A Sixth Sense ~Continued

Once the guys left the arena, they hit a local nightclub. At first nobody bothered them, but once people got word that Nsync moved the concert to the next night, all the girls searched the city to find the guys. Thankfully the girls that did find them were older and mature. Joey was the first to dance with a girl, while the others sat back and watched Lance quietly charm another. Justin stuck by Chris's side for most of the night, mainly because he was worried for his older friend. Chris usually hung out with Joey and got friendly with Joey's girl's friends. But tonight Chris just sort of slumped at the bar, staring into his mug of beer. Justin understood what Chris was going through, but if no one else would try to cheer him up, then Justin would have to.

"Hey Justin, I think there's a girl over there that wants to meet you," J.C. said, nodding towards a red head in the crowd.

"She is pretty hot," Justin said, smiling at her. "But if she wants to talk to me, she'll have to come over here."

Chris looked at Justin in shock as J.C. said, "You? You're turning down a girl?" "I'm not turning her down," Justin said. "I'm just playing hard to get."

"Okay, whatever," J.C. laughed, getting up. "Well, I'll be over there, hitting on the brunette if any one needs me."

"J.C., don't you know by now that nobody likes you?" Justin teased, throwing a peanut at the back of J.C.'s head.

J.C. rubbed his head and kept going. "Hey, thanks man," Chris said. "You didn't have to stay here though. I don't need a baby sitter."

"I know," Justin replied. "I just figured since no one else cares about your feeling then I will."

"Thanks," Chris said. "But I'm fine. I'm just a little upset about all this I guess."

"Who wouldn't be?" Justin asked. The strobe lights flashed through his hair, making it sparkle. "It's a pretty terrible curse to be able to see deaths and not do anything about it."

Chris sighed and turned back to his beer. "I think I'll go outside for a while," he said, pushing the mug to Justin. "If you get caught with this, you don't know me."

"Hey thanks!" Justin grinned, taking the mug. He watched as Chris slid through the crowd and disappeared out the doors. Then he turned back to the drink, smiling. None of the others ever got him beer, and he had only drunk it a couple times before anyway. Just as he was about to take a drink, a hand snatched it away from him.

"Sorry," Joey said. "You're underage and all we need right now is for someone to see you with beer. The rumors would fly, and we'd get in trouble for giving it to you. Try again in a few years."

"Joey…" Justin whined, leaning against the bar. "Chris gave that to me- oops."

"Well then we'll be talking to him also, now won't we?" Joey smiled, taking the beer with him as he went back to the girl he met.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris breathed a sigh of relief as he leaned against the building's wall. The people were starting to get to him, and it was getting too hot in there. Outside the night air was cool and there weren't many other people hanging around (Ha-A Counting Crows song! Cool!). He felt like crap despite what he just got done telling Justin. His father's death had affected him so much, and even though he wasn't that close to these people, it still hurt. Deep inside he still felt responsible for them. 'Why did I even get this stupid curse in the first place?' he wondered, rubbing his hands together. 'Which god did I piss off now? Is this the humor god's way of punishing me for bad jokes? Or the animal god for forgetting about Busta's dinner that one night?'

Chris's cell phone interrupted his thoughts as the shrill ring pierced the quiet air. Startled, he pulled it out of his jean pocket and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey, Chris?"

"This is me. Who are you?"

"This is AJ. You know, McLean…"

"The Backdoor Boy? That AJ?"

"Fuck you," AJ mumbled. "Yeah, that's the one."

"Well AJ, how's it hangin'?" Chris asked, trying to sound overly cheerful. "I'm fine gay boy," AJ shot back. "I heard about you killing Boob-job Spears. Good job."

"I didn't kill her," Chris said, turning serious. "Who told you that?"

"Oh, nobody," AJ teased. "Listen, you weren't planning on killing any of us were you, because if so I'd like to go ahead and screw these five young ladies."

Chris felt like throwing up. "I didn't kill anyone!" he said louder.

