The guys were all sprawled out all over the lounge in the studio. They had been recording all day and they were all exhausted to say the least. None of them felt like moving or getting up from where they were to do anything. It was Friday and they were all ecstatic that they were done recording for a while. Things weren't going like they had planned and everyone was getting frustrated with each other. "At least we have next week off." Joey said lazily as he lay on the couch. The others agreed.

 

"What's everyone going to do?" Justin asked. They all shrugged. None of them really thought about what they were going to do on their week off. Lance was thinking about this and how moody everyone's been lately, when he got a brilliant idea. He leaped up from the chair he was sitting in, the first one to move since they sat down a half hour ago. The others were startled by his sudden movement.

 

"Hey. Where you going, Scoop?" JC called seeing that Lance was heading for the door.

 

"I just thought of something that I need to do," was all Lance said before heading out the door. The others didn't give it a second thought, but the curiosity was too much for Chris and he decided to catch up to Lance. He ran out the door and call Lance to stop when he saw him down the hall a little ways. Lance complied. He waited for Chris to catch up with him.

 

"Where you off to? I've never seen you in this much of a hurry before especially after a day like today." Chris said. Lance shrugged.

 

"I just got a great idea and needed to talk to Johnny about it."

 

"Why? What is it?" Lance decided to keep walking if he wanted to get anything done. Chris had to follow him or else he wouldn't be able to get the answers he was looking for. "Lance, C'mon. You can tell me."

 

Lance sighed. He figured there was no harm in telling Chris. "OK. Well you know how everyone's been stressing lately and we have a week off coming up?"

 

"Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?" Chris asked slightly confused.

 

"I was thinking that we could go on vacation to get our minds off of work in particular JC. You and I both know that if he stays here during his week off all he'll do is work and ended getting even more stressed out. I didn't want to tell you guys because I wanted it to be a surprise. Plus, I don't think they would agree with where I'm taking them." Lance explained.

 

"Why? Where are you going to take us?"

 

"I'll tell you when I get done talking with Johnny. I want him to approve of it and see if he will give us an extension."

 

"Let me go in with you. I can help." Chris pleaded. Lance was going to refuse, but he hated when Chris pulled his pouting act.

 

"OK. Fine. You can go in, but stop acting like Justin." Lance entered the conference room with Chris following his lead. Both of them talked with Johnny for about an hour. They had managed to let Johnny give them an extension and have it approved. While in there Chris had learned just where Lance wanted to take the guys and agreed that it would be a perfect place to take them. They were so happy that they could do this. They knew this would help the guys especially JC get back into focus for writing and recording. "C'mon. Let's go tell the guys."

 

"I'll race ya." Chris said and took off in a dead run.

 

"Hey! No fair! You got a head start!" Lance complained and went after him. Chris, of course, beat him there.

 

"Bout time. We ready to do this?" Lance nodded and both of them entered the room. Neither of them were surprised to find that no one had moved an inch since they were gone.

 

"Hey guys. Where were ya'll?" Joey asked.

 

Chris ignored his question. "Boys, pack your bags. We're going on vacation for two weeks." That got everyone's attention.

 

"What? Vacation? And for two weeks? I thought we only had one week off?" JC spoke up.

 

"Yeah, well, I talked to Johnny and he agrees that we all need time off so we booked a place to go. We're leaving tonight so you guys have to go home and pack. We'll meet at my house." Lance explained.

 

"Where are we going?" Justin questioned looking between Lance and Chris. There was something going on he could tell.

 

"That's a surprise. You'll find out when we get there." Chris said after glancing at Lance. They were expecting something like this.

 

"When we get to the airport though, we'll find out where it is because it will say on our tickets." Joey objected.

 

"Right." Lance said choosing to just pretend he didn't hear that. He hoped he could pull this off without them finding out, but he didn't think it would really be that hard. "Go and get packing. Meet you at my house at eight. That's two hours to get ready so get going." All the guys pulled themselves from where they were laying and walked out the door giving weird looks to Chris and Lance as they passed them. They guys had all left and it was only Chris and Lance left.

 

"Do you think this is going to work?" Lance asked.

 

"Of course! Are you kidding me? At first they'll be surprised that we managed to pull this off especially you. Besides, once we get there they'll be thanking us."

 

"I hope you're right, Chris."

 

"I'm always right. You'll see."

 

"OK. I'll see you in a few."

 

"Yeah. Later, man." With that said Lance and Chris departed their own separate ways.

 

Two hours later all of the guys were at Lance's house. All of them were anxious to find out where they were going and why it was so secret. Lance and Joey finished putting all of the luggage in the trunk of Lance's SUV.

 

"You want me to drive, Lance?" JC asked.

 

"No thanks. I got it." Lance replied as he slid into the driver's seat and JC into the passenger seat. The others sat in the back with Justin in the middle of Joey and Chris. Chris was sitting right behind Lance so he could communicate with him better.

 

"Are you guys going to tell us where we are going now?" Justin complained. He hated the fact that Chris and Lance had planned something without their knowledge.

 

"You'll find out soon enough. Patience is a virtue." Lance said.

 

"Better tell that to Curly again. I don't think he understands that." Joey teased and ruffled Justin's curls. Lance was following the main road that took you through Orlando. He reached a red light where they normally made a right to go to the airport, but Lance shocked everyone except for Chris by taking a left.

 

"Uh...Lance?"

 

"Yeah, Joe?"

 

"You do know the airport's that way, right?" Joey asked pointing his thumb over his shoulder in the opposite direction.

 

"Yes I know Joey. We're not going to the airport. It's in driving distance." Lance explained.

 

"Oh," was all Joey could come up with. He had absolutely no idea why they were going this way and didn't even know there was a place in driving distance that Lance felt would be nice to have a vacation at.

 

JC sat staring out the window as he listened Justin pester Chris to answer him and when that didn't work he started to pester Lance. JC was just as stumped as Joey. He was actually surprised that he decided to go with the guys. He had planned on trying to write some new songs for the album. He was at a writer's block. Every time he thought he had something, he would go back the next day and after rereading over it, decide that it was crap. This writer's block had JC on edge and he would snap at the guys on occasion. Not on purpose, but he was stressed out, which wasn't like him. He was always relaxed. His behavior had changed ever since his writer's block hit and he knew the guys knew. Then a thought that this might be good for him actually crossed his mind, but he didn't have time to think upon it because he heard Lance say, "Enough, Justin! We're here so you can stop asking questions."

 

Lance put the car in park after driving down a dirt road with tons of trees around. They all jumped out of the car, ignoring their earlier fatigue, to see where they were. It was dark out so they couldn't get a good look around. Lance and Chris watched the others with amused expressions. Even JC was trying to get a look around and that made both of them smile. "See I told you." Chris whispered to Lance. Lance just nodded.

 

"C'mon guys. Let's bring in our bags. We can check out the area tomorrow. It's too dark now."

 

"He's right. We're all beat." JC grabbed his stuff and headed into the cabin after Lance. The guys brought in all of their stuff and just tossed it in the living room since they didn't know sleeping arrangements yet.

 

"What are the sleeping arrangements? There are three rooms which means two pairs of two share and someone has a room to themselves. I personally don't care." Lance said. Almost at once Justin, JC, and Joey both said they wanted a bedroom to themselves.

 

"All right. Only one of you is going to get your own room. Who's it going to be?" Chris asked.

 

JC sighed. He was tired and didn't feel like fighting over a bedroom. "J or Joey can have it."

 

"Well guys?" Chris persisted looking back and forth between Justin and Joey. Finally after several minutes, Justin caved in.

 

"He can have the room to himself. He snores too loud anyway." He joked and all the guys laughed while Joey muttered something about not being loved.

 

"You want to room with me, J?" JC asked.

 

"Sure, man." Justin and JC followed Joey by taking their luggage up to their room.

 

"I guess that leaves me and you rooming." Lance said as he grabbed his luggage with Chris following close behind. All the guys came back down to the living room after unpacking their suitcases.

 

"What movie do we want to watch?" Chris sifted through the movies they had brought along with them.

 

"How about Big Daddy?" Justin suggested and everyone agreed. Joey made the popcorn. After watching the movie and relaxing for a bit, all of the guys went up to bed. They wanted to get a full night's sleep so they could go exploring tomorrow.

It was 10 o'clock in the morning and all of the guys were up eating breakfast even JC. Chris and Lance saw this as a good sign because he would normally sleep in late so they knew that they at least had his attention.

 

"Did everyone sleep well?" Lance asked as they all sat around eating their breakfast. Everyone nodded.

 

"I can't get over how quiet it is here. It's never this quiet at home. There's always something going on and you can hear the traffic." JC said.

 

"That's why I picked this place. I figured we could go to the beach where it was more distracting or we could come here and just kind of sit around while enjoying the beauty of nature." Lance explained.

 

"Well I think this was a great idea." Joey said as he finished his breakfast and put his dishes in the sink. "I'm going to go explore the area. Anyone coming?" Everyone agreed to go explore with Joey. They left the dishes in the sink to do later.

 

They stepped outside and their breath caught. It was amazing. It was a beautiful day with the sun already beating down with lush green trees all around. It wasn't often they saw something like this. They lived in the city so they never got to really spend time in nature.

 

They all stood still for another minute or two when JC finally spoke up. "Look. There's a path over there. Let's follow it and see where it leads."

 

Everyone was frozen for a minute. They could already see the good effect this place was having on JC. He wasn't objecting to go and do something like he normally does when he has writer's block and is at home.

 

JC noticed no one was following him and said, "Are you guys coming or what?"

 

That seemed to snap everyone awake. "I'm coming." Joey said jogging over to JC. He didn't want to miss a moment of JC's good mood. It had been so long since he'd seen him act like this.

 

"Me too." Justin said and took off to where JC and Joey were. Chris and Lance weren't far behind. They were bringing up the rear and smiled to each other. JC had been here for less than a day and he was already relaxing and enjoying himself. JC was leading with Joey and Justin behind him.

 

They had been following the path and it was leading them up a huge hill. Chris was walking up it and decided to have some fun. He started huffing and puffing like he was really out of breath. Lance gave him a questioning look and Chris just shook his head. Lance understood what he was doing and a smile spread across his face. Next thing he knows Chris is lying on the ground.

 

"Go on without me. I can't make it." Chris said in a frail voice like he would die if he walked all the way up the hill. This had got the others attention like Chris had hoped.

 

"We won't leave without you. What would the others say?" Lance was pretending to be dramatic and playing along with Chris.

 

"We would say to suck it up, old fart." JC replied as he stood in front of Chris. He knew Chris was messing around.

 

"Old fart? Did you just call me an old fart?" Chris asked getting up from the ground.

 

"Yeah. What are you going to do about it? I thought you couldn't go on and for us to go on without you." JC mocked Chris.

 

"All right. That's it. You're so dead." Chris exclaimed and JC took off running up the rest of the hill and then running down it. Chris wasn't far behind him. JC was laughing while running down the hill. He was half way to the bottom of the hill when he tripped over what he thought was a root from a tree. This caused JC to lose his balance and he fell down the rest of the hill. He was stopped when his side connected with a rock. JC lay there panting from the running and the pain. He had fallen down the hill headfirst. He didn't move until the guys got to him. Chris was the first and the rest were right behind him.

 

"Are you OK, JC?" Chris asked.

 

"Yeah, I'll live."

 

"What hurts?" Justin looked at JC's pain stricken face. He could tell that he was in a lot of pain.

 

"My head hurts, but it's mainly my side."

 

"Here let's get you up." Joey said as he held out his hand for JC to grasp. JC did and Joey pulled him up and held him straight while Lance lifted his shirt.

 

"That's definitely going to be black and blue tomorrow." Lance felt around the right side of JC's ribs and sighed in relief when nothing was broken. "Well, you're ribs aren't broken. That's a good thing. Does it hurt in your ribs?"

 

"Yeah the lower half." JC said.

 

"Then my guess is that you bruised the lower half of your ribs. It'll hurt for a while, but you should be fine in a couple of days." Lance explained.

 

"I think we should head back." Chris looked at JC with worry. JC saw this.

 

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Let's finish and see where the trail leads."

 

"I don't think that's a good idea. We should get you back to lie down for a little so the pain can subside. Besides, we have two weeks to come back and check it out."

 

"I guess you're right."

 

"Of course I am. Now let's head back." Chris replied.

 

"Do you think you can walk?" Joey asked.

 

"Yeah I'll be fine." Joey nodded, but walked next to JC just incase.

 

They were walking in silence for a few minutes when Joey spoke up. "Hey Lance."

 

"Yeah?" Lance replied casting a curious look in Joey's direction.

 

"How did you know if JC's ribs were broken or not?"

 

"Hey that's a good point. You took control and knew exactly what you were doing. What gives?" Chris asked.

 

"I took a Red Cross course when I was 13. It was my mom's idea. She said it would be good for me so I would know what to do in every situation."

 

"I thought they only taught things like CPR. I never heard of them checking for broken bones." Justin said.

 

"Well, I didn't take the regular course that you normally take to get certified for CPR. That was included with the course that I took which was a survival course. I remember they took us to different rooms in the hospital, since that was where the course was located, to see what broken bones felt like and things of that nature. It was really interesting." Lance explained.

 

"That's really cool. How come you never told us about this?" JC asked.

 

"I don't know. It just never came up I guess. I remember thinking if I would really be able to handle those kinds of situations."

 

"I think you handled it well." JC said. Lance blushed a little and smiled his thanks to JC for the compliment.

 

The rest of the walk back was mostly in silence. Except for when Justin brought up the question on everyone's mind.

 

"JC?"

 

"Yeah, J?"

 

"I was just wondering how you fell down the hill."

 

JC sighed. "I'm not really sure. I was running down the hill and next thing I know I'm going headfirst down the hill. I remember my foot connecting with something. I think it was a tree root."

 

The guys let this sink in for a minute. Then Chris said, "That would make sense if there was actually a tree root on the hill."

 

"You mean there wasn't?" Lance asked in disbelief. How could that be possible, he thought.

 

"Nope. I was right behind JC. I saw him trip, but I didn't know what from because when I ran past the spot where JC fell there was nothing there. Not even a little stone or hole in the trail."

 

"I tripped over something. I know I did." JC objected.

 

"We're not saying you didn't. You might have tripped over your own foot or just lost your footing all together." Joey said.

 

"I didn't. I know for a fact I didn't. I tripped over something that was thin and hard. I don't think tennis shoes are thin and hard."

 

"OK. Just chill out. It was just a theory." Joey replied.

