"Angela, you got a package."
Angela looked up, her eyes shining. Her mother carried in a mid-size box, plopping it down in front of her. Another box to look at, Angela�s mother thought. Since she had gotten promoted, the two had enough to move into an apartment. Now the little shack had a few boxes scattered throughout. Angela couldn�t be happier. Finally getting out of the dump. She would finally be able to invite friends over, if she had any friends.
Angela smiled and quickly opened the box. Her eyes grew. This was proof that she wasn�t dreaming. A box of Hanson CDs, videos, shirts and buttons� Angela grinned. Before looking through it, she grabbed a letter that was sitting on the top. Smiling, Angela laid on her bed and opened the letter.
To my Angel
I told ya I was going to send you stuff. Well I found all the stuff that was lying around that I get for free anyways. It�s my stuff, I should get it for free! Well I�m giving it to you. Saves me from having to listen to myself over and over again. I don�t know when this is going to get to you, cause I sent it for some overnight thing or whatever. I know you�ll tell me when you get it. Mackenzie says hi, even though he�ll see you soon anyways. Why am I writing a long letter to you? I don�t know. You know everything�well you�re supposed to know everything. I don�t know if you really do. Oh well. Keep the stuff, you have no idea how many girls want to get their hands on what�s inside. See you tonight.
ME!!
Angela giggled. When the sound came out of her mouth, she put her hand over it. Had she really giggled? Giggling was for little girls with crushes. Angela groaned and sat up. She found her mother standing before her, confused.
"And what is all this?" Angela put the letter down and had to smile. Her mother fished through the box. "Hanson? Where�d you get it all?"
"Well, mom, all I can say is that I got someone on the inside." Her mother gave her a concerned look. "Don�t worry, it�s all free. Nothing paid for it." She nodded. "I�ll be late, I gotta go."
"Alright hun, see you later." Angela made sure she had his letter, and ran out the door. It was drizzling out. She was happy that it wouldn�t be all that long before the bus came along. She�d get soaked.
The bus pulled up, and she got in. Shaking the water from her hair, she made her way to the back of the bus. The Maker hadn�t come to see her the day before, and she was happy by that. That meant she didn�t do anything wrong.
The bus was talkative, but not taunting. It seemed that her little comment the other day had an affect on them all. They didn�t taunt her anymore. She smiled, grateful it was all over. She knew a few of them still were afraid of her, but she wasn�t going to do anything.
Angela sighed, and looked out the window. The familiar scenery passed by, quickly. She knew the streets around there, and all the beautiful trees. Spring was so beautiful. Rebirth, renewal. The flowers were blooming and the trees were getting their leaves back. It�s been like this for a while, but Angela never got to appreciate it.
"Hello, Angela." She closed her eyes and leaned against the window. She�d done something wrong, she just didn�t know what. He wouldn�t of come if she didn�t do something wrong. "Look at me."
Irritated, she looked over at him. He was sitting across from her again. He didn�t wear a smile this time. Why was he angry at her? She didn�t do anything wrong, that she knew of. "Yes?"
"You almost let the secret out." She looked back out the window. Why wasn�t anyone else noticing? Why�d he have to pick such a public place to discuss this? "Look at me." His voice was stern, upset. Afraid.
She looked at him again. He was afraid of the secret being let out. "You almost let it out. It can�t be let out." She wanted to turn away, but knew he�d just scream at her. "You mustn�t let anything out. I�ll let you go without punishment, this time. If you mess up again, I�ll have you. Don�t let the secret out!"
This worried Angela. He was threatening her. She didn�t like it at all. "I�m sorry," she whispered. He shoved a finger in her face, fuming. Without any more words, he disappeared. She let out her breath.
"Angela, what is wrong?" Taylor asked, again. He�d asked four times already, with no answer. Once she got into the room, she climbed into his lap and wouldn�t budge. He�d been holding her in his arms for an hour now. He was afraid that she was crying.
"He threatened me," she whispered. "He said if I mess up again he�ll have me. I don�t want him to do anything to me. I don�t know what�s going on and he�s scaring me." She put her chin on his shoulder, looking at the wall.
"Who?"
"The man who sent me here. The Maker of Dreams. He sent me here and he�s threatening to take me back. I don�t want that, Taylor. I don�t want him to take me back. I wanna stay here with you." He tightened his grip on her waist, closing his eyes. Three days. It had been three days that they�d known each other. He didn�t want to lose her now.
"I don�t want to let you go," he whispered. Their friendship was hitting a high peak, they were so close. To think that they would be separated� It sent shivers through Taylor. He let his eyes open, as his head leaned against hers. It was hard for him to hold her. He couldn�t see her, so he couldn�t tell where his hands were.
