Joey grabbed a couple pairs of jeans and stuffed them into a duffle bag. He thought back to the conversation that he had with Chris a few minutes ago. All Chris had told him was that there was something wrong with Justin and that he should get over there as soon as he could. As soon as he got off the phone with Chris he started packing. He could tell that whatever was up with Justin wouldn’t be resolved by the end of the day.

He wracked his brain trying to come up with what was so serious about Justin that Chris would call him up, but leave out all of the details. That worried Joey. It meant that it was too complicated for Chris to tell him over the phone. He walked into the bathroom to grab his toothbrush and razor. When he came out he saw Kelly standing in the doorway.

“Why are you packing?” she asked before Joey could say anything.

“I’m going to spend a few days at Lance’s,” Joey answered.

Kelly walked into the room and stood next to their bed as she watched Joey pack. “Why?”

“Something’s wrong with Justin,” Joey said as he went through the closet and grabbed a few shirts to throw into his duffle bag.

“How do you know?” Kelly asked.

“Chris just called,” he said.

“Did he say what was wrong?”

Joey shook his head. “No. That’s why I need to go over there.”

“Yeah.” Kelly nodded. “But for a couple days? You’ve spent the past how many months with them and have only been home for a little over a week.”

“I know, but I need to be there,” Joey said.

“You need to be here,” Kelly objected.

Joey sighed as he looked at her. “I am, but I need to see what’s wrong with Justin.”

“Why can’t the other guys handle it?” Kelly asked. Joey knew that he couldn’t tell her the truth about everything he and the guys had gone through at the cabin and later on because there was no way that she would believe him. He might tell her one day, but not now.

“Look,” Joey said as he zipped up his duffle bag and moved closer to his wife. “It’ll only be for a couple of days. I doubt it’ll take longer than that.”

“OK,” Kelly agreed. “Go find out what’s wrong and hurry back.”

“I will,” Joey promised as he kissed Kelly. He walked out into the hallway and called for his daughter. “Brianna!”

There was silence for a minute before he heard her little footsteps pad down the hall as she came out of her room and ran to him. “Daddy!”

Joey scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tight. “How you doin’, Kiddo?”

“Good,” Brianna said. “Come color with me!”

“I wish I could, Bri, but I’m going to see your uncles,” Joey told her as he lowered her back to the floor and kneeled down to her level.

Brianna looked at him with innocent eyes that were filled with curiosity. “Why?”

“Because Uncle Justin isn’t feeling well,” Joey told her.

“Are you going to make him better?” Brianna asked.

Joey smiled at her. “I’m going to try. You be a good girl for Mommy.”

Brianna looked over at Kelly who was standing behind Joey. “I will.”

“Good. I’ll see you in a couple of days,” Joey said. “Now give me one your famous hugs.”

Brianna wrapped her little arms around Joey and squeezed as hard as she could. Joey hugged her in return and kissed her on the forehead as he pulled away from her. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” Brianna said. Joey smiled as he stood up and grabbed the duffle bag that he had set down at the top of the stairs. He walked over to Kelly and kissed her again. “I’ll miss my girls.”

“You better,” Kelly said but smiled as she said it. “Tell the guys I say hi.”

“I will,” Joey said. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Kelly said. She kissed him one more time.

“I’ll see you soon,” Joey said. He blew a kiss to Brianna and walked out the front door. He slid into his car and pulled out of the driveway.

As he drove down the road he couldn’t help but think that he was going to miss them. He knew that it was only going to be a few days, but he hardly saw them when he was on tour. Now was the time for him to be with them and he was leaving them to spend time at Lance’s. However, he knew that it was important for him to see what was wrong with Justin.

Joey had to admit that he was looking forward to seeing them again. He hadn’t seen them except for Chris who stopped by a few days ago with that ridiculous gift. He knew that the guys didn’t want to interrupt time with his family, but he was starting to miss them. It was only natural after how much time they always spent together. He hoped that whatever was going on with Justin wasn’t too serious.