 

After that it was quiet the rest of the way except every once in a while they could hear JC suck in his breath from the pain. Justin wanted to say that maybe it would be a good idea if JC leaned against Joey, but knew how stubborn JC was so he decided not to bring it up.

 

After walking an hour, they made it back to the cabin. JC went inside to lay on the couch. He sighed in relief. His side still hurt. Probably made it worse from walking all the way back here, JC thought. He still didn't understand how it happened. He knew that he tripped over something, but he was normally really good at avoiding those kinds of things. JC closed his eyes and remembered running down the hill. He couldn't remember seeing it, but he knew he felt it. He sighed again, but this time it was in frustration. He figured none of the guys believed him except maybe Lance. He seemed kind of skeptical that there was nothing there when Chris looked. And why didn't Chris trip over it if he ran past the same spot he fell, JC asked himself. This was complicated. JC reminded himself to talk with Lance about it later. He would feel better if someone believed him because he knew the others didn't.

 

While JC was lying on the couch, the rest of the guys were doing other things. Lance was in the kitchen washing the dishes from earlier that day. Justin, Chris, and Joey were out swimming in the lake that they found behind the cabin. Lance watched them from the kitchen window while he was washing the dishes. He shook his head while chuckling when he saw Joey lift Justin in the air and throw him in the water with Justin protesting the whole time.

 

Once Lance was done in the kitchen he went into the living room where he saw JC sleeping. That didn't surprise him at all. He could just imagine how much pain he was in. Lance was bummed that this had to happen to JC especially since this was their first day on vacation and he was really enjoying himself and starting to relax. Lance could only hope that the rest of the vacation would be better. Just then JC woke up which surprised Lance because he thought JC would be asleep for at least a couple more hours.

 

"How are you feeling?" Lance asked.

 

"I'm OK. My side still hurts other than that I'm good."

 

"Good. Besides you falling down the hill, you had a pretty good day. Wouldn't you say?"

 

JC thought about it for a minute. "Yeah. I guess it has been a good day. I can't get over how beautiful it is here. This should really offer me some inspiration to break my writer's block."

 

"That's why I chose this place. I knew that you were stuck and I figured that while you were relaxing with no one, other than us of course, around then you would break your writer's block. We all really needed a break." Lance said.

 

"Yeah. Hopefully after this we can really get the album going." JC replied.

 

"I'm sure we will." Silence filled the room then JC decided to ask Lance.

 

"Do you believe me about me falling over a tree root? I could hear the doubt in your voice when you asked Chris about it."

 

Lance had to think about that. It was something that really puzzled him. "I do believe that you tripped over something and I don't think it was your own feet. I know you and you're never that clumsy. That's something Justin or Joey would do," was Lance's answer.

 

"I just had to know that at least someone believed me. I don't want to think I'm going crazy. I don't think I could handle that."

 

"You're not going crazy. You have all of us to ground you anyway. We all keep each other grounded because if we didn't we'd be insane by now with all the media and hectic schedules. The others probably do believe you it's just they don't know what to make of it especially Chris. I mean if there was something and Chris ran right by it, why wouldn't he trip?"

 

"Exactly! That's what I was thinking. I couldn't understand it either. I guess it doesn't matter anymore does it? It's over and done with." JC said.

 

"Right. It doesn't really matter. We can put this behind us and carry on with our vacation. I'm sure things will get better and nothing else will happen." Lance assured. "Now let's go bring in the three stooges for dinner."

Lance led JC out to the lake where the other three were still in the lake and dunking each other. Chris was about to dunk Justin under the water when he noticed JC and Lance standing there. Justin took advantage of this distraction to dunk Chris under the water. Chris hadn't been expecting that and came up spluttering water. "You're dead, Timberlake!" He shouted.

 

"Only if you catch me." Justin replied as he swam to the edge and got out as fast as he could. He managed a quick 'hi' to JC and Lance before taking off with Chris on his heels. Joey got out of the water and stood next to JC. The three of them watched in amusement as Chris finally caught Justin and they were wrestling on the ground. Little did they know they were on the edge of the lake. They rolled over to the left and were surprised when they hit the water.

 

They came to the surface only to find the other three laughing at them. "What are you laughing at?" Chris asked as Justin got out. JC and Lance knew what he was going to do; he was going to push one of them in. Knowing this JC and Lance took off for the house leaving a dumbfounded Joey behind. Justin came up and pushed him in. Then took off after JC and Lance.

 

Justin reached the cabin just as JC and Lance got there. JC was panting because his side still hurt. JC didn't care though. He didn't want it to stop him from having fun on his vacation. That's why he ran with Lance. Lance knew that JC had just made his side worse from running and asked, "Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah I'm fine." JC replied as Joey and Chris came jogging up.

 

"You guys are lucky." Joey said referring to JC and Lance. "That water is cold when there's no sun."

 

"Which is why we left you. Besides you were already wet. Lance and I weren't. We figured you could handle yourself." JC explained.

 

"We're going to get you next time though." Chris commented with a smile.

 

"I have no doubt about that." JC said while getting a mental picture of him being pushed in by Chris. That made him smile.

 

"Why don't you three go change while I make some dinner?" Lance suggested.

 

"What are you making?" Justin asked.

 

"I was thinking tacos."

 

"Sounds good to me." Joey said as he headed upstairs. Justin and Chris followed his lead promising to be back down when they were clean and dressed. Lance moved into the kitchen and JC followed him.

 

Lance was preparing dinner when JC asked, "Have you been cooking lately? This is the first time I've seen you cook something besides breakfast."

 

Lance seasoned the meat. "Yeah I guess I have been cooking more. I just got tired of eating out or those TV dinners every night. My mom gave me her cookbook so I've been using that."

 

"I don't ever cook. I live off of take out and pizza. It's nice to have a home cooked meal though."

 

"Well we're not able to get take out here so you get home cooked food for two weeks." Lance said.

 

"I like the sound of that." JC said as Joey came down. "Well you were quick."

 

"I got to the shower first." Joey replied as he shrugged.

 

"What are Justin and Chris doing?" Lance asked.

 

"Fighting over who gets the shower next."

 

"Figures. I wonder who won." Lance said. Just then they heard a loud bang above them.

 

"I'd say Justin won." JC answered and they heard Justin scream 'yes.' They all laughed.

 

"How did you know he won? He didn't scream until after you said it." Lance questioned.

 

"I used to live with Justin and Chris. Remember? Before we all moved into our own houses they used to battle it out to see who would win whatever they were fighting over. And if I remember correctly Justin was due for a win." JC explained.

 

"When was the last time they fought it out?"

 

"Joey was with me then. When was it, Joe?"

 

"Two days ago at the studio. They were fighting over who would eat the last Milky Way." The three of them laughed again.

 

"It's funny how they never grow up." Lance said.

 

"Yeah and it's funny how some of us do." Chris said as he entered the conversation with Justin behind him. Justin and Chris sat down at the table as Lance fixed up plates for everyone and set it in front of them.

 

Lance sat down. "I guess we have all grown up a lot, huh? I never think about it that much."

 

"I'm with Lance. I don't ever think that I've grown up or matured. It just seems like it's the next phase to move into. You never think about how much you've actually changed." Justin looked down at himself and his friends. I guess we all have really changed a lot in the past eight years, he thought.

 

"Well we have, all of us. Pictures make the change in the physical appearance easier to see, but what's really changed is mentally. We've all grown mentally and in our own different ways. It shows through our music. We used to be five guys with a dream of being successful performers and now that we're at that state we're just enjoying life. We're still going to be doing our own thing even if we're not in the spotlight." Chris reasoned.

 

The guys remained quiet for a minute to reflect on this then Joey asked, "Do you guys remember when we met each other? I mean not just when we were a group, but when we met individually?"

 

"I remember meeting Justin on the MMC cast and taking him under my wing because he looked up to me. I remember thinking 'wow what a good kid'. It's kind of funny how we all met before we got the group together." JC said.

 

"Yeah. I remember meeting Justin at some auditions and when I saw him I knew that he had talent. I was surprised that a kid his age already knew what he wanted to do and was putting it into action. That was great." Chris thought back to that day and how he was blown away when we met Justin. He just knew that he would see that kid again. Boy was he right. "And meeting Joey in Orlando. He was so entertaining and I knew I would be great friends with him. That was when I thought about me meeting all of these talented people lately and figured we could try forming a group. I already knew from seeing Joey and Justin that I would want them and the rest is history."

 

"I was the only one of you four that didn't know someone before we formed the group. I can still picture that day clear in my mind." Lance said.

 

"I can too. I remember you walking into the warehouse. You looked uneasy, but I had a good feeling about it all. Then as soon as we sang together, I knew my feeling was right. I knew we had the last part of the group." JC had his eyes closed picturing that day, the day when the journey began.

 

"Remember there were only two bedrooms in the house that Lou bought us?" Joey asked.

 

"Yeah. Justin and JC were already sharing when Lance moved in with Joey and me. I remember that I had to shrink all of our stuff." The guys all chuckled at this.

 

"I remember just sitting back and watching you guys fool around. You guys were always great for a good laugh or even a good talk." Lance said.

 

"You're still like that. We have to drag you into things. You were always too serious like JC. We would have to drag you and JC out to do something fun otherwise you two would have just watched us your whole life." Chris commented.

 

"Those were the good old days. We didn't have to worry about being mobbed." Joey replied.

 

"You never had to worry about that. The girls were always tearing my clothes off. Remember that time in Germany when we were in that train station?" Justin put in.

 

"You mean when you got separated from us and the girls were just going crazy? Yeah I remember." JC answered.

 

"That was so funny." Joey laughed with the rest of the guys.

 

"It was not. You get mobbed and tell me how funny it is. That was the scariest thing ever. Thank goodness security was able to get them away."

 

"It didn't affect you though. You're not paranoid of crowds." Chris pointed out.

 

"Well no, but I'm used to it now." Justin replied.

 

"See it was preparing you for the years ahead." Joey said.

 

"I guess you're right."

 

"I'm always right." Joey replied.

 

"Hey! That's my line. You can't steal my line." Chris exclaimed.

 

"Well I just did so there." Joey said and stuck out his tongue. Chris stole a pillow off the couch. They had moved into the living room in the midst of their talking. He went over to Joey and whacked him in the head with it.

 

"Hey! What was that for?"

 

"For stealing my line." Chris replied as he hit Joey over the head again. Joey had enough and picked up a pillow of his own and started hitting Chris with it. Joey went to hit Chris, but Chris ducked and the pillow hit Justin in the face instead.

 

"This means war." Justin did a battle cry as he grabbed a pillow and ran and tackled Joey to the ground. Joey pushed him off and managed to get up before both Justin and Chris hit him at the same time. Chris looked over his shoulder to the left and saw JC and Lance standing there with smiles on their faces watching the three of them fight. Joey and Justin caught Chris's gaze and a smile formed on their lips. They were thinking the exact same thing as Chris.

 

On the count of three they ran and planned on tackling Lance. Lance saw what they were going to do and tried to get out of the way. He couldn't do it in time though and was tackled to the ground. Lance looked up to see Joey's smiling face. Lance pushed Joey off of him and looked around the room. There were no more pillows left. They took all the pillows.

 

Lance remembered that he had pillows on his bed and if only he could reach his bedroom. So Lance took off running, but Chris knew where he was trying to go and blocked him. Lance tried taking a different direction, but Joey and Justin were there. They started beating him with pillows again.

 

"He does not cry out." Chris said in a strange voice. "We must resort to plan B." Just then Chris tossed his pillow and started tickling Lance where he knew he was ticklish. Unknown to them JC had grabbed Chris's discarded pillow and snuck up on him. Lance was howling with laughter, begging Chris to stop, when JC smacked Chris in the head with a pillow. Chris turned around and his smile got even bigger.

 

"You hit me. Now you must pay." Chris said and signaled for Joey and Justin to hit him, but JC was a lot quicker than them and had them on the floor.

 

"You are great warrior. You win." Chris said and collapsed on the floor with laughter. He had never expected JC to do that. JC helped Lance up.

 

"Thanks. What a night."

 

"Yeah I know what you mean. I'm beat now though." JC said.

 

"You should be. You've had an exciting day. C'mon guys, let's go to bed." Lance replied helping Justin up while Chris helped Joey up. They straightened up the living room before they all headed upstairs and went into their respective rooms.

 

Lance was lying on the bed when Chris stepped out from the shower. "Did you have fun?" Chris asked Lance seeing the smile still on his face.

 

"Yeah I did. I guess you were right."

 

"About what?"

 

"About everything. I do need to have more fun along with JC."

 

"Glad I could point out the obvious." Chris joked.

 

"I hope that the rest of the vacation is like tonight. That was fun."

 

"I'm sure it will. I can always do it again."

 

"Thanks, man. Good night."

 

"Night." All was quiet and still. JC couldn't believe how quickly the day had gone and how much fun he had. Except for falling down the hill, he thought. He was glad that Lance brought them here and knew that there was a lot more fun waiting for him.

JC woke up the next day to find that it was almost afternoon. He assumed that all the guys were up so he went to take a shower and join his friends afterward. After his shower he felt very refreshed and awake. He hadn't felt like this in a long time. It seemed to him that with each passing day he returned to his old self, the kind of person he wanted to be. One thing that surprised JC was how his side felt a lot better. He was glad that he was because now he could have fun and not worry about making it hurt worse. He decided to go downstairs and see what the guys were up to.

 

He made it to the kitchen after passing through the whole downstairs and found that none of the guys were around. "Hm…I wonder where they are." JC said to himself. Just then he heard splashing water and laughter. They must be in the lake, he thought and took off to put on his swimsuit so he could join them. He made it out to the lake where his suspicions were confirmed. Justin was the first to notice him.

 

"Hey, JC. It's about time you got up. We thought you were going to sleep forever." At the mention of JC's name, the other guys turned to see him standing there.

 

"C'mon in. The water's great!" Joey said and JC jumped in. Joey was right. The water was warm, but refreshing at the same time.

 

"How long have you guys been up?" JC asked.

 

"Not too long. We all got up around nine except for Lance. He was up at seven." Chris answered.

 

"That figures. Lance is always up early." JC replied.

 

"That's exactly what Joey said to me when he got up." Lance commented. While Lance and JC were carrying on a conversation, Chris snuck up behind JC and dunked him.

 

JC didn't expect to be dunked and said, "What was that for?"

 

"I told you yesterday that you wouldn't be so lucky next time." Chris explained.

 

"Yeah, but you said you were going to push me in the water. Not dunk me." JC objected.

