"In saying that, you're also implementing that you're not normal, now." AJ said.
Brian rolled his eyes heavenward and then it rested wearily on AJ. "We're in a freaking twilight zone."
AJ nodded, waving his pointed finger at Brian. "Yup, you're right; I take everything I just said back."
"Except for the part where you said I'm right." Brian reminded him.
"Don't push it."
"I'd like to see that," Nick said, grinning like a boy who was given a new flavoured candy. "I bet I'd be in College or something."
"You'd be the school jock scarring off teenage girls on Halloween." Howie joked.
"And a jerk at that too" AJ beamed, receiving dagger stares from the blonde one.
Kevin pursed his lips. "I think you're confusing him with that character he played."
AJ sighed. "And I think you're slow to catch up that D and I were messing around."
Vinhorian shook his head, as always, he had to remind them that they were going off topic again. "To answer Brian's question, you'll get to go to an alternate universe of Earth where the Backstreet Boys don't exist. You will be separated from each other and each of you will get to visit the life of one of the other."
Kevin frowned, never had he been rendered so confused and often as he had being there. "You mean, I won't be able to know what I have been doing?"
"No, but one of them will." Vinhorian answered. "And you will get to see the life of one of them."
"I'm down with it." Nick smiled. "Can I pick who I wanna see?"
Vinhorian's tight smile told Nick that he couldn't. "I'm afraid you can't."
"Hold on, you said we're gonna be separated for awhile, so does that means we get to watch this thing in separate rooms or something?" Brian asked.
"I've never seen a single room since we've been here." AJ remarked.
"And it's been awhile." Howie added.
"No, you'll be transported to the alternate universe where this person will be living. To them, you exist, as in a family member, a friend, a colleague, whatever...but they wouldn't be able to see you as you." Vinhorian explained. "Er...is that clear?"
"As clear as my headache" Nick retorted. "So...we're not just gonna sit and watch?"
"No." Vinhorian replied. "They will see you as someone they know, but you'll have a different face. How you're linked to this person is unknown, you'll have to learn that along the way."
"How are we gonna go back?" Kevin asked.
"When you've seen and learned all there is to know, you'll come back here."
Howie rubbed his palms together in excitement. "Okay, whoever gets to visit me, say hi to myself!"
"Damn, I bet D's a property agent or something." AJ joked.
"You think you'll still have that wink going on D?" Nick laughed.
"Think Kevin's still stuck in Disney Land?" Brian laughed.
"They don't parade around grumpy old men there Rok." Nick chuckled.
Kevin smiled and nodded his head at Nick. "Sure, laugh all you want Sherlock, let's see if you made it to College, resign in Florida boy."
"Why Kevin, that hurts."
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm looking forward to seeing AJ without his tattoos." Howie laughed. "Or if he has twice as much."
"Well, I see you've geared yourselves real well, ready to do this?" Vinhorian smiled.
"You kidding? I've never been this excited!" AJ replied.
"Okay then, let's start with you AJ, hold my hand."
-
The first thing that caught his attention was that familiar voice yelling at him to run. He turned around to find the familiar face, set in a mix of frown and fear, staring back at him. He was smaller than he remembered him to be when he was seventeen.
"AJ, what are you trying to do? Get us fucked?" He yelled. "LET'S GO!"
Well, at least some things never change. Like his colourful choice of words.
They were in a dark alley, a thickening layer of fog threatened to swallow them whole. In the distance, a leaking pipe was dripping drops of what he'd imagined toxic waste [AJ loves thinking the extreme], the pungent smell was something he hardly had to endure being a rich, famous Backstreet Boy and those things finally drove him to start running, following the almost lost silhouette of the boy he used to know as Nick Carter.
Nick in this world seemed to possess the legs of a seasoned athlete; AJ found himself trying to keep up with him. The roads were unfamiliar in the dark and there were hardly anyone around. The distant wailing of a police car giving chase only motivated him to continue.
"Nick! Hey Nick!" He yelled, but Nick didn't seem to hear him or choose to ignore him totally. He groaned, inwardly asking why he couldn't have just seen into Kevin's life instead. "Are we running away from the police?"