“I should’ve listened to you,” Chris said as he paced back and forth in the kitchen. Lance watched him as he leaned against the counter.

“What are you talking about?” Lance asked.

“Yesterday when you said something was up. I should’ve listened to you,” Chris said as he continued to pace. “I should’ve pushed JC for more information.”

“Don’t do this to yourself. When Joey gets here JC will explain everything,” Lance said.

“Yeah, but it just feels like I should’ve done something, you know?” Chris asked. He hated himself for not asking JC about Justin last night and letting him change the subject. Chris knew that Justin probably would’ve had the nightmare anyway, but at least he could’ve been more help to him.

“I know, but we always say that. Maybe this had to happen for us to help him,” Lance said.

“But why is he having nightmares now? Our lives have finally gotten back to normal and he had to go and have a stupid nightmare,” Chris said.

“Chris,” Lance started, but Chris cut him off.

“I know it’s not his fault.” Chris began to pace faster. “I just don’t understand. We finally got JC over his nightmares and now Justin’s having some. It’s weird.”

Chris stopped pacing for a minute to look into the living room where he could see Justin still sleeping on the couch with JC sitting on the floor next to him, running his hand through Justin’s short curls. “He sounded so upset. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him that upset before.”

“Me either,” Lance agreed. “We’ll figure out what’s going on and help him through it though.”

Chris nodded as he resumed his pacing. “JC should’ve told us sooner. What was he thinking?”

It was obvious that whatever was going on was something big, and Chris couldn’t believe that JC hadn’t told any of them. He wanted to know about things when they happened, not afterwards when he was freaking out trying to grasp what was going on. He realized there was a possibility that Justin had asked him not to say anything, but JC should know better than to keep something big like this to himself.

“We’ll find out. Just be patient,” Lance said.

Chris was about to reply when he and Lance heard Joey yell, “Guys!”

Chris and Lance walked out of the kitchen and ran into Joey in the hallway with his keys still in hand. The three of them hugged quickly. Lance stepped back and said, “You got here fast.”

“Well, Chris said to get over here ASAP.” Joey paused before he asked, “Now what’s going on? How’s he doing?”

“He’s doing all right,” Lance said. “Everything’s under control now.”

“But what happened?” Joey asked.

“JC’s going to explain everything,” Chris said.

“JC?” Joey looked confused. “What does JC have to do with this?”

“Everything,” Chris muttered.

Lance glared at him, but he didn’t care. JC had been irresponsible by keeping Justin’s problems to himself. Chris was tired of bad things happening to them and finding out after the fact because no one spoke up about it. He understood that they didn’t need to share how they were feeling with the entire group, but it was necessary when they were in danger of physically harming themselves.

“He knew something was up with Justin and didn’t tell us,” Lance told Joey.

“What is up with Justin?” Joey asked.

“Let’s find out,” Chris said as he led the way into the living room. Right away their attention was drawn to Justin sleeping on the couch and JC still sitting beside him. They watched JC continue to run his hands through Justin’s hair for a minute before Joey took the initiative and approached JC.

“Hey, JC,” Joey said quietly so as not to wake up Justin.

JC looked away from Justin to look over at Joey. “Hey, Joey.”

“How are you doing?” Joey asked.

“You guys want to know what’s going on,” JC said, ignoring Joey’s question.

“You’re damn right we do,” Chris replied. Lance smacked him upside the head. “Hey!”

“It would be nice,” Joey admitted.

JC sighed and nodded. “OK.”

“Let’s go into the kitchen so we don’t wake Justin,” Lance suggested.

Everyone agreed. JC slowly stood up, his knees popping from sitting on the floor. Joey threw an arm over his shoulders and the two of them walked into the kitchen. Chris and Lance took up the chairs they sat in earlier while Joey and JC sat across from them at the kitchen table.

