Chapter 6: I Hate My Best Friends Dad.
Evan
Luke, Nick, and I walked down the sidewalk in complete silence after Gabriella and her friends had left. I seriously didn't know what to say. Nick wasn't okay, and I knew that. But, I didn't know how to help him. I didn't even know what was wrong with him. Was he going insane? Was he just scared? I didn't know. God, I want to, but I just don't. What the hell is wrong with my best friend?
I decided that maybe I should try and talk to him about it. "Nick-" I started.
"Just don't, Evan," Nick interrupted, not even bothering to look at me.
"Nick, you should at least let Evan talk," Luke blurted out.
"Fine," he spat.
"Personally I think we deserve to know what happened," I explained. "If you could just tell us," I pleaded with my best friend.
"That's the thing, Evan! I can't even tell you that!" he practically yelled. "I don't know myself!" Nick added.
"How do you not know what happened?" Luke questioned, talking in a surprisingly calm voice.
"Because I blacked out!" Nick hissed, finally looking at me. His bright blue eyes were hard and cold, they almost looked like his fathers eyes, and that was the thing that scared the living shit out of me.
"What was the last thing you remember?" I asked, my voice wavering. I tried to keep my voice calm, but I just couldn't.
"We were talking about Marvel," he stated blankly. I looked over at Luke and we met each other with terrified expressions. This was not good. It was official. My best friend is going insane.
"Nick, maybe you should go see a doctor-" I suggested.
"I'm not insane!" Nick screamed. And in that exact moment Nick didn't look like himself. He looked exactly like his father. It made my knees buckle, and my teeth chatter.
"I-It's just-" I stuttered.
"Fuck off," Nick spat, venom lacing his entire tone. He started running down the sidewalk, his combat boots clomping against the pavement.
I looked back at Luke and saw just how worried he looked.
"What's happening to him?" Luke asked me softly.
"I don't know," I whispered. "Nick is the nicest guy I know. What happened to him back there?" I added.
"God, I wish I knew," Luke replied. We walked in silence for a bit until Luke spoke up again. "He's scaring me,"
"Same," I replied. "He looked exactly like his dad," I stated.
"Agreed," Luke shivered. "Nick said he'd never be like his father. I'm not too sure-" he started.
"Nick is nothing like Clint," I interrupted immediately. Nick was and never will be like his father. Luke just nodded and took the que to shut up.
We walked down the sidewalk for a while until we reached 'Cat's Eye Café'. We opened the door and pulled the book. Luke stomped three times and the elevator jolted down. Then the establishment came into view and we stepped out of the elevator when it stopped moving.
"Lucas Mateo Crest!" a female voice yelled when we got out of the elevator.
She had long blonde hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a black tank top, and a blue skirt. It was Luke's mother, Claire.
"You got detention?!" she scolded.
"Yeah," he replied. "Some kid punched Nick so we kicked his ass," he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck with the palm of his hand. Claire's angry expression softened immediately.
"That's my boy," Claire smiled, bringing Luke into a hug.
"Mom!" he groaned, embarrassedly, pushing away from his mothers contact.
I just smiled painfully. How I wish that I could hug my mother again. How I wish that she could yell at me again. I would give anything for her to come back and scold me. Anything.
"Where's Dad?" he questioned.
"He's-" Claire started, but cut herself off. "Evan!" She exclaimed, running up to me, and giving me a hug.
"Hey, Claire," I smiled.
"You defended little Nicky too, right?" she asked.
"Of course," I replied. I felt Claire smile against my shoulder.
Claire was practically both Nick and I's Mom too. She cared about us more than anyone. She took the role of my mother when my parents died. She always supported me, and often checked in on me to make sure I was okay. Claire also always looked out for Nick too. Claire definitely cared about Nick more than his own family anyway.
Claire then pulled away from me and put her hands on my shoulders. "Speaking of Nick. Have you seen him?" I asked.
"Yes," she replied. "I saw him come in," Claire added. "He took him," she said.
"Clint?"
"Mr. Westfield," she corrected. "Manners, Evan," she added. I just nodded.
"So, Mr. Westfield took Nick?" I asked again.
"Yes,"
"Oh no," I muttered.
"What's wrong, dear?" Claire questioned.
"Nothing," I replied quickly. "Just tell me if you see him," I added, forcing a smile.
