“Ya know, old man, you’re towing a thin line here. I’ve just about had it with you, I’m sick of you, sick of mom and especially Terri. To hell with all of this! I’m stopping at the next town and dropping your ass off. I don’t need your sorry ass dragging me down.”

“Think again boy!” Dale yelled as he jerked the steering wheel sharply towards the right.

Kyung barely had enough time to brace herself for the certain impact that was coming. There was yelling, swearing, tires screeching, the sound of steel crunching and then it was silent.

Dazed, Kyung found herself on the roof interior of the flipped over vehicle. As the smoke and dust started to settle, she quickly took inventory of her arms and legs, checking to see if everything was still in place and functioned. Moving her right arm caused a great deal of pain and Kyung decided that since it looked definitely deformed, she must have broken it.

Getting her bearings, Kyung looked around towards the front of the overturned vehicle. Dale was laying half in and half out of the passenger side window, the fixed look in his eyes told Kyung that he didn’t survive the crash.

Hearing moaning, Kyung looked for Marcus. She couldn’t see him from the inside of the car. She crawled towards the back and after kicking out the shards of glass from the broken rear window, she gingerly eased her body through.

She found Marcus laying on the ground, his body pinned underneath the suburban, only his upper torso exposed. There were short puffs of steam that escaped from his mouth, so Kyung knew that he was still alive and breathing.

Marcus turned his head from side to side, moaning loudly. His eyes finally fluttered open and then focused on Kyung.

“Bitch, get me out of here,” Marcus demanded.

Why is it that during the day there is nothing good on TV? I don't watch soap operas and I liked talk shows even less. They were all the same. Either the woman’s husband was cheating on her with her sister and then it ends up being a double cross because he was cheating on her with that sister’s husband or something gross like that. There was a knock on the door and I welcomed the distraction.

“Come in!” I called out.

“I bet you thought you were rid of us didn’t ya?”

My blood ran cold as I looked towards the door. Dale was standing in the doorway and he had Nick in front of him, his arms pinned.

“No!” I gasped.

“Or how about your best friend here?” Suddenly Marcus appeared, carrying Kyung’s limp body in his arms.

“Kyung?” I whimpered.

“She isn’t dead, but she’s gonna be!” Marcus barked.

“Where’s Brian?” My eyes darted back and forth between them.

Marcus laughed. “We already took care of him.”

“No.” I whispered.

“See, we’re giving you a choice.” Dale began, releasing Nick’s arms. Surprisingly, he didn’t try to escape or anything. But then I saw why. Dale was holding a gun. At the end of the gun was a silencer.

“You get to choose which one we kill next.” Marcus continued, grinning sadistically.

“No! No! I can’t...You can’t make me...” I cried.

“Fine! Then they both die. Say goodbye Lizz!” Dale yelled.

“NOOOOOO!!!!” I screamed as the muted sound of a shot rang out. It as immediately followed by another and I started to struggle in my bed. Dale grabbed me by the arms and I knew I was next. I thrashed in attempt to tear free of his grasp, ignoring the pain I was causing myself.

“Lizz! Lizz, calm down!” Sheila tried to hold Lizz down. She was thrashing all around and was going to bust her stitches if she kept it up.

“LET ME GO!” I hollered frantically.

“Lizz you need to stop thrashing! It’s Sheila! Lizz!!” Sheila persisted.

Finally I opened my eyes and sure enough, Sheila was standing over me. Dale and Marcus weren’t anywhere to be seen. I sagged against the pillows behind me and let out a choked sob. “They...they were here...he shot...he killed them...my fault...all my fault!” I gasped between my sobs. The pain from moving around so much was starting to catch up with me.

“Shhhhh. There’s no one here okay? You’re fine now. I’m going to give you some Demerol for the pain, alright? I want you to concentrate on taking slow deep breaths. Can you do that for me?” Sheila soothed.

“Where are they? Where are my friends?” I choked out.

“Sweetie, you need to worry about yourself right now.” Sheila started as she pushed the pain medication through my IV.

“No! Don’t you understand? All of this is my fault. I need to know what’s happened to them! Is Kyung in the hospital too? And where’s Brian? They didn’t give him his meds and he got hurt in the plane crash. And what happened to Nick? Something’s wrong! I know it is. I can feel it.” My voice got more and more frantic.

