“What?” Justin asked as he looked up in surprise and stopped dribbling the basketball.

“You heard me,” JC said.

“Yeah.” Justin nodded. “So are we talking about this now?”

JC shrugged as he stepped closer. “I guess. You keep saying I need to talk about it so…”

Justin half smiled. He sat Indian style on the basketball court with the ball placed in front of him. “Pull up a seat,” he said, patting the asphalt.

JC let out a short laugh as he sat down across from Justin, mirroring his position. Justin let the silence drag on for a minute. He knew that JC was trying to collect his thoughts. He was glad that JC had decided to talk to him.

Finally Justin said, “So I die in your dreams?”

“Yeah,” JC said softly as he looked down at the asphalt. He paused for a minute before he added, “But it’s not just you.”

“Who else?” Justin asked, leaning forward a little. JC was finally going to divulge the details of his nightmares.

JC gave Justin a ‘duh’ look. Justin realized what he meant. “Lance, Chris, and Joey,” he said sadly.

A few seconds passed. “So we all die in your dream?”

“Yeah.” JC nodded as he looked back down at the asphalt. After a few minutes of silence JC looked up to see Justin patiently sitting there. Justin knew that this was going to be hard for JC and that it would be best to just let him get it all out.

“It’s so similar to what happened. I’m in the forest. Me and you were there to help the guys only…only it didn’t happen that way.” JC took a deep breath before continuing on. “I saw…I saw…”

JC’s voice dropped off, and he returned his eyes to the ground. It took him a minute to get a hold of himself again. “I saw the demons kill Lance…then Joey…then Chris…and then…you. And I couldn’t do anything to stop it. I was forced to watch you guys die.”

JC’s eyes filled with tears. He hastily reached up to rub them away. He didn’t want Justin to see him cry. He managed to pull himself together and continue. “I was all alone. And…the last thing I see before I wake up is this tree with a weird symbol carved into it.”

“What does it look like?” Justin asked.

“It’s this star with a circle around it,” JC said. “It’s just so weird. I mean, why is this the last thing I see?”

JC paused to look at Justin. “Do you know how horrible it was to have to see something like that and not be able to do anything? I tried, you know. I struggled, but it was like I was glued to that spot. And they didn’t even touch me. It was like…it was like they somehow knew that hurting you guys would kill me.”

Justin waited a few minutes to see if JC had anything else to say. While he waited he took in everything that JC had just told him. JC didn’t speak at all during those few minutes, so Justin figured that he was done telling him about his dream.

“And you had this…nightmare a lot?” Justin asked quietly.

JC nodded. “Every night.”

Justin got up from where he was sitting. He pulled JC off the ground and put his arms around him. JC hugged him back. “I’m sorry,” Justin said.

“Thanks,” JC whispered when they pulled away.

“You’re welcome.” Justin paused for a minute before he said, “You know that would never happen, right?”

“You don’t know that. It could happen,” JC protested.

“I guess, but it’s not very likely,” Justin said.

“But they were nearly successful before. Maybe next time they actually will be.”

Justin looked at JC with a raised eyebrow. “Next time? JC, there won’t be a next time. You heard what Katrina said. They’re stuck in hell now.”

“What’s to stop other demons from coming after us?” JC asked.

“Why would they come after us? We haven’t done anything worthy of demon…I don’t know,” Justin said.

“But we didn’t do anything before,” JC pointed out.

“Well, I don’t know, JC,” Justin said. “We were probably just at the wrong place at the wrong time. It couldn’t have been because of anything we’ve done.”

JC sighed in defeat. “Yeah, I guess.”

Almost a minute passed in silence before Justin broke out in a grin.

“What’re you smiling about?” JC asked.

“You did it,” Justin said. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

“I guess not,” JC mumbled as he looked down at the ground.

“If you talked about it sooner you could’ve saved yourself from spending a night in a hospital,” Justin said. He paused for a minute before continuing, “I wish I could see what is going happen. Then I could’ve stopped you from ending up in the hospital.”

“It wasn’t your fault, J,” JC replied.

“I still wish I could see what’s going to happen,” Justin said.

JC paused before he said, “If it makes you feel any better, I wish you could too.”

Justin half smiled and looked down at his watch. “I guess we should head back in. I don’t know about you, but I still have some packing to do. And I need a shower. I stink.”

“Me too,” JC agreed.

