A Christmas Carol '99 By Billy Burrew
Disclaimer: As usual, I would like to comment that this story is purely fictional and that it is no reflection on the sexual orientation of any of the members of NSYNC, Backstreet Boys or their estranged manager, Lou Pearlman. Please read this and enjoy it for what I intended it to be, an entertaining story.
Scrooge was dead. Long dead...and tellings and re-tellings of his remarkable change of life after that remarkable Christmas visitation were known throughout the world. In the time following that Christmas, Scrooge was indeed a changed man, and for the rest of his life, which, unfortunately, was not very long, he was known to keep Christmas better than any man in memory. Too soon, however, like all men, Scrooge shrugged off his mortal coil, passing out of the sphere of the living. Scrooge's spirit found itself in a ghostly gray limbo, the place that lies between heavenly salvation and eternal damnation, a place Scrooge found all too familiar to him from his visitation with Jacob. Scrooge's arms and legs were loosely bound in only a small length of chain and the few moneyboxes that his change of heart and kindness had been unable to sponge out of the ledger of his life. Their presence a constant reminder of his former years, Scrooge counted himself blessed that the spirits, in that visitation, had given him the opportunity to shorten the heavy chain as much as he had before he had died. As Scrooge floated in limbo, silently holding his chains, he was suddenly drawn upwards...up towards the clouds where he assumed heaven lay. As he neared the clouds, several other spirits materialized and stood before him.
"Ebeneezer Scrooge?", the one spirit asked,
Ebeneezer nodded slowly, cautiously studying the man.
"We have brought you here for a purpose. We have been witness to the great change of heart that you accomplished in the last years of your life, and we have come to offer you a proposition.", the second spirit continued.
"Ebeneezer, Heaven's salvation lies just beyond your grasp, and had you lived longer, your kind heart and deeds would have easily erased the atrocities committed by your former despicable self. Heaven, however, is not yet beyond your grasp and one small miracle would easily be enough to erase those last few misdeeds and tip the scale in your favor, thus securing you a place in heaven.", the first spirit remarked hopefully.
"Ebeneezer, there is another soul down on earth now, one whose crimes and misdeeds have turned his heart a hundred times more black than yours ever was. His greed, his self-importance, his arrogance and pride, his abusiveness to his fellow man is unmatched the world over. Therefore, to attain your admittance into Heaven, you will have to repay the kindness that Jacob Marley did for you in much the same way. We want you to visit this man...Lou Pearlman, and ready him for a Christmas visitation.", the first spirit finished.
Ebeneezer's face brightened considerably and he nodded.
"I will. This small kindness towards my fellow man is the least I can still do." Ebeneezer replied quietly
The spirits walked over to him and lay their hands upon his arms, and instantly their knowledge of the misdeeds and dealings of Lou Pearlman transferred to Scrooge. Scrooge's eyes widened and he gasped.
"Lord....This man is truly more than my equal, even when I was at my worst in life. I pray that I can do what is needed.", Scrooge said with a sigh.
"Fear not Ebeneezer", the first spirit announced, "you have only a small part in this affair. The weight of this miracle will fall upon the shoulders of another."
Patrick's last memory of his life was hovering outside his body and seeing himself in his hospital bed with all his beloved friends and his lover surrounding him. Lance Bass was holding his right hand while Nick Carter held his left. Both boys had tear stained faces from crying and Patrick ached deep in his soul, wanting so badly to just wake up and wipe their tears away. Patrick saw his lover Mike sitting at the foot of the bed with JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake and Kevin Richardson. JC had wrapped his arms around Mike in an attempt to comfort him as Justin sat quietly beside Kevin, tears streaming down both their faces.
Patrick then saw his body twitch slightly and breathe its last as the machines around his bed began to beep frantically. The doctors and nurses came in and the orderlies pushed everyone out of the room as the doctors tried in vain to revive Patrick's lifeless body. Lance was the last to be forced from the room, crying hysterically and wailing Patrick's name. Moments later, after the doctors pronounced him dead, the weeping of his friends from the hallway became too much for him to bear. Patrick looked at his body one last time and then the entire scene disappeared. Next, Patrick stood watching sadly at his funeral, listening to Mike's beautiful eulogy and then the guys singing a final song for him. Patrick stood behind Lance and Diana as she tried to comfort the young man.
Lance looked over at Diana and sighed, "I promised him...I'd be there...that'd I'd be the last thing he saw...cause I loved him and didn't want him to die not knowing it."
Tears streamed down Diana's face as she replied, "He knew... He loved you and Mike so much. You guys were all he talked about. You sat with him to the end, right? He knew you were there for him. He knew."
Lance and Diana wept together silently as Patrick's coffin was lowered into the ground.
