When Taylor left, the tension in the house was growing ever more stronger. Mom couldn't stop crying since he walked out the door, fearing it was the last time she'd see her son. It was like he had already died, but he was really alive and not even out of the city yet.
Zac sat in the living room with Isaac, not really doing anything but sitting and thinking. The television wasn't even on. Everything was just so weird�and it'd all happened so quickly. It was only a few days ago when they'd heard the war and the draft being announced and now Taylor had been drafted and he was gone and�it just seemed like it wasn't real but Taylor was indeed really gone. He was really going to Korea to fight for someone else's country.
After a while Ike decided to get the mail and walk around for a little bit, just trying to relieve the boredom and break the silence that the house had taken since Taylor left. Zac stayed in the living room, staring out one of the windows at the beautiful day outside, smiling lightly to himself. Taylor certainly picked the most beautiful day to leave.
"SHIT!!!"
Zac sat up, silently questioning the outburst. He quickly got up and walked to the front room. Isaac threw the mail down on the ground and ran up the stairs. Zac ran after him. "Ike? What's going on?" Zac asked, halfway up the stairs. Ike turned at the head of the stairs and looked down at him.
"Looks like I'm joining Taylor in Korea."
Zac froze. "What?"
"I got drafted!" he yelled. "No, can't give me a day to think about my little brother going, I can't even let that sink in! No, I have to be drafted now." He ran into their room and slammed the door behind him. Diana came into the room and stopped at the bottom of the stairs.
"Zac? What was all that about?" she asked. Zac turned around to face his mother. She wasn't crying anymore but she was going to be in a moment. Walker appeared next to her, the same concerned look over both of their faces. Zac didn't want to say it, but he was sure Ike wasn't going to come out of that room anytime soon.
"Uh�Ike got drafted."
"What? Both of them are leaving now?" Zac nodded. Diana began to cry again and Walker led her away. Zac huffed and ran up the stairs. He checked the knob to the door and sure enough Ike had locked it.
"Ike? Ike it's me, let me in," Zac said. Soon the door unlocked and Isaac opened the door, flustered.
"What? What do you want?"
"I can't even get into my own room without interrogation?"
"I know you just want to get in here to talk to me and frankly I don't want to talk to anyone right now so you can just go away," he said and slammed the door in Zac's face, but he didn't lock it. Zac opened the door before Isaac could change his mind.
"You know at least Taylor talked to me when he got drafted. I think you're taking it worse than he did."
"At least I'm not saying that I'm going to chain myself to the house so I can't go!"
"Oh bullshit, Ike. If Taylor hadn't used that excuse already you would have and I know you would have. It'll get better. Things will look up. Even Taylor actually wanted to go by the time he was out the door."
"That was because he knew he had no choice and he wanted to make it seem like he wasn't still pissed off about it. I'm pissed off about it. Don't they have a thing where they can't send brothers off to war together?" he asked.
"No. You have to go. And talk to Mom because she's crying her eyes out downstairs. I had to tell her."
"You told her?" Isaac yelled. "I wanted to tell her."
"Well you ran up here and locked yourself in the room and she asked me what was going on so I told her. It's your fault for yelling about it in the middle of the house where everyone could hear and wonder what was going on."
"Perfect." He slipped by Zac and walked out the door. Zac sighed and laid down on his bed�well, it was technically Taylor's but now that Taylor was gone he got to move up in the world to an actual bed. Since Taylor had mentioned to him to write an anti-war protest song, the idea had been sitting in the back of his mind. He had a few lines in his head but none of them went together, and there was that damn fact that nothing rhymes with Korea�well that he would put in a song.
When Isaac came back in the room, Zac looked up. "Ike, what rhymes with Korea?"
"Nothing you could stick in a song, if that's what you're thinking of." Zac brought his finger to his mouth and began to chew on his nail in deep thought.
"I'll just have to not mention the country in the song."
"How about Seoul? Stuff rhymes with Seoul. Why are you writing a song about Korea?"
"Taylor mentioned that I should write a song about the war cause now there's actually something to write about in the world and I've been thinking about it and it seems like a really good idea. I'm happy music is finally going to be about something from now until the end of the war."
"Well why don't you be the first to write a song about it?"
"Maybe I will. But I've got nothing." Isaac sat down beside him on the bed.
"Zac, you kept rambling the other day on how much you think this war is stupid and how much you hate it, why don't you just write a protest song? That'll always work. You never know, it could very well be a hit." Zac shrugged. "Think about it some more and when I get back I want to hear a whole album's worth of material on how stupid this war is."
"Well you're a step ahead of Taylor. You actually think you're going to come back."
"What, and you don't?" Isaac asked, a mug smile on his face as he punched his little brother in the arm. Zac gave him a look and rubbed his arm.
"Oh, you'll come back all right. You'll come back just to tell me how to run my life. You know with you and Taylor both gone I'm the oldest now."
"Well, that's it. This family is officially screwed." Ike got up and walked to the door. "I might as well take them all with me. They'll be safer in Korea."
"It's nice to know you believe in me."
"You know it's just because I devoted my life to pick on you."
