Epilogue
Keeley watched as her boyfriend and Joey left the group to head upstairs. She was worried for their safety.
“Keeley don’t just stand there, we gotta get outside,” Monica whispered as she grabbed Keeley’s arm. Keeley was literally drug back to reality as Monica began to pull her along behind her, followed by the rest of the group. They cautiously made their way into the living room and crouched by the window. They all peered out in search of the mad man that had tied them up.
“I don’t see him anywhere,” JC whispered to his friends.
“I don’t either, I think the coast is clear,” Keeley whispered back.
The group crawled over to the front door. Keeley reached up and as quietly as she could, she turned the lock and grasped the door handle. She turned the handle slowly, fearing that it would creak and give them away. She let out a quiet sigh as the door opened silently in front of them. They all scrambled to their feet and exited the house. With the same amount of caution Keeley closed the door silently.
The group turned around and faced the front yard and the long driveway that lead down to the road. Freedom! It was so close they could almost taste it. There really was no inconspicuous way for them to get to the road so they all broke out into a run.
JC made it there first, followed by Chris, Keeley and Monica. When they were sure that they had all made it safely to the road, they hid behind the tall shrubs that lined the road and peered through them waiting for Joey and Justin to join them.
Justin worried about his friends as he quietly crept to the top of the staircase with Joey. He hadn’t heard the door open or close, but he also didn’t hear anything that would lead him to believe they’d been caught. He shook his head and brought himself back to the task at hand, this was not the time to be thinking about the others. They needed to get to his room, get the phone and get the heck out of there!
The two crept down the hallway, peering into each doorway before they passed it, making sure that their pursuer wasn’t hiding in any of them. Finally they came to Justin’s bedroom door. Joey looked at Justin with a firm expression of determination. Justin nodded his head and reached out and slowly turned the handle. The door opened with a slight creak. Justin stopped and grimaced as he waited to hear if anyone had heard. After a moment everything remained quiet so he continued to push the door open inch by inch. Once the door was open enough for them to squeeze through, the two silently slipped into the room.
Joey immediately turned and looked over towards the dresser. He saw his cell phone lying right where he’d left it. He rushed over and grabbed the phone. He flipped it open and pressed the power button.
“Come on!” he whispered impatiently as he waited for it to fully turn on. As soon as the phone beeped it’s welcome he quickly pressed 9-1-1.
The phone rang several times before he was greeted with the wonderful sound of the operator saying, “911, what’s your emergency?”
Joey immediately spoke, “There’s a guy after us!”
“Sir, where are you located?”
“I’m at my friends house, he lives at…”
Before Joey could finish his sentence he heard their captor’s voice behind him. “Turn off the phone now!”
Joey thought quickly and pressed the star key instead of the off key, leaving the phone on. He tossed the phone face down onto the bed and turned around to face the man.
“Why are you trying to kidnap the eight of us?” Joey said loudly to the man.
“You’ll find out in due time!” the man replied with a sneer.
Joey stepped cautiously towards the bed and Justin followed suit. The man took a menacing step closer to them.
“You can’t get away, there’s no where for you to run to!”
“We aren’t running sir, we know that from Justin’s bedroom there’s no where to go,” Joey replied.
The man smiled in satisfaction, he had them right where he wanted them, and he knew they were going no where. He pointed his gun at the two and slowly pointed it back and forth between the two of them.
“You need to let Lance and Cari go, they need medical attention,” Justin said loudly, picking up on Joey’s idea.
“You think I’m going to let any of you go?”
The two silently stared back at the man. They both knew that they needed to give the operator as much information as possible so they could find them.
“Hello…hello?” the operator said in the phone after she heard a button pressed on the phone. After a few moments of silence she heard some slightly muffled voices.
“Why are you trying to kidnap the eight of us…You need to let Lance and Cari go, they need medical attention…”
Across the screen flashed the owner of the phone being used. She noticed it was a cell phone registered to a mister Joseph Fatone Jr. Though the name was familiar she couldn’t place it. ‘Damn it, I don’t know where they are!’ the operator thought. As she quickly typed the situation into the computer.
