“Howie oh thank God you’re alive.” Nick sobbed, hugging him even tighter.
“Nick, I can’t breathe.” That didn’t seem to bother Nick much; in fact, his tears had begun to seep into his shirt. “Nick, you’re killing me.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Nick said, pushing Howie away from him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay man, I’m not mad.” Howie said. Nick didn’t get his chance to reply because AJ had pulled him away.
“You are nowhere near high school.” AJ said, bringing laughter to the rest of them. Nick however, was disappointed.
“I’m not?” Nick frowned. “Well, I guess I am that stupid huh?”
“No you’re not.” AJ replied, the sudden change in his tone caught the curiosity of the others. “You didn’t have an easy life Nick; you wouldn’t want to trade anything to have that kind of a life.”
“Yeah? What happened to me?”
“You were kidnapped when you were four and when I met you; you were seventeen, that’s how long you’ve been taken away from your family.” AJ said. “It’s rough my man and I found something similar about you there too.”
“What’s that?”
“You were coughing blood. You’re not healthy even then Nick and you didn’t have the money to make you well again. I’m not saying it’s about the money but being in the Backstreet Boys means we’re able to take care of ourselves.”
“I know what you mean AJ.” Kevin said, now standing next to him. “By the way, you were in high school and a very smart one at it too.”
“You sure you got the right person Kev?” Howie joked.
“Ha, not funny.” AJ groaned.
“I did actually. You were directing a play and it was about the friendship of five guys. I think I was supposed to play a guy who reminds me so much of Nick.”
“Are you serious? You don’t even look like him.” Brian mused.
“Back there I did.” Kevin replied. “I was a blonde haired dude man! Brown eyes and my name was Marcus Johnson.”
“You had a different name?” Nick asked. “How come I didn’t get one?”
“Yeah, me too.” AJ added.
“Well, at least you had a name, I was nameless.” Brian said. “And I think I was about to rob Kevin’s house.”
“You visited me?” Kevin asked.
“Yup. And I had curly hair just like Howie’s. And get this,” Brian said, eyes gleaming excitedly. “I was tall.”
“Oh yeah, and I was short, now I know what the view down there looks like.” Kevin joked.
“So you visited me Kev?” AJ asked.
“Yeah, you were going to give up on acting and singing because of money, or the lack of it. I saw your mom and your grandma.” Kevin said, almost reduced to a whisper by the end of the sentence. He didn’t know what to expect of AJ’s reaction but when it did came, Kevin was surprised. AJ was excited at the mere mention of his grandmother, no hints of jealousy or sadness.
“You saw her? How was she?”
“Fantastic as ever.”
“That’s good to know.”
“I can’t say the same for you Howie.” Nick said. “You’re not even a property agent.”
“What?” Brian and AJ blurted out in unison.
“That’s not the shocker though, he’s a paramedic.”
“What!” Brian and AJ blurted out in unison.
“Heh, I always know I look good in uniforms.” Howie prided himself.
“You sound so gay.” Kevin smirked.
Howie saw the glint in Nick’s eyes, much like when he had more surprises up his sleeves. “Oh no, there’s more isn’t it?”
“Uh uh,” Nick nodded. “You were married and about to become a father in one month and seven days. I had a wife Sharon and a son Shane and we were getting a divorce. Oh, and I looked gorgeous considering I had short blonde hair like Brian’s and brown eyes like AJ’s.”
Howie shook his head. “Information overload.” “Wow D, that’s definitely not you.” Brian said, suppressing his laughter. “But cute though, seeing you with a baby.”
“And a wife.” Kevin added, ending his sentence with a whistle.
“So what’s not to like? I think I did pretty good there don’t you think?”
Nick’s face scrunched up. “Well, you were stabbed in the line of duty.”
“I died?”
“I don’t know.”
Howie sighed. “Well, Brian kind of left me hanging too.”
Brian’s eyes widen. “You visited me?”
Howie nodded. “And you were in ICU when I left.”
“Oh.”
“I think AJ’s right. Being a Backstreet Boy has a lot of perks, I mean, without the celebrity status, we wouldn’t be running foundations to help the less fortunate and Brian wouldn’t have the means to go for that surgery. Being the Backstreet Boys is not just about the fame and money guys, we get to reach out to millions of others and our own family benefited from it too. I guess we were blinded by too much ugly business and politics going around that we failed to see what’s important anymore. We have so much to be thankful for and all we could see is hate.”
Brian cleared his throat. “I guess we’re each other’s lifeline. I mean, yeah, we have our own family but what we have, together, it’s meant to be.” Brian stole a glance over at his cousin and then said, “besides, if this never happened, then I wouldn’t be as close to Kevin as I am now. I don’t know what it is that happened Kevin, but you really hated me back there.”
Now it was Kevin’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “Our mothers must be thrilled.”
“I guess. Like I said, I think I was a robber or something because I was in your house and nobody was home, plus I had no identity on me.” Brian explained. “So anyway, I did something fun.”
“Like stealing stuff?”
“No, like reading your diary.”
“You what!” AJ cried.
“No way!” Nick gasped. “Too cool!”
“And you had no Kevin to catch you in the act.” Howie laughed.
“I know.” Brian smiled proudly. “So anyway, the diary started off like in May 93 right? And you were going through some rough times and Kristin was leaving you. Honestly, I don’t know what the hell happened that got you like that but you were in a mess man. You were smoking and drinking-”
“You sure you’re not in AJ’s room?” Nick cut in, straight faced.
“Dude shut up.” AJ groaned.
“Just checking.” Nick defended himself. Brian rolled his eyes and cleared his throat one more time. “So anyway, in one of your entries you talked about calling your mom and she asked if you’re gonna come visit me and you said one day you will but you really didn’t want to. You said you can’t bring yourself to see me.”
Howie shook his head. “No, that can’t be it.”
“How would you know?” AJ asked.
“When I visited Brian, it was back in April 93 and I did say you were in ICU Brian, what I didn’t say was, by the time I left, doctors were rushing into your room, your mom was crying and everyone was there except for Kevin.”
Brian scratched his head. “I’m kind of slow...what’s the connection again?”
Howie sighed. “I think, I think you died that day Brian, don’t ask me why but I felt it, it was too strong. So what I’m trying to say is, Kevin couldn’t have not wanted to see you cause you’re already dead.”
“Maybe that’s it then.” Nick said. “You can’t see Brian cause you can’t accept the fact that he’s dead. And you weren’t there when he died. That’s understandable though since you were in Florida.”
“I think Nick’s right, I mean it makes sense right? We’re all in the same alternate world only at different period of time.” Kevin said.
“He is.” Vinhorian said. “In that alternate world, Brian you died at eighteen from your heart defect. Howie, you died in the line of duty, you will never get to see your unborn child. Nick, you were as lost as the next homeless kid on the street, AJ you gave up everything because of your liabilities towards your family and Kevin, at 22, you were just as lost and aimless. Now compare that life to what you had back on earth. You still wish you weren’t a Backstreet Boy?”
For the first time, Vinhorian Alni never did receive an answer. Instead, he saw a display of emotion so overwhelming that he knew his job there was done. It would be their second group hug since coming to the land of the in between. Unknowing to them, in doing so, they had transported themselves to the last vision they would ever receive. A vision of the past when Vinhorian Alni met the Backstreet Boys.
