Big Time Nightmare; Part One
Kendall let out a small yelp as he was startled awake. He searched around in the darkness, and found the bed next to him empty, the sheets thrown aside. He turned his attention to the small breeze brushing against his skin, and noticed the window was open, moonlight streaming into the room.
"Oh hell no…" Kendall hissed, thinking that James, the boy that usually slept in the bed next to him, had leapt from the window. He slowly stood up, shivering a bit as the cool air brushed against his skin, and peered out the open window. Nothing. Everything was dead silent in the Palm Woods Hotel, except from the distant caw of a black crow Kendall could barely make out sitting on a telephone wire, the dark bird silhouetted against the moon that hung in the sky, round as a porcelain plate one would put on the dinner table.
"Something wrong, Kendall…?"
Kendall jumped and whipped around an the voice, his heart pounding in his chest, "What!"
"Whoa, easy there. You look like you've just seen a ghost. Everything alright?"
Kendall sighed and slowly relaxed as he realized the voice belonged to Logan, "Oh, it's nothing, you just startled me. What are you doing in here, anyways, Logan?"
"I don't think that's it at all, you seem like you're hiding something, something outside the window." Logan inquired, stepping a little closer to Kendall, causing the blonde to back up a little more. "And where's James?"
"No, there's nothing outside. It's just a crow. And I've been trying to figure out where James is." Kendall said, grimacing as he backed into the wall, trying to avoid Logan's gaze. "Also, I don't think you've answered my question. Why the hell are you in here at…" the blonde glanced over at the clock on his bedside table, the red numerals of the clock glaring angrily at him the message of, "2:30 am?"
"I'm in here because I heard some suspicious noises that freaked Carlos out, so he made go find out what the cause was."
"It was probably James just leaving."
Logan crossed his arms over his chest, "How do you know he left? Maybe he could still be in the apartment."
Kendall shrugged, "I doubt it, but I guess...we could look around."
The two exited the room, and began to scour the apartment, looking for any sign of James. Right up until Katie, Kendall's little sister, walked out of her room.
"What are you idiots doing up at two in the morning? I'd love to be asleep right now, but I can't with you two rustling around like that." Katie scowled, putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry, Sis. But James is missing and we're trying to find him." Kendall sighed, placing his hand on his younger sibling's shoulder.
Katie raised an eyebrow confusedly, "Wait, James is missing?"
"Yes, and we can't find him anywhere." Logan sighed, sitting down in defeat.
Katie groaned, "Why don't you just go back to your rooms, and forget this whole thing happened. I'm pretty sure James with turn up soon, and I really just want to go to sleep in peace!"
"I guess that's the only other option. There's not a lot of places he can go at this hour..." Kendall said in defeat.
Logan sighed, then walked off to his room, with the last word of, "Fine..."
Kendall walked off as well, then shut the still open window, but paid no heed to locking it, he simply turned back around and crawled under the blankets of his bed, sleep coming to him rather quickly.
Kendall groaned as he heard the annoying buzz of his alarm clock, and slapped the button on the top, shutting the thing up. He slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and looked over, noticing James was back from where ever he went last night, startling the blonde a bit.
James shifted slightly, but kept his gaze transfixed on the floor. Kendall cocked his head to one side, then moved to James' side. "Everything all right, James?" he asked worriedly, placing a consoling hand on the brunette's shoulder.
James jerked away from Kendall and let out a small hiss, "Back off…"
Kendall pulled away from James, his expression twisting into horror as he noticed the blood spilling from a deep gash across the left side of James' face, running from just below his ear to a little above his eye. "James! What the hell happened to you?"
James let out another hiss, "Mind your own damn business." He scowled, standing up straight and walking into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.
Kendall frowned, then shook his head and quickly changed out of his pajamas and into something a bit more presentable. He walked out and into the kitchen, passing Carlos munching eagerly on a strawberry Pop Tart, and Logan spooning milk-drenched corn flakes from a white plastic bowl, both sitting at the kitchen table.
Logan noted Kendall's dismal look, and took the time to inquire. "Kendall, is something wrong? You seem…depressed." Carlos looked up from the toaster pastry for a moment at Logan's question, looking at Kendall as he poured himself a glass of orange juice from the fridge.
Kendall sighed, "James isn't the same anymore." He said, replacing to carton of juice to its spot in the fridge, then sat down at the table with his friends, sipping in an upset matter from his cup of the orange beverage.
"How so?" Logan asked, tilting his head to one side in curiosity.
"He had a huge gash along the side of his face, and when I asked him about he just let out this almost…animalistic hiss and told me to "mind my own damn business". And before that, when I put my hand on his shoulder, he just jerked away and hissed again at me."
