Even though I knew it was
all an elbaborate ruse, I couldn’t tear myself away from how real it looked.
The flatline, the long steady beep, the solemn faces. I knew Nick was
breathing, but I had to reassure myself of it over and over. If I reacted this
strong when it was a show, I’d hate to guess how it would be if, God forbid, it
ever really happened.
Then Howie and AJ came
in. They’re reactions, seeing them break down like that, was almost
ovewhelming. I started to say something to them, but Brian put a hand on my
arm. He shook his head slightly and I nodded in acknowledgement. He was the one
with the plan.
I studied him closely and
determined that he wasn’t having any easier of a time with this than I was. He
was ghostly pale, shaking, and still crying. If there was one thing that made
my heart ache, it was men that were crying. Now, I was in a surrounded by them
with one of my closest friends on his way to the morgue. Yeah, I was definitely
struggling with this.
Deizel left the room for
a moment out of respect, along with the rest of the nurses and the doctor that
were involved. I glanced nervously at Brian, then Kevin. If Howie and AJ saw
Nick up close, they would know he was still alive. Who knew what would happen
then? It could blow the whole thing. Howie would probably be able to be a
little more discreet, but I could see AJ flipping out. I needn’t have worried
about that though. AJ pulled himself to his feet and attempted to go over to
Nick. He took one look, choked back a sob, and bolted from the room. Howie cast
a pained glance towards Nick, then us, before running after AJ.
“Shit.” Murmured Kevin.
He looked at Brian and
“Help...me...over.”
Brian whispered. I frowned at Kevin, thinking Brian really needed to lay down.
Kevin acknowledged me look and set his hand on Bri’s shoulder.
“No! I...need...to!”
Brian insisted as forcefully as he could. I knew why too. With this scheme, who
knew when he was going to be able to see Nick again anytime soon.
Kevin supported Brian
over to Nick’s bedside. Brian reached a hand up and gently brushed Nick’s hair
away from where it had fallen in his eyes. It was considerably longer than when
I had first met him. But, then, mine was too. Brian didn’t say anything, but I
could see his shoulders shaking. Then Deizel appeared in the doorway with a
wheelchair. Kevin helped Brian into it. Behind Deizel were two men in white lab
coats. They were there for Nick.
“No.” I whispered. I
wasn’t ready. I needed to be with him to make sure he was going to be okay. I
shakily went over to the side of the bed and wrapped my arms around him. I felt
a hand on my shoulder.
“Come on, Lizz. It’s
time.” Deizel said softly.
I took Nick’s hand and
squeezed it tight. Before I pulled away, I whispered in his ear, “It’s going to
be okay Nick. I know you can hear me in there. Keep fighting and dont be
scared, you’re safe now. I’ll see you as soon as I can. Hang in there. Love
you.”
Deizel led me out of the
room over to Kevin and Brian. I rested my hand on the handle of Brian’s
wheelchair, steadying myself. I wasn’t prepared to see the men wheel Nick’s bed
out of his room, a sheet draped over it. Over him. It wasn’t the first time I
had seen that and it was hard. I couldn’t help but break down once again. I
shielded my eyes with my hand, trying to stifle the sobs. Brian reached his
hand up and layed it over mine.
“We’re...going
to...get through...this...Lizz.” Brian’s words were strong, but I was still
scared. It was all so real and so much was at stake. We didn’t know the extent
of the damage Marcus inflicted on Nick and whether he, or his voice, would be
okay. He had to be okay, I needed him to be. Who was going to keep me in line
or get into trouble with me? Who else was going to be there for me like he was?
I had to believe he was going to be okay, because frankly, I couldn’t take it
any other way.
