Prologue
Nick
So this story is about Kintsugi.
Which, the first time I heard that word, I thought it was like some badass new kind of sushi roll I ain’t tried before (luckily, I did not make an ass out of myself ordering it some place before I Googled it). So, just so you know, yeah, it ain’t sushi or nothin’ like that.
Kintsugi is Japanese; it just ain’t sushi.
Literally translated it means gold joinings. Basically it’s like this art thing they do with, like, broken pottery and shit, where like if something breaks, they like use this liquid gold to basically, like, glue it back together again. And you end up with this thing that’s like this really kinda shitty, broken thing that’s like beautiful because it’s got these veins of gold running through it, holding it together where it once was falling apart. And because it’s got the gold in there it’s worth like all kinds of money, even though it’s just a broken piece of crap in all reality, you know? But it means something because of what’s been put in it.
It’s like making beauty out of the broken places.
Not sushi. Art.
And, anyways, that’s what this story’s about.
Kintsugi.
Brian
What’s the worst dream you ever had? Like in your whole life, from childhood right on through to last night. What’s that one dream - I guess it’s more like a nightmare - that just haunts you, just sticks with you, ‘cos some place in you you’ve dreaded it being reality since the moment that thought entered your mind, even subconsciously like that. Everyone’s got one.
In mine, I’m standing front and center of the stage at the biggest show the Backstreet Boys have ever had. There’s millions of fans - possibly all of them - all gathered around me, screaming, chanting like they do -- Back. STREET. Boys. Back. STREET. Boys. -- and the opening notes of I Want It That Way kind of echo all around me. I’ve heard this song so many damn times, I swear I can hear the notes in my mind even without them even really playing, like muscle memory, and I’m ready - I’m ready to sing it.
But then I open my mouth.
And nothing comes out.
I try and try and try and it just stays in there all stuck somewhere behind my Adam’s Apple.
Thing is, it’s not like your dream-slash-nightmare, where it can’t become reality, where all it can do is haunt you. For me, my nightmare is very quickly rushing in, about to become reality, just like I’ve always feared.
And there ain’t shit I can do to stop it.
There's Us by Pengi
