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Chapter 13 Taylor hadn't seen or heard a sign of his captors. If only he could get these handcuffs off, he thought. He'd been making his hands as small as he could to try and squeeze out of them but to no avail. However, he had succeeded in making his hands very sore and he was pretty sure the stickiness he now felt on his skin was blood. His shoulders were killing him. His arms were looped over the back of the chair. If he could just raise them high enough, maybe he could get them over that. He didn't know what he'd do about his legs which were tied to the chair as well, but he guessed he'd cross that bridge when he came to it. First things first.
He didn't know where those two were but he would try everything in his power to get loose before they came back from wherever they were. He leaned forward in the chair and tried to pull his arms toward his head. Nope, wasn't working. He leaned back again. Hmmmm, he thought. OK, if I bend my elbows, then maybe my arms will go over the chair when I lean forward. Oh God, that hurts! Just a little farther... Now, lean forward... farther... BLAM! He and the chair fell together face first smacking the floor with a crunch. Now, not only were his arms being pulled out of their sockets, but he had nearly knocked himself out. He was able to turn his head and he could feel the warm blood running from his nose.
"What the Hell?!!" Both of the people he least wanted to see came running in from what he assumed was the front porch.
"Well, genius, now what?" The woman got down on her hands and knees and looked in Taylor's face. "Whoa, I'll bet that hurts. Tom, we better get him up. You might have to give him a nose job." She laughed at her joke. She stood up and the two of them got on either side of him and tipped him, chair and all, back up. His head was throbbing and his vision was swimming.
"Look up here." Now it was the man speaking to him. He licked the blood that was running down his lip. He wasn't really comprehending what they were saying. He shook his head to try and clear it. "I said, look up here!" he growled at Taylor. Still no response. He stood by him, grabbed his hair and pulled back 'til his face was visible. "Hold it back like that so I can get a look at him." She gleefully did as asked. It struck Taylor that she seemed to be even more belligerent towards him than the man. "Open your eyes up nice and wide for me." He sounded more like a friendly physician than the man who had abducted him. He took a small flashlight from his pocket and shone it in each eye. "They look fine. No concussion. Now, let's look at that beautiful nose of yours, that until now, all the girls go crazy for." He went to the sink in the kitchenette and came back with a wet washcloth.
"You're breaking my neck." Taylor spoke to the woman.
"Is that so?"
The man began wiping the blood from his face in a way that reminded him of his mother attacking Mack after he had eaten a chocolate ice cream cone. Next he inspected his nose to make sure it wasn't broken, it wasn't. "Well, aren't you lucky? I was sure when I saw all that lovely red it was going to be. Oh well." He continued to inspect Taylor's face and when his gaze went to his mouth he said, "Hmmm, I see you got a few stitches not too long ago." He pulled his lip down. "You sure are a good bleeder. Are you a hemophiliac?"
"Not that I know of. Why? Are you a doctor?" Taylor spat back.
"Why, yes I am. Tom Harris at your service. In fact," and he got very close to Taylor's face, "I'm a surgeon."
"What do you want with me and why do you care how much I bleed?"
"Well, I can tell you this much, I don't want to kill you. That's why I ask. I just want to make you very sorry."
"Sorry for WHAT?! Who the hell are you and who's the bitch that's still breaking my neck?!!!!" At this point he was ready for them to kill him or something. This cat and mouse game was getting to him. She let go of his hair and by the time he was able to raise his head back up he came face to face with her as she straddled his legs.
"You really want to know who I am? Well, you little fuck, I am the sister of the girl you screwed over a few months ago. Does that help? I'm sure it doesn't 'cause you screw a lot of girls don't you?"
"No, I don't. I don't meet many worth screwing so she must've been good." He still had no idea who they were or who the girl was they were talking about but if it was true, there were only a couple possibilities.
"Do you want me to kill you? 'Cause I would enjoy it." The look in her eye made him know she meant it. Tom came over and pulled her away from him.
"No. No killing. Where's the fun in that? I want him to feel regret for the rest of his life, just like I will." He looked at Taylor. "Y'know, I think we'll let his fans decide his fate. Let's surf."
He pulled Taylor's chair over to the corner where a PC was set up. Taylor looked around the room for the first time. It was sort of like a hotel room with all the extras. He heard the familiar sound of the computer being switched on. "Why won't you tell me what you want? If you just want me to suffer, at least let me know why."
They both turned and looked at him. "You're still bleeding." Tom said mechanically. "Karen, you do it this time."