"Of course," she smiled back. I then walked past her and grabbed Luke by the arm.
"Let's go," I said, a little bit more harshly than I wanted to. Luke nodded and allowed himself to be guided around the establishment hallways. We hit our bedroom door and walked in. There were two people waiting for us when we opened the door.
"Evan!" a shrill voice exclaimed. I held my arms out and picked up the person who screamed my name. It was Nick and Lauren's little sister, Emily.
Emily had long dark brown hair that was tied back in two braids. She was wearing a white dress, and blue sneakers. The 9 year old girl had light brown eyes. She didn't inherit the chilling blue eyes like Nick and Lauren. Which to be completely honest I was relieved about. Her eyes were such a soft color of brown, that it made me smile when I looked into them.
"Emily! Emily!" a female voice called, getting up from one of the chairs near the fireplace. It was Lauren. "Sorry Evan," she laughed.
"It's okay," I smiled in return. "How's the cutest little girl?" I questioned.
"I'm good!" Emily smiled. "Why were you gone?" She questioned.
"Extra school work," I lied casually.
"Oh!" Emily exclaimed. "Where's Micky?" She asked. I laughed. Emily couldn't pronounce the letter "N" when she was little, so she called Nick "Micky" and it's kind of just stuck since then.
"He's just talking to your dad," I replied dryly.
"Okay!" she exclaimed. "Do you and Lucas want to play a game with Laura and I?" Emily questioned. I laughed again. She had different nicknames for everyone. She called Luke, Lucas, and she called Lauren, Laura.
"Sure," I replied, putting the little brunette girl back on the ground. She ran back towards Lauren. Emily pointed to a candy themed board game that was lying on the carpet. I looked at Luke and he just shrugged and started walking towards the carpet. I followed his lead.
The four of us played the game for a while until it was 10:00 o'clock and we had to put Emily to bed.
"It's bedtime, Emily," Lauren said.
"Okay," she replied. Emily skipped out of the room and the three of us followed her. We went into Emily's room and tucked her into bed. Luke and Lauren said goodnight to her and left the room. I was the last one.
"Goodnight, Emily," I said. I was about to leave the room until Emily spoke up.
"Where is Micky?" Emily questioned. "He always reads me a story," she explained. I was thinking the same thing. Where was Nick? It's been too long. He's been gone for way too long. Worry twisted through my gut, at this thought.
"He's busy," I replied, not wanting her to worry. "You can see him in the morning," I added.
"Aw, okay," Emily said glumly. "Goodnight, Evan," she added.
"Goodnight," I replied, leaving the room. I walked back to my room, and saw that just Luke was in the room, sitting on one of the chairs near the fireplace. Lauren had left. She was probably going to sleep. Lauren liked her "beauty rest", as she called it. "Have you seen Nick?" I asked Luke.
"No," he replied, not bothering to look at me. "I'm starting to get worried," he stated, looking directly at the blazing flames.
"Same," I replied. "He's been gone with Clint for too damn long," I stated, venom lacing my voice.
"I just hope he's okay," Luke sighed. I walked near the fireplace and sat down on the chair beside Luke.
We both just stared at the flames as they blazed. We didn't say anything to each other because there was nothing left to say. I was lost deep in thought and I could tell Luke was too. I was trapped in the prison, that I called my thoughts until I heard staggered footsteps. I looked at the door frame and my eyes widened in horror.
"Nick?" I questioned, taking in the appearance of the brunette boy.
Nick was a mass of blood. His face was beaten to a pulp, and blood was dripping down his face from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. He had bruises all over his face, and a black eye covering his right eye, with a very swollen left eye. His white collared button-down shirt was a dark red crimson color, and blood was practically pooling underneath the 16 year old boy. He didn't look like Nick at all. The only way I could tell it was him was by the blue, ice cold eyes that were now leaking tears and blood at the same time.
"E-Evan," Nick stuttered weakly, leaning heavily against the doorframe. My eyes filled with tears and they started pouring down my face like waterfalls immediately.
At that moment everything around me disappeared. I could only see Nick.
I ran towards the boy covered in blood, and just gaped at him. I couldn't even find a place that was safe to touch him. This was going to hurt him. I grabbed his arm and gently placed it over my shoulder, even though he let out a muffled scream of pain. I slowly walked him over to my bed and sat him down gently.
"E-Evan," he stuttered.
