“So, how was today?”
Darren turned to find Dominic walking up behind him. He found himself catching a water bottle Dominic lightly chucked to him. “Thanks.” he muttered as he twisted the cap off and took a long swig of the cold water. He was standing outside of Schottenstein Center, deciding to catch a fresh breath of air and collect his thoughts. They just got done with the run through of their tasks and slight training and would be set to go to work tonight.
“Information overload, but… I think we can manage.”
Dominic smirked as he stood beside him, “I know what you mean. I remember when I first started working with the boys. They’re a crazy bunch, I’ve come to love them like they’re brothers.”
“How exactly did you and your brother get this job?” Darren questioned. He needed to get to know everyone they’d be working with and whoever else would be around the boys.
Dominic shrugged, “I guess you could say our family. Some of the men from my family have worked security for them over the many years… and our uncle, who was working for them a few years ago, got word in about us, and the next thing you know… here we are.”
A look of intrigue crossed Darren’s features as Dominic simply nodded, “Yeah… Derrick, or Big D as they called him. My brother and I have been working with these guys for the past three years, and… we’re looking to stick with them, till the very end.”
Darren’s eyes were cast to the ground as he listened to Dominic’s story. His eyes glazed up as he tried to read into the man; it was an ability he had, passed down from Michael. He was practically able to sniff out demons, which was how he was able to do that with the boy Shaun had a run in with in the alley. Without them knowing it, he could easily detect demons by their malignant auras that they radiated, and would be able to strike when the time was right. When it came to Dominic, he thankfully didn’t pick up anything negative. One down… and so many more to go.
“What about you?” Dominic questioned, breaking him out of his thoughts. “What’s your story?”
“I uh…” Darren froze, as his life seemed to play right before his very eyes. “I was a youth minister many years ago. From there, I became a motivational speaker, that toured around to different states, advocating anti-bully, anti-suicide, anti-abuse, anti-abortion… basically advocating life and love. After that…” he smiled at recalling the day he was blessed by St. Michael. “I felt this calling to protect people, and it led me to this field.”
An impressive look flashed across Dominic’s face, “Wow! That’s truly amazing man, good for you!” silence came between them, as Dominic tried to think of a way to ask his question, without coming across rude. “If, you don’t mind me asking… why did you stop with motivational speaking?” when he noticed a slight look of shock and sadness fill his eyes, he quickly tried to correct his statement, “I-It’s just that you look like you were a great motivational person that changed and impacted a lot of lives…”
Darren remained silent, thinking of how he’d answer that question. He hadn’t shared his past with anyone… the only person that really knew his story was Gabriella, not even Josh and Logan knew! But, he figured this could help him cope, it’s not like he knew the man, or the man knew him. “I, uh… I was so busy in helping everyone else with their problems that I couldn’t even help my own brother.” he fell silent for a while, closing his eyes. “I had many cases I’ve dealt with, but the biggest was suicide. Here I was, teaching others what to look out for with a person who’s suicidal, and I couldn’t even see the signs in my own brother.”
Dominic frowned, his face twisting into sadness and sympathy, “I’m sorry man…”
“He called me…” Darren continued, pushing through his emotional pain. “He called me to say his final goodbyes. Being the person I was, I was sure I could talk him out of it… I’ve done it before, I could surely do it with my own brother. But no. Not this time. No matter how much I cried, and begged, and pleaded… my words fell on nothing but deaf ears.” he struggled to will his tears away. “His last words to me was… ‘this isn’t my life to live… perhaps now I will find the true meaning of life.’ and with that…” he paused and closed his eyes, hearing the nothing but the dial tone play in his mind, “he hung up.”
“I….. I’m so sorry Darren.” Dominic sighed heavily.
Darren shook his head, “You have nothing to apologize for… you weren’t the one that pulled the trigger.” he could hear Dominic suck a breath in upon hearing his words, realizing that Darren’s brother had shot and killed himself. “But… after that, I couldn’t do it anymore. I left behind my passion.”
Before Dominic could apologize once more, the sound of someone walking towards them kept him silent. He turned around to find his brother approaching them.
“Hey guys.” Damien greeted as he walked up beside them, “We have a lot time open to ourselves before the sound check and show… Mac wants to know if you guys want to pound a few beers in a bit?”
Dominic glanced over at Darren, trying to read him, waiting for an answer. “You guys go ahead…” Darren finally spoke out in a solemn voice, staring straight forward. “Something tells me I’m gonna need a lot of sleep in preparation for tonight.” he tried to joke dryly.
Damien and Dominic simply nodded before the two walked away, leaving the bigger man alone with his thoughts. “See you later on man.”
Darren continued to stare straight forward, allowing his mind to completely take him over and enter him into a state of oblivion. As his eyes drifted closed, images of him speeding to his parents’ house where his brother still resided. He remembered hyperventilating, willing the tears not to spew forth from his wide eyes as he further pressed his foot onto the pedal, not caring that the cars he sped past were honking at him. “Please be okay.” was the mantra he chanted over and over as he finally pulled into the driveway.