She grabbed the washcloth and came towards him. "Do I get to pull your hair again or are you gonna make it easy on yourself?" He tipped his head back and she wiped the blood from his lip. He was looking at her trying to decide if she looked like any girls he knew. Dark hair and eyes, small build. Pretty, but nothing special. "What?"
"Nothing, just trying to figure out who you are and why I'm here."
She looked away from him and over to the computer. "Let's see..." Tom was going from link to link to link.
~~~~
When Zac awoke, he was alone in the hotel room. It was strangely quiet. His family was never quiet. It felt weird. He lay there thinking. The sun was up and shining in the windows. He looked over at the clock, Taylor had been gone now for more than eight hours. He closed his eyes hoping to keep fresh tears from coming. His head ached already from all the crying the night before. "Please God" he prayed, "let me go in there and they tell me he's OK." He sat up in the bed and looked around the room. Just like always, Taylor's things were scattered about the room. CD's, gameboy, a dog eared notebook that held thoughts, doodles, and song pieces, all shades of his brother. His cranberry corduroy shirt draped across the chair. He got up and picked up the shirt and put it on. He pulled the collar up to his nose. Shampoo. Taylor almost never dried his hair and his shirts always smelled like coconut shampoo, his favorite. It made him think of a day at the pool—cherry icees, coconut suntan lotion and Taylor's blue eyes, so different from his and Isaac's.
His daydream was interrupted by the click of the door. Avery and Mackenzie entered. "Zac, are you OK?" His sister asked.
"Momma told us somebody stole Tay from you." Mackenzie stated. Though he didn't answer, they continued to question him. "Why did they do that?"
"Are they gonna bring him back?"
"I don't know guys." It was the only thing he was sure of right then.
~~~~
"I didn't know you had so many fans. And they're all so talented. Look at these pages." He looked over at Taylor. "Don't you think?"
"Yes." He answered sullenly.
Tom continued goading him. "Do you like your fans?"
"Of course."
"Do you have a favorite site?"
"Hansonline.com."
Tom typed it in and the familiar page popped up. "The official page? Boring. What else?"
"That's it."
"That's the only site you ever go to?" He asked incredulously.
"Yes."
"You're lying. But, you're good at that so I'm not surprised. I'll just check 'Taylor Hanson' and we'll cut through some of this... Wwhoa, you're a pretty popular guy. Oh yeah, this is it. For your sixteenth birthday, your fans voted on the sixteen greatest things about you. Starting with #16, your eyebrows. Karen, they like his eyebrows. What do you think?"
"Hmmmm..." She looked at Taylor. "Do you pluck?"
"No."
"Really?" She turned back to Tom. "Well yeah, the kid's got good eyebrow genes. What's next?"
"#15 is, his jawline." She looked at Taylor again. "#14 is chest and arms."
"I can't tell with his arms behind his back like that."
Now Taylor looked at her. "Well, why don't you undo my hands and I can show them to you?" He gave her the most angelic smile he could muster. She was not amused.
"#13, Butt. Taylor my man, your butt is way down on the list. Does that bother you?" Taylor just rolled his eyes and looked away. "Ears. Oh, they like the way his ears stick out."
Karen reached over and picked up his hair to look. "Oh, he's got an earring. I can't believe your mommy let you do that. Tom, let's do like they did the Lindbergh kid and send one to his folks."
He replied. "I think that was a finger, you might be getting him mixed up with Van Gogh."
"Oh. Well, it was a thought."
Although he was trying to hide it, Taylor was getting pretty alarmed with all this talk. Both Tom and Karen had their eyes on the computer screen, but every now and then she would look over at him with a cold stare.
"Hey," Tom said. "Who's the kid?" #11 was Enthusiasm, Loyalty, and Dedication and there on the screen was a picture of Taylor carrying Mackenzie on his hip.
Taylor looked over. "That's my baby brother."
"What's his name?"
"Why? Do you wanna kidnap him too?"
"You know, being snotty to me isn't going to help you a bit."
"What would? You say you don't want money but why else do you kidnap somebody? What do you want? What have I done to you?"
Tom turned around to face Taylor, then with his foot pulled him over very close to him. Taylor looked at his face. He had green eyes and a beard cut almost in a goatee. "Do you remember Sarah?" he asked.
"Sarah? From the hotel?"
Tom closed his eyes. "Sarah the girl you made love to. Sarah the girl that you left."
