Chapter 4
That evening Lance walked into his meager motel room that was being used as a home for the time being. He was completely exhausted and sank immediately into the stained covers going to sleep automatically. Afterward though, Lance felt completely regretful at his flight to sleep. Almost immediately after he had fallen asleep he was hit by a terrible dream that explained what he had been thinking earlier.
Lance got out of his car in front of his home in Orlando and walked down the narrow walkway and through the numerous security systems before entering the house, and going down to his bedroom. He went to the mirror and looked himself over, dissecting every detail of his reflection. What was it that attracted these girls to him? It couldn’t be his weight. He laughed to himself and slapped a thigh at that thought. He tugged at a lock of hair, and decided that it couldn’t be that. He then leaned in closer to the mirror and stared directly into his own eyes. Maybe that was it. He had never taken a really good look at them before, but now he noticed that they were a really strange color. Kind of green, but kind of yellow, maybe hazel? Oh well. It didn’t really matter as long as the girls kept buying merchandise, right? He then sat down on his bed to think about what he could do on his vacation that was starting the next day. He was about to turn on the television set when he heard a slight rustling come from his closet.
“Who’s there? Are you like a mouse or something?” He slapped himself at the stupid question, but then walked over to the closet door and opened it.
“Aahhhhh!” He screamed simultaneously with the fan in his closet, and then closed his eyes after a single glance at the woman’s face.
Lance shot up in bed, covered with a cold layer of sweat, and gasped for breath as he realized what he had just been shown through his dream. She was the first person that had snuck into his house; She was the person that had started him on his descent into madness; She was Ms. Kent! He fought to catch his breath, and grabbed his head as it reeled with all that had been presented to him in the past few minutes. She was the one that could and would make everything right. She was the one that he had to get back at, because it was all her fault! If she hadn’t completely invaded his privacy those few years ago then this would never have happened! His head ached, and he sat up in bed, screaming for the pain to go away, until his throat went hoarse, and then the voices came back.
“Do it! Kill her! She did this to you! It is all her fault! If she hadn’t been there than you would still be rich! Famous! Free!!” He nodded, still clutching his head in pain, yet agreeing with the voices. For once they were helping him, instead of insulting and tormenting him. A pounding on the wall behind him suddenly interrupted him, and he bit his lip to keep down his screaming. He then curled up on the bed, and pounded his head for what seemed like hours, until he passed out from the pain and dropped back into oblivion. The headaches were getting worse.
The next morning Lance came to school early and looked up in the offices everything that he could about Ms. Kent. He had decided that it would be best to figure out everything about her, before killing her. He had known exactly what to do for the guys, but he didn’t really know this woman, and he couldn’t use *NSYNC to get back at her, because then they might find out who he was, and take him back to the hospital. He had already promised himself that he would never go back to the hospital; he would rather die, but now the voices were back. He hadn’t heard them in months, and even though they had recently helped him, he was convinced that they were the cause for the intense headaches and flashbacks that he had been having lately. Lance was so confused, but that only prompted him to kill her even more than before. He found her background information, and saw that she was originally from New York, and had come to Mississippi four years earlier. She was an only child and had no family ties anywhere in the South. That was odd. Why did she come to a small town in Mississippi, if she was used to the city life, and had no family nearby. A picture shoved into the folder soon told him why. There she was with a bunch of students, holding up *NSYNC merchandise, and a big picture of himself on her shirt. She had come here, because she was a Lance fan, and not one of the normal ones. She was one of the crazy Lance fans, just like he had seen her in his dreams. As he was pouring through the folder, Lance felt a hand rest on his shoulder and he jumped up in fear.
“Oh, I’m sorry man. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Mr. Robinson was standing behind him and glanced at the papers he was holding.
“What are you looking at that for?” He grabbed the folder to see whose it was.
“Rachel, huh? You got a thing for her?” Mr. Robinson looked up from the papers to see Lance blushing.
“Um, sorta… maybe. I just wanted to learn a little bit more about her, and I didn’t really want to bother her about it.” Mr. Robinson smiled and then spoke in a serious tone.
“I could set you up with her, if you want.” Lance thought about it for a moment. He would have a perfect excuse to get close enough to her if he was on a date with her, but he had to have enough time to plan it out first. It couldn’t be like with Joey. He had almost gotten caught with that one.
“I know what you did, and you can’t kill me. The cops are out there and they’ll know that it was you all along.”
“You can’t prove anything.”
“I saw the stuff in your bag, and I’m going to tell them.” He got up to walk toward the door, but was then grabbed from behind.
“Oh, no you’re not.” He covered Joey’s mouth with his hand, and attempted to hold him back while he searched for something to kill him with. He had something completely planned out, but Joey had to be asleep for that plan to work. All of a sudden Joey broke free of Lance’s grasp, but spoke quietly to him instead of screaming.
“Lance, please don’t kill me. Why are you doing this?!”
“It’s not fair, that’s why! Nobody understands that I have feelings too! I’ve tried to warn you guys before, but you never understand!” He picked up a pocketknife, and held it Joey’s throat.
“Please, dude.” Joey realized that this was not his Lance. This was something beyond sanity.
“I understand, I really do. Just put down the knife, and everything’s gonna be fine. I’m not going to be mad at you, and everything’s gonna be fine.” Lance was about to pull the knife away from Joey’s throat when a pounding came from the door. Lance slashed the skin in front of him, and Joey let out a piercing scream, before falling to the ground. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.
“Sure, I would love for you to set us up.” Lance gave a weak smile, and turned away.
Chapter 5