Chapter 8- Pete's Secret
Pete opened the front door, allowing Nick to slide through first.
"I just need to tell you some things I've been meaning to say…"
"Uncle Pete? What is it?" Nick asked anxiously, watching as Pete slowly walked to the wooden porch railings, the same one's Nick had been leaning on yesterday…
"Come 'ere son…" Pete gestured quietly, in which Nick followed on next to Pete, dragging his feet slightly as the nerves started to eat him up.
"Uncle Pete?" Nick asked again, trying hard not to sound impatient. He stared straight at Pete, anxiously waiting for an answer.
Pete sighed and peeled his eyes away from Nick's, and instead looked off into the distance… from the trees and beyond. He still didn't answer Nick…
"Pete, tell me… please…" Nick now almost begged, shoving his uncle's arm lightly with his own.
Pete inhaled then exhaled before turning back to look at his nephew. His ocean blue eyes were filled with nothing but worry and concern but surprisingly not irritancy just yet…
"Uncle Pete! If this is about Luke… I swear I'll just leave, right now!" Nick raised his voice slightly, startling Pete back into thought.
"What in the name of Nancy? No… no, it's not about Luke…" Pete was quick to respond, guilt now spread all over his face.
"Then tell me!" Nick retorted. His eyebrows furrowed as he spoke.
"Look son, you have to forgive me… I don't know what to do with myself because of it…" Pete now started to ramble, his face now sunken with sorrow. However, Nick just watched his uncle, confused. He had no idea…
"Forgive? Forgive you for what? What is it?!" Nick questioned desperately, his arms starting to flap about as he tried to do his best to make his uncle speak without pulling the trigger to another argument.
"I… thought I knew… I thought Carlos could think of something…" Pete stuttered, a single tear falling from his right eye.
"Pete! What? Goddamn, tell me, uncle please…" Nick begged, placing his hands on Pete's shoulders and lightly but roughly shaking the older man back to his senses.
"I knew she was bit! Goddamn Nick… I knew the girl was bitten!" Pete almost shouted, not angrily but as if he was distressed after putting himself under too much pressure…
Nick raised an eyebrow at Pete's confession.
"Wha…what gi…girl?" Nick shakily questioned Pete, desperately trying to remember the past events.
"The one that killed you mother! Yes, the one that killed Marie!" Pete answered, more tears starting to fall down his face as he went back to looking into the deep forest.
Nick's face sunk at the mentioning of his mother…
Wait… what?
"The… the girl… that killed m…mother?" Nick pretty much repeated back to his uncle.
"I knew it… when Luke and I bought her in, Luke didn't know but I did… I saw the bite on her hand and I thought that maybe… maybe Carlos could do something…" Pete explained quickly but shakily.
"You… you… how could you?!" Nick nearly shouted.
It was as if his heart was put back together only to be torn apart once again…
They could have killed the girl before it got to his mother… but Pete kept it a secret?
"Pete… you knew… you knew she was bitten! You knew but you never told Carlos! You're fucking insane!" Nick shouted, his vision going fuzzy as floods of tears waited only seconds before pouring out, staining his cheeks for the one-hundredth time this week…
"Son, I'm sorry… I was going to, I swear!" Pete explained calmly but sadly in attempt to get Nick to calm down before someone else walks out the cabin.
Pete lifted an arm to place on Nick's but the black haired man batted him away.
"No! Don't call me son… don't call me anything, Pete! I've had enough!" Nick yelled, not daring to look at his uncle straight in the eye.
"Nick… please…" Pete tired to say, however Nick wouldn't listen…
Suddenly, the cabin's front door swings open, revealing a panicked Luke.
Both Pete and Nick turn around in shock. Both had tears running down their faces… It was like Nick's mother's death all over again…
"Shit! Pete, Nick… what's going on?" Luke says quickly, speed walking over to Nick and immediately placing his arm around his shoulder, in which Nick places a hand over his eyes and just sobs more.
Pete stays silent. Regret etched all over his features. He looks towards Luke before going back to staring off into the forest, occasionally sniffling.
"What did you do, Pete?" Luke questions the older man, keeping his voice steady and calm, as he didn't want to make it sound like he was blaming him…
Before Pete could reply, Carlos, Alvin and soon after, Rebecca, come walking out… not as frantically but concerned also.
Sarah's voice could also be heard somewhere inside but Carlos was quick to make sure the teenage girl didn't come out.
"Oh God…" Pete muttered to himself, noticing how the whole group but Nick's attention was now on him and his nephew.
"What is happening?" Carlos's loud voice echoes throughout the forest.
