Chapter 14
Nyla woke to the sound of something snapping in an otherwise quiet room. Shifting, she slowly sat up, yawning loudly. Slipping out of bed, she shivered, it was freezing. Rubbing her hands up and down her arms, she grabbed her pants and slipped them on. She couldn't wait to get into the truck and turn the heater on.
Reaching into her bag, she grabbed her toothbrush and headed into the bathroom and then stopped. "Shit!" She moaned, she'd forgotten there was no running water. "Eh, I'll do it once we get on the road." Shuffling through her bag, she pulled out a pack of gum and popped a piece in her mouth, it'd have to do for now.
Quickly she got ready, lugging her stuff back downstairs to find that Nick was up and waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs and he didn't look happy. She noticed that he didn't have his stuff down with him. "Good morning, what's wrong?" She asked, setting her stuff down.
Nick took a breath, looking away and then back at her. "We can't leave."
She stilled; he didn't say what she thought she heard him just say. "What?"
"We can't leave. We aren't going anywhere."
"Why not?" She questioned.
"Go look out the window and you tell me." Nick replied.
Nyla looked at him a moment before walking over to the window, pulling the curtains back and gasping.
It must've snowed more than ten inches over night because she could barely see out the window. What she could see was that there was ice covering the branches on the trees, she winced as she watched a branch snap and fall into the fluffy white snow, disappearing from sight.
Turning her gaze out, she strained to see the way they came, the driveway was covered, the truck was covered and she could no longer see the road they'd come in from.
"Oh god." She moaned.
"Until it clears up, we're not going anywhere, we can't. I won't be able to see the road in front of me."
Closing her eyes, she rested her head on the cold window and immediately pulled away, it was so cold it hurt.
"I think we should look around and take inventory of the mansion, see if we're lucky enough to find something, blankets anything. I have a feeling we're gonna be here awhile." Nick sighed.
Nyla turned to look at him, it was clear he was frustrated, but yet he remained calm and took immediate charge. That was one thing that a lot of people didn't know about Nick, or failed to even notice. He could be responsible when and if the situation called for it. It really bothered her that a lot of the time, fans and friends, sometimes even his family, gave him little or no credit, and expect that because he had a certain hair color, he had no sense. Well, Nyla knew better.
Nick was extremely intelligent and smart, but sometimes he'd say the wrong things at the wrong time and people always remembered, and it always came back to him. And sadly, it stuck and it was just easier for him to be the dumb blond than for him to be a blond with intelligence.
Shaking her head, Nyla started over, standing next to him. "Sounds like a good idea. I guess I should bring my stuff back upstairs."
"Yeah, might as well get settled in."
Sighing heavily, Nyla gathered her stuff back up and started up the stairs, and into her room, dropping her bags. Of all the dumb luck. Quickly she turned and made her way back down.
They spent the whole day making they're way around the mansion and found a few things, setting them down in the middle of the room.
"Ok, what have we got here?" Nyla asked.
"Let's see. We've got...seven no eight blankets. One flashlight that amazingly still works. Umm, six candles but of course, no matches."
"Don't worry, I have some."
Nick looked over at her.
"Don't even ask, you know how I am."
"True." Nick nodded. "Ok..." he went on. "We also have one can opener, numerous pillows, some rusty, nasty silverware, a hammer, Band-Aids which are still unopened, don't know if we should take the chance though."
"Well, if they're unopened...ok, how bout this? We'll keep in case of a serious emergency. I have some with me and we'll use those first and if we need more, we'll go to those."
"Sounds good. Moving on, there's a couple sponges, a few cups, a tea kettle, Oh hey, matches!" He exclaimed.
"Good, always good to have more. Just need to make sure we keep them dry. Anything else?"
Nick shuffled through the pile, shaking his head. "Nope, not really. All the rest is junk."
"Ok, I don't know how long this is all gonna last us. Not much here we can use except the blankets and pillows, oh and the flashlight. We're gonna have to be careful with that though, conserve battery power, I mean, I have batteries that I brought for my stereo, but we wanna make sure they last."
"Yeah, alright. Only in extreme emergencies for the flashlight."
"Alright, then I guess this is it."
"Nyla, what are we gonna do for water? We have no heat or electricity to heat it to sterilize it, I mean, how are we gonna go on without water?"
"I have some bottled water, but you're right, that'll only last so long." She frowned.
"We could always just get snow and let it melt, but again we can't heat it."
Nyla nodded, she didn't know what they were gonna do.
"We have pop and all, but we don't know how long we're gonna be here and if that's gonna last us."
"Well, we're just gonna have to wait and see how things go and cross that bridge when it comes to it."
"Alright." He looked around, taking everything in. They'd accomplished a lot. It'd taken a lot longer for them to get through the mansion than he'd planned, it was already late, it'd been dark all day, but night had set in and it was becoming harder to see. They'd have to light one of the candles.
"It's getting late, I think we should each take a candle and use that for in the evening to find our way around. It's gonna be real easy to get lost in here, especially since we don't know our way around that well."
She really admired that about him, his ability to take control, it was one of the many things she'd loved about him. It felt like forever ago.
Nick wondered what she was thinking, she looked so sad.