"I'm right here," I reassured.
"H-help me," he whispered.
"I am. We are," I told him. I looked back at Luke and saw that he was choking back tears, standing near the fireplace in shock. "Luke, grab the first aid," I demanded.
"Right," he replied quickly, running out of the room.
"Evan. It hurts," Nick whimpered.
"I know. God, I know. It's going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay," I replied quickly, trying to reassure him but mostly to reassure myself.
"Evan-" he said again, but he interrupted himself by passing out. His eyes rolled back and he fell limp onto the bed.
"Luke, hurry up!" I yelled, desperately trying to believe that we could help him, and that it wasn't too late. "Luke!" I practically screamed bloody murder on this one. "Luke, hurry up-" I choked out. My eyes were so full of tears that I couldn't even see Nick but I knew he was right in front of me. It was practically engraved in my mind. I couldn't breathe, all I could see was my best friend lying motionless on the bed in my head. Nick and I had been on a lot of missions together but he has never been this hurt before. He was going to die and I couldn't do anything about it, until Luke returned with first aid. But, I knew deep down that he needed way more than first aid to live.
Within a couple of seconds of this thought Luke ran through the door, with no first aid in his hands.
"What the fuck, Luke?!" I yelled. "What about the first-!" I screamed, but I cut myself off immediately when I saw a girl run through the door. She looked from me to Nick and immediately went over to him. She grabbed his arm and held it between both of her hands. She closed her eyes and looked as if she was focusing on something extremely important. I looked over to Nick and saw his wounds magically start to seal shut. His skin grew over the cuts, blood stopped leaking out of his body, and his skin returned to his normal color. Nick almost looked normal now but his eyes were still glued shut.
"I-I need more power," the girl whimpered, looking directly at me. This is when I got a better look at her.
She was very short compared to everyone else in the room, and she was wearing a purple cropped sweater, with dark blue baggy jeans, and white heeled boots. She had shoulder length jet black hair and light brown eyes that were pleading to me for help.
I snapped back to reality and walked over to her immediately.
"Give me your hand," she instructed. I nodded and did as I was told. She held my hand in one of hers and Nick's arm in the other. She closed her eyes again and I immediately felt pain rush through my veins. I screamed out in agony. I felt as though she was emptying every single drop of magic I had in my already less than normal magic supply. Being magicless is one of the worst feelings in the world. It feels like someone's scraping your insides with sandpaper.
I let out another agonized strangled scream, and then my vision immediately went pitch black.
My eyes fluttered open and they were immediately met with the bodies of two people.
"Evan!" someone exclaimed, and I felt my body being pulled upwards to my feet.
"Luke?" I asked in a daze.
"Yeah, man," Luke replied, setting me down on his bed.
"What the hell happened?" I questioned, my vision finally starting to clear.
"I don't know," he replied.
"I do," someone spoke up from across the room on my bed, sitting next to a limp body that was sprawled out on my bed.
"Nick," I gasped, standing up, and trying to run across the room to the unconscious brunette boy. But, I immediately got dizzy and fell sideways but thankfully Luke caught me and sat me back on his bed. I sighed defeatedly, and looked at the girl that had spoken earlier. "Is he okay?" I questioned quietly.
"He should be in a couple of hours," she replied. I nodded gratefully. "I'm Kate, by the way," she added, playing with the hem of her cropped purple sweater.
"Evan," I replied. We sat in silence for a bit until I decided I needed to know what happened to me. "What happened?" I asked Kate.
She immediately shifted her eyes to look at the ground as if she was scared to look at me.
"When you were helping me heal Nick, I was draining your power very quickly," Kate started. "I used your magic until it would have been almost dangerous to your life if I would have used anymore," she paused, finally looking back up at me. "But, your magic started dropping at extremely high speeds after I got it to that point," she stated. "It was so low that it should have killed you," Kate explained, shifting her light brown eyes to look at the ground again. She didn't continue, obviously too scared to say anything else.
But, I needed to know what happened. Maybe it would explain what was happening to me? "And then what happened?" I asked, voicing my thoughts out loud. I looked over at Luke and saw he was leaning forwards, looking very intrigued in what Kate had witnessed.
"Do you really want to know?" Kate questioned quietly, looking anywhere but at me.
"Yes," I replied in the most serious tone I could muster at the moment, which wasn't much but it was enough.
