"Guys, I need your help to get a woman out of her car," AJ said, startling us. She had a girl with him, she was around five and was sobbing softly. I wasn't sure if she was just scared of the situation or scared of AJ. Poor kid. "we need to clean her cuts."
"Nick, why don't you take care of the girl, you look like you need a rest too. I'll go with AJ." Brian said. I nodded because I really wouldn't want to argue. What do I know about taking care of little girls, I was so out of practice.
They were gone in a jiffy and I was left with the little girl looking back at me expectantly. I managed a smile and prayed she didn't start bawling right there. She didn't.
"Hey, what's your name?" I asked, bringing myself to her height. It was a torture to be squatting down the way I did, all I wanted was to crawl in bed and sleep the pain away but of course, that was wishful thinking on my part.
"Emily." I smiled. Then I held her little hands and felt her shivering. I rubbed the palms of her hand in mine, the way dad did when I was a kid and nervous for one reason or another. Usually it had to do with some monsters under my bed.
"Hi Emily, that's a beautiful name." I learned that from listening to AJ hook up girls. I didn't know it'd be useful on five year olds though.
"I'm Nick."
"Hi."
"Hi." Boy this sure was hard. "Look Emily, I know you're scared right now, but everything will be all right, I promise."
"My mom's stuck in the car." Then AJ and Brian better do their jobs and get her out, alive.
"I know sweetheart, my friends AJ and Brian will help her. But for now, we need to get those cuts of yours cleaned up, okay?"
She nodded and I ruffled her curly hair, calling her 'my girl', she seemed to like it.
"You're great with kids." I turned and found the nice lady again. She was helping a teenage boy who had hurt his arm to where we were.
"Thanks...I'm sorry I didn't get to introduce myself properly back there...I'm Nick."
She smiled and offered a handshake. "I'm Nancy...and I know you're the cute Backstreet boy, I'm a mother to two teenage girls."
Cute?
"Well, not exactly cute right now." She laughed.
"I think this is a good place to have all the injured treated while we wait for the paramedics to arrive." She cautioned the teenage boy to sit at the edge of the road and then dropped the duffel bag she had been carrying. "I'm a Senior nurse on my way home from work. I always bring my first aid bag with me in my car. It's all we got for now."
I felt like a burden was lifted from me. I will assist her; she would know what to do.
"That's great, I can be your assistant for today." I said.
"My girls would wish they were with me right now," she joked. "anyway, this is Jonathan. He was on his way to a friend's house, right Jonathan?"
The guy nodded, he seemed pretty dazed.
"I tell you what, since you're both in your teens and I'm better with small kids, why don't we trade places?"
"Sure, it's not like he needs stitches."
By the time I had cleaned his wound, we were in the middle of talking about basketball.
"Scholarship huh...that's really cool. I mean, representing your school and getting all those sponsorships."
"Need I remind you who you are?" He asked me. "You sound like I'm better off than you."
"In some ways you are." I said. "Believe it or not, I miss school."
"But you're living your dream, I'm sure that's a good thing." I nodded to that. You gain some, you lose some. "I wonder what the girls will say if I tell them Nick Carter bandaged my arm."
"They'll call you a liar." I laughed, which I shouldn't do if I don't want to acknowledge the pain.
As the time passed by, more injured were sent our way. I say Nancy was a Senior nurse not for nothing. She was calm even when they brought a guy with a very deep gash on his head that I could see his skull. I went ahead and took my much needed puke. Thankfully, Nancy was quick to hand me a paper bag.
I met up with the rest of the guys constantly when they brought in more of the injured. Nancy and I also found ourselves surrounded by more volunteers and that took a lot of the load off our shoulders.
When Brian and AJ finally brought in Emily's mom, I felt a sense of hope that things would get better. Momentarily, I forgot about the pain that my own body was waging against me. The drive to help out and the sense of relief whenever they brought in more survivors only encouraged me to go on. I found myself working side by side people who were strangers to me. Men and women of different ages, people whom I would have problem connecting with, everyone worked together to help out. And it was most rewarding when I found out I was treating a girl with a minor burn who was also a die hard Backstreet boys fan. She was crying but not because she was star struck but because she couldn't handle blood, now that was something I didn't get to experience everyday.
And then a miracle happened.
The siren that came in the form of truckloads of firemen and paramedics burst into the scene. Not long after that, the place was swarmed with police officers and huge trucks that helped to clear the highway for the paramedics to go through. I was finally reunited with the guys and as we stood by the side, looking at the chaotic scene that was going on, it had felt like a nightmare. Did we just do all that?
"Well, I can safely say that today had been one hell of a day." Kevin said.
"I'm just glad we're safe." Howie said. That goes without saying, really. "You okay Nick?" Brian asked. Why must they ask me? I mean, seriously, they must have freaked out too, seeing something as overwhelming as this accident.
"I'm fine, why?"
"Well...I know you're upset about the pregnant lady back there...I'm just checking."
"You're upset about it too...that was a nice prayer you said back there Rok."
"That's all I can offer." I smiled. "Did any of you see anything gruesome?" I had to ask.
"Lets just say I'm gonna get nightmares from this." Howie said. Everyone muttered a 'yeah' and nodded.
I wonder if that pregnant lady and her husband had other kids waiting for them back home. What if they had a seven year old in school right at that moment, waiting for them to pick him up? What would happen to him?
"Oh no, I think we're in trouble." That would be Kevin.
"Why?"
"Now we have reporters swarming this place...once they recognise us, we're as good as dead."
"Shit." AJ agreed.
