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Diana looked out the window of the plane at the clouds. In about thirty minutes, they’d be in New York City, where she hoped and prayed she’d be reunited with all three of her sons. Mackenzie slept in her lap, and she looked down at him and kissed the top of his head. She smiled as she thought back on the day Taylor was born. Every mother believes her baby is beautiful, but he really was. People would stop them in the grocery store to comment on his angelic appearance. She always knew she’d been lucky and blessed to have seven healthy, happy children, so when a man whose face and voice she’d never forget had uttered the words to her that Taylor was dead, her world had crumbled. She’d nearly fainted, her legs turning to jelly, her heart pounding in her chest, her mind unable to comprehend what he’d told her. |
And yet, Isaac and Avery both had seen him die and so, she knew it was true. Now, to be told it had all been a mistake was almost as insane as that had been. How could something like this happen, she thought. EMT’s had pronounced him dead—no pulse, no blood pressure, nothing. He’d bled to death right there on that bus. She’d seen the body, looked at his precious face. It had been him. And now, Isaac and Zac were both telling her he was with them in Tulsa.
Alive.
~~~~~
Zac awoke with a start and looked at the clock. It was 1:41 p.m. The sun was coming in the slats of the blinds just enough to make it possible to see the room and its contents. Next to him, Isaac slept on. Their backpacks had been tossed haphazardly by the door, their jackets discarded in the chairs at the little table by the window. On the end of the bed, two pairs of blue jeans, one with a spot of blood on the knee, and finally, in the bed farthest from the window, his dead brother, in the same position he’d been lain in six hours previous. Zac closed his eyes. Before laying down to sleep, he’d prayed that when he woke up, the nightmare would be over. But, nothing had changed.
He looked over at Taylor. If he watched closely enough, he could see him breathing. It was a little like trying to watch the hands of a clock move. For a little while, Zac found himself trying to breathe with him, but in no time, he was gasping for air. He wondered if Taylor needed to breathe now, or was it just out of habit? Never taking his eyes from him, Zac got up and cautiously made his way over to the other bed. Probably about four hours ‘til the sun would be down, he thought. Would Taylor awaken before then, or would he really sleep for ten or eleven hours everyday?
He was so curious about his brother now. It was sort of like looking at a tarantula in a glass enclosure, except there was nothing between him and his brother but the veil of sleep. He turned and flipped the light switch over by the sink, the light shining on Taylor’s face. Leaning in closely, he listened. He couldn’t hear him breathing. He put a shaky hand on his chest and was relieved to feel the familiar thump of a heartbeat, though it was much slower than his own, which at that moment was working double-time.
Sitting on the bed, Zac looked at Taylor’s face. His skin was smooth and a bit of the blush had left his cheeks now. Once he had gorged himself on the blood of Camille and Melanie, his face had gotten that old pink color back again and his lips no longer had that gray tinge to them. He had looked alive again. Carefully, Zac reached and pushed Taylor’s lip up, exposing his teeth. The fangs he expected to see were not there. He then looked at his neck. The only reminder of his ordeal was the scar there. If he hadn’t known it had just happened a few days ago, Zac would have said it looked to be years old, faded but still visible. In fact, today, it seemed lighter than it did last night.
His eyes went down to Taylor’s hands. No claws, fingernails just the same, he picked up one hand and placed it on his own, palm to palm. Taylor’s were still bigger than his. Zac wondered if Taylor would continue to grow. He hadn’t stopped so far, passing Isaac up a while ago. He smiled, looking down at his brother’s feet thinking it would actually be a good thing if they stopped growing. Zac had always believed Taylor’s propensity for accidents came from having hands and feet too big for the rest of him. Zac sighed as his gaze went once more to his face. He lay Taylor’s hand back down at his side and reached for his eyelid, stopping to retrieve the key chain from the pocket of his jeans and the tiny flashlight that hung from it. He was more than a little frightened, not wanting to wake Taylor, but his curiosity was greater than his fear. With his thumb, he held in the little button and with the small beam of light it produced, he proceeded to inspect Taylor’s eye. He wasn’t even sure it would be there, having seen vampire movies and comics where only the whites show, but there it was, almost black the pupil was so dilated, but with a ring of blue surrounding it. As he shone the light directly in it, the pupil immediately became just a tiny point, but not before Zac saw that weird, shiny, greenish reflection they’d given off when he’d gotten angry at Melanie. The eye was still blue, but upon close inspection there were little bits of aqua there now, that he was sure hadn’t been there before. Pulling his hand away, his brother’s eye closed again.
“Zac, what’s wrong?” Isaac asked, sitting up.
“Oh!” Zac said, putting his hand on his chest, “Man! You scared me.” He said.
“Sorry.” Isaac apologized, “What time is it?”
Zac looked over at the clock, “It’s going on 2.” He answered.
Isaac yawned and got up, walking over, then stooping down on the other side of the bed, “What’re you doing?” he asked.
