Chapter 2
Carlos was walking all along Minnesota roads. The snow was clean and fluffy but something was… wrong. He stopped and looked around - nobody's around. Not a single soul, even the animals seems to be gone. He didn't like the eerie feeling, getting panicky and anxious, the Latino started running back home. His home where his papi and mami awaited him. After a quick five minutes, he arrived at his destination… at least that's what it once was. With a horrified expression, Carlos saw his once beautiful home all burnt down.
"What happened?" He mumbled, tears starting to form in his eyes and his heart beating faster and faster. 'Kendall's house!' He thought. He sprinted off to the direction of the household that held the dirty blond but it was the same. Dark ash covered the house. He gripped his head, tears flowing freely. "What happened?! Where is everyone?" His pocket vibrated - it was his phone. He pulled it out, he was receiving a call from Kendall. The Latino immediately picked it up. "Kendall! Where are you?! Why is your house totally toasted dude?!"
"I'm back in LA, along with Logan, James, Katie, my mom, and everyone else. Like it should be," Kendall informed darkly.
"What do you mean? I'm here in Minnesota because of our three week vaca-"
"Don't you get it you idiot!" He snapped. "There's no vacation! Griffin only made that up just for we to get rid of you! You're slowing us down, as a band and a friend. That's why you're in Minnesota. You belong in a place where no one cares about anymore."
"Y-You don't mean that," the Latino stuttered, more tears coming to his eyes.
"Poor pathetic, stupid Carlos," Logan spoke through this time. "Couldn't you see the signs? Why do you think we didn't come with you? Haha, we just couldn't wait for you to finally get out of our lives,"
"Don't worry, you'll forget us eventually just like we have already. They don't even remember your name! That's because of the weak, pathetic excuse you call yourself," James followed. The teen's tears were pouring down, hard. He always trusted his friends but they just betrayed him, just like everyone else. He wanted to go back home, his home in LA and be a part of Big Time Rush, and be with his family. The helmet wearing boy now understood, his friends really didn't want to come with him because they wanted him to leave them. This realization hurt the more he thought about it.
"You're stupid Carlos!"
"You're a nobody!"
"A waste of space!"
"You wouldn't be anywhere without us!" They all insulted together. He dropped the phone and put his hands to his head, wanting to muffle the voices but they just kept getting louder. "Carlos! Carlos! Carlos! CARLOS! CARLOS! CARLOS! CARLOS!"
"CARLOS!" His eyes snapped open and looked around. He saw that it was Katie that shouted his name, having a hand on his arm, but he also noticed that the preteen's expression was clearly worried. "Dude, Carlos, are you okay? You were mumbling stuff and crying in your sleep."
"Huh?" He touched his face and felt a river out tears going down his cheeks. The Latino took a deep breath, closed his eyes and released it. He still had his eyes closed when he spoke, but when he did his voice broke, "Nightmare."
She nodded. "You want to talk about it?"
"No. Too scary...too true," he answered. She nodded though decided to interrogate him later.
"We have an hour until we reach the airport," she notified. "And since my music player ran out of battery and you clearly look like you don't want to go back to sleep, what do you want to do?"
"Hm, well I brought some playing cards with me. You want to play poker? I know it's your favorite," he suggested, pulling out a deck of cards from his pocket. The preteen smiled and nodded. They both pulled out the adjustable table in front of them and laid out the cards. As the hour passed, they were both laughing and having a good time, both being sore winners and losers when the game decided who's who. Eventually, they stopped the game when a woman's voice came through the intercom. "Ladies and gentlemen, our flight will reach its destination in five minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts and turn off any mobile devices, we'll be descending shortly. Thank you for traveling on Snowy Airways and enjoy your day."
"Well I guess it's a tie," Carlos decided with a smirk. He put away the cards and repositioned himself in his seat.
"It won't be for long. No one beats me in my game," Kaite boasted with a smirk, repositioning as well.
"And how many times did I win?"
"Five but so did I."
"When we get home, we'll have three more rounds. Whoever wins gets…," he paused and placed a finger on his chin, trying to think of something. Then he slapped his fingers when he got it. "Whoever wins needs to do what the other tells them to do."
"Alright. Deal."
Carlos and Katie arrived at their temporary home for the next three weeks, the Knight's residence.
"Happy to be back in your old room?" Carlos asked as they entered the dark living room.
