Taylor looked at his brother skeptically. Was he serious? This is a five year old speaking, not exactly someone who had a tight hold on reality. Maybe it was because he had a fantasy mind that he was able to know all this. Still, the idea was bizarre. Was it really the Batman theory that let him to Angela?
Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?
"I�m sorry kid, but I don�t really know the devil�you said something about a person who hates me, right? Is that going to work?" The boy nodded. Taylor got up and ran downstairs, the boy trailing. "Hey Zac! I need to borrow you for a few minutes." Zac looked at his brother and shook his head. "Good! Stay angry at me!" Taylor grabbed him and ran outside.
"Why are we out here?" Zac asked, annoyed. "I was busy."
"So Mack, what am I supposed to do?" Taylor asked. The boy explained, leaving Zac confused and still annoyed. No one was even bothering to answer him. He didn�t like the way Taylor was acting. It was freaking him out. Finally, Taylor turned to Zac. "Do you remember that danced we did years ago for people?"
"Uh, yeah�why?"
"Would you mind going over it again? Mack and I were talking about it and he really wants to see it." Of course it wasn�t the truth, but he needed a quick excuse. He wasn�t about to dance with his brother like an idiot. The two started into a few out-dated moves, Taylor keeping his mind set on Angela the whole time. As the night began to quickly fade, Taylor grabbed Mack and they were on their way.
Zac noticed that he wasn�t outside the house anymore. "What the? Where are we now?" Zac asked, stopping. Taylor looked around and smiled, not answering Zac. The smile faded once the room filled with a scream.
"Zac, make sure Mack doesn�t go anywhere," Taylor said, then ran off. Zac picked up his brother, and looked around. He was still confused, but more annoyed than anything. Taylor wasn�t answering him and now they were in a foreign place.
Taylor stayed behind a white door, looking into another large white room. He�d been in that room before. Angela was chained to the wall, her body bruised and cut up. The Maker of Dreams sure did turn out to be one mean bastard. Taylor contained himself from running in there like a maniac. He was a wimp compared to this guy.
He watched silently as the Maker taunted and tortured Angela. She was draped in all white now, besides the blood stains. "Pretty girl," he said to Angela, gently caressing her face. "Where�s Taylor now?" Taylor jumped when he smacked her. "Where�s your Taylor now?" Angela looked at him, and spit in his face.
Taylor smiled. That was Angela, alright. He needed to find a way to get in there unnoticed. That Maker�s power was contained in a crystal that hung around his neck. Mackenzie had told that to him, and right about now he was going to believe if the boy said aliens were coming from outer space to get him.
"I figured all this had to be about a girl," Zac said, looking in the room. Taylor quickly pushed him out of the way. "Hey!"
"Zac, shut up! If he hears you we�re all dead!" Taylor noticed Mackenzie had closed his eyes. "No, Mack, you stay awake. If you sleep then we�re destined to be tortured." The little boy opened his eyes. "Zac go to the other side of the room and hide behind something. Whatever you do, don�t let him fall asleep." Zac was still confused, but did what he was told.
When Zac disappeared, Taylor looked back to the main room. He was just in time to see the Maker walk up to Angela and kiss her. Taylor stiffened. Angela was trying to avoid him, but it wasn�t happening. He knew if he didn�t get in there soon that man was going to rape her.
"What are you doing here?"
Taylor�s eyes widened. He�d been spotted, of course. He knew it wasn�t that easy to get in here. It couldn�t be that easy. He calmed himself, and turned around. A large man, with a significant resemblance to the Incredible Hulk, stood before him. He was in for it now, he was dead.
His legs buckled and for the first time in his life he felt pure fear. "You�re coming with me." The man grabbed Taylor by the back of his shirt and lifted him up. With heavy footsteps, he walked into the main room. "Maker, I found an intruder. What should I do with him?"
"Kill him," the Maker said, not even bothering to look back. He saw the excitement in Angela�s eyes, which caused him to turn around. He recognized Taylor immediately. "Actually, keep him here. I�ll take care of it. Search for others, I know he didn�t come alone."
The man walked off, the earth shaking with his steps. Taylor didn�t know how he couldn�t of heard him coming. "Well, well. Someone found a way into my land. However did you do that? And tell me, it�ll delay your death."
"I just did," Taylor said, looking past the Maker and to Angela. She smiled at him, but was worried for him. She was happy that he came to get her out. She was also worried that neither of them would get out alive.
