Disclaimer:
Alright, here's my little disclaimer. I don't know the members of N Sync, don't know about their personal lives, or their actions or anything that has to remotely deal with them and how they live their lives. This work is not in any way meant to imply anything about the sexual preferences / orientations of N Sync.
Hey everyone out there- this is a first time attempt at writing anything :) Listen though and listen well: This is something I wrote on the spur of the moment, off the top of my head. I checked for spelling errors, but I haven't edited, reworked, or revamped a thing. (So it might be crap) This is just to see if anyone would care to read anything I write / find some enjoyment in it. If any of you do happen to think this should / might become something of interest, please! EMAIL ME: whited_1@hotmail.com
If no one shows any interest, then I'll think twice before posting again :) Comments, criticisms are appreciated, but flames, rude outbursts, or blatant condescending remarks are NOT welcome. Without further ado, I present to you: offworlders
He opened his eyes and looked around. He saw nothing.
Prologue: Shroud of Darkness
"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?"
The nurses and doctors in the building all looked up for a moment, some with shocked expressions, others just shaking their heads with pitying looks. It seemed as if there was a moment of pure silence, unbroken as they all waited for what they knew would come next. And then, when the sounds of sobbing and wailing filled the room, they returned to their work.
In room C-14, Lance Bass, member of the once worldwide popular boy band, `N Sync, was sitting up in his hospital bed, groping at his face, trying to find some sort of blindfold that had been placed over his eyes. He found nothing. Defeated, he held his head in his hands, and cried. Beside him, sat a young man, with dark brown hair, sparkling blue eyes -- filled with tears.
"Baby, baby, I'm here, it's going to be okay." he spoke softly, as he wrapped his arms around his lover.
"GET AWAY FROM ME JOSH! GET THE FUCK AWAY!" Lance yelled.
JC, rather, Joshua Scott Chasez, pulled away immediately, and got up and ran out of the room. Nurses brushed past him as he ran down the hall, having heard the waking sounds of their most famous patient.
"Sir, if you'll just please calm down," one of them said as they tried to lay him back down, "you might feel a little better."
She looked at the young man's face before her, contorted in pain and sadness, and she turned her head to blink back her own tears. And then, she found herself lying on the floor, a staggering pain in her right jaw.
"Get the fuck away from me." Lance hissed.
The nurse got up, picking up the intercom phone and whispered, "Doctor Michaelson, the patient in C-14 is awake, please come immediately." With that, she slumped into the chair that was next to the door, looking on as the other nurses tried to restrain the man on the bed, who was violently shaking and screaming profanities.
The last thing Lance could remember before blacking out was a soft male voice saying, "Put him to sleep for now."
Chapter One: Shadows
It had been a month, a full month after Lance had woken up blind. He had been released last week, after finally being deemed "sane" and able to function in reality again. JC cried all the time, begging for Lance to talk to him, but he never did. For the past week and a half, all Lance Bass had done was stared out of a window wearing dark sunglasses.
Joey had come over constantly, comforting JC, trying to be a good friend. Justin stopped in occasionally crying his eyes out when Lance never replied to them, never took interest in them, or what they said. And Chris, Chris had left the country.
JC was wrapped around Joey, clinging to him like dear life. Joey didn't know what to do. He just said the one thing he had been saying all week. "Just give him some time JC, he'll snap out of it."
JC's words were muffled as he cried against his best friend's chest, but Joey thought he heard, "He hasn't eaten anything since."
Joey sighed, he turned to Lance and stared. Justin was out today, taking care of the press, business, his own tour now put on hold, as he tried to come up with some order in their world. He had temporary put Lance's company FreeLance on hold not knowing what Lance would have wanted to do. Chris was still out of the country. No one had heard from him.
And he and JC were together as always, huddled on the sofa, JC crying, and himself staring across the room to Lance.
So it was quite a shock and surprise, when they heard Lance speak. "Stop staring at me."
JC opened his eyes and moved towards the man that he considered the love of his life. "Honey? Sweetie... are you feeling any better?" he asked timidly.
