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The next day was long and treacherous. The world seemed to be going at such a fast pace, but time seemed to take longer than usual. He took his time putting on a tuxedo the group’s personal fashion designer had brought. Once he buttoned up his top vest, he sat down on his bed and placed on his black shoes, tying the laces in knots. He looked up and seen a basketball on the ground, which wasn’t there before. He grabbed the basketball and brought it up towards him, tears beginning to fill his eyes.

“Hey Brian, are yo…” Howie stopped mid-sentence and just stared at Brian, who was staring at the basketball in hands. He sighed and made his way towards him, sitting down on the bed beside him.

He took in a deep breath and sighed. “It’s time Rok.”

Brian didn’t break his stare on the basketball, he just simply sat there and had let his tears fall freely, not caring that Howie was there to see him cry. “It seems like just yesterday when I used to carry Aaron on my shoulders… I remember the day both Nick and I tried to teach him the fundamentals of basketball… and either Nick or myself would lift him high up on our shoulders so he could make a slam dunk. Now…” he paused as he began to choke on his sobs. “we’re going to his funeral, celebrating the end of his life and the end of the many things we were once able to do with him.”

Howie was at a lost for words. Nothing he could say anymore could snap Brian out of the phase he was in. “We need to go now… the limos are out there waiting for us.”

Howie rose from the bed and made his way out of the room. Brian just stared at the open door, watching Howie leave. He got up off the bed as well and placed the basketball down on the bed before he began to walk out of the room. Couple seconds later, he turned around and walked back into his room, grabbing the basketball off his bed, and then he walked out of his room, closing the door behind him.

~*~*~*~*~*~

The funeral was awkward. The chapel was packed, mostly with family, and there was not a dry-eyed person there. The Backstreet Boys were sat in the front pews, in the third row. Near Aaron’s casket sat the immediately family, Bob Carter, Jane Carter, Angel, Leslie and BJ Carter, and last but certainly not least, Nick Carter.

Bob’s eyes were red and puffy, but he remained solemn and straightforward. Jane just sat there, staring at her son’s casket, holding a balled up tissue to her mouth as her sobs continued to wrack her body. Angel and Leslie were crying hysterically while BJ held them both in her arms, tears falling freely from her eyes. Nick just stared, not turning to look at anybody, not even blinking. His eyes were puffy and glossy, and his face took on a bright cherry red color. He looked as if he didn’t get sleep at all, dark circles appearing below his eyes, his cheeks swollen and stained with burning, salty tears.

Brian turned and looked to the side of them, down the line of the three Backstreet Boys. Both Kevin and Howie had tears in their eyes, and even though AJ was confused as to who Aaron was, he even had glassy eyes. Brian turned to look at the closed casket again. He didn’t know if he was crying or not, his face was so numb, he couldn’t feel the tracks of his hot tears running down his face.

He stared at the casket long and hard… he knew why they decided to have a closed casket. When they found Aaron at the crash site, his body was severed in half from the crash. Not many people knew that, and he was glad that it was kept that way. Many people were rude enough to ask Jane why she had decided to have the casket closed, and she simply told them that “he didn’t look the same.”

Everything was drowned out for a moment, from what the priest way saying, to the mourning people behind him. He looked back over towards the family and gasped at what he saw. There was Aaron, sitting next to Nick. Aaron was staring at his mourning family, shaking his head, and then he had turned to look at Brian. “He’s already lost me Brian… don’t let him lose you too.” he said before he disappeared.

Everything literally fell silent after that, the priest had stopped talking and the mourners tried their best to conceal their sobs. Nick then rose from his seat and had walked to the altar, taking the place the priest once was. He adjusted the microphone and had placed a stack of papers before him. Aaron’s eulogy.

“When I was younger, I always seemed to enjoy the finer things in life. Before the year of 1987, it was only BillIe Jean, Leslie and I, living with our parents, Robert and Jane Carter. Being the eldest boy wasn’t easy. I wanted everything my way, I wanted the attention to be on me at all times… that was, before BJ and Leslie had came into this world, but once they was born, I always felt as if all the attention was diverted to them because they were the girls of the family. Seven years later, my parents had broke down the news that my mother was pregnant by asking me, “how would you feel if you had two more siblings?” Me, still being young and spoiled, I exclaimed, “What?!? I don’t want another brother or sister… you already have me and BJ and Leslie, I want a dog!” Of course, they ignored that demand and had themselves twins, another girl and a boy, who would forever change my life. Angel and Aaron Carter was born on December 7th, 1987. After my brother was born, I dropped the fact that I wanted a dog… whoever knew I would like the role of being the biggest brother in the family? Here I was, complaining of not being the only child in the family, but gaining three younger sisters, especially a younger brother had changed my perspective on things. Of course there was nothing I could teach my sisters. In the younger days, I was infatuated with comic books, bugs and water… for girls, this world was unheard of. They had better things to do, like makeup and talk about boys. Just when I felt like I was losing my title of being the “oldest brother”, Aaron stepped in and wanted to learn… from me. I was able to teach him everything, from how to catch and dissect bugs, to how to depict limited edition comic books.”

