Date: Sun, 26 Dec 1999 03:45:54 -0800 (PST) From: Billy Burrew <billy_burrew@yahoo.com> Subject: A Christmas Carol (chapters 5 and 6) A Christmas Carol '99 By Billy Burrew Disclaimer: As usual, I would like to comment that this story is purely fictional and that it is no reflection on the sexual orientation of any of the members of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys or their estranged manager, Lou Pearlman. Please read this and enjoy it for what I intended it to be, an entertaining story Chapter 5: The Present and The Future "Let's take a look at a scene from the present then, if the past is too painful to bear.", Patrick said as the gray mists around them reformed and dispersed and Lou and Patrick found themselves at the party the guys all attended the night before after Patrick had visited them. Lance and Justin lay quietly on the sofa, their arms wrapped around each other, and Lance's head resting in the crook of Justin's neck. JC and Mike sat on the floor beside the sofa, JC sat behind Mike and had his arms wrapped around his shoulders and neck and Mike leaned back into JC's chest. JC looked down and smiled, leaning his head down and kissing Mike on top of his head. Chris and Joey sat on another sofa towards the back of the room, quietly watching TV together, both smiling slightly as they held each other's hand, unknown and unseen by everyone else in the room, save the two spirits. Howie and AJ sat quietly together, chatting quietly with each other and Lynn Harless. Kevin sat alone in a chair, his true emotions hidden behind his solemn poker face. Nick sat on the loveseat with Brian, his head down and a sad look on his face. Brian looked over to Nick and sighed, seeing him so depressed. Brian took Nick's hand and interlaced their fingers together. Nick looked up and Brian smiled, leaning over and giving Nick a peck on the lips. "Merry Christmas Nicky", Brian said then he pulled Nick into a tight, warm embrace. "Brian", Nick said quietly, "I....I love you too." Brian's eyes lit up and he kissed Nick again with greater passion. "I love you." Lou watched silently, his face a mask of shame as he saw the young boys that he violated having such a hard time at happiness...and mostly because of him. Lou shook his head and again the scene vanished.....turning again to a gray mist. "Spirit...Patrick", Lou asked, "What was the point in showing me that scene. What bearing does that have on me?" Patrick's eyes narrowed slightly, "You needed to see who was involved with whom at this time...so that the future would make some kind of sense to you." "The future. That is what you will show me next?", Lou asked apprehensively. "Yes. I am to show you the way the future looks if you continue down your present path.", Patrick said slowly to Lou. "These are images of what will be, but are only as permanent as you wish to make them." The mists began to swirl, turning darker suddenly, then parting to see the bright lights of a casino. "Where are we?", Lou asked as he looked around. "Caesar's Palace, circa 2025.", Patrick replied then escorted Lou into a room. Minutes later, the door slammed open and in staggered a middle aged hugely obese, drunken man dressed in a skin tight baby blue jump suit. "God", the man slurred, "I gotta find my shit. I'm on in ten minutes." The man began to paw through his bags until he let out a small yell and produced a small box. "Spirit", Lou said as his eyes looked over the scene, "Tell me this isn't who I think this is." "C'mon Justin old boy...", the man said as he looked into the mirror and popped a few pills, "Just make it through tonights performance." "Oh my God!", Lou said quietly, "This is horrible. Justin has turned into Elvis's fat twin." "But wait", Patrick said sullenly, "Let's watch him perform. This is one night you don't wanna miss....it's the last night of his performance." Lou blinked and found himself standing on the side of a stage, as Justin stood performing, rather badly, some of the new solo stuff he had done in the last 15 years as well as renditions of some NSYNC numbers. "Spirit...where are the other members of the band...what happened to them in this future?", Lou asked quietly. "The band lost their case to you. You took their name, their money and ruined them.", Patrick said solemnly, "After bankruptcy, Justin had a short lived solo career and now he is basically a has been hanger-on, living day to day with his drug and alcohol problems and living off his job as a lounge singer." As his performance of God Must Have Spent finished, Justin turned to walk off stage and collapsed. Lou watched in horror as the casino EMT's tried in vain to revive him, but the combination of drugs and alcohol he had taken was too great. Justin Timberlake was dead at age 45. The scene faded suddenly then Patrick and Lou found themselves on the side of a highway. As they stood, Lou watched a sports car weave towards them and then into the middle of the highway. Lou yelled as the car sped towards the support of an overhead bridge, hitting it full on at near 80 miles per hour. Lou ran towards the car and looked through the window at the passengers inside. Lou gasped as he realized that there were two men trapped inside the car. Lou turned to ask Patrick who they were and the car exploded in a ball of flame. A tear fell down Patrick's face as Patrick threw a newspaper at Lou's feet. The headline read, "NSYNC boys go out with a bang. Fatone and Kirkpatrick die in drunk driving car crash!" "Chris and Joey", Lou cried, falling to his knees. The scene turned to gray again and Lou sat sobbing quietly. "What of JC and that Mike fellow?", Lou asked hopefully. Patrick shook his head and began to cry himself as the gray mists turned into a hospital room. Lou walked over to the side of the bed, where Mike, in his mid thirties, lay gasping into a ventilator. Sitting on the other side of the bed holding Mike's hand is a sickly looking JC Chasez. As Mike stops breathing, JC begins to cry, "Mike...don't leave me. I didn't mean to screw around on you. I didn't mean to give you this disease. I should be the dying...not you!" Lou gasped as he caught the full meaning of JC's words. "Mike dies of a disease that JC gives him..because he screwed around with another guy." "Yeah", Patrick said quietly, "Then JC dies of that same disease two months later...he dies alone...and grief stricken...and none of this would have happened if the band had stayed together. But you made that impossible when you took away their name and forced them into the poor