 

"Yeah, well, you were already in the water so the only thing I could do was dunk you." JC was going to reply, but gave a frustrated sigh when he couldn't think of one. All of the guys laughed and carried on like that for another hour before they decided to go in and make lunch.

 

All of the guys sat around the table eating their sandwiches that Lance made. "So what is everyone going to do the rest of the day?" Lance asked.

 

"Justin and I plan on going for a walk. Then come back here and battle it out on Playstation." Joey said.

 

"Sounds good. What are you going to do, Chris?" JC questioned.

 

"I was going to get a good look around the area." Chris replied.

 

"That sounds good. I think I'll go with you." Lance said.

 

"How about you, JC? What are you going to do?" Justin looked over at his best friend.

 

JC gave it some thought before saying, "I think I'll sit by the lake and try to write some new songs. I think it'll give me inspiration."

 

"You're welcome to join any of us you know." Chris said.

 

"Yeah I know. I really want to try to get something done."

 

"Yeah. We know you. If you don't write something before the vacation's over you'll feel like you accomplished nothing and that you're a failure." Joey joked.

 

The guys finished their meal and headed in separate directions. Joey and Justin decided to take the trail that they were on earlier that week to see where it took them. Chris and Lance were just hanging around in the woods and looking at the new surroundings. JC took one of his notebooks from his bedroom and went to sit out by the lake.

 

He sat down and took in his surroundings. Everything was so calm and peaceful. Even the lake was peaceful from it settled after they left. JC had a feeling that sooner or later his writer's block would break and he had a good feeling that it would be here before the vacation was over. He took a deep breath and felt to calm and peaceful which was a complete contrast to the way he felt the past two weeks.

 

Once he felt relaxed he opened his notebook to a new page. He began to think about anything and everything. He was trying to get an idea. JC thought about Lance and how he set this whole thing up. Funny how he found a little bit of paradise so close to home, he thought. His unconscious thought registered in his mind and he quickly wrote it down so he wouldn't forget it. He knew that was a good line and figured he could make something from it.

 

Maybe today's the day my writer's block ends, JC thought. He began to play with words and phrases that would go with the first line he had written down in his notebook. After another two hours JC was still sitting there. He had written half a page and knew that his writer's block ended. Joey and Justin had come back around this time and saw JC scribbling in his notebook.

 

"Do you think we should bring him in? He's been out there for a while." Joey asked.

 

"Nah. Leave him go. He's finally got a break from his writer's block. He'll come in soon and if not, we'll call him in for dinner." Justin replied as he went to set up the Playstation and Joey followed.

 

An hour later JC had finished the song and was sure that it was a good one. He closed his notebook with his pen and set it beside him on the grass. His eyes closed and he sighed in relief. He was afraid that writer's block would never end. He was about to get up when all of the sudden he was pushed from behind.

 

JC came up coughing up water because he hadn't expected that. JC assumed it was Chris who pushed him in and called out, "Chris, you're so dead." But there was no one around.

 

"C'mon man. This isn't funny." JC was about to say something else when he was pulled under. He frantically tried to swim to the surface. After struggling with whatever had him he managed to reach the surface, but only had enough time to cry out help before he was pulled back under the water. JC kept struggling with all his might. He now knew that it couldn't possibly be one of the guys. They would never do anything to intentionally hurt him. JC's lungs burned for air, but there was nothing he could do except hope one of the guys heard his cry for help and come to his rescue.

 

Meanwhile, Chris and Lance were heading back from the woods. The whole time they had been out they observed the plant life and saw some animals. They had really enjoyed being apart of nature, but it was getting late and they had to get back. They were almost out of the woods when they heard a scream. Chris was the first to notice it.

 

"Did you hear that?"

 

"Hear what?" Lance asked.

 

"Someone screamed." Chris replied.

 

"Do you think one of the guys are hurt?" Lance looked over at Chris worried.

 

"I'm not sure. Let's check it out."

 

"Where though? We don't know where Joey and Justin are." Lance asked getting even more worried by the second.

 

"I'm sure JC's around. Maybe he knows." Chris said and they took off to the lake where they knew JC was. Chris was running in front of Lance when he stopped suddenly in front of the lake.

 

"What's the matter? Why'd you stop like that?" Lance asked as he peered around Chris.

 

"JC's not here." Chris said matter of factly.

 

"Maybe he went inside." Lance suggested.

 

"Without his notebook? I don't think so." Chris said eyeing the water. Lance saw what he was doing and turned to him.

 

"You don't think he was the one who screamed?" Lance asked very worried now.

 

"I don't think. I know." Chris replied before he jumped into the water. Lance paced worriedly. He wondered how long JC had been down there. While Lance was pacing, Chris was searching frantically for JC. He finally found him and went to pull him up to the surface, but found that he couldn't. Chris looked and saw seaweed wrapped around JC's right ankle. He freed JC's ankle and swam up to the surface with his arm around JC.

 

Chris got out of the water and dragged JC out. Lance stopped pacing and came over to where Chris laid JC down. Lance bent down and felt for a pulse.

 

"He doesn't have a pulse, does he?" Chris asked and Lance shook his head no. Lance began to do CPR and kept doing it for several minutes. Lance was about to give up when JC began to cough up all the water that had filled his lungs.

 

Lance and Chris breathed a sigh of relief and thanked God. Chris was the first to speak. "Are you OK, JC?"

 

JC sat up slowly. "I think so."

 

"Well here, let's get you into the house." Chris noticed he was very weak so he helped JC up and supported him while Lance got JC's notebook. The three of them headed to the cabin. Chris was the first one in and led JC up to his bedroom. Joey and Justin noticed Chris and JC were soaked and that JC was leaning on Chris for support so Joey asked, "What happened?"

 

"Not now." Was all Chris said before continuing his job. Lance came in shortly after Chris had. Justin saw the look on Lance's face. It was one of worry and fright.

 

"What's the matter, Lance? What happened?"

 

Lance sighed. "JC almost drowned in the lake. We were on our way back and Chris heard a scream. It was only one and no more. We figured it had to be one of you guys, but we didn't know who and we didn't know if you were back yet. So we took off to see JC because we thought he would know. That was when we noticed he wasn't there so Chris jumped in and pulled him out. I did CPR. We almost lost him." Lance had several tears running down his face. Joey and Justin sat in shock. They hadn't even heard the scream and they had been closer to JC than Chris and Lance.

 

"We didn't hear it. I'm sorry that we weren't out there." Joey said and Justin nodded.

 

"We have it all under control now, but it was so scary. This is the second bad thing that's happened to him since we've been here and we haven't even been here a week. I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea."

 

Joey was about to object to this when Chris came in. Lance saw him come in and asked, "How is he?"

 

"He's sleeping now." Chris said quietly. He was still as shocked as Lance with what happened.

 

"Did he tell you how it happened?" Justin pressed. He was curious to know how it happened.

 

"Yeah. He said that he was pushed in from behind. He thought it was me, but when he surfaced there was no one there."

 

Joey interrupted Chris by saying, "How could there be no one there?"

 

Chris just shrugged. "He said next thing he knew he was being pulled under and it was then that he knew it wasn't one of us because we would never do anything to hurt him. He managed to surface for a second and that's when he called for help. After he did, he got pulled under again." As Chris said this he got choked up, but he held back his tears.

 

"I can't believe this happened to him." Joey said at last breaking the silence.

 

"Is he going to be OK?" Justin asked.

 

"Yeah I think so. We probably wouldn't have him here though if Lance didn't do CPR." Chris stated.

 

"You did a great job, Lance." Joey said going over to him and putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

 

"I knew there was no way we could lose him. I almost gave up, but he finally started breathing. I hope that I never live through something like that again. That was scary as hell. I mean he was technically dead. There wasn't much of a chance to bring him back. I'm just glad that he did." Lance said. He really had never needed to do CPR before and it scared him that he had to do on his best friend. He never would have imagined that.

 

"What do you say Joey and I make dinner?" Justin suggested noticing how tired and worn out Chris and Lance looked.

 

"Sure, J. Just down burn the house down, OK?" Chris replied managing a small smile.

 Dinner that night was quieter than it's ever been for them. They usually always had something to talk about or joke about, but no one uttered a word and they didn't eat as much as they normally do. All of them were too caught up in their thoughts of the day, each one cursing himself for not getting to JC sooner or sticking by him. They never had to before though so why would they now? Needless to say, they were a lot more grateful that night than they've ever been. They all went to bed hoping the rest of the vacation would be better.

JC awoke from his deep slumber feeling better than when we went to bed. He could still taste the lake water in his mouth. He was relieved that he was still alive. He remembered feeling death and it didn't feel good. It was very cold and empty. Nothing like the warmth and happiness that life brought him. JC looked out the window and saw the sun rising which surprised him. He didn't think he would be up this early. JC sighed and rolled over expecting to see Justin sleeping in the bed next to him, but was surprised to see Lance sitting on Justin's bed with his eyes closed.

 

Lance could feel someone looking at him and opened his eyes. He saw JC was up. "Morning. How are you feeling?"

 

JC was startled for a minute. He thought Lance had been sleeping. "I'm fine. What are you doing in Justin's bed?"

 

"We all thought it would be a good idea if someone sat with you through the night to make sure you didn't have any problems. They chose me to sit with you and Justin took my bed. They think I'm a doctor now or something." Lance explained.

 

"I could see you as a doctor. Paging Doctor Bass, paging Doctor Bass. We need you in surgery. Seriously, you're good with people. You would make a good doctor."

 

"Thanks, but I think I'll stick with performing. I don't think I could handle worrying about everyone in the hospital. I'll stick with worrying about my family."

 

"You worry too much. You're turning into me." JC said.

 

"Well I've lived with you for eight years. It was bound to rub off." Lance replied.

 

"I want to…uh…thank you for bringing me back." JC wanted to give his thanks, but wasn't comfortable talking about him almost dying.

 

Lance sat in surprise for a minute. He hadn't really expected that. He knew that JC appreciated it, but didn't think he would actually say it. "Your welcome."

 

Silence filled the room until Lance said, "C'mon I'll make some breakfast and coffee." Lance stood and waited for JC to see if he needed help. JC saw what he was doing and waved him off. He might not be perfectly healthy, but he was strong enough to hold himself up. Him and Lance walked into the kitchen. JC sat down at the table as Lance began preparing breakfast.

 

JC sat and watched Lance cook breakfast. He couldn't think of anything to say so he just watched Lance and listened to the bacon crackle on the stove. He took in Lance's features. He looked tired and had bags under his eyes and he could still see the worry lines in Lance's face.

 

"Are you OK?" JC asked. Lance turned around to look at him.

 

"Of course. Why do you ask?"

 

"You just look tired and worried."

 

"I didn't really get much sleep last night." Lance admitted and JC nodded. He figured Lance didn't sleep at all. Just then Joey and Chris came in.

 

"Morning guys." JC said.

 

Joey and Chris looked surprised to see JC up so early. "How are you feeling?"

 

"I'm good."

 

"How long have you been up?" Joey asked.

 

JC looked at Lance who said since six. Chris noticed Lance's features.

 

"Didn't you sleep last night?"

 

"No, not really." Lance replied knowing very well that he couldn't lie. He had never been good at it.

 

"You should take a nap." Joey said.

 

Lance waved his suggestion off. "I'm fine. Besides we still have about a week left. I'll catch up on the sleep I missed."

 

Lance set the table. "Would someone go wake up Curly?"

 

"No need I'm right here." Justin said from the doorway making his way to the table. Justin opened his mouth to say something, but JC cut him off.

 

"I'm fine, Justin."

 

"How did you know I was going to ask?"

 

"I knew because Lance asked and Joey and Chris asked."

 

"Oh. Well you know we just care about you is all."

 

"Yeah I know. I appreciate it." JC replied.

 

"How was your walk yesterday?" Chris asked Joey and Justin trying to make conversation.

 

"It was good, huh Just?" Joey looked across the table to Justin

 

"Yeah. Turns out that trail that we were on before leads to a clearing. It was really something. It had a field of flowers and you could see the mountains in the distance."

 

"It was really pretty." Joey agreed. "How was yours?"

 

"Lance and I had a good time. We just watched all of the life in the woods. You never would've thought how many plants and animals actually live in the woods. It was nice. Wasn't it, Lance?"

 

Lance looked up from his food. "Yeah. It was like being in Biology class again. I was always interested in that kind of stuff."

 

"How about you, JC?" Justin asked. "Joey and I came back from our walk and saw you scribbling in your notebook."

 

JC smiled brightly. "Yeah. It was great. My writer's block left. I got a song done and I have Lance to thank for it."

 

"Me? What did I do?" Lance was curious. He didn't think he did anything that was worthy of writing a song.

 

"You brought us here. I remember thinking it was funny how you found a little bit of paradise so close to home and that made something click in my mind. I'm so happy that I got a song done."

 

"Cool, man. We can wait to read it when we get back into the studio." Joey said with a smile. He was glad that something was going right for JC. Lance still felt bad about suggesting this and having all that happen to JC, but felt a little better that JC got a song done.

 

Joey caught Lance sigh and knew he was having a conflict inside himself. He wondered what, but remembered what Lance said last night and knew what the problem was. "Lance, it's not your fault. It was a great idea."

 

"What are you talking about?" Lance asked while knowing what he was talking about.

 

"Yeah, Joey. What's a great idea?" Chris looked over at Joey confused.

 

"He said how he thought it was a bad a idea to come here because of all the things that's been happening to JC. Right, Justin? He was there."

 

Justin nodded. "We were going to say something, but you came in." Justin replied looking at Chris.

 

"Is this true, Lance?" JC asked calmly, but he was pissed inside. He hated when Lance put blame on himself for something he didn't do. Lance nodded.

 

"How can you say that?" JC asked starting show some of his anger.

 

"How can I not?" Lance fired at JC. "All of these bad things are happening to you. They wouldn't have happened if it wasn't my idea to bring you guys here."

 

"It wasn't your fault. It could've happened to anyone. It just happened to me."

 

"Yeah, but you almost died! Hell you could've been dead for all I know. It was a miracle that I was able to revive you." Lance screamed.

 

"Lance!" Chris interjected. He couldn't believe Lance was raising his voice. He hardly ever raised his voice. I guess it affected him more than I thought, he concluded.

 

But what Chris said was ignored. "So what if I almost died? You brought me back didn't you?" JC fired back.

 

"Well yeah, but…" Lance started, but was interrupted by JC.

