"Come on, let's go. It's not going to be that bad, Kris, it's just a club." Kris sighed, looking at Taylor. He seemed too eager to go to this club. He'd been talking about it for ages now. She'd just finally decided to listen to him. Over the past month that they'd been exclusively together, she realized how cute he could be at times. She also realized how annoying he could be at times.
"Taylor, we're not old enough to get in."
"They don't check ID if we go in at the right time. From 8 to 8:15 there's a shift change and you can walk right in. They don't check ID any other time, either. We can just go on in. Don't worry, Kris."
"I take it you've been before."
"Yeah, me and Zac went a few weeks ago." Kris looked to Taylor, then to Zac who was sitting beside him. "Come on. It'll be fun." Kris shook her head. "They serve strawberry daiquiris�"
"Fine." Taylor smiled. "But Zac, you're coming with us."
"Why? I don't want to see you two over each other all night." Kris gave him a look. "I still don't, but I'll go. Just keep the groping to a minimum, alright?" Kris smiled.
"We'll try." Kris looked at the clock. It was six-thirty now. It'd take from forty-five minutes to an hour to get there. She had a half an hour to get ready. "Shit, I gotta get ready." She ran out of the room and upstairs. Taylor gave Zac a look.
"Ready? She looked fine."
"Taylor, do you know nothing at all? She's a woman, she won't go out in what she was wearing twice in the same day." Taylor rolled his eyes and sat back.
"She better hurry up."
"Don't push your luck."
Kris ran downstairs a half an hour later, a brush in one hand, and a make-up bag and her shoes balanced in the other. Her hair was blow dried but her body was still a bit wet and her dress thrown carelessly on. "Sorry," she said, and followed Taylor and Zac into the car. "Shotgun, I need the mirror."
"You had a half an hour, Kris, why do you look like you're rushed?" Zac asked.
"Cause I am!" she yelled. "This is the fastest I get, I always need two hours to get ready. Bad enough I look like shit now."
"You look fine," Taylor commented.
"Shut up." Kris sat in the front, next to Taylor who was driving, and Zac climbed into the back. The first thing she did was put the visor down and looked at herself in the mirror. She screamed. Taylor looked to her.
"What?"
"I look like shit!" She made a face and started to put her make-up on. Taylor pulled out onto the road, every once in a while looking over and shaking his head. A half an hour later she still was putting on her make-up. Zac watched intently from behind of the wonders that is a teenage girl. He did not want to see his sisters when they got older if she was this bad.
Kris finished completely by the time Taylor parked. She put on her shoes and made them wait before she stepped out of the car into the warm night. Taylor finally took a good look at her. She was beautiful; her hair cascaded down her shoulders and her make-up perfectly outlined her high cheekbones and big eyes. Her skimpy dress was, in his eyes, too skimpy.
"You look cold," Taylor immediately said and grabbed his coat.
"No, I feel fine." Taylor shook his head.
"No, you look cold." He put his coat on her and buttoned it in the front.
"Taylor! I'm fine, why are you insisting�oh, my dress is too much for you, huh?" Taylor didn't say anything, just took her hand and led her to the front. "I get it now, you're jealous that other guys might look at me."
"No, you're completely wrong. You just look cold."
"Uh-huh." She looked at Zac. "He's jealous," she mouthed. Zac smiled. "I'm going to have to take the coat off sometime, Taylor. You do know how hot it gets in these places."
"No, you're going to keep the coat on all night."
"I'll take it off later."
"No, you'll end up flashing the entire club." Kris laughed. When they got to the front, there was indeed no one there. Taylor opened the door and let her go inside first, before letting himself in and having Zac trailing behind. Once they got in, Kris ran to a table and took off the coat. "Hey!"
"Haha!" Kris said, and kissed Taylor.
"Zac go find a girl," Taylor said, and kissed Kris again.
"It didn't take you long." Zac wandered off. Almost immediately he spotted a pretty girl sitting alone at a table, with a drink. Feeling risky, he walked up to her. "You look lonely." She looked up.
"Yeah well, I am." Zac smiled. No boyfriend.
"You want to dance?" he offered. She smiled to him, showing off perfectly white teeth. Zac wondered for a minute if she bleached them.
