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He had heard someone flicking channels, though the sound was faint, it was hard to mistake the constant sound. He opened his eyes slightly, looking at his surrounding through slit, blurry eyes for the first time. He looked to the left side of him and seen that someone was occupying the bed beside him, and they were the source of flicking channels.

He tried to raise up from his bed, he was still confused as to where he was. He seen a needle protruding from his right hand, and various scabbed cuts and bruises decorated both of his arms. He was now puzzled more than ever, why was in such a condition, and why was he in the hospital?

“Howie?”

Howie turned to the source of the voice, finding that the man he was sharing his room was Brian. “Brian…” he croaked out. “What’s… going on?”

Brian aimed the remote control towards the TV and had shut it off. “Look man… I don’t really know much myself… all I know is that we were involved in some major bus accident about a week ago…”

Howie’s eyes widened. “A week ago? How long have I been out?”

“A week and four days…” Brian replied. “I’ve only been out for a week… today is Thursday, I’ve been awake since Monday.”

Howie stared at him, things were getting more confusing to him. “I… I don’t understand! So… I’ve been unconscious for the past week and four days, you’ve been unconscious for the past week… what about the others?”

“AJ, Kevin and Nick are still in a comatose state… the doctors say Nick will most likely be the next one to pull through and wake up, give or take a day or two… but they hadn’t said much about Kevin and AJ.”

Howie shook his head, this couldn’t possibly be happening to them. “Are they alright?”

Brian took a deep breath in before he began to explain everything to him, everything his wife had told him four days ago. Howie was left in utter shock, his mouth slightly agape. How did this happen to them… how could it happen to them? They were the Backstreet Boys for crying out loud, they were inseparable, they were unbreakable. Brian continued to stare at him… he hadn’t mention anything about Aaron, which probably meant that he forgot that Aaron was even on the bus. He decided not to tell him for the sake of his health… he didn’t want Howie to go through the same ordeal he had to go through when he found out about Aaron’s death.

“How… how did this all happen?” Howie had questioned in a soft, barely audible voice.

Brian shook his head and shrugged. “I’m not too sure… no one is telling me too much of anything! All I know is that they said speeding and drunk driving wasn’t a factor, and there was no evidence of foul play. They suspected that our bus tire popped, and our driver had lost control of the vehicle… and that’s when the accident happened.”

Howie remained silent, glancing down to stare at the cold, tiled floor. “Do you think they’ll allow us to see them?”

“Don’t know…” Brian replied with a shrug. “there’s a good possibility that we could see Nick… Kevin and AJ on the other hand… they’re both still in ICU and are still in critical condition.”

Howie nodded. They both fell silent for a while, but the silence was interrupted when someone had opened their door. “Ah… Mr. Dorough, you awoke…” the doctor had said as he walked into the room and had closed the door behind him. “That’s very good to know… I’m Dr. McNorton” he introduced as he held out his hand.

Howie slowly rose his hand and had shook it, “Hi…”

“I just came by to check up on your stats, and to see how Mr. Littrell was doing.” he walked closer to Howie’s bed, inspecting his IV connection, and writing a few things down on his clipboard. He then began to look over the monitor which was recording Howie’s status, writing down what he saw. “Do you mind if I check some things?”

Howie shrugged and shook his head, “Be my guest…”

Dr. McNorton had placed his clipboard down near the edge of Howie’s bed and began to check over his injuries. He unwrapped the gauze that had dressed Howie’s head, and had stared at the stitched wound that ran across his forehead. He then began to overlook the top of his head, to make sure everything was all right.

“Alright, I want your eyes to follow this light…” he said as he pulled out a pocket light and had flashed it in his eyes. He shone it to the left, then to the right, then up and down. Howie’s eyes steadily followed, but Dr. McNorton noticed that his reactions were quite slow.

He grabbed his clipboard and began to write once more. “I’ll have a nurse come in and redress your head…” he said as he continued to write a few more things down. “Everything seems to be going well, the only thing I have a problem with is your reaction, but not to worry, it’s not like it’s something we can’t work with! Due to the chip in your skull, your reactions to certain things may be slower than normal. A heads up, you will be suffering from chronic headaches, and you will feel lightheaded and dizzy most of the time. We recommend that you don’t get up for anything unless you absolutely have to. And don’t worry about sleep… you falling asleep most of the time will not be abnormal… both your mind and body needs all the rest it can get.”