“Start talking,” Chris demanded.

“Chris!” Lance smacked him again. “Enough. Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Lance suggested as he looked at JC and tried to smile encouragingly.

“OK.” JC took a deep breath. “Justin’s been having nightmares.”

“About what?” Joey asked.

“Well, uh…they’re the same nightmares I was having.” JC paused. “Exactly the same.”

Chris raised an eyebrow. “Is that even possible?”

“Apparently,” JC replied.

“So if Justin’s having your nightmares,” Joey said, “JC, you never told Chris and me what your nightmares were about.”

“I…” JC started, but trailed off. He glanced at Lance helplessly.

“It’s time to tell them, JC,” Lance said.

“You guys remember that night in the forest when your bus broke down?” JC waited for them to nod their heads before he continued. “Well, it was like that only…you guys died. I watched the demons…

“They…uh…killed you guys one at a time…and there was nothing I could do until I was alone.”

“Demons? I thought they were ghosts,” Joey said.

JC shrugged. “Katrina said they were evil and working for the devil. Demons work for the devil. I just assumed that’s what they were.”

“So Justin’s having these dreams now?” Joey asked.

“Yeah.” JC nodded. “He has for a while now.”

“How long have you known?” Chris asked. He felt bad now for getting on JC’s case. He knew that his nightmares must still be a sensitive subject, and that the rest of the conversation would probably be just as hard. He decided to keep quiet for a little so he wouldn’t come off as rude anymore.

“A couple of days,” JC said.

“And you gave him the sleeping pills to help him, right?” Lance asked before he started coughing. Chris glanced worriedly at him. His coughing sounded worse than it had a couple days ago, but Chris reasoned that he was coughing harder because he was close to getting rid of his cold.

Joey looked at JC in surprise. “You gave him sleeping pills?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t getting enough sleep. I don’t want Justin to do what I—“ JC stopped himself and instead said, “I figured they would’ve helped. Too bad I was wrong.”

“Why didn’t they work?” Joey looked at JC before looking over at Chris and Lance. “What happened?”

“He had another nightmare, but it was worse this time,” JC said before he sighed. “I really wished they had worked. He needs sleep.”

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner? We could’ve helped,” Chris said.

“Because I asked him not to.” The four of them turned their heads to see Justin standing in the doorway rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Hey, J,” Joey said as he got up from the kitchen table to hug him. “How are you doing?”

“I’m OK,” Justin said once Joey pulled back to look at him.

“Are you sure? It seemed like one hell of a nightmare,” Chris said.

Justin managed a weak smile. “I’m sure.”

“I’ll be right back,” Lance said as he rose from the table and went upstairs.

Chris shot a confused questioning look. He wanted to talk more. Nothing had been resolved, but he realized that what they just learned was a lot to take in. Lance just must need some time alone to sort through his thoughts. Although he remembered that Lance had already known about JC’s nightmares, so it made him wonder if something else was occupying his thoughts. He decided that he was going to take a page out of Lance’s book by going for a drive later to give him some time to think and absorb everything.

“I’m going to go throw my bag in a guest room,” Joey said.

“You brought a bag?” Chris asked in surprise.

“Yeah. I’m going to stay for a couple of days. Make sure everything’s good,” Joey said. He left the kitchen and grabbed his bag that he set by the front door before going upstairs. He threw his bag in the only empty room left. It was when he was on his way back downstairs that he noticed that Lance’s door was half open. He decided to make sure he was all right.

Joey knocked gently on Lance’s door, not wanting to barge in. He heard Lance give his consent to come in and pushed the door open the rest of the way. Lance was lying on his bed with his eyes closed.

“Are you all right, man? You took off pretty quick,” Joey said.

“Yeah.” Lance opened his eyes to look at Joey. “I’ve been sick and I’m still not feeling too well.”

“Well, I’ll get out of your hair. Let you rest.” Joey headed for the door.

“Thanks, Joe,” Lance said.

