyes, she laid down on the floor and curled up in a ball. She couldn�t answer three questions at once, so why bother at all? The floor was hard, nothing like the bed she was used to waking up in, tangled up in blankets and Nick. Where was Nick?
A chill ran through her and she curled up tighter.
�He said to call him, but where�s a phone? Why is it so cold?�
�Leslie, get up,� Zach�s voice said sternly, followed by him nudging her knees carefully.
�Zach, shut up. She won�t talk to us if we just start lecturing her. We�ll just become her parents and she�s never talked to them.�
She felt Albert knell down and brush her hair away from her face. He began carefully tracing the bruise on her jaw she�d gotten from her last doctor appointment where she�d tried to stop Nick from hitting Dr. Ryan after he�d said something particularly dumb. Nick, in anger, had flung her off his arm harder than he�d meant to, throwing her to the floor. She�d gotten a cut behind her ear from the edge of the desk and a bruise down one side of her jaw from the tile floor.
...Nick does that�
�Les, how did you get this bruise?�
�I fell.�
�Did someone� help you fall?�
Laura now, trying to sound comforting, ran her hand over Leslie�s hair.
Opening her eyes, she pointedly gazed at Laura.
�I fell.�
Albert nodded, while Zach sighed, sitting on the floor with his friends.
�What�s going on Leslie?�
Closing her eyes again, Leslie wondered if she wished hard enough, Nick would hear her and come pick her up to go home, so they could curl up into bed together forgetting that other people existed.
�You�ve been to school maybe ten times since August, and when you�re not here, you aren�t at home. Where do you go?�
�Home,� she sighed.
A moment of silence passed.
�No you don�t. I�ve been dropping by your house. Your parents haven�t seen you since the end of September,� Laura said.
�I have a new home,� Leslie whispered, her eyes still shut.
The three friends shared glances.
�Where is your new home?� asked Zach carefully.
�Somewhere else.�
�Do you live with someone else?�
�Yes.�
Feeling that they might be getting somewhere, Laura dared to ask, �Who?�
Involuntarily, Leslie smiled, eyes still shut to her friends� prying stares.
�My soul.�
Silence took over and Leslie felt her friends move away without seeing Laura gesture for them to follow her to the other side of the room.
�Do you think she might be in a cult?� Zach questioned in a whisper once they were far enough away.
Albert shrugged. Laura kept quiet, concentrating on her own train of thought.
�When did Leslie disappear over the summer?�
�End of July,� responded Albert cautiously. �Why?�
�Brian Littrell died in July.�
�So?� Zach spat. �What does that have to do with anything?�
�She left right after she emailed me at camp saying that Brian was sick. That was the last I heard from her. When I came home, she was already gone.�
�Wait a second. The Backstreet Boy?�
Albert�s voice carried, Leslie�s eyes popping opened at the sound of Nick and Brian�s former group.
�Yes, the Backstreet Boys,� Laura confirmed. �You said she came back on a plane from Kentucky.�
�Yeah.�
�That�s where Brian is from. I think she tried to go to his funeral.�
�WHAT?!� Zach exclaimed. �That�s insane!�
Laura slapped a hand over his mouth. �Shut up! We�re not supposed to be in here.�
Albert considered this new connection carefully.
�That would explain why she�d left. But what about now? A cult would make much more sense.�
�I can�t believe this,� Zach said, exasperated. �How would she have gotten in? There would have been security everywhere. He was Brian fucking Littrell for god sakes.�
All three spun towards Leslie when they heard her jump from the floor, red-faced and eyes blazing.
�Don�t bring him into this!�
Too shocked to do anything, they watched her storm out of the classroom.
�What the fuck?� Zach voiced for all three of them.