house. You killed them....every last one of them. Everything you touch dies....you're worse than a plague..." Show me that all is not lost, Spirit...show me that I bring some happiness in the future.", Lou begged. "OK", Patrick said with a small smile, then the mists began to swirl and turn black. The mists part and Lou and Patrick find themselves in a dark hospital morgue. Lou looks up as Lynn, not more than a year old walks in with a doctor. "I don't know why I am down as his emergency reference. But I guess I can identify the body.", Lynn said quietly. "Thank you Mrs. Harless.", the doctor said, "He was found at home a few hours ago, dead of a massive coronary. Lou watched as the doctor walked over to a door on the wall, opening it and sliding out the covered body inside. The doctor unzipped the body bag and Lynn smiled and nodded as she recognized the body. "That's him allright...that is or rather, that was Lou Pearlman....the late Lou Pearlman, that is.", Lynn chuckled. Lou gasped, "Spirit...this is the only happiness I bring in the future? By dying?" "What can I say Lou, you were a prick!", Patrick laughed, "If I were alive I would be dancing with her right here in the morgue. Lou gasped as his perception changed and he realized he was seeing out of the open eyes of his own dead body. The doctor began to zip close the body bag and Lou cried out for help. "You're dead here Lou...no one can help you...no one would want to help you. You made your bed in this future Lou...it's time you slept in it.", Patrick said as the doctor zipped closed the body bag and slid the drawer back into the cooler, letting the door close. "NOOOOOOO!!!!!", Lou screamed as the door slammed shut. Lou then began to fall and fall and fall in the darkness, landing finally with a hard thud. A Christmas Carol '99 By Billy Burrew Disclaimer: As usual, I would like to comment that this story is purely fictional and that it is no reflection on the sexual orientation of any of the members of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys or their estranged manager, Lou Pearlman. Please read this and enjoy it for what I intended it to be, an entertaining story Chapter 6: New Beginnings...and Forgiveness Lou opened his eyes and realized that he was on the floor of his bedroom. The sun was coming up. "Oh God!", Lou cried as he got up, "I'm alive! I'm alive! I am a changed man. I will change even more too! I won't ever go back to the way I was. I will change the path of those boys. I won't split them up or let them split up...I promise you that Patrick!" Lou walked over to his desk and gasped as he saw a note laying on top of the pile, etched in black ink. Lou- Keep your promise....Remember what I have shown you, past, present, and future...I am the guardian angel for these boys and I can see everything that goes on from up here...Don't make me have to come back and visit you again! -Patrick Lou nodded and grabbed the telephone, calling his lawyers and telling them to settle the case immediately, for whatever minimum amount that is offered. Lou then hung up and took a shower and dressed. Lou then called up Justin, Lance and Nick, and requested a meeting with them together as soon as possible. Nick, Justin and Lance sat quietly in the conference room of the Transcon office on December 25th, puzzling over why they had even agreed to meet with this wretched man. As they sat and thought, the door to the conference room opened and Lou stepped in, clearing his throat. "Hi", Lou said quietly, then he walked over to the table and as everyone watched, got down on his knees. "I asked you all here to apologize for what I have done to each of you and beg your forgiveness. Justin, Nick, Lance....what I did to you was wrong...it was criminal...I know that now. I am so profoundly sorry that I forced myself on you, abused you and caused you all horrible mental and physical anguish." "Why", Nick said, his eyes swelled with tears, "What made you change your mind...you seemed so proud of it before...why change now?" Lou looked up at Nick and swallowed, "I got to feel what it was like for you....I had a run-in with a guy named Patrick last nite...he showed me what it was like to be in your shoes." The boys all looked up in surprise at the mention of Patrick's name. "Lou", Nick said, "I can't tell you how much I hate you. What you did to me fucked up my life for years and I am just getting control back over it now. But I love Patrick...he was my friend and if he did as you said he did to you, and then had you ask for forgiveness, I know that I can find it in my heart to forgive you. I hope that when it comes up at trial, that the court is as willing to forgive as I am." Justin and Lance quietly nodded then and responded in much the same manner. Lou nodded, "Thank you Nick...Justin...Lance." As the four guys piled into the elevator, the silence was broken by a voice from behind them, causing them to turn around. "Thank you for forgiving him. " Patrick said as he materialized. "I hope now that you can move forward from here in a positive direction with your lives. Lou also has told his lawyers to settle with your lawyers at whatever price your lawyers put forth. I advise you to take him up on this offer." The guys hugged Patrick, thanking him for his help. "No problem guys....that's why I am here.", Patrick smiled as he began to disappear again, "I said I'll be keeping my eye on you and I meant it. See ya around, y'all!" Lance and Justin and Nick smiled inwardly at the truth of Patrick's statement, then responded in chorus, "See ya around Patrick." The End Well...that's the end of the Christmas Carol '99....tho I dunno whether I want to bid farewell to Patrick. I might bring him back in some future stories and prove that he is indeed keeping watch over his friends. I wanted to thank everyone who responded so positively to this series of stories. I appreciate it greatly. I also wanted to thank Terry Maharas for writing me such a great letter. I was stuck in the holiday doldrums and was unsure whether I was going to be able to finish the story but his words really inspired me and helped me get through my story. MANY THANKS TERRY!! Big props go out to Tim Ratigan <tnagitar@yahoo.com>. Thanks for mentioning my story and encouraging people to read it. Also I'd like to thank some of the other great folks that have emailed me about this series: MJenks5297@aol.com, sigrho1357@voyager.net, d_man116@hotmail.com, MrClean290@aol.com jrtnsync66@hotmail.com, smart_guy81@yahoo.com, mattvt18@prodigy.net, Curlygrrl2000@aol.com