"Good idea. Well, I'm gonna go up to my room and see if I can get a hold of Mom and then try to get some sleep. Good night. " She announced, reaching out to grab a candle.
"Night." He whispered and watched as started up the stairs. Groaning, he slumped back on the floor, looking up at the ceiling.
Was he gonna be able to survive the next couple of days in this mansion with her? A few years ago he would have said a hearty yes, but that was then, this is now, things were different now. He sat up slowly, resting back on his hands, looking around the room.
These next few days would prove to be interesting that's for sure. Sighing heavily, he was about to head up to his room, when his gaze caught something in the far corner of the room. Standing, he grabbed a candle and one of the matches and struck it, sending a flame up and quickly lit the candle, it took a few seconds, but it caught and he extinguished the match and set it down.
He made his way over, the soft light from the candle illuminating the room. He stopped as the thing he'd seen came into view. A piano.
Nick slowly made his way over, looking around, found something to set the candle in and then looked the piano over. It was pretty old; he wouldn't be surprised if it didn't even play. He pressed a key to hear the soft ding and nodded. So it still played. Quickly, he ran through all the keys and then poked his head inside, adjusting a few knobs. Being around Kevin all those years paid off and what a lot of people and fans didn't know, was that he'd learned how to play.
Kevin had been playing one evening, practicing for the Millennium concert and Nick happened by and so for the rest of the tour, Kevin taught him and the rest is history as they say. He'd never told anyone about it and he wasn't really sure why. Running through the notes again, he found that it was a little better, still a bit out of tune, but not too bad.
Sitting down on the old stool, he placed his hands on the keys, starting to play, singing softly.
Nyla stopped, almost to her room when she heard it. It sounded like a piano, but there was no radio playing. Turning, she started back towards the stairs, sounded like it was right in the room. Walking down a bit, she turned her head and stopped. It was Nick; he was sitting at what looked like an extremely old piano, playing and singing. Since when did he play?
All is fair in love
Love's a crazy game
Two people vow to stay
In love as one they say
He hadn't meant to start playing it, or to start singing it, it was something he hadn't ever planned on anyone ever hearing, especially Nyla, not her, not when he was singing about her, for her.
He'd written the song about a week or two after the break, it was raw and honest and sad. Everything he'd been feeling he wrote down, and then later put some music to it, all on his own. He wanted it to just be his. Something he worked on when the pain and the longing and aching for her was too much.
But all has changed with time
The future none can see
The road you leave behind
Ahead lies mystery
She closed her eyes, sitting suddenly. It'd been so long since she heard him sing, granted she heard him on the radio or on CD's but in person was always different. Far more emotional, far deeper than anything recorded. She could feel the emotion and the pain and she knew it was more than just a song, that it had some special meaning to him and for some reason, meaning to her too.
It felt good to sing it, to get it out finally. Even if no one else would ever hear it, it felt good for him to feel it, to feel the words flow from his lips, from his heart. He didn't even need to see the words, he knew them by heart, he'd lived them.
But all is fair in love
I had to go away
A writer takes his pen
To write the words again
That all in love is fair
He did go away, he left and far before she'd decided to end it. She could never forgive him, never forgive him for walking out on everything they'd put into that relationship. Her heart and soul he'd taken and she was left with a pain and hurt unlike anything she'd felt before.
She made him leave, leave when he'd wanted to stay. He never wanted to leave her; he'd belonged to her, and to her only. But she made him go and he went, but never forgot and never really forgave the pain and the hurt she put him through.
All of fate's a chance
It's either good or bad
I tossed my coin to say
In love with me you'd stay
She thought he'd love her always, always but he hadn't, he couldn't have. And she wouldn't settle for anything less, not when she'd promised him she'd love him always.
She'd never loved him; she must not have if she wanted to end it, if she had told him to go. It was all about chance a chance he took to love her the way he'd never loved anyone and she never knew, never knew what she'd done for him or the ways she'd changed his life for the better. She couldn't cause she let him go, walked out on the relationship and never looked back.
But all in war is so cold
You either win or loose
When all is put away
The losing side I'll play
And it was so cold. He left and there were no tears from him, no emotion. Why? He asked, but he knew and she knew he did. He walked out and she'd lost, lost him and her heart all at the same time.
The battle that waged between them had come to an end and she'd won and he'd lost. Lost the only thing in his life that'd ever meant that much to him, enough for him to fight. But he was numb and all he could do was ask why and she never answered, never told him why. But he knew, he knew now that he never should've, he never should've left her. He should've fought harder, made her tell him why and done all he could to solve it. But he hadn't he, he'd done what she wanted and left, left her and his heart behind.
But all in love is fair
I should have never left your side
A writer takes his pen
To write the words again
That all in love is fair
She made no movement to wipe at the tear that made it's way down her cheek now. It didn't matter, it was in the past and you can't change the past. Standing silently, she turned, making her way back up the stairs and into her room, shutting the door softly.
Nick watched as she left and heard the soft click of the door and sighed. She was gone, she didn't care, she didn't understand that while it may seem like just a song to her, it was what was left of his heart. What he wanted her to know, what he wanted himself to know. What he couldn't say now, what he wasn't able to say. If she only knew.
A writer takes his pen
To write the words again
That all in love is fair
All in Love is Fair - By Barrio Boyzz
