The Hallway

Part 1

"Jacob hasn't been himself lately," a thin blond man abruptly said to a stockier, taller man. They were standing in a parking lot just outside their hotel that them and the other three in their band, as well as their helping hands, were staying for the night. The night sky stared down at the two. The larger man curiously looked over at the blond.

"Is that why you wanted to talk to me out here?" he said.

"I figured since you're his brother, you ought to have seen how he's acting on occasion."

"I admit, he has been acting weird sometimes. Like yesterday, when he snapped at you just for using the bathroom after him."

The blond chuckled at the memory, but he did remember how sincerely angry Jacob looked. It scared him a little, but a few minutes later he was back to his usual humming around. There had to be something else up.

"Josh," he said, the other turning his face back to him, "don't you remember four, five months ago, he was snappy too. In fact, I think these moments have gone on since... March. It-it really concerns me."

"...Yeah, he has been uptight about something for a long time," Josh said, gripping his wrist with his other hand and letting go. "It makes me worried too."

Silence.

"Derek, I think we might want to go back inside now," Josh said to the blond as he turned to go back into the hotel.

"Wait," Derek said, "I have one more thing to say about this whole issue."

Josh looked expectantly at Derek as he formed the phrasing in his head.

"I, uh, noticed once, it was a long while ago but it was this year, Jake was looking in a mirror messing with his teeth. He looked kinda worried when he was doing that, but then he saw me looking around the corner at him. He glared at me then, too, but then he was acting normal a few minutes later."

"Well that's weird."

Derek shrugged as he put his hands in his pocket, then him and Josh both walked back to the hotel, where they found their bandmate, Teddy, in the lobby. He was a slender, tanned, young man, with a puff of dark brown hair upon his head. Noticing the two coming in, he immediately went over to Josh.

"What's up, Teddy?" Josh said.

"Jake said he needed to talk with you," he said. Derek turned his head slightly towards Josh's face, eyes anxious. The three went ahead into the elevator at the end of the bright lobby and arose to their floor.

"I'm popular with questions tonight, here I was chatting with Derek, and now Jake wants to talk," Josh joked, making the other two chuckle. They walked to one of their rooms, where Jacob, clad in a grey t-shirt and jeans, was standing in front of the television, expression somber. Another thin, brown-haired man in an off-white shirt, also their bandmate, was sitting on the bed closest to the curtained window, facing away from the door and on his phone.

Jacob looked up at the arriving three and smiled upon seeing them. He then wormed his way between Teddy and Derek to get to Josh, who was led out by his shorter twin brother. As the door slammed shut, the man on his phone stood and turned around to investigate.

"What was that about? Jake's been pacing for the past few minutes, and now he's gone," he said.

"There's just something weird going on with him, Nate," Derek said, "I don't know if he's sick or what, but he's been acting weird for a long time."

"So this isn't normal for him?" Teddy asked. The other two shook their heads, to which he continued to say, "I've only been around you guys this closely since... not that long ago."

"Yeah."

The three went on with their normal business without the brothers there.