"Great." They both shared a sarcastic smile.
With both Taylor and Isaac gone, Zac had the room to himself. The bunk bed looked out of place as well as everything else in the room that belonged to his brothers that they didn't take with them. There were a few things in the closet that the two of them said to 'make sure you look after for me' that Zac had carefully stored away and kept an eye on now and then to make sure it was still there.
Zac sat in the middle of the room; he'd spent the entire day cleaning. Now the room was spotless, even the closet was clean and organized�proving he had nothing better to do. The band was on hiatus until his brothers came back from Korea. Zac had made that press announcement the previous day by himself. It was so odd to be in front of the cameras without his two brothers beside him, but it was kind of thrilling. He didn't have his two brothers to hide behind and answer for him and interrupt him when he was trying to make a point but had a bit of trouble getting it out because his mind was going faster than his mouth was.
Ike left the house three days beforehand and now Zac had officially run out of things to do. It was summer so he couldn't even catch up on homework or class work or anything because the term wouldn't start again until September. He'd written his protest song already, actually wrote it three times over because he needed something to do. After Ike had gone the song just spilled out faster than he could write it down and the same went with four other songs that day. Now he had an entire album's worth. It was just a wave of material that came from nowhere and he was able to write them all down because he was finally could be alone in the room without worrying about either of his brothers walking in to pester him.
"Dinner!"
Zac quickly got up. Finally, something to relieve the boredom! He nearly flew down the stairs and into the dining room. He had a smile on his face until he saw what was on the table. Pizza? Ugh� He grudgingly sat down in his seat. Mom hadn't been up to cooking lately and they'd had take-out for the past few days. As much as Zac liked pizza, he was home and he wanted home-cooked meals. But he could understand what his mother was going through.
"Mom?" Jess asked, perking up from across the table. "I hate to sound rude but when are you going to start cooking again?"
"Well, honey, I've just had so many things on my mind that I haven't had time to cook," she explained. "Until I can find the time to cook for five children, we'll be stuck with take-out."
"At least one of us can keep busy," Zac muttered, taking a bite from a slice of pizza.
"Zac!" Diana scolded. "We haven't prayed yet." Zac gave her a look.
"Since when have we prayed before a meal? We haven't done that in years," Zac said. Sure he'd been absent from dinner the past few nights but ignorance is bliss and he didn't appreciate being yelled at.
"Since your brothers have been fighting for their lives and we need to pray for their safety and that they return home safe and sound and soon."
"I think that's bullshit."
"That is it, mister," she said, getting up. "You don't need to eat dinner tonight. You stay up in your room until you learn how to speak at the dinner table and get some respect for your brothers."
"I'm not four, mother."
"I don't care. Leave."
"Fine." He got up, kicking his chair away and it fell to the floor with a loud bang, surprising everyone in the room. He left, running up the stairs and slamming his door behind him. Sighing, he slid to the floor. The room looked so empty, it would be normally if he was sent up to his room during dinner, but he knew that his brothers weren't there and he couldn't do anything about it.
To pass the time until he grew tired, he worked on some of the songs he'd already written. He was hoping to pass at least an hour with dinner, but once again his mouth had gotten the better of him. It wasn't long before Zac heard a knock at the door. "Come in," he said, expecting his little brother or one of his little sisters for their after-dinner annoyance. This was one of the things he missed from being on tour. As much as, well, annoying annoyance could be, he hadn't had it happen in such a long time because he was always so busy.
"Don't tell your mother but I brought you some pizza," Walker said, coming into the room with a plate and three slices of pizza on it. Zac grinned. His father would never fail to make sure his kids got enough to eat, whether it meant going behind Diana's back or just ordering another pizza.
"Sure, Dad."
"How are you holding up? You finally got a room to yourself," he said, taking a seat at the desk. Zac shrugged.
"Yeah, but it's not the same if I didn't get it by whining consistently. I get the room to myself because Taylor and Ike are off at war." Zac plucked away at his guitar. Now that Isaac was gone the guitar was technically his.
"I can see what you're getting at," he said. "So what's up with you and that guitar? I haven't seen you without it since we got home."
"Oh, I've just been doing a lot of writing," Zac said. "I've just had nothing else to do and since I have the room to myself, no one comes in here to bother me, so I've had the time to do it."
"Really? How much have you written?"
"Maybe fifteen songs. I've been thinking about this. I don't know when Ike and Tay are going to come back. It's been three days and I've written fifteen songs because I am so bored I have nothing else to do. I can't just sit around, waiting until they come back. I need to be doing something."
"Well what do you want to do?"
"I'm thinking maybe I can tour with these songs. I don't have to make a record or anything, but the audience really liked my solo song and I just figure we do a couple of shows to see if people will actually come to see me singing songs for a little while, and if they like it, good, we'll add more shows. If they don't like it, I'll get a Rubik's Cube."
"Well, I don't know, Zac. This could be a big step for you, going solo."
"Dad, I just need something to do. I'm bored out of my mind and it's been three days."
"All right. I'll talk it over with a few people and see if we can get you on the road by yourself." Zac smiled.