“Shhhh. You need to try to stay calm sweetie.” Sheila rested her hand on my forehead. “You are really warm.”

I started to feel sleepy from the Demerol, but I didn’t want to sleep anymore. I wanted answers. I didn’t care how much pain I was in. I needed to know where my friends were. Sheila stuck that temperature thing in my ear and waited for the beep. I tried my hardest to fight the drowsiness, but it didn’t matter. The drug was winning and I barely heard her tell me I had a temperature before I fell asleep.

“So you’re saying that Nick was taken to jail?” AJ demanded.

Laura sighed. “Yes. I tried to convince the state troopers that he needed to stay longer, but they wouldn’t listen.”

“He went through a window?” Brian whispered, still shocked at what he was hearing.

Laura immediately noticed the look on his face. “I don’t think he was seriously injured though. Just some cuts and scrapes from the glass.” She added quickly to allay his fears.

“Does he even know why he was taken to jail? He had amnesia.” Brian could feel tears stinging the back of his eyes.

Laura looked away from him. “I don’t think he did.”

“He’s gotta be totally freaked out.” AJ muttered darkly. “I wish I was in here when they tried to take him away.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you really would have helped matters.” Brian raised an eyebrow at AJ, knowing how he was around authoritative figures.

“I could’ve done something.” He insisted.

“What about Kyung? Is she okay?” Brian asked suddenly

. Laura flinched. She didn’t want to have to be the bearer of bad news once again. It occurred to her that he might have assumed that Kyung had been with Lizz this entire time. He didn’t know that she was still being held by the kidnappers.

“Excuse me?!” Kyung narrowed her eyes at Marcus.

“I said, get me out of here, bitch“ He repeated, putting emphasis on the last word.

“I don’t think you are in any position to be talking to me like that.” Kyung glared at him.

“I don’t care what position I’m in. Get your ass over here and get me out of this. What do you think you are gonna do, wander off and get help all on your own? We’re out in the middle of fuckin nowhere. You’ll die.” Marcus sneered.

“Oh is that right? Looks to me that I will have a better chance at surviving than you will, pinned under that suburban.” She retorted.

“If you don’t get me out of here...” He threatened.

“You’ll what? Shout more insults at me?” Kyung laughed bitterly. “My friends are probably dead because of you! Our plane fucking crashed and instead of giving up your vendetta against us, you continued on. You sick shit, I should leave you here to die. You deserve it!”

Marcus looked shocked at the amount of hatred that resonated from this girl’s voice. She wouldn’t really leave him here to die would she?

“You didn’t give a shit about Lizz when she was freezing to death in the snow. You didn’t care when Terri almost beat her to death. You only pretended to care about Brian being pinned against that seat, only to carry on that stupid charade. You freaked out when you shot Nick only because you didn’t want to go to jail. But then you proved that you didn’t give a shit when you had a chance to escape and you left him there to bleed to death. MY FRIENDS ARE PROBABLY DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!!” She screamed as she turned on her heel and started walking away.

A sense of panic started to creep over Marcus. “Kyung. Don’t leave me here. Don’t let me die.” His voice cracked.

Kyung halted midstep. As much as she wanted to leave him there, she couldn’t. She wasn’t like them. She couldn’t kill. She sighed loudly and turned back around.

“Take the cuffs off him!” Spencer growled. The guard sighed and quickly snapped the hand cuffs from my wrists.

“Now leave the room,” Spencer ordered.

“Hey, I got explicit instructions to stay with this inmate during the interview,” the guard replied.

“I don’t give a shit about your instructions, I’m taking full responsibility for my client, now get the hell out of here,” Spencer demanded.

We waited until the guard had left the small room and then Spencer leaned forward, evidently looking over the cuts and scrapes on my face.

“That doctor did a piss poor job stitching your forehead up,” he remarked as he brushed the hair away. “That’s definitely gonna leave a nasty scar.”

I didn’t answer him, I didn’t care at this point about scars or anything else. Here I was stuck in a jail and I had no idea why or what I did.

After he pulled out a yellow legal pad and uncapped a pen, the attorney sighed and started asking me questions.

“Nick, do you have any idea of why you were sent here?”

