Chapter 20
"It was cool of them to let us use this arena for tour rehearsals."
"Where are you going, Justin?"
"I gotta take a leak. I'll meet you guys in a bit."
Nick could hear voices but they seemed far away.....he was in incredible pain and he smelled blood....
"Oh shit!!!!"
Nick's eyes opened, but his vision was blurry. He couldn't tell who was talking but they sounded panicked. He didn't think he could stay conscious much longer.....
"There's so much blood! How did this happen?" a second voice asked.
"JC, we need to stop the bleeding! Lance, go call for help!" the first voice yelled. Nick tried to open his mouth to speak but for some reason, he could not talk. The pain was too much. All he could think about was getting out of that bathroom. He felt someone pressing on his side and the pain intensified before he fell unconscious once more.
Alexis was growing anxious as the bus reached the arena....all she could think about was Nick. How did she not see it wasn't him? She kept blaming herself for not going back sooner. What if he was dying?
"Holy shit." AJ exclaimed when they saw all the police cars surrounding the arena. Alexis's eyes went wide....no, this wasn't possible.
"Alexis, wait!" Brian shouted, chasing after her. She took off running towards the arena, but was stopped by the police.
"You can't go in there, miss! We are investigating a crime here!" the officer said, pushing her away. Alexis was getting frustrated....there had to be a way to get to Nick....
"Hey! Why are you arresting me? We didn't do anything to him!" a voice shouted in the crowd. Alexis saw Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez from NSYNC being dragged to a police car in handcuffs, both of them with blood on their shirts.
"We were only trying to help!" JC protested.
"Officer, where are you taking them?" Brian asked once his identification was cleared.
"They are going in a holding cell while we review the security footage in the arena. We would like you to come down and help us get a possible timeline....then we can find out exactly what happened here." the sheriff said as he took Brian's information.
"Of course, officer. Is Nick....I mean, is he-"
"Yes, he is alive.....but barely. He was found in a pool of his own blood in a bathroom stall...." the officer explained. Alexis felt numb, she drew breath as if she were dunked into a ice bath....
"NICK!!!" Alexis cried when they saw the paramedics come out. Nick looked as if he were already dead, his head lolling to the side as they brought him out on a stretcher. He was pale and covered in blood, Alexis broke down in sobs as they walked past them....AJ holding her.
"He's being taken directly to the hospital....the loss of blood was substantial."
"NO!!" Alexis screamed. After AJ spent about fifteen minutes calming her down, the three of them went down to the police station where Justin and JC were being held. The police chief ran the security footage back for them to see.
"Mr. McLean.....did you notice anything strange about this tape you have witnessed?"
"Was I supposed to?" AJ scoffed.
"I am not joking around, Mr. McLean. The victim, Nick Carter is seen walking into this bathroom and an hour later he is seen again....but only one of them comes out. Can you explain this?" the officer asked, crossing his arms and leaning on the table.
"I don't really have an explanation. All I know is he came on our bus after using the bathroom, and now he's gone." AJ replied.
"Gone?"
"He ran off. I don't know how to explain any of it, but those guys definitely didn't hurt Nick. We don't get along well but I know they wouldn't do this."
Justin and JC ended up being let go due to lack of evidence on them, and the officers believed AJ's story.
"Thank you so much for doing that, I was wrong about you." Justin said gratefully, shaking AJ's hand.
"Did you see who did hurt Nick?" Brian asked as they left the station. He noticed both of them were covered in what looked like Nick's blood, their clothes stained with it.
"No, Justin went to use the bathroom and we found him on the floor.....there was blood everywhere, on the floor, the walls....just everywhere. He was laying in the last stall." JC replied, shuddering. Alexis felt her eyed watering and when she closed them she pictured the blood stained bathroom, could hear Nick's screams....
"We have to go to the hospital. I want to see him." she whispered as Brian put his arm around her.
"Let us know how he is doing. I will be in touch," Justin said. They all hurried to the hospital where the doctor gave them a rundown of Nick's status....he was alive but just barely.
"He's not doing good. They said he needs a blood transfusion, he had some surgery to stitch up his stomach too." Howie said when Brian was done talking to the doctor.
"Why did this happen? None of this makes sense...." Brian muttered, running a hand through his hair. He saw Kevin sitting in the waiting room with then, a smirk on his face.
Why did Brian get the feeling that Kevin meant for this to happen?
Author's Chapter Notes:
Back with a new chapter after that evil cliffhanger I left last time. This update has a special cameo. Read on and find out :)
