Ralph Davis and Zac walked out of the press conference and into the snowy coldness of New York on a mid-January day. "That had to be the most annoying interview I've even been to," Zac muttered, shivering a bit. He tightened his coat around his body. "I swear to God if someone asks me one more time if I'm supporting you and if it has anything to do with Smith, I'm going to scream."
"Well, we've still got the rest of the year, Zac," Davis said. "It's not too late for you to back out." Zac snickered.
"Yeah right. Then I'll get hounded about why I'm not longer supporting you," Zac said, huffing. "No, I'll just have to bother with these questions until November. And then afterwards, I'll have to deal with more questions. Questions, questions, questions�"
"Zac, I think you need a break."
"No, I just need to settle a bit," Zac explained. "I got a letter from my brother in Korea and he's in the hospital, but I don't know what for. He says he's fine but he probably isn't. I know how Taylor was when he came back and he was only there for six months. Isaac's been there a year longer than Taylor. A year and a half is a really long time to be in a war. And it'll still be another year before he gets home. I don't think he'll be the same. I know Taylor won't be."
"You know, Zac," Davis said, "one of the reasons I sympathize with you is because I was in Vietnam. I came home just like everyone who's coming home from this one. It's hard for a while, but with a little help and such things aren't so bad."
"How long were you there?"
"Two years."
"How long did it take you to get over it?"
"I'm still not over it. But things are better. I'm able to live my life normally again." Zac sighed. That wasn't exactly the news he wanted to hear. "So, same thing when you're in DC?" Davis asked. Zac nodded. "All right. See you then, I'll be in touch." They parted ways and Zac walked over to his car that Drake was already in.
"Hey Drake."
"Hey Zac. How was the interview?" Zac sighed, lightly hitting his head against his headrest.
"Brutal. Tell me again why I'm doing this?"
"Your brother in Korea."
"Right." Zac looked over at Drake. "Do you think we have a chance?"
"I think you have more than a chance," Drake said, starting up the car and pulling out onto the road. "It's no doubt that Davis is going to be our next president and this time next year you're going to be at home with a complete family." Drake drove back to the hotel with no more conversation between them.
Alone, Zac walked down the hallway to his hotel room. He was exhausted and still had a show to do that night. Rubbing at his temple, he reached the room and his eyes opened quickly. He could hear screaming inside. As quickly as he could, he fumbled for his key and opened the door. "Fuck!" he yelled, having trouble with the keycard. He always had trouble with the keycard. He swiped it in the lock a few times before the light finally turned green and he exploded into the room. "Taylor? Taylor, where are you?" The screaming seemed louder from behind the closed door to Taylor's bedroom. He tried the door but found it locked. "Taylor!!"
"No!" Taylor was screaming. "No! Don't kill me! I'm only nineteen, don't!!" He let out one of those piercingly painful screams and Zac kept pounding on the door until suddenly it stopped. Zac froze. That could mean anything. Waiting a few moments, he knocked on the door again, softer this time.
"Taylor?" he asked, his voice slightly quivering. He didn't hear anything and he was about to panic again when the door unlocked and Taylor appeared, a forced smile on his face.
"Hey Zac, when'd you get home?"
"Just now," Zac said. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Taylor said, slipping by Zac to the main room. "Why wouldn't I be?" Zac looked at his hands and saw the red marks where his nails dug into his skin, but mostly he noticed how much Taylor's hands were shaking.
"You had another flashback, didn't you?"
"No." Taylor sat down. "I'm hungry. I'm going to order something from room service. You want anything?"
"Yeah," Zac said. Taylor looked up at him expectantly. "A psychiatrist."
"Why?" Taylor asked, a nervous crack in his voice matching the forced smile on his face. "All this touring getting to you?"
"No, but it's obviously getting to you. I heard what was going on in there, Taylor. I think the entire hotel heard."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Taylor spat out quickly, getting up. "You know what, you're fucking crazy, Zac. I don't know what's with you, but I'm fine. If you can't trust that, I'll just leave."
"Taylor, I'm worried about you. Yes, you were fine. You were doing great for a while, but if I remember correctly, that has been your second freak out today. I ignored the one in the bathroom this morning; it's common for them to come back every once and a while, but twice in one day? That's not fine."
"I don't have to sit here and listen to this." He headed for the door.
"Taylor," Zac said, speaking up and putting his hand on one of the chairs to shift his weight. "Until you're better I'm removing you of your part on this tour." Taylor turned around, disbelief on his face.
"What?"
"I'm suspending you."
"You can't do that!"
"Do you want to be fired completely?"
"What? What the fuck is wrong with you?"
"There's nothing wrong with me! I'm not the one with the problems here, Taylor! You are! Mom and I have spoken about this before and she already found someone in Tulsa for you to see, I'll call her and tell her to set up an appointment for you. You're suspended. Effective immediately." Taylor's face turned to complete and utter rage.
"You don't know what I've gone through, Zac. You'll never know. You've never had a gun to your head by some punkass Korean communist bastard in a hush-hush concentration camp who doesn't even know what the fuck he's fighting for. You've never had to talk him out of it, even though he doesn't understand a single fucking word you're saying, while pulling out your own gun and blowing his head off. The only way to live over there is to kill other people. You don't know what that does to a person like me. I've never even hit a person before in my life; I never could bring myself to do it. Then I had to go off and kill people? People I didn't even know? So I remember and it sucks. I'm doing this with you so I can save other people from going through that. I'm saving you from doing that. You don't know how many times that idiot in the White House has called threatening to send you to Korea and I've had to talk him out of it every time. I've saved you from that hell. You owe me big time and what do you do? Send me to a fucking shrink that I don't need? I'm fine, Zac. You obviously don't get it." Taylor left with a loud slam of the door. Zac jumped at the sound but quickly huffed and collapsed onto the couch. He hadn't been paying attention to what Taylor was saying, knowing if he did that he would reconsider, but he heard one thing. That idiot in the White House has called threatening to send you to Korea� He began to cry.