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head no.

“Do you remember being kidnapped?”

I tried to think but nothing came to me. My memory was still pretty fuzzy.

“You know who you are though, right?”

I laughed at the stupidity of his question. “Yeah, I know who I am.”

He didn’t seem to believe me, he stared at me over the top of his glasses that had slid down his nose.

“Nick..... Nick Carter, okay?”

“At least you have that figured out. I don’t understand why you can’t remember specific events over the past few months. For right now, I need to stall for time so we can gather a good defense for you. I’m going to request psychiatric evaluation to declare you insane and unable to stand trial. Don’t worry, it’s only to show that you’re mentally unable to defend yourself, not to have you committed.”

“I still am having a hard time believing they can pull this shit on Nick,” AJ whispered harshly to Kevin and Howie.

“I know, AJ, I know,” Kevin replied.

“I mean the guy has fricken amnesia for crying out loud. How the hell is he supposed to defend himself?”

A restless AJ kept shifting his weight in his chair and drumming his fingers on the armrests. “What the hell is taking them so long?”

Howie nudged AJ and pointed towards the doors that were opening. “Here he comes now.”

The threesome focused their attention to the opening doors. Nick slipped through, escorted by two uniformed county deputies. His hands were handcuffed together in front of himself. His face was scraped and red looking. The fat lip with the cut across the corner of his mouth didn’t help matters much with him looking like a trouble maker.

AJ wanted to get Nick’s attention, but he was walking with his head bowed, not making any eye contact with anyone or anything in that courtroom.

“All rise for the honorable Justine Briggs,” the bailiff called out.

“I don’t know what the hell you expect me to do. Especially with a broken arm.” Kyung huffed as she stared at Marcus.

“I can feel my legs. They’re just trapped.” He replied.

“Too bad they aren’t broken.” Kyung muttered.

Marcus started to respond, but thought better of it. He didn’t want to run the risk that she would leave him.

Kyung leaned down and tried to lift the part of the suburban that was covering his legs. Of course with only one arm, she couldn’t budge it.

“What if you put that bar under here and then put your weight on it and maybe I can slide out.” Marcus gestured to a piece of the suburban that was broken off. It was as long as the bumper and had a similar shape. Kyung wondered what part of the car it came from. She could shove one end under the car and put something there to see-saw it. Then she could put all her weight on the other end and see if it was enough for him to get himself out.

After many failed efforts and frustrated words, Kyung finally managed to use that method to budge the suburban. It just barely slid a little, but it was enough. Marcus slid out and shakily stood up. Amazingly he didn’t have any broken bones. Only some scrapes and bruises.

“Nice job bitch, now lets go before we get caught.” Marcus smirked at her as he grabbed her good arm.

Kyung balked. “What the hell are you doing?! I just saved your life you asshole!” She yelled as she tried to twist out of his grasp.

“Yeah and thanks, but that doens’t change anything. So shut up before I get mad.” Marcus shrugged.

Kyung boiled with rage. “Fuck you!” She twisted around and kicked him, as hard as she could, between the legs. Marcus let out a high-pitched scream and dropped to the ground, curling into a ball and moaning. Kyung took that oppurtunity to escape. She started running as fast as she could. To her dismay, his angry voice begane to follow.

“YOU BITCH! YOU ARE GOING TO PAY!” He screamed as he ran to catch up with her.

The lack of food, sleep, and level of emotional stress was taking its toll on Kyung. He was gaining on her and she couldn’t do anything about it.

Agnes walked brusquely towards Lizz’s room. She had been advised to stay away from her, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted to make sure that she was suffering as much as her Terri. Agnes smiled at the thought of Nick in jail. He was going to get it in there alright! She wanted to pay a visit to Brian as well, but security around him was too tight. She had to settle on Lizz.

I was just starting to wake back up when I heard a knock at my door. Before I could answer, the door opened. Terri’s mother walked in and smiled at me. I felt my heart move to my throat.

“What are you doing here?!” I whispered. I didn’t want her to see that I was afraid.

“Oh I just wanted to see how you were.” She smiled sweetly at me.

“Bitch, liar.” I glared at her.