That seemed to catch his attention as he saw Nick's figure slowing down and then turn back to look at him. AJ took the opportunity to quicken his pace and ran up to where he was waiting.
"Could you at least tell me where we're going before running off like that?" He asked and then frowned. When did his voice sound so…soft? Damn it, he was turning into Brian.
Nick didn't find any of it strange though, in fact, he was frowning. "Are you on crack J? It's not funny!"
AJ bit his lower lip and hoped it was an AJ thing to do in this earth. Seeing that Nick wasn't about to say anything more, AJ wished of his sly, witty brain to come up with a reply.
"Look, I'm sorry; just tell me where we're going first?"
"We're gonna miss the others, the bus won't wait for us and Jack will be pissed as hell." Nick replied as he continued his fast strides. "Now if you can try to keep up and not mess up, we'll get some peaceful sleep tonight."
AJ figured it wasn't the best of times to start asking questions and he already got the impression that they weren't exactly buddies.
-
Nick brought them to the bus interchange and didn't stop to rest until he found a bunch of kids their age loitering outside a Mc Donald's joint. They looked no different than them, shabby clothes, messy hair, dirty fingernails, dirt on their faces. AJ caught his own reflection from the glass wall and gasped.
He was blonde.
With green eyes.
A boy with short cropped brown hair rested his arm across his shoulder and pulled him in. "AJ man, I told ya not to look at yourself, last time you did, you almost had a heart attack bro."
The crowd laughed, excluding Nick. AJ didn't know what to say to that and decided that silence was to be his new policy until he found a way to break the ice with him.
"Jack here yet?" Nick asked as he squatted down next to a redhead girl. She couldn't be any older than fifteen but the way she was dressed and the crowd she was hanging out with made her look older. In fact, AJ had come to the conclusion that none of the kids Nick was hanging out with were nice.
"No. I hope the fucker got run over by a truck and died." She snapped.
Nick smirked. "Come on Alyssa, you didn't mean that. You know you need him to survive."
"I don't give a flying fuck about that asshole Nick! We've survived this long on our own; we can do this without him!"
Another boy, barely twelve, began to pull at her sleeves. "You're not leaving are you?"
Surprisingly, Alyssa smiled and shook her head. "And leave you alone with these idiots? No way."
"Hey!" The boy with the brown hair cried. "Speak for yourself bitch."
"Hey, lay off the names man." AJ said before he realised he had just said it. The boy looked at him as if he had grown a second head, which wasn't entirely a lie, considering he was, as of now, a blonde and looked nothing like him.
"What the fuck got into you tonight? You called Jenn a whore this morning, did you forget that?"
"Yeah AJ, I don't need you speaking up for me." Alyssa added.
"J you need to sit down, you've been acting weird ever since we left from D's."
Howie?
"You mean Howie?"
Nick rolled his eyes and pushed himself up again. "David, J, David! If I were referring to this Howie guy, I would've said H now, wouldn't I? Didn't you learn your ABCs man?"
"I think Jack took him when he was four, haven't learned that much yet."
"Shut up Mark!" Nick yelled at the brown haired guy. So he has a name.
AJ was about to ask what he meant by that when he heard the young boy telling them that Jack had arrived. AJ searched the man whom they seemed to fear and found him. It wasn't difficult to miss. Jack was well-built and had a menace for a face. He looked to be in his forties and was surrounded by a group of kids not older than ten.
The kids were small and looked undernourished. They too, were dressed shabbily that people could identify they were 'hanging out' with the same crowd. He also noticed that none of them had the proper attire to be out on a night as cold as this.
What are they doing up this late anyway? With this guy?
"J, you coming?" Nick asked, pulling him back to reality. He noticed that everyone had walked off, heading for one of the buses.
"Are we going somewhere?" AJ asked.
Wrong question.
Nick had anger written all over his face. It was somewhat weird, to see that much hatred in the eyes of a seventeen year old. The Nick Carter he knew didn't even know the meaning of that word when he was seventeen.
