A Snowstorm,
Cabin Fever, and Hannibal the Cannibal
co-written with Jana
It was only supposed to be a couple hours of a recording session, but it soon turned into much more than any of them had bargained for. After going through and finally laying down several tentative tracks, everyone was pretty much tired and out of patience, ready to go home and call it a night.
"Man, I am gonna sleep ..."
"Yeah, tell me about it. Even a hotel sounds nice right now," Brian answered, shaking his head. They took a flight of stairs down to the main floor and Nick flipped on the light in the hall.
"Ooh, snow," he said with a big smile, catching a glimpse at the flakes falling outside the window. Brian rolled his eyes and headed straight toward the door, grabbing the handle. He pulled it open and a mound of snow fell at his feet.
"Ooh snow," he repeated, looking up and out at the street. There was a couple feet on the ground already and it was still coming down. Nick stepped up beside him. "Not so pretty anymore, huh boy?"
Nick wrinkled his nose. "C'mon, let's go." He started to take a step forward but Brian caught him by the arm.
"We can't drive in this, are you nuts? We gotta wait for a plow or something. We'll go tell the guys."
"This sucks," Nick muttered, grabbing a handful of snow. He grinned at Brian before shoving it down the front of his friend's shirt.
"Funny," Brian growled after he screamed. He tossed some in Nick's face before heading back toward the stairs. "C'mon."
Nick grabbed some more snow and pushed the door shut against the wind. Its whistling was still audible through the wood. He locked it and jogged to catch up with Brian, who had already disappeared up through the stairwell.
-
"It's perfect, come on. We'll listen to it again tomorrow," AJ said smoothly, stopping the track and moving a few switches on the soundboard. "Let's get out of here before I kill someone."
"I told you not to go out last night, I told you it was gonna be a long day," Howie reminded with a small smile. AJ gave him a tired frown.
"And I told you I'd handle it. And I am!"
"Barely handling it," Kevin teased from across the room. "You're gonna go back to the hotel and sleep, because tomorrow's another long day."
"Yeah, yeah." AJ rolled his eyes. "I know." They were only at the studios in New York for a little while, and they had to make every day count. He thought they were doing fine. On schedule.
Kevin flipped a couple switches and grabbed his jacket off the back of a chair. "Let's go. We're done."
"I'm gonna go to the hotel, take a long shower, and sleep," Howie said with a sigh.
"No, you're not!" Brian called from the door. "Not now anyway."
"I thought you two left," Kevin noticed with a frown. He took in their tired features and slightly wet clothes. "What's the matter?"
"Snoooow." Nick threw his melting snowball at him with a smile. Kevin shot him a glare.
"Not near the equipment," he admonished. Nick rolled his eyes.
"Sorry."
"It's snowing," Brian filled in, a smile on his face. His nose was pink from the cold. "And we're stuck."
"Stuck?" AJ repeated. "Funny, guys."
"It's not actually, 'cause I really wanted to get to the hotel and just-"
"You're serious?" Howie interrupted. "We're stuck here?"
"Until a plow comes, yeah," Nick said glumly. "Great, huh?"
"Super," AJ muttered.
-
"Oh man, when is the snow plow going to get here?" After forty five minutes of impatiently waiting, Nick was whining.
"Look, guys, I know you’re all tired, but whining isn’t going to get us out of here, so let’s just sit and wait patiently," Kevin said calmly. He'd been repeating the same thing for who knew how long.
"Easy for you to say, Mr. Sleep-in-until-11," AJ answered, laying his head down on the chair he was sitting in. He closed his eyes and began to snore noisily.
After five minutes of loud snoring, Howie threw his water bottle at AJ, who stirred but didn’t wake up. Five minutes later he began snoring loudly again, so Brian decided he would use his remedy to wake somebody up. He walked over to AJ and picked up the half-full water bottle, opening it and dumping it all over AJ.
AJ cursed as he jumped out of his chair. "Shit that’s cold!" he yelled.
The rest of the boys were snickering. "Who did that?" AJ demanded, looking at the four suspiciously. Brian kept quiet with a smirk on his face. Kevin pointed to his cousin.
"He’s all yours," he said with a laugh.
"Well if you wouldn’t have disturbed our peace so much maybe I wouldn’t have woken you!" Brian protested.
"What do you mean?" AJ asked with a confused frown.
"You were snoring louder than Kevin!" Brian laughed.
"Hey!" Kevin smacked him upside the head.
"It’s true," Brian replied with a smile.
"Hey guys, let’s go down and see if the snow plow has come yet," Nick said, eager to get out of the studio as soon as he could. They'd been sitting up in that room far too long.
"Yeah good idea," said Howie, following Nick. Brian, Kevin and AJ were right behind him.
The five reached the door, looking out the window with wide eyes. There was snow at least six feet deep and increasing rapidly. The boys were shocked.
"Oh my God." Howie was the first to break the silence.
"I’ve never seen anything like it," echoed AJ.
"I don’t think the plow will be here anytime soon," Brian joked.
"What are we going to do, Kevin?" Nick asked with an anxious expression.
"I don’t know Nick, looks like we’re stuck."
"No, really?" Brian answered, rolling his eyes. He took a step back as Kevin turned and gave him an annoyed frown. "But now what?"
"Now we wait," Howie said with a sigh. "What else can we do?"
"Well no offense to you fellas, but I wasn't planning on spending my night with any of you all," AJ said, obviously displeased at the whole idea. "So we'd better not have to wait long."
Nick shifted his bag on his shoulder, sending AJ an upset frown. "Jay, I'm hurt."
"Well," came the muttered reply.
"C'mon guys, relax," Kevin started. He dropped his bag on the floor easily, unzipping his jacket a little. "Look on the bright side."
"What bright side?" Brian frowned.
"Well, at least we have heat," Kevin said with a shrug, unable to come up with anything better. "Right?"
"Right," Brian muttered. He silently wished they hadn't dragged the recording session out as long as they had so that they could have gotten on the road before the snow even started. He listened to the howling wind and sighed.
"C'mon, wanna go back upstairs? At least there's the lounge up there," Howie suggested, looking at the drab decor around the room. Upstairs there was a couch, a radio, maybe even a TV. He couldn't remember.