"I remember her very well and she knew I had to leave. I wanted to leave before anything happened and she wouldn't let me."
Karen had now come and stood over him. "You poor little helpless boy. Did the mean old girl make you have sex with her? And without a condom or anything?"
"She's 24 and I'm 16... I didn't rape her!"
"No, you didn't. You're a rock star and she was a fan so it was much easier than that. You took advantage of her though, you knew she loved you..."
"She didn't even know me!!" Taylor was now getting as upset as her. "I gave her my e-mail address and she never even wrote to me!"
"Bullshit!!" Karen interrupted him. "She wrote you over and over and you just ignored her!"
"She wrote me one time and that was like a week ago!"
"Eleven days to be exact." Tom spoke evenly. "And how did you respond?" he asked.
"I told her to piss off."
Karen drew back and slapped him so hard he would've fallen out of the chair if he hadn't been tied to it. Tom was barely able to restrain her. Before he could pull her away, she smashed her foot into Taylor's side and the chair slammed into the wall taking him with it. Once again, he found himself on the floor. The chair had snapped off it's base freeing his legs, though there was still no hope of his escaping as his arms were still securely behind him entangled with the rest of the chair back that was still intact.
Karen was still trying to get at him. He pushed himself backwards away from her towards the wall. He was able to sit up though he felt a terrible pain in his side and he felt his wrists being cut into by the metal handcuffs and his shoulders and arms were screaming as the joints were being pulled in ways they weren't meant to be. "Why did she have to fall for you?!" Karen was now crying. "An uncaring, unfeeling, spoiled sixteen year old who doesn't deserve any of the adoration heaped on him? She had a life and she could have been happy but you used her..."
"I didn't use her! If anything, she used me!" Taylor shot back at her.
"You used her for sex and made her think you cared about her to get it..."
"This is bullshit! I told her I couldn't get into a relationship and she said if she could just be with me once she'd be happy. So, what, now she changed her mind and she's sending her family to make me pay?!!"
Now Tom spoke. "I'm not family. I'm her fiancée and I intend to make you sorry for what you did to her."
"Fiancée? You mean to tell me this is all because I fucked your girlfriend?!"
"I don't even want to know what you did to her!" Tom got down on his hands and knees and got very close to Taylor. "I didn't do anything to her except let her live out her fantasy of meeting you. And you took away her innocence and ultimately her life."
"What are you saying?" Taylor asked.
"I'm saying, not only did you 'fuck her' as you said, you got her pregnant with your son..." He looked at Karen, "isn't that what the autopsy said?" She nodded. Now he turned back to Taylor, "you got her pregnant and when she swallowed her pride and wrote to you to arrange to tell you in person, you told her to 'piss off.' Your words, I believe."
Taylor felt tears spring to his eyes as he put two and two together. "Where is she?" He asked.
"Park Hill Cemetery... Hell... Heaven... Wherever you go when you take your own life and the life of your unborn child." Tom answered.
"Oh God, I didn't know..."
"No, you didn't because you didn't care enough to find out."
Taylor closed his eyes, he couldn't bear to see the faces of his accusers. The tears he tried hard to hold back were now spilling down his face. All he could see in his mind was her face.
"You know," Tom continued, "in 2 more weeks your child would have been half way there. Too bad his father cared only for himself..."
"That's not true! I didn't know! I waited and waited for her to contact me and she never did! She never gave me a chance!"
"Save it!" Tom had gotten so close to Taylor's face he could feel his breath. "You can't lie your way out of this, what's done is done and you're to blame. For the rest of my life I have to live knowing I couldn't help the girl I loved, in fact, she killed herself with drugs she took from my office. So, you see, in a way Taylor, you and I have something in common. You and I together killed Sarah and the only thing that's kept me going these last days was that Karen and I knew we would keep other girls from being used by you."
Taylor looked over at her now, her tears had stopped and she once again looked coldly back at him. Without taking her eyes off Taylor she spoke to Tom. "Enough talking, let's get this show on the road. Someone may already be figuring out where we are. It's time." She got up and left the room. Her words chilled Taylor to the bone.
"You're right" Tom said. "This is the least we can do for her."
Karen came back into the room carrying what looked to Taylor like some sort of medical supplies. "Where are we gonna do it?" she asked Tom.
"DO WHAT!!!???" Taylor was beginning to panic. The sight of needles and such in the hands of doctors and nurses made him squeamish so seeing them in Karen's made sweat break out on his forehead and his stomach was already tying itself in knots.
