FAIRPLAY \ Nick Mara

AFTERWORD.

"The people who love you should have warned you about yourself. They should have told you about the shadows you would grow. The things we fear most do not come out of the dark, they come out of our very own bloodied and bruised souls. Because sometimes the monster lies dormant inside you for years.

Sometimes all it takes is a spark to wake it up.
Sometimes it awakens and completely destroys you.
And sometimes it awakens to protect you from the painful things you think you love."

///

( JANUARY 1ST, 2018 )

Nick Mara sat in a cold room, his arms clasped tight together but his eyes remained locked on the Cartier watch on his wrist. He didn't know why he had been sitting in this room for this long but he was slowly getting tired of this, after all it had to be close to 1 am already and his fit he had on was beginning to rub him the wrong way — he'd give anything to slip into some sweats and kicks right about now but he knew his demands wouldn't be met here. He rolled the crick out of his neck, letting out a small yawn while doing so.

This was getting ridiculous.

"Hello!? Can we get this over with already? I would like to get home before Christmas comes back around!" Nick called out over his shoulder, knowing they could hear him.

It was as if just from his request, the room got colder and this fancy fit barely kept him warm before. Nick was beginning to get agitated as he had every right to be, he had been waiting in this stale room for almost half an hour now. The constant ticking behind him was increasing a headache in between his eyes and he was so bored to the point where he mentally counted each minute instead of looking at his watch. Plus they took his phone as soon as he entered the building, so what else was he supposed to do?

"Mr. Mara, sorry to keep you waiting." A male voice announced his arrival after the opening of the door.

Nick sat back in the cool chair, letting his eyes follow the man who just spoke. He held two mugs in his hands, he slid one over to Nick who caught it by its arm while the man sat down across from him. The twenty year old picked up the mug but kept his dark eyes on the man in front of him who began to flip through some files. He was cut in size, that much was evident by the tight black dress shirt he had on, his hair was a mixture of pitch black with a hint of brown flowing in waves — nick could tell the dude took care of his hair and he could appreciate that as Nick took pride in his hair as well, also the man in front of him has a fresh cut along the bridge of his prominent nose and his thick beard blended in well with the goatee he sported.

"Rough night?" Nick questioned, after swallowing and wincing from the bitter coffee before placing the mug down.

The man breathed out a laugh as he continued flipping through pages, "You could say that, kid. By the way you can call me, Shane."

"Alright cool," Nick nodded moving to rest his elbows against the table trying to peer over at the files Shane was scanning, "What am I doing here, Shane?"

Shane sighed as he met the young man's eyes across from his, "We needed to bring you in for questioning."

"Okay and it couldn't have waited until I don't know, after The New Years Eve party?" Nick asked, not fond of how he was handled at the party...especially since it was at Simon's house and in front of other celebrities.

Shane pushed his tongue into his cheek nodding his head at that, "It probably could have but Madani likes to make a scene. I'd offer you my apologizes on that but either way you were coming in whether you liked it or not, let's be honest here."