The voices that he heard were very familiar to him, he’d heard them his entire life. But not being able to see where they were coming from was the one thing that he hated.

            “Mr Timberlake?” A male voice asked him, Justin sat up slowly and nodded.

            “Yeah?” He asked wondering where in the room the voice was coming from.

            “My name is Dr. Jake Halifax a specialist in brain and occipital lobe injury,” Dr Halifax said, Justin nodded.

            “Okay…” Justin said unsure of where this was going.

            “I will be your doctor for your entire time at Orlando General. Once you are well enough to walk you will be transferred to Bindle House Florida where you will begin you rehabilitation,” the doctor continued.

            “What’s wrong with me? How come I can’t see?” Justin asked, the panic in his voice clearly showing.

            “Mr Timberlake, you suffered a severe blow to the back of the head, which caused major damage to you occipital lobe, therefore causing you to loose you sight,” the doctor explained. Justin smiled weakly, feeling his chest clench up with pain.

            “But I was wearing a helmet,” Justin said and he heard the doctor sigh.

            “Yes Mr. Timberlake, but even the best of helmets can’t help. And in your case the material that the helmet was made from was very weak and caused breakage,” Dr. Halifax said.

            “Will I be able to see again?” Justin asked almost afraid of what the answer would be, he heard the doctor sigh.

            “No. I’m afraid not,” the doctor replied. “There is no possible way for you to regain you sight.” It was then that Justin’s whole world fell into pieces around him, and there was nothing he could do about it.

            “What happened to him?” Joey asked when he and the other boys walked into the hospital where Justin had been taken to.

            “He’s had severe brain injury,” the young lady said looking at her notes. “But I think you should talk to Doctor Halifax about that, he’s Mr. Timberlake’s doctor.”

            “Is it bad?” JC asked and the young lady smiled.

            “Honestly sir, I think you should talk to his doctor about that. I’ll go get him for you,” she said and then disappeared down a long corridor to go get the doctor.

            “Shit, I can’t believe it,” Chris muttered as he took a seat next to Lance and put his head in his hands. “How could this happen?”

            “Things like this happen everyday C,” JC said and looked around them, “This time it just happened to J unfortunately.”

            “Mr Wright?” A tall man with grey hair asked coming out form one of the many doors. JC sat up straight as Johnny approached the man.

            “Yes, that’s me,” Johnny said, “And you are?”
            “Oh sorry, I’m Dr. Halifax, Mr. Timberlake’s doctor?” the man replied and Johnny nodded in understanding.

            “Good to meet you, I’m Johnny Wright Ju- I mean Mr. Timberlake’s manager, and these are his friends,” Johnny replied gesturing to the other four men.

            “Hello good to meet you,” Dr Halifax said shaking everyone’s hand. “Um, why don’t we go into my office and I debrief you? Mrs Harless said you’ll be coming.”

            “Lynn’s been here?” Johnny asked with a concern for Justin’s mother. The doctor nodded and gave a small smile.

            “Yes, she said that you would come with her son’s friends and would like to be filled in. Right this way,” the doctor said and gestured towards one of the corridors. Everyone got up and followed the doctor down the corridor and into one of the rooms on the right. “Have a seat,” the doctor said as they entered the room, everyone nodded and took a seat opposite the large desk.

            “So what happened to J?” JC asked once everyone was sitting down. The doctor sighed and opened up one of his folders.

            “Well Mr Timberlake, as you know was involved in a very traumatic accident which caused him severe head trauma and damage to his occipital lobe,” the doctor replied and looked at everyone.

            “What does that mean?” Chris asked and the doctor smiled.

            “Well the blow from the accident caused Mr. Timberlake to loose his sight,” Dr Halifax replied.

            “But he’ll get it back right?” Joey asked and the doctor sadly shook his head.

            “I’m afraid not, but in such cases we do admit the patients into facilities where they will be taught how to live with their new disability,” the doctor informed them.

            “But then…” Lance began but couldn’t find the words.

            “What will this do for the group’s image?” Johnny asked more to himself than anyone else.

            “Well here’s the thing Mr Wright. If you were to look at Justin, you would think he could see but in reality he can’t,” the doctor explained.

            “What does that mean?” Chris asked.

            “It means that even though his eyes do not feel that they are blind, he knows it. His eyes will act like they can still view things, but all Justin will be able to see is black,” the doctor said, and Johnny sighed.

            “And there’s no way he can regain his sight? Not even by operation?” Johnny asked and the doctor shook his head.

            “No, we tried that when he came in,” the doctor said. “But unfortunately the blow to the head was too severe we could not do anything.”

            “Oh God,” JC said finally, but he was loosing his breath.

            “I’m sorry,” Dr Halifax replied, and truly he was. He looked at the five confused, and distressed faces and knew that what Mrs Harless had said was true. These boys were like brothers, and something like this could break them, it most probably had.

            “Justin?” he heard his mother’s voice clearly and for the first time ever in his life he most probably wished he hadn’t.

            “Yeah mom?” Justin asked his head moving from side to side in the direction of her voice. He felt the bed dent, and presumed she was sitting on the end.

            “Honey, how are you feeling?” Lynn asked as she placed a hand on Justin’s. Justin managed a small smile for her, but really deep inside he was falling apart.

            “I’m okay,” he managed to squeak. Even though he couldn’t see her, he knew she didn’t believe him.

            “Really?” she asked and Justin nodded, he did not want his mother to think other wise.

            “Yeah really,” he said. “So do the others know what happened?”

            “Yes, they were told by Johnny,” Lynn replied, there was a slight pause. “They came by earlier but you were sleeping.”

            “How long have you been here?” Justin asked wondering why he hadn’t known.

            “A while,” she said, “Ever since yesterday, when they called and informed me about the accident.”

            “So I was sleeping all that time?” Justin asked confused, sure he’d woken up only hours after the accident.

            “Yes, you woke up this morning remember honey? Then you went back to sleep after you heard what the doctor had to say,” Lynn replied and Justin nodded, he remembered now feeling very upset by the news of his disability and had fallen asleep because of it.

            “Yeah, I remember,” Justin said softly and turned his face away so she wouldn’t see him cry. He felt her hand on his chin as she gently turned it back towards her.

            “Justin? Its okay honey,” Lynn said, “We’ll get through this.”

            “But what about… What will my fans think?” He asked in a broken voice. He heard Lynn sigh, and felt her moving up the bed to hug him.

            “They’ll understand,” she said as she embraced him in hug.

            “So it hasn’t gotten out to the media?” he asked hugging her back limply.

            “No, not yet. But Johnny said he will release a statement once you’re out of hospital,” Lynn replied, Justin felt the tears choking him. “Justin, you’ll get the best care there is.”

            “I don’t want the best care mom,” Justin whispered. “I just want to be normal.”

            “Honey, I know you do. But you can never be normal, you’re Justin Timberlake,” Lynn tried to explain, Justin shook his head as tears stung his eyes.

            “I know, but now, now it’s just wrong,” he said through tears. “Why me mom? Why me?”