CHAPTER SEVEN

"I don’t know what's going on, Tay," Isaac sighed to himself, sitting on a chair near the wall of the hallway outside their hotel room. "Why didn’t he tell us he’d been feeling sick before we went onto the stage?"

"Maybe he was okay then," Taylor shrugged. "First it just started with that going off key thing, I knew something was up then, but then the drumbeat changed and I knew for certain something was wrong," he sighed. "I hate seeing the little freak so ill, makes me feel like I’m not doing my job as a big brother looking after him."
"I know, I feel so guilty, obviously he’s not been feeling good since this morning when he got upset with us and ran off at breakfast…now this…what's going on?"

"I don’t know, Ike, I just don’t know," Taylor sighed.

Walker Hanson stepped out of the boys hotel room, a grim look on his face. "Your brother is suffering from stress, guys," he said.

"Just stress?" Isaac asked, standing up.

"Yeah. The Doctor said the reason he was throwing up so much was because his body was so uptight, that he couldn’t even digest his food, he mostly threw up acids in his stomach, since he’d barely even eaten…"

"At least its not food-poisoning or anything," Isaac sighed in a half relief.

"Still, what stressed him out? We’ve barely been stressed, we’ve had a week of rest, three days doing simple little things like concerts and all that shouldn’t have brought on a bout of stress related illness like that…" Taylor looked worried.

"The Doctor said its because he’s so young, it just weighed up one thing after another…but Zac is assuring us he’s fine…" Walker said.

The doctor stepped out of the hotel room. "Your son is resting now…I’ve left my card on the dresser just in case you need my services again, until then I prescribe this for him," the Doctor – who had a seriously strong Scottish accent - handed out a slip of paper to Walker, then he began to make his way off without even explaining what the stuff was.

How unprofessional, Taylor thought.

Walker stared at the paper. "ValerginP40," he muttered.

"What's that?" Taylor asked.

"Its like the children’s version of Valium, its more of a sedative for calming hyperactiveness than calming stress…"

"That’s not what Zac needs!" Isaac protested.

"Well…if the doctor prescribed it…" Walker sighed. "I guess I’ll go down to the pharmacy down the street and see to getting this. You two stay with Zac and make sure he’s okay," he ordered.

"We will, dad," Taylor nodded.

The boys made their way back into the room. Zac was sprawled out on his bed, no covers on, wearing his pants from earlier, but he was now topless – mostly because he’d gotten vomit on his shirt. Zac opened his eyes wearily, looking up at his brothers in a guilty way.

"Sorry guys," Zac mumbled.

"For what?" Isaac asked, moving over, he sat on the edge of Zac’s bed, looking at him.

"For ruining the concert…" Zac sighed, closing his eyes.

"Hey, its okay, its just a concert, and those people got their money back," Taylor said, walking over.

Zac looked up. "Guys…I really have to tell you—"

"Sssh, Zac…you need to get some sleep, you’re not well, and you’ll make yourself worse," Isaac placed his hand on Zac’s arm. "Just close your eyes and sleep."

"But—"

"We can hear all about it tomorrow, okay?" Taylor said in a soothing voice, reminded of the way his mom would speak to him when he wasn’t feeling so good.

Zac sighed and closed his eyes wearily, drifting off into a slumber.

"Maybe we should call mom," Isaac said after a while, he’d been sitting in silence for some time, watching Zac sleep, as if somehow it gave him solace that he was really okay.

"Yeah, she’d want to know this had happened, she’d go nuts if she found out about it from some newspaper or on TV," Taylor agreed.

"I…think you should go," Isaac said. "I better stay here to make sure he’s alright…"

"Okay," Taylor nodded. "Gimme some money…"

"There's a fifty-pence-piece on the cabinet," Isaac pointed out.

"Yeah, right, Ike, like a call to Tulsa is gonna come to fifty-pence? C’mon, it could cost anything up to ten pounds!"

"Okay, okay," Isaac sighed. "Go through my wallet, see what you can find…"

Taylor began searching through Isaac’s wallet which had been sitting on the top of the dresser. "Okay, I found a five pound note, and three pounds in loose change. Most of its in coppers though, I guess I’ll have to ask someone if they can swap the fiver for change," he shrugged. "I’ll be back in around fifteen minutes – coz that’s how long is gonna take in order to get through to Tulsa from a stupid phone in this hotel…"

Isaac nodded.

"Ike, by the way, I seriously recommend you have a shower, you’re stinking of Zac’s puke…" Taylor added, before he left the room.

Isaac frowned, and sniffed at his shirt. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Taylor was right, he did. "I guess you’ll be okay, for a moment, little buddy," he said, he patted Zac’s arm, turned off the light, then he went off to take a shower.