Chapter 16
"How long has it been, Dad?" Zac asked again.
Walker looked at his watch. "It's been... a little more than forty-five minutes."
Diana walked into the waiting room with two cups of coffee and handed one to her husband. "Did you call the kids?" He asked.
"I talked to Jessica. She's pretty upset. Avie, Mack and Zoe were in bed. Jason said they were just pooped. Jess said she called your mom and she's on her way. She got a flight for tomorrow morning."
"What did you tell Jess?" Isaac asked.
"Just what we know. I told her we'd call back as soon as we heard anything."
Zac would ask three more times how long it had been before they actually did hear anything. A nurse came up to them to ask if they were Jordan Hanson's family. "Yes! Have you heard anything?" Walker asked.
"They just called to say they are finished, he is doing fine, his vitals are good and they should be bringing him up in about 20 or 25 minutes. They just want to watch him for a little while in recovery. The doctor will be up in a moment to talk to you."
"Thank you."
It wasn't very long after that til Dr. McCawley came in with another doctor. "Mr. and Mrs. Hanson? I'm Mark Shane. I just had a look at your son." He pulled a chair over and sat with them.
"What did you find?" Diana asked.
"Well, it's not good. Whoever had him performed a surgical procedure called a chordectomy on him."
"They kidnapped him in order to do surgery on him?!" Isaac asked, "Why would they do that?!"
"I couldn't tell you that. It was a very cruel thing to do to a healthy body and, of course, it will be devastating for him."
Diana spoke up now. "What exactly are you saying? I mean, what is it?"
"It's usually used for patients in the first stages of throat cancer. It's exactly what it sounds like, the removal of the vocal chords."
Her eyes got big and she covered her mouth with her hand. Isaac got up from the chair. He felt like he was going to be sick. "You were able to fix it, though, right?" Zac asked him.
Dr. McCawley spoke to him now. "Zac, we can't fix this. It's irreversible. Fortunately, whoever did this must've known what they were doing. There can be complications because it's a very delicate area... but, everything was left in perfect shape except the true chords." She looked at Walker. "That's what was in the vial."
Walker closed his eyes as he let the words he was hearing actually sink in. He looked at Dr. Shane. "So, you're telling me that my son no longer has a voice. He won't ever speak or sing or hum or be able to make any sounds again, ever. Is that what you are telling me?"
For the first time he paused before answering. He knew that outside of death, this was the worst thing that could happen to the boy. Dr. McCawley had filled him in about Taylor and he knew that, not only the boy and his family, but a record company, manager, and many, many fans counted on Taylor Hanson for everything from entertainment, to their livelihoods, to the fulfillment of their dreams. With one word, Mark Shane shattered all that. "Yes."
~~~~
Taylor hadn't thought his throat could feel worse than it had before, but he was wrong. Whatever they'd used to "look" at it had obviously been at least the size of a baseball bat. No wonder he couldn't be awake for it. He brought his hand up to his face to rub his eyes and felt more pain, he looked at it and there was another IV in it. "God," he thought, "how many more holes are they gonna put in me?" A nurse noticed the movement and came over to him.
"Ah, you're awake. I thought I was going to have to pinch you." He smiled a little then pointed to the new needle and then raised his eyebrows. "Oh," she said, "that was for the anesthesia, is it bothering you?" Duh. "Well, I think they're finished doing things to you. I'll take it out." She walked away and came back with gauze and tape. She chattered away as she went about her task. She held his hand up for him to see. "There! Good as new!"
"That's easy for you to say," he thought.
"I guess you're feeling pretty poopy, huh?" He nodded. "Well, your folks are upstairs waiting to see you. Are you ready?" He nodded again. She pushed him out to the hall and to the elevator. She looked down at him thinking what an awful blow he'd been dealt. She knew what they'd found and from the look in his eye she figured he knew too. But, she certainly wasn't going to be the one to tell him if he didn't. "You sure got pretty eyes."
"Thanks." He smiled again.
