Chapter 01: Imaginary

Title: Haunted

Genre: Angst / Suspense

Rating: M

Summary: Two years after breaking up, Big Time Rush reestablish their friendship in the time of a danger that could possibly destroy everything for each of the boys...

Written: May 2011

Word Count: 2,269 words.

If you need to leave the world you live in
Lay your head down and stay a while
Though you may not remember dreaming
Something waits for you to breathe again

He was dead.

How it happened? None of them could have even thought of it. Gustavo Rocque, the illustrious Hollywood record producer, was dead. No one saw it coming. Above all, a certain group of musicians were distraught. Hortense 'Logan' Mitchell, Carlos Geraldo Garcia, James Isaac Diamond, and Kendall Donald Knight were all deadly silent as they sat in their room in the once lively Palm Woods, which to them, now seemed like a symbolic reminder of the plump, callous, and rude but caring and intelligent producer. Katie Knight, the beautiful younger sister of Kendall, sat next to Kendall and rubbed his shoulders in comfort. She was a bold, headstrong twenty year old who was finishing up her major in Business Administration and minor in Economics at the illustrious U.C.L.A. Mrs. Jennifer Knight, Kendall and Katie's mother, had flown in the moment she heard the news. Kelly Wainwright, the beautiful thirty-three assistant to Gustavo, was dry. All of her unused tears had been used up upon the grim situation that lay in front of her. Her pursed lips did nothing to hide her misery.

For nine years, she and Gustavo had trained Big Time Rush to be the most amazing boy-band in the world, and finally, they had reached platinum. They were followed by millions on social networking sites, and had produced duets with every big-shot in Hollywood. James was on his way to his third movie. Logan was doing an internship at a hospital, which was helping him get into a medical school with his triple major in pre-medicine, biology, and chemistry. Kendall was engaged to Jo Taylor, the beautiful star of New Town High, and Carlos was a proud hockey player. However one fact pervaded all of their minds; what was Big Time Rush?

Big Time Rush had broken up two years ago. The official band name. Nonetheless, all boys were talented celebrities and still sung some songs together, just not under that band name. It had begun with a simple conflict between Kendall and James, but slowly got Logan and Carlos involved. Eventually, the boys decided to split up, and the moment they reached their fourth platinum album, they buried Big Time Rush and began their own careers and followed their dreams. Kelly knew this fact hurt Gustavo, but he refused to acknowledge it. The broken portraits at his mansion suggested to Kelly when she had visited several days ago that Gustavo missed his 'dogs'. She bit her lip again to stop these depressing thoughts. Obviously, something needed to be done.

Arthur Griffin, Gustavo's former boss, who had been gone, was also here. It was an interesting news story: the Chief Executive Officer of the RCMCBT Global Net Sanyoid Corporation had gone missing three years ago. It had occurred during one of Big Time Rush's tours on which Griffin had accompanied them along with his beautiful daughter, Mercedes Griffin. While Kelly knew the girl was extravagant, she had a feeling she would one day overtake her father and become possibly the third richest Chief Executive Officer in the world. Kelly was correct; Mercedes now held the reins of all Arthur had, and so much more. She was powerful, beautiful, and fortunately, much more reasonable than her father. She was distraught after he was missing, and she went through several phases, but everyone commended her on her rapid growth to maturity. Today was a horrible day; his disfigured body had appeared outside of Rocque Records, and it took hard forensic tests to identify the body. Since his body had shown up several hours ago, Mercedes had canceled all appointments and locked herself in her office.

"Boys," Kelly shattered the glass of silence, "I know this is tough, but we have to pull through." She could imagine Gustavo barking at all of them to stop sulking. She knew he loved them, but he could never express it right. It had something to do with his mother forcing him to play the piano all day...

The boys gave each other glances. This was the first time in two years that they had returned back to the Palm Woods. They all had missed each other, and some days wished they could further bask in their teenage years of bliss.

"I miss Gustavo." Kendall blurted out calmly. He looked at the other boys, who gave him a stare of sadness. They all agreed as well.

"I'm sure," Kelly paused again as she thought about her next words, "Mercedes will arrange a glorious funeral for him." Kelly sympathized with the poor girl who lost her best years and overtook the throne of the Griffin reign.

"I...simply don't understand how he died." Logan admitted, saying what was on the mind of everyone in the room. It was odd indeed; in fact, Kelly recalled Gustavo had gone for a check-up two days before and despite his immense weight, Gustavo was not in any danger. She was surprised to have found him 'dozing' off in his chair, before realizing he was cold. She called the police, and before they came in, they called her out to identify the rotting corpse in front of the records. According to the security cameras, Gustavo had simply been sipping his coffee, and all of a sudden, he closed his eyes for a presumable nap and never awoke again. The only odd aspect was that the mortuary had just called, and claimed they were still awaiting the body. Upon calling the police, it was said that the body was sent. Kelly assumed some miscommunication had occurred, and left it to the police for once to organize through this mess.

"I remember my report on him," Katie contributed wistfully. She played with her long brown locks in an awkward respect for the man. "I was only eleven..." Katie added again, although she knew it simply went in-and-out of everyone's ear. Mrs. Knight was whipping up some grub in their familiar room of 2J. She had immediately checked out the room from Bitters, who had sent a condolence basket. Mind you, it was cheap, but the thought counted.

The group had nostalgia upon first entering this room. They initially decided to all meet at Rocque Records, but it was cut off by police. Thus, Mrs. Knight suggested they meet in their apartment that Gustavo had gotten for them. No one wanted to say no, as they all pined for it. Katie had finished her final exam in Economics, and drove her way to the apartment.

