Chapter 4 - 3AM
The group arrived back home after they finished their meal and dropped Peter back home. They were all sitting around the living room talking about everything that happened. Kirstie was still surprised that it all went down, "I can't believe that some girl would just walk up to me and pull my hair."
"How's your head, sweetie," Avi asked rubbing his fingers on Kirstie's head.
"It doesn't hurt anymore," Kirstie said with a smile towards him.
"Maybe you should carry mace on you," Mitch said from across the room.
"Yea, that's not a bad idea," Kirstie said with a nod.
"Let's change the subject and talk about the show that's in a couple of days," Kevin said trying to make the mood lighter.
"Not tonight, Kev," Kirstie said standing up and yawning, "I'm so tired right now."
"First thing in the morning, then, at breakfast," Kevin said looking around the room for answers.
Everyone gradually agreed and started slowly getting up and moving towards their rooms.
Avi and Kirstie headed towards her room and shut the door behind them. Avi grabbed Kirstie's hand and she turned around and he pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her and said, "I'm glad you are okay, I hate to think that someone hurt you tonight and I wasn't there to stop it."
"But you did stop it, the girls stopped as soon as they saw y'all," Kirstie said with a smile and then added, "And I have never been so happy to see your face in my life."
"Next time, I'm waiting outside the door," Avi said.
"No, I'll be fine, I can't be afraid of going to a public bathroom," Kirstie replied. Kirstie slowly pulled away and walked over to her suitcase that was on the bed and looked through her sleepwear options. After a few minutes, she decided on gray pajama bottoms and a pink t-shirt. She looked over at Avi and said, "I'm going to get ready for bed, see you in a few." She headed into the bathroom and shut the door behind her and locked it. As soon as she was alone, she ran the water in the sink and sat on the edge of the bathtub and placed her hands on her face and cried. She finally felt that she could let it out and she didn't have to hold it in and be brave. She cried her anger as well as her fear out. She was not going to be afraid of some little girl. The girl who attacked her had the upper hand because she caught Kirstie off guard. How was she going to say hello to her fans not knowing if Becki would be in the crowd or not? She made a mental note to contact the restaurant to see if they had a photo that she could have so that the security team could make sure that they would not enter the show. After a few more minutes of pulling herself together, she washed her face, brushed her teeth, and combed her hair. She changed into her pajamas and headed back into the bedroom where Avi was resting on the bed with his phone in hand. She came over and crawled into bed and leaned against Avi's arm and said, "What are you doing?"
"Just checking twitter and emails," Avi said leaning over and kissing Kirstie's forehead.
"You okay?" Avi asked giving Kirstie a loving look.
Kirstie nodded and leaned back onto her pillow. She looked at Avi and said, "Good night, honey. Love you."
Avi placed his phone on his nightstand and leaned over and kissed Kirstie and said, "Good night, baby. Love you more."
Meanwhile…. (Rewind a little bit)
Kevin walked over to Esther as the group was all going into their bedrooms and reached for her arm and said, "You okay, Esther, you have been so quiet."
Esther looked into Kevin's eyes and noticed that he was looking at her differently than he used too, or maybe it was the way that he always looked at her, and she was just noticing now. She smiled and said, "Yea, just tired, thanks Kev."
"Just making sure, I wouldn't want anything to happen to you," Kevin said softly as he gave her a small hug. Esther picked up on his demeanor and thought that he was being really sweet. She smiled again and said, "Night, Kevin."
"Good night, Esther," Kevin said as they headed their separate ways.
Scott and Emma headed back to her bedroom and she stopped short of the door and said, "Will you sleep in my room tonight?"
Scott nodded and said, "Of course."
Emma smiled and they headed into the bedroom and got ready for sleep. Scott told Emma, "I'll be right back, just going to go get my things down the hall, okay."
Emma replied back, "Okay, I'm going to get ready for bed."
Scott said okay and headed down the hall. He felt like someone was watching him and he turned around and no one was there. He got to his room and got his stuff and saw that Mitch's door was open. He popped his head in and said, "Mitch, I'm sleeping in Em's room tonight."
Mitch smiled and said, "We both knew that's where you were going to be."
"I didn't know for sure, she asked though. Okay, so, in the hall just now, I had the feeling that someone was watching me," Scott said looking behind him again.