"Sure." The walked out onto the dance floor. "What's your name?"
"Zac. You?"
"Misty." He restrained from giving her a strange look. She sounded like a stripper or something. One thing he did notice was she looked rather young.
"How old are you?"
"Don't tell anyone, but I'm fifteen." Zac laughed.
"Don't worry, I'm only fourteen. Snuck in at shift change?" She nodded. "Me too."
"You don't look fourteen. I could of sworn you were twenty-one. If not, at least late teens."
"I get that a lot. Must be the broad shoulders." She nodded again. Misty seemed like the kind of girl who wouldn't sneak into a club, but then again neither would he at first glance. She had long, thick blonde hair that rolled down her back as she danced. Her eyes were light and trusting. She looked like she had a life of wear and tear, just by the way she held herself. He noticed her long nails, and realized they were real. There wasn't that many people he knew that could actually keep their nails out of their mouth, much less those who could actually grow them. He smiled at her. This was going well already.
"Hey you want something to drink?" Taylor asked Kris, after they stepped off the dance floor. Taylor noticed immediately that Zac had picked up a girl, and was actually surprised by it. When he said to pick up a girl, he didn't think Zac would actually have the guts to do it. And he found a pretty one, too.
"Sure."
"What do you want?" Kris thought, then smiled.
"Get me a daiquiri." He shook his head.
"I knew you were going to say that." Kris sat down while Taylor walked over to the bar. A few minutes later he came back with a beer and a strawberry daiquiri for Kris. By then the next song was done and Zac had found his way over. "Hey Zac, who you with?"
"Taylor, Kris, this is Misty." Kris held in her laugh and sipped her drink. "Misty this is my brother Taylor and his girlfriend Kris." Misty waved, but didn't say anything. Taylor looked at Kris who had a smile on her face. "We'll be back," Zac said, then took Misty and left. Once they were out of sight, Kris laughed.
"Misty?" she asked Taylor. "Oh my God did he pick up a stripper or what? I wonder if her name is Misty Night or something like that." Taylor sat down, a bit amused himself.
"Well at least he found someone, I knew when you invited him along that he'd be a third wheel and just complain the whole time. I hope she doesn't mess with him or anything." Kris laughed again. Misty, she thought, smiling. How like Zac.
"I wonder if she's charging him." The both burst out laughing.
When Taylor finished his beer, Kris watched as he went to get another one. She was almost finished with her daiquiri, so he got her another one also. Zac had disappeared with that Misty girl for quite some time now. When Kris had scanned the dance floor a few minutes beforehand, she realized he wasn't there.
"Taylor," Kris said, once he got back, "Zac's been gone a while with Misty. They're not dancing�"
"Don't worry about him. He can take care of himself. He knows what he's doing." She gave him a worried look. "I said don't worry. He'll be fine."
"Are you sure? That girl did kind of look like a hooker." Taylor rolled his eyes. "I just don't want anything to happen tonight. The last thing I need is to find Zac tomorrow like out back with her or something." Taylor looked over to the corner of the large room. There was a guy there, looking like he was selling something to someone who had a girl attached to his arm. Taylor knew the large amount of E that was going around, especially in clubs likes these. The person buying it turned around. Taylor's eyes grew. It was Zac.
"Shit, I think Zac just bought some E."
"What?"
"Ecstasy." Kris turned around. Zac was walking their way, with Misty clinging tightly to him. She continued watching until he finally was standing by their table.
"Guess what I got," Zac said, a smile on his face.
"No," Taylor said. "You did not just buy drugs." Zac only shrugged. Misty smiled. Kris saw her take some before they'd come over. It was working already. "Get rid of them."
"Come on, it's the greatest feeling you'll ever have! I've done it before, no harm done. It's not like it's addictive or anything," Misty said. Kris gave a short look to Taylor, and her mind she knew she was relenting.
"It is just this once, Taylor," Kris said. "I mean, it's not like we're ever going to do it again. I've always wanted to try it." Taylor sighed. Zac handed him the bag.
"Fine."
