It hurt at first, but not as much as I had always imagined it would hurt. You know you see movies when someone is stabbed in the stomach or chest and they just kind of look surprised, but not in pain. That must've been what it looked like for me. The shock of it happening, far outweighed the level of pain. In fact, it sounded as if it hurt my band mates more then me by the way they were screaming and crying out my name.

I pulled away from Joe as he watched, smiling wide. I didn't want to fall on him, but my ever weakening knees started to buckle so I grabbed onto his shoulders before I completely lost my balance. He lowered me down to the floor, his eyes locking on mine while that smile remained on his face.

"Welcome home by pet" He whispered to me. Once my body was lowered to the floor and I laid still on my back, that's when the pain hit. It's hard to describe really but I'll try my best, it felt more like a burn then a stab. Maybe that's how it's supposed to feel. I don't know, but it burned, from the inside out. My stomach felt like it was on fire and the pain was rapidly making it's way upwards. I found myself gasping for breath, even though I was having no trouble breathing at all.

Joe stood up and walked over to Trish who looked as surprised as I had. He grabbed her in a hug and twirled her in a circle while holding her in his arms. "Trish, I have missed you SO much" He kept saying over and over again. Every time her face passed my still form, she looked down and winced.

Dave made his way over to me and placed his hand on my stomach, I let out a yelp of pain, "It's not that bad" He whispered, but when his hand came away from my abdomen, it was covered with blood.

The yells of the guys started to be a little more defined as I was now beginning to make out words, "Nick say something please!" I turned my head, careful to keep the rest of my body still and glanced over to the voices. Kevin was the one speaking to me. The other's mouths were moving but I couldn't make out what they were saying. My vision was also growing blurry.

I think I might have been dying.

"A figure was making his way over, Dave got up and ran towards the big turtle, at least that's what it looked like to me, a big turtle. I like turtles.

"Let me go!" The turtle cried out. I tried to tell Dave to stop but I couldn't get any words out. So, I just watched as Dave grabbed the turtle and dragged him back towards the fireplace. He screamed the whole time.

Joe walked over to me again and kneeled at my side, Trish was next to me too. She held my hand in hers, "Everything's okay Nick"

"Don't lie to him Trish"

She looked back at me and smiled, I closed my eyes thinking she had a great smile.

When Nick closed his eyes, everything stopped. The shouts from the other boys, the struggle, the pain in their eyes as well as Trish's. No one moved or spoke. Joe leaned over the boy and placed his hands on his neck to check for a pulse, "He's alive boys, don't fear. I only gave him a little jab with that thing, you know, to get him ready for the real event"

"He looks so peaceful when he's asleep. I always thought he looked like an angel" Trish added bending over Nick, wiping away some of his hair from his face and kissing him gently on the forehead.

"YOU STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!" AJ said once again knocking himself down and trying to crawl over to where Nick lay unconscious, dragging the chair he was tied to with him. Dave followed AJ closely, the last thing he wanted was anyone else to get hurt tonight. Joe turned his eyes towards AJ and started to laugh, "Relax Alex, it's probably best that he isn't awake anyway. He is going to have a long night ahead of him"

"What are you going to do to him?" Brian asked his gaze still transfixed on Nick's lifeless body, blood visibly seen pooling under him.

"You don't really care do you?" Joe walked over towards Brian once more while Trish remained at Nick's side, holding his hand and sweeping her other hand across his flushed face.

"Of course I care, we all care"

"Okay then, well obviously I'm going to kill him"

"No!" Kevin yelled, his tone deep and fierce.

"You are in no position to order me around boy"

"Joe, haven't you caused us all enough pain? Why don't you just go away and leave us all alone?" Brian asked looking up through hate filled eyes.

"Brian, I promise you, that this will all be over soon enough"

"What about us?" Howie dared to ask, "What are you going to do with us after you kill Nicky?" He spoke the word kill as if it would do that very thing to him. Slowly and methodically spitting out the word.

He smiled and walked back over to Nick, caressing his sister's hair and then grabbing Nick's collar and dragging him along the floor closer to where his band mates were stationed. As he slid along the floor he left a trail of blood dotting a path across the room. Kevin couldn't even stand to look at Nick or the blood. On the other end, there was Brian who seemed to be entranced by it. Staring his unblinking eyes at his little brother. This all seemed so pointless. All of it.

Joe interrupted Brian's thoughts by taking a seat right next to Nick on the floor, keeping his hand placed on Nick's heart as he spoke. The contact brought about a moan from the unconscious one. Who grimaced and licked his lips but did not open his eyes.

"Brian, you're a man of faith aren't you?" Brian still staring at Nick had no desire to answer Joe or even acknowledge his presence.

"Okay fine, be that way..I happen to know the answer to that question anyway" Joe was acting like a child. He stuck his tongue out at Brian before resuming his very serious, and half crazed trance he seemed to have about his words and movements. Trish came over and stood behind him putting a protective hand on his shoulder.

"In the book of Matthew, Brian, there are many great parables in there. I think that's why out of all the chapter's in my Father's book, that one is my favorite, well besides the book of Revelation that is" He kept his hand on Nick's chest and the look on Howie's face made it seem like he was trying to move it with his mind. Brian still stared at Nick's slightly opened eyes as Joe spoke.

