Okay, here's part one of 2 of the conclusion of the story. I really enjoyed writing this part, it's really different from the rest of the book. It's the climatic ending though, so what do you expect? LOL! I'd really appreciate your comments on these two chapters in particular. leo1980@gay.com
Disclaimer: This chapter contains violent images, though they are only dreams of the characters it still may disturb younger readers, or more delicate readers. So read with caution. I hope no one is offended.
Through The Time Warp (My Adventure with Nsync) Chapter 12
(This portion will all be told in third person...for practical reasons)
The seven of them walked along the path holding hands. They could not remember taking each other by the hand, but it was like that all the same. It was just like on the time shifts...they held on to each other in fear of the being lost from one another...Maybe loneliness was the worst fear of all? Even if it was there was still much more to be afraid of. Death...they had already defeated... But maybe it was the things that didn't kill you that were really scary. Maybe it was the fear of torture, and of things that you can't quite understand that really could terrorize their human souls.
Onward the marched through a misty field...That seemed as endless as the imaginations of a 3-year-old. They all had on a brave face, and even young Justin had faith that they would make it through. Together! That was their call to battle. But when one fights fear...sometimes, one must face it alone.
Lee and Lance
"My love." Lance said as he kissed Lee softly as they lay on a white beach, with the water gathering ever closer. Lance thought for one moment that the waves were getting closer. It felt as though the waves would pull them into the ocean itself.
"Lee I think we better move our blanket. I think the tide is coming in." Lance said, as a huge wave struck hard on the beach.
"Lance!" Lee screams as a huge wave starts to wash him away.
"Lee, come back!" Lance screams as he leaps to his feet determined to run after Lee. But as he gets to the crest of the water, he is paralyzed by a fear long forgotten. Had it really been 15 years since the accident?
Lance felt his mind wondering back through time to that faithful day...He was on a beach very similar to this one. The sand was white and clean...the waves seemed so peaceful and calm. He felt that nothing in the world could be more wonderful. The dreams of a small child come true. He splashed into the waters...he slightly remembered his mother warning him to not get too deep. But like any other 7-year-old...he was raring to explore and test the boundaries. He had learned to swim already, so he was filled with confidence that nothing could go wrong. Perhaps if his parents had taken him to a less secluded beach...they would have seen the flags that warned of an undertow that day. But they wouldn't know that till too late.
Young lance swam for a few minutes rocking back in fourth in the waves...when suddenly the undertow started dragging him deeper out to sea, and further under water. The scared boy managed to scream one good time, before plunging under water. His parents rushed to him...but by the time they made it. He was a pale shade of blue. The waves were hard on his parents as well. They did the best they could, and got to him just in time to save his life. But the scared Lance would only remember the sinking...and then waking up in the county hospital the next day. From then on, he had always had a small fear of water, and ever swam at the beach...Never alone again. He thought that fear was gone, but as he know in the present saw his only love being sucked out to sea by possibly the same undertow that threatened his life... He was reduced to a small 7-year-old again. His fear was peaked...He couldn't move, or scream. All he could do was stand there and watch as Lee slipped away from him.
"Lance!" Lee screamed once, before his head went under water.
It wasn't very loud, but it was enough to wake Lance from his trance...fears aside Lance leaped into the water...that seemed bottomless... `The water was never deep this close to the shore.' Lance thought to himself as he swam quickly in the direction of his lovers decent into the watery haze.
"Lee hold on!" Lance heard himself say...he quickly swam towards him with all his strength. And as he dove down he managed to feel Lee's hand grasp his on. He had faced his fear.
"Lance...where are you!" Lee screamed into the dark woods that he had found himself in. Lee was afraid of the dark...no doubt, but it wasn't that kind of dark though. It was just dark enough where you had to be careful where you step. It was the kind of dark in a horror movie, where you could see okay...but everything had a shadow of darkness that foretold danger and terror. Lee also found that he was terribly cold.