Justin laughed and slung an arm around JC’s shoulders. “We’re just a bunch of stinky dudes.”

Together they entered the hotel and took the elevator up to their floor. Once they reached their floor they headed for their own rooms.

Chris woke up and looked at the clock. He had about two and a half hours before they had to hit the road. He stretched as he got out of bed. He was a little surprised he had slept as long as he did. He felt good, but knew that he would feel better once he got a shower.

He stepped out of the shower a half hour later and got dressed. He threw his dirty clothes and toiletries in his bag so he wouldn’t have to worry about packing later. He stepped out into the hall to see what the rest of the guys were up to. He stood in the hall for a few minutes wondering where everyone would be. The hall was quiet, which gave him no indication of who was awake and who wasn’t.

Chris thought for a minute and decided to go to Joey’s room. He had come to the conclusion that if anyone would be up, it would be him. He assumed JC and Lance were still sleeping. As far as Justin went, Chris figured he would be keeping an eye on JC by now. That only left Joey.

He walked over to Joey’s room and knocked on the door. He stood there for a few minutes before the door opened to reveal Lance, not Joey.

“Dude, what are you doing in Joey’s room?” Chris asked as he walked into the room.

“Cleaning,” Lance answered. He was still picking up the little bottles of alcohol that were scattered all over the room.

“Why? What happened?” Chris asked. Lance gestured for Chris to help him, so he walked around the room picking up the empty bottles and throwing them in the trash can.

“Joey got smashed last night,” Lance said.

“He had a party? And he didn’t invite me?” Chris joked.

Lance glared at Chris. “This is serious, Chris. He drank the entire mini bar by himself.”

“Wow,” Chris said. “I guess this is more serious than we thought.”

“Yeah, he’s got a problem. I don’t think he realizes it though,” Lance said.

“What makes you say that?” Chris asked.

“Think about it, Chris. He’s said that he drinks a little, but really it’s more than that. He was always out partying every night until Kelly made him promise not to go out anymore. And what does he do? He empties the mini bar in one night,” Lance explained.

Chris nodded. “I see what you’re saying. So what do we do about it?”

“We keep an eye on him. Make sure that he doesn’t drink,” Lance said.

“Do you really think that’ll work?”

“If we watch him, it will,” Lance said.

“Won’t he be pissed that we’re babysitting him?” Chris asked.

Lance shrugged. “Probably, but he’s obviously not thinking clearly if he feels he needs to drink every night.”

“So how are we going to watch over him?” Chris asked.

“Well, someone can room with him,” Lance suggested looking pointedly at Chris.

“Me?” Chris asked. “Why me?”

“Because you have a point. Joey will probably get very pissy, and you’re better at handling that than I am,” Lance said.

Chris sighed. “Oh, all right. I’ll do it. Is there anything else that goes with this plan you have?”

“That’s the main part. We just need to watch over him until we’re sure he can drink responsibly again,” Lance said.

Finally they had finished cleaning the room and had just sat down on the couch when Joey walked into the room freshly showered and dressed. He sat down next to Chris and grabbed the remote from the coffee table to turn on the TV. He had the volume on low so as to not agitate his headache.

“Do you feel better?” Lance asked.

“Yeah. I think the aspirin’s helping,” Joey said.

“That’s good,” Lance said. “I’m going to order room service. Are you hungry?”

Joey nodded. “A little.”

“Well, I am!” Chris said.

Lance rolled his eyes as reached over to grab the phone and had room service ordered within five minutes. He settled back against the couch to wait for it to arrive.

“Hey,” Chris said, breaking the temporary silence that had fallen between the three of them. “Should we go see if Justin and JC want to eat with us?”

“No, I think they’re busy,” Lance said.

“Busy doing what?” Joey asked.

Lance shrugged. “They’re probably talking.”

“About what?” Chris asked.

“They had a little disagreement. It’s no big deal,” Lance answered.

“Geez. I sleep in and miss everything,” Chris replied.

Just then there was a sharp knock on the door. Lance got up from the couch and opened the door to allow the young man roll the cart into the room. He paid him and closed the door behind him.

“Lunch is served,” Lance said.

“Don’t you mean breakfast?” Chris asked.

“No, lunch,” Lance said. “It’s lunch time. Just because you woke up doesn’t change what time it is.”

Chris waved him off. “Whatever. Find something good, Joey?”