"Definitely. Although I'll miss my old bathroom, there's still memories attached to that room. More specifically, my bed," she smiled. She went ahead in her room, suitcase in tow, as the older teen went to Kendall's room and dropped his duffle bag there. He turned on the lights, thankful that the power came on. He took out his phone and dialed Mrs. Knight, reminding her that they arrived. After a few rings, she picked up. "Hello Carlos. Did you and Katie make it home safe?"
"We sure did. The lights are working and I think water works too, haven't tested it yet," he sheepishly added. He heard her chuckle.
"Well that's good - hold on Carlos." She paused then came back again. "The guys want to talk to you."
"U-Uh, tell the guys that I can't talk right now. I have to do something uh - important! Yeah, important," he nervously says.
"Oh okay. Well I'm glad you're home, have a goodnight and I love you. Tell Katie I love her too," she started wrapping it up.
"Alright I will. Night and love you too," Carlos finally ended. He hung up the phone and sighed as he held it in front of him. He was thankful that Mrs. Knight was oblivious, if she wasn't then she would have asked why he didn't want to talk to them. After that nightmare he had on the plane, he just isn't sure if he could face his friends again. Are they friends or… enemies? He doesn't know anymore, his head was hurting by the more he thought about it. So, by making him feel better, he turned and walked out the door with his deck of cards in hand.
"Kaite! You ready to lose?!" He called, waving his cards around and placed them on the coffee table. The called girl came walking with a smug face.
"Oh no. I'm ready to win and then you are going to whatever I have to say," she theorized.
"We'll see, Katie. We will see." They started playing their game and got intense very quickly. No one spoke, as they were concentrating on the game or more like a game to the 'death's. It holds more than the deal, but their dignity. But after a strong and long hour, one person stood victorious than the other.
And Carlos was that winner.
"HAHA! I won! You lost!" Carlos boasted. He got up from his crouched position and danced around like a child getting a Christmas gift. Katie pouted her lip, something she rarely does anymore. She hates losing, especially when it's on something she's good at.
"So what do you want me to do?" Katie asked, annoyance clear in her voice. Carlos grinned either way, so he turned to her.
"I have to head to the grocery store first. I think all the food here is expired," he decided.
"And how are you going to get there? You can't drive."
"Oh don't worry. I know how to get there," he slowly nodded his head. He quickly got his wallet and headed for the door, as he left he called out to the girl once more. "By the way, Mrs. Knight said she loved you and goodnight."
"Okay." With that, he left in search of his elderly neighbor and her gifted limo driver.
Katie sat on the couch, watching TV, when her phone rang. She saw the caller ID and immediately recognized that it was Kendall so she picked it up. "Hey big brother, what's up?"
"Nothing much. How are you baby sis?" He asked.
"I'm good. Carlos and I were actually playing poker a couple minutes ago. He won unfortunately," she said bitterly.
"You'll get over it," he chuckled but then he paused. "I actually wanted to talk to you about Carlos. Logan and James are here too, let me put it on speaker."
"...Hey Kit-Kat," James said after a pause.
"Sup Katie," Logan followed.
"Hey guys. What do you want to know about Carlos?"
"Well at first, when mom got a call from Carlos, we wanted to talk to him since he didn't return my text earlier but he refused saying that he needed to do something important," Kendall explained.
"Well unless you count playing poker with me to win a bet important then I think he was lying," she concluded.
"That's one of the reasons why I called. I was hoping you might know why he won't talk to us."
"We were thinking if he was still mad at us because we didn't go with him," Logan spoke up.
"Well he's pretty good but that's a different story of what happened on our plane ride."
"What happened?" James asked.
"Well, Carlos fell asleep on the plane ride, I think he was still annoyed by your guys' decision. After a couple of hours, he started mumbling in his sleep, saying something about our old house being 'toasted' and he was right about something. Then he started crying, like full on rivers of tears. When I woke him up, he just said it was a nightmare and he didn't want to talk about it," she explained. The line was silent. "Guys?"
"We're here Katie, it's just…" Kendall spoke up but paused
"Weird," all the boys spoke.
"Carlos never cried that hard in his sleep before. Something is bothering him and bad," James noted.
"Why would he say about our old house being burnt?" Kendall asked.
