"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Catlyn said staring with apprehension at the gaping fangs surrounding the entrance to Skull Kingdom.
"Don't be a 'fraidy cat, Cat," Nick grinned down at her. "You'll love it," he said his eyes glowing with excitement.
"Have you ever been here?" she asked looking at him.
He shook his head and frowned slightly. "Crystal doesn't like stuff like this," he said.
"Ahh. I see, so the first chance you get, you drag some poor unsuspecting soul into the depths of horror and hell with you," Catlyn teased.
"Exactly."
"Oh, well, far be it for ME to ruin your fun," she said sarcastically as they approached the strange "Quazimodo" type creature standing before the gates.
He spouted some greeting in verse and stood looking at them expectantly. "What did he just say?" Nick asked turning towards Catlyn.
She shrugged. "What was that?" she asked the creature.
"Enter if you dare, but beware, hearts will stop, blood will run cold, what once was young will now be old," he muttered in his shaky, eerie voice.
"Riiight," Catlyn said rolling her eyes and trying to pass.
"Pass you shall, and pass you will, but only when it's time, only when it's still," "Quazimodo"'s evil twin muttered, not looking at them, but stepping in front of them.
"Okay, now this is weird," Catlyn whispered.
"Yeah," Nick said looking at the thing in front of them.
A strange sounding buzzer rang somewhere within the building, and the host type thing stepped aside and looked at them with his haunted gaze. "Welcome mortals, enjoy your stay, for stay you shall, longer than a day. Prepare your hearts, prepare your souls, step inside, join destiny in your roles. Fate has brought you to this place, and we have plenty of space. Enter now, if you dare. Into the darkness, that awaits you, in…THERE," he said in a creepy singsong voice, sweeping his hand to the side, motioning them forward.
"What the fuck is her problem anyway?" AJ ranted, pacing back and forth in front of the couch Howie was sitting on.
Howie eyed AJ with extreme curiosity. "What do you mean HER problem?"
"Well," AJ said holding his hand out and tapping it with one finger. "Let's see. She comes on to me hotly, all over me, kissing me, touching me." Tapping with two fingers, he said, "And THEN, she all turns into the Ice Princess, not even talking to me, snubbing me, acting like I don't exist." He shrugged. "What the hell am I suppose to think or do?"
"AJ, please tell me you aren't laying your idiocies on her," Howie said softly.
"What do you mean idiocies?" AJ asked sitting in the chair across from him.
"Well, let's see," Howie mimicked AJ's earlier display. "You come on to her hotly, all over her, kissing her, touching her, all up in her business…telling her that you like her, you wish you were with her. And then," Howie ran his fingers in the air, "you run away the minute Miranda looks in your direction."
"Oh, so this is all MY fault?" AJ poked a finger into his own chest. "You're telling me that I'm the one that's playing the mind games?"
"Well, yeah. Kind of," Howie said getting annoyed. "Look. I'm sick of seeing you toy with her, playing with her mind, making her think things are going to be okay, and then at the end of the day going home to that bitch of a girlfriend you have," his voice rising steadily as he laid into AJ. "You leave Kyndall alone, crying, wondering if her life will ever be the way it should be. It's wrong. And I can't believe that even you would steep so low as to do that to someone."
"Dude," AJ said looking at Howie his eyes wide. "If I didn't know better, I'd say YOU were falling for her."
"Maybe I am," Howie glared at him. "But what difference does it make when all she wants is you. You don't see how she cries at night. You don't see how much she hurts each time you leave her for Miranda. You aren't the one that holds her and tells her that it's all going to be okay."
"Don't tell me that you do," AJ laughed sardonically.
Howie looked at AJ in disgust. "Yeah. I do. I'm all she has. But I'm not what she wants," he said softly.
"What do I do man?" AJ looked at Howie, his voice heavy with everything he was feeling. "I want to be with her so badly. I just…Miranda…" he shook his head and dropped it into his hands.
"Do you really wanna be with her? Kyndall I mean?" Howie asked, looking at AJ with an expression as serious as death.
AJ looked up, startled by the tone of Howie's voice. "Yes…but…"
"No. I asked you, do you really wanna be with her."
AJ sat in silence staring off into space, lost in thought. "Yes. I do."
"You really mean that?" Howie asked, his eyes staring holes into AJ. AJ nodded slowly. "Okay. I'm going to do everything within my power to help you out. But if you screw this up," Howie shook his head. "I will hurt you. I swear to God I will hurt you," he warned.
AJ looked at Howie, his eyes full of fear. Not because of Howie's warning, but because of the step he was about to take.
