Chapter
14
“I’ve heard lots of crap from you
before AJ, but this takes the cake!” Brian was outraged. Even more
so than Howie had been when AJ had first told him what he had thought. He
actually charged at AJ and tried to hit him. Kevin grabbed his arms and
held them behind his back. Brian fought and screamed till he was red in
the face and shaking with rage. Kevin had to force him down to the floor,
“Calm down, Brian.”
“He accused my best friend of… of
being a crack head!” Brian yelled, “A junkie! I’ll kill him when you let
me go!”
“Brian, we have to face facts,” Howie
was saying slowly, “Nick exhibits so many symptoms of drug abuse it’s not
funny!”
Brian relaxed in Kevin’s grip, “God,
if it’s true I’ll never forgive myself. Stupid me, I thought he was
starving himself!”
Kevin rubbed his shoulders and helped
him to stand, “Cuz, you can’t blame yourself for what Nick does to himself.”
“No, you’re right cuz. I don’t
just blame myself, I blame you guys too!” Brian wiped his face with his shirt.
AJ’s mouth fell open, and Howie and
Kevin stared. Strangely enough no one argued with Brian’s assessment.
They simply stood staring at one another.
“Where’s Nick at?” AJ asked gruffly.
He rubbed his temples and searched his pockets for his carton of
cigarettes.
“In his room,” Brian said soberly,
“Said he was tired.”
“You believed that?” AJ asked
incredulously.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Brian
asked defensively.
“How much you wanna bet he’s not in
there,” AJ said brusquely pushing past the others and making his way to the
door. He got to Nick’s door in a flash and knocked once. No answer.
“Maybe he’s asleep,” Brian said
sounding nervous, “Lets not bother him.”
Kevin gave Brian a look, then jogged
back to his room. He returned a minute later with a card key that he
inserted in the door. He pushed the door open and went inside followed
closely by the others, “Nick?”
The room was dark, and empty.
Howie flipped the light switch. “His bed’s never been touched.”
“He must have snuck out right after he
told me he was gonna go to sleep,” Brian flopped down hard on the bed.
“Where would he be?” Kevin asked aloud
to Howie and AJ who now seemed to hold all the answers. He looked tired, and
helpless.
Howie looked at AJ, “He’s probably out
at a club or something wiggin’.”
“Wiggin’?” Kevin questioned.
“Doing acid, snorting up, lighting up…
Lord knows what he’s doing now. I know for sure he uses some type of
amphetamine, or coke, but I don’t know what else.”
“How would you know?” Kevin looked
over to AJ.
“I’ve had friends, and girlfriends
who’ve experimented with the stuff. He’s overly hyper, he talks over
a mile per minute, and hey, I think he could fit into my pants now if he wanted
to,” AJ was relaying as he shooed Brian off the bed and began lifting the
mattress.
“What are you doing AJ?” Kevin asked
as AJ threw the mattress to the floor.
“If the kid’s on drugs then he’s gotta
have a stash somewhere right? Lets find it,” AJ stripped the mattress of
its dressings, “That way when he comes back and tries to deny anything, we’ll
have something to throw in his face.”
Howie and Kevin nodded, and went to
different sides of the room to strip search the perimeter. Only
Brian hesitated.
“B?”
Brian finally nodded and got off the
bed. He went into the closet and began searching Nick’s clothing.
“Nothing,” Howie said with an exhausted groan,
“this room is clean.”
Brian and AJ sat on the bed also,
slightly defeated but not over all disappointed. Maybe they had been
wrong and Nick was not on drugs.
“Hey,” came Kevin’s voice. Uh-oh,
it sounded like he had found something, “Hello… What are these?”
Kevin tossed about 6 bottles of
prescription medication on the bed.
Howie grabbed for one, Brian and AJ
took the others.
“He said it was migraine stuff,” Brian
whispered softly as he read the label, “Prozac…”
“Valium,” AJ read, “Librium…”
“These are tranquilizers, and
antidepressants,” Howie said shaking the bottles then popping their tops to
look inside.
“Does anybody remember anything about
Nick seeing a psychiatrist?” Kevin asked taking one of the bottles.
Everyone shook their heads, “We
wouldn’t have noticed if he had told us with the way we all were acting!” Brian
muttered, “Dr. Sears. Think we should call him up to see if he wrote
these prescriptions because Nick needed them, or…”
“Brian check your watch,” AJ said,
“What doctor’s office would be open at this time?”
Brian’s head drooped, “So maybe it’s
not drugs. Maybe he’s just taking this stuff…”
“Brian, drugs are drugs, whether they
be prescription or not!” Kevin stood up, “He’s endangering himself, and we have
to do something about it.”
“I wonder if anyone else has noticed
his behavior but us,” Howie looked curious, “Like his parents, maybe they know
he’s been acting strangely, or his friends… I know he doesn’t have many
outside of us, but still.”
Kevin was nodding, “We should give his
parents a call.”
Brian nodded. He moved to the
hotel phone and tried to recall the number. He dialed slowly, “What do I
say guys?”
“I’ll talk,” Kevin volunteered
reaching for the phone. Brian’s face looked relieved, then
troubled. He hung up the phone.
“What?”
“According to the operator the
Carter’s don’t live there anymore. It says the line’s been disconnected.”
***
