Nightmare on Third Street - Chapter Three

Around three thirty, Kim dropped by while Dominic and I were in the kitchen, arguing over which flavor of ice cream was the best. I debated that Blue Moon was the best; I loved that ice cream, I didn't know why, I just did. Dominic argued that Chocolate was the best, for he was a chocolate freak, to say the least. He loved everything chocolate, and I meant everything. He was also partial to Vanilla, but only as a secondary choice. While I was gulping down a Blue Moon milkshake, struggling not to get a brain freeze--because I hated those terribly--he was eating a bowl of Chocolate ice cream.

Kimberly (Kim) Alden strolled into the kitchen, dressed in her work uniform. She looked beat, but had a delightful smile on her face as she rounded the table, coming toward me. She bent down, gave me a simple kiss that left me wanting more, and then plucked the milkshake out of my hands as she turned, drinking it.

"Hey!" I protested, making a face of mock shock and anger. "How dare you!"

She laughed, looked at me with her crystal blue eyes, and took another sip of 'my' milkshake. I glowered at her and settled back in my chair, crossing my arms in front of me. How dare she take my beloved Blue Moon milkshake. That evil woman. Why was I dating her again?

She kissed me again, full on the lips. I felt lightheaded, and vaguely remembered. 'Oh yeah,' I thought to myself. 'That's why.'

Meanwhile, Dominic was watching the two of us. He had been laughing when she'd stolen my milkshake, but now he had this look on his face that children all-too-often gave when they saw people kissing in movies. I could almost hear his EW! even before he said it.

"Ew! Yuck!" he groaned. "That's nasty."

Kim turned away from me, handing me back my milkshake. I grabbed it gratefully and began to sip at it again. She looked at my younger brother. "Why, hello there," she said, as if she had just seen him for the first time, when they'd met three months ago. Of course, the meeting had been rather brief as I had entered the house to tell Mom that she shouldn't freak out anymore, because my cell was dead. I had yet to get a new battery. Mom had been so paranoid she'd been ready to call the cops. In fact, I had entered the room and found her with the phone in her hand. She had already dialed nine, she had almost finished before I came darting into the room.

But that was a story for another time.

"Hello," Dominic said, looking my girlfried over. Her work uniform consisted of a gray shirt with white lacing, and black denim pants. Her hair was up in a ponytail, tied with a black ribbon. I wasn't sure if that was part of the dress code, or if she had just decided that she wanted to put it that way or not. Really, it didn't matter.

"You must be Dominic," she said, and reached out, ruffling his hair. I watched as he pulled away, grumbling to himself as he fixed his hair. He hated that, or at least that was what he always said. Secretly, though, I thought that he liked it and just didn't want anyone to know. As I said, he was starting to get out of the stage where he showed what he was feeling.

"Yeah," he said.

"You're so cute," she said, pinching his cheek. "Bryan never told me you looked this adorable." she looked over at me and winked. "Shame on you, Bry."

I sighed. "Woe is me, I neglected to mention the irrestible cuteness of my little brother. How shall I live with myself?"

She giggled and turned back to Dominic. "Want to go watch a movie, big boy?"

He nodded his head rapidly. I mentally cursed her. She had mentioned the 'm' word. That was never good around my little brother. He adored movies, and now she was going to have him practically jumping off the walls. "Yeah!" he looked over at me. "Oh, can we, please? Please?"

I sighed. "What? Do you honestly think I'm gonna say no?"

He laughed and shouted, "Yippee!" at the top of his lungs and immediately ran out of the room. Kim watched him go.

"You gonna go after him?" she questioned.

I shrugged. "Why? What's he gonna do? He's nine." I froze. "He's nine. What WILL he do?" I got to my feet and continued sipping at my milkshake. "Of course, he's most likely getting dressed. We slept in late."

"I kind of figured," she said, smiling.

I smiled back and moved toward her, wrapping my arm around her waist, nuzzling my head into the crook of her neck. "You wanna take a shower before we go, Kim?"

She giggled. "With or without you?"

"Well, considering I took one earlier, I would say without. But then, if you really want me to, I could-"

"Nah, that's okay." she gave me a peck on the cheek as she headed out of the room, snatching my milkshake from me again. "I'll be back in a flash. Still have my clothes here?"

I nodded. "They're in my dresser."

She nodded and began drinking the rest of my milkshake. I sighed and moved back to the table, just as Dominic came racing in, wearing a clean red shirt and blue jean shorts. He had put clean clothes on earlier, but of course, him being nine, he had wanted to get hyper whilst we'd been arguing about the ice cream, and had accidentally swatted himself with his spoon, right on his chest, leaving a chocolate smudge.

"When we goin'?" he asked.

"When she gets out of the shower. She just got off of work."

"Work?" he asked, and cocked his head to the side. "Why? Do you work?"

"Yes, I work, but I was off this weekend. I work every other weekend and Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the music store down the street."

He nodded. "Oh. Okay."

The phone rang, and I slowly got to my feet, moving toward it, before I picked it up and put it to my ear. "Mmm. Hello?"

