Guilty of Innocence (Chapter -4)

“Chad, what’s going on?” Nicky asked.

They sat in a tunnel under the abandoned train tracks running over a bridge across town. They sat across from each other, leaning on opposite walls of the tunnel as Chad didn’t respond. He sighed through his nose as he wrung his fingers, his wrists propped on his knees. Nicky mirrored his position.

“This guy called me,” he finally replied after a moment of silence. “He knew who I was and who Brandon was and who you were. He knew about my parents, too and that the police suspect me for killing them.”

Realization hit Nicky instantly and she stared at him with wide eyes as she breathed, “That was what the text was, wasn’t it?”

Chad only nodded and Nicky shifted to shuffle toward him and sit next to him.

“You said his name was Nemo?” she recalled.

“That what we’re calling him for now,” he corrected.

“What are you gonna do?” she wondered, breathlessly.

Chad sighed again, leaning his head back against the wall as he murmured, “I have no idea.”

“You should tell Brandon,” she advised. “Tell the police, too.”

“Oh, right,” Chad retorted. “Go straight to the people who think I did it. The minute I tell the cops about this, they’ll say, ‘Nice try kid.’ It’s way too out there to be true. They’ll laugh in my face, Nicky!”

“But they’ll have to listen to you!” she argued. “And even if they didn’t believe you, they could bug your phone in an attempt to prove you wrong or crazy, and when the guy calls again, they’ll hear it!”

“They’ll thank I set it up,” Chad muttered. “They’re so hung up on the fact that only my DNA was all over the place that they won’t leave their little box of evidence.”

“If not the cops then tell Brandon,” she insisted. “He’ll believe you, and if he goes to the cops they’ll have to believe him!”

“Or they’ll suspect him as my accomplice and say he’s trying to throw them off the scent,” Chad shot back. “He’s my uncle, which makes him biased, is what they’ll say.”

Nicky sighed and sat back next to him, realizing he wasn’t going to budge from his decision. They both jumped when his phone went off and Chad pulled it from his pocket to look at the caller ID, Nicky as wide-eyed and panicked as he was staring at it. Chad knew who the restricted number belonged to now, and as the phone still rang in his hand, he felt like he was going to faint again.

“Is that him?” Nicky breathed and he nodded, neither one of them taking their wide-eyed gazes from the phone. She reached for it and murmured, “I’ll answer it.”

Chad yanked the phone away and stared his wide, gray eyes at her as he ground out, “Are you kidding me?! I’m not letting you talk to this creep!”

“Fine, then put it on speaker,” Nicky replied, reaching for the phone again and this time she grabbed it, answered it and quickly put it on speaker before saying, “Hello?”

Chad shot her an enraged look as she held the phone between them, ignoring her friend’s anger.

“Why hello, Nicky,” Nemo replied in his ominous voice, “Is Chas there by any chance?”

Nicky glanced at Chad who stared at the phone as he swallowed. She could see the terror and confusion in his eyes and wanted to help him. If she could talk to this guy long enough for Chad to collect his thoughts, she would.

“How do you know my name?” she demanded, fearlessly.

“I know a lot about you, Nicole Liza Verona,” Nemo replied, eerily as ever as Chad shot to his feet to pace in front of her.

“Obviously, but my question is how do you know me?” Nicky shot back, watching Chad pace and seemingly panic. His hands were clenching into fists every few seconds as they hung at his sides and he was muttering softly to himself.

“You are a feisty one, aren’t you?” Nemo crooned and Nicky had to resist a shiver of fear from running up her spine.

“I don’t like it when people play mind games with me,” she retorted, seriously.

“Then why don’t you just ask Chad what his middle initial stands for instead of trying to guess for the rest of your life?” the man wondered and Nicky stared wide, emerald eyes at Chad as he stopped dead in front of her and faced her. “Or is Chad the only one allowed to mess with your head because you like him so much?”

Nicky felt her cheeks burst into flames as Chad marched toward her and snatched the phone away.