"Really? That's not what I heard. You better go and hide somewhere really good because if the cops get you, you'll be in jail for life, easy." AJ sneered.

Chris started pacing, fear rising within him. "I did not kill anyone! Who told you that?"

"Pearlman."

"Lou? He told you that? How the hell did he find out?" Chris asked. His heart was racing, threatening to burst out of his chest and fall to the ground.

"I don't recall," AJ said. "I think he said J.C. told him. But anyway, how does it feel to kill someone? Do you like it? Oh, I know, you were abused as a little kid and this is your way of revenge, right?"

Chris was almost in tears when Justin came through the doors and approached him. "They took away my- what's wrong?"

"Listen you asshole," Chris threatened, his voice shaking, "None of that shit is true! I didn't kill anyone!" He wanted to say so much more, but his emotions broke loose and he was unable to finish. Instead he handed the phone to Justin and walked off into the shadows.

Justin saw Chris's eyes sparkle with unshed tears and asked, "Hello?"

"Hey, who's this?" AJ asked. "Is this diaper boy? Have you learned to drink from a 'big person's' cup yet?"

"Oh, hey AJ, how nice to hear from you again," Justin said sarcastically. "Get any more STD's?"

"Listen kid, put Chris back on the phone. I wasn't done tormenting him."

"Uh, yeah, I kinda think you were." Justin felt a slight pain in his abdomen and got an idea. "Hold on, I got someone that want's to talk to you." Justin held the phone down behind him and let out a guy-sized fart. Laughing, he hung up the cell phone and went to find Chris.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I have no idea what he said, but I'm sure it was stupid. Just forget about him."

"But he's right," Chris said quietly. "He said that J.C. told Lou about me, and now Lou is telling everyone that I'm killing people."

"That's a bunch of crap," Justin laughed. "You're not killing anyone!"

"I know, but I might as well be."

"Knock it off," Justin said. "I believe you when you said all you can do is sense these deaths. Besides, you would never have the guts to kill anyone anyway."

Chris glared at Justin as they sat on the cold pavement. "What should I do? Why did this happen to me?"

Justin looked at the ground, not knowing how to help Chris answer those questions. "I don't know." He replied simply.

They remained silent for a few minutes, then Chris picked himself up. "We look like a couple losers sitting outside like this," he said, smiling. "Let's go back in."

"Sounds good to me," Justin said. Then he remembered something. "Oh, uh, you know how you told me not to get caught with your drink?"

"Yeah," Chris said as they walked to the door.

"Uh, I kinda did."

"Oh. Well that was smart."

"Sorry."

"Who caught you?"

"Joey."

Chris didn't answer at first, then said, "I think we can take him."

"Yeah."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The guys weren't able to stay at the club for much longer, because word that Nsync was at a local club had spread so rapidly that the parking lot was filling up with teenage girls and cameras. They had decided to leave while the getting was good, and made it back to the hotel in one piece. They had to run up the hotel stairs to avoid being mobbed by more girls, and they quickly ducked in their hotel rooms.

Lance was once again in a room by himself, Joey was with J.C., and Justin was with Chris. The guys were all tired and since it was 12:30, they all decided to go to sleep. After mumbling goodnight to each other, they went in the hotel rooms and shut the doors behind them.

Justin looked at Chris as they each threw their jackets down on the floor. He could tell something was bothering Chris, and that AJ's phone call probably had something to do with it. "Don't let him get to you," Justin said, pulling his shirt up over his head.

"He's right. If this gets out, it'll look like I killed everyone," Chris said, mimicking the action.

"You have four witnesses saying you didn't," Justin replied, unbuckling his belt.

"I don't know about J.C.," Chris sighed. "I don't blame him, but I don't think he's on my side for this one."

"No, Lou's the one that's not on your side," Justin said, stepping out of his jeans and nearly tripping.

Chris laughed as Justin caught himself on the corner of the bed. "At least I got you," he said. "Even if you are pretty stupid sometimes."