"I never did get you, Taylor. I send someone to help you. She helps you, and then she leaves. What�s wrong with that? Normal procedure."
"I don�t mind that she leaves cause I can always find her again. I mind that I wouldn�t be able to find her because she�s here and you�re fucking with her!" The Maker smiled and nodded.
"I�d appreciate it more if you didn�t swear. It�s so dirty. Swearing is for nightmares, this isn�t a nightmare." The Maker walked up to Taylor, just close enough. "Well it isn�t a nightmare yet."
The Maker grabbed Taylor, and chained him to the wall next to Angela. "Well, what�re you going to do now?" Angela asked. He shrugged. "You�re an idiot, you know that." He looked away.
"Yes I know that. I know that I shouldn�t of come and I know that I won�t be able to get out of this mess easily. I�m working on it." Angela gave him a strange look. "Don�t worry, I got a back up plan."
"And what is that?" Taylor looked back at her and shrugged. "That does not help!" The Maker was fed up with their talking and grabbed a whip. He cracked it against Taylor. He stifled a scream as he felt blood drip down his chest. That was going to leave a mark.
"You know that hurts. A lot," Taylor said. "I sincerely suggest you try whipping yourself to see what it feels like." Taylor looked down and sat the stain in his shirt. A diagonal line from his left shoulder to his right hip. Damn!! His thoughts were screaming enough for him.
Taylor looked up and saw his little brother walk into the room. His eyes grew and he shook his head. He was alright with himself getting hurt, but to have his brother� the feeling was worse than he could ever imagined. He got whipped again, this time on his legs, but he didn�t even feel it. He was busy staring at his brother, silently praying that he�d go back into the room.
"Hey!" Mackenzie called out. Taylor shook his head, a frightened beyond frightened look on his face. All the color had faded away. The Maker turned around. "Hi!" The boy was smiling. The Maker walked over to him, dropping his whip.
"Well hello there. How�d you get here?" Mackenzie motioned for him to come closer. The Maker bent down so he was eye-level with the boy. Obviously the Maker was better with children. Mackenzie noticed the chain hanging from his neck.
"What�s that?" Mack asked, pointing to the chain. The Maker took it off and handed it to the boy. He looked at it, smiling. "This is cool." Mackenzie grabbed the chain and broke the crystal against the wall.
The Maker dropped to the ground, dead. Taylor laughed, a look of relief entering his eyes. He relaxed. That boy was alright. Angela watched in silent amazement. She was confused, but overjoyed. It�d only been a matter of hours, but in that time she�d been whipped and beaten beyond her belief.
Mackenzie grabbed the keys from the Maker�s dead body and ran over to Taylor. He couldn�t reach Taylor�s chains, though. "Give me the keys, I�ll do it." Mackenzie gave him the keys, and Taylor unlocked his chains. He resisted the urge to give a huge hug to Mackenzie, and went over to Angela. She smiled to him. "Are you alright?" he asked, unlocking her chains. Her smile quickly faded.
"Are you crazy?" she yelled at him. "He could of killed you!" He smiled. "Don�t you give me that smile. You are insane and you know it! What if you didn�t know that the crystal would kill him?"
"But I did, and that�s all there is to it." He stepped away, and she tried walking to him. Her right arm was still in a chain. "Since you think I�m crazy and you don�t believe in me, I�ll let you stay there and think about what you�ve done." He began to walk away, taking his brother with him.
"Taylor!!" she screamed. "Get your ass back over here!" He stepped out of the room. "Taylor�" her voice was a whimper now. He was really beginning to piss her off. Walking away was one thing, walking out of the room was another.
He ran back in the room and unlocked her other chain. "I�m sorry�it was just too easy." She smacked him, this time in the face. "Hey! That hurt!" Angela walked passed him, not saying anything. If he could walk away, she could be mad. She started to walk away. "Angela, come on." She looked straight forward, even though she had no idea where she was going. "I didn�t get to tell you how beautiful you are."
Angela stopped. He stood in front of her, smiling. It softened her. She was afraid to be embarrassed now. He could see her. "Really?" she asked, looking away. He took her hands and starting walking to the back room.
"Yeah." She let herself smile, and blushed. "Oh my God you�re blushing!" He shook his head and led her back to his brother. Mackenzie was standing outside the door, smiling. Angela picked him up and hugged him. "Little man, you�re alright." He smiled.