"Pete? Nick? What in the hell is going on?!" Alvin's voice now dominating all…
"I'm tired of this shit! What are you two arguing about now?!" Rebecca almost screeches after Alvin.
"Everybody shut up!" Luke now yells, catching everybody off guard.
He let's go of his grasp on a now silent Nick and turns to the three adults standing at the doorway.
"Please… just go inside… us three need to talk first…" Luke calmly explains to the three adults, letting Pete breath a sigh of relief.
"Luke. I do not think you should be getting involved, this is a situation that needs to be dealt with ease, and you're not making it any easier!" Carlos retorts to the stunned brunette.
"And what do you think this is Carlos? Just please go inside… Sarah's bound to be scared…" Luke responds in the most serene way possible.
"Do not speak of my daughter!" Carlos retorts, out of the blue.
"Please… Carlos, c'mon… let's go inside…" Alvin now speaks up, nudging the Spanish man on the arm gently.
Carlos silently obliges and storms back into the cabin clearly have had enough of the constant arguments that have been taking place ever since Nick's mother died.
Alvin walks in after, in which Rebecca cast's a glare and refuses to move away from the doorframe. She had her arms folded over her chest and she eagerly waited to find out what this new argument was about.
"Bec, c'mon…" Alvin says, coming up behind his wife.
"No. I've had enough of this shit… can't we just have one day… one day without a damn argument?!" Rebecca nearly shouts.
"Please Rebecca, go inside… we'll be with you soon…" Luke explains to the annoyed pregnant woman.
Eventually, Rebecca scoffs before making her way back inside the cabin, leaving Luke, Nick and Pete alone once again.
"So… will you please tell me what's going on? We were perfectly fine earlier on…" Luke says sadly. He glanced over to Pete who was still staring off into the distance, then to Nick, who was standing beside him just looking down at his shoes miserably…
"I… I told Nick a secret…" Pete speaks after a few moments of silence. His voice was rough and lingered with the taste of regret.
Luke raised an eyebrow.
"You what?" Luke asked, confused.
"I told him something… something I knew that none of you did…" Pete continued, with the same quiet and cracked tone of voice.
"And what was that?" Luke questioned.
Nick looked up, his expression angry but more hurt.
"He knew the girl was bitten, Luke! He knew but he told nobody!" Nick attempted at shouting again, but it only came out as a sob.
"Wait. What?" Luke asked, clearly not believing what he just heard.
"It's true…" Pete grumbled discouraged.
"Why… Why didn't you tell anyone?" Luke interrogated, his face serious but his voice still remaining as calm as humanly possible.
"I… I thought Carlos could do something… I felt bad for the girl… Before I could tell him, she just turned… it happened to fast…" Pete explained. Guilt washed over him every time he mentioned the girl that he could of just let go… But instead… he tried to help…
"Bullshit." Nick muttered under his breath.
"Nick." Luke said, he glared at the black haired man in which he looked away straight after.
"Okay Pete… I understand… let's just… just go inside…" Luke casually mentions after swearing he heard slight snarling and groaning coming from the trees.
"I can't handle this." Nick says quickly before turning on his heel and heading through the door of the cabin. Muttering and voices from the other group members could be heard inside before a thud of a door closing… Nick was gone…
"I'm sorry Luke… I made the kid all depressed again… I can't do anything right, goddamn." Pete blurts out, tears welling up in his eyes once again.
"Hey… hey, Pete… it's okay, you should just tell the others okay? I'll go see Nick. It's going to be okay, just don't blame yourself…" Luke explained quickly before making his way inside. Pete followed, dragging his feet in a similar way Nick did…
Inside, sitting on the couches were Carlos, Alvin and Rebecca. Sarah was not to be seen so Luke guessed that Carlos sent her to her room to avoid any upcoming arguments or rivalry.
"Nick's upstairs…" Carlos says towards the brunette who looked anxious and still slightly confused.
"Yeah… I know… um Pete, will you tell em?" Luke asks the older man beside him.
Pete sighs before nodding and walking over to a couch to sit beside the Spanish man. The other three adults watch intently as Pete sits down and rubs his temples with his fingers, like he always seemed to do when he was stressed…
Luke glances over to Pete before indicating to the rest of the group that he was going to talk with Nick.
The rest of the group nodded, allowing Luke to make his way upstairs…To talk with yet again, a hurt and broken Nick…
He damn hoped that Nick wasn't doing what he had been doing the last time he walked in on him…
Fingers crossed, Swiss army knives were no longer involved…
Marie is the name I gave Nick's mother btw :) Hope you enjoyed!
Btw, Marie is the name I gave Nick's mother, hope it's okay :P