I stretched my body to full length; being curled up for hours had made my joints stiffen. This time when I saw the room, I was no longer startled by it as I had come to terms with my new environment.
I instantly turned to Lance’s part of the bed, and saw a note on his pillow, addressed to me. I tore it open, it read:
“Nikki,
I’ll be gone for two days, no more. I’ll try to rush them over at the studio. Take care of yourself. I left some money in the drawer in case you need anything.
Please wait for me,
Lance.”

Why was he so afraid that I would run off? I had nowhere to go, this was the end of the road for me. Pretty boy worries him self too damn much. I got up to take a shower. It was going to be one long day indoors for me.

The phone rang constantly; while I was in the shower, while I dressed up, after I had ordered breakfast, as I ate. It never stopped ringing. It was like an alarm that had been triggered off by some unfortunate event and I couldn’t stop it and I darn well couldn’t answer it.

I spent the day watching CNN, my favorite channel. I had become accustomed to these empty hours of waiting in a hotel room so much that I had made channels like CNN my best source of information as to what was happening in the outside world.

I sat curled up on the bed and I watched the news. There was an earthquake in Chile, some people got killed: a pity. There was a school shooting in San Diego, a young molested boy had decided to act out his rage on his schoolmates: a bigger pity. I didn’t know whether to feel for the boy or the victims. I could relate to the poor boy’s plight, because I had been picked on not too long ago, but I couldn’t understand why he would go out and kill somebody about it. What was the world coming to, when our youths were the angry ones? Where did he get the gun? Did he choose his victims or where they random acts of violence? With these random thoughts in mind, I drifted off to sleep.

He wants something this time, something special, something I haven’t given him before. He not only wants me to touch the gory member, he wants me to put it in my mouth. “Yeah”, he says, “You have tasted this before, haven’t you?” I cringe, I curse at him and I try to run away. But he grabs my arm, and shoves me inside the house. Today, mama is not home, she is at the welfare office, asking for food stamps. He slams the door shut and the noise hits my head with a thud that forces the tears down. He pushes me down to my knees, and I feel my knees graze on the hard floor. He starts to pull down his pants, but I shut my eyes, I can’t bear to look at this, I can’t do this. My teeth are shattering so bad that my tongue starts to bleed. He calls my name, Nikki, I do not respond, so he slaps me across the face and, I see all the stars and angels in heaven, I beg them to come save me.

I spring up, run to his room, and retrieve his double revolver, I aim at nothing, I aim at his heart, but he is not frightened, he starts to laugh. He starts to laugh, hysterically. His laughter echoes in my head and, in my body sending chills down to its’ deadened cells. I aim some more but he continues to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. And then, I hear a ring, a shrill ring in the house stops me from shooting, a sharp ringing tone, it stops him from laughing too, he looks around and then…he steps forward and then…

I woke up…in a definite panic, blood rushing into my head, doubling its’ size. I am awake but I still hear the ringing noise, I clutched my ears and tried to drown the noise with my hands, but it continued. I looked around and I located where it was coming from. “The damn phone is ringing, it is still ringing.” I discovered.

I grabbed it in anger and flung it across the room. The phone went flying onto the carpet, almost shattering in bits. I clutched my heart to stop it from panting, it couldn’t.
 
“I wish Lance were here. I wish Lance were here, I wish someone was here, I just want to be with someone now,” I said repeatedly. But he was not here. No one was. I was here all by myself. I ran to the bathroom to grab the towel he used on my head last night, instead of wetting it, I turned the shower on and put my face under it. The sharp cold water instantly cooled the deafening headache I had developed and my heart started to calm down.

I retrieved my head from underneath the water to face the bathroom mirror; I wiped off my wet hair, and took a brief moment to stare at my face in the mirror. “I can’t believe this is me, I look awful,” I confirmed, observing my red eyes. What is with all these nightmares?

When I went back to the room, I picked up the dismantled phone and set it on my lap. It was still working; a faint dial tone surfaced and I dialed the one number that came to my mind. The phone rang a couple of times and he picked it up.

“Hello,” a man’s voice answered, unsure of who was on the other line.
“Hello,” I coughed slightly in an effort to find my voice. “Hello, Nick?”
“Hey,” he warms up. “Hey, Nikki, is this you?” he tried to confirm.
“Yep, it’s me.” I run my hands across my face, it is still damp. It is I, what ever is left of me. “Nick, it’s me Nikki, how are you, man?” I joked.
“I’m great, it’s so good to hear from you. Where’ve you been? When did you leave?” He sang out the numerous questions.
Questions, questions, questions, they can never stop. Was he expecting me to answer all of them right now? “I’m fine. I’ve been around. Listen, are you guys still at the Four Seasons?” I went straight to the point.
“Yep, are you close by?”
“Yes, I am actually at the Hilton, you know where it is?”
“Yeah, I do, I’m driving past there in half an hour too.”
“Can you come see me?” I asked.
“Okay, why, what’s wrong? Is everything okay?” he asked concerned.
“Yes, I’m okay. I just…I just need someone to talk to, I’m bored, you know.” I calmed his fear with a faint laugh.
“Okay, sure, I’ll be there in about half an hour, can you hang in there till I come over?”
Yeah, I can. The room is…oh shit!” I had no idea what the room number was. I ran to the door, checked it on the front door, and ran back to the phone. “Okay, the room is 1109. I think it’s the 11th floor or something, but it’s a suite, okay. You got that Nick, please don’t go forgetting that now,” I said, almost scolding.
“No, I won’t forget it. I’ll see you in a bit, Nikki.”
He dropped his cell phone and so did I. I went out to the balcony for some fresh air. I couldn’t watch anymore bad news on TV.