Noticing the intense look on her friend’s face, the operator sitting next to her leaned over and asked “Whatcha working on?”
“There’s a hostage situation, but they are calling from a cell phone and I can’t figure out where they are calling from,” the operator hurriedly explained.
Her friend silently read the conversation of the 911 call on the screen. When she glanced at the owner of the phone’s name she did a double take. She thought to herself, ‘Joseph Fatone, where do I know that name?’ She quickly scanned the call’s conversation again to see another familiar name, Justin. It finally dawned on her, this was Nsync, the men she’d been hearing a lot about on the news lately. She looked over at her friend and quickly exclaimed, “I think I know where they are!”
“What’s taking them so long! They should’ve already gotten the phone, and they should be here by now!” Keeley exclaimed worriedly as she once again checked her watch. They had been inside for over 10 minutes now. It should’ve only taken them two minutes, and she was beginning to fear the worst.
JC walked up behind her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “Keeley you need to calm down! You’re just stressing yourself more. We’re all worried about them, but help should be on the way soon.” He massaged the tension in her shoulders as he too gazed hopefully back up at the house, willing his two friends to appear.
“Look, I don’t know what it is you are after. If it is money or anything like that you can have it,” Justin continued to plead with the stranger. “We just have to get help for Lance and Cari.”
“Do you honestly think I give a damn what happens to Cari or especially to Lance?” the man screamed at them. He had a crazy look in his eyes and they could tell he really didn’t care what happened to them. He had other things on his mind, though they had yet to figure out what. The more Joey thought about this the more angry he got. His face was turning bright red, his mind was racing, and he knew that if he didn’t do something he was going to explode. The man just kept looking at Justin and Joey with an evil smirk on his face.
“Ok, enough playing. Time to get you two back downstairs and then I've got to go round up the rest of the group,” the man spoke up. “Come on,” he motioned to the door. Finally Joey had had enough; he absolutely lost all sense of reasoning and lunged out towards the man. The stranger was attacked with such force that the wind was knocked out of his lungs. Justin watched in astonishment as Joey made contact with the outsider. It was such a surprise to the man that he dropped the gun on the floor and it slid a couple of feet away as he and Joey both went toppling to the floor. The first thought to enter the man’s mind was that he had to regain possession of the gun.
Justin saw the gun lying on the floor and tried to figure out the best way of getting to the gun without getting caught up in the madness occurring on the floor not five feet away from him. His thoughts were interrupted as Joey began to throw punches. He was unsuccessful though because the man was doing a good job of blocking them. This angered Joey even more and he began to throw wild punches and the man took this as an opportunity to retaliate. He grabbed onto Joey and pushed with all the strength he could muster. He finally overpowered Joey and he fell over and landed with the stranger on top of him. The man wrapped his hands around Joey’s throat and began to strangle him.
Justin knew he had to do something to help and began to scan the room for anything that might help him in his quest. He eyes fell on a lamp that was on Keeley’s side of the bed, the side he was closest to. He quickly made his way over to the lamp and grabbed it and pulled it away from the table quickly ripping the cord out of the socket in the wall. He ran back over to the two still on the floor. When he was sure he wouldn’t hit Joey, he let the lamp come crashing down on the invader’s head. The intruder screamed out in pain and let go of Joey to reach up and grab his head to try and ease the throbbing and rolled off the top of Joey.
“Damn it!” the man cried out. Justin reached down and helped Joey off the floor quickly. They both began to make a mad dash for the door. The man saw them and reached over and grabbed the gun off the floor. He then got up and tried to stagger after them. “You can’t get away from me that easily!” he threatened. As he entered into the hallway he saw Justin and Joey turning the corner that lead to more rooms and ultimately to the staircase. The newcomer knew he couldn’t let the two guys get away and began to fire random shots. He was having trouble controlling the gun because of the injuries he had sustained.
“Shit, Joey run faster!” Justin yelled at he shoved Joey. The bullets could be heard hitting the walls around them and he didn’t want to chance getting hit by a ricocheting bullet. After all they had gone through he was determined he wasn’t going down that way. The two bandmates flew down the stairs. They knew they would never make it outside before the mad man got downstairs. He would see them for sure.