He slipped Howie’s files back into the folder at the foot of his bed. He turned and had walked over towards Brian’s bed, grabbing his files out of the folder. “Lets see Mr. Littrell… how’s the head feeling?”

Brian shrugged, “Same I guess… sore, tender, I feel dizzy and nauseous.”

The doctor nodded as he wrote down everything Brian was telling him. He began to inspect all of Brian’s monitors as well, making sure everything was proper. When he was finished, he placed Brian’s files back into the folder at the end of his bed. “Well, I’m gonna go call a nurse in to re-bandage your wound Mr. Dorough, and I shall see you two later on tonight…”

“Wait!” Howie had called out just as he was making his way out of the door. “We wanted to know if we could go visit Nick… since he’s not in ICU or anything.”

“Mr. Dorough, I had just suggested that it would be best for you to stay off of your feet,” Dr. McNorton tried to explain, but Howie had interrupted him.

“I’ll go in a wheelchair… Brian and I just want to see him, please?”

Dr. McNorton fell silent for a while, thinking it over. “Well… I’m not suppose to be doing this… but hell! Look, I’ll make you two a deal… since you just awoke not to long ago, I advise that you stay here, and let yourself rest up properly. Brian, you on the other hand, I’ll let you go visit Nick for a little while. Come tomorrow, I’ll check up on you Howie, and we’ll see what’ll go on from there. If your all good, I’ll let both you and Brian go see him, if not… well, your just gonna have to wait.”

Brian looked over at Howie, “Well, I might as well wait till tomorrow…”

“No…” Howie had interjected. “I want you to go Brian… he needs you now more than ever.”

Brian stared at him for a while, unsure if he should go or not. “Go…” Howie urged.

With the help of Dr. McNorton, Brian rose from his bed and had got into a wheelchair that was positioned in the corner of the room. Brian glanced at Howie once more before Dr. McNorton began to wheel him out of the room.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dr. McNorton had wheeled him in front of Nick’s room, pausing to see what Brian’s reaction would be. Brian simply stared at the closed door, taking in a deep breath and releasing it, shaking. Dr. McNorton grasped the door knob and had twisted it slowly, finally pushing the door open. Brian could only peer around the small crack of the door as the doctor continued to push the door open slowly. He sighed, realizing the worst part was yet to come, he could barely see Nick’s body.

Dr. McNorton began to push Brian in, situating him on the right side of Nick’s bed. As soon as Brian looked at Nick, he gasped. He had a white bandage that was wrapped around his head, and a butterfly band aid covered his dried bloody nose. Both of his hands we positioned by his side, and a mask covered his mouth, helping him to breathe.

“I’ll be back in a few…” Dr. McNorton said as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Brian stared at the closed door, but then turned to look at Nick once again. He remained silent for a while, observing Nick’s fragile body. Hesitatingly, he rose his left hand and had grasped Nick’s cold and limp right hand. “What are we doing here?” Brian said to himself, but addressing the question to Nick. “I mean… this is not where your supposed to be man… this is not where we’re all supposed to be…” he froze when he remembered about Aaron, thinking about what was to happen once he finds out that his younger brother is gone.

Brian shifted within his wheelchair, grasping Nick’s hand a little tighter. “I know you can hear me Nick… I know somewhere in you, your awake and you can hear every word I say. You need to wake up man… Howie and I are waiting for you guys. If you wake up, I promise, we can go play basketball and I’ll let you beat me.” Brian chuckled to himself, but his smile slowly faded. “Only if you promise me that you’ll come back…”

He stared at Nick long and hard, before he released his grasp on Nick’s hand. Just as he did so, Dr. McNorton knocked on the door two times, slowly opening it and peering in through the crack. “You ready?”

Brian turned to look at Nick once again, giving his doctor a nod. “We’ll be back tomorrow…” Brian whispered before Dr. McNorton wheeled him out. As soon as the door closed, Nick’s hand had twitched, a tear slipping down his cheek.