"Well, I'm not too big in psychology but I think that Carlos conjured up that because fire symbolizes strength, but since he had a nightmare I assume it meant hate. So if the house was in ashes that means it caught on fire. Ashs signify disappearance, loneliness, and desertion…" Logan tried to explain.
"So what does that mean?" Katie asked.
"I think he was dreaming about being left alone. Knowing Carlos, that's his biggest fear."
"But Carlos knows that he won't ever be alone," James pointed out.
"Well in nightmares, it makes us think of things against our will."
"Carlos has had those before but never has he cried in one of them…"
"Katie. You have to find out more about that nightmare and see what's bugging him," Kendall ordered. "Please."
"If we were back in LA, I would have said 'no' but since I'm alone on this one, I'll see what I can dig up," the preteen accepted.
"Thanks Kit-Kat," they all said. After a few goodbyes and love yous, they ended the call. Not soon after, Carlos arrived with bags of groceries. He was balancing a loaf of bread on his head, carrying a gallon of milk with two fingers and holding two bags on each arm.
"Little help?" She gladly did and placed the bought products on the counter.
"A little much don't you think?" He shrugged.
"We are making a special dinner and since I won the bet, you are going to help me cook," he grinned.
"But I don't know how to cook!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms up in the air.
"That's why you'll learn," he chuckled. "We're going to make lemon chicken breasts with a side of roasted potatoes and salad."
"So where do we start?"
"We'll first wash our hands then we set out what we're going to use on the counter," he instructed. They both did as planned.
"Now what?"
"You will mix the flour, pepper, and salt together and coat the chicken breasts with it," he said as he motioned to the said ingredients on the counter. The girl nodded and did what she was told in a big bowl. He continued his stuff while he explained as he worked. "While you do that, I'll start doing the roasted potatoes. I'll set the oven to 425°, grab a tray, lay it in baking paper, add the potatoes with a drizzle of olive oil and add rosemary, salt, and pepper. I'll toss this then pop it into the oven…"
"Why are you telling me this? The bet called for me to do anything you wanted me to do and you chose cooking?" She asked.
"Well, you need to learn this when you have to cook on your own. And I'm not only doing this for the bet, I needed help with dinner so why can't you help? Plus, it's fun!" He explained.
"I guess you have a point. Okay, I'm done," she announced holding her breaded chickens. He smiled and motioned her to the stove while he pulled out a pan. "You'll pour some oil into the pan. Once it's heated, place the two pieces of chicken in there. It cannot be over one another though. Remember, once you start putting the chicken in, the oil will start attacking you so beware."
"Good to know," she mumbled sarcastically. Finally, the oil heated so she placed the chicken and the Latino was right because as she did, the oil started popping all over the place. Eventually the oil settled down. She turned to the smug boy. "Yeah yeah. You were right, happy?"
"Very. Although the guys couldn't come with me for my vacation, I'm glad you came. You're really cool to hang out with," Carlos admitted sincerely.
"It's cool being here with you too," she smiled, but then she turned serious. "But don't tell anyone I said that."
"My lips are sealed," he promised. Five minutes had passed so he continued with the cooking lesson. "Now since five minutes have passed, you can flip the chicken."
"Okay." She did what she was told. In the meantime, Carlos explained that they needed to add the chopped thyme, shallots, garlic, lime juice and it's rime once the second five minute flip was over. She agreed and followed instructions. After that, he instructed her to add the broth while he prepared the simple salad. Once they both completed their jobs, they placed their food on the two awaiting dishes. The potatoes were finished when everything was as well so they put that on too. After everything, the two seated themselves and looked at their creations.
"Wow," they both breathed. After taking a picture with their phones, the two teens started digging in, enjoying the flavor that it provided.
"Never would have thought I helped make THIS!" Katie spoke after a while.
"Like I said, cooking isn't hard as long as you have patience. When I first started out, I was pretty bad at it, couldn't even make a sandwich correctly, but after I figured that I needed to take my time in cooking, it will all come together in the end."
"Well I have an amazing teacher," she smiled.
"And I have an even better student," he grinned. The rest of the time was filled with eating, talking, and other random stuff. But they both concluded that they had a great time together. After dinner, they decided to call it a night and went to bed. Carlos wanted to go to sleep himself but couldn't. He was afraid of what nightmares might corrupt his mind once again and doesn't know if he could handle the same topic once again. After thirty minutes of staring at the ceiling, the helmet - wearing teen finally shut his eyes.