"What?" Justin smiled, standing up again. "Just lost my balance."

"Whatever."

"I did!"

"K. Goodnight."

"Fine, don't believe me."

"Yeah." Chris pulled off his pants and got in bed wearing his boxers. Justin stuck his tongue out behind Chris's turned back before he got in his own bed on the opposite wall.

"I saw that."

"No you didn't," Justin argued.

"Sweet dreams, sugar."

"I hate you."

They each smiled to themselves before Chris reached over and turned off the lamp that sat on the bedside table.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, everyone found their way into Joey and J.C.'s hotel room. They had some time to kill before they had to be anywhere, and going through fan mail was the best way to kill it. Justin always went through his bag of mail and picked out all the light blue envelopes and opened them first. The others tried to read them all, but the more outstanding ones got read first.

Lance pulled out a rainbow colored envelope that was decorated with tons of stickers and pictures. "Look at this one," he smiled, holding it up.

"I need sunglasses to look at that," Joey teased.

"I know. Ain't it cool?" Lance replied.

Chris had opted not to open any of his fan mail for a while, in case he cursed someone else. Instead he sat in a corner by himself and spun records, trying to relax. He took his record player with him everywhere and was now a perfectionist at setting it up in record time.

J.C. was going through his never-ending list of emails, and Justin sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the TV with his bag of fan mail. The news was droning in the background, going over yet another story on the death of Britney Spears.

"They need to lay off already," Justin said, opening a letter.

Joey was about to answer when his cell phone rang. "Hello?" he answered. "Oh, hey mom. What's going on?"

Chris watched as Joey and his mom got in to their conversation from his spot behind his record player. A familiar sense of dread crept slowly through his veins, freezing them as it went.

"Yes mom, I have clean clothes…"

"Um, Joey…" Chris started softly.

"They stopped teasing me about that a long time ago…"

"Joey…" Chris repeated louder.

"But it was an accident…"

Lance looked up and saw Chris, white as a ghost, trying to get Joey's attention. He looked to Joey, then back to where Chris was sitting with a frightened look on his face.

"Joey," Lance started, getting Joey's attention. "I think Chris wants to tell you something."

Joey looked at Chris and his smile immediately faded. "Don't tell me you're getting that feeling," Joey said, almost threateningly.

Chris just nodded his head, feeling his throat tighten.

"No, you're wrong," Joey said, shaking his head.

"Joey, I want so much to be wrong-"

"How do you feel mom?" Joey asked, cutting Chris off. "Okay, just checking. No, nothing's wrong. Chris is just jacking me around," he smiled falsely.

Chris looked at Lance through blurry, tear-filled eyes. The others looked at him as if they were waiting for him to announce he was joking. The knot in his stomach tightened and he felt his blood run impossibly colder. This was getting to be too much. It was hard enough being the angel of death, but when it turned personal the feeling was unbearable. Chris's whole body ached and he felt like the poor kid in school that nobody liked.

"Okay, goodbye mom," Joey said, interrupting the silence. "And be careful today."

Chris started to rise. "I'm gonna go," he said quietly.

"Freeze," Joey said as he hung up. "So my mom's next?"

Chris nodded once then started for the door again.

"How's she gonna die?" Joey asked softly.

"I don't know," Chris said. "Didn't get that far yet." "You tell me as soon as you know," Joey said. "We will beat this thing. You have this gift for a reason. Maybe we can cheat death for once."

"You can't cheat death," Chris said. "It just sits there waiting for you to stop squirming then pounces when you least expect it."

"Well I sure as hell am gonna try," Joey replied.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris sighed and searched for something to do. He was forbidden to leave the room so he would be sure to tell Joey as soon as he knew what was going to happen. He grabbed a pen and a napkin and started doodling. The first thing he drew was the FuMan Skeeto symbol. He admired it with pride, then started drawing again.