Zac looked over at him sheepishly, “I dunno, I was just looking. Just wondering if he like... looked different. Y’know?”
“Yeah.” Isaac said, rubbing his eyes.
“Know what?” Zac whispered.
“What?” Isaac replied.
“He smells weird.” Zac stated.
“He does?” Isaac said, leaning over and breathing in, “I don’t smell anything.”
“Exactly. It’s weird. No funky breath, no sweat. Just... nothin’.” Zac said, wide eyed.
“Hmm,” Isaac said rubbing his chin, “I think he feels weird.” He continued, “When we were carrying him up here... He’s not soft, it’s like he’s asleep, yet all his muscles are like, flexed.”
Zac reached over and poked Taylor’s arm, “It is.” He said, “but, he’s all... limp.” And he picked up his wrist and dropped it with a plop.
Isaac stretched, “Well, I’m gonna take a shower, then let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”
Zac nodded, “Yeah, me too. Hey, is your laptop in your backpack?”
Isaac stood up, “Yeah. You gonna surf?”
Zac was inspecting Taylor’s fingers, “Didn’t he have a scar on his finger here? Where he was cutting that apple at Halloween?”
Isaac walked over and looked, “Yeah, remember? He bled on Mom’s cupcakes and grossed everybody out.”
“Well, it’s not there now.” Zac said, then he looked up at Taylor’s face, “The one under his eye is gone, too.” He said, backing up and wrapping his arms around himself.
“Zac,” Isaac said, “It’s weird, but don’t worry about it. He’s still the same idiot brother he’s always been. He’s just... different.”
“How do you know, Ike? How do you know he won’t do the same thing to us he did to them?” Zac asked.
Isaac threw his hands up, “Look, here’s my laptop. Surf, keep your mind off it. I’m not going into this again with you. You wanna stop by the cemetery and steal a coffin to lock him in? Go right ahead. I’m getting in the shower.” Zac took the heavy case from him and watched as Isaac went in the bathroom and shut the door.
~~~~~
Chris Sabec sat on the plane next to Walker Hanson. He’d never seen the family in the state they’d been in the last couple of days. First, dealing with the death of a son, then finding it to be some sort of cruel joke, or so they hoped. He had rushed to St. Louis the moment he’d gotten the phone call from an incredibly distraught father, and had then set about handling the business of canceling shows and appearances. When Taylor’s body had disappeared, he’d tried everything he knew how to do to try and help the family, but they’d been met with a dead end at every turn. He knew something insane had happened, he just didn’t know what.
~~~~~
Zac went from one message board to another. The authorities may not have believed Taylor was dead, but the fans did. As soon as an ambulance had pulled up by the bus, the news had spread like wildfire through the girls at the hotel and they’d snapped picture after picture from their balconies. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who was missing in the group of hysterical family members. Taylor Hanson had just been quietly transported, face covered by a blood stained sheet, away from a broken hearted family and a fan base that would be devastated. Only one person had gotten on the bus other than a detective and a photographer and she was assumed to be a fan, obviously unaware what had happened. The message boards were begging the mysterious red haired girl to step forward and tell what she’d seen. A blurry picture of Melanie stepping onto the bus was posted and Zac shuddered at the thought of her slinking around, not only his family, but the fans as well. He wondered exactly what her business had been, seeing as Taylor was long gone from there by then.
Once the police presence had mysteriously disappeared, fans had gathered around the bus watching for anyone they could ask about what had happened, but mysteriously, no media, police, or anyone of any official nature ever showed back up. Painfully, Zac hit the “next” button over and over, watching the events of that night unfolding before his eyes. The evidence was overwhelming and the girls were reacting. Memorial pages had already sprung up and they were demanding to know what had happened. Most were of the opinion that he must have committed suicide, that the pressure had finally gotten to him and so, not only did they feel a sense of loss, but of guilt. Some girls were saying their goodbyes to their online friends, deciding a world with no Taylor was a world not worth living in. Zac got chills, knowing some of them would actually go through with their threats, wanting to join Taylor in the next life. But Taylor was sleeping just a few feet away, he hadn’t actually gone on to that next life. He was still very much stuck right here in this one, perhaps for eternity.
~~~~~
For the twenty second time that day, Walker tried calling all three boys cell phones. Even though he knew Taylor’s was somewhere with the clothes he’d been wearing that night, Zac had lost his the week before and Isaac was always “unavailable”. He was getting desperate. Chris had informed him that the fans were quickly going insane and they had no choice but to make some sort of statement right away. Whether it was to the media or directly on the boys’ official site, it didn’t matter, it just had to be soon.
Walker looked over at Diana, sitting next to him, still gazing out the window, Mackenzie in her lap. She clutched him as if she were afraid someone might try to take him away from her. He sighed, thinking if the boys didn’t show up in New York, it would break his wife. He didn’t know how much more she could take. He looked back down at the phone, sighed, then dialed the numbers again, praying for an answer.