Dancing in the Oaks

Cursed

We had to face the inevitable: the basement. "I'll go get it." Nick always volunteered to do everything. I have never understood it. He is just an all around brave guy. He does ride bulls so this probably does not phase him at all. I feel like a complete weakling.

"No, I'm coming too." I had scooted all the way down the stairs with Nick following me. This time the basement felt even colder: 32 degrees colder. I could not believe how freezing it was down there. This was probably the coldest it has ever felt down there, ever. Nick walked in first and I tried to walk behind. The crutches clacked against the cement floor.

There was a knock in the corner of the hallway. "Norah, where are you?" Nick said because the lighting was horrible. The lights haven't worked in the basement for years. "Norah!"

"Help me! I can't see. Where's your flashlight?" I could barely see my hand in front of me. I felt a warm hand on my arm. I instantly felt better when he touched my arm. The draft of the air still overcame the entire space.

"It's alright. I found you." He turned the flashlight back on without shining it into my eyes. I could barely see still. The flashlight didn't make that big of a difference.

I located the corner with the safe. "They should be in here. I know the pass code. It's 4354." That was my old house address back in Bakersfield. My parents were not creative with their passcodes. They just multiplied my old house number: 2177 by two. That gives 4354.

Luckily, Nick was the one that bent down to open the safe. It became very hard to complete daily tasks such as that with my foot. He began to flip through the 4354 pieces of paper that were neatly stacked inside.

"Why is the passcode 4354? This could be a great breakthrough for the mystery." Nick wanted answers fast and I could tell that he was anxious.

I thought for a minute while Nick still searched. I noticed that Nick had a piece of paper sticking out of his back pocket. "Yeah. The number 4354? We took the number of our old place and multiplied it by two. 2177 is the original address. Now our new address number is..."

"..12!" Nick answered back. "Your house number is 12. Yep, that is a very interesting thing." The air grew denser and colder. "Where was 2177?"

I didn't realize that my address number is 12. "My family was originally from California. None other than Bakersfield. I'm so sorry. I never wanted anyone to know."

His deep, brown eyes looked up at me, piercing into my green eyes. "Why are you ashamed of that?"

"Things happened there that I don't like to talk about. That's like opening a new can of worms. I'm not proud of my past. People did things that stained my reputation and we came here to start new. Let me rephrase that: my reputation was stained because of things other people did, not me." I felt uncomfortable talking about it, or just thinking about it.

He stood back up and looked into my eyes. "I want to hear about it. Later tonight can we talk about it? This may help solve something. I know you don't wanna tell nobody, but your secret is safe here with me." He moved my hair out of my face so gracefully. Sometimes he drove me crazy. 

"Alright. I just don't like talking about it. I feel comfortable giving information to Nicholas Reed. Hey, I trust you Nick and you're a good person, Nick." I tried to give myself the reassurance that everything would be okay if I told him. I really do like him and his ocean deep brown eyes, but I didn't wanna be too obvious. I didn't tell him directly that I like him. I thought I'd keep it illusive at the moment.

He kneeled back down and went through papers. "Alright, it appears that they are right here. Yeah this is it. Logaan, Jake, Patty, and Harlem. Yep, here they are. You might need a statement or proof that you live here." He pulled out another paper. "Here, let's take this just in case."

I spotted a pink piece of paper sticking out of the middle. "Wait, what's that?" I pointed to the pink paper, barely visible. Nick picked it up and gave it to me.

"It's got your name on it. Alright. That's all we need. Hang onto the papers for a second please." He locked the safe up making sure no one could get to the important documents. "Here, I'll take those now."

We made it halfway through the hall before I felt sick again. My head began to spin. "Nick I cannot see you. My head is dizzy again. Help!" I had almost fallen over. If it wasn't for Nick and the wall, I would have hit the concrete. "Help! I can't see." It was as if my body was paralyzed.

"What do you mean you cannot see?" That was the most aggressive question that I'd heard come from Nick's mouth.

I held onto the wall. "Nick! Please. I can barely see your face and I cannot move my body at all. It's as if I am frozen. My vision is very scary. I see static across my left eye." I attempted to walk further down the hallway. The pain was so bad. My spine tingled and breathing became hard. My arm hurts. "Please."

I was relieved when Nick wrapped his arms around me. "You alright? Don't worry I feel the same thing. You just have a strong connection to whatever this is. Well, whatever this is it seems to be getting worse and worse. "

The feeling almost went away, but my head still was spinning. "Thank you. I thought you were ignoring me or something. There's something phantom down here. I don't know." I shut my eyes and rested my head over his shoulder. I noticed that his hair had hints of a pine tree smell. My hand touched his soft hair. I was hugging a cowboy and he cared for me. I did not want anything more than being friends and the occasional hug. My life is in the animals, rodeo, and everything else.

"Ready to go upstairs?" He asked this time more politely.