Chapter 17

“Bri…Bri, who is it,” Nick asked, barely able to keep calm. Brian threw the phone down and muttered something.

“Brian, who was it?” AJ asked, in a panic.

Brian stared at the ground, shaking his head, sweating, and his hands trembling. “They…he’s watching us,” Brian said inaudibly.

“What?” AJ and Nick asked in unison.

“He’s watching us,” he breathed.

“Rob? I’m gonna kill ‘em,” AJ said bitterly.

“No—it wasn’t Rob! It was someone else…it sounded like…like Craig or someone.”

“AJ, chill. Brian, it’s okay,” Nick said.

“I-I’m so scared. I just…just want it all to end. This whole nightmare, I want it to end. I don’t wanna have to be worried…or scared.”

“Brian,” Nick started. “We’re going to call the police okay?” Nick was dialing the police rapidly. AJ sat with Brian, suddenly overwhelmingly exhausted. He let out a long yawn.

AJ glanced down at Brian. He looked extremely nervous and scared.

Brian then looked at AJ. “I’m…scared. I don’t want all that to happen again!”

“We know…we know. Just relax. You get out of here Friday Brian, Friday. Only a few more days and you can— ”

AJ was interrupted when a strange noise was heard from the bed next to Brian’s. The curtain blocked their view. That didn’t stop AJ. He stood up and crept over to the bed.

“Uh…are you okay?”

AJ’s eyes went wide, his face pale.

Rob sat up, knife in hand. “I told you…fools,” he said in a quiet, but eerie voice. “I tried to warn you.” He reached over and grabbed AJ. “Any one of you idiots says a word, I’ll gut ‘em.”

Brian and Nick remained silent. Fearing for the life of their friend. “I’ve come back to finish the job boys. Thought that I’d let you get away alive, huh?” Rob stood up. His greasy hair pulled back and his eyes glittering madly. He was an extremely large man, towering over AJ. “You’re all going to die. All of you, all five of ya! It’s just a matter of who goes first.”

Brian, Nick, and AJ kept quiet. Hoping, praying that the nurse would come in to escort AJ and Nick out of the hospital. Call the police when she found Rob…but they knew deep down inside that they would have no such luck. He had a knife and probably a gun.

“Now, which one of you should I kill first?”

Nick cringed at his choice of words. Now fearing for his life, as well as the life of his two friends.

“I’ve got to do this quick. Do we have any volunteers,” he laughed. Amused at the sight of the three frightened faces.

Rob pulled out a gun from his pocket. It was directed straight at Brian. All three of them screamed and the gun went off.

“AJ! AJ!”

AJ’s eyes darted open. He was in the hospital room in a chair. Brian looked at him, wide eyed. “It was just a dream…Just a dream…nightmare.”

“You okay,” Nick asked.

“Yeah, but I can’t stop having these nightmares…The phone call? Did—did Bri, get a phone call?”

“Yeah, but that was about an hour ago Jay. You musta had a nightmare about it. The police came in right after you fell asleep. They didn’t stay long.”

“It was so realistic though…” AJ stated wearily.

“Man, this is the second nightmare you’ve had. Relax, okay?”

AJ nodded. In both of his nightmares something had happened to Brian. Were his nightmares trying to tell him something?

“Brian, sorry but we’ve gotta go,” Nick said. “I know the phone call freaked ya out, but they ain’t gonna let us stay any longer, it’s like a quarter after four. They’ve got security swarmin’ the place. So you’ll be fine…ok?”

“Okay,” Brian said looking down at his hands.

“Hey, lets stay till he falls asleep,” AJ suggested.

“Yeah, we can do that.”

AJ and Nick sat down beside Brian. It was late and Brian was exhausted, so it only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep.

“C’mon we’ve got to get out of here…besides I’m tired,” Nick whispered, never taking his eyes off of Brian, who lay sound asleep.

“Nick, I don’t want to leave him here,” AJ said, his gaze remained on Brian as well. His voice void of any emotion.

“Aje, believe me I don’t wanna leave him here either. But, he’s going to be fine. He’ll be out Friday.”

“Nick, both dreams I had, the harm was directed towards Brian. I’m afraid that—that if we leave him tonight…s-something’s gonna happen…and I’ll never see him again. I don’t care about the freaking guards. Rob succeeded in everything he’s done so far, except for killing us. He’ll do whatever it takes.”

Nick looked at AJ shocked. What he had said made sense. Nick didn’t want to leave Brian alone either. What if something did happen? But what could they do? They couldn’t stay the night there and protect their friend. “AJ I mean it was just…just a dream. A nightmare, think about all of the stuff we’ve been through. We’re all bound to have them.”

“So…they are way to vivid and way to realistic.”

“Boys,” the nurse said. “It’s time to go.”

Nick and AJ didn’t object. There was no way that the nurse would allow them to stay all night. Once they reached their apartment, both of them were dead tired, but neither of them could sleep.

“Wanna call Kev or D? Talk to them,” Nick asked.

“No, it’s way too late. They’ll kill us,” AJ replied with a yawn.

“Yeah, I guess your right. I’m just scared. Very scared,” Nick said quietly.

AJ crawled into his bed, but still couldn’t sleep. Was Brian in real danger? AJ tried to control his thoughts. He tried desperately to think of something more pleasant. After two hours, he finally drifted off to sleep.