 

"No buts. It wasn't your fault. Yeah weird things have been happening to me, but it's not your fault. You didn't know this stuff would happen. Besides, not all of it has been bad. I've relaxed a lot more here and my writer's block is gone. It was a great idea to come here and it's still a great idea." JC's anger was shown completely. He needed to knock sense into Lance.

 

Lance let what JC said sink in for a minute and sighed. "I'm sorry, JC. I don't know what came over me."

 

"I know." JC said and Lance looked up at him. "You're blaming yourself because there's no one else to blame. The stuff that's been happening to me are freak accidents. It's caused by something, but we don't know what. I want answers as much as you do, but blaming yourself isn't going to help."

 

Everyone around the table held their breath. They were waiting to see if Lance would blow up again. Joey and Justin had just stayed quiet while JC and Lance were fighting. They didn't want to get involved especially after they saw that Chris was completely ignored.

 

Lance looked around and saw all of them were looking at him expectantly. "You're right, JC. I need to stop blaming myself. I'm sorry that I lost it. I just hate to see you get hurt and not know why."

 

"It's alright. I understand. I can't figure it out myself. We can find out though." JC replied.

 

"How's that?" Justin asked.

 

"I don't know. Go to a library or just look around here. There has to be a reason why all of this is happening." JC answered.

 

"Do you think someone's behind this?" Joey questioned. JC shrugged.

 

"I'm not sure. What do you say, Lance?" They all looked over at Lance.

 

Lance looked down at his hands. "I was thinking that someone has a grudge against JC for one reason or another and wants to kill him."

 

"There was no one there that day when JC "fell" down the hill." Chris pointed out.

 

"And I would've heard someone if they came up to me to push me. It's hard to believe someone's behind all this." JC said.

 

"That's the only theory I've come up with so far. I don't know what else it could be." Lance replied.

 

"Do you…do you think it could be…ghosts?" Chris whispered eerily.

 

Joey knew what Chris was doing and played along. "Did you hear that?"

 

"Hear what?" Justin asked as Chris made his way out of his chair and crept up behind Justin.

 

"Boo!" Justin jumped and clutched his chest while all the guys burst out laughing.

 

"What are you trying to do, Chris? Give me a heart attack?" Justin asked.

 

"C'mon, man. You don't really believe in that stuff, do you?" JC looked at Justin.

 

"Nah. I just didn't expect Chris to come up behind me and scare the daylights out of me." Justin replied.

 

"There's got to be a reason all this has happened." Lance insisted.

 

Joey shrugged. "That may be so, but we don't know why or what did it so let's just leave it go. I doubt anything else will happen."

 

They all agreed and went off to play against each other on the Playstation. JC couldn't help but think that maybe Lance was right. Maybe someone was trying to kill him. He couldn't understand why though. He was friends with a bunch of people. JC decided to listen to Joey and let it go. If Joey was that confident that nothing else would happen, then all JC could do was hope that Joey was right.

Two days went by with nothing else happening. Everyone had pretty much forgotten the whole idea that someone was trying to kill JC. They were enjoying themselves. JC was a lot happier than he'd been in a long time. Things were looking up for him. He got a couple more songs done while sitting outside but no longer by the lake. Even though things were better, JC couldn't force the thought out of his mind that there still might be more bad things to come. He tried not to think about it too much. He just focused on his writing.

 

He began writing with Justin a few days ago. Justin and him had been writing separate things. It was Justin's idea that they work on some songs together. JC had agreed. He wanted to get as much writing done as he could just in case his writer's block came back.

 

"How does this sound?" JC asked. "What happened to our love? You just walked away and left everything we had behind." JC read those lines because he had had problems with them earlier.

 

"Sounds good, Jace. Then maybe we can have the beat fast you know since we've already written some ballads." Justin suggested and pulled the guitar in his lap to demonstrate.

 

He was fiddling around with some cords when JC said, "Stop. Do that last one over again." Justin did and JC nodded pleased with the sound. "I like that sound. I think it would work. We'll just need to add some more sound to it when we get to the studio. What do you think?"

 

"I think you're right. That's perfect." Justin moved to write the note and add several others to it. JC also went back to writing some more lyrics before they switched sheets. Joey and Chris were on the couch watching a movie they watched a hundred times before, but never got tired of. This was how Lance found everyone when he entered the room.

 

"I'm going into town to buy more food. Anyone want to come?"

 

"I'll go." Justin said as he looked up from the song that he was working on with JC. He was adding lyrics to what JC already put. They had exchanged papers a few minutes before Lance walked in. Lance ignored Justin and asked the question again. Justin looked hurt at the thought that Lance didn’t want him to go, but just shrugged it off.

 

"Sure. I'll go with you." JC said as he finished the last line he was working on and stood up. "I think that does it for now. We can work on it again later if it doesn't sound good, but I think it's one of our best yet. Wouldn't you say, Justin?"

 

"Yeah. We can always go back and change it, but like you said it's the best we've done yet." Justin went over to the couch and sat down beside Joey already getting engrossed in the movie being it was his favorite.

 

"OK. Let's go." Lance headed for the door and called over his shoulder to the three sitting on the couch, "Be back later. My cell's on if anyone needs anything."

 

The three of them waved him off and JC laughed. He got into Lance's car and Lance drove to the town. JC was flipping through stations on the radio and found only one that got good reception.

 

"Have you seen the commercial for this song?" JC asked. The song was Shania Twain's "Man I Feel Like a Woman."

 

"Yeah. They're in that truck and the guy in the back is singing this song."

 

"And they're trying to get as far away from him as possible." JC finished and began to sing as a joke.

 

"Go totally crazy. Forget I'm a lady." JC sang.

 

"Men's shirts, short skirts. Uh, uh, oh." Lance chimed in. JC and Lance looked at each other and dissolved into laughter as the song ended.

 

"I haven't done that in a while." JC said after they finally stopped laughing.

 

"What? Sing like a girl?" Lance asked with a smile.

 

"No." JC chuckled. "Just sing period. I can't wait until we get back into the studio again. This time will be so much better now that I have a clear head and a few new songs."

 

"I know what you mean. It's nice to take a break though. We're going on our last week here. We have to live it up while we can." Lance replied as they pulled into the grocery store's parking lot. He parked the car and him and JC got out.

 

"What all do we need here?" JC asked as he grabbed a cart. They didn't have to worry about getting mobbed. It was pretty early and there weren't that many people in this town.

 

"Everything."

 

"Everything?" JC stopped and looked at Lance like he was crazy. "We don't eat that much do we?"

 

"No, but Joey and Justin do. We just need enough for us for another week. We don't want to leave any left over food in the fridge." Lance replied.

 

"That's true. Is that why you picked me to go? Because I wouldn’t want to buy everything in sight?" JC had resumed pushing the cart and following Lance as he threw the items into the cart.

 

"Yeah." Lance admitted. "If I brought Joey or Justin they would buy a bunch of stuff that we don't really need and we'd be in here for most of the day. I don't plan on being long. It's a beautiful day. I was going to take a hike."

 

"That sounds nice. I think I'll go with you. Do you think the others will want to go?"

 

"I'm going to make them go whether they want to or not. If it was up to them they would probably stay in their boxers all day and not do anything. I think it'll be good if we get them out." Lance answered.

 

"I can see the look on their face now." JC laughed. He could picture the three of them trying to object.

 

"You know you have a challenge ahead of you, right?" JC asked.

 

"Yeah, but I know how to deal with them."

 

"You do?"

 

"Yeah. You, JC my friend, are going to help me."

 

"I am?"

 

"Sure. Look I already have an idea and everything. I'll tell you when we get in the car." Lance and JC stood in line to check out. They paid for their groceries and loaded them in the trunk of Lance's car.

 

"OK. So what's your idea?" JC asked Lance once they were in the car. It took Lance the whole drive home to tell JC the idea and where he came in.

 

"They're going to be so surprised. This is going to be great." Lance nodded. JC and Lance took the groceries and carried them into the cabin.

 

Lance and JC finished putting the food away and walked into the living room. They found that Chris, Joey, and Justin were exactly where they left them.

 

"Guys, go get a shower and get dressed. We're going to go on a hike." Lance said and three of them turned to look at him.

 

"Why? I'm comfy the way I am and I don't wanna go for a hike." Chris replied.

 

"Yeah me either." Justin and Joey agreed.

 

"Yeah, well, too bad. Ya'll are going whether you like it or not." Lance looked over at JC. Everything was going as planned. They expected them to act that way.

 

"You can't make us." Joey objected.

 

"We'll see about that." Lance replied and walked out of the room. The three of them just shrugged.

 

"I guess he gave up." Justin said.

 

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." JC waited for what he knew was coming.

 

"Justin! Can you come up here for a minute?" Lance called from upstairs.

 

Justin raised an eyebrow to Joey and Chris. "Should I go?" Joey and Chris shrugged. "Well you're really helpful."

 

"It's up to you Justin, but if I were you I would want the surprise that Lance has." JC made an expression like he slipped up. "Oops. Did I say that out loud?"

 

"A surprise? Cool. What's the surprise?" Justin asked JC.

 

"I can't say. Why don't you go up and find out?" JC suggested and Justin took off up the stairs and into his bedroom where Lance was standing.

 

"Where's my surprise?"

 

"How did you know it was a surprise?" Lance asked.

 

"JC let it slip, but he didn't tell me what it was." Justin explained.

 

"Alright. Close your eyes and I'll get your surprise." Lance watched as Justin closed his eyes partially trying to peek. "No peeking or you won't get it at all." That said Justin shut his eyes completely. Lance back out of Justin's room, shut the door, and locked it.

 

Justin's eyes flew open when he heard the door shut and he bounded over to the door where he found out that it was locked. "What gives, Lance?"

 

"You need to get dressed so we can go on the hike and you aren't coming out until you're ready." Lance explained and Justin sighed. He never expected Lance to do this, but had to admit it was a good idea.

 

JC was downstairs smiling. He knew what Lance did to Justin and could just picture Justin's shocked face. "Hey, Joey." Time to put the second part of the plan into action.

 

"Yeah?"

 

"Can you come upstairs with me? I need to find something in your room that I left in there yesterday when we were hanging out, but I'm not sure where it is." JC said.

 

"Can't you just search yourself? I don't care if you go through my room." Joey replied.

 

"No, it wouldn't feel right. Besides, you watched me put it down yesterday. You know where it is."

 

"OK." Joey relented and JC led him upstairs and into his room.

 

"What am I looking for again?" Joey asked.

 

"My Leo necklace. I think I took it off in the bathroom. Could you check?" JC lied. He had his Leo necklace on, but you couldn't see it because it was under his shirt. Joey headed into the bathroom while JC moved out of the room and shut the door behind him listening to the lock click. He saw Lance and high fived him. Their plan was working perfect.

 

"JC!" Joey pounded on the door after finding JC gone and the door locked. "Open up!"

 

"Sorry, man. I can't. You need to get dressed because you're coming on the hike with us." JC laughed as he heard Joey grumble.

 

"So this is what you guys were up to?" JC and Lance turned to see Chris standing there. The two of them just smiled at each other.

 

"I see. Well, I'll save you the trouble. I'll go get dressed." Chris left to get changed while shaking his head. Lance was good at pulling off things when he wanted to. JC and Lance let Joey and Justin out. They waited a few minutes and Chris came out.

 

"Hey no fair!" Justin cried.

 

"Yeah. You didn't lock him in his room." Joey said.

 

"I went willingly." Chris replied as they headed out the door. They got to the door when JC stopped them.

 

"Are you guys going to hike with us willingly or do we have to drag you?" Chris, Joey, and Justin looked at each other.

 

"Willingly." They replied in unison. JC gave a satisfied nod and all five of them went out the door and picked a new trail to hike. They had been hiking for an hour with meaningless conversation along the way when they reached a clearing with a river. They sat down by the river relaxing for a bit before they were to go back to the cabin.

 

They were silent as they lay in the sun. It didn't last too long though. Chris jumped up and tapped JC on the shoulder. "Tag! You're it!" There was no way Chris was going to let JC and Lance have all the fun. They all got up and JC took off after Joey laughing all the way. They ran back the way they came while switching who was it the whole time. They made it back to the cabin and everyone dropped onto the ground.

 

"What a run!" JC exclaimed. He thought it felt good to act like a kid again and play tag. He had always loved playing that when he was younger.

 

"Yeah. We gotta keep in shape." Justin said. After lying there for a while, they all got up and went into the house. They took turns using the shower since they all wanted to clean the sweat off them.

 

Now they were all relaxing on the couch watching a movie while eating popcorn. "Did you guys have fun hiking?" Lance asked.

 

"You mean after you and JC tricked us into getting dressed? Yeah. It was fun. I'm actually glad I didn't stay inside. It was a beautiful day." Chris answered with a smile.

 

"See? It was good we made you go out. Besides, you guys haven't been outside in a couple days." JC said.

 

"You didn't have to get us to do what you wanted that way though." Justin protested.

 

"Yeah we did. If we didn't do that ya'll would still be sitting here in your boxers wasting the day away." Lance objected.

 

"That was really surprising when you two did that." Joey said. "You two are the most unlikely people to pull something like that off. You guys don’t normally do stuff like that."

 

"It was all Lance's idea." JC replied.

 

"Lance! It was your idea? All professional business Lance came up with that idea?" Justin exclaimed and Lance smiled.

 

"I can pull that stuff off when I want to. I’m not completely serious."

 

"So you've showed us." Joey replied. They stayed up until one in the morning and decided to get some sleep. They all went to bed. Justin fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow, but JC was another story. He knew that he should try to sleep, but he couldn't until he got somewhere with this line that was stuck in his head.

 

A breeze caught JC's attention. JC looked toward the window expecting it to be opened, but it wasn't. This unnerved JC. Then he saw what looked like a figure of a person standing in front of the window. JC's first thought was that someone knew where he was and somehow got into his room, but he knew that this spot was secluded and no one knew they were here except for Johnny. I must be hallucinating, JC thought.

 

Then it showed him something. Its image faded away and in place of it was an image of JC. It showed him and his friends. JC shivered. He couldn't stand the thought that someone had been watching them. The image moved on to show something that hadn't happened yet. It showed JC walking through the woods when a tree fell on him. He could see that in the image he had died.

 

"I'm going to get you, Josh." The figure said and disappeared.

 

It was then that JC let out a horrified scream, which echoed throughout the cabin. All of the guys came running.

 

"What's wrong, JC? You look like you've seen a ghost." Justin said.

 

"I think I have." JC replied starring at the spot the ghost had been before it disappeared.