"Why are you doing this to me huh?" Nick asked in a low whisper. "Did I do or say something to you that you wanna make it even? What?"
"Chill Carter, I just asked where we're going, that's all."
The push happened so fast that it took all of his will to realise what was happening. Nick had grabbed him by his already tattered shirt and shoved him against the wall, holding him there in a death grip. No one seemed to be bothered by it.
"Look, I don't know what your deal is but I've said this before and I'll say it again, call me Carter one more time and I fucking promise I'll kill you." He let go of his grip and walked away, leaving him there to catch his breath.
AJ wanted out, he figured he could just stay put and not follow them up to the bus, but his curiosity about Nick's life made him trudge along at the back, keeping his distant but not letting Nick out of his sight. And then it struck him.
"I…I don't have a ticket!"
He saw Nick turn, both hands deep in pockets of his faded jeans, walking back towards him with a pace that could slam him face down on the ground if he didn't stop in time. AJ contemplated on running, not wanting to revisit the death grip, but Nick stopped mid way and closed his eyes.
"Check your damn pockets."
AJ started checking the two pockets on his jeans and felt something like a paper and fished it out. It was the damn ticket.
"Asshole." Nick sighed and walked away, leaving him alone again.
Damn, Nick is becoming AJ.
By the time he got on the bus, it was full and the only empty seat was, you guessed it, next to Nick.
Nick however, looked like he had settled in. His eyes were closed, his head tilted to the side, resting on the window that was covered with faint dried mud. His arms were hugging himself, probably from the cold. AJ decided it was safe to sit.
Everyone around him seemed to know who he was but by then, he also learned that he wasn't allowed to smile, or that it was some kind of sin to start a friendly conversation with anybody. Sleepless and worried, he sat there wondering what had happened to Nick that made him led the kind of life he was living.
-
Somewhere in between wishing that Vinhorian could come and take him away and wondering how to talk to Nick without having it end in his death lock, AJ had drifted off to sleep. He was rudely awakened though, by the constant, dry coughing of the person sitting next to him.
"Go to sleep J." Nick whispered hoarsely.
"I can't sleep if you're going to cough like that."
"Well, tough luck then." Nick snapped.
AJ straightened himself up on his seat, stretching his sore limbs and cracking his knuckles as he did so. "Are you always this difficult man?"
Nick smirked. "You're one to talk." Cough.
"What's so strange about being nice?"
Nick turned and looked at him straight in the eyes. "What happened bro?"
"I don't get you." AJ stammered. Did Nick just call him bro?
"Right after we sell that shit to D, why did you stop running? What if the police caught you man?" Nick asked. AJ was speechless. So they were running from the police. What did they sell to this D guy? Crack? Nick?
"Or was that your ingenious plan to run away huh? I thought we promised each other to stay."
"If I ask you questions, starting from now, no matter how stupid or silly they are, promise me you won't kill me and answer them anyway?" AJ asked.
Nick coughed again and AJ felt his own stomach grumble. It felt like he hadn't eaten in days. It wouldn't be too farfetched considering the situation they were in then.
"I'll try." Nick replied as he broke into another fit of coughs that he had stifled with the palm of his hand.
"Okay, first of all, when did we first meet? And how?"
Nick smirked. "Are you kidding me?"
"No, I'm not. Answer me please."
Nick sighed. "Fine…fine…I was six when Jack took me and that's how I met you."
AJ nodded. "Okay…so why did he take you? Are we adopted?"
Nick laughed.
Out loud.
And after a string of 'shut the hell ups', Nick found his calm back and cleared his throat. "J, we were freaking kidnapped by the motherfucker man…made into his slaves…all of us are. We sell crack for him, beg on the streets for him, do anything for him and he gives us shelter, clothes and food. It's always been that way. Now what's wrong with your head? You never said 'please' before either."
"We were kidnapped?"
"Yup."
"How old are you?"
"Seventeen, I think."
"And you've stayed with him for 11 years now?"
"WE have."
"And we never tried to run away? The police never found us?"
"Run and go where huh? How many kids are in this bus J? They're all like us, and did the police find them? Nope. Who givse a fuck about us man? We're better off with Jack than on the street."