“Now what?” Joey said as he gasped for breath at the foot of the stairs. Justin quickly looked around then remembered the closet under the stairs. Keeley and he used it mainly for storage. He hardly ever went it there, but knew that if they could make it to the narrow end of the closet and move some boxes in front of them the man would never be able to see them among the mess.
“In here,” Justin said as he pulled his friend inside the closet. They quickly and quietly closed the door, leaving the two in total darkness. Justin drug Joey along behind him as he began to make his way to the left, climbing over boxes and carefully maneuvering his way around. “Watch your head. There isn’t enough room to stand where we are going,” Justin explained to Joey. They got as far into the closet as they could go and then began to hide amongst the boxes.
The man had arrived at the bottom of the stairs and looked around trying to find his prey. There weren’t in sight. ‘They couldn’t have gotten far,’ he thought to himself as he searched the large open space he faced. The door to the closet under the stairs caught his attention as he saw it from the corner of his eye. In haste he went to the door and flung it open.
“AH HA!” he yelled as he opened the door pointing the gun into the empty area. He had expected to find the two boys standing there but to his surprise found nothing but boxes. He was sure that they had to be hiding in there. The man began to scan the wall with hand for a light switch and had no luck. He let out a low frustrated growl. He ducked back out of the closet, spotting the light switch just outside the door when he did. He flipped it on and walked back inside his eyes instantly taking in his surroundings. The small room was littered with boxes. Their old bed frame was leaning up against the wall to the right. They had gotten a new bed sometime ago, but they both agreed that the old one had so many memories that they couldn’t bring themselves to get rid of it. The man continued his search and saw no signs of people in the room. He didn’t think as much as the room contained that there was much room for people to get in to start with. As little of a head start as the two had had, he was determined that they hadn’t had the time it would have taken to move stuff around anyway. He turned and left the closet, not bothering to close the door or turn off the light.
He scoured the entire first floor of the house finding no sign of life. “Maybe they went back to the basement to check on their injured friends,” he reasoned out loud. He knew it was a long shot, but he was running out of options. ‘I am an adult, these are just children. I am not going to let them outsmart me. I will find them. Then I will punish them!’ he thought to himself as he walked back towards the door that led into the basement.
“I can’t take it anymore!” Keeley growled as she plopped down on the sidewalk that the shrubs lined. She was thinking the worst at the moment. She just knew something bad had happened.
“Calm down Kee, believe me, JC and I know what you are going through right now. Lance and Cari are still locked up in there,” Monica said as she looked at Keeley with sad eyes. The normal sparkle that could usually be found had gotten lost somewhere. JC didn’t look much better Keeley decided after she turned to study him. He was squatting down and had placed his elbows on his knees and was now resting his head on his interlaced fingers. He was hoping and praying that his three friends and his girlfriend would make it out of the house safely. This whole situation was tearing them all apart. They were on edge and everytime they thought it was over something else was added to the madness. Keeley inwardly wondered if she was going to be able to live in their house after all of this. She was scared the memories would haunt her for years to come.
Suddenly gunshots rang out in the air. The four individuals on the sidewalk jumped at the noise, startled. “Oh my gosh!” Monica cried out. “JC we have to do something!” she pleaded with him, fear still lingered in eyes, as did pain and sadness.
“We can’t risk it Mon.”
When he didn’t give her the answer she wanted to hear she began to lift off the sidewalk, planning to go back inside on her own if need be. JC saw her actions and counteracted before she had a chance to completely leave the ground. He reached over and held her down so she wouldn’t try and run back to the house. They were all worried about the four still inside but going back in wasn’t an option. It would just make the situation worse. Going back into the house to try to help carried the risk of getting captured again.
Hidden in the shadows of the boxes, Justin and Joey were still crouched in the now illuminated closet. They both sat in silence as they heard the man’s foot steps fade away. Once he heard the man open and close the basement door, Joey turned to face Justin. Justin nodded his head and motioned for Joey to follow. They silently climbed over the boxes and stepped out into the empty hallway. Joey turned and started heading for the front door, but Justin reached out and grabbed Joey’s arm and firmly shook his head left to right and he again motioned for Joey to follow. A look of question flashed across Joey’s face, but he followed his friend.
