And So It Begins....
Scrooge was dead. Long dead...and tellings and re-tellings
of his remarkable change of life after the spirits' 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 and passed out of the realm 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 subsequent kindness had been unable to
sponge off 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, Ebeneezer, 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 actions and dealings with his fellow man 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
is his name, 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 himI'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 is well founded, 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. "No...that'd
be 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 as he thought, 'How very Charles Dickens-esque.'
"Lemme guess...", Patrick said, "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 could 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?"
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