Suddenly he felt someone pressed against him, although no one was there. He closed his eyes and saw the blurry image of a tall, unshaven man grinning wildly and leaning inches with in Chris's face. He opened his eyes quickly, feeling his heart accelerate its steady rhythm. The others took no notice of him, and Chris took a deep breath before closing his eyes again. The image of the man was once again in his face, almost above him. In his hand he held a knife, and the other was pressing hard on Chris's shoulder, as if to pin him down.

Chris accidentally inhaled louder than he wanted to, and the others turned to look at him. Joey recognized the look of fear in his friend's face and knew what was wrong. "What's happening?" he asked, grabbing his cell phone.

Chris shook his head, not wanting to close his eyes again. "She's getting attacked," he said quietly.

"Can you tell where she is?" Joey asked as he dialed the phone.

Chris hadn't noticed before and he didn't want to watch again. He reluctantly closed his eyes in hope of helping Joey save his mom, but all he could see was the dirty face of the grinning man. Chris could feel the man's body pressed against his and suddenly realized what was happening. His breath caught as he felt a sensation from his manhood and tried to back up in his chair. He could feel Phyllis's fright and felt hopeless. She was being raped and there was nothing he could do but watch through her eyes. The man pressed the knife to Chris's neck to prevent his victim from squirming.

"Chris!" Joey yelled, forcing Chris to open his eyes. "What's happening?"

Chris wiped a tear from his face and squeaked, "She's being raped."

Joey froze with the phone pressed to his ear. He jumped up and began pacing, listening to the phone ring. To his surprise, his mother answered. "Mom?"

"What is it Joey? I'm grocery shopping."

"I- Chris…are you sure you're okay?" Joey asked. He looked to Chris, who looked equally surprised.

"I'm fine sweetie," Phyllis replied. "Were you watching a scary movie?"

"No, Chris, he can…never mind. I don't really care as long as you're safe."

"Joey, it's her, I know it," Chris said, pleading with Joey to do something. "Maybe not now but-" Chris was cut off when a sharp stab of pain ripped across his neck. He couldn't breathe, and felt his own warm blood flowing down his neck and chest. He closed his eyes and saw the man grin cruelly, then walk away. Then he fainted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "You think he's okay?"

"I have no idea."

"Should we call an ambulance?"

"We don't even know what happened."

Chris heard voices before he opened his eyes. His throat no longer hurt, but he could still imagine seeing the man tear the knife through his throat. 'He didn't even kill me,' Chris thought. 'He killed Phyllis.'

Chris opened his eyes and winced, letting his eyes adjust to the bright light of the hotel room. Joey and Justin were standing over him with worry etched in their faces. "Hi," Joey said, attempting a smile.

"Hi," Chris replied, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"So, uh, what happened?" Joey asked, glancing at Justin.

"Nothing," Chris mumbled. He felt bad enough and didn't want to have to describe everything to Joey.

"Well something sure as hell happened," Justin said, shifting his weight to the other foot.

"You owe me that much," Joey said. "If she did die, than I want to know how."

'No, you don't,' Chris thought. He sighed, knowing Joey was right. The poor guy looked like he was standing on the line of heartbreak and hysteria. "She, uh…" Chris started, looking at the floor. "She was uh," his voice cracked and tears threatened to spill down his face. "She was raped, then the guy slit her throat."

Chris looked up just in time to see Joey's heart visibly break. A single tear ran down his cheek, as he stood by the couch, stunned. "You sure?" he whispered.

Chris rubbed his throat as he replied. "Yeah. I'm so sorry Joey," Chris started. "I told you as soon as I knew…"

Joey didn't reply, but turned and went out the door, presumably to his own room. Chris felt his heart go with his friend. This was too much. He couldn't handle it anymore. 'I'd be better off-'

"Great job," J.C. said coldly as he passed Chris. "He'll never forgive you for this." Chris remained silent, agreeing with J.C. 'I can't even forgive myself,' he thought. He watched J.C. follow Joey out in the hall and fell back against the couch. The soft cushions felt good to his body, but they did nothing to ease his soul. He heard Lance approach and sit on the chair across from him.