Justin led the way as they crept into the dining room, over to the backdoor. Justin effortlessly opened the door and the two slipped out. They ran to the side of the house and Justin knelt down on the ground. Joey followed his friend, and turned to him to find out what the plan was.
In a hushed voice Justin explained, “I think we should jump the fence into the Pierson’s yard. If he looks out the front he’s gonna see us trying to get away and he still has his gun. Once we’re in their yard we can go out the gate and meet everyone down by the road.”
“Good idea,” Joey replied as he examined the fence across the yard.
“Hey Joe, maybe you should call 911 again, I haven’t heard any sirens yet.”
“I can’t the phone is still on the bed in your room, it’s probably even still on.”
“Damn!” Justin cursed. “Well maybe we can call from the Pierson’s then.”
The two slinked across the yard towards the fence. When they reached it Justin helped boost Joey over and then hoisted himself up and over. They peered around the yard and saw a black and white blur rushing towards them. A moment later the Pierson’s dog Shadow was busy licking their hands and wagging her tail. They both quickly pet the dog before they walked over to the backdoor, Shadow happily trailing behind. Justin knocked on the door. They stood there and waited for a minute. When there was no answer Joey walked over and cupped his hands around his eyes and peered into the window.
“I don’t think they’re home, all the lights are off,” Joey told Justin who was still standing by the door.
“Ok, let’s just go get the others then,” Justin replied.
They walked over to the gate, all the while being followed by Shadow dancing around their feet. Justin opened the gate, careful not to let his neighbor’s dog out. The two slipped through the opening and closed the gate securely.
The stranger peered down from the ledge of the stairs to see who was left in the room below. He spotted Lance still sprawled out on the floor. Then his eyes continue to scan the room and found Cari leaning up against the wall near-by still nursing her bleeding foot. She hadn’t even heard the door open and the man entering.
“Where in the hell are the rest of the group?” the man’s voice boomed across the room startling Cari. She looked up at the man with an evil look in her eyes. She stared at him for a couple of seconds, before bursting out in fits of laughter. “What are you laughing at bitch?” the man snarled. He was growing impatient with the group more and more each moment that passed. Cari stopped her laughing and then a look of pure hatred washed over her face.
“Do you really think that I am going to tell you where they are?” she asked in a calm voice.
“I think if you know what is good for you, you will.”
“What are you going to do shoot me?” she asked sarcastically. “Oh that is right you already did! Besides right now it wouldn’t make much difference if you did shoot me. At the rate I am going I am going to bleed to death. You shooting me will just save some time,” she bit at him. The man winced at her harsh words and then got really angry. The thought played around in his mind that he should shoot her, but he decided he didn’t want any of them dead. That would interfere with his plans for later.
Cari stared bitterly at the man as he sat deep in thought. “You do know you’re not going to get away with this right?”
The man’s head shot up and he glared back at her. “Oh right, you and your little comatose friend are going to do what to stop me?” He stared at her waiting for an answer.
“You do seem to be forgetting that 6 of us have already escaped! What do you think they’re doing right now? Painting their nails and having a tea party?” She screamed at him.
His eyes widened with the realization that she was right! “What in the world am I doing wasting my time here with you? I’ve got to go find those brats and get them back here!” He turned around and ran up the stairs.
A moment later Cari heard the door to the basement slam shut. She let out a deep sigh, releasing the tension she was feeling. She knew that she had once again almost gotten herself in a really bad situation.
The man emerged from the basement and slammed the door before turning the lock into place. He sure as hell wasn’t going to let the remaining two escape, not that they were in any position to try, but he still wasn’t going to take that chance. He hurried into the kitchen as he tried to decide where he should start looking for them. He knew by now that they probably weren’t in the house anymore, they had way too much time to get out while he was in the basement.
He walked over to the backdoor and flung it open. He stepped out onto the wood deck and peered around the large backyard. The yard was empty and there was no sign of any of them.
