“Ah-ha! there it is!”

 Just as Nick spoke, the game system fell off it’s resting place on
the shelf and struck him in the head.  Nick put his hands to his head
and staggered backwards falling onto his bed.

 Nick slowly sat up and moaned as he put his hands on his head.
He was startled when he saw Brian standing in front of him dressed in
brilliant white.

 “Brian, hey, ah, who let you in?”  Nick asked, confused.

 “My name isn’t Brian, I am your future.” Brian insisted.

 “Um, yeah, okay, what are you doing Brian?”  Nick asked.

 “Nick, you have been doing some things lately that need to be changed or your fate will be worse than you could ever imagine.” The unBrian said.

 Nick laughed.  “What are you talking about?”

 Before Brian answered, Nick saw a short, dark figure appear, dressed in a long black cloak wearing a hood.

 As Nick leaned back, the figure removed it’s hood.

 “AJ, what are you doing? You just scared the you know what out of me.”  Nick exclaimed.

 “I am not AJ, I am your past.”  The dark figure answered.

 “Yes, Nick, he is here to show you the past errors of your wrong
ways.” Brian said.

 “Take my hand,” AJ said as he held his hand out towards Nick.

 Nick responded, laughing, “Ah, AJ, I don’t like you that way, dude.”

 AJ withdrew his hand.  “Then take my shoulder.”

 “All right AJ, just for you.”  Nick laughed as he put his hand on the cloaked figure’s shoulder.

 Magically, they were transported to the Carter home, Christmas Day, 1992.  It was the family dinner and a 12 year old Nick was sitting at the table next to his 5 year old brother, Aaron.

 “Yum, I remember this dinner!  We had good stuff to eat that day.”  Nick said as he walked towards the table. “Hey, can they see me or hear me?”

 “No, and put the turkey leg down.  You aren’t here to eat, you are here to watch.”

 Nick reluctantly put the drumstick back.

 “Mom! Nick stabbed me with his fork.”  Aaron cried out as he rubbed his shoulder.

 “Shut up or I’ll do it again!” Nick whispered angrily at Aaron. “You touch my plate or anything on my plate, I swear to god!”

 Suddenly, Nick was back in his bedroom holding onto a dish of cranberry sauce.

 “Give me that.” Brian said as he took the dish from Nick.

 “Hey, Kev, Howie, how come you’re here?” Nick asked.

 “Um, we lost the toss, we’re your present.” Kevin replied looking
bored.

 “Yeah and Nick, you should make your bed every day.” Howie observed.

 “Come on, let’s get this over with.” Kevin said as he and Howie each took one of Nick’s elbows.

 Instantly, they were standing in Aaron’s dressing room backstage at one of his performances.  Aaron was sitting in a chair talking on the phone.

 Nick grabbed a banana out of a fruit basket that was sitting on the table.  As he started to peel and eat it, he noticed the look of disapproval from Kevin and Howie.

 “I know he’s busy, Mom, but I wish Nick would at least try to call me every once in awhile.  I miss seeing my big brother,” Aaron said tearfully on the phone.  “I am so homesick for Nick.”

 “Nick, give me the pineapple and the Twix bar.” Brian said as he
held his hands out.

 “Where did Kev and Howie go?”  Nick said as he looked around his bedroom.

 “Nick, are you ready to see your future?”  Brian asked.

 “I don’t want to.  All you guys have shown me is how mean I am to Aaron.  Did Aaron put you up to this?” Nick asked suspiciously.

 Before Brian responded, Nick found that they were standing in a
funeral home.  It was filled with people and flowers crowded the
closed casket that was in front of the room.

 A tall, heavyset man, appearing to be in his 50’s stood in front
of the crowd.

 “Whoa, who’s the fat dude?” Nick asked Brian.

 Brian put his hand over Nick’s mouth.  “Shhh, listen."

 “On behalf of my parents and sisters, I want to thank you for coming to pay your last respects to my brother, Aaron.”

 Nick stood with his mouth open.  “God, that’s me? That’s what I
will be like in 30 some years?”

 The older Nick started to break down and cry.  “Aaron was a nice guy, my only regret was, back when I was busy with my life and my career, I  didn’t pay attention to him.  I hadn’t seen Aaron in the past 10 years, but Aaron was always the one who called, wrote letters, tried to keep the family going.”

 “I’ve seen enough, take me back.”  Nick pleaded Brian.

 Nick heard a doorbell ringing and pounding on his front door.  He got out of bed and found Brian smiling, standing on the doorstep.

 “About time, what the heck took ya so long?”  Brian asked.  His smile slowly faded when he could tell that Nick was pale and upset.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”

 “Brian, I gotta stop eating pizza before I go to bed, I dunno. I
had the wildest dream about my past, present and future.  Hey, I
gotta call Aaron,” Nick said as he picked up the phone.

 The doorbell rang.

 “Do you want me to get that?”  Brian asked.

 “Could you?”  Nick said as he waited for Aaron to answer the phone.

 “Shoot,” Nick said as he hung up the phone, “I missed him.”

 “No you didn’t here I am!”  Aaron shouted and ran towards Nick and hugged him.

 “Aaron, I promise, I am gonna call you all the time, I swear, you’re gonna be so sick of me,” Nick said as he hugged Aaron.

 “Ouch! Nick, stop it, you’re choking me!  Brian! help me!!”