*Knock, Knock, Knock*
"Everything is going to be different now. It will haunt me forever though!"
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
"The image of the guy is just always in the back of my head. It never leaves. It's like a frickin' shadow!"
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
"It was you! You did this! You caused this entire thing!"
*Knock, Knock, Knock*
"Our lives will never be the same. But we need to consider ourselves lucky."
*Knock... Knock... Knock...*
Howard was sat at his desk at home, his head in his hands. The images of the day before would be something that would be imprinted on his mind for the rest of his life. What was supposed to be a fun night out with his friends, became a living nightmare of which he could never awaken from, which would haunt him forever.
Bernadette had unfortunately left the house with Halley and Michael to drop them off at her parents, leaving him alone. He had been pleading to tell his wife about what had happened, but he kept his mouth shut in case she didn't believe him. He had also been told by someone to keep quiet, along with his friends. They were given a strict death threat if they were to say something to someone that wasn't the four of them.
They all didn't want to believe the guy, but with what they saw, they did.
Howard raised his head of the sound of knocking, traveling down toward him against the wall. He had to keep convincing himself that it was all his imagination. The sound muffled away the more he told himself. He knew he would never be able to forget the events of April 13th for the remainder of his life, which right now, he wished wouldn't be too long.
Friday, April 13th, 2018:
"Raj!" Howard whispered across the old living room of the abandoned house. "Are you sure we can be here?"
Raj nodded. "Buddy, of course, I would have checked this place out before I allowed you to come here. Don't want to risk you all getting hurt!" He responded, coming across as a big softy.
Both Howard and Raj flung their flashlights around to the door before Raj shrieked at a figure in the light. Leonard turned around from examining an old, tattered picture that was hanging on a loose piece of string.
They all heard Sheldon complain in the corner of the room and laughed when they noticed that he was struggling to hold his six flashlights.
"Sheldon, you don't need that many flashlights." Leonard sighed, after already been pissed off because of Sheldon earlier that day.
"You never know about this place. There could be anybody lurking around in any corner of the room." He whispered, before carefully spying around the room.
"Sheldon, there's nobody he-" Raj began, before stopping at the sound of a floorboard creaking above them.
All four friends immediately looked up, shining all nine flashlights at the ceiling. Sheldon began breathing heavily as Leonard began looking over at the stairs.
"Raj, is this place open to the public?" Howard whispered, as not to make too much noise.
"No. It's probably the wind." Raj suggested, "Just calm down."
"It's not possible to be the wind. The force was too strong. It had to be somebody's foot." Sheldon pointed out.
Leonard sneered over at the lanky physicist, who denied saying anything that wasn't true. Howard kept whispering over to Raj, as he was looking for a place to escape from. Suddenly, the footsteps that were above them could be heard loudly crashing against the stairs...
Howard shook his head, removing the flashback from the night before. Just thinking about the threat they were given sent shivers down his spine.
He picked up his phone and text his three friends, that he could actually talk too, as they were there with him.
Can you come over? I'm losing my mind here and Bernie's out. I need to talk about last night!
He got three positive answers saying that they were coming round. He sat in the house silent until they all arrived.
As soon as he shut the door, Howard completely confessed to not being able to keep it any longer.
Leonard, Raj, and Sheldon all pleaded him to keep his mouth shut. Howard, being absolutely exhausted from both not being able to sleep and being woken up by his kids when he found himself actually drifting off, began shouting at Raj.
"It was you! If you didn't take us to the fucking house, we wouldn't be like this! You did this! You caused this entire thing!" He yelled, taking a few steps closer.
Leonard placed his arm out to stop any physical contact between the friends. "C'mon Howard, there isn't a need for that! The language, the shouting, anything." He calmly said. He nodded before looking at Howard, and then at Raj. "It's obvious none of our lives will ever be the same. And we are all exhausted we can say. But what we need to do is discuss it between the four of us. Talk it over."
"Hofstadter, you are being completely insane! We can never ever tell anyone else about what happened yesterday. Not a single word to anyone! So that means Sheldon, you can't tell Amy. Leonard, you can't tell Penny. I can't tell Bernie. And Raj..." Howard shouted, before hesitating. "You can't tell Cinnamon!"
Leonard nodded. "I know. The threat said only between the four of us. But it doesn't mean we can't talk about it together."
He pushed Howard through into the living room, and Raj and Sheldon followed. They all sat down on the couch simultaneously and each of them sighed.
"I'm sorry I shouted at you Raj, it's just that I can't get rid of these flashbacks. They're just constantly with me." Howard apologized.
Raj nodded before Sheldon butted in.
"Everything is going to be different now. It will haunt me forever though!" He sighed.
Leonard looked over at his three friends, being constantly reminded of the guy that almost killed them the night before; He was tall and bulky figured. They could just make out a large scar above his right eye in the minimal light. He wreaked of cadaverine and putrescine. He also appeared to be holding a large and sharpened steak knife.
"The image of the guy is always just in the back of my head. It never leaves. It's like a frickin' shadow." Leonard confessed, closing his eyes tightly behind his glasses.
"I know. Whenever I close my eyes, I just see the knife." Howard sighed.
Raj and Sheldon stayed quiet before Leonard and Howard joined them. The images of last night were something they all experienced, but yet couldn't find themselves talking about it.
That night, they had all struggled to sleep, with the thought that the guy had followed them home, and could murder them as they slept.
"I think last night will haunt us, no matter how long ago it actually was." Leonard sighed, "But the one thing we need to do is push it aside. As long as we keep our mouths shut, we can worry about what really matters."
"And what's that?" Raj wondered.
"Family, friends, work!" Leonard shouted, "Anything that really means a lot towards us. Who cares about this Darth Nelson!"
"Oh, Dude. I thought you said, Darth Vader!" Raj laughed.
Both Howard and Sheldon agreed and, for the first time since the horrific experience, they all smiled.
"We could call him Darth Vader!" Leonard joked.
"Call who Darth Vader?" Bernadette asked, walking through from the hallway holding a grocery bag.
"Just someone from work. Hey, honey, how long were you standing there?" Howard questioned.
"Howie, I've just walked through the door. Didn't you hear it?"
All the guys shook their heads and Bernadette laughed. "Probably because of all the jokes about this person from work, right?"
"Yeah, probably."