"Yeah, lounge," Nick agreed, tossing his bag on top of Kevin's and hitting Brian's arm. "I'll race you," he challenged, taking off. Brian threw down his bags and took after him.
"Maybe they'll lose some energy," Kevin said with a laugh as they followed behind them at a slower pace. He didn't want to sit with the two of them wired for who knows how long. It could be grating.
"I doubt it," AJ muttered. "Is there a phone around here?"
"Probably one upstairs. Who're you gonna call?"
"Ghostbusters." AJ laughed. "I'm gonna try and get someone to help get us out of here."
"Nothing's going to happen until the storm clears out, Aje, so don't get your hopes up," Kevin said, shaking his head.
"I know, I know."
They reached the top of the stairs to find that Nick and Brian had already seemingly claimed the two long couches up there, sitting with their legs stretched out.
"C'mon, guys. Don't be annoying," Howie said, only half teasing. Nick sat up and moved his feet, but Brian stayed stretched out. "Brian, wake up."
"There's no way that Rok is getting that couch!" AJ stammered.
"Why not?" asked Nick.
"Cause he's too short for such a big couch, I should be the one getting it," AJ replied, pulling Brian off.
THUMP.
"Oww," Brian mumbled, going back to sleep peacefully on the hard floor. Kevin chuckled as AJ jumped over Brian and took his spot.
Kevin occupied a chair in the corner as Howie did the same in the other corner. Howie fell asleep pretty quick, but Kevin had a hard time trying to sleep in an up-right position.
So he decided to go for a walk around the building. He went down the stairs that they had come up earlier and took a different hallway. After a minute or two, he reached a door and decided to explore, opening it to find a recreation room filled with a pool table, a ping pong table, and various arcade games. He played an arcade game for a while to pass some time and finally decided he would go back to see if the rest were up.
-
"Who pulled me off the couch?" Brian demanded.
AJ snickered softly.
"Jay, it was you!" Brian yelled as he attacked AJ in a tickle torture. Nick was still asleep and Howie was half asleep when Kevin walked in.
"Hey Kev," Brian greeted.
"Hey cuz, good sleep?" Kevin answered.
"Yeah, until SOMEbody pulled me off the couch," he replied, emphasizing the word somebody to AJ.
Kevin laughed.
"So where were you?" AJ demanded.
"Just checking out the building ... exploring," he remarked.
"Find anything good?" Brian asked.
"I found a rec room with pool, ping pong, and arcade games," Kevin replied.
"Really!" Brian said excitedly.
"Yeah."
"Want to go play some pool, Kev?" Brian asked hopefully.
"Sorry cuz, I’m going to catch up on some sleep if ya don't mind," Kevin replied, taking AJ's spot on the couch.
"Fine, I’ll ask Nick," Brian replied, trying to wake Nick up.
"No Bri, just let him be," Kevin interrupted. Too late.
"What?" Nick muttered in a grumpy mood.
"Nick, Kev found an arcade and stuff downstairs, want to go down there?" Brian asked, knowing quite well that his friend wouldn't give up the opportunity.
"Sure," said Nick, hopping up. "Race ya!"
"I'll just beat you again," said Brian, taking off on the run. He came back.
"Kev, where exactly was this room?" He had woken him up. Oops.
"I don't know, leave me alone!" Kevin yelled, shifting around on the couch.
Brian took off again with Nick. They would have to find it themselves.
-
"Bri, where is this room at?" Nick asked, getting impatient.
"I don't really know, we have to look for it," Brian replied. They split up and went down each hallway.
"Hey! What are you doing in here!?" came an unrecognizable voice.
Brian jumped and turned around. "I'm ... here recording," he stuttered, seeing a mean faced man over six feet tall who had to be about 250 pounds.
"The recording room is upstairs!" the man stated firmly.
"Yeah, thanks, I ... was just heading there," Brian said, nervously scooting out of the man's sight. He ran into Nick down the hall. "Come on Nick, there's some big mean guy back there that doesn't want us to go down there."
"What do you mean, Bri?"
"He told me where the recording studio was, like a 'take a hint' kind of thing."
"Oh," Nick replied with a shrug. "Let's try this hallway."
"Uh, no I don't think that's such a good idea kid, if the guy finds me again I don't think he'll be too happy," Brian answered, shaking his head.
"Why don't you think he wants us down here?" asked Nick.
"Not a clue in the world," Brian replied.
They walked upstairs, unhappy with no victory of finding the room.
-
When they reached the top of the stairs, Howie, AJ and Kevin were sleeping peacefully.
"Prank time," Nick whispered.
"Yeah," Brian agreed.
"Shoot, there's nothing we can use in this place," said Nick, looking around.
"There's a feather over there, it's the end of a pen," Brian noted, walking over to it. He handed it to Nick.
"This will work ..." Nick walked over to Kevin and smiled.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea," Brian said to him.
Nick ignored him.
He put the feather on Kevin's face and waved it around, Kevin stirred. Nick ducked behind the couch as Brian ducked behind a chair. He did it again.
This time Kevin woke up with a curse. He sat up. Nick and Brian were trying desperately not to laugh.
Kevin got up and walked around looking for the source that woke him up. He gave up and sat back down. He rested his head on the side of the couch and eventually drifted off into a light sleep.
Brian came out behind the chair and sat in it. Nick sat on a chair beside Brian's. He leaned forward with the feather and dusted AJ's face with it this time. AJ woke up with a sneeze before Nick or Brian could move.
"Argh!" AJ exclaimed, tackling Nick playfully before the younger even had time to try and dodge him. The chair Nick was in toppled over backwards with a loud thud, bringing AJ and Nick down with it.
"AJ," Nick started, voice muffled by both laughter and the fact AJ was on top of him.
"I'm so sick of you guys, all I'm trying to do is get a little sleep and you two have to bother everybody all-"
"Guys." Kevin had woken up from the racket and rubbed his eyes tiredly, debating whether or not to end it. "Hey," he chided.
They ignored him. AJ was too busy trying to 'kill' Nick, and Nick was too busy trying to get AJ off of him. Brian stood back laughing at them. Kevin gave him a swift kick, too tired to move.
