Kevin watched as he opened his eyes. He was standing in a photo studio. Looking to his left, he saw Howie against the far wall,standing with two of the models wearing matching outfits. He was dressed in nice gray slacks and a white turtleneck,his hair curling around his face. Howie's cell-phone rang,and he stepped away from the group to answer it.As he talked, his smile faded. Kevin heard Nick's angry voice on the other end of the line,and he heard Nick say Brian's name. Then Howie clicked the phone shut and sighed.

Kevin was catapulted across town to a small studio. AJ was standing at the mic, the smooth rhythm of a rap song escaping his throat. When the guy behind the window called cut, AJ gave an angry groan.

"Can we take it from the top,AJ?," the guy behind the window called. AJ rubbed his temples and sighed,"Yeah,go ahead...crank it up."
AJ redid the song, and just as the guy behind the window gave him the thumbs up,the phone rang. AJ grabbed it. Again,Kevin heard Nick's voice. He also heard Brian's name.As he turned to ask Celeste what was going on, she asked him to close his eyes. Suddenly, he was standing with Howie and AJ at Nick's old house. He could hear shouting inside.Kevin followed the two boys into the house. Brian and Nick were standing on opposite sides of the livingroom. Brian had a beer bottle in his hand, and Nick was shouting at him.

"Look at you! Look at who you turned into! I don't even know you anymore!," Nick screamed. Howie took a step forward,but AJ stopped him.
"We all care about you,and you can't see that! It makes me sick to come back home to this! Is this what you're gonna do with the rest of your life?," Nick shouted. Brian started to open the beer bottle, but Nick pulled it from his hands.
"There won't be any more of this.You're getting help right now,while there is still help out there for you," Nick said. AJ and Howie stepped forward. "Brian,you can't keep doing this to yourself. We all hurt when Kev died... but we moved on.Now you need to do that,too," AJ said quietly.

"Oh yeah?," Brian asked,his eyes filling with tears,"What if I don't want to?Can you make me? He died! He left us here to deal with all those fans! It killed them like it killed us,and we had to answer to it! YOU GUYS made the call that finished the group! It wasn't what Kevin would've wanted! You just decided it was best for all of YOU!! What about what I wanted? That didn't matter to any of you! AND NOW YOU WANNA HELP ME?!?! GET OUT!," Brian screamed.

"Brian,that was years ago....,"Howie said, but Brian gave him a look that shut him up."You guys didn't ask me if that was what I wanted.You assumed it was,because you just couldn't live with yourselves anymore. You wanted to do your own thing,and it was almost like Kevin's death gave you that opportunity," he said. The room fell silent as Kevin and Celeste looked on,horrified. She put her hand on Kevin's arm.

Then they watched as Brian stormed past Howie and AJ, into the yard out by the water. Nick followed slowly behind him.

"Brian,we can't fix what happened to Kevin.We can't change it. But you have to get help .You're throwing your life away.You talk all the time about what Kevin would've wanted for us...what about for you? You think he'd like how you're treating yourself right now?," Nick asked.

Brian turned to him,tears streaming down his face,"As if he cares.He's gone."

Nick looked into Brian's eyes and saw that friend he'd found years ago.The one he played video games with,had silly arguments with, and goofed off with. The one person who he considered closer to his heart than anybody else.His older brother...his friend....his life. He looked at Brian and told him, "Brian,if you don't get help.....I can't help you. I can't let you live here,and I can't deal with you anymore.This has nothing to do with this house,or my car, or your money. This has to do with you. I'm not going to stick around and watch you put yourself in the ground with Kevin. I lost one brother...and I won't lose another one."

As Brian turned his back on Nick, his shoulders began to tremble. Then he felt Nick's hand on his shoulder and the two boys hugged. As they walked back towards the house,Kevin saw the faintest smile appear on Brian's tired and pale face. He felt as if his heart would explode with emotion.

"What just happened?," he asked,turning to Celeste.She smiled,wiping tears from her eyes. "You fixed it. You saw what happened in that house... and every thought you had just now played out right here. Brian is going to get help because you led the others back to him. But we have to go now.The end is closer for you,and you have a decision to make....,"

Kevin has a decision to make now. Will he live,or will he die? What will happen once his decision is made? Find out in the next chapter.

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