"Hey, Lance! Wanna another drink?!" Joey, in his drunken stupor, hollered after Lance as JC tried to get him out of the club.

"Shut up, Joey!" JC said, "Lance is drunk and he's going home as you should be, too. Remember last time, Joe?"

"What last time?"

"Right. What was I thinking? Well, the incident last month when you groped some under-aged girl."

"Yeah." Joey said, taking another gulp of alcohol.

"Don't try that here." JC said when he realized they were surrounded only by men. They were in a gay bar. "Erase what I just said. Good night, Joey."

"Good night, JC." Joey said, spilling his screwdriver over his shirt as he tried to wave good-bye to JC with the hand holding up the glass.

JC diverted his attention from Joey to help Lance into a cab. He told the cab driver the address Chris and Dani's place. Once safely dropped off in front of the mansion, JC happily paid his dues and carried Lance into the mansion.

He reached the front doors and combed through his pockets for his keys when his phone rang out of control in his pants pocket.

"Hello?" JC bellowed into the phone.

"Hey, JC."

It was Joey,again. JC switched ears while he inserted his key into the lock to open the door.

"Me and Chris heading to another strip joint. Lance, wanna come?" Joey asked. His speech so slurred that JC couldn't understand anymore of his mumbling.

"No. Joey for the one-millionth time. Lance is drunk. He's staying home. And I suggest you should get your drunken ass back home before you get yourself in trouble like last time." JC screamed out of his lungs into the inanimate object in his hand.

"Huh?"

"Good night, Joey." JC said, turning off his cell phone.

"Who was that?" Lance asked, softly, still exhausted from tonight's drinking binge.

"No one." JC said, sliding his arms around Lance's slim waist. "Let's get you upstairs so you can rest."

The two best friends struggled their way toward the stairs. JC had offered to carry Lance upstairs, but the boy was too stubborn to let JC take care of him. After Lance slipped a step, tumbling over JC to the foot of the stairs, JC grabbed Lance's hands and pulled his weight over him, placing Lance's sluggish body over his shoulder.

JC charged into the room, neglecting to turn on the lights. As soon as Lance's feet hit the floor, he was darting across the room for the bathroom. He needed to take care of some personal business.

JC decided against following his best friend into the bathroom especially when Lance slammed the door in front of him, trapping his finger in the process.

"Sorry." Lance whispered, opening the door slightly for JC to dislodged his finger.

"No problem. I'll just wait for you out here." JC said, blowing at his injured appendage.

He barely sat down before the phone rang, again. One, two, three rings and still the phone continued to ring. Joey's dead. He muttered to himself, taking on his phone.

"Fuck off!" JC roared into the phone.

"Fuck you, too!" JC heard the faint crying on the other line as the phone slammed shut.

"Shit!" JC cursed as he hit his hand in the process of slamming his phone back to its receiver on the nightstand.

"Who just called?" Lance asked, coming out of the bathroom in his robe, looking more refreshed now that he had rid himself of the poison that was making him sick. "Don't tell me that it was just Justin calling and you turned him away." Lance said, sliding into his bed, unaware of how eerily true his words of sarcasm was.

"There you are." Kevin said, approaching Justin from behind, startling the boy. "Has anyone told you how immoral, not to mention, illegal it is to trespass and break into someone's house?"

"I, I-"

"Why did you run off like that, Justin?" Kevin asked.

"I was afraid you'd change your mind." Justin answered.

"I told you I'll take you to Mississippi to see Lance." Kevin said, picking up the phone and placing it on the end table. "You didn't have to jump out of the jet before I landed it."

"Well, I-"

"So, where's this big 21^st birthday bash for our favorite albino boy? The party's looking pretty festive." Kevin said, breathing on Justin's neck.

Justin's eyes met with Kevin's for a brief moment before looking over Kevin's broad shoulders.

"Lance, there you are!" Justin shrieked.

Kevin quickly spinned around to face the doorway, but saw no one. He turned his head around and saw no one, again. Justin had managed to slip through his fingers.

Running through the woody thickets of the great Mississippi, Justin nearly got himself killed a few times trying to dodge life-threatening protruding broken tree branches. Justin stopped briefly to catch his breath. His legs were giving up on him. Fatigue had taken over him. His eyes surveyed the unfamiliar territory. Darkness made it close to impossible for Justin to know where the end of the thicket was. He stumbled over a few boulders, nearly falling down, when his eyes widened in horror. Snakes. Too many of them were slowly making their way to him, converging together to eat him alive. Justin backed away, but they kept moving towards him, drawn to their prey by his fear. Realizing that the snakes were going nowhere, Justin turned around and ran back into the thicket. But with increasingly loud footsteps approaching him, Justin took a deep breath and darted across the woods in the night, leaping over the venomous snakes.