"Break them up, Rok."
"It's funny," Brian answered, shooting his cousin a smile. But he went to try and pull AJ off of Nick anyway, unsuccessfully. Kevin finally lost patience and got up, giving Brian a gentle push out of the way and lugging AJ up off the ground.
"Come on, guys, enough. I'm trying to sleep."
"So was I!" AJ exclaimed. "Tell it to them!"
Kevin just shook his head. "I'm losing it, guys."
"I didn't do anything," Nick defended, grabbing the hand Kevin offered to pull himself up. "AJ's just a -"
"What, Nick?" AJ challenged. Nick shut his mouth and AJ gave a smug smile. Nick rolled his eyes as he pulled the chair back into an upright position. "You two are so annoying sometimes."
"Look who's talking," Brian retorted, crossing his arms.
"I thought you guys were going to go hang in the rec room," Kevin interrupted, sensing an argument coming on. He didn't need another headache. All he wanted to do was sleep.
"Well, maybe if somebody had told us where we were going ..." Brian sent the older man a frown.
"It wasn't that hard to find," came the retort.
"Well maybe you didn't run into Hannibal the Cannibal when you were exploring!" Brian answered, annoyed.
"Relax, buddy." Kevin tried to calm him. "Who? What happened?"
"Brian ran into some mean old guy while we were down there," Nick explained. "Now he's afraid ..."
"I'm not afraid," Brian objected, giving his younger friend a glare. He hesitated. "I just didn't wanna ... make him mad."
"There's someone else in the building?" AJ asked, frowning. He thought they had been the only ones in there. He hadn't seen any other cars when they'd first come.
"Yeah and he's really scary and he looks like a murderer and he got all mad at me and-"
"Bri, c'mon," Kevin interrupted. "No wonder you're scaring yourself."
"I'm not scared!" came the objection. Kevin smiled slightly.
"Are you gonna show us where the room is now? Huh, Kev? C'mon," Nick tried.
Kevin sighed and gave up any hopes he had of catching up on sleep. Not until these three settled down anyway. He shot a glance at the still sleeping Howie. "Alright, c'mon."
They headed down the stairs and walked down the hallway that Kevin had previously taken, leaving Howie upstairs sleeping.
"See guys, it's right here, first door on the left," Kevin said, motioning widely.
"Well that would have been a lot more helpful a while ago, we wouldn't have had to wake you up," came the quick reply. Brian gasped as he scooted away from Kevin's smack. He eagerly opened the door and walked in. Nick pushed him aside and flew over the the arcade games as AJ looked over the pool table.
All of a sudden, a door opened from a different direction than of which they came in. In walked a big, mean looking janitor, the one Brian had referred to as Hannibal the Cannibal. Brian quickly jumped behind Kevin's larger frame.
"Hey, aren't you the one I stopped in the hallway?" the man accused, seeking out and pointing to Brian's form behind Kevin.
"Me?" Brian stuttered.
"No, the other midget hiding behind this guy," the janitor said sarcastically.
"No," Brian stated nervously. He looked back at Nick, who looked as though ready to run, and back at AJ, who looked ready to put up a fight.
"Yeah you are, don't lie to me," the janitor said firmly. "Didn't I tell you not to be down here? Huh?" he asked, moving closer. Brian clutched onto Kevin's shirt.
"Hey, leave him alone!" Kevin said in a defensive tone.
"Why should I?" the janitor threw.
"Because we're not doing any harm to you down here, and why should we listen to you?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah!" AJ finally spoke up.
"Well I'm telling you to stay away from here, this is my ground. You got a problem with that?" the man demanded. Nick was looking quite pale to Brian and silently ran off upstairs, not wanting to have a piece of Hannibal the Cannibal. AJ chuckled.
"What about you, shorty?" the janitor asked, pointing to Brian.
"Leave him out of this!" Kevin said. "Look. We leave you alone, you leave us alone. Do we have a deal?"
"Look, I'm not making any deals, as long as I don't see any of you down here, I don't care!" he replied. "But don't come down here, got it? That's for you too, shorty; if I see you down here again, I'll kick your ass." He began to get louder. "Is that clear?"
"Crystal," Brian stuttered.
"Get out of here," he motioned, pointing to the door.
Brian walked out with a fast pace. "Come on AJ," he said, pulling AJ along. "Kev, come on, leave him alone!" He knew Kevin didn't want people talking to them like that, and that Kevin was going to do something about it.
"Bri, go upstairs, I'll be up in a sec," Kevin ordered his cousin. "You too, AJ."
"Kevin!" Brian got loud.
"Brian, leave!" Kevin said again, motioning to the door. Hannibal the Cannibal was still standing in the same spot, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm not leaving unless you're coming," Brian stated, looking at his cousin.
"Brian leave NOW!" Kevin got mad and walked over to him.
"Kev, don't try anything!" Brian whispered.
Kevin grabbed a hold of Brian's shirt and pushed him out of the room, closing the door. Brian and AJ stood by and listened closely.
"Look, I don't mean to be rude, but why are these your grounds?" Kevin asked calmly.
"Because my brother owns this building and this is my space, this isn't for the public," the janitor stated. Kevin had a feeling the guy was lying.
"Look, I don't see any signs anywhere that say, Not for Public Use," Kevin argued.
"Yeah, well listen, that's the way it is, and that's the way it will stay, I don't want anybody down here!" the janitor said, almost yelling. "I don't want you using this room or anything on the first floor! This is my space, got it!?" he threatened.
"Yeah well, how are we supposed to get out of here, without going in your space?" Kevin asked.
"Well that's what you'll have to figure out, isn't it?" the man asked, moving closer to Kevin and putting a finger on his shoulder.
Kevin shook him off and walked to the door. He turned back and took one last glance before he opened the door and found AJ and Brian, ears glued to it. "What are you two doing down here?" he asked. "I told you to go upstairs!"
"I wasn't just going to leave you to get the shit kicked out of you by Hannibal the Cannibal," Brian answered.
"What did you just call me?" the janitor asked, listening to their conversation.
