County Fairs are supposed to be fun. A fun day where people can avoid their life for a few hours. Today’s fair didn’t quite turn out that way. Although the day started out spectacularly with great weather, children laughing, the day ended with a blood bath.
A group of four friends, ranging from their late teens to their mid twenties were seen laughing and having fun. They were keeping to themselves and they weren’t bothering anyone. Until something caused them to run from the middle of the fair ground to the entrance. It was reported that they accidentally bumped into a few people and didn’t apologize. As they neared the entrance, they came to a sudden halt. One gun was fired and hit one of the four in the back. The gunshot victim was none other than Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys. A second gun was fired killing Nick’s shooter. The second shooter was arrested and Nick was rushed to the hospital. There is no word on Nick’s condition. All we know is that Nick was unconscious when he was placed on the stretcher and into the ambulance. We will report updates on his condition as they become available.
Casey was starring at the screen. Brent grabbed her hand. “Casey, don’t pay attention to it.”
“Why do they do this? I mean, we are waiting in an Emergency room. Obviously something dramatic or tragic happened. So why do they put the news on so we can get more bad news. Especially when the tragedy involves someone famous or if the event was newsworthy.” The tears that she was so desperate to hold in slid down her face. “Oh god, I’m so scared.” She said as she began to become hysterical. “I need Nick. And what about the baby? I can’t do it without him.” She said as she placed her hands on her stomach.
Brent wanted to comfort her, he really did, but he didn’t know if he could. He kept opening his mouth to say something, but nothing ever came out. He gave up as he felt himself almost ready to cry.
The doctor entered the waiting room at that moment. He approached them. “Are you with Nickolas Carter?”
Brent took a deep breath. “We are.” Brent, Abby and Casey stopped breathing at that point. This was it; they were going to find out whether or not Nick was alive. Casey was completely terrified.
“His surgery was successful. We had a few complications…”
Casey interrupted him. “Complications? What kind of complications?”
The doctor took a deep breath. This was the part of his job that he hated. “He flat lined.” Casey gasped. “We were able to revive him though. We got the bullet out and we stitched him up.”
Casey released her breath. “So he’s ok?”
“He’s in a coma right now.”
Brent was struggling to keep his composure. “When will he wake up?”
“I don’t know. One thing you have to face is that he might not wake up. The longer he’s in a coma the less likely he is to wake up.”
Casey started crying. Abby pulled her into a tight hug. “Can we see him?” Abby asked. The doctor nodded and led them to where Nick lie in a coma.
Brent pushed open the door and followed the girls into his best friend’s hospital room. Casey let out a strangled sob, and Abby pulled her into a hug. Brent didn’t want to look. He took a deep breath, and then quickly looked at Nick. He looked away almost as soon as he saw Nick lying helplessly on the bed, clinging onto life. He felt Abby pull him into a hug and he lost his composure. He started sobbing into Abby’s shoulder. Casey made her way into the hug and the three of them stood there, holding onto each other and crying into their embrace.
They couldn’t look at him like that at the moment. They left his room. They entered the waiting room and saw Kevin, Brian, Howie and AJ sitting there. Kevin stood up as soon as he spotted Brent, Abby and Casey. “We came as soon as we heard. How is he?”
They explained the situation. Kevin took the big brother role again and pulled Casey into a comforting embrace. That hug soon turned into a group hug. Then Brian broke away and suggested a prayer. They huddled in a circle and Brian led the pray for Nick.
They each took their turn visiting him. Soon Casey found herself visiting him. She was alone this time. She grabbed his hand. She brought it to her lips and kissed it, hoping that he would wake up, but knowing that he probably wouldn’t. She looked at him and started crying. She calmed down a bit. “Oh Nick. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. If you never fell in love with me you wouldn’t be lying in a coma in a hospital. God Nick, you need to wake up.” She put her head on the side of his bed and began crying.
She didn’t realize how long she was in Nick’s room, until Brent entered the room. “Come on Casey. Let’s go.”
“I can’t Brent. I can’t leave him.”
“This isn’t good for you or the baby.”
“I’ve only been here for a couple hours. It’s not like it has been a couple days.”
“I know that Casey, but since you don’t want to leave, a few hours will turn into a few days. You need to take care of yourself and your baby. When Nick wakes up you are going to want to be healthy.”
“What if he doesn’t wake up?”
“You can’t think like that.”
“How do you have so much faith that he will wake up?”
“Because I refuse to believe that he will die until he actually does. Think positively. He’ll wake up and then we’ll all be able to put this tragic event behind us. Now come on. I won’t let you make yourself sick.”
She agreed reluctantly and stood up. She leaned over him and kissed him softly on his lips. She let out a strangled sob when she didn’t feel the familiar sensation that came from him responding. She let Brent lead her out of room.
Soon, they arrived at Nick’s house. It was the first time that she’d be in Nick’s house for a significant amount of time while Nick wasn’t there. She was tired. She headed upstairs and automatically headed toward Nick’s room. She opened the door and was hit with a strong sense of loneliness. It was then that she realized she wouldn’t be able to stay in that room without Nick. She wearily entered the room, and grabbed some of her clothes. She took the clothes into the guest room that used to be hers.
She went to visit him in the hospital everyday. And everyday there was no change. Oh the doctors would say on occasion that his vitals were looking better, but ultimately, Nick was still in a coma.
It had been a couple weeks since the accident. Nick still hadn’t woken up nor did he look any healthier. Brent was having a hard time seeing Nick like that so he stopped visiting daily.
He couldn’t stay in the house either. He was always expecting Nick to walk out of a room, or to bother him while he was trying to do work. He would upset himself when he realized that Nick wasn’t going to be walking into the room he was in because he was in a coma.