He screamed for Lance a couple more times before realizing it was pointless...He could hardly hope for anyone to hear him with all these trees around. His voice only seemed to hit the wooden barriers and bounce back at him eerily. He wished that he had a flashlight or at least a lighter where he could start a fire. He wondered if he could use his magical abilities to do so...but fire wasn't normally his strength. He wouldn't know how to go about doing such a thing. He is more likely to fly straight out of those woods, than to be able to start a fire with his abilities. Perhaps if he had been a boy scout he could have been able to start a fire with some sticks, but he was much more into video games or cartoons than things like camping out. Actually he hated getting dirty, and had a fear of ticks, other bugs...or almost anything that crawls. But the thing he feared most about places like this was...spiders. If he would have stopped to think that there were probably spiders all in those trees...he might have turned back...and ran right back out of this forest. Then again, he probably couldn't have left the forest anyway, because this wasn't an ordinary forest at all. It was the forest of the spider queen, and she had never lost a victim yet.
The first spider Lee saw was just an ordinary granddaddy spider. That kind had never really scared him...Even though they are the most deadly spiders in the world. The only catch is, they couldn't bite humans. They could kill other spiders and insects though! Lee had almost viewed them as a good thing. Something to reduce the amount of more deadly spiders, and the ones that were more terrifying. He didn't think those spiders even looked like spiders...there wasn't anything scary about them. It was the one's with the hairy legs...and colorful spots that worried Lee. He saw in his mind that those red or other colored spots were like warning signs...that if given the chance they would bite him. He knew it was silly, but he always had a fear of being bit by a black widow...or another one of the more poisoness spiders...and because of his fear he was afraid he would panic, and not be able to get the aid he would need. It was silly...but that's what sometimes ran through his mind in those seconds after he saw a spider.
He walked for a while longer before he felt the sleepiness come upon him. Lee had no intentions of falling asleep on that forest floor, that was covered in wet leaves, dirt, rocks, and who knows what else. But he couldn't walk any further. He would set down for just a moment...or so he told himself.
I can feel my skin crawl.' Lee thought as he found his body slumping down into the ground. He felt his ass getting wet from the due on the ground. There goes my pants...' Lee also thought as he set there alone in the dark. He would have given almost anything to see Lance right now. They had stayed together on rocks before...which Lee would admit was even more uncomfortable than this, but still before he was with Lance. That seemed to make things much more bearable. Now here he was alone in the dark, dark forest. He cried and longed for Lances' embrace...and fought as sleep took him over. He could hardly remember even being tired, but soon sleep took over his mind.
In his dreams, if he dared to dream, he would have had visions of his home he missed so much, or maybe of the love he had for Lance. But his sleep wasn't a restful sleep; no it was far from that. He kept tossing and turning never quite getting comfortable. Then he felt as if someone was holding him...he thought it might be Lance at first, but it wasn't him. The grasp was much rougher, and not comforting at all! No if felt as though his breathes were harder to take. He felt trapped. He sprung out of his sleep, and saw that something was indeed holding him. He was wrapped tightly in the largest spider web he'd ever saw. The sticky white material was wrapped all around him. And crawling all over him were small spiders. He could feel them biting into his flesh, sucking his lifeblood. He was so scared he didn't think he could do anything but cry...but he managed to scream one time...
"Help me please!" He screamed. He felt sure this was the end of his life. If the spiders didn't kill him, he was sure his heart would explode in his chest. He felt the spiders start to rip into his flesh, and in his mind he was screaming still...but no actual sound came out of his mouth. Why couldn't he just pass out from the pain, or just die...he felt himself longing for a quick death. He could feel the poison of the spiders making his body start to numb...at least the pain would be gone soon. He knew it wouldn't be long now. `I'll be with you soon Wes.' Lee thought to himself.
Soon Lee got his wish and blacked out, and when he woke up he was in a large stone room, his arms were bound to the wall, and he could feel himself hanging. He tried to kick, but he couldn't move his legs. "They must be tied to the wall too." He said to himself. He had regained his voice.
"What's that my dear? You worried about your legs?" This voice asked Lee.
"Yeah, I can't seem to move them...or feel them." Lee said and it was true, he couldn't feel his legs at all.
"That's because you don't have any legs! My precious babies took them from you." The noticeably female voice stated.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lee screamed.
"See for yourself." The voice stated as a mirror appeared in front of the dangling Lee.
"Oh my God!" Lee screamed as he saw his body. His legs were mostly gone; a nub was left on the right side, and a little more on the right. He looked at his hands, and saw that a few fingers were missing. He began to vomit uncontrollably. Lee had always had a problem with missing limbs, and to see himself in this shape was more than he could handle.
Once he gained he managed to get his senses back to one degree or another... "What did you do to me you bitch?" Lee screamed out to the woman.
