Fading Out

Prologue

Shane's POV

"You cocky idiot. You think you are the bravest and strongest in the world don't you Nick?" I ask, still infuriated at him for asking Millie for coffee even though I liked her and he knew it. The only advantage he had over me was that he braved asking her out in front of her big brother, the football quarterback Mike "M" Johnson, who threatened severe damage to anyone asking her out, moments before I did.

"I cannot say I am that but at least I am better than you." He replies and my anger spikes. That cocky bastard! I barely control myself from hitting him in that face he is so proud of. The best 'public' part of me, he calls it. Yeah as if he ever even got to second base with anyone.

"You are just a fake, Nick, and I can prove it. Complete one dare of mine and I will accept you to be truly fearless." I say and quickly search through my thoughts for his fears. So what if he has been my best friend since kindergarden? I look for the most scary dare I can think for him but I come up empty.

"Sure. What is it?" Nick replies and I see a self-confident gleam in his eyes. Overconfident idiot. I am still thinking as we walk while I keep discarding ideas that would have worked on me but I know that he will do them easily, despite the consequences. No, I think, the challenge must make him shiver before it even begins.

As we walk past, I keep staring away from inspiration while Nick humms some random tune. I could ask him to paint Mr. Cole's ferocious bulldog. Nah, he will just throw a bucket of paint on it or just feed it a sleeping pill somehow and paint it then. I could ask him to destroy Mrs. Andrews beautiful garden. Really? That's what I come up with? Next!

And I almost miss the way Nick shoulder get slightly stiff and his humming fades a little as we pass the ruined 'haunted' McCain mansion. It is Victorian in design and would have been once beautiful but now, it is only a blot in our city's reputation. Freaks and 'ghost hunters' keep coming to our town to meet and, try to, capture the ghost that haunts its walls but so far none have succeeded. All of us have been warned for three generations now not to go to that place or else-. I freeze and smile at Nick who keeps walking, oblivious to the fact that I am no longer beside him.

"Hey, Nick! I got it. Your dare is..." I say and pause for dramatic effect. He stops but doesn't turn. His voice comes, "Come on, Shane. Can't we do this somewhere else?" His voice sounds normal but having known him for years, I see him shifting his weight on his right leg nervously and the stiff set of his shoulders and I know he is not comfortable here. Even though I feel a little bad, I push away the guilt as I realize this challenge is exactly what I need for my revenge. And so I finish, "to get the sapphire necklace kept inside the McCain mansion."

He freezes and I know that he isn't even breathing. I have a pretty good idea how he would look like. Face drained of blood, eyes wide in disbelief and his body... well, he is trying but I can see the shaking.

"What?!" He shouts but it has lost its strength and is full of fear and anxiety. Then he turns and I see that I guessed correctly. And now his shivering is not even hidden a little.

"Stop this craziness Shane. What you are asking is insane!" He says and walks to me. Grabbing my hand, he tries to drag me away but I resist. "God, have you been possessed? What are you talking about? Do you know what this stupid dare could cause?" He practically blows my ear off with the shouting.

Resisting my urge to take it all back just to have him spare my poor suffering ears (hmm, that sounded a little melodramatic),  I simply smile back at him and say, "You  are the bravest, aren't you Nick? So why hesitate? I mean that necklace must be just thrown around somewhere so why not just take it?" As I say this, an idea comes to mind. If he refuses, he is humiliated and if he succeeds then I will hand it over to Millie and take all the credit. "You are just a chicken, aren't you Nick?" And then to tease him further, I begin to make clucking noises at him. Childish and silly, but it works.

"I am not a chicken! Fine, I will go and bring it to you." Nick growls at me and begins to stomp to the door of the mansion. But it still doesn't hide his shaking hands. Then, for further pleasure, I shout, "Not now, Nick. My dare wasn't complete. You have to go in at dusk and come out at dawn. Not before that."

He opens his mouth to protest but one clucking noise silences him. I can see he is angry but he is holding it back for some reason. Why? I am tempted to ask but I don't. It doesn't matter right now.

With a defeated sigh, he says, "All right. I will go in there tonight. Now that it is done, I am going home for now. Do not follow me." He says with a special emphasis on 'not'. Then, before I can even open my mouth, he leaves me alone.

As I stare at his retreating form, my conscience tells me that I have been too harsh and cruel and I shouldn't have done that. It tells me to apologize but then what happened today at cafeteria comes back to me and I stop myself from calling him out and doing exactly what my conscience wants.

He needs to suffer. I console myself. He deserves it.

For some reason, even I realize my lie. Maybe he does, but not this. Definitely not this. My conscience replies and I can't help but agree.

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Later that night

Where is he? Is he not coming? I pace at the entrance, waiting for Nick to show up. A huge part of me now realizes that I was wrong but I know I cannot back out now or it will give Nick opportunity to taunt me with forever. So I only hope he isn't coming. Let him just face defeat than be blinded by his ego.

I am about to head back home when I hear a snapping of twig and I move my head so fast that for a second, I fear I might have given myself a whiplash but almost fortunately, nothing like that happens. Nick, though, steps out of the trees surrounding the house, and my heart pummels.

Still, I put on my brave face and say, "So you are here. It isn't too late to back out even now. Just accept defeat and we will leave. Or you can walk in and face the dare with indefinite consequences." Please back out. Please be a coward.

"I made my choice already Shane. There is no need to bait me further." He replies, trying to work out calmness in his voice but fear is clearly present.  He is scared. Make him back down. "You sure Nick? The ghost won't tolerate any disrespect. Even that Jimmy kid, you know the one who tried to hook up with a girl in here, was so badly scared that he needed months of therapy to even talk without looking around for anything coming for him. And that girl and her parents had to move to some other place. And then there is the thing that happened to the last group who tried to tear the mansion down. What happened to them still gives the witnesses nightmares and you still want to go in? Back down Nick." As I speak those last three words, I wince as I realize what I just did.

With Nick, you never ask him to accept defeat directly but try to plant doubt. To try to force him means his ego will take over and he will make the wrong choice. And as expected, he replies, "And accept defeat? Never! I am going to get that necklace and no ghost can stop me." His voice almost cracks at the word 'ghost' but it still doesn't stop him.

He yanks the door open and I try one last time, "Please Nick. You don't really have to do this. Just quit and no one will ever even find out, I promise. Just don't make any hasty decisions Nick. That is all I ask. I swear, no one will ever know about this."

He stops at the threshold and responds, "I don't care about the others, Shane. But  I will know and I will always regret it with a 'what if?', you know." He pauses and then says, "You know, I was going to   send you in my place for the date with Millie. You said you were going to ask her out but you were too scared to really try so I had to force you. I was just trying to help. And this is what I get in return for help. Thanks a lot, Shane." He closes the door behind him as I stare at him in shock.

And then, once I recover, I sit down at the base of a nearby tree and make myself comfortable for the night. Then I check my wrist and see that it is still 12 hours from dawn. I sigh, "Well, it is going to be a long night." And in my mind, only one thought keeps coming back again and again, bringing a new wave of guilt each time.

Please be okay, Nick. Please be okay.