"Uh oh," Brian said under his breath, picking up the pace. "Nothing," he stuttered, walking up the stairs and beginning to run. Kevin and AJ followed before they could hear a response from the janitor. Nick was on his way down the stairs.
"What happened?" he asked anxiously.
"Go upstairs," Kevin said firmly to the younger one. Nick turned around and walked back up. They all met back in the room they started in, by now Howie was awake.
"What happened?" Nick asked again.
"Hannibal the Cannibal almost kicked Kevin's ass!" Brian laughed. Kevin turned around to look at his cousin who was seated on the chair.
"What are you talking about, shorty! You were hiding behind me, and for your information, Nick, no he didn't kick my ass, I tried to discuss with him why we weren't allowed down there," Kevin said.
"What did he say?" Nick asked.
"He didn't want to discuss it, let's put it this way, we're not allowed down there, and if any of you," Kevin said, pointing to all of them. "If any of you go down there, then you're dead," he said firmly. "Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Uh huh."
"Yup."
"Yup"
"Good, because we don't need any death's right now, our album is going to come out," Kevin joked.
"Who does this guy think he is?" asked Howie, still tired.
"He's taller than Kevin, probably 6'4 and he probably weighs as much as Nick and me put together!" Brian laughed
"There's something weird about him though, he is hiding something, I can tell," Kevin added.
"What do you think he's hiding?" Howie asked.
"I don't know, but he doesn't want us down there and that's that, so maybe he's hiding something illegal down there?" Kevin offered.
"I told ya'll already- he's a murderer!" Brian exclaimed.
"Look, we can't say for sure, Bri, but i know when we get out of here we have to check it out. Why would somebody be so rude?" Kevin wondered.
"How are we going to get out of here?"
"That's what we're going to have to figure out," Kevin said giving his cousin a hopeful look.
"Yeah, um well, I think we'd better think about how we're gonna stay alive before we think about how to get outta here," AJ interrupted.
"Well, if you just listen to me and don't go down there you won't have to worry about that, will you?" Kevin returned, giving him a look.
"But what if Hannibal comes up here and attacks us?" Brian tried, raising an eyebrow at Kevin. "What then, huh?"
Kevin sighed. He had to be difficult. "He's not going to come up here, Bri."
"How do you know?" Nick chimed in. "Brian's right, then what'll we do? He's gonna kill us ..."
"Guys, I'm sure he's not that-" Howie was cut off.
"D, you didn't see this guy!" Brian motioned with his hands. "He's like this high, and this tall, and he's gonna-"
"Brian," Kevin said. "Enough."
"Sure, that's what you say now. But later when Hannibal's got a knife to your neck, you'll be sorry you didn't listen to me!"
"Brian."
"Okay, fine," Brian huffed, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. He'd tried to warn them ...
"Well, now that we have nothing to do but sit here in this room ..." AJ let out an annoyed breath and collapsed on the couch next to Howie. "This sucks."
"I'm bored," Nick announced, squeezing in next to them. He stifled a yawn and looked at the clock on the wall. It was getting late. What he wouldn't give for a nice warm bed right about then. Instead of a blizzard. He shivered.
"We're all bored," AJ muttered. "But thanks for sharing."
"You're welcome," Nick returned sarcastically.
"Guys, I'm going to try and sleep now," Kevin started, reclining back in the other couch. "Make a lot a noise to wake me up again and you won't want to suffer the consequence, alright?" He shut his eyes. "And don't go anywhere," he added tiredly.
"Blah, blah, blah," Nick whispered, rolling his eyes.
"Don't think I didn't hear that ..."
Nick froze a second. "Hear what, Kev?" he replied innocently.
"Just shush."
Nick just smiled. He looked at the other guys. AJ was half asleep, leaning on Howie, who still looked exhausted. He slowly shut his eyes. Nick got Brian's attention, catching his eye as he got off the couch.
"Let's go check on Hannibal," he whispered with a mischievous smile.
"What?" Brian's eyes widened.
"C'mon, Bri. We gotta know if he's dangerous or not!"
"I can tell ya that right now, Frack!" Brian shot a glance at his sleeping cousin. "Kev'll kill us."
"He's dead to the world."
"I don't know ..." Brian thought a second. He was kind of curious to what the guy did down there himself. They'd never get caught down there. They'd be careful. "Fine ... I guess." He grinned. "C'mon."
When they got to the bottom of the stairs they both started to feel a little nervous. Brian held a finger to his lips a second before they tip-toed quietly across the main hall. Someone had shut off all the lights on the bottom floor, creating varieties of shadows that played off the walls.
"This is spooky," Nick whispered, glancing behind him warily. His heart was beating fast.
"Don't chicken out now," came Brian's reply.
"I'm not!" Nick objected.
"Shh! C'mon."
The two started to snoop around the bottom floor. They came across several small, empty offices on both sides of a long hall. None of them looked like they had been used in more than ten years. The furnishings and desks were all covered with a thin layer of dust.
"Nothing's here," Brian said disappointedly as they neared the end of the hall. Nothing but offices seemed to be there.
"There's one more," Nick said with a shake of his blonde head. He pointed to the end, where a doorway could barely be made out in the shadows. He gripped Brian's arm as they moved closer to it and pushed the door open. It's hinges made a squeaking noise.
Nick tightened his hold on his friend's arm until his eyes adjusted to the dimmer lighting. When they did, he could make out another office, but this time the desk had been pushed out of the way, newspapers and assorted books and papers covered the floor, and a messy sleeping bag was pushed up against the far wall.
"Bingo ..." Brian moved a little farther in, pulling Nick with him. "Hannibal's hideout."
"Maybe we should go ..." Nick started, swallowing. The whole thing was making him feel nervous.
"In a sec. Let's look around a little."
"Okay," Nick said doubtfully. If Brian wasn't scared, then what the heck.
They had only moved a foot more into the room, when the sound of a door shutting echoed in the hall and footsteps were audible.
"Shit!" Nick hissed. The steps were coming closer. Brian glanced around frantically and grabbed Nick's arm.
"Closet," he whispered. The two scrambled over all the papers and dived into the closet, getting the stiff door pulled shut not a minute too soon.
Brian froze with fear as he looked over and saw his friend's pale face. The closet was pretty small, leaving just enough room for the two of them.
