[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
As soon as he hung up the phone, he took in a deep breath and had let his head fall back onto his pillow. There was a slight knock on the door, and a young looking nurse peered in through the crack of the open door.

“There’s someone here to see you.”

Brian stared at the nurse, puzzled. Who could possibly want to see him? It couldn’t be his family, they flew back to Kentucky to take care of family business, it couldn’t be Leighanne because he just got off the phone with her. The door was pushed all the way open, revealing Nick who was sitting in a wheelchair. Brian simply smiled, but his smile faded when flashes of Aaron came into mind.

“Hey Rok!” Nick said with a smile, the nurse pushing him into the room.

“Hey.” Brian whispered, not wanting anymore surprise visits from Aaron. “What are you doing here?”

The nurse situated his wheelchair beside Brian’s bed. He shrugged to his question, “I had to get out of that damn room… I asked my doctor if I could visit you and Howie, and he said yeah, said it’d be good for me to get out for a while without overdoing it. Speaking of which, where’s Howie.”

“He went to visit AJ… he’s conscious you know.”

“Really?” Nick asked him, a smile beaming through. “Is he going to be okay? How is he?”

“From what I last heard, he doesn’t remember much of anything. He doesn’t remember the accident, he doesn’t remember our career. He remembers everything that happened before our career, which includes Howie. As for us, it’ll take him time to remember who we are. The only recent event he remembers is his trip to rehab.”

Nick just stared at him in shock, this wasn’t possible. “What do you mean it’ll take time for him to remember who we are?”

Brian shrugged, “Well, from what Dr. McNorton says, he’s suffering a mild case of amnesia, and even though he doesn’t remember some things, it’s not as if he has lost his memory forever. Things will come back to him in due time, and from what he says, his memory should come back to him in episodes.”

Nick shook his head, not liking Brian’s newly learned medical lingo. “What? What do you mean episodes?”

“He said that we need to think of his brain as a TV show, and his memory as the episodes. Certain words and objects should bring back his memory. He told us that he had said the word “rehab”, and that word alone brought back AJ’s memory of his trip to rehab. He told us it’s good to bring up things to him, it’ll help him to remember, but he also told us not to push everything on him at once. Forcing him to remember can be painful for him, even lethal.”

Nick looked away, not wanting to believe the new information. “Whoa… you have got to be kidding me!”

Brian shook his head, “Nope… wish I could say that this was all a joke myself…”

“So… he only remembers Howie because he had met him before we became famous?”

“Yups.” Brian replied, nodding his head. “I’m just glad that he hasn’t lost his memory forever. How about you though? Did the doctor say anything about you?”

Nick shrugged, “Well, he didn’t say much. My ribs are healing quite well, I can move normally, I can turn slightly to the sides, but bending my abdominal area is the problem. My broken nose will heal, even though I will continue to sound like some weird stuff-up kid for the next couple weeks or so.” They both chuckled. “And in a couple of days, I should be able to remove the stitches from my head. What about you?”

“Dr. McNorton said that he will remove my stitches either tomorrow or the next day, and after that, he said he’ll keep me in for another day or two to observe, and then he’ll be able to discharge me.”

“That’s great news!” Nick said with a smile, but deep inside, he didn’t want Brian to leave. For some reason, he felt that it wouldn’t be safe if he left while the others were still in here. Plus, he wanted to leave the same time as he did. “What about Howie?”

“Same for him… they’ll remove his stitches, keep an eye on him for a day or two, and then release him. Looks like you, Kevin and AJ will be in here for quite some time.”

Nick groaned, “Oh hell no, I’m gonna go ask the doctor if they can release me the same day as you and Howie. Ain’t no way I’m gonna be staying here…”

Brian laughed, “Hey, did you know that Kevin was conscious as well?”

Nick nodded, “Yeah, I had asked the nurse about you guys when she came to get me. She said that both you and Howie were doing fine and Kevin was conscious. She didn’t know anything about AJ, so she wasn’t able to tell me.”

Brian nodded as well and looked away. Nick tried to look him in the eyes, but Brian kept avoiding his look. “Hey.” Nick called out, trying to catch Brian’s attention. “What’s the matter Rok?”

Brian looked back up at him and shook his head. “Just thinking about how this all happened, you know?” he lied. He couldn’t tell him that he was actually thinking about his dead younger brother. “I mean… it all happened so fast.”

Nick chuckled, “Hey man, at least you were asleep through the whole ordeal, both Howie and I…” he froze mid-sentence, his memory of the accident flooded his brain. Both he and Howie had carried Brian’s unconscious body out from the bus wreckage. He then jumped out to look for Aaron, and Howie had followed him. They both got to the bottom, where the back half of the bus was, looking for Aaron, Kevin and AJ. They found Kevin on the ground, but AJ and Aaron were nowhere to be seen.

“Oh god…” Nick gasped.

Brian’s eyes widened, fearing Nick’s new odd behavior. “Nick… what’s the matter?”

There was a man standing behind them, he was holding a gun to Howie’s head. Nick turned around and was about to lunge at him, but the man threatened to kill Howie. He was ordered to turn back around and walk into the bus, and when he complied, the man struck Howie in the back of the head with the butt of his gun. Nick turned around just in time to see the man aiming his gun at Howie’s head, preparing to shoot. He ran full force towards the man, only to be kicked in the face. The man continued to beat him up until his body fell limp, little did the man know that it took time for him to fall unconscious, and he had heard everything that was said.

“This was no accident.” Nick finally replied. “Brian, someone tried to murder us.”