“You listen to me you sick son of a bitch,” Chad ground out. “I’m gonna say this just once: I don’t know who you are or what your game is but you had better leave my friends and my family alone, you got it? You don’t need to talk to any of them because I’m coming for you. I’m gonna find you and I’m gonna make you pay for killing my parents, you hear me? You’re gonna die slow and in agonizing pain just like they did, and I’m gonna enjoy watching you flop around in your own blood, and when you finally die, I hope you go to Hell and roast like a good damned chicken! What do you say to that Mr. No Name?!”

Chad breathed roughly, shaking in rage as Nicky stared at him with wide eyed, filled with terror. She’d never seen him so angry before, and his words and demeanor frightened her so badly that she couldn’t move. They sat in silence as Chad gritted his teeth, the only sound filling the space was his labored breathing and both of them heard their own heartbeats in their ears. Finally, they heard a very soft, very frighteningly devious chuckle come from the phone and both shot their gazes to it.

“I say, I’m looking forward to it, Chad.”

The two teens shot their wide-eyed gazes at each other when they heard the click of his phone hanging up and Chad’s shock turned to rage again as he turned to the far wall with a roar and threw his phone against it, shattering it in two and making Nicky jump. His breathing was labored and exhaled through gritted teeth, his vision red. Neither one of them said anything as he finally came to his senses and turned to Nicky. She cringed back slightly when he turned but didn’t move when he hurried toward her and knelt down next to her.

“He might call you,” he explained, taking her hands into his. “If he does, and you’re alone, don’t answer it. He’ll probably call when you and I are together. I’ll go to the store tomorrow and get a prepaid phone, but until he gets that number, he’ll have to go through you to talk to me. When we’re together and he calls, you let me answer it. He doesn’t need to talk to you anymore, and don’t get smart and talk to him on your own, ok? This isn’t something you can get away with messing around with me, alright?”

Nicky only nodded mutely and Chad sighed in guilt. Letting go of her hands he pulled her toward him to wrap his arms around her, hugging her close and burying his face into her shoulder. Her eyes shot wide at the action, and she lifted her hands to hug him in return but they only hung in the air hesitantly as her heart thumped in her chest, her face flaring up again.

“I’m sorry you got caught up in this,” he whispered. “I don’t want you to get hurt. I promise, tomorrow you’ll be out of this mess.”

Nicky frowned as she placed her hands on his shoulders to gently push him away and look him in the eye. She stared at him in worry and confusion as he frowned back at her.

“Chad, what are you gonna do?” she breathed, afraid of the answer.

“You heard me tell him, Nicky,” he replied. “I’m gonna go after him and kill him. I’m gonna leave tomorrow morning.”

“I thought you were bluffing!” Nicky snapped, her fingers slowly curling to fist his red and blue checkered jacket. “You’re seriously gonna go after a murderer?! He’ll kill you! Are you out of your damn mind?!”

“I’m not gonna let my parents’ killer get away with it, Nicky!” he snapped back. “If they wanna lock me up for killing this guy, fine! But he isn’t getting away with what he did and pinning it on me! I won’t be the kid that killed his parents!”

“What if he kills you?!” Nicky screamed. “He’ll just get away with that too! What the hell will your own death accomplish?! You can’t die, Chad because I still haven’t figured out what your middle name is yet! You promised to by me something when I did!”

“No I didn’t,” Chad replied, calmly as she started pulling on his jacket.

“Well, I think you should, because I’ve gone through all the Ms I can think of!” she retorted, starting to sob as she slowly shook him. “I deserve a reward for it, and you have to be around for that because you’re the only one who knows what I like!”

“You want me to tell you what it is?” he asked, gently.

“No!” she shouted, clapping her hands over her ears and shutting her eyes. “If it’s the only way to keep you from leaving then keep your mouth shut!”

Chad sighed and took her wrists gently in his hands to pull them from her ears as she looked up at him with wide, watery eyes.

“The cops are keeping tabs on me, right?” he murmured, making her frown in wonder but she nodded anyway. “They’ll follow me when I go after him and I’ll lead them right to him.”