"Well, the table is in the back room..."
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!!! What are you gonna do?!!" He was trying desperately now to free his hands.
"Taylor," Tom said. "Make it easy on yourself, you're not going anywhere, if you don't stop that you're going to pull your arms out of the sockets and I hear that's very painful."
"Get away from me!!" He shouted and he tried to kick at him but his feet were still entangled in the ropes though not tightly.
Tom backed up a bit. "You know, if you kick me again, I'm not going to be as easy on you as I was the last time." Taylor pulled his feet up toward himself. His wrists were bleeding, he could tell. He slowly inched his way up the wall until he was standing leaving a red streak on the wall behind him. Tom stepped toward him and he backed up almost violently towards the corner.
To Karen, he looked like a caged animal and she knew this wasn't going to be as easy as she'd hoped. "Tom, don't let this get crazy. I want to see this thing through to the end, but at five o'clock, I'm gone." She almost felt sorry for Taylor, but she also felt like she owed it to her sister to extract some sort of revenge for how he'd treated her. She couldn't allow herself to be taken in by his pleas of innocence or his big blue eyes that were pleading with her for mercy. If he could be man enough to bed her sister, he could be man enough to pay the consequences.
"Well, I think we might have to have a replay of the car incident. I didn't want to do that, but I don't think he looks like he's going to cooperate. Y'know Karen, it would've been a lot easier if you wouldn't have broken the chair."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I guess I'll just have to make it up to you."
"OK Taylor, this is your last chance to just get this over with painlessly and with fewer complications. So, what's it gonna be?"
"Painless for who? You're out of your mind!" He was back as far into the corner as he could get. He was trapped and he knew it but he still couldn't make himself just give up.
Tom sighed. "Here we go again, get it ready."
Taylor watched as Karen reached in the box she'd brought in from the other room. Sunlight glinted off the vial of clear liquid she held up. "How much this time?"
"About half as much, I only need a few minutes." He hadn't taken his eyes off Taylor who was now looking sick on top of very frightened. "What's the matter Mr. Rock Star? You look like you're about to have a panic attack. You can face 20,000 screaming girls, but a little needle gives you the heebie jeebies. Guess you're not into heroin yet, huh?" Taylor felt like he was going to throw up. He swallowed and licked his lips. He knew he had to stay calm, if he passed out like he had at the hospital, they'd be on him in a second. "So, when was the last time you ate, Taylor?"
"Why?"
"Just wondering."
"Yesterday."
"What time?"
"Why the hell do you care?"
"You don't look well, and I'm not trying to kill you y'know."
"You keep saying that, but somehow, I don't believe you."
Tom smiled and looked at Karen. "This is too easy. Well, ready when you are."
"I'm ready." She said.
Tom suddenly slammed into Taylor, pinning him in the corner. "Alright! Do it!" Though tied up, the adrenaline rushing through him was enough that Tom was having a tough time keeping Taylor in the corner. "It doesn't matter where, just do it!"
She was trying to inject the drug into him but between his struggling and his begging her not to, she was getting very unnerved. "Please, please don't do this! Please..."
"Karen! Do it!!" Just then Taylor's head connected with Tom's and for a moment, they both stopped. That was her chance, she was able to plunge the needle into his thigh.
"OW! God, please help me..." He turned his face into the corner. Tom stood, rubbing his forehead. With his back to her now, Karen could see Taylor's hands behind him. His wrists were bruised and blood had run down to his fingertips—the back of his jeans were covered with it. He was sobbing into the corner like a baby.
Tom backed away from him now and went back to the computer. There was the picture of Taylor carrying Mackenzie on his hip. He turned to Taylor and said. "Ironic, isn't it? In a few years you could have been holding your own child just like that, I have a feeling from the looks of this list that #1 is going to mean you won't be making any babies ever again."
Karen watched as Taylor turned towards Tom. He looked at him with what she thought were the saddest eyes she'd ever seen. She could see that the drug was taking effect. "I never meant to hurt her... She was so beautiful..." His voice trailed off and he looked down at the floor. He slumped to his knees and swayed a bit. Then she watched him fall on his side.
"Well, Taylor," Tom spoke. "I underestimated your fans. I guess it's not all physical. I can't believe I didn't think of it myself." He looked down at him laying on the floor, blonde hair falling around him and his glassy eyes still open and looking up at him. "It seems the number one thing they love about you is... your voice."
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