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.