Falling to Pieces

Chapter Five

I throw my phone across the room and start sobbing uncontrollably.

I can still hear Dan's voice through the phone. "Nicki? Nicki are you there?"

I bring my legs closer to my body and bend them, then wrap my arms around them. I rest my head on my knees, still crying.

My parents yelled at Dan. They beat him. My dad wrapped his cold hands around his neck and almost killed him. I'm honestly disgusted by them. The thought of them hurting him bothers me so much.

- Danny's POV -

I repeatedly say her name. She doesn't answer. All I've heard after I told her was a loud bang and muffled sobs.

"Nicki!" I yell. "Nicki please listen to me!"

After a minute or two, I hear her sad voice. "What do you want?"

"Please don't get upset, Nicki. It's not your fault," I tell her.

"Dan I don't know what's going on," she cries. "My parents left yesterday and I'm glad they did because if they were here I'd freak out on them. I'm so sorry Dan I can't believe they did that." She keeps crying and it breaks my heart.

"No Nicki please don't get upset it wasn't your fault, really, Nicki please," I plead. She doesn't stop. She keeps crying. And I hate that I told her now. I should have waited until morning. Now she's not going to sleep.

"They have to find them," she says suddenly.

"Who?" I question.

"The police. They have to get my parents."

"I'm sorry did I wake you up?" I ask, desperately trying to get off the subject.

"I was about to sleep. But thanks for letting me know," she tells me.

"Nicki." My voice is low. "Please don't let this get to you. Get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

She sighs. She hasn't cried for a minute or two. "I'm not tired."

"Yes, you are. But you're going to keep thinking about this and not sleep. Please Nicki. Promise me you'll sleep."

"No." She speaks in a soft, soothing voice. "I won't promise you. Because I don't break promises."

"Nicki..." I know she won't lie to me. Most of the time, anyways. "Please."

She sniffles. "You and I both know I'm not getting any sleep tonight."

I do know. And I hate myself for it.

"But I don't want you to not get sleep," she adds in. "I'm so sorry about them. Good night, Danny."

"No, Nicki, don't--" but it's too late. She hung up.

I try to remember a time when we were both happy. What about when we became best friends? It was in January, when we were in first grade. We were already friends, but we weren't close. I... kinda had a crush on her. So, I told her to meet me at the playground after school. She started laughing. "What?" I asked, confused. Did I do something stupid? "You want me to meet you outside? In January?" She chuckled. "It's cold outside." I can still remember my cheeks burning red. "Well.. I.." I didn't know what to say. "I'm just messing with you!" She giggled. "I'll see you at the playground." I was immediately filled with relief. After school, we met up. There wasn't snow on the ground or anything, surprisingly, but it was definitely a wear-two-jackets-or-you'll-freeze type of day. She was standing by the slide and I snook up on her, causing her to jump. "Hey!" She shouted after I started laughing. "It wasn't funny." I kept laughing and said, "yeah, it was." She crossed her arms. "No, it wasn't," she pouted. I slowly stopped laughing. "Okay, okay. It wasn't funny," I fibbed, giving in. "So why did you want to meet me?" She asked. "Was it just to scare me?" I shook my head. "Naw, I just wanted to hang out." She smiled. We went down the slide, climbed on the monkey bars, and chased each other around. Eventually, her parents came and asked where she was all this time and how they were looking for her. She sulked a little but shrugged it off. "And what about you, Dan? Where are your parents?" They questioned. "Christian's mom was going to take me home," I replied. "Where is she?" Nicki's mom asked. "Christian is staying after school for detention. She said I could come here," I answered. "Detention?" Her father shuddered at the word. Funny, considering the type of people they turned out to be. Funny how the guy who couldn't believe a first grader got detention almost killed me. Anyways, they took me and brought me back to the parking lot, searching for Christian's mother. "She's not here," Mrs. Sobrino stated the obvious. "She's inside," I sighed. Once we were in the building, we went to the classroom and found his mother waiting in the hallway. I don't remember exactly what they said, but Mr. Sobrino wanted to know why Christian was in detention and why I was not being watched. I don't know what Mrs. Cass replied. All I know is that Nicki's parents ended up taking me home. In the car, Nicki said, "hey, Danny Phantom. The other girls all have a guy best friend. And I don't." I kept a blank expression on my face but was cheerful in my head, having an idea where the conversation was going. "So I decided that you're going to be my guy best friend," she told me. I grinned and responded, "what if I don't want to?" She frowned. "If you like it or not. You're my best friend. Why wouldn't you want to be my friend, anyways?" Little Nicki. Bossy but not in a really rude way. Full of herself but in more of a joking kind of way. "I'm kidding," I laughed. And, from that day forward, we were best friends.