''Inch'', I said as I shook him in his sleep; no response.
I looked at him again, he was sitting across the bed, a couple feet away from the end, and sat there silent in the dark.
It was so dark that all I could make out were the shadows. I saw the silhouette of Nick sitting there.
I could almost feel him staring and grinning as he said ''oh yes..yes..it could be so easy. All I'd have to do is...''.
He continued muttering in a shaky voice and I could see his shadow rocking back and forth.
How long had he'd been there watching us?
I turned again and shook The Inch around until he was almost rolling off the bed; ''Uhh, what the f*** is it?'' he said in a deep sleep voice before inhaling and exhaling.
''Yo man, something's up with Nick'', I said, as I watched his shadow sit there not moving anymore. I felt the unease of silence rise each second that passed. He was going to murder us if something doesn't happen.
The Inch muttered under his breath and sat up; wiping his eyes. We were in Nick's basement; toward the left side of his room. It had a makeshift curtain of blankets nailed to the concrete wall and wooden rafters above.
''Nick?'' asked The Inch. The silence was awkward and no one moved. ''Okay, seriously, what the f*** is up, man?'' The Inch finally said. After a while, Nick finally responded; ''oh, there's a lot'' he laughed.
It was like his voice came from the dark as he didn't move at all as he spoke. He began muttering again.
We could only hear bits and pieces: ''it...could..be..so..easy''.
I could barely make out Inch turning and looking at me. I didn't need to do the same to sense what he was thinking or going to say.
I finally said ''We need to get out of here, man''. But we sat there, half expecting him to fly into a murderous rampage or something, I got up off the bed and quickly started getting my things together.
Nick didn't move but he just sat there and laughed; slightly turning to us as we slowly walked towards the steps.
He didn't stop laughing until The Inch, midway up the steps, said ''hey, man, get some sleep and we'll come see you again''. I was on top of the steps and all I could see was Inch facing the direction where Nick was sitting.
''Oh, don't worry, I'll be seeing you'' he said slowly and started to laugh again. I had enough and walked right out of the basement door and made my way to the front door.
I didn't pay attention to Inch until I was already walking down the street. I finally turned and saw him walk up to me in the middle of the road. The whole neighborhood, except for the streetlights, was completely dark.
The Inch and I didn't say anything to each other and we just walked down the road; following the streetlights back to my place.
Two weeks passed by, It was so strange and so early in the morning that I was starting to doubt the authenticity of it all.
I made my way through his block and knocked on the red door of his house. His mother opened the door, child in hand, and rolled her eyes as she saw me. ''He's downstairs'' she said and went back to attend to four different children at once.
I walked down the same steps that I left two weeks ago in the middle of the morning. Nick was sitting at his computer; as always.
I walked over to him and sat on a nearby couch. He was playing Counter Strike: Global Offensive.
After a while, he finally said, without looking, ''what's up?'' as if nothing happened.
We talked and wasted a few hours until I asked him, in between one of his matches, if he had remembered what had happened two weeks ago.
He turned and looked at me, looking confused and annoyed, and said ''No'' as if I had asked him something stupid.
I said ''So, you don't remember muttering to yourself and rocking back and forth at the edge of our bed at 3 in the morning?''. He looked even more confused, saying ''What are you talking about?''.
He asked what he was saying and when I told him; he replied ''Weird, I'm pretty sure that I was three days without sleep at that point'' and laughed.
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