“Tammy,” sighed Lance as confused thoughts ran through his head. “I’m going to take the rest of the day off. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Is anything wrong, sir?” asked Tammy concerned.
“No,” lied Lance. “I just have something to do.”
“Alright, I’ll see you tomorrow, Mr. Bass,” replied Tammy with a smile.
“Yeah,” sighed Lance as he exited the office building and quickly made his way down a few levels of Cielville to where the shuttle docks were located.
“Can I help you?” asked a man walking towards Lance.
“I need to speak with the person in charge down here,” replied Lance softly, holding back his tears.
“That would be me sir,” replied the man.
“I have an offer you might be interested in,” whispered Lance.
“I’m listening.”
*~*~*
“You’re home early!” cried JC happily that evening, hugging Lance tightly and kissing his lover’s lips.
“I have some news JC,” replied Lance pulling JC off of him. “It’s about something that’s happening tomorrow.”
“I already know,” smiled JC happily. “Chris told me he’s video taping Joey’s performance tomorrow night because I can’t go.”
“It’s not that,” sighed Lance, forgetting that the open mike contest was tomorrow night despite the fact JC had been looking forward to it for weeks.
“Then what is it?” asked JC worriedly, finally realizing how serious Lance was being.
“You’re going back to Terra,” replied Lance softly avoiding JC’s eyes. “I made arrangements this after noon for the next shuttle to Terra to carry you back there. The next shuttle leaves in the evening tomorrow.”
“Why?” asked JC confused as tears fell from his eyes.
“You don’t belong here,” replied Lance sadly, trying not to cry himself. “You belong down there with the rest of the Lambs. You deserve to be free.”
“So you’re making me leave?” sobbed JC.
“It’s for the best JC,” sighed Lance.
“How?” cried JC. “How is it for the best?”
“Because you’ll be able to go home,” whispered Lance.
“Fine!” sobbed JC running from the room, no longer able to stay in Lance’s presence while his heart broke.
Only when JC disappeared did Lance allow his own tears to fall.
*~*~*
The next morning, not a word was spoken between the pair. Not even good-bye as Lance headed off to work, leaving JC to just sit at the kitchen table with tears in his eyes.
For the entire day, JC cried while spending time in his studio playing sad songs on the keyboard he would never play again.
Later after Lance had arrived back home, that was where Lance found him when he entered the studio carrying the leash and collar that JC hadn’t worn since the day he had come to live with Lance.
“It’s time,” whispered Lance as he placed the collar with the leash attached to it around JC’s neck. He then led JC out of the studio, out of the house and into the vehicle waiting for them before driving them down to the shuttle level of Cielville.
“Good-bye,” whispered JC sadly as Lance removed his collar and he started walking towards the shuttle.
“Good-bye, Josh,” whispered Lance watching JC enter the shuttle.
Breaking down into tears, Lance quickly drove away from the shuttle docks. The shuttle wasn’t suppose to leave until another hour and Lance had hoped he would have been able to spend that hour with JC but upon seeing his lover walk out of his life forever Lance couldn’t take it anymore. He had to get away from there.
*~*~*
“Hey Lance!” cried Chris happily as Lance entered his home. “You staying here with JC tonight or are you coming with me?”
“JC’s not here,” sobbed Lance, collapsing on the couch.
“What do you mean?” asked Chris confused sitting down next to Lance. “What happened Lance?”
“I let him go,” whispered Lance between the tears.
“What did you do?” hissed Chris angrily; knowing what Lance was about to tell him couldn’t be good.
“I paid a shuttle to take JC back to Terra,” sobbed Lance. “It leaves in a half-hour.”
“Why the hell did you do that?!” cried Chris jumping to his feet.
“I had to let him go,” whispered Lance. “I love him too much to keep him here.”
“No Lance!” hissed Chris. “You’re scared and selfish. You’re so scared about being hurt you’re willing to hurt JC first! He loves you Lance! Yet you were the only one stupid enough not to see it!”
“It doesn’t matter,” sobbed Lance. “Nothing matters now! He’s gone and he’s not coming back! Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get ready for tonight!”
“Fuck!” cried Chris as he watched Lance rush off to his bedroom.
*~*~*
“You can do this. You can do this, you have five minutes before the shuttle leaves, and you’re going to make it.” This was what Chris said to himself as he sped through the busy Cielville traffic.
Chris knew that he had to stop the shuttle, just as he knew that in a weird way Lance thought he had done the right thing. He however also knew that Lance loved JC, just as JC loved Lance. So wasting no time, after his conversation with Lance, Chris ran to his car and began speeding through the busy traffic to the shuttle docks. He had however only five minutes left and another level of Cielville to go down before he reached the docks.
“You’re going to make it!” he repeated as he focused on weaving in and out of traffic.
Five minutes later, Chris was parking his car and running at full speed towards the docks.
He got there just in time to watch in horror as the shuttle lifted off and blasted away from Cielville.
He was too late.