‘I don’t think they went out this way,’ he thought to himself. He turned and went back into the house.
He did a quick search of the stairs, making his way through the dining and living room and through the hallway. He ended up in the entry way at the front door. ‘This is the only way they could’ve gone,’ he thought.
The group was sitting on the curb, all looking very sullen. Movement caught Monica’s attention out of the corner of her eye. She glanced over and jumped up and began frantically waving her arms above her head. “Guys it’s the police!!” She cried as a parade of police cars and two ambulances silently, but with lights flashing, pulled up to the curb.
The others jumped up and ran over to the first cop car in the line.
“Was a 911 emergency call placed from this residence?” The officer asked them.
“Yes! A man was holding us hostage and we managed to get away, but two of our friends are in the basement, and they both need medical attention. Our other two friends might be in there too,” JC quickly told the officer.
“They were just supposed to go inside to get a cell phone to call you guys, but that was almost 20 minutes ago!” Keeley added.
“Ok, you guys stay out here. The medics will look you over,” the officer replied before picking up his radio to let the rest of the officers know the situation. The police officers began to quietly get out of their cars and move into position. They had to be as quiet as possible so they wouldn’t alert the man inside of their presence. When the group was assembled and ready they began to quickly make their way across the yard to the front door. There were police officers surrounding the house. Two of the officers positioned themselves on either side of the door. They were about to open the door and begin the raid when the door was opened from the inside.
Standing in the frame was tired, frustrated looking man. He was mumbling under his breath and wasn’t paying much attention as he began to walk out of the door . A movement in the front yard caught his eye and he abruptly pulled his head back up. The man went wide-eyed and slack jawed at the image of the cops in front of him. He hadn’t seen the two standing at the door; so he turned and began to run back into the house in a desperate attempt to get away. The two policemen closest to the man sensed his movements and took off after him. He barely made it five feet before he found himself being thrown to the floor. The police had a hard time holding the man down because he was struggling so much. Several of the other police officers came inside to help as others began to search the house in hopes of finding the missing four individuals.
“Don’t make it harder on yourself,” one of the officers advised him. The man snarled at the officer and then began to try to get away again. The officers finally succeeded in handcuffing the stranger and began to read him his rights.
When they were through two officers, one on each side, escorted the man down the driveway to the first patrol car. As they rounded the corner the man caught site of the four standing on the sidewalk near by. The man said nothing, he just glared at them with hatred radiating from his eyes.
Monica shivered as she stared into the handcuffed man’s eyes. She couldn’t understand why he’d done this to them. She shook her head to break the stare with the man. She turned around and leaned her head on JC’s shoulder.
“Ok buddy, in the car,” the officer said as he held the man’s head down to help him into the back seat of the car.
The officer motioned to the medics that it was safe for them to enter the house. A couple minutes later two medics quickly, but carefully, came rushing out of the house with Lance on a stretcher. When Monica saw them placing him in the ambulance she ran over just as they were closing the doors.
“Wait! I’m going with him!” she cried as she flung the door open and hopped into the ambulance next to Lance. The medic nodded his permission before closing the doors and running up to take the driver’s seat. A moment later they were rushing toward the hospital, ambulance siren blaring the whole way.
The three remaining on the sidewalk watched impatiently, waiting for their other three friend’s to show up. A moment later Cari was carried out on a stretcher. JC ran over and joined her in her ambulance.
Just before the doors were closed Keeley yelled to him, “Once we find Justin and Joey we’ll meet you at the hospital. JC smiled and nodded as the doors were closed.
Once the second ambulance was gone Keeley turned to Chris. “I don’t know what I’m going to do if they’re hurt! Why haven’t they found him yet Chris?”
Chris extended his arms and embraced her in a hug. “I’m sure they’re fine. If they were hurt inside the medics definitely would’ve brought them out before Cari, I mean hey, they are members of Nsync!”
Keeley laughed at his joke, “Thanks Chris, I needed that!” She pulled out of his embrace and smiled at him.
Chris looked over Keeley’s shoulder and noticed two men emerge from the yard next door. They began walking down the street towards them. His eyes widened in recognition but Justin shook his head and put a finger over his lips motioning for Chris to keep quiet.