"In Matthew chapter 18, he talks about a man who has a herd of 100 sheep. When one leaves the flock what happens?" Brian ignored him, just focusing on Nick, but when Joe pressed his hands harder onto Nick's chest to the point of it being physically uncomfortable for his friend, he was forced to answer.

"He goes and looks for the one sheep" Joe smiled, took his hand away from Nick briefly and clapped, "Very good. See? I knew you have read that before" Then he turned his gaze down to Nick, "See Nicky? Brian read the Bible. Too bad you didn't" His gaze once again focused on the Backstreeters, "I tried to get this boy to read the Bible while he was my guest, but he refused"

Joe stood up using Nick as an anchor for his weight. Nick groaned as Joe lifted himself off the floor. Kevin looked ready to spring from his chair. "You see? The shepherd left all the other sheep, all 99 of them, to tend to the one that got away" He moved so close to the angry Kevin that Kevin could've taken a chunk out of his ear if he wanted to. He actually sat on top of Kevin and continued, "See Kevin, because that one sheep got away, the shepherd just concentrated on that one because he knew that when he finally did catch that sheep, it would make him ecstatic" Kevin turned away from him and tightened his face. Howie tried to stop Kevin knowing what he was ready to do, but it was too late. He turned back towards Joe and spit in his face, "If you kill that boy, you better kill me first because I swear to God I will tear you from limb to limb"

Joe smiled and laughed, then licked Kevin's spit off of himself before standing up and kicking Nick as he walked away. Nick didn't even budge when he was kicked which had the other's frantically searching his eyes again. Luckily they were met with Nick smiling at them. How he could smile was beyond them all.

Joe was over by Trish who was whispering something consoling into his ear. Once happy again he turned back towards the boys, this time concentrating on Nick again. He squatted down close to him, "Okay my little lamb, this next one is for you" He was speaking in an oddly gentle voice, even a little high pitched for his low gruff voice.

"In the same chapter of Matthew, right after the parable about the sheep, Jesus says if your brother commits some wrong against you, go and point out his fault" He pretended to get sad almost near tears as he continued, "Nick, it pains me to tell you this, but I have to tell you about a wrong two of your brothers have committed against you" Nick closed his eyes, knowing what would come next but not really excited about it, "Kevin and Brian were ready to betray you tonight Nick. In fact, they have been for a very long time. It was Kevin who sent you to me" Nick kept his eyes closed but now was joined by Kevin and Brian who both found no more strength in them to keep their own eyes open.

"Brian has been betraying you this entire time. He would have had me kill you my lamb" Joe was annoyed that he didn't even see so much as a tear come down from Nick's eyes. This made his tone harden a bit, "Didn't you hear me Nick? Your friends, the people you look to as brothers both totally sold you out to me" Nick kept his eyes closed but then began to laugh.

This totally surprised them all but infuriated Joe, who watched with a total look of disgust on his face as Nick opened his eyes, sat up and continued, "You loser! I already knew that. And the only reason they sold me out was because you had threatened to kill their wives. I would have done the same thing if I were them"

Joe's face turned a shade of red, "What did you just say?" Howie glared at Nick with big warning eyes, afraid that if he angered the man anymore, he would end up dead instantly. Nick took a deep breath and sat straight up this time, Howie could tell it took every ounce of strength he had to do that. "I said, I already knew" Then he managed to scoot over to where Brian was and placed a hand on his knee, "I'm so sorry about Leigh Bri, I really am"

That made his friend smile as a tear came down his face, feeling a great sense of relief, he gladly said, "She's alive Nicky. It's okay. Kris is too" He then looked over to Kevin and gave him a reassuring smile.

Kevin mouthed the words I'm sorry but before Nick could react, Joe flew off the handle, "What do you mean you knew? Who the hell told you?" He grabbed Nick up by his collar and stood him on his feet. "Get the hell off of him" A loud and angry Howie called as AJ once again struggled to break free. Joe was in a new world and didn't even care what else was going on around him, "Who told you? Answer me dammit!" He was shaking Nick violently by his collar, Nick struggling to break free of his grasp. Dave just looked on unsure of what to do.

It was Trish that made the first move, "I told him sweetheart"

Joe stopped shaking Nick and dropped him to the floor. He fell in a heap and immediately huddled himself up in a ball. Joe turned to his sister and started to slowly walk up to her, her face showing no sign of fear but her legs moving backwards with every step he took towards her.

"How could you do that to me?" He was shaking now, "Honey calm down, I had no idea you didn't want him to know"

"You ruined my plans" He didn't even sound like himself anymore, his voice very low and almost sounding demonic. "You ruined it all! He was supposed to die feeling like he had no friends in the world and you ruined that" He then swiftly moved over to his sister and slapped her in the face so hard that she went sailing across the floor.

"Joe!!" Nick screamed now making himself stand, his legs still very wobbly but his voice didn't reflect the weakness his body was feeling. Joe sprung around at the mention of his name.

"It doesn't matter if she told me or not! I knew they were my friends. Your little plan failed!"

"Not quite" Joe said grabbing his knife once again and headed for Nick...