Carlos was walking around the Palm Woods, frantically searching for his friends. And just like it was in Minnesota, was the same there - the entire area was completely empty. Not even Lightning the TV wonder dog was there running around.
"Kendall! Logan! James?!" He called out but didn't receive an answer. He was about to search the pool area when he heard a 'thump' somewhere. Carlos tried straining his ears to hear where that sound came from. When the noise came again he finally confirmed that it resigned upstairs. As fast as he could, the lonely Latino rushed up the stairs, not bothering to take the elevator, and into the second floor. As he got there though, he realized that music could be heard from one of the rooms. 'Someone's having a party' the teen thought. 'Whoever it is might be getting a strike from Mr. Bitters if they keep it up. Was I the only one not invited?' As he continued to walk down the corridor, the louder the music became. After a while, he reached his destination and where the blasting music was heard - apartment 2J. Slowly he opened the door to reveal everyone in the Palm Woods having the best time of their lives. Carlos saw that Mrs. Knight was there and Katie, both of them having a good time. Seeing the other three around, he decided to ask them where the guys were. "Hey mama Knight! Hi Katie!"
"Ugh. What do you want Carlos?" Katie spat. The boy's smile turned into a frown.
"I was wondering where the guys were, that's why I asked if you two knew."
"They're probably over there-"
"Hey are you okay? Why do you seem annoyed?" Carlos accidentally cut her off. It was apparently the wrong move because next thing he knew, he was clutching his face.
Katie slapped him.
"Don't cut me off ever again!" She warned. She and her mom moved to a different area of the apartment leaving a distressed teen alone. 'Why did she slap me?' He thought incredulously. 'I think she was annoyed at me, but why?' Carlos was about to go search for the remaining members of BTR but instead they came to him. And boy, they did NOT look happy.
"Hey Kendall whe-?" The helmet wearing teen was cut off by the said teen punching him in the face.
"Don't. Ever. Touch. My. Sister!" He sneered. The music stopped playing and everyone was watching the boys go at it, but they all had blank expressions.
"Dude! What the heck! I didn't touch Katie, she slapped me!" He shot back. He touched his face and felt a little trickle of blood coming from his nose. Ouch.
"You really expect me to believe you?!" He threw another attack but this time the target doged in time.
"I would never hurt your sister Kendall! Friends don't do that!" He defended.
"Haha," Logan chuckled maniacally. "You really think WE are FRIENDS? Yeah right. Why do you think we had this party?"
"We wanted to get rid of you! And we did," James spoke up. He threw the boy's suitcase on the floor, causing it to burst open by the sudden impact. "Now leave. No one ever liked you so why don't you just skedaddle? Nothing is left for you-"
"You don't mean that! This is probably just a sick prank right?" He tried to laugh but it came out as a sob instead. James came up to him and punched him in the gut, causing Carlos to double over. As the boy looked up to his tormentors, he was cruelly hit down to the floor. Humiliated and betrayed.
"Don't ever cut me off again!" James shouted. Kendall smirked. Carlos watched with wide eyes as the leader of the group went to the side and grabbed his hockey stick. The taller teen came up to the fallen one's head and positioned the stick.
"Any last words Carlos?" He asked, emotionlessly.
"I-I-I'm sorry," he sobbed. In one swift movement, Kendall pulled back and made contact.
Carlos shot up, gasping for air. He touched his head, face, body and felt that everything was where it was and no injuries seen anywhere. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm his speeding heart rate and the blood pumping in his ears. Carlos looked around and saw that the digital alarm clock read '2:30 a.m.', so he sighed as a result. He doesn't know if he can take the nightmares. It has only been one day out the three weeks, and he's already being terrorized by them. But he instead shakes his head and puts his game face on. He has to take them for the sake of the vacation and for his good time with Katie.
"I probably won't go back to sleep after that nightmare," he muttered to himself. He got up from the bed, changed into some clothes, and walked out of the room. He went to Katie's room to check on her and confirmed that she was okay. He didn't know why he checked though. Was it because just to make sure that SHE didn't have a nightmare (which is most likely) or was it to see she was still there and Katie didn't leave him like everyone else in his dreams. He didn't know. He went over to the door of the house and opened it, stepping out into the cold night with no destination in mind.
To be continued…