The elevator opened and they were on their way. "You're in room 707. You're lucky, that's a private one."
~~~~
His family had already been directed to his room. Dr. McCawley had asked if they wanted to tell him the news or if they would prefer that she do it, they decided it would be best if they did it themselves. "Well," she'd replied, "there's really not much more I can do for him tonight. I think we'll need to keep him for a day or two. No solid foods tomorrow but we'll work up to it for the next day. As long as he can eat and the fever's gone, we'll send him home. Good Luck. I'll be here tomorrow."
She walked out and the four of them were left to wait for Taylor's return. Diana looked over at her other two boys. Zac was just sort of looking off into space and Isaac sat in a chair with his knees pulled up and his head down on them. Neither had said anything since the two doctors had dropped the bomb.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a nurse who was talking away as she pushed the gurney and a very tired looking, but awake Taylor into the room. "Hello, I'm Katy. You must be Jordan's family. Boy, I'm glad to see all these muscles in here, I thought I was gonna have to call for help to get fatty here into the bed." She looked at Taylor who rolled his eyes at her. She giggled and lowered the rail so that he could scoot over. Walker and Zac both got up and between the two he was deposited in the regular bed without much trouble and only a little twinge of pain from his ribs. She checked to make sure nothing was out of place and the IV's were all doing what they should be. Once satisfied she turned her attention to Taylor again. "OK, I'm leaving now, but before I go back down I'm gonna tell them to get you some Popsicle's for tomorrow. You won't believe how much better it'll feel." And with a quick "Byebye!" she was gone.
"Wow, and they call me hyper." Zac said as he looked out the door after her.
"Ike, why don't you guys go get something to eat, but come back in a few minutes, ok?" Walker suggested. He didn't think Taylor needed to see how upset the two were on top of everything else.
Isaac got up, "Alright Dad. Tay? We'll see ya, OK?" He gave a half smile and a little wave and they left looking very unhappy.
There was now an uncomfortable silence as Taylor prepared to hear what he thought he already knew, but that still had to be said outloud. "How do you feel, son?" His father asked.
"Like crap." He said.
"Crap?" His father repeated what he thought he'd said. He nodded. He was getting impatient. "I'm afraid you're going to feel like crap for a few days, but it'll get better soon."
"Mom..."
"Tay," she started, "the doctors found why you're having trouble with your throat." She stopped. He made a circular motion with his hands urging her to go on. "Um... They say whoever took you... Well, they also took away your voice because they took your vocal chords." She watched his face to try and read what he was thinking but he just looked confused.
"That's why your throat is so sore." His father added.
"And that's where the blood came from." She said.
Taylor used his fingers like scissors cutting and then looked to his father. He nodded. With that, the full impact hit him, he had remembered being told in a roundabout way by his captors that they were going to make him sorry and he remembered Tom's voice as he'd read the number one entry in the fan's list of their favorite things about him, but he'd not believed they'd go that far. He'd thought it might be damaged or changed in some way or temporarily gone, but to completely take away his ability to communicate with anyone. Ever.
For more than half his life he'd relied on music and songs to express himself, how could they take that away from him? Why didn't they just kill him? It would have been simpler. He knew enough about the throat and all it's parts from all the vocal and throat specialists he'd seen when his voice had changed at a very inopportune time in his career. This was forever. His mother and father watched as the reality of his situation hit him. "No, no, no!" He was saying the word over and over and shaking his head.
"It's gonna be alright, we'll work through it..." His father tried to comfort him but his mental state was deteriorating before their eyes. He had begun to breathe very fast and he felt like he would throw up, but there wasn't anything in him so he just got dry heaves. Isaac and Zac walked into the room to see their mother turn her back to Taylor who reached out for her.
"What's wrong with him?!" Zac asked panic stricken.
"Ike, go get someone!" his father looked to be the next one to lose it. Diana was sobbing, she couldn't bear to see him go through this. She ran out the door. Isaac couldn't believe what he was seeing, it was like some drama on TV but the mute button had been pushed, his brother was crying out to them but there was no sound.
