AJ smiled as he walked out onto the stage for the first time at yet another BSB concert. He was welcomed by screams that echoed through the arena. As he looked out at the crowed, he was still amazed by the fact that he and the guys had gotten so far.
"NEW YORK," he simply yelled sending all the girls into a frenzy. He smiled even harder as he continued to look through the audience. "It's great to finally be playing here in New York City in Madison Square Garden!"
"Hey, AJ man...," Nicks voice came sending the crowed once again into a frenzy, "Come on and give the rest of us a chance to say something," he said appearing on the stage next to AJ. He laughed as he looked into the audience to see the reactions of all the fans who had been waiting for them to come out.
"Come on, I just came out here, I wanted to talk to all the lovely New York ladies."
"Yeah well so did the rest of us."
"Alright, go ahead Nicky," AJ said stepping aside.He laughed as he heard Nick tell the audience to scream, all the girls happily did so. Sending screams through out the whole arena.
*Later That Night*
The guys took their final bows as their first night in New York came to an end. The show had gone over with out a problem and they were glad that everything had gone as planned. They would be back the next night to play for another sold out crowd.
"Hey AJ, we're gonna go out and hang for a while," Nick said, "wanna come with us?"
"Nah, that's alright. I'm tired, I want to get some sleep," he answered.
"Alright, your loss man."
"Whatever," AJ said walking towards his hotel room. He sighed as he fumbled with the keys to the door. The show had really taken a lot out of him tonight and he couldn't wait to just lay back and relax. AJ dropped his head onto his pillow and just as he was about to fall asleep he heard a noise at the door. It wasn't a knock, but it was rather suspisious. He shot up from his bed and looked over towards the door. He got up from the bed and slowly began to walk towards the door. AJ stopped when he heard a loud noice outside of the door and knew that something wasn't right.
Seconds later AJ arrived at the door and looked out of the peep hole. He looked around the hallway but couldn't see anything. There was no way that this was just his imagination. Something had happened out there. Against his better judgement, he decided to open the door and to peer out into the hallway. The silence that filled the hallway was deafing. He stepped out of his room and began to slowly walk down the hallway. Keeping his guard up with every step he took.
Not sure what to expect, he continued to walk down the hallway. AJ took a deep breath when the reached the area of the hallway that lead into another section of the floor. Quickly, he stepped to see if anyone was there. He let out a sigh of relief when he didn't see anyone. It was probably a fan who had lost their bravery he tried to convince himself. With sleep still evident in his eyes, be began his journey back to his room when he felt something hit the back of his head. As soon as it happened he was laying on the floor face down and unconcious.
A little while later Nick, Brian and Howie were returning from their night out. In the lobby, the rung for the elevator and waited, talking about what had gone on while they were out. There had been a fight between this guy and girl. Aparently, the female had been cheating and the male had caught her in the act that night. When the elevator reached their floor, they got off and turned the corner.
"Oh my god," Brian shouted as he saw AJ laying on the floor bleeding, "call 911." Nick instantly grabbed his cell phone and called emergency. "AJ, can you hear me?" Brian said shaking AJ, trying to get him to wake up.
"Is he alive?" Howie asked.
"Yeah, he's still breathing," Brian said, "Nick are they on their way?"
"Yeah, they are gonna be here in 3 to 4 minutes the lady said," Nick answered kneeling down next to Brian who was at AJ's side.
"I can't believe this," Brian said looking at AJ, "Howie, go check his room and see if anything was taken, it might have been a robbery."
"Alright," Howie said taking off for AJ's room and disappearing inside the door.
"What are we suposed to do?" Nick asked looking at Brian.
"I really don't know."
"Almost everything is gone," Howie said storming out of AJ's room, "whoever it was, they took a lot."
"Shit, you'd think....," Nick said with his voice trailing off.
"What?" Brian asked.
"I don't know. I mean what kind of person would do this?" he asked, upset.
"Someone who knew who he was and knew that he probably had something valueable," Brian explained, "it's sad to say, but that's what happened to the world today."
"Someone tell us what happened," a man said, the guys looked over and saw of one the men from the ambulance.
"We really don't know. When we got here, he was like this," Brian explained.
"Okay, the police are on their way up, they are going to ask you some questions," the guy said while his partners went to work getting AJ onto the streacher.
"Yeah, okay," Brian said as he watched the guys take AJ on the streacher into the elevator.
"Can I go to the hospital with you?" Nick asked before the guys left.
"Yeah alright," the man said and Nick walked onto the elevator.
"I'll see you guys there," Nick said.
"Yeah, I'm going to go get Kevin," Howie said heading off towards Kevins room. Brian only looked on as Howie went to the room and never looked back. Brian slid against the wall and slowly dropped to the floor. He put his head in his hands in disbelief.
"Sir," someone said causing Brian to look up, "I'm here to ask you a few questions."
"Okay officer. I really don't know what happened though."
"That's alright, just tell me what you do know and what you saw."
"When me and Howie came up here, he was laying on the floor, he was bleeding and unconsious."
"Do you know if anything is missing from his room?"