Lance's grief was so deep, he had taken Patrick's death the hardest of any of his friends, including his lover, Mike. Patrick sighed as he watched Lance cry and as Patrick laid his hand on his friends shoulder, the scene faded and disappeared. Patrick was still at the cemetery, but it was now empty, save for the empty chairs left over from the service. As Patrick sat down, he noticed suddenly noticed two other men walking over to his gravesite and then sitting down a few seats away.
"We thought you might want to see your death and funeral", the first man as he looked from Patrick's grave to the seat where Patrick was sitting.
Patrick jumped, realizing that this man could see him. He absorbed the man's words and nodded.
"It was a nice service.", Patrick said soberly, "I wonder if they served any good food afterwards?"
The two men looked over at Patrick quizzically until they saw a small smile on his face, and then they too began to smile and chuckle.
"Good...Very good!", the second man replied as he chuckled, "A man that can laugh after seeing his own funeral is a strong man indeed! In all my years as a spirit, I have never seen anyone do that before."
"Well", Patrick smiled as he shook his head, "Humor is my way of coping, I guess."
"You did well in life, Patrick", the one man said, getting up and taking the seat next to him. "Your love for your friends and partner and their love for you shall remain a testament to your life. It is because of these qualities of your that we are here."
Patrick nodded at the two men, beckoning them to continue.
"As you had guessed in life, there was a purpose behind your meeting and befriending the guys of NSYNC and Backstreet Boys.", the second man continued, "Your getting to know them was integral in your helping them in the years to come."
"How am I going to help them now...I am not of the living anymore.", Patrick said quietly.
"To help them most effectively, you would have to be of the spiritual plane, not of the living.", the first spirit said quickly. "Patrick...both groups share a common fault. It is this shared fault that will cause the downfall of both bands as well as their slide into depression, disillusion and death in their near future.", the first man said morbidly.
Patrick paled as the thought of his friends in pain.
"What is it....and how can I stop it?", Patrick said as he shook his head.
"It's a he..not an it. His name is...", the second man replied.
"Lou Pearlman", Patrick finished, his eyes closed as the final piece of the puzzle snapped into place.
"Yeah", the first man said quietly, "I heard you two had met."
"We met...oh yeah!", Patrick replied, "I knew I hadn't seen the last of that guy. That man is like herpes....he just keeps coming back!"
The first man chuckled for a second at Patrick's comment.
"Patrick, your distaste for him does you credit, however, it is that man that you must change."
"Change him??....Just give me a gun and make me real in that world for 30 seconds. I'll change him permanently!", Patrick growled.
Both spirits smiled and shook their heads. "Nope...too easy...and besides....killing him wouldn't alter the future enough to make amends for his wrongs up to this point. You are gonna have to visit him and try to change him that way."
"Visit him, huh?", Patrick said sarcastically as he rolled his eyes, "How very Charles Dickens-esque. Lemme guess...I visit him on Christmas Eve...show him his life, past, present, and future and hope to God it's bad enough to scare him to change his outlook on life."
"Uhhh...yeah. Wow! That's it...Exactly!", the first man replied, his eyes wide as he bobbed his head up and down.
Patrick made a half choking noise and then faked a smiled as he thought, 'I've died and ended up in Charles Dickens hell.'
The two spirits looked at Patrick for a while as he got up and paced back and forth.
"OK", Patrick said, "You got yourselves a Christmas Spirit."
The two men smiled and a third man, as an old man, wrapped in chains, appeared beside them.
"Patrick", the second man, "This is the man that will herald your visit on Christmas Eve...Mr. Ebeneezer Scrooge."
Patrick's eyes widened as he walked over to the man clasping their hands together in greeting.
"Its an honor to meet you Mr. Scrooge.", Patrick replied as Scrooge looked at him at first with a look of shock that changed to a small smile as he saw the warm smile that Patrick wore.
"You as well, Patrick.", Scrooge replied heartily.
The first man coughed lightly, bringing Patrick back to the conversation at hand.
"There is also one other matter for you to attend to first Patrick."
"Oh?", Patrick replied curiously.
"A Christmas wish...actually two of them.", the second man replied with a smile.
"There is a young man on earth that was heartbroken when you died.", the first man began.
"Lance", Patrick said sadly, "I promised him a few things and was unable to come through on them before I died."
The first man nodded, "His christmas wish...in fact, his overriding thought since you passed into this realm, is that he would be able to see you and talk to you one last time."
"Normally", the second man continued, "this would be out of the question....But in this case, it is feasible, in fact, necessary to your visitation that this wish is granted."
"And the second wish", Patrick said quietly.
"Is from Justin.", the first man replied, "He loves Lance deeply and your death and Lance's mourning and isolation from the rest of the guys, especially Justin himself, has left him feeling shut out and heartsick."
Patrick nodded, "When do I start?"