Marcus watched the scene
from the tiny closet, barely able to contain his excitement. Only moments after
entering Carter’s room, the tattooed one tore open the drapes and Marcus heard
him cry out like an animal, falling to his knees. Seconds later he tore out of
the room, followed by the other one. Next, a doctor walked out, face grim. Then
a nurse, also visibly upset and shaken. Marcus felt his grin widen. Then it
looked Brian and Lizz were saying their tearful goodbyes. “Boo-fucking-hoo.” He
muttered under his breath. The best part came when two men pulled a sheet over
Carter’s bed and wheeled his body out of the room. Marcus was elated. He
discarded his previous thought to leave and “disappear” for awhile and decided
to hang around and relish in everyone’s misery. Especially Brian and Lizz’s.
“Finally they got what they deserved.” He smirked to himself.
~*~*~*~
No words were exchanged by the two male orderlies as they guided the cart
carrying Nick down the halls towards the “staff only” elevators. They were told
the prioriety of the situation and that they were under strict orders to do
only as told to do. If they complied, they would be benefited with payment of a
bonus.
The elevator car stopped. There was already a patient cart on board, a body
that was also draped with a plain white sheet. When the doors closed, the
orderlies switched places and the ones that were taking Nick were now in charge
of a newly deceased patient.
As instructed, one of the men punched the button to take them up to the 10th
floor. When the elevator stopped on 10, the new orderly took the cart carrying
Nick and pushed it off the elevator and down the hall towards the nurse’s
station desk.
~*~*~*~*~
As soon as Marcus witnessed Nick’s friends as well as his sheet covered body
leave the ICU room, he quickly left the security of the closet where he had
been hiding and took the stairs to the basement floor, towards the morgue.
He could feel the rush of adrenaline when he saw the elevator doors open and
then the two orderlies pushing the cart down the hall into the cold and dimly
lit morgue. A sick smile played across his lips. His plan was coming into
place, his mother would be proud of the revenge he had finally delivered.
~*~*~*~
The remainder of the group gathered in Brian’s room. No one spoke as Deizel
helped Brian out of the wheelchair back into his bed.
“Has anyone called Bob and Jane?” Howie asked, his voice thick with emotion.
“I’ll be taking care of that,” Kevin quickly replied as he helped Brian
straighten the blankets out on the bed.
“It’s all too real, this is a sick dream,” Lizz said softly, tears still
slipping down her cheeks.
“The FBI aren’t doing a damn thing about any of this Marcus bullshit from day
one. I’m taking the matter into my hands now! I’ll cap the asshole,” AJ
sputtered through his tears.
Brian shot a look at AJ which was intercepted by Howie.
“AJ, calm down, this isn’t the time or place man,” Howie quietly reprimanded.
AJ jumped up from his seat and immediately started to pace the floor. “This
isn’t right, my god, can’t you guys see this? He killed....him,” AJ
stammered, not willing to say the name ‘Nick’ “and now, as far as I’m
concerned, the asshole needs to pay and I’m gonna make sure he pays out
quickly.”
The phone ringing stopped AJ during his rambling. Kevin scooped the phone off
the hook.
“Yeah,” he grunted into the phone.
“I see Carter didn’t make it,” Marcus began.
Kevin felt chills go down his spine as he listened to Marcus’s voice on the
receiver.
“I don’t trust any of you asses, so here’s what I need now. I need proof that
he’s dead.”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed as he listened to the madman’s ravings. “Proof? How do
you suggest I go about that?”
“I want to see the body at the funeral home, in his box,” Marcus replied.
Kevin immediately felt sick to his stomach. “Don’t you think it would be a
little difficult since this will no doubt be a private viewing!”
“Just do it or I start making some selections on my next victim,” Marcus
replied sweetly. “I will be calling tomorrow to get the details on the funeral
home. Remember, no funny stuff or I take a fan or two out.”
Kevin didn’t bother saying goodbye, he quickly slammed the receiver back down
on the cradle. Brian looked up at his older cousin questionably.
Before Kevin could tell anyone what the phone call was about, the phone rang
again.
“Yeah,” Kevin stated crisply into the phone.
“Why? How did this happen?” a voice sobbed on the other end of the phone.
