Chapter 35

Walker had been on the phone with the boys' manager for the last 15 minutes.  Diana was ready to pull her hair out, not only had they gotten the news that her son's kidnapper had been captured, but Isaac had called to tell them that Taylor had left the party they'd been at and now they couldn't find him anywhere.  The other children knew something was up and she'd had to tell Jessica everything.  She would owe her big time for helping out so much and keeping her brother and sisters busy while she and Walker took phone call after phone call.

Finally Walker hung up.  "What was that about?"  She asked her husband.

"Well," he said, "the guy is not denying anything.  He admits he did it.  He says he's glad he did it.  Chris says there will be a trial because the guy is probably going to claim temporary insanity or something like that.  He's going to try and get a gag order or whatever you call it, to try and keep it all out of the press, but he doesn't really think it's going to work."

Her heart sunk.  "Oh no, Walk, this is going to be just awful."  She said as she sat in one of the kitchen chairs.

He shook his head, "Plus, he says we need to be prepared for the worst.  This guy says Taylor deserved what he got and when everybody knows the story, they'll agree."

The ringing of the phone broke the uneasy silence that had ensued.  Diana looked at the caller I.D. box and saw the call was coming from their old house.  She picked up the phone.  "Hello?"

She didn't recognize the voice on the other end of the line.  "Mrs. Hanson?"

"Yes."  She replied.

"This is Tim Gutman.  I live down the street from you guys?"

Her eyes narrowed and her voice got cold, "Marcy's brother, yes, I know you."

"Um...  Well, we're over at your old house and Taylor's here and he's not doing too good."

"What's wrong?!  Is he hurt?"

"No, he and Marcy came here and it looks like maybe he saw some pictures and stuff that upset him.  She tried to call you guys but she couldn't get through so she called us.  What do you want us to do?"

"Oh no. Can you bring him home?"

"Um, yeah.  But, he's kinda breathing funny and he acts like he doesn't know what's going on or something.  And there's a bunch of reporters and stuff outside."

"What?!"  She turned to her husband.  "Tay's at the house and he's sick and there's reporters there."

Walker picked up the extension.  "Can you go out the back way?"  He asked the boy.

"I don't know, maybe.  But I don't know if Taylor can walk.  If we have to carry him out or somethin', it's gonna be all over the news."

Greg had been listening to his brother's end of the conversation, "Let me talk to her for a second."  He said to Tim.  He handed him the phone.  "Mrs. Hanson?  This is Greg.  One of Taylor's friends told me he had one of these spells when he was with her once and she gave me some kind of medicine that she said helped him."

Diana spoke back, "what kind of medicine?"

"She said it was her mom's.  It's like Valium or Xanax or something like that.  I mean, it's not like LSD or anything."

"When he was in the hospital he had an attack like that and they gave him something.  Walk, what do you think?"

"Good grief,"  he said, "how long has it been going on?"

"Probably 20 minutes."

He sighed.  "Ok, go ahead and see if you can get him to take it.  We're going to call you back in 5 minutes, alright?"

"Ok, bye."  And Greg hung up the phone.  "Tim, go in the kitchen and get some water."  His brother left the room.  He looked down at Taylor and Marcy, he was still clutching onto her.  Tim came back and handed Marcy the glass.  Greg gave her the white tablet.  "Get him to take this, his Mom said it's alright."

"Taylor..." she said, and she tried to look at him, "we need you to take this, ok?"  He was holding onto her tightly, with his face in her hair, as if he were hiding.

Greg was getting impatient.  He was afraid Taylor really would have a heart attack.  "Jesus Christ.  Marcy, you go watch out front and tell us when those assholes leave.  Tim, you help me get that in him."

Marcy looked up at her brothers.  "Please don't hurt him.  He can't help it."

"I know Marcy," Greg said, "but, for crying out loud, he's obviously got post traumatic stress whatever. He's probably having some kind of a flashback or something and Kimmy said he has nightmares, he wakes up screaming.  Well, quietly screaming."  He smiled at her.

"Don't you dare laugh about any of this."  She said, glaring at her brother.

He held up his hands.  "Alright, alright.  And we won't hurt him, ok?  We'll just wait 'til he passes out from a lack of oxygen, which should be..."  He looked at his watch, "in about 30 seconds."

Marcy rolled her eyes at him, then tried to get up but Taylor's grasp on her was so strong that she couldn't. Tim grabbed her hand and pulled but that just got him more panicked and desperate.  Greg took Taylor's shoulders and held him back as Marcy and Tim struggled to get her away from him.  Tim finally got his arms under hers and pulled as hard as he could and she was nearly free of Taylor's grasp.  Her sweater had ripped around the neck and before she could get away, he grabbed the leg of her pants.  He was crying out to her and trying to get away from Greg.  Taylor looked at Marcy, "Sarah!"  He was saying and his arm was stretched out towards her.

"What is he saying!?"  Marcy was beginning to cry now, looking at his eyes pleading with her for something.  She couldn't understand what he wanted and it was breaking her heart.