AJ shook his head, wishing he could yell and slap Nick on his face. "What about our family? Don't you wanna see them again?"
"Look, Jack only keeps us until we're 18, then we're free from him. Besides, we have to remember why we decided to stay, don't stray man."
"What's our promise?"
Nick squinted in the dark, his face in a frown. "I hope you're joking with me...the promise...we promise to look out for each other remember? Keep a look out for the small kids from Jack? We can't run away and leave them here. Johnny took care of us until he was free to go, we will do the same thing for these kids."
AJ wanted to ask more when Nick was hit by another fit of coughing again. He looked on worriedly at him as his mind screamed for answers and explanations. What kind of a sick game was this Jack asshole playing? Were there more like him around? Why are these kids so afraid to run away and go to the police for help?
AJ's mind stopped yelling when he saw the blood on Nick's palm. The young boy acted indifferent to it, wiping the blood off on the side of his velvet seat when he gave up searching for papers or used tissues to wipe it with.
"You're coughing blood."
"Stop acting like you haven't seen it before J. I'm sick of your games."
"But it's dangerous, you're sick Nick." AJ exclaimed, frustrated that Nick didn't realise how serious it was. "You can die from it."
"And that's bad, why?"
AJ decided not to question him anymore. It was useless. Life has no meaning if this was how Nick was going to live his. He could have been a Backstreet Boy.
"Look, I'm sorry I tried to kill you just now," Nick said, breaking the silence. "But I snapped when you asked where we're going when you already know how difficult this is going to be for me."
AJ slipped out the ticket from his pocket and tried to read it in the dark.
Florida.
"I'm sorry."
"I told you, AJ never says he's sorry." Nick giggled and before he knew it, Nick was back to his sleep, leaving him alone again with his thoughts once again.
-
When Nick woke him up the following day, they were in Florida. He also noticed that his stomach was growling and demanding him to eat, something he assumed he doesn't get much of.
"Home sweet home" Nick said as they stepped out of the bus. There was much sarcasm in his voice and it upset AJ a lot. He couldn't help thinking that somewhere out there, there was the alternate Howie and AJ living nearby.
"Where are we going?" He asked, hoping that Nick wouldn't start his 'are you for real' questions again.
"We're meeting Jessica, from there we'll find out what we're gonna do." Nick replied as they walked towards the same crowd they had been hanging out with the previous night. He remembered Alyssa and Mark and the little boy who seemed to be under the care of Alyssa. He also noticed there were two more girls with them, one with short dark brown hair and brown eyes and the other long curly blonde hair and brown eyes. They looked to be somewhere sixteen. There was also another guy who had the most piercing blue eyes he'd ever seen.
"We're getting there by train, Jack and the kids will meet us there." The girl with the long curly hair said. He also noticed that the short haired girl was avoiding him. AJ decided to let Nick do the talking.
"How are the kids?" Nick asked as they made their way into the early morning traffic. Suddenly, AJ felt so close to home. How he missed his life.
"What do you think?" The short haired girl spat.
"Look, just because you're having problems with your boyfriend, don't take it out on me." Nick snapped. "Is Ryan okay?"
"He's fine, although he was asking for you last night."
"You gotta be careful Nick, don't get attached to that boy," the guy with the piercing blue eyes said. "what are you gonna tell him when you leave next year."
Nick shrugged. "Can't help it, he reminds me so much of my brother."
Silence.
"Damn, I'd kill for one of those." The piercing blue eyed boy said. They followed his gaze and found the Donut shop. Different kinds of donuts on the displayed window and AJ never thought that the sight of something so common to him could make him yearn for it.
"Go ahead Josh, I'd like to see you actually doing it." The short haired girl said. AJ smiled, now the piercing blue eyes has a name.
"What? Kill for it?" Josh said.
"Yup"
"You're one crazy bitch Jenn."
AJ froze. Jenn, the girl he had supposedly called a whore. Now he had a reason to steer clear from her.
"I'm not the one going around saying I'd kill for donuts."
"They do look delicious." The other girl said.