A half an hour later, the four of them were too gone that they barely could understand what was going on. The music was so loud but they were having so much fun that they couldn't contain their laughter. They danced wildly to the music, the room spinning and the colors of people and strobe lights blending together into one big blur. Kris couldn't believe the visual stimulation in front of her, especially how the light and the colors were so distinctive. Zac and Misty shared their first kiss through the blinking lights and intense body heat.
Misty knew automatically something was wrong. She'd taken E many times in the past, and they'd never made her high like this before. Ecstasy was always so laid-back, they wouldn't affect her personality at all. There must had been something else in it. She glanced at Zac. Something was wrong with him already, she could tell. He'd taken a lot of it. If it was contaminated, he should have been dead by now.
"This�" Taylor said, not even knowing what he was referring to, "This is great." Kris nodded, nearly falling over. Misty looked at her. There was definitely something else mixed in with it. She only shrugged it off; she didn't care anymore. If they were lucky, the other substances wouldn't affect them too much.
The crowd was heavy now, Misty shed the cover over her dress and threw it at Zac, sweating profusely as the night just got hotter. Kris pulled herself against Taylor, not knowing why. She was hot and the position was only making her sweat more. Taylor shed his clothes down to his wifebeater and pushed his hair back behind his ears.
The smell of weed, drugs, and sex ran throughout the club, making it feel just like Studio 54. Many of the people were down to just underwear as the music still blasted at a deafening tone, everything around just blurring but the dance still going.
Nearing three in the morning, the high hadn't died yet. Kris and Taylor were practically raping each other in the bathroom, while Zac and Misty were still dancing to the music. Zac's shirt was off, his pant legs rolled up to get some kind of coolness into his body. With the people still going high, he couldn't do much to get out of the mess. Misty finally got tired and pulled him out of the crowd. He was getting claustrophobic anyway� he could feel the pain and the heat by now. The drugs must be dying out. He ordered a beer from the bar to try and cool himself.
"Come on Zac, let's go somewhere else," Misty said, pulling at Zac's pants. The high was gone enough to realize that she was still out there and didn't know what she was doing.
"How bout we stay here?" He felt woozy suddenly. "I just need to sit down for a bit."
"No, we can sit down somewhere else." She tugged at the zipper on his pants, trying her best to get them off, still look at him, and balance his drink in her hands at the same time. "Come on." The room began to spin. Zac shook his head, but before he could even stop he fell over. Misty looked at him on the ground, wide-eyed. She ran to the bathroom she saw Taylor and Kris enter, and looked for them.
"People!" she said, realizing she didn't remember their names. "Zac's people!" she called out. Taylor came out of the bathroom stall, a bit flustered.
"What?"
"Zac passed out." Misty pointed to the outside. "Out there."
"Kris we should leave now." Kris nodded, grabbed his hand and found Zac. He was still out. Misty helped him into the car. She climbed into the back with him, while Taylor and Kris went to the driver's side of the car. Kris noticed Taylor had a hard time walking straight to the car, a brand new mustang convertible.
"Taylor, maybe you should let me drive," Kris said, stepping in front of him. Taylor shook his head and pushed her violently away.
"Only I can drive this car."
"You can't even walk straight!"
"Yes I can."
"No, Taylor, you can't drive this car home." Taylor flipped to her.
"Listen to me, bitch, only I can drive this car. If you don't want me driving then you can fucking walk home!" She looked at him, shocked. She couldn't believe his said that. It registered into her memory, for she was back enough into this reality to realize what was going on. Otherwise she wouldn't have cared. "Don't give me that look! I'll leave you here to friggin die if you have to. I don't really give a damn about you anymore." He turned around to get into the car.
"Taylor�" One last time he turned around and slapped her across the face. She screamed out in pain, but he didn't care. He got behind the wheel. "Now will you shut your fucking mouth or will you stay here?" She nearly began to cry and got into the front seat. As Taylor started the car, she barely closed her door and turned on the music full blast.
Taylor pulled out onto the busiest road in Chicago, which was crowded even for three in the morning. He let his foot press against the gas pedal, not even bothering to glance at how fast he was going. "Maybe you should slow down," Misty said from the back seat. She saw the meter go rather close to 100, and there was a whole bunch of other cars on the road. Misty didn't even think of how she was going to get home, just how Zac was feeling.