"I didn't do anything to you yet. It was my spiders. They had a snack out of you. No actually a full meal!" She stated as she finally walked out into the open.
Lee started to scream once more as he saw that the `woman' was much more of a spider than a woman at all. She stood erect, but her body was all black and hairy like a spider, and she had four arms and four legs. In a way she might resemble a centaur, but much more terrifying. She had many eyes, that shone from her forehead, to her pointy sharp fangs. A slimy drool leaked off her mouth, and Lee could never figure out exactly how the beast was able to talk.
"What's a matter? Don't you like spiders?" She asked.
"No!" Lee managed to squeak out.
"That's no way to treat your host! Now come give me a kiss. It's the way all my minions greet me. I am the queen of spiders after all." She said to him.
Lee was never more scared in his whole life...but somehow he knew he had to make his move soon...or it would all be over.
"Yyooou don't scare me! You're not even real!" Lee screamed out at her.
"Oh I'm real enough." She said as she jumped up to him and touched his face with one of her hairy long arms.
Lee almost wet his pants. But he was still telling himself it was all just a dream. It was his only way of holding on to his sanity. Something in the back of his mind reminded him that he almost always woke up when he screamed in a dream. He began to scream with all his might.
"AHHHHHHHH!" The scream was ear piercing and the spider was racked with pain.
Lee saw this as a weakness for the spider, and in a moment of clarity he let out 2 more deadly screams. The spider was powerless to Lee's `attack'. Somehow even in his disfigured form, he had defeated the beast. Soon he felt his body reforming once more, and the time warp began.
Chris
Chris found himself lost from the rest of the group. He was depressed already, but this really was too much. He didn't know where to look for the others, and he wasn't sure if he had the desire to do so anyway.
"So much for sticking together! Where the hell are they? I guess nobody notices I'm gone." Chris said with a sigh.
Though his confession to Joey should have made him feel relieved, it only seemed to make him feel lonely. He was so sure that Joey would love him...because he loved Joey so much! Rejection is a very lonely place...and Chris was very lonely indeed.
Chris walked through a field of grass...that seemed to never really end. There were no pretty flowers to brighten the scenery, no trees to shade his way, and it seemed to be rather hot out. `I wonder if I'll die alone now?' He thought to himself. He halfway meant dieing there on the trail, and halfway meant he would be alone even if he made it out...because at that moment it seemed like an impossible dream to find love.
Chris was getting really down as he walked. He felt himself fighting back the urge to cry, and he wasn't really the crying type. It wasn't only his own depression at work here...some magical force was making him feel more and more alone. Alone in ways that can not be described with words, but only in feelings. As if he was the last man on Earth, and he wasn't getting along with himself...kind of loneliness. It was very maddening to him. He found himself unable to walk any further.
"I can't go any further." Chris heard himself whisper as he fell down to the ground slowly... Everything was slower than usual. He felt himself almost numb. He had no desire to live, no desire to die...just an uncomfortable numbness.
Why can't I just be happy?' Chris thought to himself. But there were other thoughts...much darker thoughts. Joey doesn't love me, and Lee and Lance just rub their relationship in my face. They think they are the perfect couple!' Chris didn't know why these thoughts were coming to him, but suddenly he was angry...He was mad at Lee for telling him to confess his feelings to Joey, he was angry at Joey for not loving him, and he was angry at himself for being so weak. Part of him wanted to break up Lance's relationship with Lee. "Why should they be happy when I'm not!" Chris screamed into the air.
This was not like him at all. Some darkness had come over him. He managed to pick himself up off the ground...he began to slosh through what was now a murky swamp. As his mood got darker so did his surroundings. If he were to get much lower, he would be completely swallowed up by the grime and muck of the swamp.
"What the hell, now the ground is betraying me!" He said as he felt himself sink down to where his feet were no longer visible. He continued to struggle through the swamp...no longer trying to make it back to his friends. He was simply going forward to defy the swamp. He wouldn't let it get the best of him.
"Take that you bastard." He said as he struggled on. He felt like he was making ground, but the more he struggled the deeper he sunk. He walked on another ten minutes before he realized that he had sunk past his ankles and half way up to his knees. It was really getting hard to walk at this point.
"What is this shit, quicksand?" He mumbled as he continued to move on.
"Listen to yourself Chris... You never get angry." Chris heard a voice saying.