"Maybe you could go in there and fuck that cashier Felice," Mark said matter of fact.
"Why don't you drop dead Mark?" Felice snapped.
"Shut the hell up already," Nick sighed. "We're not gonna get it so why even talk?"
The rest of the walk was uneventful. AJ noticed that they tried not to get noticed much and blended in with the crowd. The train was rather crowded when they entered and they had found a corner to huddle together. Nobody seemed to care much, most of the passengers were workers still half asleep and wishing they were at home rather than heading to the office. It was then that AJ realised Jenn was standing next to him.
He tried to act indifferent, debating with himself if he should make the first move and apologise for calling her a whore, but he was afraid. He almost slapped his forehead, wondering what had happened to the AJ that he used to be. The one who could smooth talk his way with any girl.
"When do you plan to say you're sorry?" Jenn asked suddenly, pulling him back to reality. He noticed that everyone else was busy engaged in a heated conversation and AJ decided it was the safest to make his move.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to call you names." AJ said.
Jenn was actually surprised. "Damn, never thought you'd actually said it. You never apologise."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah, except to Jack of course. We bow to that fucker."
AJ smirked. Jenn was one tough chick.
"Well, there's always a first for everything."
"I always have faith in you AJ," Jenn said with a smile so wide that she was actually glowing. "That's why I love you."
AJ almost lost the smile on his face. Jenn was his girlfriend?
"I love you too." AJ said, wondering if he could ever say those words again to Sarah. How far was he from home? Will he even pull through and survive this journey?
-
The moment they arrived at Jessica's, which happened to be an abandoned underground sewage infested with rats and all the foul smells it carried, AJ was greeted by more kids. Most were as young as five years old while there were a few more around his age. The weird thing was, they were smiling and joking around, no one was crying or trying to hide away.
Jessica was the female version of Jack. Both scary looking and feared by everyone. Everyone was busying themselves with random things and AJ felt out of place. What was he supposed to do? Everything came to a halt when AJ heard a sudden cry of pain rang in the thick air. It echoed throughout the sewer, sending chills right through him.
He turned to the sound of the cry and found Nick curled on the cold ground, with Jack hovering above him. His instincts told him to go up there and help his friend but Mark held him back.
"Don't." He warned, fear clear in his eyes. "You'll get us all in trouble."
"David was caught last night, you fucked up!" Jack was yelling and another blow to the side but Nick was hardly moving and didn't utter a cry.
"If he rats out about you, you'll be sure I'm gonna kill you first before the police find you boy!"
AJ looked at the group of young kids. Some were in tears while some were being consoled by older kids around them. AJ's heart almost stopped when he saw a boy who looked uncannily like Aaron. That must be Ryan. He was crying and Felice was hugging him.
"Get your ass up and start working!" Jack yelled. Nick was already pulling himself up, struggling with his own weight. "No breakfast for your team today Nick, you fucked up!"
Jack disappeared after gathering a group of small kids with him and left. Jessica started ordering another group of kids and AJ saw the older kids getting parcels from a table, along with a piece of paper with them. He ran straight to Nick and helped him up.
"Nick, I'm so sorry, it should have been me!" He cried. "Are you okay?"
AJ felt a slap on the back of his head and quickly turned around to see Jenn. "You messed up again, didn't you?"
"How did you-"
"Jack wouldn't kick his ass if you didn't." Jenn cut in. "If you messed up, your partner takes the punishment, haven't you learned?"
"I..." AJ sighed. Why was this so hard? "I'm sorry."
"You okay Nick?" Alyssa asked as she approached him, worried lines creased her young forehead. "That was a blow you took."
"I'm okay," Nick croaked as he dusted his shirt off. "We have to move, I don't want the bitch to start something next."
"Felice takes Ryan today, you have nothing to worry about." Alyssa said. Nick nodded. "Let's go J, we have deliveries to make."
AJ nodded and started to head to the table.
-
AJ was quick to learn that the package contained packets of different kinds of drugs and the list contained places they had to be to meet the buyers. They were also given an amount of money to get the job done. He was also quick to learn that they would normally pair up with both Alyssa and Jenn and was in charge of a certain area.