Someone was breathing.

I froze. Not again. I slammed the phone down immediately, glaring at it. Dominic looked over at me and gave me a slight frown.

"Something wrong?" he questioned.

I didn't answer, and the phone began to ring again. I answered it. It was more breathing, but I could hear small moans of pain. "Leave me alone!" I shouted into the phone, slamming it down once again.

It began to ring almost immediately. I ignored it, staring at it with confusion and terror. What was going on? The phone stopped ringing...then started up again. Once more, I ignored it.

But then it did it again. I picked it up shakily.

"...Hello?"

There was a scream and the a gun went off. The scream was cut short, and I heard a thud as something fell to the ground. I shook I was so unnerved by this. Dominic was still watching me, and I could tell by the expression on his face that he was getting worried.

"Bryan? What is it?" he asked, moving closer. I held up a hand, stopping him in his tracks. "Brother?"

I put a finger to my lips, a signal to be quiet. There was still someone on the other line, as it hadn't wen dead yet. I didn't want whoever it was hearing Dominic's voice. I didn't want them to know about him.

Someone in the background laughed. I frowned. "Who are you?" I asked into the phone. There was no reply.

The line suddenly went dead. I stared at the phone for a moment, before I slowly, shakily, hung up. Dominic came toward me immediately, grasping the hem of my gray shirt. "Bryan?" he asked quietly. "Is...Is something wrong? Is everything okay?"

I looked down at him, into his worried eyes. "Don't worry, Dom," I said reassuringly, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Everything's okay." I gave his shoulder a small squeeze.

He nodded. "...If you say so," he said.

About that time, Kim entered the kitchen, her brown hair damp and up in one of her perfet ponytails, tied with a red ribbon. She had left it here, and I had been kind enough to put it on my dresser for her when she returned. She was wearing her mystifying yellow-orange shirt that hugged her skin tightly, along with a pair of her blue jean pants that fit her oh-so-well. I gaped at her for a moment.

"Close your mouth, big guy," she said, winking at me. I smiled at her and moved toward her, pulling her into my arms. She was a skinny little thing, a few inches shorter than me, weighing in at about a hundred and twenty pounds. She placed her head on my chest and we stayed like that for a while, before Dominic made a gagging noise and forced us to look at him.

"Gag," he said. "Gross. Please, wait till I leave the room."

"Could ya hurry?" I asked, smirking.

He glowered at me. "Just for that, I'm staying right here." he 'hmpfed' and crossed his arms, planting his feet firmly on the ground. I sighed and moved toward him, ruffling his hair.

"C'mon, bro. Ready for a movie?"

He nodded rapidly. "Of course!"

I looked at Kim. She nodded at me, and I said, "Then let's go."

Dominic bounded out the backdoor. Kim and I held hands as we began to follow him, but the phone began to ring again. I frowned, debating on whether or not I should answer it, when I decided that it couldn't be the same person. Not yet. I excused myself from Kim's grip, watcher her follow Dominic out the door, and went to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"...You're mine...." a raspy voice, seemingly muffled, said into the phone. I frowned.

"Excuse me? Who is this?"

"You're mine..." they said again.

"Leave me alone," I snarled, and hung up quickly. Suddenly, a pain soared throughout my body, causing me to gasp and double over, my heart working double time to keep up with my rapid breaths. "Oh...God...what the hell?" I managed to whisper through clenched teeth as I hugged my stomach tightly.

Fire burned behind my eyes, making them hurt. My head kept giving sharp pounds which just sent more pain raging through my body. I couldn't figure out why I was hurting like I was. What had caused it? One minute I had been perfectly fine, and then the next...

"You're mine," the voice echoed back inside my head.

I clutched at the wall to keep from going to the ground. "Screw...you...." I gasped, clenching my burning eyes tightly closed.

"Bryan?" Kim was calling to me from the back door, which still stood open. I could hear her as she began to come in. Oh, God, I didn't want her to see me like this. I struggled to stand straight, but couldn't. It hurt too much.

Suddenly, the pain began ro retreat. She came closer, and the pain started to vanish. I stood straight, my head still pounding, the fire still burning behind my pained eyes. And then suddenly, it was completely gone, as if it had never been there to begin with.

'What the hell?' I thought to myself, looking myself over. I seemed okay, no visible damage. But damn it, it had hurt. I knew it had happened. I hadn't been imagining it, I could have sworn it was real. But I was fine now. Surely no one recovered that fast, especially from that kind of agonizing pain.

"Bryan?" Kim entered the kitchen and saw me standing there, looking puzzled. "You okay? Who was it?"

I looked at her for a moment. Did I tell her? Did I want her involved? No, I didn't. "No one," I said. "I'm fine." I began moving toward the door.

"No one? Ya sure?"

"Yeah. Wrong number. Let's go."

This time, she didn't argue and followed me out the door. My mind kept going back to that moment of intense pain, to that moment when I was sure I knew what death felt like. It hurt so badly. What had been wrong with me?

What had happened?