Kate sighed, and then hesitantly spoke up. "Y-your eyes," she stuttered. "They turned completely pitch black, and then you started intensely depleting my magic," she muttered, utterly terrified. "And then you let out the most magic I have ever seen," she added quietly. "You healed Nick's remaining injuries in a second," Kate explained.
"What the hell?" Luke and I muttered at the same time.
"That's not even the worst part," she said. "You were healing Nick through me and-" Kate cut herself off.
"What did I do?" I questioned softly with guilt coating my voice. I knew I did something bad, I have been doing bad things a lot lately.
"Are you one hundred percent sure you want to know?" Kate asked me. I nodded and swallowed deeply. Kate motioned for me to come over to her, and both Luke and I walked over to her. I sat down on my bed next to her, and caught a glimpse of Nick through the corner of my eye.
He looked a lot better. His wounds that were gushing blood were all closed, and color had returned to his skin. But, he was still going to have multiple bruises, a black eye, and trouble moving around properly but, of course I would be there to help him. Nick's eyes were still rolled back in his sockets, and he was still completely limp but for some reason I knew that he was going to be okay.
I forced myself to stop looking at Nick and shifted my eyes to look back at Kate. I looked down at her arm and my eyes widened in horror.
It looked like all the way up to her elbow was suffering from an extreme burn. It was blistering, red, and bleeding. Blood was oozing out of the blisters, and it looked unbelievably painful.
"Holy shit," Luke gasped.
"Did I do all of that?" I thought.
"And the worst part is. I can't even heal it. For some reason my magic won't work to heal it," Kate said.
"I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry," I replied quietly.
"I know it's not your fault," she explained. "I know you didn't mean to. You didn't even know what was going on," Kate reassured.
I sat there just staring at her arm. I couldn't look away. I hurt someone who was just trying to help Nick. I did that. This needs to stop. Now.
"Well, I'm going now," Kate blurted out after a long time in silence.
"Okay," Luke replied.
"Thank you," I said to her.
"You're welcome," Kate replied, standing up and walking out of the door.
We sat in silence for a while. I kept finding myself looking at Nick's limp body but I forced myself to look away.
"Hey, man, you okay?" Luke questioned, breaking the silence.
"I will be. When he wakes up," I replied. "And, when I find Gabriella Stone and force her to tell me what's happening to me," I spat.
"Yeah," he responded, not saying anything after that. I was actually quite grateful that he wasn't pressing me to talk anymore. I love Luke in that way because he never pushed me to talk about my feelings, and we very rarely get serious at all. I was about to ask Luke what happened while I was unconscious but then I felt a shift on the bed. I looked back and saw Nick move in the bed, and his eyes flickered open.
"Nick!" Luke and I exclaimed in unison. All we got in response was a groan but it was good enough for me. God, it was good enough for me.
"Are you good, man?" Luke asked, color coming back to his skin, and getting back to his normal joking self.
"Yeah, I guess," he groaned. "Does my hair still look good?" Nick questioned weakly, a sly smile flashing across his face. Luke and I laughed at his antics.
"Don't ever make me worry like that again," I told him, anger coating my voice. But, near the end of the sentence my lips curved into a smile. I couldn't stay mad at him. I was just so glad he was okay.
"I make no promises," he replied, his voice horse.
"You bitch," I laughed, hitting him lightly on the leg. Nick slowly sat up and leaned against the head rest of my bed.
"I'm so hungry," Nick said. "Can we go get some of Evan's late night lucky charms?" Nick smiled, remembering Luke's excuse when we snuck out of the establishment. Luke laughed and I responded to him,
"Of course," I laughed, offering my hand to help him up. He frowned at me, and took my hand hesitantly.
The three of us snuck down the hall and into the massive kitchen in the establishment. Luke used his magic to levitate the lucky charms onto the counter. I would have done it but my magic was so weak already, so I didn't want to waste it on simple things.
We poured three bowls of lucky charms and snuck back to our room.
Once we were back to our room we sat on my bed and ate the cereal together. We pointed out weird shaped marshmallows, and laughed when we saw that our teeth had turned blue and green.
I checked my watch and saw that it was 2:33 in the morning.
"Holy shit, I'm tired," Luke yawned. "I'm going to bed. Goodnight losers," he smiled, putting his bowl on my desk table, and walking across the room to his bed.