It took Kevin a few minutes to soothe one of the PR managers for the group.
They ended the call with setting up a time for a mini conference to address the
details about Nick’s death and to make sure it was handled well in the media.
“Conference thursday afternoon at 4,” Kevin said as he gently hung the phone
up.
~*~*~*~*~
Nurse Georgia Shell immediately grew nervous when she saw the cart coming down
the hall. She knew that this was that patient that she had received a call
about and that she was totally in charge of keeping the identity secret and
that she would be compensated for her actions.
“Room 430 please,” she requested as she gathered up the materials she would
need to make the changes for Nick, switching his identity in the hospital from
Carter, Nickolas G to Carpenter, Jack A.
The orderlies quickly took Nick down the the room and lowered the side rails
and moved the patient from the cart to his new assigned bed. Wordlessly, Nurse
Shell pulled out her scissors and snipped off the pale green hospital ID
bracelet and quickly slipped the new one on Nick’s wrist. She placed some other
identifying information into a heavy brown folder and handed over to one of the
men.
“Incenerate this immediately.”
Hooking up all the machines to the patient and stepping back to recheck every
lead, every wire, Nurse Shell decided that everything was now in order. The
patient was breathing at 94% with oxygen. He looked stable for the moment.
~*~*~*~
The day continued on in
pretty much the same nightmarish fashion. I wanted to know who had called a few
moments after we had reached Kevin’s room. There were two phone calls that had
come in a row, but the first one seemed to really shake Kevin up. Not to
mention he looked pissed. I had my suspicions, but I didn’t want to bring it up
though until I was totally aware of how this plan was going to work. And I
didn’t want to ask while Howie and AJ were still in the room since they didn’t
know.
AJ had finally calmed
down from his raging. He had finally lowered himself into a chair, defeated. He
put his hands over his face and stayed that way for a long time. Howie had sort
of stared off into space and he seemed to be in a state of shock. Kevin had
spent most of the rest of the day on the phone and temporarily disappearing
from the room.
Brian worried me the
most. He looked so lost. Granted, he knew that his best friend hadn’t really
died, but there were still a lot of unknowns and Nick wasn’t out of the woods
yet. Nick’s sats had dropped and just having surgery where his oxygen levels
were messed with already, was precarious. Not to mention, he was under strict
orders to be kept totally quiet at the risk of his voice being permanently
ruined. I was scared to death he was going to wake up alone and be scared to death.
He wouldn’t be in a familiar room and there wouldn’t be any familiar faces to
reassure him. Last, we were playing with fire anyway with this plan. One little
slip and Marcus would strike. An innocent fan? One of us?
When Kevin had returned
to the room once, he suggested that Howie, AJ and I go back to the hotel. They
both argued and I flat refused. Obviously Kevin didn’t know me well enough yet
to know that I wasn’t leaving Brian or Nick. Howie relented first, seeing that
is was the best plan. AJ was a little slower to agree, but after much
convincing, he did reluctantly. I still flat out refused and with a long sigh,
Kevin gave up.
I glanced at the clock on
the wall. 10:53. Normally I would be wide awake, but now I was exhausted. The
pain in my ribs lessened to a dull throbbing, but my headache remained. Brian
fared worse. His color never really returned and he had barely uttered two
words since this afternoon. We were now waiting for Kevin to get back in here.
He had gone to walk Howie and AJ to the elevators.
“Need anything?” I asked
softly to Brian.
“Nick.” Came the
soft reply.
“I know.” I said, hoping
my voice didn’t betray the emotion I felt. “He’s going to be okay.”
Brian nodded and offered
a smile more for my benefit.
“Lizz, I really wish you
would have gone with them.” Kevin admonished as he strolled back into the room.
“You need to take care of yourself.”
I shook my head. I was
the least of my concerns right now. “Why haven’t we heard anything about how he
is?”
“Haven’t you ever heard,
‘no news is good news’? Communication about that is incredibly risky. I’m sure
they would have told us if something had gone wrong.” Kevin assured.
