Nick of time

Chapter 2

month later

John is seated to try again to do his job, to write about this band that he doesn't like and stay on his best behavior.

'An Voyage has managed to thoroughly bamboozle the musical snobs of this one-horse town, who haven't heard a new song since 1978...'

The editor said he should be nicer and more moderate in his articles, so he deletes the line. His phone rings. An unknown number. His life is so mundane that this itself moves him a bit.

"Hello?"

"Hey, asshole."

The greeting makes John smile a little; he knows who is on the other side. "I prefer 'John', but I probably haven't learned proper manners."

"It's Nick, asshole. How did you get my private email?" Nick asks, then belches.

"Are you drunk?" John asks, worried.

Nick raises his voice: "Just answer me!"

"I have no access to your email," John answers.

"Stop lying!"

"And what makes you think I am lying to you, exactly?" John's tone is defensive.

"Oh, I'll tell you why! You sent me this video with a jump scare of a skull thing and 'Time to Die' in big letters."

"They sent you a threat," John asks, clearly excited.

"Why are you so happy about that?!"

"I'm not! I'm just..." John lingers.

"Just what?"

"...surprised?" John finishes uncertainly.

"You're lying right now..." Nick chuckles in anger.

"It's easy for you to talk. You're a rock star, I've been stuck in this dumb job for a long time,
can you blame me for being excited?"

"So that's the stupid reason you do it," Nick says. "My life isn't glamorous as it seems, you know. Also apparently, it's time for me to die."

"You're not going to die," John assures. "This is not what usually happens in these cases. This
person wants to be in a big story with you. The other guys didn't get any threats. Clearly, he wants it to get to the news."

"So what are we going to do, Sherlock?"

"We wait."

"Cool cool cool. I'm all alone and scared shitless. My agent is not answering my calls."

"Where are you? Are you not touring?"

"I'm on vacation in Oregon!" Nick roars. "I have a nice cabin here, so it'll be a great place to die."

"Don't talk like that," John commands. "Where are you exactly"?

"Ashland".

"I'm coming to stay with you."

"Why?"

"Because I'll never forgive myself if something happened to you." John takes a deep breath. "So, I'm flying over. Text me your exact location."

"Okay..." It feels a little weird, but in his drunken state, Nick doesn't know what to say. He felt alone, and now someone was coming to help.

"See you later."

"Goodbye."

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