Only in Your Dreams Chapter 14
Jan quietly made her way down the dimly lit hallway on two missions. She at first had planned to simply look in on the sleeping young men, but her single mission soon turned into two when she saw the various articles of clothing littering the floors of the bedrooms. Deciding that washing clothes would be another way for her to kill time until sunrise, Jan silently entered each of the three bedrooms to pick up discarded clothes and to check on everyone.
The first room that she entered was Justin�s. As she opened the bedroom door, the light from the hallway allowed her to see that Justin was lying on top of the bedcovers with his back to the doorway. She walked over to his bed, which was the one closest to the door laid her hand gently on his arm to check to see if he was cool to the touch. Finding that Justin was not too cool, Jan decided not to lay a cover over his body and left him as is. Jan looked at the bed next to Justin�s and saw Lance�s sleeping form buried under the covers. It had been quietly decided that neither Lance nor Joey would sleep alone tonight. Justin had readily volunteered his extra bed for Lance to sleep in, as did JC for Joey. Chris was the lucky winner of his own bedroom for the night, but he did not rub it in, as was the usual custom.
Usually, while on tour, the person who was able to have a room to himself, was merciless in his teasing of the others who were forced to share a room. Tonight, Chris quietly celebrated his victory much to the relief of the others.
Jan crossed the room and bent over Lance�s sleeping form. She noted that his breathing was deep and even and that he seemed to be resting comfortably. As Jan made her way back through the room, she quietly picked up discarded clothes that lay scattered about. With a shake of her head and a smile, Jan left the room and closed the door, but left it slightly ajar. She carried her load down the stairs and into the laundry room where she dumped the clothes on the floor before heading back up the stairs.
Once she had climbed the stairs again, Jan entered Chris� room. She found him tangled in his sheets, which did not surprise her in the least. Jan thought that she would find it quite unnatural for Chris not to fidget in his sleep just as much as he did in his waking hours.
�Good grief,� she thought, �the man couldn�t keep still if his life depended on it.�
With a silent chuckle, Jan watched as Chris completely flipped over from his back to his stomach with one fluid motion. Jan held her breath and did not move until she was sure that she heard deep, even breaths coming from the sleeping man once again. When she felt it was safe to move about the room again, Jan had trouble stifling her giggles as she bent over, picking up more discarded clothes from Chris� bedroom floor. She still grinned widely as she left the room, leaving the door slightly open. Jan again made her run to the laundry room before returning to climb the stairs and enter Joey and JC�s room.
Jan noticed that JC had not moved a muscle since her last check on the boys almost 2 hours ago.
�Man, that kid can sleep,� Jan thought before turning her attention to Joey. Jan noticed that Joey had kicked his covers off, revealing sweat pants cut into shorts and a superman t-shirt. She carefully lifted the sheet over Joey�s body and picked up the pillow from the floor that he had been hugging earlier and placed it in the crook of his right arm. She watched as he instinctively clutched at the pillow and turned to his right side. Jan stood still until she was sure that she had not awakened Joey and then began the task of picking up more dirty clothes off the floor. She happened to glance at the digital clock sitting on the nightstand between JC and Joey�s beds and saw that it was only 2:00 in the morning.
Inwardly she groaned. �This is going to be a long night.�
With that thought in mind, Jan quietly left the bedroom and returned to the laundry room downstairs.
It was about 3:30 in the morning when the peace in the quiet house was shattered by screams from one of the bedrooms upstairs. Jan had been busy washing clothes and was now in the living room folding one load of towels when she heard the screams which caused her to jump.
�Oh no�Joey,� Jan said quietly as she stood up and moved quickly to the bottom of the stairs. She could hear the pounding feet of one or more of the boys running down the hall as more screams shattered the still house. Jan quickly climbed the stairs and saw Lance staggering out of his bedroom, into the hallway.
�Lance�no�stop right there,� Jan said as she ran to his side. Lance leaned heavily against a nearby wall and slid down to a sitting position as he grabbed his head in hands.
�What�s the matter, Lance?� Jan asked as she knelt down beside him.
�Dizzy Jan�dizzy,� he whispered. Jan desperately wanted to run past him to Joey�s bedroom where she could hear Justin and Chris� voices calling Joey and JC�s names, but Lance needed her attention first.
�I�m here sweetheart�I�m here,� Jan quickly sat down beside the young man and pulled him down until he was lying with his head in her lap. Jan wrapped a protective arm over his shoulders as she heard another scream coming from down the hallway.
�What�s going on in there?� asked Lance with a groan as another scream split through the air.
�I don�t know honey�I don�t know.�
Just as the words left Jan�s mouth, she saw Justin half dragging, half carrying JC out of his bedroom and down the hallway toward her.
�Lance, I need to help Justin. Stay put.�
Jan carefully pulled herself out from under Lance�s head and helped him to lay down fully on the floor.
�Justin�what�s going on in there? What happened to JC?�
�Joey had another nightmare�don�t go in there Jan�please�� Justin pleaded as he set JC, who appeared to be semi-conscious, down on the floor and made a grab for Jan as she walked past.
Jan gave him a look that told him not to touch her and quickly dropped his hands to his side. Jan ignored the terrified look on his face as she continued to make her way down the hall.
�Stay out here with them. I�ll right back, okay babe?� Jan said sternly, as she quickly entered Joey�s bedroom.
Jan turned on the bedroom lights so that she could clearly see what was going on and found that she was totally speechless at first. The lamp on the nightstand had been thrown across the room, as was the clock radio. The nightstand had been overturned and the mattress on JC�s bed had been pushed to the floor. On the floor at the foot of the beds lay Joey, on his back and he was being pinned to the ground by a heavily breathing Chris. Jan took a deep breath before she made her way across the room.
�Is he awake?� asked Jan as she dropped to her hands and knees beside the pair on the floor.
Chris jumped in surprise at the sound of her voice. He turned his head toward her and Jan noted the beginnings of a black eye on the left side of his face.
�Yeah�I think so�I�m not sure though�he could have fainted�too dark a minute ago�to really tell much�� Chris was able to say in between his ragged breaths.
Jan reached for Joey�s face and lifted his left eyelid to see that there were indeed, no lights on upstairs.
�He�s out�let�s get him on one of the beds��Jan said as she helped Chris to stand up.
�Once we have him in bed, I�ll get Dr. Shannon on the phone. Let�s get Justin to give you a hand�I need to check on Lance and JC.�
Jan quickly left the room and had Justin go back in to help Chris lift Joey�s limp body onto one of the beds. She then sprang into action in caring for her boys. This night was quickly turning into something that Jan was not exactly sure that she could handle. With a deep breath, Jan entered her sister�s bedroom, grabbed the portable phone sitting on the nightstand along with Dr. Shannon�s business card and began dialing his home phone.
�I surely hope the doctor is a pleasant man to speak to this early in the morning,� Jan quietly said with a sigh as she heard the doctor say hello on the other end of the line.
�Dr. Shannon?�
�Yes.�
�This is Jan Scott��
Before Jan could continue, Dr. Shannon�s voice cut her off.
�I�ll be there in 20 minutes.�
Jan breathed a sigh of relief as she said her thank you and hung up the phone.