He quickly threw the car into park, not even bothering to shut it off and take his keys out of the ignition. He darted out of his running car and ran up the front porch, grasping the doorknob and shoving the door open. “DONNIE!!” he shouted as he ran through his parents seemingly empty home. The deafening silence was loud, and he honestly feared what he would stumble across; he only prayed that he got here in time to stop him.
He knew his brother had it all planned out… their parents were at work, leaving him to be alone while he was away conducting a seminar. He ran into Donnie’s room first, thankfully finding it to be empty. He then trudged his way to his parents room, finding it to be empty as well. He ran downstairs into their basement, hoping he wouldn’t find him there; he released a breath he didn’t even know he was holding when he saw no one in there.
As he made his way back up the stairs, he was drawing a blank on where else he could look. “Donnie?” he tentatively called out again, maybe he hadn’t heard him the first time and didn’t know he was looking for him. Just as he was going to make his way towards the back sliding door to look out in the backyard, the bathroom off to the right of him caught his attention and made him do a double-take; the door was slightly ajar and the light was off. Slowly, he made his way over towards the bathroom, his heart pounding with every step he took.
“Donnie?” he called out once more, hoping he would hear a reply, to which nothing but silence responded his hopeful plea. His hands were trembling as he slowly reached out towards the door and pushed it open. A gasp tumbled from his lips as he felt his legs give out, causing him to crumble to the ground and scramble back a bit. In the tub, was his now dead brother. He was laying in the tub, which was partially filled up with water, his head lolled to the side with a distinctive hole that stood out in his left temple.
The flesh of his face was sagging, apparent signs that the immediate impact of the bullet to his head instantly drained him of his blood. His eyes were half lidded as blood seemed to seep from every orifices of his body. His left hand dangled outside of the tub, and right below it on the ground laid a simple handgun, one their father was licensed to carry. Thick, crimson blood and brain matter were splattered over the tub walls, while pieces drifted on the still water, tingeing it to be a sea of blood.
No matter how much he wanted to gag as he felt vile rise up from the pit of his stomach, he quickly crawled over towards his deceased brother, still remaining hopeful, begging to God that he wouldn’t be dead. He reached into the tub and grabbed at his brother, struggling to haul his limp, lifeless body out of the frigid cold water. Though his skin was icy to the touch, he was convinced it was because of the laying in the cold bath water. Unable to think rationally, he quickly scooped up the pieces of blown brain matter that floated around in the tub and placed it to the side of his brother’s gaping temple, as if he could fix his broken brother.
“You’ll be okay… you’ll be okay… I’m here Donnie.” was what he chanted as he desperately tried to put his brother back together again, but to no avail. Head lolled back, Darren slightly rose his brother’s flaccid neck up, catching a glimpse of his brother’s face. His mouth was slacked and his lips were tinged blue, through the slits of his lids, he could see that his eyes were rolled up back into his head. Darren quickly bit down on his quivering bottom lip as he reached his hand out to touch his brother’s cold, pale face.
“Donnie?” he whispered out, wishing that it was a sick joke and that he would get up and respond to him. But again, silence was the one to answer. He began to stroke his cheek, leaving a streak of blood to run across his slacked face. As his fingers inched slowly to Donnie’s neck, he began to sob when he felt no pulse… a final admission of his brother’s death; he was broken, beyond repair.
“How long have you been standing out here by yourself?”
Darren immediately snapped out his apparent flashback, turning around to find Gabriella walking up towards him. He quickly turned away from her when he felt tracks of hot tears trickling down his face; he didn’t even know he had been crying. He furiously wiped at his eyes, trying to get rid of the emotional breakdown evidence. “We, uh… we need to start getting to know these guys better.”
Gabriella halted at his sudden statement, “I think we’re all trying here Darren. It just makes this hard because it’s only the second day and they’re all so… busy.”
“We need to hurry,” Darren continued, as if he didn’t hear Gabriella’s reasoning, “I feel like something bad is going to happen, and real soon.”
Before Gabriella could say another word, Darren turned and walked back into the arena, leaving her to stand out there by herself. Gabriella watched as he walked away, staring at the back of his head and wishing she could read his mind, but he blocked her from doing just that. She sighed, knowing she couldn’t force herself into someone’s mind… she wish she knew what was going on with him.
~*~*~*~
“Whoooo-hoooooo, are you guys ready?!?” Nick exclaimed in excitement as he jumped up and down, pumping the adrenaline through his body.
The nine band members were all dressed in their dark opening number wardrobe, and they were all standing backstage, getting ready to say a prayer before they went on with the show. “B-rok, could you lead us in prayer?” NKOTB member, Donnie Wahlberg had asked.
