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“Hello, what can I do for you?” a person from American Airways answered the phone pleasantly, the ordinary routine for her.
“Hello, is there a flight from Orlando, Florida to Atlanta, Georgia tomorrow morning?” Aaron Carter asked her through the phone.
“Let me see.” the attendant replied while looking through her files.
“There is an 11am flight scheduled to leave for Atlanta tomorrow.” she answered after a few minutes, “May I have your name?”.
“Aaron Carter.” he replied after jotting down some notes, “I’ll be passing by there in an hour, okay? I’ll talk it over, over there.”.
“Yes, sir.” she replied, apparently aware who he was.
“Bye.” Aaron hung up the phone impatiently.
“Who did you talk to, Aaron?” Bobbie Jean appeared on the doorway of his cluttered room.
“An America Airways lady, why?”.
“What the heck are you doing, Aaron?” BJ approached him, her hand raised in rage.
“Haven’t you heard of what happened to Nick, I mean in the news or something?”.
“No, why?” BJ lowered her hand, sitting down on a swivel chair beside his desk.
“Leslie and Angel didn’t tell you? My gosh…”.
“Just tell me what happened!”
“Okay, okay. Nick had a car accident.” Aaron replied somberly.
“Really? Oh my…” BJ stared aimlessly at a picture of Nick and Aaron hanging on the wall by the bed of Aaron. They had their arms linked to the other, and they both had big smirks on their faces.
“I’m visiting her tomorrow morning.” Aaron told her putting an arm around his eldest sister, aware that she was about to cry.
“Can I come with you?” BJ looked at Aaron, tears glistening in her eyes.
“Sure, I’m not preventing you from anything.” Aaron looked at his watch in alarm.
“BJ, we gotta go to the American Airways office to buy some tickets. Do you have your credit card?” Aaron asked her.
“Yes.” BJ sniffed while rummaging through her small hand bag, “Yeah it’s here..”.
“Good, let’s go.” Aaron grabbed his car keys and walked briskly to the garage.
Just as he was about to open the door to the garage, BJ stopped him, laying a hand on his shoulder firmly.
“How about Leslie and Angel?” she asked.
“Just write a note, BJ, come on.” Aaron told her impatiently.
BJ hurriedly grabbed a post-it and a pen from the table and wrote a quick note to Leslie and Angel. She stuck it in the fridge so they could easily view it.
“Come on, BJ, you gotta hurry up!”.
“I’m coming.” BJ replied as she ran to the garage.

Brian watched the clock slowly as the minutes ticked by and Nick wasn’t waking up. Jess was out and attending to another patient. He looked at the tissue box and the many crumpled tissues which were beside it. He gathered the tissues in his hands and threw them in a nearby trashcan.
He put his hands on his head in exasperation. He was frustrated and at the same time, worried. He missed the company of his family already but he didn’t want to leave Nick alone.
In boredom, he brought out the lyrics to the songs he would be recording that Friday. He read them quietly over and over again until he could memorize them by heart..

“I lived a lot of life
I caught a dream or two
It’s been a sweet ride…” the lyrics of ‘I’m alive’ spun in his head.

Brian eased back on his chair and for a moment went back ten to thirteen years ago when he was having the time of his life. He remembered touring nonstop with the Backstreet Boys, known at that time as one of the most popular pop groups ever alive, being adored by millions of fans from around the world.

“But I’ve faced my share of nights
Searched like we all do
Looking inside.”.

His thoughts then drifted to the time when AJ was admitted to rehab while they were touring for their album, Black and Blue. He remembered the time when he had an open-heart surgery due to an enlarged heart which was caused by the stress in touring and a hole in his heart. He recalled the feelings of nervousness and pain that overcame him at that time. He remembered searching deep inside his heart where God wanted to lead him, and he recalled having that feeling brought about by Him that he should record his own solo album. He remembered getting a record deal with Reunion Records and he saw how God was moving powerfully through him by opening up opportunities for him.
He silently said a prayer of thanks as he thought about the next line.

“Now I’m standing here
Cause You’ve made it clear…”.


“… to go to the hospital.” Aaron heard BJ tell him.
“Are you even listening, Aaron?” BJ shook her hand in front of his face.
“Uhm, what did you say again?” Aaron asked her innocently.
“Okay,” BJ sighed, “So who told you to go to the hospital?”.
“Oh, so she was asking a question.” Aaron thought to himself as he drove through the traffic.
“Who?” BJ asked again, annoyed.
“Me.” Aaron replied, “Don’t you care for your own brother?”.
“I do, it’s just…”.
“He had a car accident for crying out loud!” Aaron tried to control the temper in his voice, “Can’t you understand that?”.
“It’s just, how was the accident caused? Was he bumped by a speeding truck, or was he drunk when he drove through a red light?” BJ looked at him, “I’m just thinking that he’s vulnerable to all of this especially that time when he was caught over speeding while he was drunk…”,
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Aaron interrupted her, “But I’m guessing that the cause of the accident wasn’t because of him being drunk. I have this feeling that he was depressed about someone.”.

Brian found himself awake in the middle of the night. He felt chilly, despite the blanket that was draped around him, and he felt cold sweat trickle from his back. He shivered uncontrollably as he thought about the dream he had that night.
“I’ve been having a lot of nightmares nowadays.” Brian thought to himself as he struggled to find the lamp switch.
He wondered if it was just a dream, or a premonition.
Light drifted from the lamp shade as Brian went to the small refrigerator for a bottle of water. He felt more relaxed as the cool, refreshing liquid entered his body.
Brian could see the vivid images of his dream.
He remembered seeing Nick touch his hair uncomfortably as they entered the car. He saw Nick frantically look for his keys. He could see the worry and fear visible in Nick’s eyes. He watched as he turned the ignition, hands trembling. He gripped the wheel insecurely.
He observed quietly as Nick drove out of the parking lot, his eyes drifting nervously to the intersection in front of them.
Suddenly, he remembered the tears in his eyes. He remembered hitting his head when they braked suddenly. He remembered Nick waking him up, while trying to hold the steering wheel at the same time. He recalled the car swerving roughly to the right, falling violently in a deep ditch.
Then everything was darkness until he woke up.
Tears began to roll down his face, but he did nothing to prevent from crying. The full realization hit him: he could have been with Nick in that accident.