Tim picked up the crumpled picture Taylor had finally dropped.  "I think he thinks you're Sarah."  He said and he handed the picture to his sister.  She looked at the girl.  She was very beautiful with large dark eyes and dark hair about her shoulders.  At the bottom of the photo was written "Sarah McAllister 1998".

"Leave, Marcy!"  Greg shouted.  Taylor turned then to see him and began to back away violently.  Marcy ran to the living room and leaned against the front door trying to put the look on Taylor's face out of her mind.  She looked down at the picture wondering who she was.  Suddenly, someone knocked on the door she was leaning against scaring her nearly to death.  If Taylor doesn't take that pill, she thought, I will.  She got on her tiptoes and looked out the peephole, seeing a face she recognized as a local news reporter.  She heard the sounds of a scuffle in the other room and she almost ran back to see what was happening, but decided against it.  "Do NOT open that door!"   Greg called from the office.

"I won't!"  She yelled back.  Hearing someone inside, the woman knocked harder.  Marcy rolled her eyes thinking the night had turned from a dream into a nightmare in about 30 minutes.  She heard her brothers strained voices and some other kinds of noises that could have been any of the three.

Now Tim called out to her, "Marcy!  Come in here!"

She took a deep breath and went into the office again. There she saw her brothers tending to their wounds.  "What happened?"  She said, concerned.

Greg spoke first.m  "Well," he said, trying to catch his breath, "like they say, 'Once bitten, twice shy'—I pity the poor guy that tries to kidnap him again."  He took his hand away from his face and she saw that his eye was swollen and a bruise was forming already.  Her other brother's face was red and he just didn't look good.  Taylor lay in the corner in a fetal position looking exhausted.  When she saw him she went to him. She stooped down to get closer and pushed his hair away from his face.  "Watch out, Marcy!"  Greg said.  "He might try to deck you!"

"Besides,"  Tim added.  "I think he barfed."

"He's not gonna deck me."  She said quietly.  She didn't know if it was the pill, which would have been remarkably fast, or if he was just worn out, but he wasn't panting like before, or crying, but sweat was dripping  from his hair and down his neck.  "Taylor, are you alright now?"  She said very gently. He opened his eyes and looked at her a moment then his eyes rolled back and he closed them again.  "What did you do to him?"  She asked the two.

"What did we do to him?!  Jesus Marcy, it took both of us to hold him down and force that thing down him and still he about knocked me out and he kicked Tim so hard right where it hurts, I thought he was gonna pass out!  Look at him!  He still might!"

She looked over at Tim who did, indeed, look a little green around the gills.  "I'm sorry guys."  She said, "Thanks for coming and helping and everything.  I don't know what I would have done..."  She was interrupted by the phone.

Greg picked it up, "Hello?"

"This is Walker Hanson,"  the voice on the other end of the line said.  "How is Taylor?  Did he take the pill?"

"Yeah.  It wasn't easy though.  Does he, like, eat Wheaties every day or something?"

Walker had to chuckle.  "Actually, we've been concerned about him getting so thin."

"Yeah, well, he's thin but he's wiry."  Diana let out a sigh of relief.

"Is this Tim or Greg?"  Walker asked.

"Greg."  He answered.

"Greg, Ike and Zac are on their way over..."

"Oooohhh, I don't know if that's such a good idea, this place is crawling with news people."

"They know how to handle reporters and hopefully, Tay will respond a little better to them.  Zac's very good with Taylor and he's bigger than him too, if he gives him any trouble.  I can't thank you boys and Marcy enough for being there for him.  I guess he knows they got the guy?"

"To be honest, Mr. Hanson, we don't know.  He kept saying something but we couldn't figure it out."

"Is it working?  Is he alright now?"  Diana asked.

"He's definitely better, but I don't really think it was the medicine, I think he might just be tired out."

"Alright, well, we're keeping this line open as best we can.  Please call back if anything comes up and please don't tell the press anything if you don't mind."  Walker said.

"Don't worry, I can't stand those assholes.  Er... uh, sorry."

"That's alright, son.  I agree with you.  Thanks again, byebye."

"Well,"  Greg said, as he hung up the phone, "the bodyguards are on their way.  Ike and Zac should be here
any minute, then we can split."

All three looked down at Taylor who, if not for the rise and fall of his chest, might've looked dead.  "Man," Tim said.  "I don't know what that stuff was, but I think it could take down an elephant."

"Hmph, maybe a 120 pound elephant."  Marcy retorted.   She stood up and went to the kitchen bringing back ice wrapped in a paper towel and handed it to Greg.

"Thanks.  You make sure when they get here they know we didn't do anything to him.  I've had enough threats from the sweet little Hanson brothers to last me a lifetime."  Greg said and he winced as he put the ice on his eye.

Tim added, "I've figured it out though.  You're alright raggin' on them, they just think it's funny.  But you rag on a brother and they get all freaky on you."

"Yep," Greg agreed, "that's about right."

Just then lights flashed in the window and they knew the other boys had gotten there.  Greg and Tim ran to the living room and watched as the press people descended on the car.  Isaac and Zac got out and pushed their way through as if no one was there.
 
 
 

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