"I guess, we should go to bed too," I said to Nick.
"Yeah," he replied, standing up and walking the five feet to his bed that was right next to mine. I layed down in my bed and pulled the covers over myself. After a couple of minutes I heard Luke start to snore, and I just stared at the ceiling above me, thinking about Nick's limp body sprawled out on the bed. A shiver shot down my spine, and a weird feeling settled into the pit of my stomach.
"It was that bad, huh?" Nick blurted out, which forced me out of my thoughts.
"N-no! Of course not-" I exclaimed softly, trying to convince him.
"I'm reading your mind, idiot," Nick replied. I sighed and turned onto my side to face his bed. Even though I couldn't see Nick in the dark, I knew he was looking at me too.
"Fine. It was that bad," I said. "I thought you were going to die, man," I added, my voice breaking.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Nick asked, voice relatively calm.
"I-I don't know," I stuttered. "I was just so happy you were okay," I admitted.
"I still think I deserve the act of you telling me yourself," Nick sighed. "I don't actually like finding things out by reading minds," Nick stated. "I would rather if you would tell me things first," he added.
"I guess," I responded. We didn't say anything for awhile until I decided to ask a question that had been on my mind for a while now. "What happened?" I asked.
"Fell down the stairs," he replied.
"Bullshit," I whispered.
"Fine," he replied. "Well you know how we all got detention?" he questioned. "Well C-Clint he found out," Nick stammered. "And then he-" he started, but I interrupted him.
"That motherfucking bitch!" I exclaimed, just a little bit too loud.
"Calm down, Evan," Nick replied.
"How can you ask me to calm down?!" I practically screamed, sitting up in my bed and jumping to my feet.
"Evan-" he started.
"Clint almost killed you, Nick!" I yelled.
I'm pretty sure I heard Luke say something that sounded like "shut up, I'm trying to sleep" but I didn't listen.
"You could have died! And, you're telling me to calm down?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I yelled.
"Seriously, Evan-" Nick tried again.
"No! Stop! How do you have such a low regard for your own life?!" I yelled at him. "If something happened to you, I don't know if I could keep living my life!" I screamed, until I heard something that almost sounded like a sob.
"Evan!" Luke yelled, turning on the lights in our shared living quarters.
That's when I saw the tears trailing down Nick's face like waterfalls. He was pale, and his legs were wobbling as if his body was all of sudden too much weight for his legs to support.
"Why is he crying?" I thought to myself, but I figured out the reason real quickly by his eyes that were staring at me in horror.
"Nick-" I started, guilt settling in the pit of my stomach. I yelled at him. I was like Clint. I yelled at him, just like Clint does.
"Evan. Seriously, man?" Luke spat, stepping in front of the brunette.
"Nick, I'm sorry. Oh god, I'm sorry," I stammered.
"I-it's okay," Nick stuttered, trying to regain his posture that he had had before I yelled at him.
"No. No, it isn't," I replied, hanging my head. I felt absolutely terrible.
"I'm just as bad as Clint," ran through my head over and over again.
"You're not like Clint," Nick stated firmly. I just shook my head. "Evan, it was an honest to god mistake. You were mad, I get it," Nick started. "I shouldn't have told you to calm down. You had all the right to be angry. It's just that I'm used to the abuse, Evan," he added, his voice hesitating on the last sentence. I felt anger rise in my chest again.
"You shouldn't have to be," I replied.
"I just played it off because I didn't want you to worry. But, I see now that that only fueled your anger," he continued, ignoring my comment. "I understand because I would be angry if you almost died too," Nick said. "You are not Clint," he added firmly.
"You don't need to apologize, Nick. I'm the one who was wrong," I told him.
"No, you weren't," he replied.
"Sorry to interrupt this cute emotional moment but, I'm really fucking tired," Luke blurted out. "Can we go to sleep, please," he practically demanded.
"Fine," I sighed. I climbed into my bed, and so did Nick and Luke. My mind kept pacing with the thoughts of how I had yelled at Nick like Clint does. But, then I thought of how easily Nick forgave me. And I realized that maybe it wasn't even my fault? Maybe, our relationship was strong enough to rule out anything that could ever happen? I then forced myself to stop thinking about that, and focused on the most pressing issue on the table. I needed answers about what had happened to my powers. I decided that tomorrow I was going to confront Gabriella Stone.