“I’m sure they’ll turn up soon,” Chris told Keeley.
“I hope soOOO!” She screamed as two strong arms grabbed her around the waist and swung her around. She pushed her fist forward and brought her elbow back into her assailant’s ribs with so much force that he screamed out in pain and dropped her. She swung around ready to protect herself when she noticed her attackers head of golden curly hair.
“Justin!” she screamed as she ran over to him. She jumped into his arms hugging him tightly. A moment later she stepped back and hit him in the shoulder. “You bastard! You scared me to death!”
“I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were going to go all Kung fu on me! Jeez girl you’re strong!” He looked at her with apologetic puppy dog eyes.
“How could I be mad at that,” she said as they hugged once again. When they separated she went over and hugged Joey.
“Are you guys ok?” she asked, looking back and forth between the two.
“We’re fine. When we went upstairs that guy caught us, but we managed to get away and we hopped the fence into the neighbor’s yard.
A moment later an officer approached the group. “Are these the missing two?” he asked them.
“Yeah these are them,” Chris replied with a nod.
“Are you two ok? Do you need any medical attention?”
“No sir, we’re fine,” Justin replied.
“Ok, well we’re going to need to get statements from all of you, so we’ll be in touch soon,” the officer told him.
As he was walking away Chris looked back at the man who’d captured them. He squinted his eyes. ‘You know, he does look a little familiar,’ he thought to himself. He wracked his brain trying to think of how he would know that psycho. His eyes widened when he realized where he recognized him from. He walked over to the officer standing next to the squad car that held the man.
“Could I talk to him for a second?” Chris asked.
“I would have to advise against that sir,” the officer replied sternly.
“Please, just for a second. I think I know him,” Chris pleaded.
“Ok, but just for a second.” The officer opened the front door and hit a button that rolled the back window down about an inch.
Chris stepped up to the car and leaned down so that his head was even with the window. He stared at the man for a moment before finally asking, “Derek?”
The man inside the car looked up at Chris. “Ah, so finally one of the little pop stars recognizes me,” he said bitterly.
“Man, what happened to you?” Chris asked. He still couldn’t believe this.
“Nothing! That’s the problem! Ever since I didn’t make the group nothing’s happened.”
“But why did you do this to us?” Chris asked.
“Because it’s YOUR fault! You try being the guy that didn’t make it into Nsync! You guys just kept getting more and more popular and I couldn’t even get a job. Everywhere I turned I would see your names and faces plastered everywhere! It should’ve been me! You cheated me out of my opportunity!”
“But we needed a bass singer, and you were a tenor. We told Lou that we wanted to put our own group together. We’d already found Lance on our own.”
“I still isn’t fair! I got cheated; I was better than all of you! So I decided to get even. I was going to take away from you what you took away from me.”
Chris stared at him for a moment in complete disbelief. He just shook his head and began to walk away. As he was walking back towards his friends he heard Derek singing, “I’ll never stop…It makes me ill…It’s gonna be me…see I am better than all of you! We could still make it work, Nsync could be a six man act! Just think about it…”
When Chris joined the others they could still hear Derek babbling. Chris reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose between his eyes. He couldn’t believe all that had happened. He felt like he’d aged ten years in the past 10 hours.
“What was that all about?” Justin asked. He glanced back at the cop car just as it was pulling away from the curb.
“Do you guys remember when Lou was auditioning guys to be the fifth member before we found Lance?” They all nodded.
“Well that guy was one of the guys he auditioned, Derek, remember?” They all stared at him blankly.
“Wait, Derek? Yeah, I remember that guy. He wasn’t even that good,” Joey replied.
“So he did all of this because he didn’t make it in the group?” Justin asked in disbelief.
“That’s what it looks like,” Chris replied.
“Scary,” Keeley said. The all nodded in agreement.
“Well what do you say we go visit Lance and Cari?” Joey said, changing the subject.
“Sounds good,” Justin said. He led the way up the driveway. They climbed in the car and headed towards the hospital.