Of course it didn't take long after that for them to recognise us. Suddenly, the news wasn't about a mass accident on the highway, it was the Backstreet Boys involved in a fatal accident. Things got out of hand and before we knew it, we were separated from each other and mauled by crowds of hungry reporters.
You have blood on your shirt Nick, did you save lives out there? What exactly happened, can you tell us? Are you hurt? You have a bump on your forehead, did you hit something? You look pale, this must be very traumatic for you.
Cameras were shoved in my face, lights and microphones all aimed at me. It felt like thousands of voices calling out my name, all wanting my attention at the same time. People were pushing and shoving and no one seemed to be stopping them.
Nick, say something, we're LIVE right now.
I panicked. I needed to get out of there. So I did the only thing I could, I begged them to leave me alone, to make way for me to get out. Of course, no one listened. Right then, I really believed that I could die from suffocation. The cramps were kicking at my stomach and the throbbing in my head, which I had managed to ignore for quite sometime, now felt like it was about to bust my head open. That nasty feeling in my throat was back too, telling me that if I didn't calm down anytime soon, I'd be throwing up for everyone to capture on film.
I couldn't feel my legs anymore, I knew any moment now, they would give way and I'd die being stepped on by all these selfish people. I tried calling out to Brian, he was always beside me when I needed him, but my voice was drowned out by all the commotion going on around me. It was getting hard to breathe properly, no one was giving me space.
I almost gave up if it hadn't been for the sudden grip on my arm that had yanked me out of the crowd. "I'm gonna get you out of here." I trusted that voice and forced my weak legs to follow him. By the time we reached safety, Alfred was practically carrying me by the waist.
"Oh God Nick, are you all right?" I found myself leaning against a police car. AJ was being treated by a paramedic nearby and the reporters were now shoved behind a barricade that the police had set up.
Brian had panic written all over his face. And I knew Howie was in shock because for someone as tanned as him, he looked like a ghost.
"Nick, did you hear what Brian said?" Kevin asked. I looked at him, his eyes inspecting me as always. I nodded. "So you're okay?" I swallowed and held my arms protectively against my abdomen. I needed to get out of this place.
"I'm okay...can we go now?"
"I don't know Nick...the van's out of the question...and the highway is definitely closed, we're not going anywhere."
"Actually, I already called for a van to get us back and I know another way to get you back to the hotel." Alfred said.
"What would we do without you?" Howie said. Brian actually laughed at that, I would to, if it hadn't been for the pain that would definitely come along with the laugh.
"Okay, I'll get AJ, we're getting out of this place before the reporters get out of hand again."
-
By the time the van was sent over and we were well on our way, I was feeling much worse than I had been before. I knew I had caught a fever, which would upset my plans to go for that surgery again. I couldn't get any sleep because I was sweating and the pain pretty much kept me awake.
"Are we there yet?" I asked, hoping that someone was still awake, I knew AJ was already blessed with sleep, I could hear him snoring at the back.
"We still have a way to go Nick, the road's pretty jammed." Brian said next to me. He sounded so tired.
"I don't feel too good Brian, my stomach's hurting so bad." I had to tell him. It was either that or I start crying, which I bet would not go well with the guys.
"Nick, you didn't go for that surgery, did you?" No I didn't Kevin cause I wanted to go back home and see mommy dearest and see if she would finally accept my money to finish off the mortgage.
"I'm supposed to go after the meeting."
"You shouldn't go around carrying heavy things then...did you back there?" Howie asked.
"No...but it happened all the time though, even when I didn't carry heavy stuff. I tell you, that pamphlet must be outdated or something."
"That can't be right." Brian said.
"I'll be okay once I get a bed to sleep on."
"It's not okay Nicky...you're burning up and your stomach's giving you pain, that's not normal."
"That's a hernia D."
"Only when you carry heavy stuff Nick, not all the time."
"We should drive straight to the hospital and have Nick checked up, what do you think Alfred?"
"Kevin, I'm still here." I snapped.
"You do look too pale Nick." Alfred said. I was frustrated then, no one seemed to listen to me.
"I'm not-" I had to stop and swallow. I was feeling nauseous all of a sudden and it hit me like a brick to the head. The van moved a little and halted again as the traffic made progress and that alone, encouraged my stomach to grumble. I tried to speak up again, wanting to get my point across but I couldn't. I clamped my hand to my mouth and this immediately resulted to a few movements from the guys.
"Here." Brian had found a plastic bag for me to throw up in but I willed myself not to throw up, I knew if I did, there would be no stopping it. It worked, for a few seconds, before the van moved again and I surrendered.
I gagged and threw up pretty much everything, which wasn't that much considering I had not eaten. That however, doesn't mean I was spared the pain. I was gagging out basically nothing and then the gagging turned into coughs.
Coughing was the worst because it hurt a damn lot. Brian was massaging my back but that didn't help any with the pain. I had tears in my eyes which I blinked away furiously. The fever, together with the headache, made me feel faint, I was only half conscious by then.
"I didn't know you can cough blood from a Hernia." Howie said. Well, I didn't either.
"You don't." Kevin said. "Alfred, we have to get out of this traffic and to the hospital, ASAP."
Yeah okay, whatever. Kevin always has his way with things and right then, I couldn't be bothered anymore. I was too weak to argue and helped myself by resting my head on Brian's lap. It didn't stop the coughing though. I hoped Leighanne could get the bloodstain off his pants.
If Brian was angry at me, he didn't show it, he kept pulling my hair back from my face and annoying the hell out of Alfred to go faster. I didn't tell him to stop though because I really think that I needed help.