Chapter 4
The clamor of the Hanson home could be heard from a block away. Unbeknownst to them, Diana had been nominated as neighbourhood baby-sitter for the day. All being special little surprises, Diana and Walker Hanson had already been blessed with seven precious bundles of energy (Isaac being the oldest at 19 and Zoe the youngest at 2), but with the addition of six friends the house was ready to explode.
Cautiously, Taylor drove the car into the garage, and found the family van already there. Stuffing his half eaten bag of Doritos into the glove compartment for later he grabbed his books and headed for the door. He was shocked to see it fling open just as he reached for it.
"Taylor!" Excitedly a fair haired munchkin hugged him around the legs.
"Hey Mackenzie, are you being good for mommy?" Three other's around the same height as the first came to the door armed with action figures and roller blades. Behind them a drained and overworked Diana could be heard, reminding them to keep off the half pipe.
"Yep." The child smiled up at his brother than lead his gang into the back yard.
Isaac was the next to wander by as Taylor took his shoes off. He smiled when he saw the ice bag his older brother was holding up to his head.
"Are you ok?" He laughed.
"Peachy keen!" Isaac replied with sarcastic giddiness. He rested his arm on the washing machine, leaning over. "You just got in didn't you?"
Taylor nodded hanging up his jacket. He picked up his books and handed one to Isaac. He flipped it over and read the back.
"Sound interesting. Thanks." He tucked it under his arm.
A small "exchange of words" as their parents usually called small fights between each other began to travel in from the living room. Theywere not a common thing but today was turning into quite a fluke.
And awkward tension made the boys slow down before venturing farther.
"How's Zac?" Taylor whispered. They were getting closer to their parents, they could tell.
"He's in the TV room with Jess and her friends. They said he was fine but he can't go to sleep because of the concussion."
An occasional clatter of pots or pans made it obvious that Diana was cooking. With one elusive whiff from the kitchen one could ascertain spaghetti and meat balls were in the making. Taylor remembered a time when it was once his favourite meal but now it only meant that someone was leaving. Usually leaving for L.A..
Sneaking through the livingroom, the boys tried to dodge their parents' attention.
"They're only children." Diana's agitated voice dwindled in from the kitchen.
"No, they're teenagers and they knew what they were getting into in the beginning." Walker replied. He walked past the open door making the boys freeze in position.
"Oh that's bull. No one saw this coming. I'm just saying they need this time. It only comes once." They watched as their mother crossed the doorway for a ladle.
"They signed the papers." Walker reasoned.
"They didn't sign their lives a. . ." The final word evaporated as Diana noticed her two eldest paralyzed in the livingroom. Isaac was first to jump back into action, pretending he was just meandering to the TV room. Startled, Taylor first pretended to be dusting the bookshelf with his hand then decided to mimic Isaac. Turning red, Diana seemed embarrassed but a childlike scream from the half pipe gave both parents an escape from questioning about what had been heard.
The boys exchanged looks of relief then, noticing the TV room door had been closed Isaac knocked while walking in. A blast of music sent him jumping out in pain.
"Backstreet Boys!" He cried, holding his throbbing head. "My head hurts too much to take that noise." He closed the door. " Just tell me if Zac's still alive later." He pressed the ice pack to his forehead with both hands and fumbled into the bedroom. Taylor ventured into the room covering his ears. Making matters much worse, MTV was playing the new 'Larger than Life' song which was quite rambunctious to say the least.
With great agility, Taylor maneuvered past the three dancing/hair smashing girls and found his brother in the middle of it all, knotted into a ball in the center of an otherwise abandoned chesterfield.
"Hey!" One of the girls smiled broadly noticing Taylor's presents. She stood so super-modelly correct that her chest could enter a room a good 30 seconds before the rest of her.
Waving at the girl, Taylor approached his brother.
"He can' t go to sleep!" Jessica yelled over the music, jumping to the beat. "So we're keeping him awake!"
Zachary mewed, placing his pleading hand on Taylor's arm to stop the agony.
