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February 20, 2005
Hershey, Pennsylvania

I smirked at my reflection on the bathroom mirror after I combed my hair for the nth time, and got out of the bathroom when I heard impatient knocks on my hotel room door. I knew right away that it was AJ behind it. He texted me forty five minutes earlier to inform me that Brian would take us out for lunch and be ready in thirty minutes. I quickly grabbed my phone, wallet and keycard from the bedside table.

“What’s taking you so long, man?” AJ looked at me from head to toe “This isn’t a date, dude!” He chuckled.

I chose to ignore AJ when I saw the birthday boy behind him “Hey, B, Happy Birthday!”

We did the special Frick and Frack handshake before squeezing him in a hug. I still couldn’t believe that Brian turned thirty today.

“Thanks, man, come on.” Brian smiled and nodded his head towards the elevators.

AJ and Brian together with their bodyguards led the way. I smiled at Marcus, my designated bodyguard for the day, and followed the fellas.

“Hey, Nick.”

I tilted my head to the side and saw a beautiful woman taking big steps to catch up with me. I’ve racked my brain if I knew her but she was not familiar to me at all. She had golden blonde hair, stunning light blue eyes, and lips that a man could kiss for hours. She looked so damn perfect except for her clothes that seemed to belong to 1980’s.
I smiled at her, she must be a member of Backstreet management, Marcus would have pushed her away if she was a random fan.

“Heeey,” I answered cheerfully, and was surprised when she laughed.

Brian and AJ looked over their shoulder and gave me a questioning look. I looked at the girl to let them know I was talking to the girl not them.

“What?” Brian stopped walking and waited for my answer.

I turned my attention back and glared to the girl when she snickered.

“What?” She said innocently with a heavenly voice “Ain’t my fault you can’t distinguish souls from humans.” She laughed again when I shot her a deadly stare.

“I just want to say I’m really sorry if I didn’t get you anything, Rok. We’re on tour and I had no time to look for a gift.” It was a really dumb thing to say but that’s all I could think of. I waited nervously for Brian’s answer while AJ was laughing hard.

“Seriously, Carter?” AJ asked in between his laughs

“Don’t worry about it, Nick, your friendship is the most amazing thing you could ever give to me.” Brian answered with a goofy grin on his face.

“Jeez, Brian, you talk Leighanne now.” I rolled my eyes.

“Hey!” Brian smacked my chest with his left hand and pretended he was offended.

“Nick, my name is Andrea Miller….”

I started to hum my favorite songs and pretended she didn’t exist. Well, if she was really a ghost then she didn’t really exist. It was a childish thing to do but I would have covered my ears if the guys weren’t with me.

“Daniel sent me to warn you about Micheal.” She spoke louder to make sure I’ll hear her. "He isn't happy about you helping two souls to cross over."

My eyes widened when I realized what she just said “What?!”

The guys stopped from riding the elevator and looked at me.

“….. time is the sound check?” I asked in a low voice hoping they would just let it go.

“Same as always,” Brian responded when we were all inside the elevator “Are you ok, Nick?”

“Yes. Um, can we talk about this later?” I tilted my head to the side where Andrea stood to let her know the message was for her.

“Sure,” AJ and Andrea answered at the same time.

Brian gave me worried look, and I gave him a playful smirk.

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

Brian opted for a not so expensive restaurant so he could treat the whole Backstreet family, management and the roadies. He rented the whole place for two hours to give us all the privacy we needed and wanted.

Leighanne, Baylee, Howie, Leigh, and Kevin were already on the restaurant when we arrived. Leighanne already ordered for everyone and the lunch was already set up on the table in the center. The roadies will not join us for another hour, so we could goof around and celebrate Brian’s birthday the Backstreet way.

I took my seat between Howie and AJ, and waited for my turn to get my food. I picked the fork up, and it sent a tickling sensation into my body. It felt like I had been forced to sleep in a moment and when I opened my eyes, the place looked different. The restaurant was instantly full of people and my Backstreet family was nowhere in sight.

I froze when I saw a man in a black leather jacket suddenly appeared in front of us, and was looking for a certain George Davis. I opened my mouth but no words came out; I was shaking with fear not just for myself but for my Backstreet family especially the kids. People started running towards the door, and I wanted to do the same but I felt like I was glued to the chair. I didn’t also like the idea of leaving my friends behind; I had to find them.

“Please, don’t hurt my family.” A man wearing blue long sleeves pleaded. He looked over his shoulder and gave a reassuring look to the people on the table behind him. There was a woman carrying a more or less ten months old baby, a boy which around eleven to twelve years old, and a girl that looked ten years old to me on that table.

The man with a gun didn’t answer and pointed the gun to the man, whom I could only assume as George. They were the only people left inside the restaurant. I saw the woman handed the baby to the boy and whispered something to him. The boy took the baby with care and slowly crawled in the floor. I took a deep breath when I realized they were trying to escape. The boy looked back and shot a worried look to the girl that was now on her mother’s lap. His mother just nodded and motioned for them to go before she hugged the girl tightly.

I didn’t know I held my breath until the boy and the baby reached the back door safely. While George and the man with a gun continued arguing, the woman and the girl started to crawl to the floor to follow the boy and the baby. They were halfway to the back door when I heard gun shots.

My Backstreet family appeared in front of me again and my eyes widened with fear.

“Everybody down!” I screamed before ducking down under the table.
Chapter End Notes:
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