Mitch looked up with wide eyes and walked over to the doorway and looked behind Scott towards the hallway and then looked at Scott and said, "Do not say something like that and then leave me alone, I'm going to be freaking out all night."
"Mitchie, you are fine. It was just a weird feeling," Scott said with a smile.
"Seriously, this place is creepy at night, I'm coming to sleep with y'all," Mitch said with a laugh.
"Um, no," Scott said.
"Just kidding, I'll call up Peter to come and rescue me," Mitch said.
Scott smiled and said, "I thought that you liked him."
"Maybe, okay, shoo, go back to your girlfriend. I'm going to be locking this door after you walk away and sleep with headphones on. I am not going to get freaked out at night with noises of this house," Mitch said.
Scott laughed as he headed down the hallway and turned to see Mitch close his door and true to his word, Scott heard the door lock. Scott walked down the hallway into the bedroom where Emma was already in bed. He got ready for bed quickly and got into the bed and scooted up beside Emma and she moved into the curve of his body and he held her as they both drifted off to sleep.
3:00 AM
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed someone.
Kirstie shot up in her bed and shook a snoring Avi. Avi stirred awake and said, "What, what's going on? What time is it?"
Kirstie leaned over and turned her lamp on that was sitting on her nightstand and she grabbed her phone and unlocked it and said, "Avi, did you hear that scream? It's three in the morning."
Avi sat up and said, "What scream?"
Avi rubbed his eyes and pulled his legs to the side of the bed and stood up and walked towards the door with Kirstie walking right behind him. "Are you sure you heard a scream?"
"Yes, it was so loud," Kirstie said.
Avi looked at Kirstie and said, "You stay here, I'll go check."
Kirstie took one look at Avi and said, "No, you don't, I'm coming to check with you."
Avi said, "Okay, let me grab my phone first."
With phones in hand, Avi and Kirstie slowly walked into the hallway and Kirstie leaned over and turned on the hall light which was a lot brighter than they both were ready for as they both squinted. They got to Kevin's door and Avi said, "Go check on Esther, I'll check on Kevin." Kirstie nodded and headed towards Esther's door and opened it slowly and found Esther sleeping peacefully. She came back and found Avi standing in the hallway confirming Kevin was sleeping too. Avi said, "Are you sure you heard a scream, Esther would have woken up if she heard it? Let's go back to bed."
"No, I need to check on Em at least, it sounded like a woman's scream," Kirstie said.
Avi sensed the fear in Kirstie's voice and nodded and put his arm around her and said, "Okay, it's fine, let's go check."
They came to Mitch's door first and Avi slowly turned the handle only to find it locked and said, "He's fine, he locked the door."
"Okay," Kirstie said.
They headed towards Emma's room and slowly opened the door and Kirstie saw Emma sleeping with Scott's arms wrapped around her. She giggled at the sight of her cousin sleeping with her best friend. For some reason, it made her laugh. Avi tried to quiet Kirstie by putting his hand over her mouth, but it was too late, Scott had reached over and turned the lamp on and said, "What the hell, guys, it's so late."
Kirstie laughed, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, let's go Avi."
Avi shook his head and said, "We'll tell you in the morning, go back to sleep, Scott."
Scott nodded and said, "Okay."
Emma slowly rose and saw Avi and Kirstie walk out of the room and Scott turned towards her and said, "Go back to sleep, everything is okay, Kirstie is just being silly."
Emma laid back down as Scott turned off the light and Emma said, "Next time, I'm locking the door."
Scott chuckled and said, "Okay."
Avi and Kirstie made it back to their room before busting out laughing. Kirstie said, "Oh my gosh! I don't know why I laughed."
Avi said, "Just come back to bed, sweetie, it was nothing obviously. Let's get back to sleep."
"Okay, maybe it was my dream, I don't know, but it seemed so real." Kirstie said lying back down.
Avi and Kirstie were lying peacefully beside each other as they both tried to go back to sleep. Avi rolled over on his side and Kirstie rolled over on her side.
3:30 AM
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed someone again.
Avi shot up in bed this time as well as Kirstie. Scott and Emma both heard the scream this time also. All four headed into the hallway and into the living room and found each other there.
"What the hell was that?" Scott said looking around.
"That's what woke me up the first time, that's what I heard Avi, that's why we checked on everyone," Kirstie said.