"What do you know about me?" He screamed in the direction of the voice.
"I know your the sweetest guy I know, and that your my best friend in the world. And that I love you. I might not love you the way you want me to, but I love you all the same." Joey said coming out of the shadows.
"Joey, is that really you?" Chris said smiling as the swamp began to disappear.
"Of course it is. Did you really think I would abandon you? I'm always going to be there for you if you need me." Joey said hugging Chris.
"Joey, can you do me one favor?" Chris asked.
"What's that buddy?" He asked.
"Give me just one kiss please." Chris pleaded.
With out hesitation Joey leaned in and kissed Chris softly on the lips. With that Chris had overcome his fear of loneliness... He began the time warp out of the field.
Joey
Joey was walking holding on to Chris's hand. He was at the end of the chain of friends. He was a little worried about his friend Chris. He was hoping that his rejecting him romantically didn't ruin their friendship.
I wish I were gay.' Joey thought to himself Chris is the sweetest guy I know, and I honestly do love him. But I'm not sexually attracted to him. I'm sure he'll find someone else.'
Joey felt himself begin to drift away from the others. He could sense that the challenge was about to start. He was ready to face anything, or so he thought.
"Wow! It's Joey from Nsync!" I young blonde girl screamed.
"Who cares? They are so last week!" Another girl said, as she held up her new Backstreet Boys cd up proudly.
"Yeah you're right! Nsync is lame!" The blonde agreed happily.
"What are you girls talking about? We sold over 2 million cd's in our first week sales of `No Strings Attached'." Joey said.
"So, you're still really boring, and all your songs sound the same." The second girl stated.
"And besides if you guys were so hot, then why are you here wearing a barrel?" The blonde asked, pointing down at Joey's lack of real clothes. He was in a barrel with suspenders holding it up.
"Um...What happened to my clothes?" Joey asked shocked.
"Your funny, maybe you should try comedy instead of music." The girls said as they left him where he was standing.
"What was that about?" Joey asked himself. He was still wearing his clothes, not that ridiculous barrel.
He just assumed that was just some dream and started walking along the path again. He found what looked like a newspaper lying on the ground. He picked it up.
"Nsync's `Celebrity' debuts at number 200...barely making the chart." The headline stated.
"That's not possible! The cd isn't even out!" Joey screamed as he threw the paper down.
"You knew it would happen eventually dude! You guys bite!" Nick Carter said as he came out of the shadows and gave him a wedgie.
"Nick what the hell? You just pulled my underwear far enough up my crack I could taste them." Joey complained picking his underwear out of his butt.
"Just a little fun that's all. I had to come to congratulate you personally. Oh and to let you know we have 3 million confirmed preorders for our next cd. We haven't even started working on it yet either! Isn't that funny?" Nick said as he showed a list of people that had signed up for the next Backstreet album (the follow up to Black and Blue). On the top of the list were his parents' names, and some other friends of his.
"What the hell?" Joey asked as he ripped this list.
"OH, don't be a spoiled sport. Don't worry that was your copy anyway. We have the main list on the record company computer. I'm sure your Mom will love the new stuff. Catch you later looser." Nick said as he left.
Joey's fear of failure was coming true...and worst of all was broadcast to him by ex-fans, and Nick Carter! What was up with that?
"I failed the group...I wasn't funny enough. Maybe I let myself get too chunky? Maybe I shouldn't have dyed my hair blonde. Maybe they like the red hair better? Oh no, what do I do?" Joey said as he started to panic.
He wanted to cry, he wanted to lay down and die, to do anything but hurt like this. He just knew it was his fault.
"Maybe if I did more than just dance? Maybe I could try singing some!" Joey said.
"Well, you did rap on the soundtrack to `Bring It On'." Chris reminded him.
"Chris when did you get here?" He asked.
"I never left. You just didn't look around for me." Chris smiled squeezing his hand.
"I'm glad to see you now. Did our album really do that badly?" Joey asked.
"Of course not, it was just your challenge to face failure. And you survived it. Other people might have lain down and cried. But you just kept trying to make it not true." Chris said smiling at his friend.
"Thanks, Chris. Without you I know I would have failed a long time ago. Your friendship means so much to me." Joey said as he kissed his friends softly on the lips.
The time warp began for Joey this time.
To Be Continued.
4 guys have made it through their challenges... What lies ahead for the other 3?
Send comments to leo1980@gay.com