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Brian tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The hotel room was dark except for the light from the streetlamp outside shining through the curtains. They usually got rooms on a higher floor, but with having to keep their rooms at the last minute, they had to settle with whatever was left, and that meant moving to the second floor.

With a sigh of frustration, Brian tossed his covers to the side of the bed and swung his legs over the edge, letting his bare feet hit the soft carpet. He walked over to the window and looked out, surprised to see a good amount of people outside. It was almost one o'clock in the morning, but the streetlamps kept the sidewalks lit for the pedestrians and those returning to the hotel.

Yet, despite all of the distractions, Brian couldn't keep his mind focused on anything but his dream. It kept coming over and over, forcing Brian to relive it all over again.


"AJ! Something--he fell--he's bleeding--he...oh God!"

Even though Brian was too flustered to talk coherently, Kevin was able to put two and two together. He flew out of the room and sprinted down the hallway, reaching AJ's room quickly and throwing the door open. The bathroom door was open and the light was on, and Kevin could see AJ's feet sticking out of the doorway.

Suddenly Brian appeared behind him.

"Call 911!" Kevin ordered.

Without hesitation, Brian disappeared, just as Howie and Nick appeared.

"What the hell?"

"Help me move him," Kevin ordered.

Howie quickly stepped into the bathroom picking AJ's limp body off the ground as they carefully carried him into the hallway. Nick watched in horror as a trail of blood followed them out of the bathroom.

"He's bleeding!"

"I know, Nick!" Kevin cried. He could hear Brian talking frantically on the phone.

"It looks like he hit his head," Nick continued, his voice slightly stronger and less panicked than Howie's.

"Nick, go help Brian," Kevin instructed.

Understanding how easily Brian panicked, Nick nodded and went into the living room. Howie knelt down next to his closest friend in the group and watched as Kevin lowered his ear to AJ's chest and let his hand hover over AJ's mouth. Finally he sat back up with a half-way relieved look on his face.

"He's breathing," Kevin exhaled.

Just five minutes later, the paramedics arrived, carting AJ off so fast that none of them had the chance to follow. For the most part, they were all in too much shock over what was happening.

Once everyone had left, Kevin, Nick, Howie and Brian were left in the small hallway of AJ's hotel suite, all silent.

Nick let himself fall back against the doorframe of the bathroom door and slid to the ground. His head fell to the side as he let out a sigh, but something quickly caught his eye. Despite the small pool of blood next to the bathtub, there was something hidden behind the toilet. Nick pulled himself up and stepped closer so that he could see around the toilet, then picked the small object up.

It was a pill bottle, and as he examined it, his eyes grew big. The prescription had just been filled today, and now it was empty.

"Kevin?"

"What?"

Nick looked at the bottle in his hands again before looking up at the older man. "What's this?"


It had been the most heart-breaking moment of his life. Even with his heart surgery or deaths in the family, Brian had had the idea in his head that someday it could happen. But when Nick picked up that empty pill bottle, it felt like his heart had completely stopped beating.

No, he'd told himself. There was no way he would do it. Brian knew AJ had gotten to the end of his rope a number of times, but never would he have thought he would go that far. It hadn't even crossed his mind. All of the times he'd listened to AJ and comforted him, Brian never would have thought that he would go that far.

It killed him. He wanted to know why, but once he thought about it he realized he probably didn't.