The fighting had begun....again.
They were constantly at each other’s throats. Arguing over the stupidest things. Who missed that note, what time they were supposed to be somewhere.
They tried to cover it, but the fans were beginning to realize that something was wrong with the five guys they idolized
This time it was over the cover of their new album, the fifth they were releasing in the US.
Brian sat down on the couch in his living room, and thought about the past ten years of his life. Had they been a total waste? ‘Hell no!’ He though to himself. ‘Defiantly not.’ After all, he had made the four best friends he would ever have.
He thought about this until he fell asleep.
When he opened his eyes again he was looking into a pair of bright green ones. He jumped a little.
“It’s OK, I won’t hurt you, I promise” It was a little girl dressed in all white.
Brian looked around him. He wasn’t in his living room any longer. The room was completely white. He look directly across the room from where he was laying, and found Nick sitting on a bed, looking as confused as he felt.
“Hey, Toto. I get the feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” He looked at the little girl. “But she sure isn’t the wicked witch of the east.” He said, getting up and moving over to where Brian was sitting.
“Hey.... Um....” Brian thought for a minute. The little girl hadn’t told them her name. “What’s your name?” He asked gently.
“My name is Danielle, but you can call me Dani.”
“OK Dani. Are the others going to be here?”
“Nope. Just the two of you.”
“Why us?” Nick inquired.
“Because you two are best friends. And in a way, you are the heart of the group.”
“Oh...” Before either of them could ask anymore questions; Dani motioned for them to follow her. They looked at each other, and then decided that they might as well follow.
In the blink of an eye they were no longer in the white room, but in a recording studio. In the booth was a girl of about 16 years. Her voice was surprisingly strong for someone so young.
“What are we doing here?” Nick asked, watching the girl in front of him.
“You see the girl singing?” Both of the guys nodded. “She’s here because of you.”
“What do you mean?” Brian didn’t understand what she was saying.
“Her name is Megan Atlands. She has loved to sing since before she can remember. But she’s never had any encouragement from her parents. The five of you, through your music, inspired her. She started writing songs and saved enough money, babysitting, to pay for her voice lessons herself. She didn’t give up on her dream to sing, because she knew that you guys wouldn’t give up on something if you really wanted it. That’s what got her into this recording studio.”
In another flash they were out of the studio and in another room. A girl was sitting on the bed, a pair of headphones covering her ears.
“What’s her story?” Nick asked, genuinely interested in what they had done in this girl’s life.
“It’s not a pretty one. She is 18 now, but when she was 13 her older brother’s best friend raped her. For about a month she didn’t tell anyone about what had happened. Until she found out that she was pregnant. She told her parents and brother what happened, and at first they didn’t really believe her. She eventually lost the baby because her body was too young to handle it.”
“What does that have to do with us?” Nick inquired.
Well, while all of that was going on she turned to your music. ‘Roll With It’ was the song that gave her strength she needed to tell her family about the things that had happened.”
Nick and Brian looked at each other, their eyes registering amazement.
In the next second, they were in another room. This one held three girls; two sitting on the floor and one sitting on the bed that were pushed up against the far wall. They were all talking and laughing.
“They all look perfectly healthy to me.” Brian said, gesturing to the girls after looking at them briefly.
“Brian, you of all people should know that looks can be deceiving.” Dani said, referring to his heart condition. “But you are right. You can’t tell just by looking that one of them is recovering from chemo for leukemia, can you?”
“You’re kidding?” They all looked perfectly healthy to Nick.
“No, I’m no. See Jordan?” Dani pointed to the girl with long brown hair, sitting on the bed, laughing at something that one of her friends said. “She was in the hospital about two years ago. It was one that you visited, actually. Brian, you may not remember, but the two of you sat in her room and talked for hours on end.”
Brian remembered all right. He remembered too well, actually. She was the 15-year-old girl that no one thought would survive. Now that he got a better look at her, he recognized the girl that he had prayed for every night since he met her. “I remember. We talked for the longest time. She was so scared, but more scared for her friends and family then for herself.”
“They almost lost her, a few days after the last time you visited her. They lost all hope. Then her two best friends begged the doctor to play her favorite band, The Backstreet Boys, in her room, just to comfort her. She began to fight after that first day they played you in there. She fought what was eating away at her, because she didn’t want to give up hope.”
“What’s her last name?” Nick asked, after a moment of silence.
“Martleson. Jordan Martleson” Nick nodded.
“Are we going anywhere else?”
“Do you want to?” Dani looked up at the two.
“Do you have anything else planned?”
“Well-” Before she could finish her sentence they were somewhere else. It was a room with three TV sets. Brian walked over to one.
“Hey, that’s Jordan. Why is she so sad?” He was right. She was very upset about something.
“She just found out that you guys broke up. This is a look into the future. Keep watching that screen.”
