Chapter 20:

Long Week

Cody jolted awake. Another bad dream. He glanced around the room. He was in a hospital. He frantically looked at his wrists. He had stitches. He sighed, and leaned back. He glanced around the room. 'Typical hospital room' he thought to himself. Suddenly, the door opened, and in came a nurse informing him that he had a visitor. Carrey walked in, with the largest smile on her face. A smile of relief. Before she could run over, he held up his wrists.

"How many?" he asked, obviously referring to the stitches he had gotten. Carrey's smile faded.

"9 stitches" answered Carrey, walking over, and hugging her son, just happy to see that he was alive.

"Oh" said Cody, showing almost no emotion.

"Don't you ever do that again Cody! Ever! It's bad enough with our recent loss, and now you had to pull this and scare the heck out of me! There is never an acceptable reason for that! Do you understand?" shouted Carrey. Cody sat there, emotionless. He had expected this to happen if he was found and taken to the hospital. Though, he hoped he wouldn't have been found. Before Carrey went at it again, Zack stopped her.

"Mom, can I see Cody alone. If you don't mind, of course" said Zack, pointing to the door.

"Sure sweetie" she said patting him on the head, and heading out the room's door.

Zack came up beside Cody, and gave him a brotherly hug.

"Why? That's all I wanna know. Why? Is it only because of Dad, or is it more?" asked Zack, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Cody just sat there in silence. After a few moments, he spoke.

"Zack"

"Yeah, Cody"

"Do you ever have weird dreams?" asked Cody, seeming a little nervous.

"Why? Are you having some?" asked Zack, giving his brother a look that read 'tell me now!' .

"Um…yeah" said Cody, looking down at the floor, and away from Zack's face.

"Tell, me how they go. Maybe I can help you" said Zack, a worried look crossing his face. 'could this be the reason he did that to his wrists?' he asked himself.

"Okay. Well, I start out by waking up. Then hurry out of our room. There's no one in the suite. Mom left a note, and I read it. Then I call your name, and you come out too. We put our shoes on, and go to the mall. We do a lot of things there. Then it gets really late. I say we have to go home, and we do. You get to the lobby, and start flirting with Maddie. Meanwhile, I go upstairs. I get to the suite, and the lights are off. I flip them on. The couch has collapsed. There's a huge streak of blood across the floor, leading to the bathroom. I forget to kick of my shoes. I run into the bathroom. There's Dad. Just how I found him that day. I walk over to him, and I'm leaning over him. Suddenly, the eyes open, and the hands with the slit wrists grab my neck, and I begin to choke. I pass out. That's when I really wake up" said Cody, terror filling his face, and tears flowing steadily down it. The sobs began to shake his body. Zack sat there, his face filled with shock and amazement.

"How long have you had these dreams, Cody?" asked Zack.

"Since that day" said Cody, sobs brutally shaking him.

Zack grasped his brother, trying to comfort him.

"Shh. It's alright. Shh, Cody. Everything's okay. Those are just nightmares. Shh" said Zack, comforting his brother as best as he could, while thinking about those nightmares Cody was having.

Leonard home-Kinsman, Ohio:

Lisa Leonhard sat there in the huge room that had become the playroom. All around her were photos of her sister. Photos, and various belongings. Tears were flowing down her pale cheeks.

Lisa's Point of View:

Erika. Gone. My sister. My playmate. My friend for eternity. My school buddy. My church buddy. My younger sister. The one who looks up to me. The one who I'm always with. People always paired us up. Lisa and Erika this. Lisa and Erika that. What will they say now? Only Lisa this, and Lisa that. Only Lisa. All that's left. Friends asking, 'Hey where's Erika?'. I can't answer that. I can't just say, 'She's been kidnapped'. That's too hard. She had to leave. She had to leave now. We are so close. I may never see her again. For all I know, she may be dead. They've gotta find her. They've gotta find her. I can't live without her. We did everything together. She can't be gone. She can't, she can't. How can someone tear apart a relationship like ours? What cruel human being could ever do anything like that. How could they? Why would they? To have fun? To enjoy themselves. I don't know. They won't tell me anything. Probably because they think I'm too young. I'm always too young. Always. But how can I be too young to know what happened to my sister, my playmate, my eternal friend, my bud? How can I be too young to know what happened? How? Why would they think so? She wasn't their sister? She was my sister. Just my sister. Not theirs. Mine. My sister. And now she's gone. Kidnapped. Gone from our home. Gone. Lost. My sister, gone and lost. Gone and lost in this huge world. Gone and lost.