"Taylor that light is red up there," Kris said. He hadn't slowed down at all while approaching the red light that was about 50 feet in front of them.
"I told you to shut up, bitch! Do you want me to smack you again? The light will turn."
"No, it won't. I just saw it turn red a few seconds ago."
"It'll fucking turn, alright?" he shouted, looking at her.
"No! Slow down! You're going to get us all killed!" Taylor ran the light, three other cars approaching from the other sides. Horns blared and the impact of two cars from different directions hit Taylor on either side. His car spun around four times before knocking over a telephone pole and a phone booth. The impact sent the car flipping, in the process sending Kris into the air. She landed thirty feet away, on her back. Since the convertible had no roll bar, it skidded along the windshield and crashed against the ground, but landed the way it started out. Three pedestrians were hit from his car, all three badly hurt.
"Call 911!" someone from the other car yelled. "Does someone have a cell phone?" The woman from the second car that hit ran over to Kris, who was lying on her back, her eyes closed. Her neck was squished into her shoulders while her leg was ripped with a bone popping out of her arm. The other three was still in the car, but badly hurt. Taylor was the only one with a seat-belt on. The lack of an airbag caused his head to smash against the steering wheel. His arm was completely twisted around and blood seeped from various parts on his hairline. Misty has large, gushing scratches all along her face and neck, while Zac laid unconscious on her lap. Misty was the least damaged, it looked like only a few bruises would form with a few of the scratches, but the possibility of internal injury was a threat to all three of them. Kris�with her they didn't know anything.
Misty was the only one to wake up before the ambulance got there. Within minutes of her awakening, she heard a desperate, kind voice talking to her. "Are you alright?" it asked. She looked over. The woman was wearing a paramedic's uniform. Misty sat up, looking around.
"Yeah, I feel alright." Besides the stinging scratches, she was perfectly fine. She looked down at Zac's bleeding head on her lap. Fear and grief overwhelmed her. "Oh my God," she whispered, putting her hands over her mouth and looking around. Kris was surrounded by paramedics and cops in the middle of the road. Taylor was still out on the steering wheel, while the rest of the people in the accident were fine. She began to cry, not completely comprehending what was going on.
"We're going to get the two guys out of here, you stay put and don't move, alright?" Misty nodded, still bawling. A saw cut open the side of the car so Taylor and Zac wouldn't have to be lifted with the possibility of more injury. Two paramedics carried each of them onto a stretcher, each going into separate ambulances.
While on the way to the ambulance, Taylor woke up. He felt the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth, while the rest of his body was strapped down on the stretcher. People all around him were talking and yelling orders. Kris�where was Kris?
"Kris�" he said. It called the attention of one of the paramedics.
"What?"
"Where's Kris?"
"They're taking her into another ambulance. She'll be taken to the hospital too. What's your name?"
"Taylor," he said.
"Was Kris the one with the brown hair?" Taylor nodded, sending pain throughout his entire body. "She's being taken to the ICU, she looks pretty bad." This sent tears to Taylor's eyes. A few escaped, only because he couldn't move his arms to wipe them away. "I can't promise you she'll be alright." The woman signaled to the others, and they lifted him into the ambulance. It was freezing in there, why did they keep him so cold? He looked down and realized they'd snipped off all of his clothes to check for wounds. They took off the oxygen mask. "The one girl, Misty, she's fine. We're going to take her and check her out, just to see if she has anything internal. She'll need stitches on her gashes, though."
"I don't know her that well," Taylor confessed. "I just met her at the club."
"How old are you?"
"Sixteen." The woman took a closer whiff of his breath.
"Have you been drinking?"
"Yes."
"You know you're underage."
"Yeah, I know."
"Why did you drive the car? Three pedestrians were hurt, if someone gets killed, you're going to be charged for it." Taylor looked away.
"I was too high to realize what was going on."
"You know that's no excuse."
"Yeah, I know."
"Are you in a lot of pain?" the woman asked.
"Yeah."
"Where?"
"My chest, my legs, and my head," Taylor answered. He'd never complained or even admitted of pain before, but now it hurt so much that he couldn't even bother thinking of his own ego. "It doesn't matter, I deserve it."
"No you don't. No one deserves to be in pain."