Dr. Shane and a nurse came running by Isaac and he watched as his father tried to calm Taylor. The doctor gave some sort of instructions to the nurse who put something into the IV line that led into his brother's vein. "Taylor, you need to stop breathing like that..." The doctor kept telling him but he seemed oblivious to them.
To Isaac, he reminded him of a dog on a hot summer day. Diana came back in and went to him. They embraced and Isaac watched as she stroked his back and cooed comforting words in his ear. He'd seen her do it countless times before to every one of his brothers and sisters, and just as it had worked for skinned knees and dead goldfish, it worked now for both her and Taylor's broken hearts. Between his mother and whatever the nurse had given him, Taylor felt his limbs getting heavy. Diana felt his hold on her loosening and she pulled back. Walker took his shoulders and lay him back on the bed so that he could sleep. Once again it was quiet. Walker went over and hugged his wife. Zac and Isaac looked at each other. Finally feeling like he was unfrozen, Isaac stepped over to the bed. Taylor had turned over onto his side and Isaac expected to see him sleeping but brown eyes met blue ones and Isaac knew Taylor didn't need to see him cry, so he swallowed and said, "I'm not going to ask you how you feel, ok?"
He was answered with the tiniest smile that was followed by a single tear that slowly ran over the bridge of his nose. Zac stepped up beside Isaac now and Taylor's gaze went to his face. Zac looked as bad as Taylor felt. He took Zac's hand and squeezed it and he reached down to hug his brother. When they parted, Taylor looked to Isaac again and mouthed the word, "paper."
"You want to write something?" Taylor nodded. In the drawer of the bedside table Zac found a pen and a pad of paper with the hospital's logo. He handed it to Taylor. The sedatives were really taking effect now so it was hard, but Taylor knew he had to get them to understand.
He wrote and handed it to the doctor. He looked at Taylor and said, "Tom Harris? Is that your doctor? Do you want me to call him for you?" Taylor shook his head and looked frustrated. He put his finger up and ran it across his neck making that odd noise, it was a gesture every child recognizes as someone having their throat cut. He pointed to the paper with the other hand. Dr. Shane suddenly felt five pairs of eyes riveted to him.
"What?" Walker looked at Taylor. "Is that the name of the person who kidnapped you?" He nodded.
"That's not possible." Dr. Shane stated. "Are you trying to tell me that Tom Harris kidnapped you? The Dr. Thomas Harris, the surgeon?" As the words left his mouth it all became clear. "Oh my god. This is incredible, you're sure?" Taylor nodded. He turned to the nurse, "Go get the physicians directory from the nurses station." Taylor asked for the paper again. He wrote and handed it back. "He told you his name? Well, who was the woman?" He looked over at Zac, "There were two of them, right?" The doctor asked.
"Yeah, a guy and a girl." Taylor shrugged his shoulders and then a huge yawn took him over and his eyes closed. The nurse came back in and the doctor took it and showed it to Zac.
"Is that him?" He asked as he pointed to the picture.
Zac looked at the photo and was immediately taken back to that alley and the man pointing a gun at his brother's head. "That's him." His knees felt weak and he had to sit down. He just couldn't believe this was happening.
"We'd better tell Detective Miller, he'll want to get right on this." Walker took the paper and hurried out the door.
The doctor shook his head and sighed. He looked over at Taylor asleep in the bed. "Well, I think he's going to be ok for now Mrs. Hanson. I'm going home, this has been too much for me so I can just imagine how you're feeling."
"Actually, Dr. Shane, I don't think you could."
"I suppose you're right. I'm sorry about all this. Please call me if anything comes up, but he should be out for at least six hours, probably more like eight, you should go get some rest." He looked at the boys who were watching their brother sleep. "Looks like they could use it too. He really is in no danger, at least not physically."
"Thank you Doctor."
"Just doing my job, which sure
sucks sometimes." They smiled at each other and he left.
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