Chapter
22
After twenty minutes of letting out all of their dammed up hurt and
anger, the boys slowly calmed down one by one. Howie was the first one to dare
break the silence,
"Um hey guys maybe we should go see Brian before visiting hours
are over with." The rest of the guys slowly nodded their heads and got out
of their seats.
When A.J. reached for the
doorknob, he slowly opened the door. When he was sure the coast was clear with
no fans around he stepped out into the well lit hall and walked slowly towards
room 220 as the remaining Backstreet Boys followed him.
"Room 216, Room 218, Aha here it is!" mumbled A.J. to
himself. He stopped in front of a small room that had the door closed. "Well, I guess this is it guys. Let’s
knock first and see if he is awake and if he doesn’t respond we will just walk
in, ok?" asked A.J.
The only response he got was a simple nod of the other guy’s heads; it
seemed as they were afraid to speak and break the silence that the hospital
possessed beyond the beeping of various machines and the occasional screams of
pain.
A.J. raised his shaky hand and made a fist before he knocked on the
door. The guys patiently waited a few moments for a reply. When they received
none they all looked at each other with scared expression on their faces.
"I know this will be difficult guys, but Rok needs us. Let’s go in
there and let him know we are here for him. I know if I was in there, I would
want to know that people were supporting me." stated Howie thoughtfully.
A.J., Kevin, and Nick looked at the floor in shame; they hadn’t thought
about that and they knew Howie was right. A.J. slowly cleared his throat and
said, "Yeah you are right D. Sorry about that, let’s go in here and see
Bri now." A.J. then took a deep breath and raised his still shaky hand to
the doorknob. He felt his fingers close over the knob and slowly turn it.
The door opened softly and
quietly and one by one the guys walked in the room, scared about what they
would find before them. Since it was so dark in the room, they turned on the
lights. Light slowly filled the room and it took a few seconds for their eyes
to adjust. When they looked towards the bed in the small room, they all gasped
out in shock.