Chapter 26
Shannon and Chris quickly got into the car and drove down to the hospital. Shannon was a nervous wreck the whole way there. "We have to call the rest of the guys and tell them!" Chris was concentrating on the road, but handed her his cell phone. She was shaking like a leaf as she dialed JC’s number. The line was busy. "Shit! I’ll call JC’s cell, hopefully I can get through on there." She dialed his cell number, and was greeted by a friendly hello on the other end. "Jace, this is Shannon. . ." she said, trying to hold back from screaming and crying. "Hey, what’s wrong?," he answered as he could hear her crying. "Justin’s hurt. Get down to the hospital now!" JC got serious, "Oh shit, we’ll be down in a few!" She looked out the window, looking at the trees that seemed to slowly go past. She dialed JC’s house again, and this time it started ringing. Joey answered the phone, and Shannon wasted no time. "Hey, get down to the hospital right away, Justin’s been hurt." Joey said a quick okay and hung up the phone. She sat the phone down on the console and stared straight ahead of her. All she could picture in her mind were the times that they spent together, staring into the sunset. Finally, they arrived at the hospital and they were out of the car in a flash.
They ran in and went straight to the emergency room. Shannon was hysterical by that time, and Chris was trying his hardest to keep her under control. A doctor in scrubs walked out and Chris got his attention. "Excuse me sir, but has anyone brought in a guy named Timberlake?," he asked, trying to be as cool and collected as he could be. The doctor looked at him, with sympathy in his eyes, and told them to have a seat in the waiting room. Soon, the rest of the guys came in frantically, asking what happened and what was wrong with him. Chris started to tell them, but a doctor came in as he did. "Are you all here for Justin?," he asked them. JC spoke up and said yes. The doctor looked at them all, with sadness in his eyes, "I’m really sorry. He isn’t going to make it through the night." Shannon broke down and went crazy. Jessica grabbed her and tried calming her down, and JC asked the doctor what happened. "Well, he was shot in the chest twice. We have done all we can to save him." Lance stepped forward, "May we see him?" The doctor nodded his head and led him to where they had Justin. Everyone was in tears as they each said something to Justin, wondering if he could even hear them. He was going in and out of conscienceness. When Chris stepped up to talk to him, Justin seemed to come to a little bit. Chris leaned down as Justin tried to tell him something, but no one else heard it. They all left the room so that Shannon could be with him alone. He was conscience enough that he could just barely talk to her and acknowledge that she was there. "Baby, I’ll always love you and you know that. I’ll wait for you until I can be with you again." Shannon could barely control her sobs as she placed her cold hand on his cheek and gave him a final kiss, softly on the lips. "I love you too, Justin." After she said that, she knew that he was gone. The monitors he was hooked up to were flat-lining. She looked down at him and realized that he had her locket on. She wanted to leave it on him, but a part of her told her to take it, so she gently removed it and held it close to her heart. She walked out of the room, trying not to look back. She walked out to find all her friends standing there. Chris opened his arms and invited her in for a hug. He held onto her tight as she cried as hard as she could.
They all sat in the waiting room until they were at least able to drive home safely. They knew everything wouldn’t be the same without Justin around. Shannon was finally ready to go home, and everyone gave her a hug, telling her everything would be okay. She walked slowly out to the car with Chris, and he helped her in. They silently sat in the car for a few minutes. "I talked to an officer while you were saying goodbye to Justin." he said quietly, looking down at his small feet. She quietly sniffled and asked what the officer said. Chris sighed, fighting back his tears, "They said that he was down at the TV station where Britney was, and they had gotten into an argument about the lawsuit. Supposedly, Britney pulled a gun on him, and well, shot him." She looked at him, with a shocked look on her face. "She killed him? You mean she KILLED him? Why would she do that?" Chris was starting to cry just thinking about his best friend being taken away from him. "I guess she didn’t get what she wanted, and I guess she said ‘If I can’t have you, no one will’ just before she pulled the trigger. That is what the man at the station said, he witnessed it." Shannon buried her face in her hands, "I can’t believe that. That is murder! She can’t get away with it!" Chris lightly stroked her hair, trying to calm her, "Don’t worry, she won’t."
They started on their long trip home, or at least it seemed like it would be a long trip. After a few minutes, Shannon cleared her throat. "Chris, what did Justin whisper to you when he was lying there?" Chris was startled by the question, "Don’t worry about it, it isn’t important." Shannon looked at him, "Yes it is, tell me." Chris pulled off to the side of the road to tell her. He shifted his body in his seat so that he was facing her completely, "He told me to take good care of you."
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