"That's the last one," Nick said as he shoved the bundle of money into a small pouch bag. "Now we'll wait for Liz and Jenn."
"Are you and Alyssa together?" AJ asked as they walked out of the countless alleys they had gone to that day.
Nick chuckled and shook his head. "Only you and Mark can find the energy to actually fall for someone."
"Mark's with..."
"Felicia." Nick finished off. "Something's really wrong with your head J." It was then that the coughing fit started again.
"And you're going to die if you don't do something about that cough now."
"J come on, don't start."
"I'm serious Nick! Don't you want to go back to your family? Don't you think they're worried about you?"
Nick sighed. "Follow me."
-
The house was rather small and was painted white. There was a small porch out front with no fence, a beat up Hyundai parked at a corner. The house was closely built next to another house that almost looked identical.
"I never told you this before, but I always dreamed of being a singer," Nick said as they stood from across the narrow road from the house. "That, or an actor."
"Yeah?" AJ said.
Nick nodded. "I told my mom that I'm going to be famous one day and we'll get out of this poor neighbourhood and I'll buy her lots of houses."
AJ kept his silence. If Nick only knew.
"But Jack just had to ruin everything...when we came back here two years ago, I sneaked out and came running home. I wanted to tell my mom that I'm still alive and that I wanedt her to save me."
"But you didn't?"
"When she opened the door that day, all I ever wanted to do was hug her." Nick said, his voice was low and distant and for the first time, AJ found himself wishing that he could hold him and tell him there was still hope; but the truth was, he wasn't sure himself.
"My sisters looked different, they grew up so fast...and I found out that mom and dad had twins. A boy and a girl. I had a brother and he looked just like me. But I couldn't tell her who I was."
"Why?"
Nick pointed to the house with a simple move of his chin. "Look at that AJ, it's too small and too crowded. I'm just gonna add in to the burden. Besides, I think they've accepted the fact that I died, I don't want to complicate things."
AJ was losing his patience, he had never met someone who had totally given up on hope, even when he was hit by depression, he had never really lost faith in hope. How could the world not know Nick Carter? One of the nicest boys he'd ever met? And talented at that too?
"Nick, what's the use of staying with those kids if you're gonna go away when you're eighteen and they continue to suffer?" AJ asked. "If you want this stopped once and for all, we have to do something drastic. We have to get help!"
"And risk Jack finding out? What would he do then huh? He'd kill them off! People are going to die because we ran away!"
"You think Jack actually would dare to do that? How many kids must he kill then huh? From what I know, they're many more Jacks and Jessicas around and how many kids do they each have under them? Think they'll kill all of them? I don't think so."
Nick shook his head. "No AJ, you're talking crazy, we can't do this. We have responsibilities to the other kids!"
"You have a responsibility to them!" AJ exclaimed, finger pointed sharply at the Carters' residence. "Mothers are crying everyday because their kids went missing, Jane is one of them!"
Nick's gaze fell to the ground. AJ almost pulled him to a hug when he realised Nick was crying, but he resisted, he needed to get Nick to understand and hopefully save himself before it was too late.
"I can't AJ...it's not that simple." "Okay fine!" AJ cried, his shoulder slouched in defeat. "But think of this...what if they got to Aaron? What if Jack took Aaron from your family? You think Jane could handle such a loss, again?"
Nick looked up at the mention of Aaron, his face frowning in confusion as tears still paved down his pale cheeks.
"How do you know my brother's name?" Nick asked. "I was gone long before he was born; I don't even know his name."
AJ froze. Too much information.
Aaron you moron! Give me back my doll!
Nick's head turned so fast that AJ feared he might have strained it. But the thought was quickly erased when AJ saw Aaron running out of the house and on to the porch with Angel running after him. He was laughing and holding a plastic doll in one hand, mocking his sister.
"AJ?"
AJ spun around and found heaven.
"Trouble?" "Thank God, about time you came!"
"Need help?"
"I can't do this anymore Vin, take me away from here, please!"
Vinhorian smiled and reached both his hands out. "Take my hand, let's go."