Joey just stared, still shocked by Lance's first words in over a week. No one had known how Lance had been mysteriously blinded. The only thing the doctors and the band knew was that JC had come home one night to find Lance, unconscious on the floor.
It wasn't until he woke up at the hospital that they all saw his eyes. They were pitch black, no pupil, no white, nothing. Just infinite darkness. The doctors had said that his eyes were still there, but they could come up with no explanation for why they were completely blackened. And Lance, hadn't spoken a word to them about what had happened. Actually, he hadn't spoken at all until now.
So Joey left the room, holding the cell phone in his shaking hand as he dialed up Justin.
"Yeah?"
"J. He. He. He." Joey couldn't stop stuttering.
Justin asked, "He what man?"
"He talked." Joey whispered.
"I'll be there in 10 minutes man, stay strong."
Joey wasn't sure he could do that.
Lance turned his head to face JC. JC's mouth dropped. How had he known JC was standing on his side rather than in front of him?
"James? James baby, talk to me please. I've been worried sick about you. Please James..." he said as he reached for Lance's hand.
Lance hissed and pulled away, and yelled, "YOU, YOU, YOU, YOU! It's all about YOU feeling like shit and worried isn't it! HOW ABOUT ME DAMMIT! WHERE ARE MY FUCKING EYES DAMN YOU!"
JC fell backwards onto the floor, bringing his knees up to his chest and hugging them tightly. He started to cry again.
Joey walked back into the living room, trembling slightly. "But Lance dude, you told me to stop staring at you. I saw you turn your head when Josh went to your side."
Lance laughed.
It wasn't a heartily laugh, it was dark, sinister, full of cold and spite. Then he turned to face Joey, and in his deep voice he spoke calmly:
"I see you both. But not through my eyes."
Joey and J.C. both scrambled backwards, JC crawling away from his lover, and Joey backing away from his friend.
Then the doorbell rang.
Joey unlocked the door, and Justin ran in, and quickly asked, "What's going on? Lance? Lance you talkin' finally?" Justin waited for an answer as he stood there, his hands on the sides of his hips.
"He... he he he he he can see us." JC whispered.
Justin shook his head, "The doctors said he was blinded remember?"
Lance looked out of the window again. "Nice sweats Justin. The wife beater doesn't go with it though."
And that's when it was Justin's turn to be in a for a shock. He looked at Lance, "You can see? That's GREAT, I mean, the doctors, they said you were blinded for life, that's just-"
Lance cut him off. "I can't see you with my eyes."
Justin shook his head, his mouth still hanging open. He reached into his right pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and took one out, offering it to Joey and JC. The two declined; Justin shrugged, lit the cigarette, brought it to his lips and inhaled.
He exhaled, and then calmly asked, "So Lance. I bet these two fuckers freaked out and shit. You tell me, and tell me now, what the hell is going on."
Joey turned to Justin abruptly, amazed at the boy's newfound confidence. He and JC were genuinely afraid of what Lance had said, but it seemed Justin had placed it aside.
"You always were a confident little shit. But I know you're like the two of them, scared. Very scared. I can feel it, I can sense it, I can see it."
Justin inhaled again, and as he exhaled, said: "Wonderful. I still want to know."
Lance looked out of the window again, ignoring him.
Justin laughed bitterly. "You don't even know, do you."
Lance replied with a smirk on his face. Then he screamed at the top of his lungs. JC, Joey, and Justin all held their ears but they couldn't shut out the screaming. It was only after a good 15 seconds had passed did Joey realize, Lance's mouth was closed. But they could hear him screaming.
"Stop it, please James, STOP IT!" JC shouted with his hands over his ears.
Lance looked out of the window again, but the screaming continued.
"If you ever loved me STOP THIS IT HURTS PLEASE please ... please..." JC had backed himself into a corner, squatting as he tried to shut out the sound.
And then it stopped.
"Be glad I once cared for you Josh."
No one said anything to that.
"Otherwise I would've killed you all."
With that, James Lance Bass got up from his chair, walked past the three men he had once considered to be his friends, and walked out the door.