“Why didn’t you tell AJ
and Howie the truth? That’s cruel.” I tried to keep the accusing tone out of my
voice, but I couldn’t help it. If it were me on the other side, I would have
freaked.
“I hate it as much as you
do, but what choice do we have? AJ can’t keep a secret worth anything. If we
told them the truth, their reaction might have ruined the plan. Nick and who
knows who else’s lives are at stake. You want to risk that?” Kevin reasoned.
I hung my head. “I know,
of course I don’t. I just...I mean, doesn’t this scare you? We are playing with
fire!” I looked up, staring Kevin in the eyes.
“Hell yes it scares me,
but what choice do we have?” Kevin threw his hands out.
“I know, I know. We don’t
really. We have to do whatever it takes.” I sighed.
Brian didn’t say a word
through the whole exchange. He was the one who came up with this brilliant
plan, but I knew he was frustrated at not being able to do more. He was always
there for Nick and now he couldn’t be. Not as much as he wanted to be.
The more I thought about
Nick being alone up there, the more I decided that that wasn’t going to work. I
couldn’t help but play out in my mind what could happen when he would wake up
and no one familiar would be there. I made up my might, I wasn’t going to let
that happen. If he had woken up already, we were screwed. What was important
now was that he stayed calm to protect his voice.
It was another hour
before Brian finally let himself fall asleep. Well, I don’t think he really let
himself because he was fighting it, but his overtired body won out. Kevin feel
asleep a little later with his book still in his hands. I made myself wait
another half hour to make sure they were asleep. It passed agonizingly slow,
but when it came, I was ready. I slipped out of the room and took the elevator
to the first floor. Then I followed the signs to the ER. I knew it was usually
hectic enough in there that I would be virtually unnoticed. I was right. No one
gave me a second glance as I ducked into a supply room and grabbed a pair of
blue scrubs. I grabbed a mask and surgical hat too. I shoved it all under my
shirt, making me look slightly pregnant, and went across the hall into a
bathroom. I changed quickly, ditching my jeans and teeshirt. I was wearing the
green sweatshirt Nick had gotten for me for the press conference and I knew I
couldn’t leave that behind so I tied it around my waist. The mirror revealed
the dark bruise under my eye and the cheekbone underneath. The bandage covering
the nice hole in my head that Marcus gave me when he clocked me with his gun
was easily covered by the hat. Now I looked like a med student.
The only thing I knew was
that Nick was on the seventh floor now. Getting to him might be tough. Again,
no one gave me a second look as I nonchalantly headed to the elevators and to
the seventh floor. This was sort of the overflow floor. Normally not used much,
but during winter seasons when there was a lot more illness this floor tended
to be a little more occupied. It was pretty slow now. I hesitated when I got
closer to the rooms. This was top secret, how did I think I would get in? And
how did I think I was going to find out where he was? I couldn’t just ask! I
finally decided to wander and try to peak in the rooms. At least I looked
legit. I went all down one hall with no luck. I made it to the end of the second
hall the same way, starting to feel discouraged. When I started to push open
one door, someone materialized at my side.
“Excuse me, can I help
you?” The nurse looked at me critically. Her name tag read Georgia Shell.
“Ah, yeah I am looking
for a patient.” I said, trying to sound confident.
“Name?”
“Uh...my name is uh-” I
started to stammer.
“The patient’s name.”
I thought hard. Why was
she nervous? Had I found Nick? “Actually I was a close friend of a patient that
died today. I was very concerned about a friend of his who is also admitted
here. I don’t really want him to be alone when he wakes up.” I said carefully.
Her eyes widened
somewhat. “I-I recognize you. You’re...”
I nodded. “Shhh. Can you
help me? My friend shouldn’t be alone.” I let the desperation sneak into my
voice.
She nodded and motioned
for me to follow her into the room that I had tried to go into. “Should I
expect anyone else?” She whispered.