“Get some sleep,” Joey ordered as he pointed a finger at Lance before laughing and closing the door behind him.

“I’m sorry, J,” JC said. He and Justin were still in the kitchen. Chris had left saying something about how they would need more food if Joey was going to stay.

Justin had mixed feelings about Joey being there. It was nice to see him again because it had been a while. However, he wished it was under different circumstances. He didn’t want Joey to be dragged away from his family because he was having nightmares that didn’t mean anything. He knew that for the next few days he would be watched like never before, especially by Lance and Chris.

 “It’s OK. They must’ve been hounding you for answers. You didn’t have a choice,” Justin said once he realized that he hadn’t responded to JC’s apology. He wasn’t mad at JC for telling the guys about his nightmares. He was sure that Chris and Lance had freaked when they’d seen him having a nightmare. They had to have if they called Joey.

“I always have a choice. I could’ve kept my mouth shut last night when I was talking to Chris,” JC said.

“Look, JC, about that…I’m sorry,” Justin apologized. “I shouldn’t have yelled at you like that. I know it was an accident.”

“No, Justin, I deserved it. I shouldn’t have broken my promise. I had no right to say anything,” JC said.

“They would’ve found out eventually,” Justin replied.

“I tried to help you, J. I really did,” JC insisted.

Justin sighed. “You can’t fix everything, C. I told you because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t expect you to magically make them go away.”

“Either way, I’m glad you told me. You didn’t keep it to yourself. You weren’t stupid like me,” JC said.

Justin felt awful. He hated himself for yelling at JC. He knew that JC didn’t mean to mention him to Chris last night. He was glad that JC had caught himself, but it was all for nothing anyway since they all knew now. He had said some rotten things to JC, but saying that he wasn’t as stupid as JC was the worst. Justin knew that as much as he looked up to JC, JC valued Justin’s opinion. That had always made him feel good, especially when he was younger and no one would listen to him. He didn’t want JC to think that he was stupid because he wasn’t.

Justin groaned. “JC, of all the things I said to you…I didn’t mean that. I know now what you went through and why you kept it to yourself. You’re not stupid. I’m sorry I ever said that.”

Justin knew that JC had probably been beating himself up about it all day. JC felt responsible for everyone, so if something went wrong he already blamed himself. It was plain stupid for him to blame JC. He was hard enough on himself without him adding to it.

JC half smiled. “Thanks.”

A few seconds passed in silence before Justin said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure. What’s on your mind?”

“Did…” Justin hesitated. “Did your nightmares ever change?”

“No.” JC shook his head. “Why?”

“Because mine did,” Justin said.

“Really?” JC looked surprised.

Justin nodded. “It was…more graphic.”

“How?” JC asked.

“Instead of what normally happens, the demons…they…” Justin paused for a minute to collect his thoughts and actually say it. “They broke your bones…one at a time. I could hear it…and they just kept going. Every time they did it, you guys would scream. I did too. They…they didn’t stop until they…broke your neck.”

The nightmare was still fresh in his mind. He had thought that the nightmares before were disturbing, but those were nothing compared to how graphic it was now. It had been so painful to listen to his friends scream in pain and not being able to help them. He had yelled with them to try to get the demons to stop hurting his friends, but of course it did nothing. There was one thing that Justin didn’t tell JC. He had died in his nightmare too. While he had died before the nightmare changed, this time was more disturbing and he didn’t feel comfortable telling JC about it yet.

“Oh, Justin, I’m so sorry,” JC said as he quickly closed the gap between them and hugged him. As soon as Justin felt JC’s arms wrap around him, he lost control of his emotions and began to cry.

“Why did the dream change?” Justin asked a minute later as his tears started to subside. He knew that JC’s nightmares had never changed so he couldn’t figure out why his had. There had to be some significance, but Justin couldn’t think of what it could possibly be.

“I don’t know, J.” JC ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t know.”