End of Lisa's Point of View

West Virginia Mountains-Chris's home:

Chris unlocked the bedroom door, and brought in a plate of food He set it on the floor right inside the doorway, and then locked the door once more. Erika sighed, and then got up to see what food he had brought. Eggs, ham, and toast. It looked good to her. She picked up the plate, and brought it over to the desk that was in one part of the room. She had planned on setting up her plan today. Her plan for escape. She would wait for lunch, when he would bring down the food, and she would stand right behind the door when he opened it. Then she would jump out, tackle him, and hurry up stairs, and out the door. She prayed it would be successful. She sat down, and bowed her head in prayer before eating her meal. After she finished, she pulled a notebook out of the top drawer of the old desk that had been in her room. He must have accidentally left it there. She decided to write a journal of her experiences here, and of her life here. She had written the first entry yesterday. She now planned to write today's entry.

Cemetery in Boston:

Carrey knelt in front of the gravestone labeled:

Kurt L. Martin

May 8th 1963—July 2nd, 2002

Loving Father, Husband, and famous rock star.

A legend to the end.

She let the tears freely roll down her cheeks. Though he was cremated, they had decided to bury his ashes, since they all wanted a burial, but Kurt wanted to be cremated. Several roses and other flowers, cards, guitar picks, band records, and many other things lay there. She had spent most of her time at his grave since his death. Almost all of her time. She mumbled something, apparently to the gravestone, touched it, got up, kissed the rose she was holding, dropped the rose, and walked off, without looking back. It was so painful to be there. She didn't think she ever would be there. Never. She tried as much as possible not to cry in front of her kids. She didn't know why, her mind just wouldn't let her. She felt like the parental figure, and she didn't think that she should be crying in front of them. She just didn't feel it was right. So, she spent all of her crying here. In the cemetery.

Carrey walked out the large metal gate. She walked out to the parking lot, and got in her car. She sat there, staring at a keychain. It was a photo of their 2nd wedding. She sighed, as a few tears fell down her cheeks. She grabbed a tissue, wiped her eyes and her face, then blew her nose. She sighed, started up the car, and picked up her cell phone. She dialed Zack's cell phone number, to see where he was. She got through, asked him where he was, and he said the hospital still, but he said not to come, and that she better go home, and get some rest. Carrey, sadly agreed. She did need rest. She hung up, and drove back to the Tipton to get some shut eye.

Hospital-Boston, Massachusetts:

Zack sat there, talking to his brother, who had calmed down now. He really loved his brother. He couldn't ever imagine loosing him. This incident scared him enough. He could never imagine losing him. Ever.

Zack and Cody had several conversations, about the weirdest stuff, always trying to avoid the topic of Kurt's recent death. Their faces were sad, and they were clearly mourning, they just didn't wish to speak of it.

Zack finally left about 6:00pm. He said goodnight to Cody, and left the room. He sighed, and continued on his way out of the hospital. Once out of the hospital, he called a taxi, and hopped in. He gave the driver the address for the Tipton. He agreed to take him, and they were on their way. Zack glanced at all the buildings outside. He began to think of Kurt. Tears began to flow down his face, as he quickly wiped them, making sure the driver couldn't see. It had been too long of a week.

Finally, they arrived at the Tipton. Zack hopped out, paid the driver, and stared at the enormous Tipton. He walked in the lobby, and many somber faces looked at him. Feeling uncomfortable, he walked straight for the elevators, got in, and pressed the door closed button. He quickly pressed the floor button, and leaned back against the wall of the elevator. He sighed. As soon as he reached the floor, he pulled the key out of his pocket, and inserted it into the key whole. The door opened. Carrey was on the couch, sleeping. There was a ten dollar bill on the counter. She left a note.

Zack,

Sorry, I was too tired to fix anything. Use ten dollar bill for pizza!

Love,

Mom

Zack sighed, he picked up the ten and smiled. He picked up the phone, and dialed the local pizza place, and ordered a 12 cut pepperoni pizza. He figured Mom could eat half, and he could eat half. She loved pepperoni pizza. The man said it would be there in about 40 minutes. Zack said thank you, and hung up. He then went to the closet and grabbed a towel. He walked into the bathroom, ignoring all corners. He was going to take a shower. It had been a long week for him and the other Martins. A long, stressful, sorrowful, horrid week. He needed a shower. He felt he needed to be "cleaned up".