"Bri," Nick whispered. Brian quickly clamped his hand over Nick's mouth as he heard Hannibal come into the room.
Brian could hear Hannibal started to move things around, it was pretty messy in the room. Shuffling of the sleeping bag was heard and a few screeches from something being pulled across the floor.
Nick turned to Brian in silence, wondering what the sound could be. Brian was beginning to believe his thoughts of a murderer were true, but he didn't want to admit it to his younger friend.
The sleeping bag was heard again as if though somebody was getting in it. It was pretty late at night, around 11:00, he knew Hannibal must have went to bed and he and Nick wouldn't dare try to escape while he was sleeping.
Nick had thoughts rushing through his head- his hunger, fatigue, he and Brian getting pounded when Kevin found out they went downstairs, but worst of all, Hannibal, what if he found them in the closet? Nick shifted around uncomfortably in the small space. He looked at Brian who had his eyes wide with fear, but he knew not to talk, he would wake Hannibal.
Brian glanced over and gave Nick a helpless smile. He knew Nick was just as scared as he was, and they couldn't talk about their escape route out. They would have to wait until morning, or at least until Hannibal was not heard around. Brian took one last glance at Nick before shutting his eyes, hoping he would wake up upstairs, with the rest of the guys.
Nick looked at Brian who was now sleeping and decided he would give it a shot attempting to sleep.
-
Howie drifted off into a light sleep after AJ lied down, releasing the weight from leaning on him.
Kevin stirred a little, lifted his head and then fell back asleep.
It wasn't long before AJ woke up, bearing his hunger problems. He sat up. He looked around blinked a few times, he looked at a clock that was hung just over the table that read midnight. He glanced again around the room and noticed Frick and Frack weren't there; he shut his eyes tiredly and fell back into a deep sleep.
-
"Brian, I can't take this anymore," Nick hissed softly. Brian sent him a look, holding up a finger to his lips to be quiet.
"Sh ..."
"I'm claustrophobic ..."
"You are not," Brian whispered.
"Well I'm gonna be! We've been in here about three hours!"
Brian clamped a hand over Nick's mouth quickly. "It hasn't been that long. If you don't be quiet Hannibal's gonna find us."
Nick leaned against the wall heavily. He knew Brian was right. He was just getting bored of sitting in a tiny closet in silence, in the dark, for three hours.
"Kev's gonna kill us anyway," Nick said glumly.
"This was your idea, remember."
"Well you agreed!"
"Yeah, but-"
Thump.
"What was that?" Nick hissed. Brian didn't answer and Nick grabbed onto his arm. "Frick, what was that?"
"I don't know ..." Brian answered with wide eyes. Were they being too loud? What if Hannibal heard them and was gonna open the door and kill them any second? He quickly said a silent prayer.
"Wait, do you hear that?" Nick loosened his grip and leaned his head against the wooden door to listen carefully. He held his breath as Brian moved closer.
"Footsteps?"
"Yeah ..."
They listened a second more and heard heavy footsteps on the wooden floor. The sleeping bag swished across the floor and then the footsteps seemed to be moving farther away, across the room. A door slammed.
"Is he gone?" Nick asked hopefully. They waited a second and heard only silence.
"Seems like it ... I guess it's worth a try to get out." Brian crossed his fingers and reached for the doorknob, turning it slowly not to make any noise. He gave it a push.
It didn't move.
He shoved it harder this time, but the door still didn't give. His heartbeat sped up. Nick shot him a look.
"You're not funny." His voice sounded scared.
"I'm not trying to be. Damn, Nicky, we're stuck."
"Stuck? He locked us in?" Nick tried the handle himself, to no avail. He punched the door in frustration. "Ow ..." He rubbed his knuckles and looked at Brian. "What're we gonna do, Bri?"
"I don't know, buddy. I guess we have to wait 'till somebody comes back."
Nick groaned.
-
Kevin woke up with a yawn, back stiff from sleeping in a crooked position. He sat up slowly, stretching his arms above his head. He glanced around the room tiredly.
Okay, two boys. Where were the other two? He frowned as he noticed that Nick and Brian weren't in the room. Anger immediately boiled.
"Why don't they just listen ..." he muttered, reaching over and shaking Howie's shoulder. "Howie? Bud, wake up. 'D."
"Huh? What's the matter?" Howie rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked into Kevin's annoyed eyes.
"Did Nicky and Rok tell you they were going anywhere?"
Howie shook his head slowly, looking around and noticing the two were gone. He frowned. "Where'd they go?"
"I don't know, but they're dead. I don't care if they're a foot outside the door." Kevin reached over and gave AJ a pat to wake him. "Jay-boy."
"What," came the annoyed answer, voice still half asleep.
"You see Nick or Bri?"
"No. You woke me up for them?" AJ looked annoyed. "C'mon, Kev."
"Go back to sleep. Howie, stay here, alright? I'm gonna go look around."
"Sure, Kev."
Kevin left the two and exited the studio room. He looked around the floor for a couple minutes, but at finding not a trace of Nick and Brian, he reluctantly started down the stairs, cursing silently. They wouldn't get into half the trouble they always got in if they would just listen for once.
He started looking around the bottom floor of the building, on a look out for the janitor in case of a sneak attack. He had to admit he didn't trust the man, even if he didn't believe in the extreme that Nick and Brian did.
After finding about a half dozen of empty offices, he finally came to a closed door at the end of the hall. He pulled it open and stepped inside the dusty office.
A desk was pushed up against what looked like to be a closet door, papers were scattered across the floor, and a sleeping bag was shoved up against the far wall. He frowned and coughed once in response to the dust.
He was about to leave when he heard something. A sound of movement from the closet. He studied the position of the desk and frowned, moving toward it. He heard another sound and pulled the desk away from the door. He heard a gasp from inside the closet and smiled slightly, pulling the door open.
"Are you two nuts?!" he exclaimed when Nick and Brian fell out at his feet. They immediately scrambled up and glanced around the room nervously. "What's the matter with you?!"
"Are you mad?" Brian tried.
"Am I mad?!" Kevin grabbed their arms and started dragging them out of the room. "C'mon upstairs and find out."