Her demeanor changed. Her eyes narrowed and her lips curled into a viscious smile. “Oh but I did. I just wanted to see if you were suffering as much as you should. I’ve heard you are having a rough time of it. Poor baby.” She sneered. “It could be worse. You could be missing still. Or you could be in jail.”

Oh god, what did she mean? What was she talking about?! I started to shake.

Her grin turned even more sinister. “Oh! You mean you didn’t know?!”

“What’s wrong? Is she...is she?” Brian didn’t want to finish the thought.

“No! Well, I don’t know.” Laura said finally. “The kidnappers still have her.”

Brian felt sick. “No.” He whispered.

“We haven’t heard much.” Laura said, somewhat apologetically.

“And Lizz...” Brian trailed off. “Who’s with her?”

Laura shook her head.

“Oh god. I have to see if she is okay.” Brian shifted his eyes back and forth between AJ and his nurse.

“No way. Not yet anyway. Not until you are in better condition.” Laura stated firmly.

“AJ will you go check on her?” Brian asked anxiously.

AJ nodded. “Just stay calm okay?”

“Nick, god, what do you think is happening with him?” Brian felt even more sick at the idea of his best friend sitting in jail for something he didn’t do.

AJ froze when he heard Brian remark about Nick’s predicament. He didn’t have the heart to tell him what had happen earlier in the afternoon in court.

“I’ll be back in a minute after I check on Lizz for ya,” AJ managed to call out as he left the room.

As he walked down the hall, AJ’s mind filled with the scenes of the court hearing earlier in the day. Nick never made eye contact with them, he just stood in front of the judge, his head hanging down. They had chains wrapped around his waist, connected to his wrists and they made a noise that AJ decided he would never forget for the rest of his life. He shuddered when the memory of the noise crept into his mind.

”Your honor, I wish to declare my client emotionally incapable of defending himself. He was insane at the time the alleged events took place.”

”Nickolas Carter is remanded to Fulton State Emotional Rehabilitation Institution for observation and testing and if need be, treatment. Court is postponed for a period of no less than thirty days and will reconvene at that time on 20 June, 2001.”

AJ squeezed his eyes shut as the door to the elevator closed. The last image he had was of Nick being led away to some state nuthouse and there wasn’t a damn thing any of them could do to prevent it. How could he tell that to Brian? That would kill him.

“Yes, your little perfect friend, or should I say your six foot tall friend has been arrested. I can’t believe you don’t know about that, it’s been on the news,” Agnes taunted as she turned on Lizz’s television set. “Oh, and don’t worry, he did put up a fight as they were taking him away from the hospital. You see though, Nick isn’t very bright, he jumped through a plate glass window on his way out instead of taking the door.”

Lizz narrowed her eyes at Agnes. “What are you talking about?”

“You again? What are you doing in her room?” AJ’s voice boomed from the doorway.

“She’s the one AJ, she did this to us!” Lizz cried out.

Agnes tried to laugh Lizz off. “Oh, the stuff they put these people on, makes their minds a bit crazy,” she made a circle with her finger next to her temple.

“AJ! Her name is Agnes and she kidnapped us! Her and her daughter and the rest of her freaked out family!”

AJ hadn’t moved from when he entered the room, his mouth hanging open. Anges laughed.

“See Lizz, see how farfetched your story is? I mean, who would think a fragile old woman like me would kidnap young and vibrant people like yourself? Even this boy has difficulty comprehending your story.”

Almost as if on que, CNN showed a video of Nick, in bright yellow prison garb, running in the hospital lobby and then jumping through a window. Lizz gasped when she watched it.

“I think you need to come with me and talk to the police,” AJ finally spoke.

“You seem to be forgetting our deal here,” Agnes whispered harshly to him.

“Huh?”

“No one, no family or friends are supposed to be here at the hospital! You broke that and so now watch Brian or Lizz get their just rewards,” Agnes spat.

“Lady, you just admitted you are one of the kidnappers!” AJ glared.

“Tsk... tsk.... tsk,” Agnes reprimanded. “Now, be a good little Backstreet Boy and mind your own business or Brian could end up with a big ole injection of air in his IV line, that could foul things up really bad. You know that would travel to his heart and kill him in seconds.”

With that being stated, Agnes stormed past AJ, leaving him standing in the doorway, stunned.