"Justin!" Kevin hollered after him.

Justin picked up his pace, ignoring Kevin completely. He was not going to let someone control him anymore. Especially, not Kevin Richardson of all people.

Not paying much attention as to where he was going, Justin slid down the steep land, running straight into an enclosed yard. Immediately, the lights of the compound flashed on simultaneously, lighting up the entire courtyard. Initially, he had thought he had stumbled onto a baseball field until he heard gun shots being fired into the night. He had just walked onto a highly secured state penitentiary. Before he could take another step forward, several men clad in uniform surrounded him, drawing up their machine guns.

"Don't move." One of the men instructed.

Justin froze, only moving to raise his arms in the air, surrendering to the men. He was immediately handcuffed and escorted to an awaiting prison van.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it's wrong to trespass on someone else's property?" The man pushing him inside hissed.

"No." Justin whispered mutely forgetting completely what Kevin had said to him earlier.

Like any typical criminal, Justin was escorted into the police station. He was given one phone call and only one phone call only. He had opted to call Joey, but Joey, still suffering from a hangover, promptly hung up as soon as he picked up the phone. After the phone call, his fingerprints were taken. He was forced against the wall and was strip searched as it was indeed a highly secured state penitentiary claimed by the state. His clothes were tossed back to him. They turned around to give him some much needed privacy. Once fully clothed, he was escorted down a dark hallway. The lights flickered on as they moved down the hall, revealing the prisoners. All looked as if they were in this hell most of their lives. Filthy faces were covered with greying beard. Empty spaces where teeth used to occupy made it difficult for most to eat, hence their anorexic forms. Justin shook his head as they reached out their lanky arms to grab him.

Their trek finally came to a halt in front of a small cell. The lights were turned on, revealing two large prisoners. Justin was pushed into a small cell smacked between two rabid prisoners, hungry for fresh meat.

"Don't leave me here!" He shrieked, oblivious to the tears streaming down his face or the hands that were running along his back. "Please. Don't."

A man cloaked in a dark grey trench coat flung open the doors of the police station. He stopped by the front desk, demanding to see the sheriff. His powerful voice echoed across the station, bringing forth the sheriff upon command. A few words were exchanged. Just enough words to complete the transaction. A manila enveloped was exchanged hands. He soon left the sheriff to meet up with one of the guards. He strutted across the darkened hallway. A prison guard right behind had given him access to one of the state's finest prisoner after he had bribed the sheriff with unattainable Backstreet Boys backstage passes for his two nieces.

"The cell at the end of the hallway to the right." The guard informed. "You better get there quick. He didn't look to good when I left him."

"Thank you." Kevin said, slipping him a fresh $100 bill.

Kevin pulled on the strings to light up his pathway as he walked. He heard crying in the midst of laughter. He knew he was nearing Justin for only Justin would lose composure this quickly.

He stopped in front of the cell and instantly slid open the cage once he got his key inside. Two men gathered at a corner. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that Justin was buried underneath them in the corner. Kevin blew the whistle given to him by the guard, startling the men.

"Get away from the boy!" He ordered.

The two prisoners complied with his order, dispersing from the scene to uncover Justin. He was on the floor. His knees pulled to his chest. He was shaking with fear, but nothing more than that. Just a bit traumatized. Upon seeing a familiar face, Justin jumped on his two feet and ran to Kevin, seeking comfort behind Kevin's protective manly form.

"You okay?"

No answer, just a nod against his back.

"Good. Let's go now." Kevin said, taking Justin's hands in his.

Hand in hand, the two rivals walked down the haunting hallway filled with cries of despair, each prison member begging to be released. They'd been trapped inside that heinous prison for too long. Justin hung his head low, keeping pace with Kevin. Seeing the despair in their eyes was too much for the boy to handle. How long have they been here? As he neared the end of the hallway, he turned around to face the hallway just as the metal doors clasped together.

"Where are we going now?" Justin asked Kevin as they walked away from the prison grounds.

"I'm taking you to the county hospital back home." Kevin answered simply.

"Why?"

"Brian."

***Can the boy get in any more trouble? As one reader told me before, Justin's a magnet, attracting trouble everywhere he goes. Well, that's it for now. I know it's brief and for that I apologize, but the next chapter should be ready in the next few days. As always, thanksJ

ataleof2boybands@lycos.com