They walked into the side room, looking for Zac. Soon they found out that the big man had found him, and was walking towards the main room. "Ahh!" Taylor said.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked, confused. Taylor explained that the dude was dead. "Really?!" the big man asked, his eyes wide. Taylor nodded. "Wow! Thanks! Here�s your guy." He dropped Zac. "I get to go home now."
The big man walked away, smiling. Taylor exchanged glances with Angela. Zac got off the ground, upset that he had been carelessly dropped. "Well anyway, Zac this is Angela." Zac looked at them, and saw Taylor�s red shirt.
"Oh my God Taylor what happened to you?!" Zac yelled. "I don�t think that shirt is supposed to be red!" Taylor looked down and all the pain rushed back to him. He bit his lip, trying his best to keep his emotions inside.
"I�ll be alright. It�s Angela I�m more worried about. She�s got it pretty bad," Taylor said. Angela smiled, shifting so Mackenzie was on her hip. Zac looked at Angela and shook his head.
"You�re the reason why I had to stop watching TV?" he asked. Angela gave him a look. "Well sorry, I didn�t want to stop and he�s telling me that Mack wants to see a dance or whatever. Little did I know that I was going to end up here! I had a very large guy after me and I don�t know how to get home!"
"Um, Taylor, how exactly do we get home?" Angela asked.
"Break your crystal," Taylor said, swinging her chain around. "Then we don�t have to worry about ever coming back here." Angela grasped the crystal ball around her neck and looked at Taylor.
"Um Taylor, if we break the crystal then I�ll never see you again." Zac rolled his eyes. Taylor was now confused, as Angela tightened her grip on Mackenzie. "Taylor it�s the crystal that brings me to you every night."
"So then we�ll never see each other again," he repeated. Angela nodded. "But it�s the only way out, we can�t spend forever here. It�s not possible." She lowered her eyes and took off the chain. She set Mackenzie down and let her eyes close. Taylor stopped her from breaking it. "You�re just going to break it? No goodbyes or anything?"
"Well what do you want me to do, Taylor? Give you a kiss goodbye? I�m not exactly going to just cry and then get it all over with!" she said, sighing. "I cannot believe we�re having a fight right now. I�m leaving. It�s almost morning in Atlantic City. I�m going to miss you, Taylor. I�m going to miss you a lot. I�m going to have to get used to hanging around without thinking about what I did the night before. It shouldn�t be hard considering two weeks ago I didn�t know you."
"But you do now and that�s all that counts, right? You�ll never forget me, I�m too cute to forget." She burst out laughing. "Hey!" Angela felt Mackie tug at her shirt. She looked down.
"Are you going to miss me?"
"Of course I will! You�re the one that�s too cute to forget! I�ll be thinking about your smile all day long." The boy�s eyes lit up. "Smile for me, Mack." He smiled, making Angela smile. Zac felt left out.
"Even though I don�t know you, will you miss me?"
"Zac, I�ll miss you bitching at your brother, and I�ll miss your cocky attitude." He gave her a look. "What? I don�t know you!" She looked at him. "I�ll definitely miss the lack of fashion sense."
"Hey!" Taylor and Zac said in unison.
"Mack, just a hint," Angela said, kneeling down to his level. "Green and yellow don�t work together! The same for orange and, well, orange is just ugly!"
"But I like orange!
"No you don�t!" Angela insisted. Taylor shook his head. "Just be careful of what you wear. Think �Would Angel like this?� and then immediately change cause the answer is no."
"Angela I think that�s enough." She smiled at him, but turned back to the boy. He was confused, but was listening to what she was saying.
"And brush your hair," she whispered.
"Angela! I said that�s enough," Taylor sternly said. Angela gave a hug to the boy, keeping a close eye on Taylor. "Okay my turn!" Angela rolled her eyes and hugged Taylor. He didn�t want to let go. "I don�t want you to leave."
"But I have to. Like you said, it�s the only way out. Can�t stay here forever." He ran his fingers through her hair, still amazed that he could see her. He could take in her light brown hair and her black eyes. She was there, right in front of him. Oh how he longed to be able to keep her like this. To keep her in his arms and start at her forever. But forever wasn�t now. Now it was time to separate.
"Thank you," he whispered.
"No, thank you," she said back. They�d evened each other out. She saved his life, he saved hers. Now everything was even. Damn. She let go of him, and waved goodbye at Zac. "I�ll miss you. All of you."
Angela broke the crystal against the wall.