“But you wanna kill him, don’t you?” she whispered. “You said you would.”

“Yeah, I want to,” admitted. “Who knows, maybe he’ll come at me and it’ll be self defense if I kill him. That’d be ok with you, right?”

“Not if you enjoy it like you said you would,” she muttered.

“That part, I was bluffing,” he lied, unconvincingly and Nicky looked as though she was going to throw up as she swallowed the lump in her throat, her stomach turning. “Nicky, I don’t even know what’ll happen tomorrow, let alone when I find him.”

“If you find him, Chad,” she corrected. “Seems to me like this guy’s a ghost. The only thing we have on him is a blocked number.”

“Yeah,” Chad sighed, then glanced around in thought as Nicky sighed as well, leaning her head back on the wall she was leaning on. He suddenly looked to her with a smirk, making her frown at him as he murmured, “Jared.”

“What about him?” she wondered, her frown deepening.

“He can tell us where this creep made the call,” Chad smirked, standing. “He should be at school, right?”

“Yeah,” Nicky replied cautiously, looking p at him. “Why?”

“You’ll see when we get there,” Chad smiled, holding out a hand to help her up.

“You made me ditch school just so we could go back?” she asked, taking his hand.

“Hey, it’s a surprise to me too, trust me,” he smirked, straining as he pulled her up.

She giggled as she stood, but slid on a small pebble below her toe and fell against Chad’s chest, making him grunt on impact. Nicky froze and looked up at him with wide eyes and red cheeks as she swallowed to moisten her suddenly dry mouth.

“S-Sorry,” she murmured, casting her eyes down in panic.

“What for?” he frowned, sincerely then smirked, “You didn’t fake-slip so I could hold you, did you?”

“N-No!” she sputtered, her blush deepening as she moved away from him and straightened herself out as he laughed. “You’re such a dog!”

“Hey, Nicky?” he called gently, drawing her attention. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but was what that creep said true?”

“About what?” she wondered, though she had a feeling she already knew what he meant.

“I think you know,” he replied, stepping closer to her. “The part about you liking me.”

“Oh, come on, Chad,” Nicky laughed nervously, trying to back away again. “You’re like my brother!”

“Don’t lie to me,” he warned, following her as she backed away. “You never called me your brother and I never saw you as my sister.”

Nicky backed up until her back as against wall and he settled his hands on the stone on either side of her so she couldn’t get away.

“Do you really have a crush on me?” he murmured.

Nicky stared at him with wide eyes as he stared back at her, expectantly before she glanced around in thought before answering, “W-Well…You really think that matters right now, considering all the other things happening with you?”

“Hell yes,” Chad blurted and Nicky’s eyes shot wide at him as he only smiled and continued, “Out of all the bad stuff that’s been happening, I’d welcome something amazingly wonderful as you having a crush on me. Means I’m not all gone.”

“Not all gone?” Nicky echoed with a frown.

“Yeah,” he sighed in exhaustion, gazing at her and making her blush. “Ever since that day I found my parents, I feel like I’m turning into a totally different person, ya know? Like every day, a little part of me dies and there’s no way to get it back. Brandon noticed it, haven’t you?”

“I’ve noticed you’ve been acting differently, but I get why,” she admitted. “I’d be kinda weird if I went through what you did. You’re different, but only a little.”

“According to Brandon, it’s a dramatic change.”

“Well, you’ve been ditching school a lot more, and you’re awfully moody.”

“You’re dodging the question, baby,” he smirked, making her face burst into flames again, and it showed on her cheeks, making him chuckle. “How ‘bout I just take that as a ‘yes’?”

“Arrogant skinny-ass,” she muttered and Chad only laughed as neither one of them moved from their positions.

“Well, thanks for havin’ a crush on me,” he smiled, honestly. “Best news I’ve had all day.”

He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek, lingering there a moment before pulled away and winking at her. She stared at him, still blushing and wide-eyed.

“Let’s get to school, huh?” he urged. “Jared’s gotta get some info for me on this call.”