"Yeah this would definitely accomplish that." Taylor laughed sympathetically. "But I think this might make him feel worse."
The bouncing stopped immediately at the hint of an insult. Seeming almost possessed Jessica squared both brothers in the eyes, which is practically impossible to do. "The Backstreet Boys will not make him feel worse!"
Taylor groaned. "I didn't mean. . ."
"The Backstreet Boys are musical icons!" She interrupted.
"Icons they are." He agreed and helped Zac to his feet.
"They're musical geniuses!" She continued as her brothers started for the door. "Geniuses!"
Taylor waved to her friends and shut the door.
"Geniuses." Zac mocked, "If you're gonna call 'em geniuses it better be for their self marketing, everything else is done for 'em"
"They produce a little, write a little." Taylor retorted, smiling at the small flint of jealousy in Zac's eyes.
"They're no geniuses."
With a laugh Taylor picked up one of Avery's toys and threw it in the girls' room. Zac wobbled a little and leaned on the wall.
"I just want to sleep." He complained. "I can't sleep in L.A. and now I can't sleep at home." Like a six- year old discovering the last french fry in the box Zac stuck out his bottom lip with a pout. "And where's Ike?"
"In our room." Taylor answered, now inadvertently tidying up the hallway. Zac grunted.
"Yeah and you know what he's doing?" He flapped his arms dramatically, "Sleeping!"
"Why, does he have a concussion too?" Taylor picked up the last Beeny-Baby. Its arm fell off. Quickly he tried to set it back in such a way that the next person to find it, would be the one that broke it.
"No. Well yeah, but a little one, so they said it most likely wouldn't matter after a few hours."
"Oh." Taylor surveyed the specimen, looked like an un-broke bear to him. "Minor."
"What?" Zac turned around with his hand on the door.
"Minor -- concussion. You said 'little'."
Zac rolled his eyes and left Taylor in the hallway.
"See what did I tell you!" Zac snapped just as Taylor entered the room. "Sleeping! He gets to sleep, I get to suffer."
A harsh wind from the open window blew the bedroom door closed, making both boys jump.
Taylor picked Isaac's old outfit off the desk chair and threw it in the closet.
"And what am I supposed to do 'till late tonight, meditate!"
"I stopped off at the library. You could read." Closing the window Taylor sat on Mackenzie's bed.
"I have a concussion." Zac pointed to his head to emphasize. " My head hurts."
"Well you could meditate, on why fighting is wrong. Like this was a time-out or something."
Zac's mouth dropped open as he shook his head indicating his annoyance. "Could you try not to be such a prick?"
Taylor straightened his back, being slightly offended.
"And I didn't do anything wrong anyways. So it weren't my fault."
"Wasn't"
"Whatever, and what did I tell you about being a prick."
I'm not a prick. Taylor grumbled. "So how did this whole thing happen anyway. Please tell me it wasn't something stupid."
Zac scrunched up his face, thinking. "How would you classify stupid exactly?"
Taylor groaned, "Any that's not a girl."
Zac looked at the ceiling and smiled nervously.
"Tell me it wasn't a girl."
"Well not really," Zac explained, "Sort of."
"Sort of, sort of or sort of, yes but I don't wanna look like an idiot."
"Sort a both."
Taylor grumbled and snapped the latch on the windowsill.
The phone rang and moments later Walker came to the door. "It's Mercury." He announced. "Could the three of you come to the kitchen so we can all listen to them on Speaker?" It was a rhetorical question since he left almost before he was finished the sentence.
"Well, I guess we better get ready for the blow. Three more months of recording because some dimwit screwed up the sound!" Taylor cheered cynically and bounced to his feet.
"Three more months of fans writing hate mail ordering us to get the next freaking CD out!" Zac added.
"Better get Ike up." Taylor said, walking over and poking the sleeping boy. "Ike . . . Ike."
He didn't budge. He was curled into the fetal position on his side.
"Ike get up." Taylor poked him again, harder and squatted down to Isaac's level, watching him carefully.
"How come I can't go to sleep." Zac whined.