"�for the welfare of my brother and everyone else on this tour, Taylor has been suspended from touring for at least the next ten shows. He will return when he is in sound mind and when we are able to work together again," Zac said in a televised press conference later that day. Madison watched from her position at home. Just like Zac and the rest of his family, she had at least one television switched to CNN wherever she went.
She had no idea what was going on. Taylor was better. Of course he'd had his freak-outs in the past but he was better now. He hadn't had an episode in months! What happened? Looking at the time, she realized that Zac was in the middle of a show at that moment so she couldn't call him. Later. She'll call him later, or maybe he'll call her. At eleven if he hadn't called yet she'd call him. How come he hadn't told her about it?
She jumped when the phone rang. "Ugh," she said. She knew it wasn't Zac. He was in the middle of the show so he wouldn't call her. She checked the caller ID. "Private caller." She rolled her eyes. It was always a private caller. At least when Zac called the number showed up with that statement so she could see that it was him. She decided to pick up the phone anyway. "Hello?"
"Hello Miss Ashton." She froze.
"Mr. President?" she asked, slightly confused. "What are you doing calling me? If you're looking for Zac, he's in the middle of a show right now."
"I know that. Are you watching CNN?"
"Of course."
"Such a shame. Taylor being kicked off the tour because of what he experienced in Korea." Madison grew upset.
"You should take that into consideration. One of your citizens happens to need psychological counseling because he was too young and innocent to handle the kind of things he saw when he was sent off to war. Tell me again why you're sending children off to die?"
"I didn't call to fight with you, Miss Ashton."
"As if I could even believe that. So, Mister Big Shot President, if you didn't call to fight, what the hell did you call for? I'm a busy girl. I have to finish high school."
"I have to run a country."
"You mean ruin a country."
"You know what, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll just forget you said that, Miss Ashton. I called for a reason. Since I cannot seem to get a hold of your precious boyfriend I figured you might be able to for me."
"No."
"Well," he continued, as if she hadn't even said anything, "you can tell him if he doesn't stop publicly supporting that awful Davis, he's stuck dealing with me."
"Are you threatening him? Through me?" she asked, confused. "Mr. President, you're the leader of the country. I think if you needed to you could find a way to get him to speak to you. Sick your secret service on him and pick him up. Everyone knows where he is; it's not like it's hard to find him. It's just hard reaching him on the telephone. He's a very busy person."
"Miss Ashton I'll thank you in advance for delivering the message."
"I'm not going to."
"So when I tell the country that he was the one responsible for that bill being thrown out he'll have no idea? Smart."
"You're not going to do it. Your country hates you enough already, Mr. President. Don't knock on the most beloved person. Zac's just an eighteen-year-old opinionated boy. He never did anything to you that you didn't deserve. And isn't blackmail illegal in some way?"
"It's a stupid law," he said. "I am above the law."
"Yeah�that's what Nixon thought. How odd that you would say the same thing. Trust me, as soon as I find something on you the entire country will know about it and if you even try to get back at us by saying that we threw our your bill they won't even believe you, sir. Thank you for calling, I'm sure another hundred people died in Korea while you wasted your time talking to me. Think about it, sir. Goodbye." She hung up the phone.
"Madison, darling, who was that on the phone?" a dippy Mrs. Ashton said from the other room.
"The President of the United States," Madison answered.
"No need to be sarcastic, dear, I was just asking a question." Madison fumed. Her mother hadn't watched a day of CNN in her life and for a moment Madison wondered if the woman even knew the party the president even belonged to. Her mother hadn't voted in the election and neither did her father. Neither of them cared if the country went to shit�at least not since Sean died. Glancing across the room to the mantle above the fireplace, she saw a picture of Sean. As soon as she saw it she tore her eyes away. No. Why was she doing this to herself? "Madison?"
"What, Mom?" Madison yelled.
"Who was on the phone?"
"I told you!"
"Ugh, that is enough!" the woman yelled. She came into the room and grabbed the remote off the table. "All you do all day is drone away in front of this blasted television! You're rotting your brain out with your trashy shows and music videos. I'm turning it off." The woman turned to the television and froze. "What is this?"
"It's CNN, Mom."
"Why are you watching this?"
"I'm always watching this. This is what I rot my brain on. If you ever paid attention to me, you would know that," she said, looking away. To her chagrin, she appeared on the screen. She didn't even know why she was there but she was there and she began to speak.
"Of course I'm outraged. That was the most brutal attack on Seoul since the opening attack that started our involvement in the war and that damn President Smith isn't doing a thing about it! He's just going to let his citizens die out of spite for my boyfriend. That man needs to be removed from office. Our economy has slipped noticeably into poverty since he became president and it's continuing to drop! In the past war was good for the economy, but it surely isn't when you have a dolt like that operating your troops. He doesn't know the first thing about the military. If he knew, we wouldn't be losing this war."
Madison hung her head, awaiting a response from her mother. After a few moments of silence, the woman spoke.
"You have a boyfriend?"