He screamed. He screamed again. No one could hear him, he knew that.

He saw Karl approach him. The man was covered in blood and Nick saw the holes where Stacey’s bullets had penetrated him. Karl was dragging something. Sandra. She was pleading, "don’t hurt me". Nick tried to get up and help her but someone was holding him back. He turned around to see Stacey. He asked her why she stopped him, but she didn’t answer. She just whispered, "I don’t enjoy killing". Then she loosened her grip on him and he fell. He hit the ground and looked up at her. She was standing above him, looking at him. She had that gun in her hand, the same that Karl had used on Sandra. She raised it and pointed it him. He screamed when he heard the faint click that meant that she was pulling the trigger.

"Nick, honey, wake up. It’s just a dream" Jane said. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his mother. Tears were glistening in her eyes as she looked at him.

"He have been through so much", she thought. "Please make the nightmares stop"

"Mum?"

"Yes honey"

"I want you to go home"

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to go back to LA" His voice was now clear, and he wasn’t shaking anymore. His voice told her that he didn’t take any objections.

The next morning

They all listened to Nick when he explained that he didn’t want them there anymore. He would be better off alone, he said. They knew about his nightmares and they thought he needed them. He tried to convince them that it would be for the best, that he needed to take care of himself now. So they left.

Reluctantly, but they did.

When Nick closed the door behind them he sunk to the floor, his head in his hands. He knew he had done the right thing.

The reason he had asked them to leave was simple: he was afraid they would get hurt.

The same day, but later, at AJ’s

"Ring, ring" the telephone rang. AJ dragged himself out of bed and did his best to sound somewhat awake when he answered.

"Yallooww" he said sleepily. He wished that the person calling on this very early time on the day had nothing long and important to say…he glanced at his watch. "Shit" he thought. It was already 11.30 am.

"Hi AJ. It’s Jane" a very awake voice informed him. AJ quickly shook himself conscious.

"Hi Jane. What’s up?"

"Well, Nick threw us out this morning" she said and sighed. AJ wondered if he had misunderstood the simple sentence.

"What? Why?"

"I’m not sure, he says that’s because he needs to take care of himself now, but I know it’s something else. He still has horrible nightmares and he begins to shiver every time he sees a van. Could you please talk to him, and make sure he’ll be alright?"

"Sure. But you know, maybe he wants to be alone, you have stayed with him for two weeks now"

"Yeah, I know" she sighed. "But I just feel so helpless, and I want to be with him when he is scared. Sometimes he is like a little boy again, and all I want to do is comfort him and assure him that everything’s gonna be alright"

"Yeah, well, I will look after him, but he won’t like it"

"I know, but maybe you can talk to the others and you can keep an eye on him. He has suffered more than most people at his age and he needs support, I know that. But thanks, AJ"

"You’re welcome Jane. Bye"

"Bye" she said and hung up. AJ hung up as well and returned to the bed. He hadn’t thought that Nick would to this. Nick always wanted to be near his family, call them all the time and so on. And now, with all that happened, he pushed them away. Something wasn’t right here. And AJ intended to find out what was wrong. He would call the others later. But first, he needed to sleep a bit longer…he thought and fell asleep.