Summer of 1980
Five year old Brian was scared as the strangers put him in the tub of ice. He could see his mommy standing in the doorway. She was crying and then she saw him looking at her.
"It's OK, honey," she said, as they placed him on a bed.
Ten minutes later, they put him back in the ice. They did this for what seemed like a long time. After awhile, Brian couldn't keep his eyes open. He was engulfed in black.
He could faintly hear the strangers saying 'He's blacked out!' Then he heard his mommy say, "MY BABY!' Then he couldn't hear anything.
He was on a stage. It was very black and he didn't like it. Then he saw a light in the very back and heard a voice.
"Brian, it's not time for you to come."
"But I want to," he whined. "It hurt where I was."
"Brian, you have to. You're not done."
Then the light got bigger and what looked like a movie started to play. There were five guys dancing and singing on the same stage he was on now. They were singing about how they've got it going on. There was a banner behind them that read 'Backstreet Boys'. Brian was confused. Then the movie froze and focused on one of the guys.
"This man is you," the voice said. "You're going to be in a group. You'll be with your cousin Kevin." The movie focused on another guy. "You are going to help other people. You have to keep living."
"OK," said Brian. His voice sounded very small.
"Good, now you can go back."
Then Brian was back in the hospital. He was on the same bed as before, but no one was in the room.
"Mommy?" he called out.
His mom rushed into the room. She had tears in her eyes and looked surprised. So did his dad and the man who was with them.
"Brian? You're awake!" his mom said, hugging him.
"Yep. This person told me that I had to come back because I'm going to be in a group with Kevin..."
"I'm sure you are, baby," his mom said.
"Well, little boy," said the other man, "you gave us a scare there. We weren't sure if you were going to make it."
"Make it?!" yelled his dad. "You said that he was going to die and that we should plan the funeral!"
"Harold!" said Brian's mom. "That doesn't matter any more. We have Brian."
"Yes but we should get him into surgery right away," said the stranger. "We'll have to take him right now."
His parents nodded and a lady came in and started to push Brian's bed out of the room.
"We'll be waiting for you afterwards," he heard his mom say as he was pushed down the hall.
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When Brian woke up, he was in another room. There were two other kids on either sides of him and his parents were standing next to the bed.
"Brian, you're awake," said his dad.
Brian nodded.
"Hey, we have to go home now; we just stayed to see you when you woke up. We'll come back tomorrow," said his mom.
His parents kissed him good bye and then left the room. As soon as they were out of sight, the two other kids got off their beds and came over to Brian.
"Hi," said the girl. "I'm Ally and that's Josh. We both have holes in our hearts too. Or we used to."
Brian looked at the girl. She talked almost as fast as his cousin Susan and the girl was his age. She had brown curly hair and green eyes. The boy, Josh, had blond hair and blue eyes.
"How long have you been here?" asked Brian.
"I came two days ago and Ally came yesterday," said Josh.
Josh was also Brian's age but he had a raspy voice.
"Do they have toys here?" asked Brian.
"Yep," said Josh.
"We can show you tomorrow but now we have to go to bed," said Ally.
"We're suppose to be in bed," said Josh, "but we wanted to meet you."
The other two kids got into bed and then Brian fell asleep.
Over the next few days, Brian played with Ally and Josh a lot. They all liked Star Wars and always played with the Star Wars toys in the play room.
One day, they were playing with the ships when Josh collapsed. Brian and Ally both screamed. Then the nurse in the room came rushing over, picked up Josh, and left the room. Neither Brian or Ally knew what to do.
A bit later, Brian's parents and Ally's came into the playroom to find their two little kids sitting on the floor, not playing. They both looked up.
"Oh, Brian," his mom said. He heard Ally's mom say , "Oh, Ally."
'Oh what?' Brian thought, but Ally said it.
"Oh what mom?" she asked.
"Your friend Josh," said Ally's mom, "well, his heart stopped beating and he stopped breathing and now he's in heaven, honey."
Brian saw Ally's eyes fill with tears and so did his.
The funeral was two days later. Brian and Ally got out of the hospital to go. But the next day, they both left and they probably would never see each other again.
Chapter 2
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