It was then, that he had decided to go back to work. At work, he tried real hard to keep his mind off Nick and on his work. He couldn’t and his work became really sloppy. All his co-workers noticed.
On his second day back at work, he was starring at a picture of him and Nick that was taken before Abby and Casey moved down to Florida. It was while he was starring at the picture that the door to his office burst open and his supervisor entered. He was caught starring at a picture and not working. “I’m sorry sir. I’ll get back to work.”
“Brent, what’s going on with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, company policy is that we are supposed to fire those whose work becomes sloppy. I noticed yesterday that your work was a little sloppy, but I didn’t say anything figuring you were just having an off day. But your work is sloppy today too. And now when I come into your office, you were starring off into space and not working. You are a good worker and I don’t want to fire you, so if there’s something going on please tell me.” Brent broke eye contact. All the emotion he was trying to hide at home, for the sake of the girls, especially Casey, came rushing to the surface. He tried to fight it back. He didn’t want to cry in front of his boss. He was unsuccessful and a tear escaped from his eye. His supervisor didn’t miss the tear and was now immediately concerned. “Brent?”
Brent took a deep breath. “I’m sorry sir. It’s just. My best friend is in the hospital.”
Brent looked at the picture of him and Nick again. His supervisor followed his gaze. “Is that him?” Brent nodded. “Is he ok?”
“He’s in a coma.”
“Brent, why don’t you take time off until he feels better?”
“I can’t. I can’t be in that house knowing he’s not there. It hurts too much.”
“You live with him?”
Brent nodded. “I need to keep myself occupied.”
“Ok, then I’m going to partner you with someone. I can’t have your work faltering.”
“I’m really sorry sir.”
“You’re human Brent. I’m not expecting you to be on top of your game while your best friend is clinging to life.”
“Thank you for understanding.” Brent sighed in relief when his supervisor left. He wasn’t going to lose his job and for that he was grateful.
Abby entered her school library and searched for the group of her friends that she was meeting. They were getting together to study for their final that was coming up in a few days. She spotted them and sat down at their table. They were still waiting on a few more people so they sat and talked quietly. Abby was quiet and didn’t contribute much to the conversation.
Soon the rest of the group arrived and they began their study session. Abby still wasn’t contributing. Every time she was asked her opinion she wouldn’t know what they were talking about and need the question repeated.
“Come on Abby. Focus.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What’s wrong with you?”
“My best friends’ fiancé, who also happens to be my boyfriend’s best friend, is in a coma.”
“Oh. I’m sorry Abby.”
“I know I need to focus. But I keep seeing Casey walking around the house, completely miserable because the father of her baby is lying in a hospital bed. And then there’s my boyfriend, who’s trying to be the strong one in the house, when it’s his best friend who’s in the hospital. It’s just very hard.”
“I’m sure it is Abby. But you need to focus here. We really need to do this. I’m really sorry, but if you can’t focus we are going to have to ask you to leave because of a lack of productivity.”
“I’m trying. It’s just hard. He’s my friend too. And he’s been in this coma for like 2 weeks now. With every day that goes by that he doesn’t wake up, he gets less and less of a chance of surviving. I’m sorry. I know you guys don’t care. I’ll try a little harder to focus.
Casey entered the half painted nursery. Nick was painting it before he was shot. Once he was done painting it, they were going to go furniture shopping. She’d been avoiding the furniture shopping hoping that Nick would wake up soon and that he would be able to accompany her. However, now that she was 7 ˝ months pregnant, she knew she had to get the furniture by herself. She was going to leave the nursery half painted.
The half painted room had become a symbol of hope. A hope that Nick was going to come home. As long as the painting wasn’t finished, she had hope that Nick would do it when he was better. The second she started to finish that room, would be the day she accepts his death. And since he was still breathing, and still had a heartbeat, that room wasn’t going to get touched.
She felt tears prick the back of her eyes from thinking about what the future could hold. Nick was either in her future or not. She desperately hoped that he would be, but was deathly afraid that he wouldn’t. She left the room and got herself ready to go furniture shopping for his baby.
Casey was walking around the store, picking out the furniture that she knew she needed; her lower lip was trembling. She was trying as hard as possible not to lose her composure in the store. She rounded a corner and was hit with the feeling that Nick should be with her. She started crying hysterically in the store.
The store manager spotted her crying and approached Casey. When the manager couldn’t calm Casey down, she led Casey to the break room.
Casey began apologizing profusely for bursting into tears. The manager told Casey that there was no need to apologize. When Casey calmed down enough to talk, she spilled the whole story about Nick being in a coma.
Once Casey was calm, the manager led Casey back to the floor and helped Casey finish her shopping. The manager rang up Casey’s purchases and explained the delivery process. “I’ll keep your fiancé in my prayers.
“Thank you.” Casey left. She was home long enough to leave a note that told Brent and Abby that she was going to the hospital to be with Nick.
Once at the hospital, Casey made her way to Nick’s room. Standing outside his door, she took a deep breath before entering. She was hoping that when she looked at him, she would see him smiling back at her. She opened the door, and found Nick the same way she left him.
She approached his bed and took a seat beside it. She began talking to him about anything that she could think of. When she grew tired of talking, she placed her head down on his bed. With her head down, she reached for his hand, and held it gently while caressing the top of his hand with her thumb.
The steady beep of the heart monitor began to lull her to sleep. Just as she was about to doze off completely, the steady beep turned into a long monotonous beep, which signified that his heart stopped beating.
Casey was thrown out of the way as the room filled with doctors and nurses. She watched in terror as they tried to revive him. She was borderline hysterical and didn’t hear what the doctors were saying. This seemed to go on forever.
She calmed down a bit and could once again hear. It was then that she heard the most life shattering thing ever.
The doctor shook his head sadly. “Call it.”