There were muffled chuckles that erupted throughout the chapel, but everything remained silent. Nick continued, “By the year of 1992, I was 12 years old and little Aaron was five. We were living in Tampa then, and I remember coming across some flyers that were posted up almost everywhere. A wealthy man by the name of Lou Pearlman was looking for young boys to audition for a boy band he wanted to put together. I had auditioned and was selected along with two other boys to be apart of the band. At first, it was only me, Howard Dorough, and Alexander James McLean.”

Brian had looked to the side and AJ and had seen him staring at Nick in confusion, he knew AJ was wondering why Nick had said his name. “But not long after, two Kentucky cousins by the name of Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson joined the group, thus creating the Florida-based Backstreet Boys. My little brother Aaron was always there, watching us every practice, every show, even coming along with us when we first started touring. When we would have sound checks, I remember he would run up to the stage and stand in the middle, belting out any song he could think of. The fellas and I could only stand there and laugh at his antics. As the years passed, the Backstreet Boys was sweeping the land, and Aaron was slowly but surely coming out of his shell. During one of our concerts, we had Aaron to be an opening act for us. After the whole show, I remember most of our fans rushing to backstage, not to ask for our autographs, but to ask us who the blonde bombshell was that stole the show. The fellas and I looked at each other, dumbfounded, wondering how a little kid could possibly steal the show. Sure enough, when Aaron walked out of his dressing room, the crowd of girls went crazy for him. As soon as I turned to look at my brother that night, that’s when I realized that he was truly to be a man of his own… no one would no longer refer to him as “Nick’s little brother”… they would now know him to be Aaron Carter.”

Brian’s mind blanked out when memories began to flash before his eyes. All that Nick had reminisced on about Aaron was coming back to him. He could still hear Nick’s voice, reading the eulogy, but with every detail he gave of his memory, he could visually see it. Seeing Aaron once more, happy and carefree was what made his heart ache. Everything fell silent all of a sudden, and when Brian had snapped back into the real world, he realized that Nick was done with reading the eulogy and was now seated in the same seat he was in, near Aaron’s casket.

At the end of the funeral, many of the mourners left the chapel and went to the dining area to help themselves to refreshments. Meanwhile, Jane and Bob Carter walked outside to talk to the fans and the press that were there, thanking them for all the support through their trialing times. The four Backstreet Boys remained in the pew, staring at Nick, who held his head in his hands. Finally Brian rose from his seat and stood in the isle, waiting for Howie, Kevin and AJ to do the same. Nick rose his head a bit and glanced at them, watching them as they just stood there for a while in the isle.

Just as Brian took his first step forward, Nick rose from his seat as well and walked over to the closed casket, staring down upon it. Brian froze in his tracks and just stared at Nick’s trembling form, wanting to go up to comfort him, but couldn’t because he knew that Nick was no longer his friend. Nick slowly placed his hands on the closed casket and began to cry hysterically, almost collapsing forward.

When Brian saw this, he lunged forward, pulling Nick back gently into his warm arms. Nick allowed himself to fall backwards into the welcoming arms, but quickly pushed away when he realized that it was Brian who was trying to comfort him. “Don’t f***ing touch me!” he snapped, not even turning around to look at him.

Brian sighed, “C’mon Nick… I’m just trying to comfort you man. For god sakes, you almost fell onto your brother’s casket…”

“Shutup!” Nick screamed, whirling around to glare at all four of them. “Just shut up and leave me the f*** alone. I told you that I was tired of you guys thinking you know what’s wrong with me and thinking you know what’s best for me. You guys are even lucky I had let you attend my brother’s funeral…”

“You couldn’t keep us away Nick…” Kevin said, not liking the way Nick was acting.

“You think I couldn’t keep you away? Funny… you guys were able to keep the news that my brother was dead away from me… still think I can’t do anything? You see, that’s your guys problem… you assume so f***ing much! You know what… I don’t even know what I’m doing standing here, wasting my time on you all…”

He turned to walk away, but Brian caught him by the arm. “Nick, wait…”

Nick quickly whirled around and shoved Brian backwards, which sent him hurling into Howie. “Have you lost your damn mind?” Kevin exclaimed.

“No!” Nick snapped, walking up to Kevin, his face inches away from his. “I’ve lost more than that…” and with that, he left the chapel.