All of the guys were shocked into silence after what JC said. JC had never believed in ghosts. He said that they were just stories to scare or entertain people. Finally Joey broke the silence.

 

"You’ve got to be joking, right? You didn’t really see a ghost, did you?"

 

JC sat in thought for a minute. Had he really seen it or was it his mind playing tricks on him? JC finally decided that there was no way his mind could have come up with something that terrible. JC took his eyes away from the spot where the ghost had stood and focused them on Joey.

 

"No, Joey. I'm not joking. I really saw a ghost."

 

"But you don't believe in ghosts." Justin objected.

 

"I don't know what to believe anymore, Justin. I know that I saw something. I'm not exactly sure what it was, but I'm pretty sure it was a ghost." JC replied.

 

"Ghosts don't exist." Chris stated.

 

"If ghosts don't exist, then what did I just see?" JC challenged.

 

"I'm not sure. Maybe you're just seeing things. It is late and you've been up all day. Hallucinations are common with sleep deprivation." Chris explained. It's not that he didn't want to believe JC. It was just a hard story to believe.

 

JC shook his head. He couldn't believe that the guys didn't believe him. He kept trying to catch Lance's attention because he knew that Lance could convince the others that he wasn’t just seeing things. But to no avail. Lance was avoiding eye contact with JC and hadn't said anything the whole time. He was busy trying to make sense of what this all meant and if JC really saw what he saw.

 

"I'm not sleep deprived, Chris. And I'm not on any drugs. The only idea left is ghosts." JC fought to get them to see it the way he did. He wasn't even going to tell them what it looked like and what it had said to him. They would definitely throw him in the nuthouse after hearing that.

 

"Let's just try and get some sleep. I'm sure we'll all be better off in the morning once we're refreshed." Chris led the way to the other rooms. JC knew that this meant that they didn't believe him. The only person that might have believed him was Lance, but Lance already left the room. JC fell back onto his bed and sighed. The catchy music line that he couldn't get out of his mind was gone. There was nothing but the thoughts about what he just saw.

 

"Maybe I am going crazy. I could have been seeing things. It was so real though." JC mumbled to himself. Justin had come in after that from the kitchen where he had gotten a glass of water.

 

"You don't believe me. Do you, J?" It was more of a statement than a question. JC knew from when Justin went silent that he didn't believe him.

 

"I'm not really sure, JC. I want to believe you man. It's just hard especially since you don't believe in ghosts."

 

"I know. I just don't think it could be anything else." Silence filled the room for what felt like the hundredth time for JC. He sighed and got under the cool sheets of his bed. "Maybe I'll have a better idea on this tomorrow. Good night, J."

 

"Night, Jace." Justin let his thoughts swirl around. He didn't know whom to believe. JC or Chris. How was he supposed to choose who was right? Neither side really had evidence to support their claims. Justin yawned and rolled over. He would discuss this more with the others tomorrow.

 

JC listened to Justin fall asleep and found comfort in the sound of his even breathing indicating that he was sleeping. He loved his brothers to death, but was disappointed to learn that they didn’t believe him. Although, if he was in their place he wouldn’t believe him either. It was an outrageous thing to happen and like Chris and Justin pointed out, he didn't believe in ghosts. So what did this mean? Does he believe in them now? JC wasn't sure and drifted off to sleep with these thoughts in mind.

A little five-year-old boy with brown hair and blue eyes that sparkled with love and compassion for everyone in his life, hid in a tall oak tree. He was perched on a branch. He listened as he could hear a little girl calling his name.  

"Joshy! I’m going to find you!" The little girl with light blond hair and green eyes said in a singsong tone. JC tried to keep as still and quiet as he could, but he wasn't having a lot of success with it. The little girl heard his giggles and followed the sound until she came to the tall oak tree. She looked around the tree. She knew it was coming from somewhere around this tree. Then she heard another round of giggles and looked up. Sure enough, there he was in the tree.  

"Hey! No fair." She cried. "I can't tag you when you're up there!"  

"But I don't wanna get tagged." JC whined.  

"Too bad. I've been it too many times. It's your turn, Josh." JC reluctantly climbed down the tall oak tree that had saved him from being it.  

"OK. You go hide. I'll count." JC started counting off and removed his hands from his eyes to see where she was going.  

She noticed this and scolded him. "No cheating." She took off running and found a nice bush to hide behind. JC came a few minutes later. It took him a little while to find her, but not as long as it took her to find him.  

"Got ya!" JC said as he spotted her behind the bush.

"Nuh uh. You hafta catch me first!" She ran down the hill laughing all the way and JC on her heels.  

JC woke up the next morning even more confused than when he went to bed. Who was that girl in his dream? Why couldn't he seem to recall playing with a little girl in the woods? There were so many unanswered questions and JC didn't know where to begin. He decided to go eat something and talk to Lance. He needed to sort a lot of this stuff out.

 

He reached the kitchen where he saw all the guys sitting. I guess I slept in longer than I thought, he figured. He went over to the table and took a seat beside Justin. "Morning, guys." Everyone greeted JC in their own way and the table fell silent.

 

"What were you guys up to?" JC asked trying to make conversation.

 

"Nothing much. We were just talking." Justin answered in between mouthfuls of cereal.

 

"Well what were ya'll talking about?" JC was sure they were talking about him, but had to hear it for himself.

 

"We were talking about you." Joey admitted. He didn't want to beat around the bush.

 

"So now that you're here, how about we all talk about last night?" Chris suggested. Before JC came in, they were discussing whether or not he really saw it or not and what to do about it.

 

"Sure. Let's do that." JC agreed. He wanted another shot at trying to get the others to believe him.

 

"Well let's get the facts straight. What exactly did you see, JC?" Chris wanted to help JC anyway he could.

 

"I saw a figure of a person and I had to look again because I thought I was hallucinating, but it was still there."

 

"Was it a male or female?" Joey asked and all the guys gave him a weird look. "What?"

 

"What would that have to do with anything?" Justin questioned.

 

"I dunno. It was just a thought." Joey shrugged.

 

"Well I'm not sure. I wasn't able to make out if it was a man or a woman. I could only tell that it was a person." JC said.

 

"Did it do anything or just kind of appear and then disappear?" Chris wanted to know what exactly happened so they could figure out what to do.

 

"It kind of dissolved, but it was still there. It showed me an image of us goofing around. Then it showed me in the woods. I was walking and stopped to listen to an animal I heard when a tree fell on me. I could see blood seep from under the tree and knew I was dead. Then the ghost's outline appeared again and she said 'I'm going to get you, Josh.'" JC explained in detail. This was the first time he'd said it aloud and knew it sounded crazy.

 

"You've got to be joking, right?" Joey repeated from the night before.

 

"Would I joke about something this serious?" JC snapped and sighed. He wasn't making any more progress than he was the night before.

 

"OK. We know you wouldn't joke about something like this. I know you're getting frustrated because we don't believe you. We want to help you figure this out, JC." Chris tried calming JC down. He could see JC's nerves on edge.

 

"You want to help?" JC shouted. "Then why don't you believe me?"

 

"We told you before. It's a hard story to believe." Chris replied.

 

"It's not a story! It really happened!" JC stormed out of the kitchen. It was obvious that they wouldn't change their minds.

 

"That went well." Joey muttered.

 

Lance had been quiet through the whole conversation. He was getting his thoughts together.

 

"Someone should go after him." Justin said.

 

"I'll go." Lance volunteered, speaking for the first time since JC had come into the room.

 

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Chris agreed. "He'd probably get madder if one of us went after him." Chris said pointing at himself, Joey, and Justin. Lance agreed and took off to go find JC. He ended up in JC and Justin's room. He figured that's where JC went and smiled that he was right.

 

"Want to talk about it?" Lance asked and JC whirled around. Lance had surprised JC out of his thoughts and caught him off guard.

 

JC nodded and said, "Would you mind closing the door?" Lance did and moved to sit across from JC on Justin's bed.

 

"So what's on your mind?" Lance knew very well what it was, but couldn't think of any other way to start off the conversation.

 

"This whole episode with the ghost. I know what I saw and the others don't believe me. It's all very frustrating."

 

"We're all behind you in everything. Even though they don’t show it, they believe you. It's common sense that's telling them not to. They're just torn just like you are." Lance explained.

 

"Is it that obvious?" JC asked.

 

"Well after living with you for eight years I think I'd know you by now."

 

"I know. You're right. I thought I was confused about the whole thing when I went to bed, but that's nothing compared to how I felt after I had the dream I had last night."

 

"What dream?" Lance leaned forward a little. This was new information that hadn't been shared yet.

 

"I had a dream last night with a little girl in it. I was in it, but I was five. She was pretty girl with blond hair and green eyes. We were playing hide and seek and tag in the woods. I remember I found her behind a bush and she took off with down the hill into the clearing. Then I woke up." JC told Lance.

 

Lance thought about this for a minute and then said, "Do you have any idea who she is?"

 

JC shook his head. "Nope. I've been racking my brain all morning trying to figure it out. I don't even remember playing with a girl at that age."

 

"Well you had to have known her. Otherwise why would you have the dream if you didn't?"

 

"Yeah I guess that makes sense. I just have no recollection of her at all." JC replied and sighed. He hated how complicated this was. "What do you think about this whole thing? I haven't heard you say much."

 

"I think this girl in your dream is related to the ghost."

 

"You think she's like the ghost is the same person from my dreams?"

 

"Yeah I was figuring that was it." Lance agreed.

 

"So does that mean you believe me?" JC asked with hope. He would feel better when he knew that he had someone on his side.

 

"Yeah. You're not one to make up things like that especially when you said you saw yourself die." Lance reasoned.

 

"What should we do? Wait until it shows up again or what?" JC questioned. Lance shrugged. "Yeah. There's not much we can do. It's either wait for another ghost appearance or see if you have any more dreams about the girl and see if you can get any information out of it."

 

"Yeah I guess you're right. I have a feeling that I will have that dream again and maybe next time I'll get her name or something." JC suggested.

 

"I'll do what I can to help you, but for now let's just try to enjoy our last week here. And don't mind the guys. They can't help it. They're worried about you and don’t know what to do about it." Lance assured.

 

"I know. Thanks for everything, Lance. I hope you're right about everything." Lance stood up and gave a small smile of reassurance. He slipped out the door and left JC to his thoughts.

"How is he doing?" Justin asked when he saw Lance come into the living room. He, along with Joey and Chris, moved into the living room while Lance went to talk to JC.

 

"Geez, Justin. You make it sound like he's dying." Joey retorted. They all paused briefly at this. Joey hadn't meant anything by it, but it had a lot to do with the situation JC's in. However, they let it go and pretended like they didn't hear it.

 

"He's fine. He just needed to calm down and think some things through." Lance answered Justin's question.

 

"What did he say to you? Did he try to get you to believe him?" Chris questioned.

 

"I can't. Patient confidentiality. Chris, you of all people, should know that." Lance joked referring to when Chris took psychology in college.

 

Lance thought about Chris's second question for a minute when he realized that maybe the guys didn't believe JC as much as he thought they did. "What do you mean 'did he try to get you to believe him'?"

 

"I mean it's pretty obvious that he's mad and frustrated that no one agrees with him so he's going to try to get someone on his side. Someone who hasn't commented on his situation yet." Chris explained.

 

"Of course he's trying to get someone on his side. Wouldn't you if all of your friends were against you?" Lance challenged. He was kind of mad, but more shocked that his friends would act this way.

 

"Yeah, but it's just so hard to believe." Joey piped in. He wanted to try and level things out the best he could between all of them. He knew if he didn't do something soon there would a massive explosion.

 

"It wouldn't be so hard to believe if you guys weren't so close-minded." Lance pointed out.

 

"Lance, c'mon. This is JC we're talking about. He doesn't believe in ghosts. Be reasonable." Chris wanted to make his point and get through to Lance. He might have to work at it though. Lance was stubborn when he believed strongly in something.

 

"No, Chris. You be reasonable. Things change, you know that. What makes this any different? So what if JC didn't used to believe in ghosts? He saw something that he claims is a ghost and how could he see it if he doesn't believe in it? There's a famous quote 'you have to see it to believe it'. Well this is exactly what happened with JC. I just don't understand why none of you believe one of your best friends. I'm beginning to question whether or not you are really his friends." Lance shot back.

 

Chris was shocked into silence for a minute. He knew that Lance was right that things change. The shock faded away to anger. How dare he say that we're not his friends, he thought.

 

"Of course we're his friends! How can you say that?"

 

"How can I not? If you were really his friends you would stick by him through this and believe him." Lance's green eyes took on a bright green color that showed his anger and annoyance.

 

"Hey! We're still his friends. We haven't turned our backs on him. We're still thinking this over." Joey objected and was shot with glares by Lance and Chris. Joey mumbled a sorry and went back to just listening because it was apparent that he couldn't do anything to prevent the argument from furthering.

 

"Being a good friend means being concerned. It doesn't always mean agreeing with them." Chris objected.

 

Lance was put to silence with that. Chris had a good point. Chris took the silence from Lance and used it to defend himself.

 

"It's not that I don't agree that he saw the ghost. I'm just doubtful of whether or not it was actually there."

 

Lance saw where this was going. "So what you think he's seeing things now?"

 

Chris shrugged. "It's a possibility. None of us saw it. We only have JC's word."

 

"Shouldn't that be good enough?" Lance asked.

 

"It should, but I don't think so. Not right now."

 

"How can you say that? We've always trusted each others words."

 

"Yeah, but we're not in the 'did you really do this' situation. This is totally different than what we normally deal with so excuse me for not believing everything I'm told." Chris replied.

 

Justin looked over at Joey and shot him a questioning look. Joey just shrugged. He had already tried and failed. Justin knew he had to do try something to stop what was happening. Things were getting out of hand. "Guys!" He yelled to be heard over each other bickering.

 

"What?!" Chris and Lance both snapped and turned to him at the same time.

 

Justin cleared his throat nervously. "I think there's a better way to settle this. Let's sit down and talk again."

 

But Justin's suggestion was ignored as Chris and Lance turned back to each other. "Alright.” Lance sighed. "You're suggesting that the ghost might not have been there. So how do you propose we find out if it was really there or not?"

 

"I don't know!" Chris yelled in frustration. This had to be the first major fight that he ever had with Lance. He took a deep breath to calm down and spoke again. "Look, we want to help. We're just still in shock about this whole thing."

 

Lance was tired of trying to convince Chris. "You really surprise me, Chris. Out of everyone here I thought you would believe him. I guess I'm wrong." Lance turned and started to walk off when he turned back around. "Oh by the way, being a good friend means listening to them. I have been, have you?"

