| Prologue |
| April 10, 2000 started out as a normal day and would end as a day that would change my life forever. I awoke that morning to the sounds of everyday life starting in downtown New York. With a cup of coffee in hand I sat down on the window seat and watched people hustle to and fro. There wasn't a day that passed by that I didn't wonder what it would be like to lead a normal life. Ever since I was a young boy I had been doing some kind of audition for anything that dealt with singing or acting. When I was 13 I met A.J. McLean and Howard Dorough at a talent show. We started hanging out together and realized that we sounded pretty good as a singing trio. We continued to sing as a trio until we found a manager and he thought that we should have more members in the group. A couple of months later our manager at the time introduced us to Kevin Richardson and to complete the group Kevin called his cousin Brian Littrell. We named ourselves the Backstreet Boys and proceeded to wow audiences around the world with our perfect five part harmonies. Now seven years later we are still touring everywhere around the world. Tonight is the last show of our "Into The Millennium" Tour in New York. Our New York shows were always great and very high energy. But I was looking forward to taking some time off and working on our next album. It had been almost a year since I had actually had more then two weeks off. A small smile adorned my lips as I thought of the coming months of relaxation. Before my mind could wander further there was a loud knock on my door and I heard Brian's voice coming from the other side. "Hey, Nick, are you up?" I opened the door for my best friend and was greeted with a large cheesy smile. "Yeah, B-Rok. I'm up. I've been up for awhile now. Is it time to go already?" I questioned as I glanced at the bedside clock. "Yep, it's time to get the party started! So grab your stuff and let's go" I grabbed my duffel bag and headed out. Brian and I goofed off all the way to the venue and continued to do so all through rehearsal. Even though I had noticed Kevin giving us dirty looks the whole time, I kept acting like a kid. I didn't care because you only live once and what's the point of acting mature all the time. The rest of the day went by in a flash as we all prepared ourselves for the show. Show days are generally the same starting out with sound checks and rehearsal. After that we would have a few hours to do whatever we wanted and then it came time for make-up, hair and then wardrobe. During the time that we would have for ourselves I would play video games and just hang out. That day I had decided to go and look out over the stadium to see all the fans standing outstide the doors waiting for the moment that they would be let in for the concert. The butterflies took over my stomach when I saw the large amount of people waiting outside and they stayed with me as I headed back to the dressing room to get changed and ready to go on stage. I still got nervous before every show and I knew that the day I lost that feeling I would never go up in front of thousands of faces to perform ever again. I also knew that I never wanted to lose that feeling, otherwise I knew that it would be the end of my career. I pushed these thoughts aside as I entered the dressing room with the other guys and began to prepare for the show. When we were all ready to go we gathered with the band and dancers to say a little prayer. After that was said, the dancers began a bit of a pep rally to get us all pumped up for the show. I slid my hand into my pants pocket and realized that I forgot my lucky charm. Not wanting to do the show without it, I quickly ran towards my dressing room. "Nick, where are you going? We have to be on stage in less that fifteen minutes," Brian shouted after me. "I'll be right back. I forgot to get something out of my bag," I hollered in return. I threw open the door of the dressing room and stopped in front of the closet that held my bag. Knowing that Kevin would yell at me if I was late, I quickly opened the closet door and started rummaging through my bag. My lucky charm was sitting on the bottom of it. I immediately picked up the seashell and shoved it in my pocket. As I was shutting the closet door, I saw the light reflect off of a piece of metal coming from the back of the chest. Being the curious person I am, I removed my bag and crawled half way in to the closet to investigate. I saw a bronze doorknob and with curiosity coursing through my veins, I tried the knob. It wasn't locked and so I tugged on it and it flew open. The sudden opening of the door caused me to jump back and I bumped my head on the side of the closet. Rubbing the sore spot with my palm, I leaned in to look into the door and before I knew what hit me, I was tumbling into a tunnel of darkness. With a cigarette dangling from my lips and a cup of coffee in my hand, I stared out into the beautiful Colorado spring morning. April is my favorite month of the year and springtime my favorite season because it brings all the beauty of nature back to life. I was just wishing that it would bring all the beauty back into my life. A sarcastic smile came across my face at that thought, because I knew it was impossible for that to happen. Although my day started out pretty boring it would end as one of the most memorable days in my life. Being 19 and working a full time job to pay off bills and my new car was the story of my life. The excitement in my life was living with my best friend and being a party animal. 