The Hallway

Part 2

It was about ten, fifteen minutes before the brothers came back. Jacob still seemed nervous, reaching to cover his own mouth every few minutes or so as if it was an obsessive reflex. Joshua looked more than a little shell-shocked and still stood at the doorway, watching Jacob's every move as he plopped down on the bed furthest from the window. Derek eventually got curious and walked up to him.

"What happened?" he said.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," was all he said, while shaking his head and staring off. Derek, trying not to let anything betray his slight frustration, figured he couldn't get any more out of him, so he went to the door connecting the band's two rooms to his and Teddy's quarters to retire for the night there. Josh still stood at the doorway, taking a few steps to only observe Jake better, then going back to resume his thinking. Teddy soon became uncomfortable with the atmosphere and left the room as well, closing the conjoining door behind him.

Eventually Nathan was bugged by Josh standing there, almost motionless. He got up to face him.

"Hey Josh," he said. The other flinched, blinking out of his trance to look him square in the face.

"What, Nate?" he said, sounding tired and stressed.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he said before Josh motioned for Nathan to whisper, "You turned down Derek, I think you could at least tell me."

Josh stared at him emptily. Nathan held his serious gaze, silently hoping he would say something. A few tense moments passed. Josh soon caved and waved his hand slightly to tell him to come closer. He did so, and Josh cupped his hand around Nathan's ear. After telling him in near silence, Nate looked surprised, amused even.

"That-" Nathan was cut off by a sharp 'Sh!' and a cautious peek around the corner at Jacob laying on the bed. He continued in a whisper, "That can't be his real problem, can it? Those don't even exist."

"I have a hard time believing it too, but I saw it for myself," Josh mumbled back, "it's freaky but I think it's more serious than you think-"

He was abruptly cut off and stared almost fearfully over Nathan's shoulder. Turning his head around, he saw Jake glaring at the two ominously from around the corner. Nathan caught his eyes, and the emotion in Jacob's expression turned from eerie to fright-inducing, making him quickly set his face back to Josh's, whose face now read, 'Good luck sleeping tonight.' Nathan did have reason to fear, because he was meant to sleep in the bed right next to Jacob's. He looked down and turned to go to his bed. Jacob, who was currently laying down and leaning on the headboard, looked to be sulking while holding his phone in front of him. Josh walked to the couch, where he struggled with the foldaway bed for a minute before getting into his pajama clothes.

Nathan hesitated before finally walking to the second bed and carefully sitting down on the end. He looked over his shoulder at Jacob, who, after a second, peeked over and met his eyes, looking exasperated.

"What are you looking at?" Jacob said flatly. Nathan was almost offended by the tone but held his tongue.

"Nothing," he passively replied.

"You don't have to stare at me like I killed someone," he said, with a little chortle at the end, taking his gaze back to his phone. Nathan felt relieved that Jacob wasn't all stone-cold like he was previously, taking a deep breath and looking away towards the television.

"I don't think you ever would. Even if you did, it probably would be over someone taking one of your ties," he said, which made Jacob laugh and bring the hands holding his device down to his lap. He looked towards him, mouth now closed in a mirthful smile.

"Why would I even want to? I'm not a psycho," he said with a light tone, trailing off on the last few words, "Not a complete psycho at least," playfully smiling again. Nathan chuckled half-heartedly, as he knew he was joking around, but with his recent attitude, had he really gone psychotic? No one really knew.