His hand moved off her waist and held onto the back of her head, getting a handful of hair in the process. She�d had her hair layered, he could feel the different lengths. He smiled, finding out so much about her appearance from just his hand.
"Dinner!"
Angela sighed. "You better eat something. I haven�t seen anything go in that stick of a body you have." He laughed. "Well I haven�t. I�m feeling better now. Let�s go." She stood, pulling him with her. "Just as long as I can have your lap again. You�re comfy."
"You are too weird, Angela." He held onto her hand and walked out of the room. She followed him down the stairs and into the kitchen. When they arrived, Taylor received a few looks. "What?"
"Well, just the fact that you haven�t joined us for dinner in three days, I figured you weren�t coming down today. You�re lucky there�s a place for you," Diana said. Angela poked him in the back, causing him to jump. She laughed, as the rest of the family gave him strange looks. He quickly sat down.
"Should we set a place for Angela?" Isaac quietly asked, so the rest of the family wouldn�t hear. Angela started to crack up, saying something about her being hungry too. Taylor smiled, figuring she was on the floor laughing.
"No, that won�t be necessary. She eats at home." Isaac shook his head. I knew I�d be picked on, Taylor thought. He picked at his food for a while. It was one of his favorite meals, he didn�t know why he just sat there.
"Eat something you doofus," Angela said. "If you don�t it�s going to look really weird when I shove it in your face." Taylor let his smile grow and he ate. "That�s my boy. Maybe when there�s nobody here I can make myself some of that. It looks good."
Angela noticed Mackenzie staring at her. She smiled and waved at him. She knew the charm on her necklace didn�t work against the children. He could still hear and see her. He waved back. "Now Mackenzie, you know no one can tell I�m here. Eat, we�ll play later." The boy went back to his food.
She looked back to Taylor, who had already eaten everything on his plate. "Oh my God, boy! You ate all of that already? What the hell are you, a vacuum cleaner?" Angela said, looking at the clean plate. He might as well of brought it to his mouth and start to lick it.
Taylor started to laugh, then covered his mouth and looked over at Angela. His sense of where she stood was perfect now. It was as if he could see her, but he couldn�t. That was a gift that Mackenzie had and he wanted.
The table looked at Taylor. His mother asked for an explanation, but he was too busy laughing to answer her. Isaac was beyond scared, and beyond worried for his brother. Maybe it wasn�t too late to check him into an institution. "Um, Taylor, what�s with you?" he asked.
"I just remembered something really funny from a long time ago," he lied. "I�m done. Bye." He got up, waiting for Angela to grab him. When he felt her grip on his wrist, he fled the room.
"What the hell was that all about?" Taylor asked her, once safely in his room. He still had the smile on his face. "Am I a vacuum cleaner? I cannot believe I was laughing so hard at that!"
"I�m sorry if you found it so funny, Taylor. It was just too weird. I look at you, and there�s a full plate of food. I glance at Mackenzie for two seconds. When I look at you the food is completely gone! I think you inhaled it or something! Has it really been that long since you�ve had food?"
"You shut up." He laid down on the bed. "I�m tired now." She smiled and crawled onto the bed next to him. He turned to face her, then closed his eyes. He didn�t like facing her and not knowing where to look. That was the thing he hated the most. "How come I�m tired?"
"I don�t know. You just ate a whole bunch of food, maybe it�s time for sleep now. You always ask me these questions that I don�t know the answer to."
"Sorry," he said, and found her waist to put his arm around. She put her hand through his hair. His hair was so blond, she had to love it. "Did you get my stuff?" It clicked to her that she had gotten the box that morning. It seemed so long ago.
"Ya know what? I completely forgot everything that happened today. Yes I got your box. I listened to all the CDs, I watched the videos and I�m actually wearing one of the shirts now." He laughed. The boy sure did laugh a lot now. Before he had been so depressed, now all he did was laugh.
"It�s nice to know that you have a picture of me and my brothers across your chest." She smacked his arm. "Hey! What the, I meant that in a very non-perverted way thank you!" She smacked him again. He let go of her and rubbed his arm. "Now what was that for?"
"Well cause you meant in a non-perverted way, and that means you thought about the perverted version of it. I had to smack you again to knock some sense into you. Anyway I�ve been wanting to smack you for a long time now."
"Why?"
"It�s just something that I wanted to do. You�ve got those arms that you just gotta hit." Of course, he looked confused. As confused as a person could look with their eyes closed. "It�s just one of my many little things that I have to do. Another one was pull your hair�"
"No, you are not going to pull my hair," he said, and sat up. She pulled him back down, yanking a piece of his hair in the process. "Ow! Hey! I told you not to do that!"
"Sorry, I just had to. Now close your eyes, we�re going to sleep. You said you were tired." He groaned, and closed his eyes. She smiled, and circled his head with her hands. It didn�t take long before the both of them had drifted off.