Chapter 2

As Lance and Joey continued in their struggle to revive their friend, they were unaware that JC was also locked in his own struggle, but his was spiritual rather than physical.

JC found himself to be in a place of nothingness…blankness. He felt as if his vocabulary was limited to those two words in trying to describe where he was standing…it was the only way that he could describe where he was. As he glanced about him, trying to comprehend where he was, a warm, bright glow began to envelope him in its warm embrace causing him to feel comfort rather than the fear that he had been feeling seconds earlier.

There were no shapes or forms around him...just bright whiteness.

He looked down at his feet and found that he was standing on a surface that did not appear to be solid…it was more without substance, but was quite able to handle the weight of his body.

JC knew that he should feel some sort of anxiety in not knowing where he was, but instead, the utter calm that he felt just moments earlier wash over him continued to cling to him. Inwardly, deep down within his very being, he suddenly understood that he the comfort that he was feeling was that of warmth and love that surrounded him from all sides. This comforting feeling penetrated to the very core of his being…it permeated his soul.

JC turned in a small circle taking further taking in his surroundings. He was somewhere that was without…what was the word that he was looking for…boundaries…no…it…it couldn’t be… there just were no words in his vocabulary that he could use to describe what he was seeing.

“Wait…this is like the ocean…no end in sight,” he said, slightly startled at the fact that his voice echoed, much like it had when he and the rest of the group had once visited the Grand Canyon. He and the others had laughed at the way their voices had bounded within the tall canyon walls and this was very much like that.

He quietly began walking about, realizing that there could truly be no words known to man to describe what he was seeing and feeling at that very moment. He allowed himself to search his senses in an effort to understand his strange environment but they were under assault and he suddenly felt as if he could not trust them. His senses seemed to be betraying him in the information that his brain was receiving.

He could actually smell…what was it…joy? How could that be possible?

He could taste comfort…but how in the world could he do that?

He felt incredible warmth…love…compassion…understanding…too many emotions that threatened to entangle him all at once in their embrace. He could see a bright light in the distance that was so intense yet so gentle that it was not painful to look upon. Rather, it was more painful to look away from it. Somehow he knew that he needed to go to the light. How did he know that he wondered?

JC slowly began walking toward the light, considering all the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him when he gradually began hearing voices. He continued walking as he focused his attention intensely on the voices that were calling out somehow knowing that they were the key to knowing where he was.

At first, he couldn’t understand what the voices were saying.

“I can’t understand you,” JC said out loud in frustration.

Gradually, the voices took on more clarity and were no longer garbled…and JC discovered that he was hearing someone calling him by name.

“JC! JC!”

He recognized the voice. It was Justin’s…no, wait…it was Lance’s. Why does he sound so upset…his voice is so thick with…tears?

JC could not fathom how anyone could be upset in such a place as where he was at that moment.

“What’s wrong, guys?” JC asked as he looked around him for his friends.

“Where are you Lance? Justin?”

JC took a few steps in the general direction in which he thought the voices were coming from but saw no one.

“They are not here with you Joshua.”

JC stopped in his tracks and tensely looked around him for the source of the unfamiliar voice that seemed to speak with great authority.

“Who are you? Where are you? Where am I? Why am I here?”

JC fired out the questions in one breath as his gaze continued to sweep the vast area surrounding him.

“You are where you should not be. It isn’t your time to be here Joshua.”

“But where is here?” JC asked as he turned around looking for the person behind the powerful voice only to find, much to his growing frustration, that there was no one there.

“And how do you know my name when I don’t even know who you are?”

“You need to leave this place Joshua. It is not yet your time for you to be here.”

JC looked all about him still trying to find the source of the voice as he spoke.

“But…I don’t want to leave. It’s too beautiful here…too peaceful.”

JC suddenly felt intense grief at the fact that he might be forced to leave this indescribably tranquil place. In a very small voice, JC pleaded with whom ever had been speaking with him with such authority.

”Please…please let me stay here…let me stay near the light.”

The voice hesitated just long enough before answering JC’s plea causing the young man to feel euphoria at the thought that he may not be forced to leave after all. As JC was silently rejoicing the thought of staying near the light, his hopes were suddenly dashed when the voice again spoke with even greater power than before…power that penetrated the young man to his very core…to his soul.