“Uh oh,” Nick muttered as Kevin pulled him. When they reached the top of the stairs Kevin pushed the two in the room and slammed the door shut. Brian and Nick raced to the other end of the room.
Kevin turned around slowly, arms crossed over his chest. Brian could see the anger build up in his cousin’s eyes, he knew this wasn’t good.
“What the hell were you two doing down there?” Kevin asked, his yelling waking up AJ, who sat up wondering what all the commotion was.
“We…we were abducted by Hannibal, he locked us in his closet!” Brian tried.
Kevin slammed his fist on the table in front of him. Nick and Brian jumped. “Brian I’m not in the mood for games!" he hissed. “Maybe I should bring Hannibal up here, and let him take care of you? Let him know you two were down there!" Kevin asked as his voice grew louder. “Or maybe I should have just left you locked in the closet? What do you think? Do you think you would listen after that?”
Kevin was boiling with anger, he knew that the janitor could have heard the noise and Brian and Nick could have started a lot of trouble. He prayed to himself that Hannibal didn’t hear anything.
“His idea, …entirely,” Brian commented, pointing to Nick.
Nick made a face. “You agreed, and plus I was going to go back but you wanted to snoop around!”
“Wait!” Kevin yelled over Nick’s voice. “First tell me how you got locked in the closet?” he asked, trying to calm himself down.
“Well,” Brian started. “Uh.. we were just looking around and we heard footsteps coming so we dove in the closet, and three hours later we tried to open it when we heard him leave, and well it wouldn’t open,” Brian explained.
“And why you two were down there?” Kevin asked. Brian and Nick stood there staring at him. “Answer me!” He got mad.
“Well... you guys were sleeping and Brian and I were bored so I asked Brian if he wanted to go and look around downstairs, he said yes,” Nick explained.
“You went down there even after I threatened you if you went?” Kevin asked dryly.
“Yeah,” Brian mumbled as his head sank to the floor.
“What if Hannibal would have found you down there?” Kevin walked closer to them. Brian and Nick backed up. “Huh? God only knows what he would have done, especially to you Brian, you're already on his bad side!"
"We're sorry Kev," Nick tried.
"No, you're not!
Howie walked up to Kevin and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Kev, settle down man," Howie insisted.
"Come here, guys," Kevin started, but both stood there doing nothing. "Brian, Nick, I don't want you down there. It's for your own safety, you know that. Got it?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah." Nick smiled.
"Sure," Brian said.
Rolling his eyes, Kevin got up and looked around upstairs to see if they could get out anyway. Howie followed him. In the meantime AJ and Brian managed to fall asleep.
Nick closed his eyes hoping to get some sleep.
-
Nick rolled over on the couch and tried to sleep, but he just couldn't doze off. He sat up, rubbing his eyes absently. Kev in and Howie were gone. Okay, so they were allowed to go off and explore? But he and Brian weren't? How was that even remotely fair?
Nick rolled his eyes and pulled himself off the couch. If Kevin decided to change his rules now, then it went for everybody, not just him. He would see what they were up to. Nick glanced at Brian sleeping on the couch, and debated whether or not to wake him to come along. He finally decided not to, and headed for the door.
Starting down the hall, he didn't hear Howie or Kevin's voices or any movement, so he headed for the stairs. Back to Hannibal's floor ... and whatever else they may find.
At the foot of the stairs, Nick paused and listened. He heard something down to the right, another hall he and Brian hadn't been down. He listened a second more to make sure it wasn't Hannibal. He heard Howie's voice and smiled. Bingo.
Nick caught sight of Kevin and Howie in one of the offices, digging through a pile of papers. He crept silently to the door and stopped. Both of their backs were turned so they couldn't see him, so he took his time deciding his plan of action.
One, two, three! Nick jumped into the room and grabbed Kevin from behind since he was closest. The older man jumped with a startled curse. When he saw it was Nick he frowned.
"What are you doing?" he demanded, holding on to his arm.
"Geez, Nicky, I thought you were Hannibal," Howie muttered with a short laugh. Nick grinned.
"What are you doing down here?" Kevin repeated, annoyed that yet again, no one listened to him.
"What are you doing?" came the equally annoyed reply as Nick pulled his arm away.
"I told you to stay upstairs."
"Yeah, so that means that you get to come down here and look around but me and Bri can't?"
"You and Bri don't listen, Nick."
"So?"
Kevin shook his head with a small smile. "So?" he mocked. "Look Nick, I just didn't want you guys to get hurt playing around down here."
"We wouldn't get hurt ..."
"You were locked in a friggin' closet, in case you don't remember! You were in that guy's room!"
"So?" Nick knew he was losing the fight, but he wasn't about to give up his point. "So what, Kev?"
"For God's sake, Nicky, c'mon."
"C'mon guys, you both have a point," Howie interrupted. "Call it a truce."
Nick held out his hand towards Kevin with an impish smile. "You don't tell Brian and me what to do ever again and you've got a deal."
"How about I take back what I said to you and Brian, and you swear to God that you'll listen and not go off from now on."
"Deal," Nick stated, shaking the older man's hand firmly. Kevin reached over and tousled his head with his free hand.
"Brat," he muttered.
"Jerk," Nick replied.
"S-"
"Guys!" Howie interrupted. "You called a truce."
"We know," Nick laughed. "So what're you guys doing done here, huh? Sneaking? Snooping? Huh, what?"
"We just found a bunch of old papers from like ten years ago," Howie said. "Documents and newspapers and things."
"And?"
"And we were just looking through them for fun," Kevin concluded.
"Fun? Yeah, right." Nick rolled his eyes and sat down in the dusty chair behind the desk. He coughed at the dust that rose around him, waving it away. "Hannibal certainly doesn't take his janitorial responsibilities very seriously."
"Will ya cut it out with the Hannibal crap? The poor guy just doesn't like to be bothered."
"Sure, Kev. Whatever." Nick rolled his eyes.
“Hey look at this!” Howie exclaimed, looking at a newspaper.
“What?” Nick asked, looking at Howie’s expression and all of a sudden taking interest.
“Middle Age Man Murdered in New York,” Howie read the headline out loud.