"It's not your fault you know," Lance said in his deep, caring voice.

"Is that the best you can do?" Chris replied. He didn't mean to be so harsh, but he knew it was his fault.

Lance remained quiet except for a sigh. Chris stared at the ceiling, going over all the known methods of suicide. Justin, who was uncharacteristically quiet, grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.

"This is the beginning of the end," Justin said quietly as he changed the channels. "Justin, shut up," Lance snapped. "We're not breaking up over this."

"Tell that to J.C.," Justin said.

"I have no idea what his problem is. He has no right to be acting the way he is." Justin rolled his eyes and stopped on a local station that was showing Baywatch. As soon as he set the remote down, the program was interrupted and the news came on. The three men turned to watch it, holding their breaths.

"We're sorry to interrupt this program, but we just got some breaking news. Police have been called to a murder scene that was called in by a pedestrian half an hour ago, and police investigation reveals the victim to be Janine Fatone, pop group Nsync's Joey Fatone's sister. It appears that Ms. Fatone was raped first, then had her throat brutally slashed. The police currently have all units out looking for the suspect, and we'll keep you updated on the story. Now back to your regularly scheduled program."

"It was-" Lance started, but was interrupted when Joey stormed in the hotel room. "My sister!" He yelled, going straight for Chris. His eyes were red from crying, and it looked like he wasn't done.

Chris looked at him with surprised eyes as Joey advanced. "I-"

Chris was cut off when Joey punched him in the face, hard. "You asshole! How could you do that to me?" Joey yelled, getting ready to hit Chris again.

Lance jumped up and grabbed Joey before he could hit Chris again. Justin was at his side, helping to hold Joey back. "What the hell is your problem?" Lance asked, getting in between Joey and Chris.

"He lied to me!" Joey yelled, tears streaming down his face. "He let Janine die!"

Chris ignored the stinging pain in his cheek and looked at the floor.

"He was close enough!" Lance replied. "At least you got some kind of a warning!"

"If he had told me my sister was going to die and not my mom, maybe she would still be alive!" Joey cried.

"And how would you have stopped it, flown down there to help her and only make things worse for her?" Justin asked.

Joey remained silent and angrily wiped his tears. He pulled himself loose from Lance and Justin's grip and walked to the door. He gave Chris one final look before he left. It wasn't Chris's fault, he knew, but Joey didn't feel like apologizing right now either.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chris sat at the small kitchen table, moving the knife around and watching the light bounce off it. The light flashed in his eyes, and he held it there, staring into the bright reflection. 'So this is it,' he sighed. 'So much has happened in too short of a time and I can't live with it anymore.' Death sounded warm and inviting, unlike the reality in which everyone blamed him for other's deaths. The death of Janine proved to him that things would be better if he were gone. He had a nightmare last night, in which Joey's sister came back to haunt him and blame him for her death. Chris couldn't live like this. He didn't ask for this curse, yet somehow it found its way to the sunny Nsyncer.

'Better hurry,' he remembered, breaking his thoughts. 'The guys should be back soon with breakfast.' He pulled up his sleeves and slammed his arm on the table, wrist exposed. He looked at the silver steak knife once more before closing his eyes briefly, taking a deep breath. "I love you guys," he whispered, then drug the sharp knife through his wrist, cutting through the skin and slicing the precious veins below.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I feel really bad about last night," Joey said to the others as they walked up the stairs.

"I feel bad because the elevator is out of order," Justin said.

"Seriously though, he didn't know who it was going to be," Joey said. He had calmed down somewhat since last night, but what put his soul at rest the most was the fact that the police had caught the freak that killed his sister. Joey was due to fly home later that night to be with his family, and he was going to drag the others along with him for support.

"I've probably been acting like a dick too," J.C. said as they approached the last flight of stairs.

"No probably about it," Lance replied quickly.