 

Chris, Joey, and Justin watched as Lance took off to a different part of the house. "You're really getting on people's good sides today, Chris." Joey commented.

 

"Joey, shut up." Chris sighed. He didn't want to get into a fight with Lance about JC. He didn't even know why he said what he had. He only felt half of the anger he expressed. He was more unable to believe everything that had happened to JC and what might happen. That's when he realized it. He believed JC, but not his predicament.

 

"I'm going to talk to JC." Chris said as he started heading upstairs.

 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Justin asked and Chris waved him off.

 

"I know what I'm doing." Chris replied as he reached the top of the stairs. He got to JC and Justin's room and knocked on the door.

 

"Who is it?" came from inside the room.

 

"It's Chris. Can I come in? I want to talk." Chris stood there and waited a few minutes. He was about to turn and leave when the door opened. JC looked at Chris for a minute and opened the door wider so he could enter. Each of them sat down so they could talk.

 

"I want to apologize, JC." Chris decided to start off the conversation with an apology because God knows he owed it to JC.

 

"What for?" JC blinked. He hadn't expected Chris to apologize for anything.

 

"For not believing you. I haven't really been listening to what you had to say when I should have. I'm sorry."

 

"It's OK. I understand."

 

"I guess I didn't want to believe you because then that means that all of these bad things have been happening to you for a reason." Chris paused and added, "At least that's what Lance says."

 

"Lance said that?" JC frowned. Lance hadn't told him about that.

 

"Yeah. When we were talking about it while you were sleeping. That's his theory. He says this ghost may be related to all the bad things happening to you." Chris explained.

 

"It makes sense." JC agreed. "I just don't understand why Lance didn't tell me."

 

"I'm sure that he probably forgot or maybe he just didn't want you to worry about it. You know be paranoid that you're going to be killed or whatever." Chris assured.

 

"Yeah. I guess that's it. So you believe me now?" JC asked and Chris nodded.

 

"It took a fight with Lance for me to realize it though. So now he's mad at me."

 

"Really? You guys had a fight?" Chris nodded. "What's up with Lance these days? He's seems really uptight."

 

"I think he's just all bothered about what's been happening to you and that he can't fix it. You know how Lance is." JC nodded his agreement. "Well I'm going to go and battle it out with Joey and Justin. You know to give Lance some time to cool down some more before I talk to him. You coming?"

 

"Nah. I'm going to take a nap. I'm still beat." JC said lying on his bed already under the covers.

 

Chris laughed. "Alright. Night, Sleepy." He walked out the door and closed the door behind him.

 

"Well you're still in one piece." Joey noted.

 

"Yeah everything's good between us now." Chris replied. "Who's ready to get beat by the master?" The three of them got into a long war of Playstation games.

 

Meanwhile upstairs JC had fallen asleep as soon as Chris left the room and he was having the dream again. This time the dream went beyond where it had before.

"Nuh uh. You hafta catch me first!" She ran down the hill laughing all the way and JC on her heels.  

Once they were at the bottom of the hill they ran toward the lake. The girl still ahead of JC, but he was easily keeping of with her. He finally managed to tackle her to the ground.  

"Got you! Got you!" JC chanted. JC got up off of her and she got up off the ground.  

"Nuh uh. I got you!" she said and then jumped on JC knocking them both into the water.  

JC was able to surface with hardly any trouble at all. He swam to the surface and got out. He stared at the lake waiting for her to surface. Only she didn't.  

"Mandy! Mandy, it's not funny! C'mon!" JC called and called her name, but no little girl surfaced from the lake water.  

JC stood there for a minute not knowing what to do when it donned on him that he should go get help. He took off and ran toward the house where he knew his mom was screaming 'Mandy fell in the lake' the whole way.  

The last images of the dream were the police pulling her limp, dead body out of the water. JC woke with a start and shot up in bed. His heart was pounding from the dream he just had. It was something that disturbed him to no end, but he didn't waste time thinking about it. He took off to find Lance. He needed talk with him and sort it all out.

 

"Guys, do you know where Lance is?" JC asked when he saw Joey and Justin sitting on the couch watching a movie.

 

"Yeah. He's in the study. Chris went in there ten minutes ago to apologize and we haven't heard any screams so we're guessing they're fine." Justin filled in.

 

"Thanks." JC took off for the study. Why didn't I think of that? Lance always goes somewhere quiet to think, JC said to himself. He opened the door to the study and sure enough he found Chris and Lance in there talking quietly. He watched the two talk for a minute and then saw them hug each other.

 

"Aw, a Kodak moment." JC's comment pulled Chris and Lance from their hug.

 

"Chris was apologizing for before." Lance explained. He took one look at JC and knew something was up.

 

"What's up?"

 

"I had the dream again. I got a name this time. The girl's name was Mandy." JC told Lance ignoring Chris. He was sure Chris was confused because he hadn't told him about his dreams, but JC wasn't going to take the time out to explain it to him.

 

"Did you say Mandy?" Lance asked and JC nodded.

 

"Why?"

 

"Because I was I looking for a book to read and happened to find a log of the deaths at this cabin." Lance looked up at JC. "And it had a girl named Mandy in it. There was a description with a picture. The picture is of a boy and a girl. Here let me show you." Lance took the book off of the desk where he had set it so he could show JC later. He turned to the page he had marked and took the photo out.

 

Lance handed the photo to JC. "Do you recognize any of those kids?"

 

JC stared at it for a minute. The boy had dark brown hair and deep blue eyes just like his. That was when it donned on him. The boy in the picture was him. He focused on the girl this time and recognized her as the girl from his dreams. She had the same blond hair and green eyes.

 

"That's me." JC said pointing at the boy and then at the girl. "She's from my dreams."

 

"That's what I figured when I saw the picture. I knew it was you and I figured the girl had to be from your dream." Lance agreed.

 

"So what does it say in the book?" JC asked.

 

"Cause of death of drowning. According to the autopsy, she had hit her head off a rock and it knocked her unconscious. That's how she drowned."

 

"I saw it in my dream. I saw her fall in and she didn't come back up. I ran to get to help, but I guess it was too late." JC recalled the events of his dream.

 

Lance sighed. "Well now it makes sense why there's a ghost here. I've read that ghosts don't normally like to leave the area they died." JC stood there in awe for a few minutes. It never occurred to him that the scenery in his dreams was the same as where he was staying.

 

"So what do you think she wants from me?" JC looked up into Lance's eyes looking for an honest answer.

 

"Revenge."

"So what do you think I should do?" JC asked quietly. He hadn't been expecting a positive answer from Lance, but he didn't think it was going to be that.

 

"I think-" Lance began, but was cut off by Chris.

 

"You know what I think? I think someone should tell me what's going on here."

 

"He's right. We've left them in the dark." JC turned to Lance. "Should we tell them?"

 

Lance nodded. "It's probably best that they know what's happening."

 

"OK. Let's get this over with." JC said heading to the living room where Joey and Justin were. He had forgotten about telling the others and he was afraid what they would think. But now it's necessary for them to know in case weird things happen again. JC walked over to the TV and turned it off.

 

"Hey!" Joey and Justin protested.

 

"We were watching that." Justin added.

 

"I don't care." JC replied and remained standing in front of the TV.

 

"JC has something to tell us." Chris explained and sat down next to Joey. Lance moved to sit in the armchair.

 

JC took a deep breath before he began. "There's something I haven't told you guys, but I've told Lance." JC paused for a minute to gather his thoughts. "I've been having dreams."

 

Joey interrupted JC with, "So? People have dreams."

 

"Yeah, but these dreams are different. They are from my past when I was five."

 

"Again I say, so?" Chris smacked Joey upside the head. "Hey!"

 

"This is serious, Joey. Just listen."

 

"How do you know this is serious?" Justin asked Chris.

 

"Because I was in the study when JC and Lance were talking about the dream. I could tell it was serious."

 

"Anyway." JC said pointedly looking at Joey. "There's a little girl in my dream. Her name is Mandy. Lance thinks that she's the ghost that I saw."

 

"How's that?" Justin asked.

 

"I stumbled upon a book that held the death records of the cabin. There was a girl that died here. I showed the picture that was in the book to JC that it was the girl from his dream." Lance explained to Justin and Joey since Chris had overheard that part in the study.

 

"This still doesn't make any sense. What exactly happened in your dreams, JC?" Chris asked.

 

"My first dream was just me and her playing tag and chasing each other in the woods. My second dream was where I saw her die. I pinned her to the ground, but I got off of her. When I did she jumped on me throwing both of us into the lake." JC stopped and sighed. He hated revisiting this image he got from his dream. "I was able to come up right away, but not her. I waited for a few minutes thinking she was kidding. When I realized it, I ran toward the house screaming that she fell in the lake."

 

"So she drowned?" Justin guessed.

 

JC nodded. "The last image I got from my dream was the police pulling her body from the lake." JC shuddered. That image always unnerved him.

 

Lance saw JC's discomfort and took over. "I told JC that she had hit her head off a rock and that's why she drowned. I came to decide that the ghost JC saw was in fact Mandy and that she wanted revenge from JC."

 

"Why would she want revenge if they were friends?" Chris question and focused his attention on Lance.

 

"I'm not sure. The only thing I can think of is that he got to live and she didn't. Like it was his fault that she died because he hadn't got help soon enough. Those are only theories though. Mandy is the only one who can answer that question." Lance explained.

 

"I guess that makes sense." Joey said.

 

"There's one thing that I don't get though." Chris stated.

 

"What's that?" the others asked.

 

"JC, how tall was the ghost?"

 

JC looked over at Chris not sure where this was coming from. "I don't know an exact height, but it looked like an adult. Why?"

 

"Because I thought when people died they stayed that way when they became a ghost. So if that's true then you should have been seeing the ghost of child, not an adult." Chris reasoned.

 

"Yeah. I've read that before. I just assumed that it was wrong because who else would be after JC? She's the only one that really has a motive or a reason." Lance relied.

 

Everyone was thinking this over until Justin said, "What about her mother?" All of the guys turned and looked at him.

 

"You mean the mother might be the one after JC?" Joey asked.

 

"Yeah. It makes sense. I know that my mother wouldn't easily forgive something like that. All mothers are very protective over their kids so I think she could have a motive. Maybe even more than the daughter because Mandy and JC were friends. If she was a true friend she wouldn't blame JC for something that she was the cause of." Justin explained.

 

They all sat there in awe of what Justin said. Joey was the one who broke the silence. "I think that's one of the smartest things you've ever said."

 

"Hey! I'm not stupid. I'm very smart." Justin laughed at Joey's joke.

 

"I think you may be right, J." Chris said at last.

 

"If she was a ghost though wouldn't she had to of died here too? You know since Lance says ghosts stay in the place they died." JC spoke up for the first time since he told them about the dreams. He wanted to hear their takes on his situation before he decided what to do.

 

"I'll go get the book." Lance left for the study and came back a few minutes later with the book in hand. He opened it up and started looking through it.

 

"Can we see the picture of Mandy while you're looking?" Justin asked. Lance nodded and handed the picture over to him. Joey looked over Justin's shoulder and Chris moved to the stand in front of Justin so he could see it. They took in the little boy and girl standing side by side.

 

"Aw, you look so cute, JC." Chris teased.

 

"Do you think she was his girlfriend?" Joey played along seeing how they both had identical smiles and were blushing.

 

"What did you say to her before this picture was taken? She's redder than you are." Justin teased along with Joey and Chris. JC just blushed and didn't say anything.

 

"OK. Enough teasing JC you guys." Lance added, "I have it narrowed down to three women. I don't know which one's Mandy's mother though."

 

"Did you check to see what Mandy's last name was?" JC asked.

 

Lance shook his head. "I guess that would be helpful."

 

"Man! What's wrong with you Lance? Are you feeling OK?" Chris went over to Lance and put his hand to Lance's forehead. Lance swatted it away playfully.

 

"I can be a little off occasionally. I'm not perfect and I make mistakes." Lance replied.

 

"You mean you're not God?" Joey snapped his fingers. "Darn. I really thought you were and came down to keep us from going to hell." The guys all laughed at this. Lance was always the butt of jokes, but Lance didn't mind. He knew it was all in good fun.

 

After a few minutes of trying to decipher Mandy's last name he got it and his face drained of all color.

 

"What is it, Lance?" JC asked worriedly. He had never seen Lance go that pale that fast except for the time he passed out in rehearsals back when they first started out.

 

"Her last name…" Lance started and shook his head. There was no way.

 

"Her last name was what, Lance?" Joey pressed.

 

"Bass." Lance said quietly. This shocked them all into silence. It was almost as shocking as when JC told them he had seen a ghost.

 

"Are you sure that's not a misprint?" Chris walked over to Lance and looked over his shoulder at the book. He pried Lance's shaky hands away from the book and took a closer look at the last name. It was scribbled in cursive and hard to read, but Lance was right. It said 'Bass.'

 

"Maybe it's just a coincidence. There are probably a hundred people out there with the same last name as you." Justin tried to reassure him, but knew it wasn't helping.

 

"No, think about it. The girl has blond hair and green eyes like me. I don't remember her though." Lance objected shakily.

 

"So you think she was your sister or cousin?" JC asked.

 

"I don't know. I know about as much about her as you do, JC. Probably even less since I don't dream about her."

 

"Man can our lives get any weirder?" Joey asked.

 

All of the guys turned to him. "Shut up."

 

"Was it something I said?"

 

"If you say that then it's just going to get even stranger." Chris answered and flipped to one of the pages that was marked by Lance.

 

"I found Mandy's mother, Katrina Bass. It says here that she committed suicide and from the date in this book, it was a couple days after her daughter died." Chris explained.

 

"I think you just may be right, Just. I think Mandy's mom is after JC for revenge." Lance said quietly.

 

They all stood in silence for a minute, taking in all of the new information that they've learned in the past hour and a half.

 

"So what do we do now?" Joey asked.

 

"About what?" Justin replied.

 

"Everything." Joey answered.

 

"I think we should just go to bed. We can come up with ideas on how to keep Katrina Bass from getting her revenge on JC in the morning." Chris said.

 

"What if she comes tonight to finish off what she started?" JC asked worriedly. This was all too much to take in. He didn't want to die especially by one of Lance's family members. That would be like Lance killing JC himself. JC shuddered at the thought.

 

"Hopefully she won't, but if she does you yell for any one of us. We won't let you die. I promise." Chris assured JC.