“No!” I whispered back,
almost too harshly. “I’m sorry. No one else, though. And I wasn’t here either.”
She nodded. “He hasn’t
woken up yet, but he’s been trying to. I am glad you are here, actually.” She
gave me a small smile before disappearing again.
The room was dark and I
walked slowly over to the bed. Nick lay there, oxygen canula on, shifting
around slightly. I looked at all the monitors that were on and was relieved to
see that all the levels were normal. I sank down into a chair and took his hand
into mine. I let out a long shaky breath, relieved and scared at the same time.
Relieved that I was here with him, scared by everything else. I desperately
hoped he would be okay when he woke. Kevin was going to absolutely ream my ass
when he found out about this. Yes, there was a risk, but being here for Nick
overrided that. I started to formulate a plan. I knew it was going to be
impossible to sneak back and forth. Way too risky. I had two options. One being
I would have to keep my distance from Nick. There was no way that was going to
happen though. That left one other option.
Go into hiding too.
I could get plane tickets
and fly somewhere to make it look like I disappeared. Like I just had to get
away. Then, come back under an alias and stay with Nick. I had some friends
that had just moved to
My thoughts were
interrupted when Nick stirred again. I squeezed his hand gently and was
rewarded with a weak squeeze back. I gingerly sat on the edge of his bed and
waited for his eyes to open. I didn’t have to wait long.
*~*~*~*~*
My throat was searing like it was being stabbed repeatidly with thousands of
knives. I sucked a breath in, which was a huge mistake and I wanted to scream
out in agony but something inside of me prevented me from attempting it.
I slowly opened my eyes and waited for them to focus as I scanned the room. There
was a figure sitting at the edge of the bed and I guessed it correctly that it
was Lizz.
“Sh-h-h, don’t talk hon,” Lizz quietly directed.
I frowned at the request but then I suddenly remembered that I had chose the
option of having my vocal cords repaired after drinking the tainted water that
Marcus had provided for me. I also remembered that the doctor had told me that
I would more than likely have to keep quiet until he had given me a “green
light” to begin talking once again. I was anxious to find out if the surgery
was successful, but again I was scared that it may have failed.
Damn, I was so tired, I never would have guessed that I would be completely
whipped by this. There were so many questions I wanted to ask Lizz, Lucky for
me, she had that “telepathic link.”
“You really need to rest up, Nick, you’ve been through some hell.”
She understood the look I shot at her.
“Brian is doing fine, he sends his love,” Lizz replied.
That wasn’t good enough for me. I could tell that she had been stressing
herself over all of this and she looked like hell. I know that she hadn’t been
eating, let alone sleeping through any of this. God, she looked awful for me
just coming out of surgery.
My eyes caught a calendar that was hanging on the wall. The date made me do a
double take. Okay, my surgery was done on Friday, the 19th. Why in God’s name
did the calendar have Tuesday, the 23nd. Did they have me snowed under that
long?
Lizz’s eyes followed mine to the calendar. She again read my thoughts.
“Drugs are great, aren’t they?” she lied.
I managed a weak smile back. I didn’t agree 100% that this was the truth, but I
was too sleepy to fight it at the moment.
“That’s it Nick, rest, it’s what you need,” Lizz soothed as she held my hand in
hers.
~*~*~*~*~*~
“Just where the hell did Lizz take off to?” Kevin demanded of Brian as he paced
the room, stopping once to look out the window.
“Hopefully resting,” Brian replied. His voice was growing stronger each day and
his prayers were answered when he woke up this morning and had his voice back
almost to his full potential. His voice would waiver when he talked for
extended periods, but at least it was coming back to him thankfully to the
speech therapy he had been receiving.
“Somehow I don’t completely belive that,” Kevin sputtered. “Well, since AJ and
Howie haven’t made it here yet, I’m going to fill you in on all of the details
of what’s been set up for the conference and the other facts. I was hoping Lizz
would have been in here to hear this.”
