Chapter 6

“NO!” He fell to the floor clutching his head as the voices continued to taunt him. He tore at his hair, and screamed at the top of his lungs, as the worst episode he had yet hit him full force. He curled up into the fetal position, choking out sobs, when a hand touched his back, and he jerked up with a start. All of a sudden the voices were silenced and Lance turned around to see Miss Kent staring at him with wide eyes.

“Are you okay?” He stared at her in horror, when he realized that he had not kept the rag over her mouth and nose for long enough. The voices were right; he couldn’t do it.

“Lance, are you alright?” Oh no! His plan hadn’t worked, and now she knew who he was. Everything was ruined, and he was going back to the hospital!

“No.” She gave him a confused look, and they both sat in silence until it was broken by a pounding at his door.

“Hello?” He choked out. Soon a loud growling voice came from his doorway.

“Shut up in there! Some people are trying to work out here.”

“Sorry, I’ll be quiet.”

“Open the door! I need to have a talk with you!” Not trusting his legs to carry him, he glanced over toward Rachel. She gave him an understanding look, and went to the door, almost getting knocked over by the huge man coming in. The man made his way over to Lance, who was still crouching on the floor with his hair sticking in all directions from the episode he had just been through.

“Why does this happen every night?!”

“What, sir?” Lance whispered.

“Don’t give me that innocent and meek shit! Every day I see you, and you are so quiet, but then at night all I hear is screaming and hollering coming from your room! I look in here, and it’s just you screaming into the empty room. I always tell you to stop, and you always say you will, but you never do! What the hell is your problem?!” Lance paused, but then spoke up when the man’s fist began to rise up in the air.

“I don’t know, but I’m sorry.”

“Just get out! You’re not welcome here anymore!”

“He’s not welcome at the Motel 8?! That’s ridiculous! The only people not welcome at the Motel 8 are the cops!”

“I’ve had enough of your mouth young lady, so why don’t you just get out of here with him?!”

“Maybe, I was going to anyway!” Lance just sat on the floor watching the confrontation between Rachel and the motel owner. It brought him back to the old days with the other guys in *NSYNC.

“I was not hitting on her!” Justin screamed at JC who had just accused him of hitting on an underage fan with MTV cameras around.

“Then what the hell were you doing?!”

“Did you ever think that maybe I was just really interested in the history of Carmen, Indiana?! Huh, did ya?!”

“Oh, please. Are you trying to tell me that you really care about how many cats the wife of an old hick with no teeth has?!” They kept bickering back and forth to each other and Lance just sat in a chair nearby watching them with a far off look on his face. The fighting was kind of unsettling, but at the same time comforting, because he knew that things hadn’t changed and that everyone was still fine. It was when they didn’t fight that really made Lance scared, because that meant that something really bad had happened.

“Lance, are you stoned?!” He shook his head no, and then smiled when Chris laughed at him. He must have looked pretty stupid, but it didn’t matter, because at least Chris was laughing instead of crying. That was one of the only things that Lance could not stand. He hated it when people cried, because whenever he tried to stop them from crying then they would just cry harder.

“Fine, then! We’re leaving!” Rachel pulled Lance up from the floor, and started to walk toward the door.

“Lance, get all of your stuff!” The manager quickly tossed a bag of stuff at Lance’s head nearly knocking him over, and shouted at him into Rachel’s face.

“Here’s your fucking stuff! Now get off of my property!” Rachel got into the driver’s seat, and Lance was pushed into the passenger side right before she raced out of the parking lot. They drove for what seemed like forever, as Lance stared at Rachel remembering that he was supposed to be the crazy one. He was the one who had killed eight people and escaped from an asylum, yet somehow he felt scared to be in the car with this respectable young woman. Finally she parked in an empty lot behind a wherehouse and turned to Lance.

“So, am I right in assuming that you are Lance Bass, whom killed all of the other members of *NSYNC and four young girls?” He looked around nervously, confused by her very calm appearance and speech.

“Yes, m'am,” he replied in a whisper.

“Am I also right in assuming that you meant to murder me, tonight?” Lance hesitated, and then shook his head yes in a demeaning manner.

“And, why didn’t you?” He kept his eyes down in a defeated manner as he spoke.

“Because, I am a pansy-ass, who can’t do anything right, m’am.” After his comment about himself, they both sat in silence, taking in the intensity of the situation. Finally, though Lance asked the question that he had been asking himself ever since she had placed her hand on his back.

“So, when are you turning me in?” He could already hear the doctor’s angry whispers, and feel the sedatives running through his veins.

“Turn you in where?”

“To the police.”

“Oh, I wasn’t planning on doing that.”

“Then, what were you planning on doing with me?” Lance asked in a frightened tone, as he looked into Rachel’s wide gleaming eyes.

Chapter 7