"I just don’t do this possessed crap," he said. "It's a bad childhood experience," he mumbled.

"Who would have thought we eat this much," Justin said, changing the subject. "God this is a lot of food."

"You're a growing boy," Joey teased as they reached the last step.

"Damn right," Justin smiled. "In more ways than one."

The others rolled their eyes as J.C. fished around in his pocket for the card that unlocked the hotel room. "Food's here!" he yelled, hoping Chris would open the door and save them a lot of trouble. "For someone with so much energy, you'd think he could get up and open the door for us," J.C. mumbled.

"Then what kind of man would he be?" Justin asked.

J.C. silently agreed with his blonde friend as he opened the door. The four guys walked in the hotel room and dropped the containers of food on the counter. "Thanks for your help with the door," Joey said sarcastically when he saw Chris out of the corner of his eye.

Justin laughed and started over to tease Chris. "Chris!" Justin yelled, seeing his friend slumped over the table in a pool of his own blood.

The others ran to see what was wrong and were stunned to see the sight that welcomed them. "What the hell happened?" Joey asked, already seeing the answer.

J.C. ran to the bathroom while Lance pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. Justin was frozen to his spot, and a lump started to rise in his throat as he watched the blood slowly drip to the floor. Chris's arm was stretched out before him, revealing the deep slash in his wrist. The side of his head rested on his arm and the back of his head was sitting in the blood. He had turned a sickly white color that made the blood look even redder.

J.C. came back in the kitchen with a towel just as Lance began talking to the operator. J.C. lifted Chris's arm off the table and Joey and Justin couldn't help watching the blood drip down to the table. The side of Chris's head was also resting in the massive pool of sticky blood as J.C. wrapped the towel tightly around Chris's wrist.

When J.C. saw the disgusted look on Justin's face, he pulled Chris's head back to rest on the chair and quickly wiped away the blood that began to drip down his face. "Lance hurry with the ambulance!" J.C. exclaimed, noticing the towel slowly turning red.

"What do you want us to do?" Joey asked, feeling useless.

J.C. felt for a pulse on Chris's neck and was relieved to find one, even if it was incredibly weak. "I don't know what you can do," J.C. replied. "Just pray that he lives."

Lance hung up the phone and turned his attention to the others. "He looks really bad," Lance said quietly.

J.C. continued to hold the towel tightly around Chris's wrist as he replied, "I know."

A small groan caught their attention and they looked to see Chris open his eyes slowly, his eyes adjusting to the light.

"Hey Chris," J.C. said softly. "We caught an ambulance on the way, just hold on okay?"

Chris went slightly cross-eyed before he closed his eyes again. "Sorry," he whispered. He was barely breathing and his breaths became audible.

"Chris, come on, stay with us," Justin pleaded. "Damnit, where the hell is the ambulance?" he cursed to himself.

The stench of blood had filled the room and the guys could almost feel death lingering in the air also. "Chris, what about Busta, you just gonna leave him behind?" Joey asked.

"Yeah, you have someone who needs you know," J.C. added. "Not to mention a whole damn clothing line."

Chris remained unresponsive as the ambulance sirens grew near.



Chris fought to pull air into his lungs. Breathing used every once of strength he had, but for some reason he sensed he was needed. He had fought hard to open his eyes, but the relieved looks on his friend's faces made it worth it. He did not regret what he had done, but now he felt as if his friend's needed him and Chris put his faith into them to not let him die.

He felt a warm hand on his cold wrist, and it comforted him. Chris couldn't understand what they were saying, and he didn't even have the strength to, but he felt they were there. Breathing became harder and he was going numb. He would have shivered if he could, but his life had spilled out on the table when he cut his wrist. His life was now up for grabs, and he could live or die.

Suddenly Chris felt the warm hand leave and felt more replace it. He was lifted up and laid on the floor. 'Paramedics must be here,' he thought, then he slipped into unconsciousness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Continued!

Back Home
Part One