Angela spun, a smile dancing across her face. She arrived in Taylor’s room, while it was unoccupied. Feeling nosy, she walked out of the room and started to explore the house. Angela figured the boys were working late on the album, and they would be home later. Their mother and the younger children were home, doing whatever. Angela didn’t pay much attention to them all.
The house was rather spacious, larger than Angela’s home when she actually had money. Angela’s home now was smaller than their living room. She smiled, thinking about her home. The Maker of Dreams had given her and her mother a surprise, like he had said. Her mother ran home from work, and said that she had been promoted. One thousand extra dollars a month.
Angela had been so happy with herself, bringing a bit more happiness to the family. Angela hadn’t wanted to sleep, but she figured if she did well tonight, she might receive something else. She felt greedy, and shook her head to clear her thoughts.
She whirled around the house, looking at the rooms and the people in it. She saw the mother and the two little girls. Again they were missing two people. Angela figured it to be more siblings, but she never found out what gender and what age they were. She hoped the both of them were over six. Then she wouldn’t have any problems.
Angela made her way back to the main hall, that had the front door. She figured she’d wait there until Taylor would come back. She didn’t have anything better to do then to cause mischief and that wasn’t exactly an option.
The door opened and Taylor came running in. He looked upset and frustrated. Zac came running in after, yelling at his older brother. Taylor was halfway up the stairs, with Angela close behind. When she had come in the day before, Taylor and Zac were fighting.
Zac suddenly triggered a nerve, causing Taylor to flip around and yell. "No! I don’t want you in my life anymore! All thirteen years you’ve been alive you’ve caused problems. I never want to see you again! Get out of my fucking business."
Angela was immediately thrown off, wanting to know why Taylor was so hostile. He continued up the stairs, Angela trailing. She knew if she wasn’t careful she wouldn’t be able to get in the room. She kept close to Taylor, and had just slipped in the room when the door was slammed. He had a habit of doing that.
Taylor screamed in frustration, then found his way onto the bed. Angela heard him sigh. He knew he had been out of line. He had seen the tears in his brother’s eyes, which only brought tears to his. Angela watched, carefully. He didn’t want to cry, that was the last thing he needed.
Taylor didn’t know why he was so uptight, why he had yelled at Zac. It was just that Zac had told him he was depressing and that he needed to work harder if he wanted the album to work. The fact that someone younger than him was saying how he should be better…he was fine enough. But to say that to his brother?
Angela read his thoughts, and stuck her hand in front of his face. She moved his head around for a bit, but then started to circle his face with both her hands. The normal calming effect wasn’t working, so she had to use the advanced method. But it didn’t work either, Taylor was still upset. Angela didn’t know what to do.
She tried again with her hands, but he only jerked his head out of the way. It scared Angela, making her think that he knew that she was there. She gave up. The boy was too complicated to even try and help.
Feeling as thought she failed, Angela sunk to the ground. She watched with forlorn eyes as Taylor pulled his knees to his chest. It was insane to see him like that. His face red, his eyes bloodshot. His hair was a mess, the same for his mind. Angela watched to make sure he stayed in a right mind and didn’t do anything that he would regret later on. He stayed on the bed, to the relief of Angela. She saw a tear fall from the boy’s eye.
He cried like he was ashamed of it, like he didn’t want even himself to know he had feelings. He cried without any of the weird face contortions or the squinted eyes, he just let the tears fall. It wasn’t exactly the best way to cry when in this sort of situation. Even in isolation he looked like he had to keep up an act.
Angela was disturbed by the fact that he had to keep this act up. It was clear that this situation was hard enough for him. He was probably verbally abusing himself inside his head. Angela was waiting for him to do something. She knew he either had to throw something or yell or at least talk to himself. She waited, and waited.
"Well Taylor, you’ve done it again," he whispered. She smiled. It was good for him, he’d calm himself down. "You’ve upset your brother and said a bad word in front of the kids. Good one. Don’t expect to go out for the next five years."
This sounded more like self-bashing than calming. Angela figured he’d only get himself even more depressed. There wasn’t anything she could do shy of speaking. She knew speaking was out of the question. She knew it wasn’t to be used in any situation. But there was nothing she could do, except sit and watch. Angela chose to sit and watch.
Taylor had stopped talking now, and was back to that dazed state of mind. Angela didn’t know what he was thinking, and it drained her too much to read his mind. She was there to help in all ways, so he could be a normal guy again. How could he be normal? Taylor Hanson, known throughout the world! He wasn’t normal and he never would be. The realization of this was depressing in itself. Angela now knew what they were getting at when they said the famous have a way of always being depressed.
She finally understood, but had no way of curing it. She couldn’t treat it, she wasn’t a psychiatrist. Angela looked up at Taylor. He was so young, so innocent. Why was it that the pressures of reality had to bear down on him so early? He had two years of schooling left, before he went on his own and decided what to do with his own life.
The childhood he had once known was replaced with fame. Fortune and glory, what a tricky thing. Something Angela once had, but now missed. She knew it made her a better person without it, but she just needed to get by. To live in a house instead of shack.
Angela was startled by the sound of movement. Taylor was now lying down, his eyes closed. His face looked stressed out, he had worked hard that day. As much as Zac has said he didn’t, he really did. He needed a lot of rest, he needed to relax. That wasn’t going to happen.
Angela tried to calm him, and the soothing feel of her hand circulating the air around him sent him to sleep. She was happy that he finally got to rest, even if it was for a little while. She knew his dinner would be ready soon. He could sleep until then.
It was an hour before someone pounded on the door. "Taylor, dinner!" It was his father. Taylor sighed, not moving. The pounding had woken him. It was a few minutes before the knock came back. "Come on, Taylor. Your dinner is getting cold." Taylor didn’t move, but decided to speak.
"I’m not hungry." Angela got up and unlocked the door so the man could come inside. "What the? I thought I locked that door! Actually I’m positive I locked that door!" Angela sat by the door, observing. The man seemed upset.
"You will come down for dinner. You will apologize to your brother and you will eat something," the man sternly said. Angela wished that he would just get up and walk downstairs. He could use some meat on that puny body of his. Taylor rolled his eyes and stayed put.
"I told you I’m not hungry. If I was hungry than I would be down there, now wouldn’t I?" Taylor asked. The man was even more pissed than before, from Taylor’s comment. That was clearly disrespectful.
Angela shook her head, trying her best to keep silent. He was going to get grounded or something like that. "Tomorrow you aren’t going anywhere." When his father left, Taylor fell back on his bed.
"Don’t worry," Taylor whispered, "I won’t be around tomorrow." Angela heard this, and stuck her hand over her mouth. He was either going to run away or kill himself. Please let him run away, she thought. Taylor closed the door again, and made sure it was locked.
Angela watched as he shut the bathroom door, and reached into a drawer. He pulled out a box cutter, and ran it across his finger to make sure it was still sharp. Angela gasped. Taylor stopped and looked around, wondering what he heard. Angela snapped her fingers in front of his face, but nothing happened. He was determined to do this, unless someone stopped him.
Frantically Angela searched her mind for something to do. Nothing came, she had nothing in her mind. She didn’t know what to do. The only thing she could do was a violation to her laws.
As he sat next to the bathroom, Angela saw him sigh. He didn’t want to do this. He was determined to end his life, but he didn’t want to. He didn’t have to, but he felt as though he had no choice. Please, she heard him think. Let someone stop me.
The cutter went to his wrist, and his eyes closed. Angela had to do something, something to keep him from killing himself. That was the last thing he needed to do. Screw the laws, the boy needs help.
"No!" Angela cried. "Don’t do it!"