“What?” Kevin looked up, taking interest in what Howie was reading.
Howie continued. “Middle aged man, murdered his ex-wife late Saturday night. The victim was found on her doorstep lying dead. The suspect Tom Fielding is still on the lookout for police. Witnesses say he is recognized as 6'4 and has a dark beard. He is known as the proud owner of NYR (New York’s Records) in midtown NYC. If you have any where-abouts to where Tom Fielding is, please contact the New York Police immediately. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s paper for details.”
“Oh my God,” Nick stammered.
“Wait, Hannibal said his brother owned this building!” Howie nearly yelled.
“Guys, just chill out okay!” Kevin tried to calm them down.
“Kev man, that’s gotta be him!” Nick worried. “Hannibal’s brother just murdered his ex-wife!”
“Guys, let’s go upstairs,” Howie insisted, taking the paper with him. They agreed and walked back upstairs to the room where they had left Brian and AJ. Nick walked in first, he was walking over to wake Brian to tell him the news.
“Nick, leave him alone,” Kevin warned. “Let them sleep!”
“Kev, don’t you realize, we got to get out of here!” Nick nearly yelled.
“Nick,” Kevin scolded. “Lower your voice.” Nick went and sat on the end of the couch Brian was sleeping on. Brian stirred and gradually opened his eyes. “You woke him up!”
“I did not,” Nick protested. He turned back to Brian. “Frick, you were right- Hannibal is a murderer!” Nick informed him.
Brian’s eyes grew wide and he looked at his cousin, who shook his head at the two. “Nick, we don’t know for sure, buddy. Just don’t worry, okay?” Kevin tried to calm him.
“What are you guys talking about?” Brian asked. Howie handed Brian the newspaper and he read it carefully. He ended with a pale expression and jumped up, waking AJ.
“Guys, I was right, we have to get out of here!” Brian yelled.
“It’s not that easy Bri,” Howie noted with a frown.
“We have to find a way,” Nick sat down on a chair and rested his head in his hands.
"There's a hundred feet of snow outside, Nick," AJ reminded, rolling his eyes. "Let me know when you melt it all away." Nick shot him a dirty look. "We've been through this before anyway-"
"No, not with this!" Nick tore the newspaper out of Brian's grasp and threw it at AJ. "He is a murderer."
"Who?" AJ asked tiredly.
"Hannibal, you dimwit," Brian answered.
"Brian ..."
"No, Kev, you have no idea what you're talking about when you say this guy isn't crazy-"
"I didn't say he's not crazy, all I said was-"
"You see! You see! He's crazy," Nick interrupted. "We're snowed in with a murderer, who's gonna kill us all, and nobody's ever gonna find the bodies out in the snow, so nobody will ever-"
Kevin's hand covered his mouth. "Are you listening to yourself?"
Nick nodded with wide eyes, trying to pull down Kevin's hand. "It'll take years for them to ever even find him, and-"
Back went the hand.
"Shush."
AJ finally looked up from the article. "That is kind of a coincidence," he started unsurely.
"That's exactly what it it," Kevin stated before he got any further. He let go off Nick and the younger shook his head at him. "A coincidence," Kevin repeated.
"Yeah ..." Howie didn't sound so sure.
"I think we should definitely try and find a way out of here. If we just find shovels, we can-"
"You, Brian, are not leaving this room."
"Fine, Hannibal can eat you first, see if I care," came the stubborn reply. Kevin just rolled his eyes at his cousin's comment. Overactive imagination.
"You guys are just overtired." Kevin tried to be reasonable. "There's no reason to be scared-"
"I'm not scared!" Brian objected. "I'm just looking out for the safety of the group."
"Right," Nick added with a quick nod. "Me too."
Kevin stared at them. "You're scared."
"You're scared," Nick countered.
"Why would I be scared? I know the poor man isn't a crazy, psycho killer."
"He killed his ex-wife though, Kev," AJ interjected with a smile. Kevin shot him a look.
"You're not helping."
AJ just shrugged.
"Maybe we should get some sleep" Kevin insisted.
"Sorry Kev, I can't sleep when there's a psycho murderer below us!" Brian shot, getting grumpy from lack of sleep.
"Brian ..."
"Yeah."
"Stop!"
"Maybe you should get some sleep," AJ said to Kevin, cracking a smile.
Kevin just sighed and laid his head down. Nick was getting bored very easily and so was Brian. Within no time Howie, AJ and Kevin were all in a light sleep and Brian and Nick looked at each other.
"I think it's about time to get out of here," Brian whispered.
"But Bri ..." He'd just promised Kev.
"Seriously, let's go, come on," Brian said quietly getting up. Nick followed looking back every now and then. They walked down the stairs very quitely hoping not to run into Hannibal.
"Brian!"
"What if we run into ... you know who!" Nick shot at a low whisper.
"Nick, do you want to get out of here?" Brian asked evenly. Nick sighed and followed Brian down a different hallway they didn't have a chance to explore earlier. They tip-toed to the end and their faces lit up as they saw a door off to the side.
"Bingo!" Nick gasped.
"Shhhh," came his reply. Brian carefully lifted the handle and pushed. It didn't budge. He did it again ... didn't budge.
Nick stepped up and they both took a push at it. The door swung open full force as the cold air hit them. All of a sudden a pile of snow came piling down on Brian, burying him underneath. Nick was quick to escape the pile as he was farther back.
"Brian," Nick gasped, trying to be as quiet as possible. Nothing happened. "Brian," he repeated, this time digging a little to see where his friend was. Brian's head popped out as Nick dug deeper. "Brian, are you okay?" Nick asked in a whisper.
"Uggh, this is cold!" Brian yelped. "Yeah I'm fine, Nick, help me out of this!" Brian said, trying to dig himself out unsuccessfully. Nick began to dig, but nothing really seemed to be improving as the snow kept getting deeper as it was coming down so heavy. Soon Brian's head was buried yet again and Nick was digging faster to try to get Brian out.
"Bri, I can't get you out, the snow's coming down too hard!" Nick said in a panic. He dug faster and faster until he hit Brian's head.
"Go get help!" Brian managed.
"Will you be okay?" Nick looked up at the falling flakes of snow, reluctant to leave. Brian nodded quickly.