“IT IS NOT YOUR TIME JOSHUA! YOU WILL LEAVE THIS PLACE NOW!”

With an alarmed cry, JC felt the powerful force of the voice as it picked him up off his feet and propelled him away from the light at a break neck speed. As the light became smaller and smaller JC cried out again, but this time in anguish…he did not want to leave the light.

JC began coughing and choking violently as he vomited water in an effort to fill his lungs with air.

“Turn him quick!”

He felt hands turn his body to his right side, supporting him as he continued to cough up water.

As he slowly gained more control over his body and breathing he also became more aware of his surroundings.

“Wha…what…?” he croaked groggily as he opened his eyes and tried to focus on what was going on around him. Everything around him seemed to be spinning crazily as he once again coughed up more water.

“JC, don’t talk. Just take deep breaths,” said Lance as he and Joey continued to hold him on his side. They waited until JC had finished coughing before they rolled him again onto his back.

JC could hear Justin in the background telling Chris that the ambulance would be there soon and that he needed to wait for it in the driveway.

“Don’t forget to unlock the gate, Chris!” Justin yelled as the older man’s retreating footsteps faded into the background.

He could also hear Joey and Lance speaking to him, but their words meant very little to him. He was still too confused to truly understand what had happened to him. The only thing that he did comprehend was how tired he was and how much his head and chest hurt.

Justin looked at Joey and Lance as they remained on the ground beside JC, speaking to him, but getting very little in the way of a response. Justin wanted to know if JC was okay, but he was too scared to ask either of his friends. He had been the one to egg JC on…he had been the one to pressure JC into performing a dive that he knew his friend was not comfortable with.

He was to blame…he was to blame. Surely Joey and Lance hated him…surely JC hated him too.

With those thoughts in mind, Justin slowly approached the three, all the while hearing a roaring sound steadily filling his ears. He watched through a fog as Joey threw a blood soaked towel aside while Lance retrieved another towel that was lying nearby. Justin could not take his gaze away from the discarded, bloodied towel. JC’s blood was on that towel…JC’s blood was…on…his hands. Oh, dear heavens…he was the person responsible for JC’s injury…him alone.

‘Dear God, please let him be alive,’ Justin thought as he stood behind Joey and looked over his shoulder to see that JC’s chest was rising and falling. He was alive. Justin felt himself exhaling the breath that he had unknowingly been holding.

“He’s breathing,” he whispered not realizing that he had said it loud enough for the others to hear him.

Joey quickly jerked his head around to see a very pale Justin looking down at them.

“Yeah, J. Grab another one of those towels will ya,” Joey said quickly as he pointed at a stack of towels sitting on a chair several feet away. “We need to cover JC up to keep him warm.”

Justin trotted to the chair and grabbed several towels before making his way to the trio on the ground. Without looking at JC’s face, Justin covered his trembling body with the towel.

‘I can’t face him…I can’t do it…it’s my fault…what have I done? Justin thought as he continued to watch the steady, shallow rise and fall of JC’s chest.’

“We need to try to keep his head still, okay? He could have hurt his neck or something,” whispered Joey to Lance.

“But we did CPR…oh no…what if…” Lance couldn’t find the words to continue and almost broke down with the thought that he could have been doing more harm to his friend instead of good when he breathed for JC.

At Joey and Lance’s words, Justin’s legs seemed to lose all ability to support his weight and he heavily sat down on the ground beside Joey. The roaring in his ears was becoming louder and louder, blocking out the words that he vaguely saw Lance and Joey through the thickening fog mouthing words at him.

Justin’s blank stare and unresponsiveness made Joey and Lance realize that the younger man was no longer really with them. Lance grabbed another towel and wrapped it protectively around Justin’s shoulders and stayed by his side while Joey continued to watch over JC. Seconds later, a welcome sound could be heard approaching from the distance causing Joey and Lance to look up from their charges.

“I hear sirens,” said Joey as he once again turned to look down at JC who seemed to be unconscious once again while Lance pulled Justin’s still body closer to him.

Not a minute or two later, Joey and Lance heard pounding feet behind them. Finally, help had arrived.

Three