Brian nodded solemnly.
“Okay, I made funeral arrangements at Repath and Jennings Funeral Home in
“How are you getting around that?” Brian asked.
“It’s all been taken care of,” Kevin replied, glancing at his watch.
“The best of the best in the world that does wax figures did a body image of
Nick and I hate to say it, it looks so damned realistic, it’s spooky. You’re gonna
swear it’s him in that casket.”
Brian swallowed nervously.
“Okay, the “funeral” has been set up for this Thursday at
“Oh god, that must have been hard to do,” Brian replied.
“It was, Jane about lost it completely when I talked to her, but I managed to
calm her down before she got hysterical. They backed you up with your plan
Brian. They said it was the only way to protect Nick and anyone else from getting
hurt.”
Brian nodded, relieved that his parents would see it that way as well. He was
still worried about how Nick was coming out of all of this, if he was coming
out of this.
A quiet tap on the door, stopped Kevin from continuing outlining the plans.
“Yeah, it’s open,” Kevin stated.
Lizz popped her head around the door, and slowly emerged, dressed in wrinkled
hospital scrubs. “Hi,” she stated, her voice shaky from nerves.
Kevin immediately narrowed his eyes at her. “Where the hell have you been,
dressed like that!?”
Lizz flinched as the booming of Kevin’s voice assualted her ears.
“Oh god, you didn’t” he added quickly when he detected her nervousness.
“Don’t be mad at me Kevin, it was something I had to do,” Lizz defended.
“I’ve gone out of my way buying people off, making plans and ironing out
details and you go and do that just because you HAD TO?”
“No, Kevin, it’s okay, Nick’s nurse is cool with this,” Lizz replied, tears
starting to well up in her eyes.
“Kev, back down, she’s only trying to help here,” Brian came to her defense.
“If anything goes belly up on this, it’s your fault,” Kevin growled.
Brian shot a dirty look at Kevin after the remark was made. “Don’t let him get
to you, it’s been rough for all of us.”
Lizz nodded slightly.
“So, anyway, how is Nick?” Brian asked cautiously.
Lizz’s face brightened through her tears. “Pissed that he can’t talk!”
“Oh god, that’s the best news I’ve had all morning,” Brian softly chuckled. “No
side effects from the carbon?”
“Nope, he’s ornery so he’s all good,” Lizz smiled.
“Okay, now I can fill you in on the press conference before Howie and AJ show
up,” Kevin interrupted.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick’s family pulled into the parking lot of the funeral home, as Kevin pulled
up behind them with AJ, Howie and Lizz. This was the plan that Kevin had set up
for them just in case Marcus would be scoping out the funeral home. The actual
arrangements were made from
The sounds of the awful piped in music added to the dregery of the situation.
Lizz could see out the corner of her eye a oak casket far away in a large room.
As they neared the entrance, she felt her stomach turn in knots.
’This isn’t Nick,” Lizz kept repeating to herself mentally. From far
away, her heart did a leap as she saw the wax mannequin dressed in a dark blue
shirt and patterned tie laying in the casket. As they neared the body, she felt
her heart catch in her throat. As much as she tried to convince herself that
this wasn’t Nick, she couldn’t push it past that thought. This looked like a
ringer for Nick....a dead ringer.
Nick’s parents had been told that this was all a staged death, Lizz wasn’t sure
about his sisters and brother by their reactions. AJ and Howie weren’t any
better.
After thirty minutes elapsed, the final test came into the room.
Marcus.
Kevin narrowed his eyes at the man that had caused all of this unwanted pain
and suffering. Suprizingly, Marcus had managed to clean himself up halfway
decently but his hair was still obviously greasy and combed back, the comb
marks leaving a trail from his forehead all the way down towards the back of
his dirty neck.
The true test came as Marcus approached the casket. No one in the room had
thought to touch the mannequin and Marcus appeared to be checking all the
details, the scars on Nick’s finger and his forehead, all recreated from photos
Kevin provided.