Brian simply nodded as they all gathered into a huge circle, grabbing hands with one another. Brian bowed his head down, as the rest followed suit, “Father God, we thank you for gathering us all here tonight to use the talents You have blessed us all with to entertain our fellow brothers and sisters, Your children Father God. We ask that you may be with each and every one of us as we set out to do Your will and that we may accomplish the task at hand. May You be ever so present in our voices, in our guardianship, in our leadership, in our tireless work and effort to making this show possible. We ask that you not only bless the entertainers, but everyone apart of this team… the fans, our families and loved ones, management, road crew, stage crew, stylists, makeup artists, and of course our security staff, especially the four new members we gained into our family.” he looked over towards Darren and smiled, “Thank You Father God for Your countless blessings You have bestowed upon all our lives, and may we come to glorify Your name in all that we do. We offer up this performance to You Lord.”
After a light squeeze, they all had let go of each other’s hands and proceeded with patting each other on the back, wishing one another good luck with whatever role they had on this tour. Donnie then stuck his hand in the middle of the once formed group, waiting for the others to do the same. Once everyone had held their hands out, one on top of the other, they cheered out, “N-K-O-T-B-S-B!!!” and with that, they all dispersed into their respective positions.
Darren and Logan were positioned to be down in front of the stage, while Gabriella and Josh were positioned on the side wings of the stage. As Darren walked out with Logan to the front of the stage, he was taken aback at how much people had packed the once empty arena just to see these nine band members.
Logan whistled and grasped Darren’s shoulders as he walked behind him, “We sure have our work cut out for us!” he shouted over the blaring music, to which Darren simply nodded. The energy was insane, and there was no way he could pinpoint accurately a negative energy within the arena, there was just too much going on. He figured, hopefully, with a packed house like this, nothing would be attempted; then again, Lucifier was conniving and tricky, you never knew when he and his demons would strike.
Once they were spaced out far enough from each other, Darren glanced over towards Logan and signaled him to do what was planned. Logan nodded as he took out a Bluetooth earpiece and placed it in his ear; he looked around to find Gabriella and Josh doing the same. He turned the power on to his earpiece; the four of them decided this would be their way of communicating with one another. “Logan, checking in.”
“Read you loud and clear.” Gabriella replied as walked around a bit in her area, studying her surroundings and the people near her.
“Reporting for duty.” Josh quipped soon after.
“Alright you guys, we all need to be on full alert. This is going to be quite a challenge, but one we will overcome.” Darren spoke in an authority. “It’s hard for me to get any kind of reading in this place, so we’ll just have to remain vigilant and rely on our intuition.”
Each of them nodded just as the dim lights faded to complete blackness, causing the sea of fans to erupt in piercing screams. They watched as a little montage of the fused groups played out, introducing them to their favorite individual artist. Soon after, the band slowly sauntered out from the middle of the stage, slowly making their way out towards the catwalk as they sang a mashup of two of the group’s songs.
“If you came here by yourself tonight, cause he wouldn’t pick up the phone, he was supposed to bring you here tonight, couldn’t find him so you came alone…” they heard Josh sing along with the band, into the earpiece.
Darren shook his head and rolled his eyes, opting not to get on his case. As his eyes continued to scan the screaming fans that were standing before him, desperately reaching out towards their idols, he was immediately able to pick up on an energy that seemed quite… spiteful. His eyes widened upon his findings, he now just had to locate whom he was getting this feeling from.
“I’ve got something guys.” he spoke out into the earpiece.
Josh immediately stopped singing, “What you got bro?”
“I was finally able to pick up on an energy… it’s quite vicious, I’m just trying to locate the source.” as he continue to gaze around, his attention was drawn towards a young girl was glaring in the direction of the stage. “Bingo! Eighth row, two ’o clock.”
Simultaneously, they all turned their attention to where Darren had directed them. “Gabi, can you confirm or refute my reading?”
Gabriella simply nodded as she allowed herself to enter the mind of the young girl that seemed to be radiating quite a ferocious aura. Her brows quickly knitted in confusion as she definitely picked up on malicious thoughts, but… it wasn’t directed towards any of the band members.
She chuckled, “She definitely wants to hurt someone alright… but, none of our guys. If you take a closer look, you’ll notice that she’s focusing her glare towards the group of girls two rows ahead of her… standing and obstructing her view of the guys.”
Sure enough, when they all studied the young irate fan a little closer, they were able to clearly see what Gabriella was referring to. “You picked up a jealous fan!” Josh laughed, causing snickers to rise up from him and Logan.
Darren chuckled himself as he shook his head, “Yeah, I’d like to see you guys do what I do. It ain’t easy, especially here.”
Gabriella nodded in a agreement, “We can’t be too cautious here guys, so it’s good that we’re all remaining alert and weary of everything that’s going on around us, even if it’s a simple desirous fan. Trickery is a hell of a mind game.”
Upon hearing Gabriella’s reminder, they all fell and remained quiet, knowing good and well that she was right. For all they knew, this jealous fan could very well turn out to be a demon… just using one of his many manipulative tricks to deceive them all.
