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Chapter Eleven

“Well, here we are...” Howie’s voice came, his tone trailing off slightly, “First night of the tour.”

He proceeded to put on his first outfit of the night alongside the others. It was safe to say that they were all nervous. Nervous of how things would go, nervous about what would happen. They were nervous for Howie’s sake, wondering if the man was ready for this. But then there came excitement as well. Excitement that they were going back on the road again to do what they loved and missed. Excitement for the new adventures that they’d come across along the way. They were excited to be together, the ultimate thrill of seeing the looks on the fans faces in the audience, knowing that they put them there.

“I never thought that tonight would come,” Brian admitted, “It seems like it took forever to get us here.”

The others nodded in total agreement. It wasn’t a bad thing that it had taken a little longer than normal to get them to where they were. They all had the chance to relax and take off some time needed. What mattered in the end though was that they were there now. They’d come together again, taking off on another world tour. The feeling sent chills of exhilaration through all of them. This was the all time high.

“I remember the last time we did this...” Nick commented, “Only it was the last show of the tour. Somebody threw up a stuffed animal and Brian didn’t see it until he stumbled,” he grinned, “He almost fell off of the stage.”

Everybody grew silent as they recalled this, smiles forming on their faces at the humorous incident. But then they fell in to a somber mood as they recalled what had happened later on that night, after the celebration of the tour ending well. Something unexpected. Something on a much darker note. It was definitely safe to say that the cutting incident was in the top five Backstreet low moments. They’d had their highs and lows. Luckily, most of the memories had been highs.

“Tonight will be a preview of it all,” Kevin stated, “Hopefully it will be a good preview...” his voice trailed off as he winced at pictures of the worst possible things happening.

All five grew silent as they heard screams and chants coming from the front of the stage. Each smiled, the sound like music to their own ears. A music which they’d never thought they would hear again. Thankfully, they had been wrong. The countdown was on, five minutes until show time. After that, the waiting and wondering how fate would take its course would be unveiled once and for all.

“Everybody awake and ready?” Brian asked, and he got four nods in response, each sincere and honest, “I think we’ve all prepared ourselves enough.”

“That’s for sure,” AJ agreed, “We were all a bit out of shape since the break but damn, that ain’t no problem now.”

There were a few chuckles which circulated around the group, but one in particular wasn’t laughing. In fact, he hid his flushing face, feeling as if in some sort of subconscious form, the comment had been directed at him. As ridiculous as that was, it was how he felt. He look of humiliation passed though before he was noticed and questioned upon.

“It sure is loud out there,” Nick commented to change the subject, “I wonder if we could have sold out the kinds of arenas we were doing years ago..” he let his sentence trail as he pondered the possibilities.

Nobody had the chance to reply because one of the tech guys came and informed them that the show was starting. Sure enough, the intro music was starting, the stadium lights dimmed completely. A frenzy of sorts filled the air as the excitement became real. This was it. The moment they’d all been waiting for.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Brian drawled, “Let’s say a quick prayer before heading out?” he stated in question form more than requesting it. The others nodded though and they huddled in a circle, bowing their heads as Brian said a few words of encouragement, “Thank you for bringing us here tonight after so much time off. Please let tonight go well without any problems and let the rest of the tour go just as good as they did so long ago. Let all of us stay healthy and happy and all of us being free of complications.”

“Amen.” they all said in unison, lifting their heads up.

“I guess this is it,” AJ stated when they were given a thumbs up that it was now time, “Now or never.”

He shot a smile at the others, knowing that it was in deed time as he read in their minds that they were all ready as well, and they one by one, they all ran out on to the stage to give the show of their lives, their first real concert appearance in over two long years. So much could happen, anything was possible. Just not what they expected.

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The first dance to The Call hadn’t been so difficult. In fact, his energy had been high. He figured it was the adrenaline rush of being back out on stage again. The second song though was a slightly slower one, and he’d felt himself start to come down from his high. The third song was a slower ballad and with the way he was feeling, he was grateful for the change in pace already. It was something he needed. The rush from the first song was gone, the weakness that he’d had pent up in his body crashing down upon him.

What he wasn’t ready for though, was when the pace was picked back up again. He sang, went along with the movements of the dances that he’d rehearsed time and time again. He could feel his body refusing to put forth the appropriate energy that he needed to follow through with the routine. A solo of his came and he found a hard time finding his voice to sing, and when he did, he sounded strange even to himself.

Dirty looks came from his friends at his tripping up. This wasn’t how the start of the tour was supposed to go. Even he realized that. He couldn’t help this though. He couldn’t help how weak he felt and that his voice wasn’t working properly. It kept cutting in and out, his tone changing. He winced to himself, knowing that he was ruining things. Of all the nights for this to happen, it just had to be then. It just couldn’t have happened during practices and rehearsals. No, that would have made things too easy. It was too late to turn back time now though, and he forced himself to keep going, despite how lousy he felt.

Shaking his head, he knew he had to get his act together, forcing himself to speed up his routine so that he was with the others in the steps. It didn’t work though, and soon, he was in the way, causing others to trip up as well. God, he was going to hear it during intermission outfit change. He would be scolded and yelled at about how he needed to clear his head and straighten himself up unless he wanted the reviews, the first reviews in two years, to be negative.

Fifth song came and the pace was picked up even more again. He bent down, uncapping a water bottle, taking a large gulp to hydrate himself. It didn’t stop the growling hunger pains that were causing him to want to double over in agony. He forced himself to keep going though, despite how intense the hurting was. Despite how light headed he felt, and how dizzy he was becoming...despite how he was starting to see double, the spotlights blinding him worse than ever before, he forced himself to keep going.

His breathing started to get heavy and he felt as if his chest was closing in on him, his heart hurting, his chest aching. Every muscle fiber screamed for a break, because he’d overworked himself so much without any fuel to keep him going in a healthy manner. All he could think of was the outfit change break that they’d be getting in just three more songs. It would only be for three minutes, but he could chug down some water, maybe a Red Bull for energy, wipe the sweat from his body and allow his heart rate to slow down so that he could hopefully start over fresh. Only three more songs. He would be fine...only about twelve more minutes. Twelve minutes to last. It was hardly anything. He could make it.

He smiled at a fan in the front row who waved at him, blowing him a kiss. Waving back, she turned to her friend, shrieking in her ear in excitement. Normally, he would have laughed. He didn’t have the energy to though, his only concentration on how shitty he felt as he did a spin in a dance move. This caused him to lose his balance, as everything in front of him started to sway and spin, causing him to feel nauseous. Everything started to move in slow motion and he the music was as well, sounding garbled and distorted. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to clear it, but it didn’t help. He saw the looks that the others were shooting his way, but he couldn’t respond to them, for his concentration was lost.

His joints started to feel heavy as he knew he was slowing down significantly. Another solo of his came, but he couldn’t speak. He didn’t even realize what was happening and he just tried to keep going. He felt like he was dying though as his body felt like a deadweight, his head spinning, his stomach aching. His chest was closing in even more and he felt it even harder to breathe. Dizziness was becoming intense and he heard the others yelling at him. All the noise sounded as if it were coming from a tunnel though and he was on the inside, everything else coming from the outside, echoing slightly, hardly audible. And then he started to fall...

Falling....falling...

And then as he collapsed to the stage, all around him went black as his eyes rolled in to the back of his head and he lost consciousness completely.

I am going to be evil now...hahaha...lol....I will post the epilogue tomorrow or Friday (it is already written) if you review! *grins* I know, I know...but I want to know how I am doing and see everybodies guesses on who it is....final guesses before it is said for sure. So please review and I will post the epilogue before the weekend! Thanks!!!