Chapter 16

Dr. Shannon was sitting at his desk, attempting to read a medical journal that he had received in the mail earlier that day. After reading and rereading the same first paragraph of an article for the 3^rd time, he gave up in disgust and tossed the magazine up on his desk.

He rubbed his eyes and swiveled his desk chair around so that he could watch the traffic from his 10^th story office window. The next scheduled office visit for that evening was going to be delicate and he didn’t want to make any mistakes. As he continued to watch the flow of early evening traffic, he heard a knock at his opened door and jumped in his chair. Fortunately, the chair’s high back was able to hide the fact that he had been startled.

“Come in,” the doctor said swiveling his chair around to greet the individual at the door.

JC Chasez walked into the office.

“JC…it’s good to see you, son.” Dr. Shannon rose from his chair and crossed the room to welcome the young man into his office.

“You too Dr. Shannon.”

“Make yourself comfortable JC.”

JC shook Dr. Shannon’s hand and made his way over to one of the chairs set in front of Dr. Shannon’s desk.

“Well, how have you been JC?” asked the older man as he sat down in the other chair along side JC’s.

“Pretty good. Pretty good,” he replied. “And you?”

“Just fine…your answer didn’t sound too convincing JC.” Dr. Shannon noted the dark circles under the young man’s eyes and his pale features.

“I know. I guess I’m pretty tired,” the young man admitted, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Rehearsals pretty tough?”

“Nuh huh…I mean, no sir. We’ve got the choreography down.”

“Recording?” 

”That’s been going just fine.”

Dr. Shannon watched as JC wearily lifted his head from his hands and noted that his eyes seemed even more tired than before.

“Well, JC, it’s 6:00 and I’m sure my wife Peg wants me home before midnight,” Dr. Shannon said with a chuckle.

“What…?” JC asked in confusion, his eyes searching Dr. Shannon’s face, seeing his sense of humor coming through along with a worried look.

“What’s been bothering you JC?” Dr. Shannon leaned forward in his chair toward the young man and placed his hand on JC’s knee.

“Sorry doc. It’s just that I haven’t been getting as much rest as I would like to.”

Dr. Shannon looked at the exhausted young man and recalled the fact that JC required at least 8 to 10 hours of sleep daily to function normally in the fast paced world that he found himself in.

“Why is that Josh?” Dr. Shannon gave JC’s knee a pat and then sat back in his chair.

“I just can’t seem to get a full night’s rest, that’s all.” JC didn’t look Dr. Shannon in the face. He seemed to find an invisible thread to pick at on his pants leg and nervously began to worry away at it.

“Dreams?”

JC’s head dropped and his hand grew still. He drew in a deep breath and looked back up at the doctor before answering.

“More like nightmares really.”

“Want to talk about them?” Dr. Shannon watched JC shake his head as he again looked back down at his hands.

“Um…not really.”

“Joshua…” JC cringed as Dr. Shannon used his full name. Dr. Shannon had to stifle a grin before continuing with what he wanted to say.

“Joshua, remember what happened to Joey?”

Dr. Shannon was referring to the terrible nightmares that Joey had experienced almost a year ago. There had been consequences to those nightmares that Dr. Shannon did not care to see repeated with JC.

JC dropped his head and took a ragged breath. He gripped his hands tightly and then raised his head. He allowed his gaze to travel about the room randomly as he tried to gather his thoughts together. Dr. Shannon realized what the young man was struggling to do and he waited patiently for JC to begin with his explanation.

“When I drowned…” he began, his voice shaky with emotion. JC rapidly blinked his eyes trying to fight back tears, as he quickly brought one hand up to his face and covered his eyes. He stood up and walked over to stand in front of the large window behind Dr. Shannon’s desk. Dr. Shannon watched JC pull both arms across his chest almost as if in an effort to comfort himself.

“When I drowned…I saw something that I can’t understand.”

“You saw a bright light,” said Dr. Shannon in a matter of fact tone.

JC’s head whipped around and his eyes locked with Dr. Shannon’s.

“Yes…how did you know?” the young man asked in disbelief.

“I have a 6 year old patient right now who had a similar experience as you a week after your accident.”

JC closed his eyes tightly at this information. He turned again to face the window and opened his eyes.

“How is he doing?” he asked, feeling compassion and sympathy for someone so young to been through such a frightening experience.

“It’s a she and Emilianne is doing very well…physically, but emotionally, she’s a little fragile…like someone else I know.”

Dr. Shannon looked at the reflection of JC’s face in the large window, trying to read his _expression, but it was void of emotion for the moment.

Did she see a light too?” JC asked in a quiet voice.

“Yes, she did and that’s why I asked you to come up here tonight.”

JC turned to face Dr. Shannon once again and gave him a confused look.

“Come again?”

“I spoke with Emilianne’s parents yesterday. They’ve been concerned about the personality change that has come over their daughter…as I am about yours Josh.”

JC shook his head and made his way back over to sit in the chair that he had earlier vacated.

“You can’t help but be changed after getting a second chance at life Dr. Shannon,” JC whispered as a single tear tracked its way down his face.

Dr. Shannon stood up from his chair and knelt down on one knee in front of JC. He placed a hand on JC’s knee and grasped the young man’s chin in his other hand. JC allowed Dr. Shannon to guide his head up so that he was looking directly into the older man’s eyes.

“JC, you and Emilianne have experienced something in common and I think you both need each other’s help.”

Dr. Shannon saw JC’s bottom lip begin to quiver as tears threatened to spill over from the young man’s eyes.

“I don’t know what help I might be able to offer her doc. I mean, goodness…I need help…” JC’s voice trailed off as he lost his battle with his tears.

“Give it a chance Josh.” Dr. Shannon lowered his hand from JC’s face and raised himself up to sit on the edge of his desk.

After a moment of silence, JC spoke.

“When and where would we be doing this?”

“David and Sharon, Emilianne’s parents can bring her to meet you here in my office as early as Thursday evening.”

“Three days…I’m free…I think.”

“You can bring someone with you JC, if that would make you feel better,” Dr. Shannon offered.

“Jan is supposed to be here. I might ask her or Lance to come with me.”

“So, it’s a deal?”

JC slowly nodded. “Go ahead and set things up doc.”

Seventeen