"I wonder how Mercedes is doing..." James spoke for the first time. His famed beauty was still intact, and it was his beauty that had prevented Mercedes from dating him. He did not mind it, however. They remained platonic friends.

"Imagine if you saw your mother..." Carlos didn't finish his thought. The women in the room shot him a dark look which made him realize what he was about to say. Luckily James just murmured something, obviously not paying attention to what Carlos was about to say.

Soon, nightfall sneaked its way past daylight, and haunted the boys. Logan's pale skin shone like the moon from the glimmering natural lights outside, while Kendall's green eyes accentuated themselves like jades. James's chocolate brown hair glowed with perfect, while Carlos's brown eyes glimmered. Katie excused herself to check into her own room with her mother (claiming the boys needed some 'alone time'). Mrs. Knight followed Katie, and walked out with Kelly. After the two women shared a hug, Kelly walked to her house. For the first time in years, she felt alone.

Meanwhile, the boys simply changed into whatever clothes they had brought along. Logan sent a text message to his boss from his Blackberry, letting her know a close relative had died. It wasn't too far from the truth. Gustavo was not a close relative; he was a second father and best friend to all of them. Meanwhile, James whipped out his iPhone and canceled all of his photoshoots. Normally, any agent would have been mad, but with James Diamond, one must accommodate to his schedule. Kendall gently pulled out his Thunderbird and sent a text to Jo, letting her know the situation. She knew Gustavo slightly and sent back a sad message. Carlos kept his Sidekick from several years ago and still continued to use it. He claimed he loved the nostalgia associated with it, and thus no one argued with him about it. He sent a text to his team and told them he had to deal with something.

They all sat around in the apartment, observing how dusty the room had become. Bitters had never rented it out to anyone else, and Carlos felt a small urge to go through the swirly side. However, with the cakes of dust upon it, Carlos feared he would be purged from that matter.

"...I liked your last movie James," Kendall commented, as all boys looked at Kendall. He knew he had to be the one to bring them back together for this mourning. James slightly smiled and his eyes glowed for one second before dimming again. Flipping his hair, he responded:

"I enjoyed your last album too."

Logan nodded, before he turned to Carlos.

"My boss and I are a huge fan of your team. We tune into your games at the hospital all of the time." Carlos smiled before responding back to Logan.

"I don't think I could be a fan of hospitals, although I visit them often." Carlos laughed slightly as the others chuckled. They had ordered Chinese, but it was too early for any of them to eat.

However, something broke the pregnant silence that was roughly placed into the room again. Logan's blackberry began to hum "Halfway There", while Jame's iPhone blared out "City is Ours". Carlos's Sidekick rang "Boyfriend" while Kendall's Thunderbird sang out "Big Time Rush". Looking at each other strangely, they opened their phone to find a Restricted email address had sent them all an email.

Logan opened his message and his face paled even more.

"Hello Logie,

How is Kelly doing? I hope she's doing okay. Perhaps okay enough to be reminded of what occurred on August 19th. How would she react to find out that the morning she awoke violated from a drunken one-night was shared with none other than Logan Mitchell. I don't think Harvard Medical School would like that would it?"

James almost cried out when he opened his email from "Restricted". There was an attachment along with a message. His eyes quickly darted around the room, seeing everyone preoccupied with their phone.

"Hello Jamez,

Love is beautiful. But betrayal? Lying? Hiding? That's pretty ugly. I wonder if Kendall would kill you when he found out his innocent Baby Sister had lost her virginity to his best friend, and behind his back, underwent an abortion. I hope you are enjoying your day."

Carlos's eyes went wide when he read his email from a "Restricted".

"Hello Carlito,

I found a link you might find interesting." Carlos scrolled over and opened up the link to find a page called "Nocturnal Enuresis" or better known as, "bed-wetting". Carlos flushed brightly as he quickly closed his phone and acted as if everything was normal.

Kendall's eyes misted as he read his message for the seventh time.

"Hello Kenny,

Have you heard that song by Katy Perry? I kissed a girl and I liked it...taste of her cherry chapstick. Perhaps it could be remixed for you! It would go like I kissed a boy and I liked it...taste of his unsuspecting dick. What would he do when he found out you had molested him in his sleep for sex?"

All the boys closed their emails and looked awkwardly at something in the room. Logan preoccupied himself with the dusty bookshelf; James with the cracked mirror; Carlos with the dusty slide; and Kendall with a hole on top of which was once a portrait.

The boys were confused, but did not know who to trust. Someone out there knew their deepest darkest secret, and they were afraid of blackmail. There was no ultimatum in the email, but a seemingly friendly message. Suddenly, all of the four phones vibrated as the boys nervously took out their phones again, ignoring each other.

It all read the same thing: "Big Time Rush killed Gustavo Rocque. Big Time Rush killed Arthur Griffin. Now I'm going to kill Big Time Rush." The text was from Restricted and the boys gulped nervously. They all had something to hide, and unbeknown to them, they each held a piece to the puzzle that would solve both deaths of Arthur Griffin and Gustavo Rocque. However, they did not know who to turn to. The police would only suspect them, and they could not risk revealing something so big to any of their former friends.

The night was still young, but the boys were already tired. Mumbling words to each other, they absent-mindedly headed for a room in the hotel suite to stay in.

Had any of the boys stayed in the room for one moment longer, they would have noticed a notice slip under the door.