 

"OK. I trust you. Thanks." JC hoped she wouldn't be coming to see him that night as he headed to bed. It took him a while, but he finally managed to go to sleep hoping that he would wake up the next morning.

A light breeze blew into the cabin through the open windows. Everyone was sleeping or, in Lance's case, trying to. He was having a hard time falling asleep. There was just too much on his mind. He still couldn't believe that Mandy was related to him somehow, but all of the evidence pointed to it. He thought about his parents and why they never told him.

 

"Because things that are in the past belong in the past." Lance said to himself and closed his eyes. He knew he probably wouldn't be able to sleep, but he figured it couldn't hurt to try.

 

It suddenly got very cold in Lance's room. Lance looked over at Chris to see if he noticed or had woken up. He hadn't. Lance wondered why it got cold all of the sudden. It had been warm a few minutes ago. He opened his eyes and was shocked at what he saw.

 

It was the ghost of a little girl. Lance knew that he had seen her before, but where? It was then that Lance realized that the ghost was Mandy, the little girl he had seen in the picture with JC. He was beyond being shocked. She really looked a lot like him.

 

Mandy watched Lance and saw his eyes grow wide as he recognized her. She smiled at him. "Welcome home, brother." She said to him in a soft, sweet voice.

 

Lance would have screamed if it wasn't for him being so shocked that he couldn't talk. He just stared at her. Just when he had worked up the courage to say something, he heard a scream come from down the hall.

 

Lance stopped and listened for a moment. He then knew who was screaming. It was JC.

 

Lance jumped off his bed and ran as fast as he could toward JC's room having a bad feeling that something wasn't right. Lance ran into the room with Mandy right behind him. She had followed him.

 

The first thing Lance noticed about the room was that it was cold. Then he looked over and noticed Justin looked worried and scared. He saw that Justin's eyes, as well as JC's, were glued to the window. He could tell JC was terrified, even more than Justin, by the way he shook compulsively. Lance followed Justin's line of vision to find out what caused them to react this way and stiffened at what it was that he was looking at.

 

Just then Joey and Chris came running into the room. Chris had heard Lance leave in a hurry and knew something was up so he woke up Joey and they both headed to JC and Justin's room.

 

Chris was about to ask what was going on when he saw it.

 

"What's…" Joey began, but was cut off by Chris nudging him in the side and pointing at the window. Joey sucked in a breath. It was Katrina Bass, Mandy's mother.

 

If it was still questionable if JC had really seen a ghost or not, that all changed when they saw it. Katrina Bass made her way to JC and the guys just stood there watching, waiting to see what was going to happen. It seemed as if they couldn't move from the spot they were standing.

 

JC watched with wide eyes as Katrina Bass made her way closer. His mind was screaming at him to move, to do something. But he couldn't.

 

She finally reached JC. Everyone was silent, waiting to see what she was going to do. Katrina Bass looked down at JC lying on his bed. JC built up all the courage he could muster and said, "Wha…what do you want?"

 

She stood there for a moment and laughed. "What do you think?" She snapped at JC.

 

She leaned in closer to JC. "You don't even remember me. Do you?" JC shook his quickly and she laughed again. "You may not, but I'm sure your friend does."

 

She turned to Lance and walked over to him. All eyes landed were on Katrina as she put a hand on Lance's cheek. "Ah, my son. How does it feel to be home? I've missed you very much." She continued with, "I love you so much and I want to assure you that if it had been you had died, I would have avenged your death. I would do anything for you, my son."

 

Lance nearly choked on her words. Son? He was her son? There's no way that's possible. My mother is Diane, not her, Lance told himself.

 

"I know what you must be thinking. She's not really my mother. But think about it. Where did you get your blond hair if both your father and mother have brown hair? And where did you get your green eyes? Your father has brown ones and so does your mother. Believe or not, I am your true mother."

 

Lance gaped at her words. He had often wondered how he didn't really look like his mother. He got some features from his father, but it didn't seem that he got any from his mother. Lance knew her words made sense, but he didn't want to believe it.

 

"How…" Lance began and Katrina finished the sentence for him.

 

"How did you get the life you have now?" Lance nodded. "As I'm sure you already know, I killed myself shortly after your friend here pushed my daughter into the lake when he knew she wasn't a strong swimmer." She pointed at JC.

 

"After I killed myself your father thought it would be best if he left this cabin and make a home somewhere else. You were only three when your dad met who you believe is your mother. They got married. Your sister, Stacy, was their flower girl. She had been Diane's daughter. After the wedding, your father told Diane about what happened and they decided it was best if you didn't find out." Katrina explained.

 

Lance couldn't believe it and the others were just as shocked as he was. No one had any idea that anything like this ever happened. Lance shook his head. His world was being turned upside down and he didn't want that to happen.

 

"I don't believe you." Lance told her.

 

"No? Don't you remember that time Mandy took you up into the tree house that was out back and she left you there? It started raining. You were so scared of the dark and being alone that you tried to jump out of the tree house and broke your leg. I knew that something wasn't right when I went outside to get you after Mandy told me she had left you. I found you lying on the ground crying. I picked you up and sang to you. Do you remember the song?"

 

Lance had a far off gaze in his eyes as he recalled a stormy night that he was in a tree house. He remembered being scared and falling out of the tree. The only thing he could remember after that was a young woman picking him up and singing to him. It was then that he noticed Katrina was humming the song that he remembered being sung to him on that night.

 

Katrina stopped humming. She knew that he remembered. He now knew the truth about her. "So you see, Lance. I really am your mother."

 

She took advantage of the guys being wrapped up in their thoughts to carry out her revenge. She grabbed a pillow and pressed it into JC's face. JC was struggling to breathe and the others noticed this. They seemed to snap out of their shocked state and spring into action. Joey and Chris ran over to where Katrina was and went to push her so JC would be able to breathe again. But they fell right through her.

 

Chris smacked himself in the head. "Well, duh. She's a ghost. Of course we can't touch her." He said to himself not sure of what to do to save JC. Joey and Chris stood watching, helpless at what was happening. There was nothing they could do.

 

JC's mind screamed for oxygen. He was fighting to remain calm and stay conscious, but he couldn't fight it any more. Katrina saw Joey and Chris give up and watched as JC's struggling grew weaker and finally stopped all together. Katrina smirked at JC's limp form.

 

"Have a nice day, boys." She turned to leave, positive that her revenge was complete. She stopped and looked at Lance. "I'm sorry you had to see that, baby. But it was something that needed to be done. Come Mandy. Let's go."

 

Mandy walked by Lance and stopped to say, "I'm sorry. I didn't want that to happen to JC. He was my best friend. I can't go against mother though." With that said she left with her mother.

 

Lance stood there for a minute, but knew he had to see if JC was really dead and if there was anything he could do to help. He moved over to JC and felt for a pulse. It was extremely low, but he was still alive. Lance took this as a good sign and sighed.

 

"He's still alive." Lance quietly told the others. They all sighed in relief. They had thought that she really killed JC this time.

 

"Someone go get me a wash cloth please." Justin left the room to get it for Lance to use on JC. He was glad to be doing something that would help. He came back in a few minutes later and handed the damp, cool cloth to Lance.

 

"Thanks." Lance softly dabbed it over JC's face and finally laid it on his forehead. JC reacted to the soft touches and coolness that spread throughout his body. Lance placed his fingers on JC's neck and kept them there. He began to feel JC's pulse grow stronger.

 

JC struggled to come out of the blackness that surrounded him when he was unconscious. After what seemed like forever to him, he was able to get his eyes to open. He looked up into Lance's worried face.

 

"We've got to stop meeting like this." JC joked softly trying to lighten the mood. The guys all laughed grateful for something to ease the tension a little, but Lance didn't laugh.

 

"How are you feeling?" Justin asked JC.

 

"I'm good now. Thanks you guys." JC replied, his eyes drooping closed.

 

"Sure thing. Go back to sleep." Joey told JC and JC nodded. Within a few minutes he fell into a deep sleep.

 

The guys all stood in silence for a minute not quite sure what they should do now that JC was fine and sleeping. Lance had a million thoughts running through his head and needed to be alone so he excused himself and headed for the bedroom that he shared with Chris.

 

Once Lance was in the room, he went over to the window to shut it and lock it. Then he moved to a corner of the room and sat in a tight ball in a corner. It was then that he began to shake uncontrollably. He lost the control he had after he saw JC was fine and couldn't hide it any more.

 

He sat like that for an hour thinking about everything Katrina had said to him and about what his parents had told him. Lance made no attempt to get up and move or go talk with one of the guys. He just sat there thinking about how his life just got turned upside down.

 

Chris came in and was surprised to find Lance sitting in the corner of the room in a ball shaking. He had been elected by Joey and Justin to check on him. They knew that Lance needed his space after what he had to go through, but knew it was a good idea to check on him and offer him their comfort. Chris walked over and sat next to Lance. He put his arm around Lance's trembling shoulders. Lance looked up, startled that someone was beside him and touching him when he didn't even hear the person come over.

 

"Are you OK?" Chris asked and Lance shook his head. It was after this that Chris was able to see the pain and fear in Lance's eyes.

 

"She might have been pulling your leg. It might not be true."

 

Lance shook his head again. "It…it makes sense. I…I just don't understand why they couldn't have told me the truth."

 

Lance reached his limit. He couldn't take any more and began to cry, which caused his body to shake even harder. Chris rubbed his back trying to make him feel a little better and at least stop the shaking. He knew he had to be strong for Lance.

 

"I know it hurts, Poofoo. I know it sucks finding out this way, but your parents had a good reason to keep it from you. You were happier not knowing." Chris began to say comforting things to Lance and continued rubbing his back. After a while Lance's sobs subsided, but his body still shook uncontrollably.

 

"C'mon let's get you into bed." Chris said while pulling Lance up.

 

"I don't want to sleep." Lance replied shakily. He didn't feel that tired, just emotionally strained. But he didn't want to be left alone either. He didn't think he could take another visit from his mother or sister.

 

"OK. C'mon then. You can come downstairs with me. I'll make you a cup of warm tea. Are you cold?" Lance nodded and Chris took the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around Lance. He carefully led Lance down the stairs and into the living room where Joey and Justin were.

 

"Hey, Poofoo. How you doing?" Joey looked Lance up and down and saw he was shaking even though he had a comforter wrapped around him. Justin saw the same thing and frowned. Both of them felt really bad for Lance and the news that he had to deal with.

 

Chris came back into the room with the hot tea for Lance. Lance shakily took a drink and set it down on the coffee table. He buried himself into the comforter while listening to the others talk. After listening to them for an hour, he fell asleep with his head on Justin's shoulder.

 

"Poor Poofoo." Justin said softly so as not to wake Lance.

 

"Yeah. That was a crummy way to find out." Joey agreed.

 

"I'm just wondering what's going to happen next." Justin and Joey looked at Chris.

 

"What do you mean by that?" Joey asked.

 

"I mean it's obvious this isn't over because JC's not dead. And I don't think Mandy's mother's going to stop until he is."

 

"You really think that?" Justin looked over at Chris.

 

"Yeah. I just wonder how far she will go or if she will give up because we're certainly not giving up on JC."

 

Joey and Justin agreed with Chris. There was no way that they would let go of JC. Justin then thought of something. "What if she comes after Lance?"

 

"Why would she do that?" Joey asked.

 

"To have Lance part of her family since he's her biological son." Justin reasoned.

 

"I guess we'll just have to prevent both Lance and JC getting taken away from us." Chris replied stubbornly. There was no way either one of his brothers was going to become part of the dead. Chris would make sure of it.

Joey, Justin, and Chris sat in the living room watching the sun rise above the trees. They couldn't go back to sleep and knew that it would be wise to keep an eye on Lance and JC. Occasionally one of them would go upstairs to check on JC. Justin had gone up to check on him while Joey and Chris stayed with Lance. Justin came downstairs a few minutes later.

 

"He's still sleeping." Justin looked over at Lance and saw the same thing that he had in JC's room. He knew this must be hard on the two of them.

 

"That's our JC." Joey joked and Justin and Chris laughed. JC was always known as the one who liked to sleep as much as he could.

 

"I feel so bad for him though." Justin said and then added, "Both of them."

 

"I know what you mean. I wish there was something we could do." Chris replied feeling the same thing as Justin.

 

"Why don't we just leave?" Joey suggested.

 

"Yeah. Maybe nothing else will happen if we get back to the studio." Justin added. It was fun when they first got here, but now everything was going wrong. He just wanted to get back to normal.

 

"We can't." Chris stated plainly.

 

"What do you mean we can't?" Joey asked.

 

"Just that. We can't. Both of you, as well as I, know that if we leave Katrina will still follow us and everything might be worse than it is right now. We only have a couple days left and I think it's best if we leave without ghosts following us." Chris explained. He had thought about leaving a long time ago, but knew that it would just cause more problems.

 

Justin sighed. "You're right. I just don't want to see them hurting anymore."

 

"I don't either, but trust me. We would be worse off if we left things unfinished here." Chris assured and Joey and Justin nodded. They knew that Chris was right. They just felt so useless sitting there doing nothing.

 

_______________

 

JC was sleeping peacefully upstairs. He was in a deep sleep. The kind that he falls into only when he's sick or exhausted. For the first time in the past two days, JC had no dreams or nightmares. He was just sleeping peacefully until he felt someone pulling on his arms trying to get him out of bed.

 

JC opened his eyes to see who it was and saw Katrina pulling on his arms. JC knew what she was after and tried to scream to get his friends attention so they could help him. Only when JC tried to scream he found that he couldn't. He couldn't even talk.

 

JC struggled as Katrina pulled him off his bed. JC continued to struggle, but stopped when he realized that he was making himself weaker, which would make it easier for Katrina to kill him.

 

JC knew he would have to fight for his life and would need as much energy as he could get for that. Katrina pulled JC along by his arm and JC had no choice but to follow. If he didn't she would pull his arm out of his socket.

 

She made him jump out the window and JC hit the ground hard. She gave him no time to recover and he stumbled to get up and keep up with her. The only thing JC could do is hope that his friends would come and help him.

 

___________

 

Lance bolted into a sitting position surprising Joey, Justin, and Chris. Lance was panting and trying to get up, but couldn't because he was tangled in his comforter. Chris went over to Lance to help him.

 

"What's the matter, Lance?" Chris asked him while untangling the comforter from his body.

 

"JC. It's JC. He's gone! I need to find him. He needs help!" Lance tried taking off for the back door, but Chris reached out and grabbed him.

