Chapter 24
“Well, I’m going to bed now, babe,” Leighanne said,
yawning.
“Okay. Night,
honey,” Brian said. “I’m gonna go get
Nick ready, and then I’ll be up.”
“Okay, sweetheart,” Leighanne replied, heading upstairs.
Brian stood up, stretching, and headed into Nick’s
room.
“Hey, Frack.
Bedtime,” he said, pulling Nick’s pajamas out of his dresser drawer.
When he turned back to Nick, he saw Nick’s gaze fixed on
the TV that was playing softly. He
turned to the TV and saw that their own video, “The Call” was playing on
MTV.
“That’s us, Nicky,” he murmured softly. “Back in the good ole days. Remember?”
He glanced at Nick to see that he was still staring at the
TV screen. Did Nick realize that he was
watching himself? Did he have any memory
of those days? Or was it all just a
simple source entertainment for him?
Brian sighed, wishing he knew what was going on in Nick’s
mind. Would he ever know?
***
One week
later
Marissa entered the living room, dropped her books in a
heap on the floor and flopped down onto the couch, worn out from a stressful
day at school. She turned on the TV to
find TRL coming back from a commercial break.
“Welcome back to TRL.
It’s a beautiful spring day here in New York, but unfortunately, the
news we’re about to hear is nothing close to beautiful. Here’s John Norris with more,” Carson said.
“Thanks, Carson,” John replied. “At a press conference yesterday afternoon,
the Backstreet Boys made the announcement that they are breaking up, due to the
car accident over three months ago, which left youngest member Nick Carter
severely injured. His recovery has not
progressed as well as was hoped, and the other four members collectively made
the decision that they could not continue without their fifth member. Here’s more.”
The screen switched to a shot of the Backstreet Boys at the
press conference the previous day.
“It’s been months since the accident, and we’ve all been
waiting around to see how Nick’s recovery would go. Unfortunately, the injuries Nick suffered in
the collision were very severe, and although they are no longer
life-threatening, Nick suffers from permanent brain damage that will prevent
him from further making music with the group.
The rest of us feel that it would not be right to keep going as a group
without Nick, and so we’ve made the decision to drop out of the music
business,” Kevin stated.
“This was a very hard decision to make, but it was one that
needed to be made. Even though we’ve
broken up as a music group, we’ll always be close friends with each other. To the fans, we’re very sorry about all of
this, but we know that you’ll understand,” Howie said.
“Thanks for sticking with us throughout the years and for
being there for us in these last few months, which have been the hardest of our
lives. We will always appreciate your
support,” Brian said sincerely.
“Thanks for keeping the Backstreet Pride alive,” AJ
said. “Peace.”
The screen went back to the TRL studio.
“Sad news for the Bsb fans and for the music world,” Carson
said.
“Yes. Yes, it is,”
John agreed.
“Before we get into the number six video, we’ve set up a little
tribute to the Boys, made up of some video clips and MTV appearances we’ve
collected throughout the years. We’ll
get right into that now,” Carson said, as the screen changed again.
Marissa felt tears rise in her eyes as she watched the
pictures of the Backstreet Boys flash by in a nostalgic collage. Because of her stupid decision, their
successful career was over. She had
shattered their lives.
***