"Because we want you to wake up." Taylor spoke quickly beginning to panic. He watched Isaac's face as he shook him gently, no reaction. "Ike! Isaac! Wake up!" Holding Isaac's face Taylor tried to get him to hear and understand. But his sleeping expression was embedded like leather. Zac stood up, leaning himself on the top bunk bed and looked down. "What's going on?"
Unable to put his rambled thoughts into speech Taylor disregarded the question and lightly slapped Isaac's cheek, he felt his own hands begin to tremble. Pushing his laying brother onto his back, Taylor closed his eyes hoping the movement would wake him. When it didn't, he bowed his head and prayed. Kneeling by the head of the bed. Time seemed to be stretched to torturous degrees.
"Isaac?" Wide-eyed Zac got to his knees and felt Isaac's hand. Cold as always. "Ike?" His breathing became shallow and helpless as he looked to Taylor to fix things. In fear Taylor had run out words to pray with and opened his eyes to find the situation unchanged.
With sudden urgency Zac grabbed Isaac by the shoulders and shook him so that his whole body jostled limply. "Isaac! Ike! Wake up!"
The yelling brought Mr. and Mrs. Hanson running to the room, to find Taylor white as a two day old corpse and Zac angrily throwing Isaac back to the bed. Isaac looked like a long thin rag doll. Not sure of what she was seeing Diana turned off the cordless phone and placed it on the dresser with a clunk. The two boys turned to the sound.
One look at the unknowing faces of their parents and both boys burst into sobs. With withdrawn calmness Zac lifted Isaac's hand and let go. It fell, limp, and his arm rolled off the bed. Shaking his head in disbelief Zac left the bed fumbling over Taylor and running to Diana.
"Mommy."
"It's ok hon . . ." Forcive habit began her sentence but reality cut it off. Having meant to only say 'Mom' Zac felt even younger as he buried himself in his mother's arms, croutching, since he was now taller than her.
Taylor backed away from the bed until he met the wall, gasping for air through frenzied tears. Like a smack in the face he realized he was no longer second child, though he felt so alone. Isaac was the only person who would at least try to understand his many quirks or ignore them. He was always there to encourage and love him when he felt worthless, and now he was alone
Walker grabbed Isaac's hand, wanting first to hug him, then thinking to check for a pulse. Nothing. He tried the other hand. Nothing. He heard a man's voice saying,
"Call an ambulance. Fast!" He wasn't sure whether that had been he or Taylor. Though it sounded mostly like Isaac's voice, eerie though that was. Alternating back and forth between the two wrists, Walker felt frantically for the pulse that wasn't there. Losing hope and unable to think he grabbed his son by the shoulders and held him up. He was still surprisingly light, like he was as a baby. Walker put his ear to Isaac's chest. First shocked then realizing his son's chest was wet with tears. He lay him back down, holding him close. It was like he was still only a sleeping toddler, limp from a long day of activity. From the side of his vision he saw his wife trying to make her way over, but a morbid cry from Taylor had brought the other children in. Diana turned around and tried to shoo them to the TV room. Before they saw, what they all saw anyway.
Taylor cried out again, frightening everyone, especially himself. The sensations of shaking and teeth chattering, acquainted him with the knowledge that he was not in control. He ripped at the delusion of a noose was being tightened around his neck.
Diana moved the mob to the hall, trying to keep her mind. Not to think about baby pictures, first steps, smiles and her son, and to just find a telephone. But between Jessica's exact duplicate of Taylor's hysteria, Avery curling into a corner, howling at her friends to leave her alone, Zoe waking up from her nap wailing from her crib and Mackenzie pulling at her skirt asking "What's wrong with Isaac?" "Is he sleeping?" "Why can't daddy wake him up?" She collapsed in the girls' bedroom beside Zoe's crib and waited. Waited for anything to happen to change this sequence of events. In the hall she could hear Zac, fighting with the new portable phone, yelling into the dial tone that his brother needs help 'stupid phone, work!'
As if waking from a bad dream to a nightmare, she heard a noise she'd almost couldn't associate with her husband come from the boys' bedroom.