 

"Joey, go check on JC." Chris demanded while keeping his eyes focused on Lance's. They were filled with fear and worry.

 

"Do you think Lance is right? That something happened to JC and he needs us?" Justin asked Chris.

 

"I don't know. We'll know for sure when Joey comes back down." They only had to wait a few minutes before Joey came running down the stairs and into the living room.

 

"JC's not upstairs. I looked everywhere. He's not up there." Joey said urgently.

 

"I guess there's your answer, J." Chris told him and let go of Lance's arm, surprised to find that JC really was gone. Lance, not having anyone to hold him back, took off for the back door and outside. He knew JC was out there somewhere.

 

Chris turned and realized that Lance was missing. He looked around and saw the back door close behind Lance. "Lance! Wait up!" Chris shouted and took off to where Lance had gone.

 

"I have a feeling things just got a lot more complicated." Joey told Justin.

 

"Do you think Katrina's behind this?" Justin asked.

 

"I would bet my life on it."

 

"Well c'mon then. They're going to need our help." Justin and Joey took off running to meet up with Chris and Lance.

 

They found Chris and Lance right outside the cabin. Chris was trying to get Lance to calm down and regain control of himself.

 

"Is he alright?" Justin asked Chris.

 

"Yeah. He's just freaking out because he says something's happening to C." Chris answered.

 

"Something's going to happen. I know it!" Lance said.

 

"Shh. It's OK. We believe you. Just calm down. We need you to calm down so we can find JC. OK?" Chris soothed. He knew that Lance's nerves must be frazzled since he was running around and freaking out.

 

Lance closed his eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm himself down. "That's it. As soon as you're calm we can help JC." Justin told Lance following Chris's lead of trying to get him calm or as close as they could get him to calm.

 

After one more deep breath, Lance opened his eyes. "Better now?" Joey asked. He could see that Lance was more focused now. Although his eyes were still bright green with worry and fear, he seemed to have more control now than he did when he went running out of the cabin.

 

"So how do we find JC? We don't know where Katrina took him." Justin looked over at Chris. Through this whole mess Chris seemed to be the one holding everyone together and knew what to do.

 

"Uh…I'm not sure. I guess just check each trail and see if we find him. He's got to be around here somewhere." Chris answered honestly. He knew that the others were hoping he would know what to do, but he was as lost as they were.

 

"OK. Which trail do we start off with?" Joey asked no one in particular.

 

"The one we went on our first day here." Lance said quietly.

 

"Alright. Let's start walking then." The four of them walked in silence. They knew that this was it. It was up to them to save JC and end all of this before they had to leave.

 

Lance shivered at the thought that everything he had ever known was hanging in the balance. A cold wind blew and Lance shivered again. Joey noticed this and put an arm around Lance's shoulders to offer comfort and provide some warmth.

 

"Looks like a storm's brewin'." Justin said and the others looked up at the sky. The clouds were a dark gray and the wind was picking up, making the trees sway.

 

"Hopefully we'll find JC before it starts raining." Chris replied as they picked up their pace. They knew the rain was coming and that if they wanted to find JC they would have to be quick about it.

 

They walked down the hill JC fell down at the beginning of their vacation and Lance felt his stomach twist. He had to keep reassuring himself that JC would be fine and nothing would happen.

 

"I forgot how long this trail was." Joey spoke up.

 

"Yeah. Where do you think JC would be if he's on this trail?" Justin asked.

 

"There's a clearing up ahead, right?" Justin nodded at Chris's question.

 

"Then after that there're more woods." Joey informed.

 

Chris nodded. "I think if they are on this trail it would be down there."

 

"What makes you say that?" Justin asked.

 

"I dunno. I just have a feeling." Just then it started to thunder and lightening telling them that rain was on the way.

 

"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Lance said agreeing with Chris that JC was probably in those woods. All four of them ran as fast as they could to the woods. Lance was in front. He wasn't normally a fast runner, but his worry and fear pumped adrenaline through his body.

 

They stopped just before the woods to catch their breath. "How do we know if he's even in there?" Justin questioned the others. Even though it was afternoon it was growing very dark from the approaching storm and he didn't want to go in there if JC wasn't in there.

 

Chris was about to answer Justin's question, but was interrupted by a scream. It was hard to hear over the roaring thunder, but they still heard it. It was coming from in the woods and more importantly from JC.

 

"That answer your question?" Chris replied and took off for the woods. The others right behind him.

 

They got to the middle of the woods and saw Katrina holding onto JC. They had no doubt that she brought him here to carry out her revenge.

 

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, the first to find his voice. It was hard to grip that one of your best friends could die if you didn't do something and by a ghost.

 

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Katrina snapped.

 

JC looked over at his four brothers glad that they had found them and were here to help him. Now all JC had to do was pray that they all made it out of this.

 

Katrina pushed JC over by a tree and just then a lightening bolt struck the tree. The tree lowered a bit, but didn't fall because half of the trunk was still there. JC sighed in relief that it hadn't crushed him. He had tried to get out of the way, but he couldn’t move.

 

Katrina made her way to Lance. "What are you doing here? You don't belong here." Lance ignored her. His eyes connected with JC's.

 

"Don't bother with him. His suffering's going to end shortly." Katrina told him.

 

"I won't let you do that." Lance replied stubbornly his eyes still on JC's. There was no way he was going to let his best friend, his brother, die. Just then another lightening bolt struck the tree's trunk.

 

It was like it happened in slow motion. Lance saw the tree start falling. "No!" He shouted and doing the only thing he could think of. He ran toward JC and pushed him out of the way just as the tree fell.

Lance managed to get JC out of the falling tree's way, but not himself. Once he pushed JC, he tried to roll out of the tree's way. He was able to get most of himself out of way, but not his leg. The tree crushed his leg and Lance could feel intense pain from it. Everyone had seen what Lance did and couldn't believe it especially JC. What was he thinking? JC asked himself and then nodded in realization. That's so like Lance. Always thinking about others before himself. How am I ever supposed to repay him?

 

"Lance, are you okay?" Justin asked breaking everyone out of their shocked state.

 

Lance hissed in pain. "Yeah. I'm fine."

 

JC could hear the pain in Lance's voice. I feel so bad. It should be me laying there, JC thought and hung his head. He promised himself that he would make this up to Lance somehow.

 

Katrina sighed in relief. She was just as surprised as everyone else that Lance had done that. Especially for the man who I'm trying to take revenge on, she thought bitterly. She was mad that Lance foiled her plans, but was happy that he wasn’t dead or seriously injured.

 

Chris walked over to Lance and tried pushing the tree of his leg. "Chris, what are you doing?" Joey asked.

 

"I'm trying…ugh….to get the…ugh…tree off…ugh…Lance's leg." Chris replied and Joey, Justin, and JC moved over to help Chris. They used all of their strength to try and push the tree off Lance's leg. But to no avail. They laid on the ground exhausted from the effort they put into it. Lance had just closed his eye in pain while his brothers worked to free him. He didn't blame them when they couldn't do it. He didn't really expect them to be able to move it.

 

Katrina saw the guys try to move the tree and how much trouble they were having. She decided to push the thought of getting her revenge on JC out of her head until she got the tree off Lance and made sure he really was alright. She walked over to the tree and stepped over the guys, who were still sprawled out on the ground. She then lifted the tree as if it weighed nothing and moved it to the side.

 

The guys jumped up in surprise. "Wow. How'd you do that?" Justin asked. Joey smacked Justin upside the head. "Hey! What was that for?"

 

"This is serious. No stupid questions." Joey told him. Justin crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out.

 

"Well excuse me for being curious."

 

"Curiosity killed the cat." Lance quipped and the four of them turned to Lance who was trying to get up.

 

"Here let me help you." Katrina said to Lance, reaching her arm out so she could heal his leg.

 

Lance jerked away as fast as he could. "Don't touch me." He spat and continued to get up on his own.

 

"I don't think that's such a good idea." JC warned, but Lance glared at him. He stood himself up, not listening to the others' protests, and put all of his weight on his good leg.

 

"You're so determined. Just like your father." Katrina told Lance. "I'm also a very determined person and I'm determined to get my revenge."

 

She moved closer to JC, but Lance hobbled over to her. He stood in between Katrina and JC. "Don't you dare touch him." Lance hissed at her.

 

"But baby, I need to avenge Mandy's death. You know I would do the same if it were you. I love you."

 

"You love me? Loving me is killing one of my best friends?" Lance shouted. All of the guys just looked on. They knew this was Lance's battle to fight.

 

Lance paused to let it sink in and continued on. "If you really loved me, like you say you do, you would just forget about killing JC and getting your revenge. It's been 20 years. Put the past behind you for Christ sake."

 

"You really want that? You want me to just forget about your friend and you and just leave?" Katrina asked. What Lance had said to her were like needles in her heart. She didn't know he really felt that way.

 

"Yes. Just leave us alone. I don't need you to look after me. I have friends and family that do that." Lance knew what he said really hurt her and felt bad about it, but he held his ground. He knew that he couldn't let her hurt JC and break up his band of brothers.

 

"OK. If that's what you really want." Lance nodded. "Just…will you ever be able to forgive me?"

 

Lance thought for a minute and answered, "Maybe someday, but not right now. There's just too much to deal with right now."

 

Katrina nodded and Lance slumped down. His foot had fallen asleep and he couldn’t hold himself up anymore. JC caught him and gently lowered him to the ground. Katrina slowly walked over Lance.

 

"Don't worry. I'm not going to hurt you or him." She said pointing to JC. "I'm just going to fix your leg."

 

Lance let her touch him, but he was very tense. He didn't trust her. Katrina's body began to glow and it seemed to be moving into Lance's leg. They all looked on in awe. They could hear the faint snaps as the bone moved back in place. Lance flinched at the sound. He was in pain, but it was less intense than before.

 

The glow disappeared when Katrina removed her hand from Lance's leg. "That should do it. You'll still be sore, but that should be gone by tomorrow night."

 

"Thanks." Lance said quietly. After all, she could've just left without fixing his leg and he would've had to wait weeks for it to heal.

 

Katrina nodded. "I guess I'll be going now. C'mon Mandy." She motioned for Mandy to follow her.

 

"One minute mommy." Mandy told her and went over to Lance. She kneeled down in front of him.

 

"I've really missed you, brother."

 

"I would probably say the same, but I can't remember you." Lance said honestly.

 

"I know. Mommy says you were too young to remember." Mandy paused. "Will I ever see you again?"

 

"Sure. We'll see each other in heaven. I won't be there for a long time though."

 

"That's OK. I can wait. I'll see you there." Mandy told him and wrapped her arms around him. Lance was startled. He could feel warmth from her and it felt comforting. Mandy pulled away and walked toward Katrina.

 

"Bye Lance."

 

"Bye Mandy." With that said, Katrina and Mandy flew up into heaven. Lance sighed and closed his eyes. He was glad that it was over and all of them had made it out alive.

 

The guys all stood around not really sure what to do now that everything was pretty much right. They surveyed their surroundings for the first time since everything started and they realized it was still pouring down rain. They had forgotten with what had just went on.

 

"We should head back and get some sleep. Then we can leave sometime tomorrow." Chris suggested and everyone agreed. Lance slowly moved to get up when he felt someone grab onto his arm and help pull him up off the saturated ground. He looked up and saw it was JC. JC gave him a faint smile and Lance gave his own in appreciation for the help.

 

The others had seen how tired Lance and JC were. Joey went over and put his arm around JC while Justin went over to Lance and put his arm around him. Lance tried to shrug off the help. He knew he was tired, but he was still able to walk.

 

"Don't, Lance. You're tired and can hardly stand up straight. Just lean on me." Justin said and Lance gave in.

 

They all began their long trek back to the cabin when Lance started singing softly. Even though it was thundering, the others could still hear what he was singing.

 

"Sometimes in our lives. We all have pain. We all have sorrow. But if we are wise we know that there's always tomorrow."

 

They knew what he was singing and began to sing along. "Lean on me when you're not strong and I'll be your friend. I'll help you carry on. For it won't be long till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on."

 

Lance thought that it fit his mood perfectly. He needed his friends to lean on even though he didn't care to admit it right now. He felt grateful to have friends like his. The ones that are always there for you through thick and thin.

 

After two hours they made it back to the cabin. The rain hadn't let up at all and they were all soaked. Joey, Chris, and Justin made JC and Lance get changed first. Once they were changed, Chris and Joey escorted them to bed. They both fell asleep almost as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

 

Once Chris and Joey were sure that JC and Lance were sleeping they went and changed too. They joined Justin in the living room to watch TV and unwind a little before they went to bed.

 

"I'm so glad this is all over." Joey said.

 

"I bet not as glad as JC and Lance." Chris replied.

 

Joey nodded. "Can you imagine how they must feel that this is over now?"

 

"Pretty darn good." Justin yawned. "I think I'm going to head up to bed. Someone needs to drive home tomorrow and it's not going to be Lance or JC."

 

"I'm right behind you." Chris told him.

 

"Me too." The three of them went into their bedrooms and fell into a fitful sleep.

 

The next morning JC and Lance were the first ones up. They went down into the kitchen to talk so as not to disturb anyone. They made coffee and sat there drinking it.

 

Both of them wanted to say what was on their mind, but they couldn't bring themselves to do it. JC worked up some courage and was the first to speak.

 

"I feel really bad about what happened, Lance. It should've been me. Not you."

 

Lance shook his head. "Don't say that. I feel bad too. I mean it was my idea to come here which led to all of the events that happened. Can you forgive me?"

 

"Tell you what. I'll forgive you, if you forgive me. Deal?" JC asked.

 

"Deal." Lance agreed. They shook on it to make it official and pulled each other into a hug. Just then the others walked in.

 

"What is this? A hug fest? I want a piece too." Joey said and walked over to Lance and JC.

 

"What are we hugging for?" Justin asked.

 

"Lance and I were hugging because we forgave each other. Plus we're entitled to it." JC explained.

 

Justin joined the trio. "I'm sorry that I broke Chris's walkman."

 

"You did what?" Chris asked.

 

"I broke it, but not on purpose. I was looking for something on the dresser and I accidentally knocked over the lamp and it smashed your walkman." Justin told him.

 

"It's alright because I stole your cd and that's what was in my walkman." Chris replied as he joined the group.

 

"You suck, Chris." Justin said.

 

"Love you too, Curly."

 

"I'm sorry too." Joey told them.

 

"What are you sorry for Joey?" JC asked him enjoying the warmth that he was getting from all of the guys. He knew that what happened would be the least of their worries from now on.

 

“I cut the cheese.”