That statement made the Pop Tart slip from Carlos' grasp and fall to his plate, Logan merely frowned. "There's something wrong with James," The two muttered in unison.
"What about me?"
The three jumped and turned at the sound, seeing James towering over them, his hazel eyes seeming demonic from the intensity of his stare, and the gash along the side of his face, still spilling crimson blood, helped nothing.
"O-o-oh, it's uhm…n-n-nothing…" Carlos stuttered, the first of the three to speak.
"Y-yeah…" Logan muttered, his eyes filled with the fear for his life.
James' gaze shifted to Kendall, and the blonde could've swore he saw the brunette's eyes turn red as the blood from his wound for a split second, "Kendall…?" The word was hissed as though it was a curse, and the room seemed to grow darker, the shadows appearing to creep in around James.
Kendall froze, then blinked a couple times, his breath coming in short, ragged gasps, but the shadows faded all in one second, and James suddenly appeared less…evil. Kendall opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off as his mom, or Mrs. Knight to the other boys, stepped in.
"Morning, boys~" she chimed, moments before realizing the gash on James' face. "James! What happened?" She quickly scooted to the boy's side, then ran her fingertips lightly over the wound.
Carlos, Kendall, and Logan could all see the loathing in James' eyes as he struggled with himself not to harm Mrs. Knight. He just stayed silent, his lips twitching back in faint, inaudible snarls.
Mrs. Knight took James' hand and sat him down on the bright orange couch, then quickly scuttled around, taking a wet washcloth and cleaning the blood from James' face, the boy still fighting to remain still. Mrs. Knight made quick work of patching up the cut, her over-protectiveness coming in handy for once. "There, all better, darling~" she cooed, patting James on the head, earning herself a small snarl from the boy.
Kendall frowned at his mom's seemingly unaware nature to the fact that James was not acting normally. He was mean, serious, and most of all; scary, as opposed to his usual self-centered and goofy nature. Kendall didn't like this new James, not at all.
But Kendall's thoughts didn't last much longer, as his cell phone buzzed in his jeans pocket. He pulled out the phone, then groaned. "Guys, Gustavo wants us at Rocque Records, like, now."
"Alright then…" James almost hissed from behind Kendall, startling the blonde.
Logan, Kendall, and Carlos shivered at the icy chill James' hissing voice gave off and they all stood, trying to avoid James' gaze as much as possible, then made their way out the door.
At Rocque Records, things only worsened. Gustavo had a new song for the boys to record, and everything was running smoothly, until Gustavo noticed something wrong with James.
"JAMES!" he barked, "I need you to take this seriously! Just sing like you normally do, or else—"
"Or else what…?" James hissed, his fists clenching.
"Or else I'll mess you up…" Gustavo glared James straight in the eyes, which was either a mistake for him, or for James.
Kendall gasped and put his arms out to catch James as the brunette slipped to the ground, emitting horrid gagging noises, crimson blood trickling from his mouth. "James!"
Gustavo's eyes widened, "Kelly, call 911!"
"On it!" the man's assistant, Kelly, replied hastily, trying to hide the worry in her voice.
Kendall stared horrified at the convulsing and bleeding James in his arms, and Logan and Carlos looked on with a sense of worry for their friend.
"K-k-k-kendaa…aall…" James managed to choke out, his voice slightly watery from the blood still pouring profusely from his mouth. "Wh-wh-whaa…aat's happe…e…ening…t-t-t-to…m-m-meee—" and at that, he was cut off by a gag, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
"James? James!" Kendall gripped James tightly, absolutely horrified. "James! Don't you dare die! Don't!"
Logan kneeled down beside Kendall, then placed two of his fingers on the side of James' neck, feeling for his pulse. He closed his eyes tightly as he felt the small pound beneath James' flesh die down to barely a light flutter. "He's still alive… Just…barely…"
"Oh god no…" Carlos murmured, sinking to his knees in front of James and Kendall, tears streaking down his face. This was a bit of a rarity for Kendall; he'd only seen Carlos cry once in a blue moon, at least, about something serious. His idiocy usually made it impossible for him to understand what he should be sad about. But this time it was crystal clear, even to someone as dull as Carlos; James was dying in Kendall's very arms, right before his unwilling eyes.
Moments later, sirens blared outside, and James was unwillingly torn from Kendall's grasp by the paramedics, who laid the dying James upon a stretcher and hauled him out into the ambulance. Kendall just continued to kneel on the ground, tears spilling down his cheeks, as he looked down at his palms still smeared with James' blood.
"Come on, Kendall…" Logan sighed, resting a placating hand on his shoulder. "We should probably see if he's going to make it…"
Kendall remained silent, and against his will, stood, allowing Logan to guide him.