The group walked into the entrance of the hospital and went to over to the information desk. The short dark-haired woman looked up at the group. He eyes got wide and her jaw dropped open for a second before she composed herself.
“Can I help you,” she asked as calmly as she could. She looked up and gave the men a big smile and batted her eyelashes.
“We are looking for Cari Cowling and Lance Bass’ rooms please,” Keeley replied sweetly as she stepped up to the counter from behind the guys.
The woman appeared slightly annoyed that there was a girl with the guys. “One moment please,” she responded as she typed in their names. A moment later she said “Mr. Bass is in ICU, that’s on the fourth floor. Ms. Cowling is on floor three.”
The group thanked her and quickly headed for the elevators. Justin walked in first and hit the button for the fourth floor. “Let’s check on Lance first. He was in pretty bad shape.”
The all stood impatiently as the elevator slowly went up, dinging at each floor they passed. Finally they came to a stop and got off. They quickly made their way to the ICU desk and got directions to Lance’s room.
When they reached the door Joey slowly turned the knob and stuck his head cautiously in the room. He saw Monica sitting on the edge of Lance’s bed, his hand in hers.
“Care for some company?” he asked softly.
She looked up and smiled. The door opened and the group piled into the room. “Hey guys! I see everyone is ok.”
“Um, is everyone ok?” Justin asked motioning towards Lance.
“Well, he’s been in and out of consciousness. The doctors said that he got hit pretty hard, but they think he’ll be ok.”
A collective sigh of relief resonated throughout the room. They’d all been really worried about Lance. They stepped closer to the bed to get a better look at their friend.
Lance was lying in the bed with his eyes closed. His head was wrapped in a white bandage and he had an IV in his right hand. A moment later Lance’s eyes began to flutter open. He looked at his friends and after his eyes focused he smiled.
“Jeez, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” Chris said with a smile.
“You should take a look in the mirror!” was Lance’s raspy reply.
“How ya feeling man?” Joey asked.
“I have a killer headache, but I think this morphine is really helping,” he said with a slight smile as he raised his right hand slightly.
“Hey where can I get some of that stuff?” Chris asked. The group all shared a good laugh. It felt good to laugh, something they hoped they’d be doing a lot more of now that things were looking up.
“So how long you in for?” Keeley asked, stepping forward and laying her hand on his knee.
“The doc says about a week if I’m good,” Lance replied.
“Glad to hear it,” she said. She turned to Monica and asked, “So have you heard how Cari’s doing?”
“Yeah, JC stopped by a few minutes ago. He said she’s raising hell down there! I have a feeling her stay will be short at the hospital. The doctor’s are ready to kick her out!” Monica replied with a chuckle.
“Well, I think we should go say hi to her. We’ll be back a little later,” Joey said.
The group left the room and soon they were standing in front of Cari’s door. Joey turned and looked sheepishly at the rest of them. "Um, I’m not so sure we should go in,” he said. “You heard Monica, it sounds like Cari is not a happy camper. Maybe we should let her get some rest.”
“You big baby!” Keeley said as she pushed Joey out of the way and opened the door.
“Hey girl, how ya feeling,” Justin said as he followed his girlfriend into the room.
“Well I’d be a lot better if the doctors would actually do their jobs around here!” Cari exclaimed in exasperation. JC just looked up and rolled his eyes. Cari continued, “They almost let me bleed to death before they finally came in here to help me!”
JC leaned towards the group that had just sat down next to him. “The doctors said it was just a flesh wound, really just a scratch. I think they’re going to release her tonight.”
Joey cleared his throat before exclaiming, “Well, we're glad you're ok.”
“Yeah well, my foot better not get infected,” Cari replied as she examined the bandage wrapped around her foot. “I don’t think they did a very good job cleaning it.”
The group looked at each other and just rolled their eyes. Seeing each other’s reactions they all cracked up laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Cari exclaimed as she looked up from her foot.
“Um, nothing sweetie, nothing,” JC replied as he reached over and patted her hand.
Keeley sat back and watched her friends. They all finally looked happy. As if a huge weight had been lifted from their shoulders. Things finally seemed right again, and she had a feeling that they all were going to be ok.