Brian did as he was told and watched. He felt a connection with Jordan because he has actually visited her and talked to her. He wanted to know what was going to happen to her with out their music to turn to.
It wasn’t pretty. Show on the screen were scenes of hr upset, and not doing well in school. Finally the screen flashed to a headstone, and stopped. Brian looked at it carefully.
‘Here lies Jordan Renea Martelson. If only she had been inspired to fight again.’
It was all Brian could take. “What happened to Jordan?!” He turned to Dani with the question.
“Well, about a month after she found out about the break up she fell out of remission. She didn’t have the inspiration to live, she didn’t fight it the second time around. She didn’t think there was a point, since you guys gave up.”
Brian let out a deep breath and looked at Nick. It was then that he noticed his friend watching the singer, Megan. “I can’t believe she threw all of that away, just because we broke up.” He blue eyes glued to the screen in amazement.
“Well Nick.” Dani started. “You guys where her inspiration and without you guys, she didn’t have anyone to look up to.” She smiled at the two of them, as they were trying to put together what she was saying.
“What about the third girl?” Brian asked, turning to the middle screen.
“Well, everything will be for the better, either way, but without your music to begin with she would anyone to turn to.”
“What is her name?” Nick asked.
“Nora, Nora Blackwell." she answered him.
“Dani, can I ask you a couple of questions?” Brian asked.
“Sure.”
“How old are you?”
“Well, I don’t really have an age, but when I came up here I was eight.”
“Oh…. Are you some sort of guardian angel?” Nick asked.
“Some thing like that.” She smiled again. “Well I better get you two back. Oh, and don’t worry, you’ll both remember everything we’ve seen and talked about.”
The two friends smiled, and hugged the young girl. They looked at each other and suddenly felt tired. They were back in the first room that they had been in. They both went to the beds that they had woken up on, and laid down….
Brian woke with a start.
Had he been dreaming? He looked around. He was in his living room. In his house. Nick was nowhere in sight.
Nick!
He picked up the phone and dialed his friend’s phone number. It rang twice before it was picked up.
“Hello?”
“Hey Aaron, its Brian. Is Nick home?”
“Yeah, but he’s sleeping.”
“No, I’m not. Who is it AC?” This came from the background. Brian could tell that he had just woken up.
“It’s Brian.” He heard Nick pick up the phone in his room and tell Aaron to hang up the extension he was on.
“Hey Bri. I was just gonna call you.”
“Nick, did you have a weird dream?”
“Yeah, that’s why I was gonna call you.”
“Dani?”
“Yeah! How did you know?”
“I had the same dream. We have to do something.”
“I know. I never realized we affected peoples lives that much.” Nick got quiet for a minute. “Bri! I have an idea! You remember those girls names?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“OK. Here’s what we do….”
A YEAR LATER
“OK PORTLAND! AND NOW TO OPEN THE FIRST BSB CONCERT IN OVER A YEAR, SHE WAS THE FIRST ACT, SIGNED TO THE BSB’S RECORD LABLE, EVERYBODY, INC. GIVE IT UP FOR MEGAN ATLANDS!!!” The announcer said. The crowd went crazy as the young woman stepped onto the stage.
She turned and smiled at the five guys who have changed her life by believing in her. That was something no one had ever done for her before.
“I would like that say something before I start. I would like to say thanks to the guys that inspired me and then believed in me. Thanks guys!” She smiled at them again. Then the chords of her first song started and she started her debut performance.
Nick and Brian smiled at each other. They were the ones that had tracked her down and got the others to listen to her.
Brian turned to the girl standing next to him.
“Hey Jordie! What do you think?” He was referring to the outfit that he and the rest of the group was wearing. Jordan just laughed at the rip away pants and huge, puffy down jackets.
“You guys planning on going to the mountain after the show? It might be a little late…”
“Oh shut up!” Nick exclaimed, picking her up.”
“Oh, Nicky! You know I’m just kidding!” She kissed him on the cheek. He laughed.
“Well, I personally like the pants but I have to agree with Jordan. The jackets are a little much.”
“Thanks for the input, Nora.” Brian said with a laugh,
“Your welcome! Any time!” She smiled.
“Hey guys, we have a visitor!” Kevin said, coming into the room. A little girl followed close behind. “This is Danielle”
As soon as he saw t he girl that Kevin was talking about, Nick almost dropped Jordan. Both he and Brian knew exactly who it was.
“Dani?” They both asked at the same time.
She just smiled at the two of them, her green eyes shining.
Dani walked over to the best friends and hugged them both at the same time. “Good work.” She said. She let them go and looked around. She watched the two girls backstage and listened to Megan sing.
“Well, I need to go. My father is waiting.” She said, giving Nick and Brian knowing glances.
“Bye Dani.” They said in unison, and watched her leave the room.
When she was gone, they looked at each other.
Their friendships, careers, compassion, human nature, and futures had all been saved at the same time, by an angel.
The littlest angel.