"Yeah, just hurry, go."
Nick hesitated a second before jumping up and running back inside the building, slipping and sliding from the wet snow across the floor.
"What's your hurry there?"
Nick couldn't help but scream as strong arms caught him. He caught a fast glimpse of Hannibal's face and struggled to escape, his sneakers squeaking on the wet tile.
"What's your hurry?"
"Please, I'm sorry, please, don't kill me, I gotta get help, I'm sorry ..." Nick twisted in the older man's grip frantically. Brian was getting buried and he was too busy getting murdered!
"Help for what? What happened?"
Nick swallowed and tried to pull away again, wondering if it really was honest concern he heard in the man's voice. "Brian's gonna die," he moaned, growing tired from his losing battle to get free. He stopped struggling. "Please lemme go ..."
"Where is he?"
"In the snow, it all fell on us and he got buried, and I gotta get help before he freezes, so please don't kill me!"
"Kill you?" Hannibal repeated as he pulled the young man toward the door where Brian was stuck outside. "Why would I kill you?"
"Because you killed your ex-wife so why wouldn't you kill me?" came the frantic reply. Hannibal frowned.
"First let's help your friend, and then I think we should talk ..."
Talk? Nick's mind raced. When Brian was safe they would make a run for it back to the guys before Hannibal could even pull his knife.
"Brian!" Nick yelled when they were through the door and facing the snow again. He felt the wind bite through him. "Brian!"
With both Hannibal and Nick working together, they were able to dig through the snow and find Brian, who looked tired and flushed. His skin was incredibly cold.
"Brian? Brian? Bri, are you okay? Brian, are you alive?"
"Let's come back inside," Hannibal ordered, pulling Brian out of the snow easily and turning back toward the door. Once inside, he started toward an office, Nick at his heels. "What were you two doing outside?"
"Finding a way out ..."
"Great way to catch hypothermia," the man muttered. Nick's eyes widened.
"Does Brian have hypothermia?"
"Not if I can help it." Hannibal was pulling a blanket from across the office, wrapping it around Brian's shoulders as the younger sat in a chair, his teeth chattering.
Nick reached for Brian's icy hands and tried to warm them in his own. Brian was too cold to even realize who had saved him.
-
"Not again ..."
Kevin's first gaze when he awoke was to AJ and Howie's sleeping forms and then the empty couch.
"They are dead," he muttered, pulling himself off the couch with a curse. Was listening that hard of a skill for either of them? Obviously it was turning out to be. He debated whether or not to wake Howie and AJ, finally deciding it wasn't worth it. He was just going to hunt down Nick and Brian, then maybe kill them. He didn't need any help.
When he finally got downstairs, he started down the hall, glancing up and down both sides. His eyes caught on the melting snow on the tiles in front of a door and frowned, stomach twisting. They wouldn't ...
"Shit," he muttered, starting towards the door and starting to worry. He was about to pull it open when he heard voices from down the hall. Was that Nick? He started in the other direction, towards an open door where he thought he heard the voices coming from.
"Guys?" Kevin stared at the scene before him. Nick was sitting in a chair with worry on his face, and Brian was wrapped up in a thick blanket in another chair, shivering. Next to them was the janitor, but this time his appearance didn't seem so threatening.
"Kev?" Nick looked up, getting out of his chair. "Kev, we-"
"What happened?" Kevin was too worried to be upset with them. He reached Brian and cupped his chin. "Brian, you okay?"
Brian just nodded, too cold to answer.
"Your friends here decided to play hero and try and go through a wall of snow."
Kevin looked up as the janitor spoke for the first time, frowning.
"Kev," Nick spoke up, grabbing onto his arm. "He saved Brian."
"He did?" Kevin looked at the man again, this time gratefully. "Thank you ..."
"It's no problem." The man just shook his head.
"We're sorry to have kept bothering you," Kevin continued, feeling the need to say something else. He felt sorry that they hadn't been on good terms. "I know you asked us to stay off the first floor and everything ..."
"Oh that." The janitor shook his head again. "Don't be. I just got tired of all the obnoxious people I get running around this building sometimes, thinking they own the place. I took it for granted you boys would be the same way." He shrugged.
"We're still sorry," Nick spoke up, feeling bad for making the actually nice guy into such a horrible person. He wasn't so bad afterall. "We don't listen sometimes."
"Sometimes," Kevin muttered, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. Sometimes.
"No hard feelings," the janitor replied.
"I guess we just got off to a bad start," Kevin said. He glanced at Brian, who was looking a little better. "Right, Bri?" He got a nod in reply. Brian was staring at the janitor with wide eyes.
"What, shorty?" The man rolled his eyes.
Brian studied the older man's face, realizing his eyes were actually kind after all. "Thanks. For getting me out of there."
"Don't mention it." The man shook his head, not wanting the thanks.
"Well, I guess we'll leave you be now," Kevin started, taking Brian's arm gently and helping him up. "Thanks again for taking care of my cuz."
"You don't have to go, you know," the janitor interrupted. "You can hang out here if you want. The snow's stopping and it won't be long before a plow comes, so there's no need to stay upstairs."
"Thanks," Kevin said with a smile. "Nicky, why don't you go get D and AJ?"
"Sure."
-
And that was how they spent the rest of the storm. The guys had a good time with the janitor, whose name turned out to be Harry Marsh. He had a wide variety of stories to share of the various people he had seen come in and out of the building during the years. Spending their time with him, the guys realized that people aren't always who you take them for on first glance.
The snow plow came about an hour later, and the guys got ready to go. They said goodbye to Harry and went to grab their bags from the front hall, watching through the window as the plow cleared out the road in front of the building.
"Am I glad we're getting out of here," AJ announced, shifting his bag on his shoulder as they finally went outside. The air was crisp and cold, and the sky was full of stars.
"Me too," Howie agreed.
Nick and Brian glanced back at the building.
"Well, I guess he wasn't a murderer," Brian said.
"Nope," Nick agreed.
"Or crazy at all."
"I guess not."
They looked at each other and shrugged.
"I'll race you to the car!"
They took off running and Kevin just rolled his eyes.
The End