Wake Up, Reality's Calling

Chapter 14: Nick...

The week passed by quite fast, with a few exceptions. Exception number one was meeting Rye for the first time. Exception number two was Nick. Speaking of which, Nick had been keeping his distance, although sometimes he would be knocking on my door late at night, or be following me around while believing that I couldn't notice it.

This one time, Rye and I were going to do some shopping, since I wanted to buy something for Torie's birthday. I think Rye felt bad for me and didn't want me to be lonely so he came with me...?

I went ahead into a store to look for a present and thought I heard Nick's voice, so I went out of the store. To my surprise, I saw Nick march up to Rye and started stirring up an argument. When I went to break it up, he turned towards me, opened his arms and hugged me, sobbing. I tried to squirm away, but he tightened his grip. I was leaning more towards annoyed than scared, but I still wanted him off me. Rye came and tried to help, but I stopped him before things got worse. If Nick was ever going to let go of me, it had to be his decision. I patted him on the back to calm him down, which seemed to work slightly.

"Why him?" He sobbed. "Why can't it be me?"

"You know why," I replied in a soft tone, slightly confused over the fact that he referred to me dating Rye. Don't get me wrong - he's a really nice and good-looking guy, but I don't think the thought of us being a couple ever even crossed his mind. I don't want to get my hopes up.

After a while, he finally let me go and walked away.

The thing about Nick is that he can be two extremes - at the same time. He's a huge pacifist softy, and yet this aggressive fighter, and he can switch between these in a matter of seconds. It's like an on and off button. It can be a scary experience at times since you never know what's going to happen next. Some have described him as a psychopath, but I think that description of him is too harsh.

I've known Nick ever since 6th grade. He and his family had just moved into our neighborhood, and we became neighbors. Since he started in my class, we got to know each other quite well and we became friends in an instant.

As a sixth grader, he was shining with light and optimism, but as he grew older, the darkness inside of him grew stronger. When we entered High School, we had become best friends. By our second year, I had started to notice some of his aggressive tendencies, but back then I didn't think much of it.

We started dating in our last year, and surprisingly we both got into the same university. He became more physical, and he started to fluctuate more and more between his two extremes. He really looked like he was in pain and didn't know what to do, so I stayed. I couldn't leave him, especially after all we had been through. At least, that's what I thought until he started to hit me during our arguments. After it happened more frequently, I had gotten my fill. I decided to pack my bags and leave the apartment. My apartment. But I couldn't just do it without him giving a chance to redeem himself. He swore that he was going to get better, which he did for the next couple of days. And then he disappeared. People around me became relieved and told me that it was a good thing that he left. They told me that I should have let him go earlier and that I needed to forget about him. But there was no way I could. I was heartbroken. My best friend and one of the people I loved the most had disappeared from the face of the earth and was nowhere to be found.