"Howie said that almost everything that he had of value was gone," Brian explained.
"Where is this Howie fellow?" the officer asked.
"He went to get my cousin. He's gonna be right back."
"Brian.." Howie called.
"That's him," Brian said.
"Sir," the officer said pulling Howie to the side, "Can you tell me what you discovered to be missing from the victims room."
"Yeah," Howie said beginning to explain what was missing.
"Man, are you alright?" Kevin asked.
"No not really," Brian confessed, "This shouldn't have happened."
"Were's Nick?" Kevin asked.
"He went to the hospital. Me and Howie were going to get you before we went."
"Okay, I'm gonna go get dressed while Howie's talkin to the officer I'll be right back alright Bri?"
"Yeah."
Howie walked over towards Brian who was sitting on the floor leaning against the wall, "It's going to be alright. When AJ gets better, maybe he can tel us who it was. Knowing him, he probably went after whoever it was and that's why he's out here."
"Yeah probably," Brian said softly, "AJ was always a fighter huh?"
"And he still is. He's gonna pull through," Howie said.
"Let's go," Kevin said walking towards them. Howie offered Brian his hand. Brian took it and pulled himself up. Howie walked towards the elevator while Brian stood back, just trying to take the whole thing in. He took a deep breath and joined the guys at the elevator. They boarded the elevator and went down in silence. There was really nothing that they could say to each other. All of them were still trying to believe that this had really happened in the first place.
When the elevator stopped, the guys headed through the lobby and outside and around to the back where Kevins car was parked. Without one word being spoken, the three of them got into the car and went off to the hospital. The silence in the car was only broken by an occasinal cough. Brian looked out of the back window where he was sitting,dazed by everything, he just stared out into nothing.
"Bri," Kevin said after a while, "where here." Brian looked over at him and got out of the car. He looked over at the hospital and hoped that this was all just a nightmare. This just wasn't possible. Someone should have been there to help him and get whoever did this. How could this person have gotten by security? There was body-guards all over the hotel, this person shouldn't have been able to get as far as they did.
Kevin asked the woman behind the counter where AJ was at that moment. She responded with informing them that he was in serguery to help close up the wond on his head. His head had been opened up pretty badly and he was taken there upon arrivel. They were directed towards a waiting room where they were told that Nick was waiting and where the doctors would be heading when the surgery was complete.
The three of them began to walk towards where the lady had told them. Still there were no words spoken to one another. As they went through all of the twists and turns of the hallway, the realization of what had happened hit them all. It was as if being there made it real. When they were still at the hotel, it was easy to act like this hadn't happened, but being here, made the horrible truth a reality.Nick shot up when he saw them walk into the waiting room. He looked at them and knew that they couldn't believe it, just as he didn't.
"He's in the operating room," Nick told them softly.
"We know," Kevin said, "we talked to the nurse up front. Have you talked to any doctors yet?"
"No, they just told me that I had to wait here so this is where I've been, waiting."
"Did they say how long it would be?" Nick shook his head and sat back down. Brian walked over and sat down on the oppisite end of the room while Kevin and Howie sat with Nick. Brian sighed as he continued to wonder why this had to happen. AJ didn't desirve this in no way at all. When you looked past his 'bad boy' image, he was really a great guy, and a great friend.
"Did you talk to his mom yet?" Kevin asked.
"Yeah, she's trying to get a plane ticket for the first plane out," Nick explained.
"How'd she take it?"
"She couldn't believe it. She was near tears, I could hear it on her voice. I hated to be the one that had to tell her," he confessed, "I could hardly believe what I was telling her, it was like it wasn't real."
"We all know that feeling," Howie told Nick. Nick looked over at him and didn't know what to say next. There were no words to begin to explain what he felt and what he thought. Nick turned his stare over to Brian who hadn't said anything and was sitting alone.
"You alright Bri?" Nick asked.
"Not at all. I can't believe this."
"None of us can. It's unreal," Nick told him.
"What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit here and do nothing."
"We're just as helpless as you are. There's nothing that we can do either. We just have to wait Brian. It fucking sucks, I know, but there isn't anything that we can do," Nick said.
"Nick calm down," Kevin said, "Brian, Nick is right. There isn't anything that we can do. We've just got to wait."
"I'm sorry guys. I'm just a little out of my mind," he apologised.
"It's alright," Nick said.
"How long do you think it's going to take to hear something?" Brian asked.
"I don't know," Kevin said, "whenever they know something new I guess."
"Don't you think that they should send someone to tell us how things are going? We have that right you know?" Brian said.
"I don't know what to tell you," Kevin said, "they know that we're here and they are going to come when they have something to tell us."
"I think they have something to tell us. Like weather or not that he's alive!" Brian shouted at Kevin.
"Calm down," Kevin said softly, "He's alright or they would have said something to us already. Okay? You need to just calm down and relax. I know that you're upset but it's not going to help you if you take it out on us. We're in the same situation that you are and we have the same feelings. Don't make things any worse than they already are alright?"
"Sorry," Brian said softly, "I don't know what's gotten into me."
"That's okay," Kevin said, "just relax man."