“Yeah,” Joey said as he took his plate back to the couch.

Chris and Lance helped themselves, and a half hour later everyone was finished eating. “I guess we should go see if Justin and JC are ready to go. The sooner we get on the road the better,” Lance said.

Joey grabbed his bag and set it outside his door in the hallway. Chris and Lance were going to go to their rooms to get their bags to do the same when Justin came walking out of his room with JC coming out of his a few seconds later. They were both freshly showered and carrying their bags.

“We were coming to see if you guys were ready to leave,” Lance said.

“We are if you guys are,” JC replied.

“You guys cool?” Chris asked.

JC looked confused that Chris knew, but figured that Lance must’ve filled him in. He looked at Justin and Justin answered, “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Well, I need to go get my bags,” Lance said.

“Me too,” Chris said.

The two of them entered their rooms. Justin turned to JC and Joey. “I’m going to go head down to the bus. I’ll see you two down there.”

Joey was about to follow when JC put a hand on his shoulder. “Joey?”

“Yeah?” Joey grumbled, not forgetting the little fight they had earlier.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” JC apologized.

Joey sighed. “I’m sorry too.” He rubbed his head.

“Is your headache bad?” JC asked, as they started to walk down to the bus. By this time Lance and Chris had come out of their rooms and were following them with their bags slung over their shoulders.

“No, it was worse earlier. I think the aspirin helped,” Joey said.

They reached the bus and immediately climbed on to see Justin already sitting on the couch watching TV. They walked to the back of the bus where they dropped their bags and returned to the front of the bus to watch some TV with Justin.

In less than five minutes the bus was on its way to the next city. The five of them watched Star Wars. For the first time in a month JC hung out with the guys without writing in his notebook. Halfway through the movie Lance moved to the booth where he worked on his laptop. About an hour later the movie ended.

Lance looked up from his work. He knew that now would be a good time to bring up sleeping arrangements since he would have their attention with the movie being over. “Hey guys, we should talk about sleeping arrangements.”

“What about them?” JC asked.

“I think no one should sleep alone,” Lance said.

“Why?” Joey asked.

Lance shrugged. “I think it would be a good idea considering everything that’s happened.”

“JC and I will room with each other,” Justin said.

“I’ll room with you two,” Lance said.

Chris slung an arm around Joey. “I guess that leaves me and you, Joe. We’ll have more fun than those losers.”

Joey laughed as Justin let out an indignant “Hey!”

“I’m fun. Unlike the two serious ones over here,” Justin said as he pointed over his shoulder.

“Then prove it,” Chris said as he held up a controller. Justin joined Chris and Joey on the floor to play Mortal Kombat. JC sat on the couch watching them battle it out on Playstation. Lance shook his head and went back to work. It didn’t take more than an hour or two for them to reach the next city.

They had arrived just in time for sound check. It was nonstop as soon as they got off the bus. There was more press than usual at the venue to report on how JC was and the show they would be performing that night. The concert went well considering that JC had been in the hospital the previous evening.

The five of them climbed back onto the bus to head to the next city exhausted. While most of them had gotten a decent amount of sleep, it had still been a long day. They all turned in early.

It took Justin a little longer than usual to fall asleep. He ran the conversation he had with JC earlier that day through his head again. He was so glad that JC had finally confided in him. However, once he had heard what JC had been dreaming about it was no wonder he had wanted to keep it to himself. To hear that someone saw you die, even if it was in a dream, was very weird.

Finally he fell asleep, and for the first time in a long time he dreamed. He dreamt that he was wandering through a forest. He thought that it looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t seem to place it. There was nothing around but trees, which was odd. Normally a forest had a bunch of animals living in it. It looked like there was no life at all in this forest. It was so quiet. The only thing that could be heard was Justin’s footsteps.

Just as Justin thought he was approaching something, he was being shaken awake. The dream vanished as he started to come back to consciousness.

“C’mon, J, we’re at the hotel,” a voice that Justin recognized to be Chris’s floated to his ears.

“Mmmkay,” Justin mumbled as he tried to stretch his long limbs in his bunk. As he crawled out of bed, he vaguely remembered the dream, or piece of a dream, he had last night. He couldn’t help but be a little confused. Why was he dreaming about a forest, especially since he hadn’t had a dream in years?

He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind for the time being. Right now he had to focus on getting up and getting ready to start another day. He could analyze his dream when he had more time.