"Have y'all checked on Esther, Kevin, and Mitch?" Emma asked nervously.
"Yea, we checked on Kevin and Esther last time, they were both sleeping soundly. Mitch had his door locked, I assumed he was fine." Avi said.
"Oh yea, he said that he was going to sleep with headphones on, so he wouldn't hear anything. We need to figure out where that scream is coming from now," Scott said pacing the living room.
Emma reached for Scott's arm because she was starting to freak out herself and Scott sensed that and placed his arm around her.
"Do we need to call the cops or something?" Kirstie asked.
"Maybe it's from outside or something," Avi said walking over to the front door.
"Well, don't open it," Kirstie said.
"I'm not going to open the door, babe, I'm just going to look outside," Avi said. He looked outside and everything seemed peaceful, it seemed quiet.
They all sat in the living room and there was no way that Kirstie was going back to sleep tonight. She was freaked out completely. After Avi and Scott made their rounds again, they came back to the living room and assured Emma and Kirstie that everyone was okay. Avi sat down on the couch and leaned back and placed his arm around Kirstie and she leaned back into his side. He leaned his head against hers and she finally drifted off to sleep eventually.
NEXT MORNING
Mitch woke up and took his headphones off and stretched back onto his bed and yawned. He got up and went to the bathroom and got ready for the morning, brushed his hair, his teeth, and washed his face. He threw on a robe and headed out towards the kitchen and was surprised to see Scott, Emma, Avi, and Kirstie all sleeping in the living room. He grabbed his phone and snapped a quick photo and smiled. He walked over to the kitchen and reached for a cup and it slipped out of his hands and it broke on the floor sending the four sleepers in the living room into a panicked frenzy. Mitch quickly walked over and said, "Guys, guys, it's okay, it was just me, I broke a cup, what is going on? Why did y'all sleep in the living room?"
Scott plopped back down on the sofa as Emma did too and Scott looked over at Mitch and said, "We all heard someone screaming last night, Kirstie heard them twice, the rest of us heard them the second time."
"Whaatt?" Mitch asked walking back over to the broken cup.
"It's true, Mitchie, when I heard it around 3, I woke up Avi and we made our rounds checking on everyone. When we got to Emma's room, I starting laughing at the site of her sleeping in bed with Scott for some reason, and I woke them up. Sorry guys." Kirstie said looking over at Emma.
"Why was it so funny?" Emma asked.
"It's not, I'm just not used to you having adult sleepovers, especially with one of my best friends," Kirstie said.
"I'm glad that I didn't hear the screams. That would have freaked me out, Scott already freaked me out last night, that's why I went to sleep with headphones on and locked my door," Mitch said.
"Oh yea, I forgot about that, I felt like someone was in the hallway watching me last night, it was really weird," Scott said.
Emma said, "Okay, that's it, I'm moving over to the other house, this house must be haunted and I can't sleep here."
Scott wrapped his arms around Emma and said, "No, you need to stay here in this house. I'll protect you. It's not haunted."
Kevin and Esther came into the room and Kirstie screamed at Esther, "Oh my god, what happened to your hair?"
Esther looked over in the mirror on the wall and saw that about 6 inches of her hair was cut off on one side. She reached for the missing hair and looked back at Kirstie and said, "What the hell! Who cut my hair; this is so not a funny prank."
Avi stood up and walked over to Esther and looked at her cut hair and then went to her bedroom and looked around for clues. Esther came into her bedroom and said, "What are you doing?"
"Someone was in your room last night, we heard screams, Scott felt that someone was watching him in the hall, I think someone is messing with all of us," Avi said.
"Someone was screaming? I didn't hear anything, why would they cut my hair?" Esther said as she sat and starting crying over her cut hair, she felt violated, that someone was that close to her while she was sleeping and she didn't wake up.
Avi stopped and sat beside Esther and said, "Don't cry sis, it's okay, I'll find out who did this. You can't help that you are a heavy sleeper. You sleep through everything. I see that your window was unlocked, did you unlock that last night?"
"No, I never even checked to see if it was locked to begin with?" Esther said wiping her face. She then said, "I'm going to have to go get my hair fixed today; I can't go out in public like this."
Kirstie came into Esther's room and sat on the other side of Esther and said, "I'll go with you, you are going to look so cute with shorter hair, don't worry, we will find out who did this."
TO BE CONTINUED…
