If You Knew What I Knew:
Chapter 4

AJ

    I stopped dead in my tracks.  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  Howie wanting to kill somebody?  No way.
    “Howie, are you insane?” I whispered it.  I could not be hearing this!  I rubbed my eyes to see if I was dreaming.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t.  His face was so serious that it gave me the creeps.  “But why?”
    “Are you kidding me?” Howie had exploded.  I’d never seen or heard him so angry.  “Why not?  I mean, look what he’s done!” We had stopped on the sidewalk just in front of the hotel.
    “Howie, there’s no way that you could ever do it!” I’d known him since he was in his early teens and I knew that he could never hurt anybody.  But as I kept looking into those dark eyes, I wasn’t so sure anymore.
    “Fine, how do you want it done?” I sounded like a hit man and I hated myself for saying it so bluntly.  I mean no matter how annoying he is, I loved Nicky like a brother.  Well, in a way, he was my brother.
    “I want to drag it out.” Howie’s eyes were twinkling evilly.  “He has to be tortured.” He looked me straight in the eye.  “And I want him to know who he’s being tortured by.”
    “Howie,” I was starting to feel really uneasy.  “Can’t you just go up and talk it out with Nick?  You’ve always been one for peace.”
    “Shove it with the peace crap, AJ,” Howie sneered.  Then his face turned into a half smile.  “Sorry man.  I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
    “It’s alright.”
    “So, will you do it?” Howie looked like an eager puppy, waiting to get its treats.
    I hesitated before answering.  “Well, I guess so.”
    “Great!” Howie grabbed my hand and shook it.  “You are now, literally, my ‘partner in crime’.”
    I nodded at him and smiled.  Deep down I knew that I didn’t want to be his partner in crime but I was too scared of what he would do to me.  I was convinced that Howie was dangerously ill.

Chapter 5
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