Home Away From Home

Chapter 13

Nick knew where the spare key was hidden, so he opened the door. He walked up to Zack's room. As expected, Zack was sleeping peacefully on his bed. Nick walked up to him.

"Zack, get up."

"Mmm."

"Get up." Zack waved his hand, signaling for Nick to leave. Nick walked into Zack's bathroom and took a bucket filled with cold water. He smirked and spilled it on Zack. He jumped out of his bed.

"What the hell?" Zack's eyes were filled with anger.

"Are you awake now?"

"Nick?" Zack couldn't believe that he was back.

"Get dressed." Nick walked out of Zack's room. Without thinking, he walked into Valerie's room. He started looking around, having that gut feeling in his stomach that he'll find something. He walked by her bed, and his leg hit something. He bent down and looked underneath her bed. It was a box. Curious, he pulled it out. He opened the box and there were piles of letters, open. He picked up the first one, which had dry tears on it. He began reading.

Dear Nick,

I miss you. So much actually. I feel as though half of me is gone. I love you so much. I love you. I love you. I love you. Please come back. Please. I need you here. Everyone's hurting. Sally is lying on a hospital bed. She has cancer. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm doing everything I can. Putting on a brave face for everyone. But I'm crying myself to sleep every night. I just need you. I need you to be next to me. I need you to hold me. I need you to tell me it's going to be okay. I need you to kiss me. I need you. Zack is losing it. He's lashing out on almost every boy in his school. It's scaring me. Sally is trying so hard. But she can't do it. She can't. Zack can't do it alone. I can't do it alone. I need you.

Valerie.

Nick blinked fast to stop the tears. He skimmed through all the letters. It all basically said that she needs him and that his mom has cancer. He knew she didn't want to let him know she needed him and she couldn't tell him that his mom has cancer. They need me here, Nick thought. He knew he should've known this, but he couldn't. He closed the box and slid it back under her bed. He sat against the wall and put his face his hands. How could I be so clueless?, he thought, I should've known what I was putting them through. His heart hurt as he thought of how unhappy he is making them.

"Nick? You okay?"

"Hey, little man." Nick looked up at Zack.

"Do I look little to you?"

"No," Nick got up. "You don't. I'm sure you use that as an advantage."

"I sure as hell do." Zack smirked. He was very confident about his body.

"Don't use that language with me."

"Sorry."

"Are you ready?"

"Yeah, where we going?"

"You'll see." They walked out of Zack's house and into Valerie's car. Nick started the car.

"So how was the army?"

"Good. I enjoyed it. How was a year without me? Truthfully." He finally wanted to hear the truth, other than hearing that they missed him.

"Truthfully? It sucked. All of us were miserable. Should I have told you that?"

"Yes, I want to know the truth. About everything. How were you?"