*All characters copyrighted to Poseidon Simons

Chapter 8

Nick's Father

Tina sat on a chair with the phone in her hand, trying hard to make the call. It was the only way she could pay for Hal's burial..."I can't do this!!!" She hurled the phone away, sickened that she had actually thought of doing that. She could find a job...there had to be some openings somewhere...she'd have a year before unemployment benefits ran out, "I have to find a job soon!" The unemployment benefits only paid for food and shelter. Nothing else.

"Tina! Tina, open up!" Her attention shot to the door. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it, "Tina, it's James! Open up!" The hard knocking stopped abruptly. Tina listened hard to hear what he was mumbling, "No...not already! Damn it, I was too late!"

Tina cautiously opened the door, "James?.."

"Tina!" James shouted when she opened the door. He shoved the rest of the way in, "Where is he?! Tell him to get out!"

"What? Th--there's no one else here..."

James stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed, "Then...then you didn't sell yourself ?.."

She cringed inside, "How did he know?!" Tina swallowed her fear, "What if I was?"

James shoved something in her hands, "Take it all! You can't do that to yourself! What would it do to Bruce?"

She looked at what he'd put into her hand. The paper that was on top of everything else bulged out at her, "One hundred pounts?!" She fingered through the rest of the money, "Why did he give all this to me?.." Tina looked back up at him, but he was already leaving, "Wait!"

"What?" James turned around.

"Wh--why? I can't accept this!"

James just turned back around and walked out. Before leaving, he spoke, "You have to. The only other choice is something you should never have to go through." He walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Tina stared at the door, "He--I..." She had money to spare.

Thursday came by too soon. Player didn't know whether he was ready to go back or not. Nino flew up beside him, "You never came to get me!"

"I got busy Nino. I'm sorry."

"I was almost like Jim! I'm staying in you next time, nest."

Player was too distracted to tell Nino to stop calling him that. His mind was on William, "What should I do? He's TDO, but if I say anything, he's promised to kill all my friends. Why's he so worried that I'll talk anyway? I would've kept him secret if he'd promised to let us all go..." Whatever. It was time for school.

"James? Ready?"

"Yeah Kia. I'm coming." this time he didn't bother to hurry down the stairs. Kia frowned.

"Are you sure you'll be okay? You don't look well."

"I'm fine, Kia. I'm fine..."

"If you say so..."

Player stayed quiet as they walked to school. He made himself smile to Kia and wave as he went inside, but he just didn't feel like it right then. Once inside, he made his way to his classroom, sitting down by Nick as soon as he could. Nick looked overly nervous, just like he had on Player's first day in the school, "Nick," He whispered, "what's wrong?"

"My dad...he--something weird happened to him yesterday..."

"What do you mean?"

"He was laughing all crazy like and staring at a bunch of money...I--he almost hit me when I asked why he was so happy. He doesn't like it when I ask what he's doing..."

Player started to feel sick to his stomach, "He was holding a bunch of money?.." He coughed, "Um...Nick, were you adopted?"

"Yeah...how'd you know?"

Player didn't answer Nick's question, "And is your dad a mountain dragon? Is he named William?"

Nicolas froze in his seat, "How did you know?"

Player put his head in his hands, "It's him! No wonder Nicolas has those heart problems!!!!" He was about to say more, to ask another question, but his eyes caught movement outside the window. Player swerved to look at the window, seeing William disappear in the bushes outside, "He's watching!" Player kept his mouth shut.

Nicolas went back to his writing, but it looked like it was getting worse. Nick started to hurry, to scribble as fast as he could.

Nicolas shook as he wrote down another capitol R, "My dad...I can't let him get angry at me! C'mon, c'mon I've got to get this letter perfect!!" He could feel his heart start to pump a little faster, but he couldn't calm down, not after that threat his dad had given him yesterday. Nick now had a time limit before he'd be punished unless he could learn how to write. The room started to spin...his arm went numb...Nick's legs ceased to respond. The room suddenly lost all focus. Nick could only make out different colored blobs. His hearing faded as he listened to the frantic words of his teacher, then everything left him. Light vanished, sound ceased to exist, and finally, all feeling left.

Mrs. Hall shook Nicolas frantically, but he didn't respond, "Nick! Nick, wake up!" Without wasting another moment, she called the hospital. They came over and took Nicolas away...

James watched them leave, fear and worry planted firmly on his face, "Is he gonna be alright?"

Mrs. Hall shook. She had no way of knowing for sure, "I--I don't know, James. This isn't his first attack...I had hoped that with you here, we could get him that last operation...but now that he's had another attack, it'll be weeks before he can safely move around on his own again."

"And it's all because of his father..." James growled. There was an odd look on his face...

"We don't know for sure."

James looked back up at her, "What?! How can you say that?!! Hasn't Nick ever told you that his dad hurts him?!!"

"Many times...but without proof, I can't do anything about it...I myself am sure that his father is a drug dealer or something, but I can't get the authorities on him unless I have some absolute prof that he's breaking the law."

"But you have proof with Nick! He's having heart attacks, da--" James stopped himself before he swore, "Heart attacks...isn't that proof enough that he's being treated poorly?"

"I wish..." Mrs. Hall sighed, "Let's talk outside the classroom, James."

James got up and followed her until they were in the halls. Out there, he started pacing, "I can't believe this! Why would his father treat him so poorly?!"

"I don't know...the boy never talks about his father, except to say that his dad isn't bad."

"Nick's lying and you know it."

"Yes, I do, but unless Nick says so himself, there's nothing I can do. I've seen the fear in his eyes whenever he talks about his father...I just wish he would say the truth and we could get rid of that criminal!"

"So do I..."

Friday...Player made sure he had his medicine withy him, and headed for school. He saw William walking in the other direction, but didn't go after him, for fear of hurting his friends. At school, things felt lonely without Nicolas. Recess wasn't near as much fun, and school dragged by almost as if it were trying to keep him there forever. On the way home, he saw William again. William came to him, "Listen up, Elias. I know that Nicolas is friends with you. Don't come near him anymore, or you'll soon have a band member on the obituary section of the paper. This is my only warning." With that, William walked away.

The entire time, Player had held himself back from trying to bite the mountain dragon, but only because he'd seen the handgun hidden in William's coat, "Damn it, William. Someday you're going to slip up, and then I'll get you."