The night Tony had the bizarre experience with Victoria, Nick also had a similar experience with Paolo.
Earlier that day, Nick woke up at 11 O' clock in the morning. He went to the washroom and splashed water on his face. A sense of burning filled his sleepless eyes. He looked at his reflection on the mirror. He looked tired. He stayed awake till 7 and then tried to sleep for the past four hours. After getting that threatening text from a stranger, he couldn't get any sleep the previous night.
How could he? The day before he was going to get details from Paolo regarding Anthony Donovan and his father, he received a threatening message. Why would someone want that information to be classified? Who was this Anthony person? What exactly happened to his dad?
At first, he found him strange. But gradually, he was appearing to be more frightening. He might not be alone. He probably had a large group to back him up. He could be very influential in the world of terror. He could be anything from a crazy commoner to a most wanted mafia. In any case, how was he connected to his dad? How did they know Paolo? Most importantly, how did they know about the meeting they had planned? Were they watching over him constantly? Was he being tracked? Were all his electronic devices hacked?
He went to the window and looked out to spot anything suspicious. For some reason, every person walking in the street looked suspicious. He closed the window and locked himself up in his bedroom. He took out his phone and tried to figure out if it was hacked or not. But he had no idea how to look for it. So he switched it off and threw it aside.
What should I do now? What if I am panicking too much? What if it's not as serious as I am thinking? What if someone is just pulling a prank on me? It could be Tony too! Maybe I am just blowing this thing out of proportion. And even if it is a serious issue, I need to know the truth. I might be putting Paolo and myself in danger for that, but I still have to do it. I need to know what happened to my father and why are there people trying to resist Paolo from spilling anything?
The suspense was killing him. He sensed that it was not going to be a nice meeting with Paolo and there might be an exchange of unpleasant information about his father. But he had to be prepared for this. He hadn't seen his dad for five years. At times, he thought his dad would come back any day. He even imagined all the possible scenarios that could happen to his dad. Most of them were scary situations. His mother had already started to consider him as dead. Lately, Nick also had started to give up on his dad's return. So whatever Paolo would tell him, it wouldn't be the worst thing happening to him. With his father gone, his mother was his primary concern now. He had to look after her. She was very sick, and he knew well that his father's disappearance was responsible at large. The doctors told him that her disease could not be diagnosed. But Nick knew that it was only because they were looking at the wrong place. It wasn't a physical disorder, it was more of a disease of the mind. The loss had taken its toll on her body. And the only possible cure was the return of his missing father.
The sicknesses of mind are the hardest to cure.
He looked at the bedside clock. It showed 11:30. The meeting was at 6. There was enough time for him to get a sound nap. The college had to be skipped for that day. He decided to submit a letter of absence due to his fake sickness the next day. Professor Swanson had told him to not miss any more classes but it couldn't be helped. Tony was also going to be absent. He asked for study leave. It would be a waste going to the college if Tony was not going to be there.
Nick looked at the photo hanging from the wall directly in front of him. It was a picture of the three of them taken shortly after they moved into the city. They looked so happy in that picture.
Nick felt nostalgic looking at it. Who could have imagined that in the coming years, those smiles would disappear from their faces? He looked at the photo in awe thinking how pretty his mother used to look back then. Now, she had been reduced to a living dead.
Looking at the photo and thinking about the joyful past, Nick fell asleep.
When he woke up, it was a quarter to six.
"Shit, I am going to be late!" was his first reaction after waking up. He washed his face, quickly changed his clothes, and rushed towards the front door.
As he opened it, he found Mr. Wilkins standing outside.
"Hello, young fellow. Could you spare me some moments?"
"This is not a good time, Mr. Wilkins. I gotta go."
"Is it that urgent?"
Nick knew very well what Mr. Wilkins wanted to talk to him about. This month's rent was still due and until he got paid, he would make his life a living hell. But he couldn't arrange the money yet and he definitely didn't want to deal with him at that moment. So he lied.
"Yes. It's an emergency," he said. Then he hesitated a bit and said, "It's my mother."
Mr. Wilkins' face softened. Nick knew that the condition of her mother was too sensitive a topic for anyone, even for Mr. Wilkins. And the trick worked every time.
"I will not hold onto you then. Good luck." He said and stepped aside.
Nick ran down the stairs getting the opportunity. His heart filled with guilt for using his sick mother as a means of false excuse.
No idea how much I will downgrade in the future, he thought.
He suddenly felt a wave of immense anger towards his broken bike. Last month it got damaged. It was during the time his mother fell sick. One afternoon, while returning from college, he got distracted by the thoughts of his mother. He was pretty distressed at that time. And it resulted in him hitting a wall. Thankfully, he didn't get much hurt, but the cycle took its toll. With the shortage of money, he couldn't repair it. It was most likely beyond repairs, so he would have to get a new bike. But not now, not possible.
At times like this, the bike would be so essential. Damn it! Stupid wall injuring my bike!
As he blamed the wall for his current misery, he jogged towards Glen's.
His heart thumped in anticipation. The adrenaline surged through his body, helping him to run faster.