Kevin’s breath caught as Marcus reached down and touched the hands and then
sickly patted them.
“Farewell my friend,” Marcus softly said to “Nick.”
“Who the hell is that dude?” AJ whispered to Kevin.
“An old manager of Nick’s,” Kevin lied.
AJ bought the lie as he remained seated. Something about the man bothered AJ,
but he couldn’t remember where he had seen him. He decided since he had been
one of Nick’s manager’s, then that was probably where he had seen him before.
Marcus gave his respects to Nick’s parents and then quietly asked Kevin to step
out of the room with him. They barely got out the front door when Marcus pulled
out a cigarette and lit it, taking a deep drag from it.
“I really didn’t believe you at first, but now that I’ve seen it with my own
two eyes, I can relax. Carter is dead, his debt has been paid off,” Marcus
smirked.
Kevin could feel the bile rise in his throat. Marcus absolutely sickened him.
“But, I still want to see your conference this afternoon too. I am going to see
if my momma can watch it in prision,” Marcus’s face soured.
~*~*~*~*~
I woke up alone and bored. I grabbed the remote for the TV and decided to do
some channel surfing. I stopped at Mtv, decided that was better entertainment
than any soap opera could ever provide.
I was so damn bored I was doing all the typical things you do laying in a
hospital bed, counting the square tiles on the ceiling, 326 in this room, and
staring at the door hoping someone would come in and visit to relieve the
boredom.
I looked at the six IV bags that were hanging on the IV pole, wondering what
each of them were for. Bored with that, I flipped my ID bracelet around.
Carpener, Jack A.
I rubbed my eyes and then read it a second and then a third time. What the heck
was this about? Then an annoucement blasted over Mtv News:
”Kevin Richardson from the Backstreet Boys has set up a press conference
this afternoon at four. Mtv will have live, exclusive coverage from the
hospital.”
I immediately was wondering if something awful had happened to Brian, and I was
feeling the panic rise in my chest, forgetting about the weird name on the ID
bracelet. Then something was flashed on the screen that made my heart stop. I
was a picture of me with my name centered at the bottom and 1980 - 2001.
~*~*~*~*~
Never again. Funerals were something I was accustomed to, but this, this was
different. Of course, the major detail being that this wasn’t really Nick, it
was still different. I kept having to tell myself over and over that it wasn’t
him. Seeing his family and AJ and Howie react the way they did was
heart-wrenching. There were other people that I didn’t recognize there and they
were all in tears. I’m glad Brian wasn’t here.
Kevin sat one one side of me and AJ sat on the other. Kevin had informed me in
not-so-nice terms that I was not to leave his sight. After his verbal lashing,
I was not about to try anything...yet.
I don’t know what possessed me to look inside the casket. I never wanted to see
the person’s body because I prefered to remember them as they were when they
were alive. Maybe it was because I knew it wasn’t really Nick in that casket.
Plus it was sort of a morbid curiosity. After seeing it though, I sorta wished
I hadn’t. It scared the ever-loving shit outta me. Then I saw a familiar figure
walk up to the casket and my whole body tensed. I glanced at Kevin out of the
corner of my eye and saw that he was watching Marcus too. AJ leaned in front of
me to ask Kevin who that was and I held my breath. Kevin told him that it was
one of Nick’s managers and AJ leaned back in the pew, watching Marcus still.
When Marcus leaned over to touch “Nick” I started to get up, my blood boiling.
Kevin immediately put his hand on my knee, making me sit back down. He shook
his head and gave me a look.
I watched after everyone filed out as Marcus pulled Kevin aside. I tried not to
act interested, but I wanted to know what was going on now. Kevin walked back
over to where AJ, Howie and I were standing. He looked mad, but I knew better
than to say something at the moment.
“Okay, this is what’s going to happen. Lizz and I are going to go get Brian if
you two want to check back in at the hotel and get your bearings. Be at the
conference room at
Kevin didn’t say