"I'll try."
"Gentalmen," a female voice said. The guys looked over and saw a doctor.
"Yes?" Kevin said.
"I've got some good news. He's gonna make it. The damage wasn't as bad as we had orignially thought so there won't be any permanate damage done other than a scar," she told them.
"That's amazing," Brian said, "Can we talk to him?"
"Sure," she said, "lets go." The guys got up and began to follow the doctor through the hallways. She seemed to know her way around which was good because Brian knew that they would have gotten lost other wise. When they reached AJ's room, she let them in and left.
"Shit," Nick said looking at AJ. The surgery that was just done was obvious from where they stood. His head was bandaged up and he was still sleeping. Brian walked over to the bed and looked at AJ.
"Do you think he can hear us?" Brian asked with the realization that this happened finally hitting him.
"I don't know," Nick said, "How long do you think he's going to be out?"
"I have no idea," Kevin said, "It could be hours, days even."
"Well at least that way his mom can be here when he wakes up," Brian said.
"Yeah," Howie said, "Just look at him, I can't believe that someone would do something like this."
"I can't believe that whoever did it got by security," Brian said, "Someone should have caught him before this happened to AJ."
"This guy probably knew what he was doing. He could have planning something like this for a while and tonight just happened to be the night that he carried it out," Nick commented.
"You're telling me that this guy might have been sitting at home thinking this out? That's just sick," Brian replied.
"That's most likely. It wasn't like this person just got lucky when he got up there. There is no way that this was a spur of the moment type thing. There had to have been some planning. Maybe it wasn't directed towards AJ, but maybe towards someone else and AJ stopped it from happening," Kevin added, "That would make him a hero don't you think?"
"I guess. It's just hard to believe that there are people out there who have nothing better to do than try and kill someone for a few bucks. Less and less people are beginning to care," Brian said.
"No," Howie said, "A lot of people care, there are just those few that only bring hurt. Don't think that just because of this, everyone is a bad person."
"It's just now how are we supposed to feel safe? If this could happen to AJ, it can happen to anyone," Brian thought.
"Think about this," Kevin said, "You know as well as I do that AJ is the take action kinda guy. He probably thought that someone was in trouble and went out to see what was wrong. If it was me or you, we would more likely just stay out of it and you know that. He was probably doing the right thing."
"What if that wasn't it? What if he was just going into his room? Then he wouldn't have been guilty of anything," Brian commented.
"Brian, what are you going to do? It's not like you can go back and prevent this. It's done, it happened. I know that's hard to accept, even as I look at him, I can't believe it," Kevin confessed, "but it did and we can't take these things in our own hands. We have to leave it to the police and let them do their jobs."
"I wasn't going to do anything, I was just saying," Brian said softly.
"We'll find out what happened when he wakes up," Kevin said, "but for now all we can do is wait until then."
"If he had just gone with us," Nick suddenly said.
"But he didn't. He didn't want to. You can't change that," Kevin told him.
"Yeah, I guess," Nick said.
"This isn't anyone's fault you know?" Kevin told them, "we don't need to put the blame on anyone."
*Later That Night*
Brian sat in the waiting room of the hospital with the guys. AJ's mom had come but AJ still hadn't awaken. She was still in there with him hoping that he would wake up and talk to her. They had decided to leave her alone with him while she waited for him to wake up and she promised that she would get them as soon as he did.
"Brian I came as soon as I heard," Leighanne said running into the waiting room and straight towards Brian, "What happened?"
"We really don't know," Brian told her, "AJ hasn't waken up yet so that he can tell us."
"Is he going to be alright?"
"Yeah, he just had minor sergury to close his wond, but the doctor said that he should be fine," he answered.
"The news said nothing about sergury. They didn't make it sound as serious as it really was."
"That's because we didn't release all the details. He's gonna be fine so their is no need to make everyone worried."
"I think everyone is worried regardless. What are you going to do about tonights show? You guys still going to go on with it?"
"We don't know yet, that hasn't come up. We're more worried about AJ."
"I guess after you talk to him you can make a decision."
"Maybe, but if we do go on, he won't be there. I just say we hold off all of the shows until he's better," Brian told her.
"I don't blame you, I would do the same," she said then paused, "is his mom here?"
"Yeah, she's in there with him."
"How is she? How'd she take it?"
"She was pretty upset and I'm sure that she still is. We're all upset about it."
"What do you know about what happened?"
"Not much. He had taken a pretty nasty blow to the back of his head. Some stuff from his room is gone. I couldn't believe it when, Howie, Nick and I got up there. I had Nick call 911 from his cell phone while I went to see if AJ was still breathing. There was blood everywhere, I didn't know what to do so I stayed there at his side trying to see if he would wake up or something, he didn't and I've been waiting ever since," he said emotionally. She just looked at Brian then looked around the room. She saw Nick sleeping on the couch, he was the only one who was able to sleep. Howie and Kevin were talking to each other in the other corner of the room. Then she looked back at Brian.
"It's gonna be alright," she said taking his hand, "everything is going to be fine."
"I hope so," he said.
Chapter 2
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