'Dear God, when will my life change for the better?' I asked in my thoughts. Before He could answer I heard the telephone ringing. I ran inside and picked it up on the third ring, "Hello?" "Hi Natalie, honey. I was just calling to see if you were still going to Grandma's house with me today?" my mother's voice said from the other end. "I wasn't really planning on it. Can't I go with you another time?" I asked with no enthusiasm in my voice. "Natalie Ann Monroe, you have been avoiding going with me for two months and you're running out excuses for not going. Your Grandmother may not be around much longer and I know that she would love to see you. If you don't go, I will not lie for you this time and I'll just tell her that you don't want to see her." She threatened in a motherly tone. "Fine mom, I'll go. Can you pick me up?" "I'll be there in a little bit," she replied with satisfaction dripping in her voice. Ten minutes later I heard a car honking outside the apartment building. I threw my purse over my shoulder and jogged down to my mom's waiting car. After a brief hi, my mother and I sat in silence the rest of the way to my Grandma's house. She pulled her car into the driveway and cut the engine. We got out and headed up the front porch to the door. With a light knock on the door we let ourselves in and found Grandma snoozing in her chair. I leaned over and kissed her cheek lightly and her eyes fluttered open. A wide smile came across her face as she said, "Natalie what a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect to see you today." "Mom called and said that she was coming to see you and I told her to pick me up on her way." I fibbed to make her smile even brighter. Just then my mom came in from the kitchen with three tall glasses of lemonade. The three of us sat and chatted about everything and anything. I felt more relaxed then I had in a long, long time. It felt good to sit and not have to think about anything but having a good time. After many hours of non-stop chatting my Grandma grew tired and was dozing in the chair. Mom was cleaning up the kitchen and preparing dinner so I decided to go up to the attic to explore my childhood hideaway. The door creaked loudly when I pushed it open. I gazed around the dimly lit room drinking everything in. It appeared to have reamined untouched since the last time I had been up here more then five years ago. Dust had settled on everything and cobwebs had formed in the corners and across the ceiling. I slowly walked through the room and saw so many things that brought back wonderful memories of the many hours I had spent in this room. I moved from place to place going through everything that I knew was mine. I was flipping back the pages of an old diary when I noticed an old-fashioned closet, sitting in the very far corner of the room. Wanting to investigate I sauntered over to it and slowly opened the door. The door shrieked open to reveal very old dresses, shoes and hats. The hats were positioned on the very top shelf and the shoes on the bottom shelf with four drawers directly below them. As I picked up a navy blue form fitting dress with fake diamonds forming small intricate designs across the bodice, I couldn't help but wonder why I had never noticed this beautiful piece of furniture sitting back here. Peering to my left I noticed a tall item covered in an old blanket. With a swift yank the blanket fell to expose an old free-standing full body mirror. I smiled at my reflection as I held up the wonderful dress and noticed that it could be my size. Five minutes later I was standing before the mirror with the dress on. It fit perfectly and I had found a matching hat and shoes on the shelves. The whole outfit matched perfectly and surprisingly the shoes and hat fit me to a tee. I smiled as I started twirling around and around. The soft satin material brushed softly against my naked flesh making me feel like a princess. I stopped twirling and looked at myself in the mirror once again. The only way that I could explain the way I looked was to say that it appeared that I had stepped into a movie, set around 1915 or earlier. I turned back to the closet to see what other kinds of outfits I would find. As I looked everything over I noticed that the dress I was wearing, was the fanciest one in the bunch. With out a care in the world I continued to explore the contents of my new treasure chest. I found old-fashioned hairpins and barrettes in one drawer. The other three drawers contained every under garment that you could imagine that ladies of this time wore under these dresses. I began to examine the row of shoes and noticed that there were more hidden behind the first row. I moved the bottoms of the dresses aside and saw more shoes in different styles and sizes, some even appeared to be boys shoes. As I examined the shoes I spotted a creased edge along the back wall of the closet. A confused look garnished my face as I traced the outline until I came to a small bronze doorknob. "What the hell is this?" I muttered to myself as my fingers closed aroung the handle. After tugging on the door numerous times I gave up. I danced around the attic for about a half an hour before I decided that I had to get back downstairs before my mom came looking for me. I removed the hat from my head and realized, upon closer examination, that it didn't match the dress I was wearing at all. It was a different color and the fabrics were cotton instead of satin. With a shrug of my shoulders I placed the hat back on the top shelf. I was about to start changing back into my clothes when I remembered the strange door at the back of the closet. Eyebrows raised and determination set on my face I decided to try and open it one more time. I wrenched on the door with all the power I could muster. It flew open so fast that I fell backwards and landed on my ass. I stood up and brushed myself off. I creeped slowly towards the door and peeked into it. Before I could see anything I felt a force so strong that I couldn't fight it and I went flying into a pool of shadows. |