"Yes I do!" Taylor said, causing the attention of most of the people in the ambulance, some of which were working on checking out the parts of his body that he said was hurting. "I was drunk, I was high, I got into the car and I drove off when I knew I shouldn't have! I wasn't checking how fast I was going, I ran the red light, I got hit. I'm responsible for everyone. For Kris, for Zac, for Misty. If any of them die I don't know what I would do."
"Misty's going to be alright," she said. "She was awake and walking around once we got there. It's really Kris you have to worry about, and Zac. Are they close friends of yours?"
"I just met Misty tonight," Taylor said. "When Zac passed out in the club she got in the car with us to make sure he was alright. Kris is my girlfriend and Zac is my brother." He looked over to see the woman look in his wallet.
"You're Taylor Hanson?" she asked.
"Yeah."
"I thought so." She put the wallet down next to her and went back to inspecting his legs. "My daughter's a big fan."
"Well you can tell her you rode with me in the ambulance on the way to the hospital." Despite all of this, the thought of a fan made Taylor smile. It was the last thing he even thought of with all of this going on. He was too worried about Kris and Zac, he didn't even think someone would recognize him. "Just leave out the fact that I got drunk."
"And the fact that you're naked. "
"That too. If you let my hands go I'll write her an autograph."
"Taylor, you hand is broken," she said, looking at his hand. It was rather gross, but the disgusting part was wrapped up in a bandage already.
"It'll be messy then."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "Are you delirious?"
"No," Taylor said, smiling. "It's the least I can do."
"Actually, it's something great for you to be riding in an ambulance after a serious accident and want to give out an autograph. I don't know anyone who would do that."
"I guess I'm just that way. Come on, before I change my mind." She smiled and looked around. She found a pad of paper and a pen nearby. She took his arms out of the straps and handed him the pad of paper. He put it above him and started scribbling on it. She noticed the look of pain on his face as his broken hand wrote quickly over the paper.
"You really don't have to do this�"
"I want to." He bit his lip and finished. She noticed his hand started to bleed again. He was fighting back the tears of pain in his eyes.
"Okay, time to be strapped back down." She put him back in the straps and put the paper in her pocket. "I admire your courage."
"I don't." The woman sighed, and Taylor looked away.
Misty rode in the ambulance with Zac, only because there wasn't another ambulance for her. She wasn't that serious anyway. She looked him over, but it was all a blur because of her tears. He had a tube down his throat, clearing his stomach. It was obvious they knew he had too much to drink, and too many drugs. He had an oxygen mask to help him breathe. His eyes were closed, his head tied limply to the stretcher.
"Do you know who he is?" someone asked Misty. She nodded. "What's his name?"
"Zac." The woman stared at her blankly. "I don't know a last name." Someone found his wallet in his pocket, and check for ID. He didn't have a license, just an ID of some sort. The man who found it looked at the others.
"Another celebrity immunity accident," he said, and threw the wallet to Misty. Celebrity immunity accident? What the hell, this was a normal accident. "Zachary Hanson." A few people shook their heads. "Only fourteen, too."
"He's been drinking," the woman who was administering the breathing tube said. "I can smell it." Misty put her finger to her mouth, biting on her nail. She'd never done it before, but she was nervously starting now. The blood that spilled from her was being cleaned off now. It stung her, but she couldn't say anything. The others were worse off than she. Zac wasn't even conscious yet. She saw Taylor wake up on the way to the other ambulance, but his head was messed up pretty bad. She couldn't even see what happened to Kris, though. There were just so many people around her; it made Misty worry.
"You're the only one I know is going to be alright," the woman who was cleaning her scratches said. "We'll just have to check for something internal. Your friend Kris is in serious condition."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, she's going straight to the ICU." Misty looked at her, and the tears fell again.
"How about Taylor? I saw him wake up on the way to the other ambulance."
"I can't say. He was showing signs of serious head and neck injury." Misty ran her hands over her eyes, carefully avoiding her scratches. "It's good that he was awake, though. If he was unconscious we'd have to check for any internal injuries ourselves, like Zac here."
"How's he look?" Misty asked, gazing towards Zac. His eyes were still closed. If she didn't know better, she could swear he had died. The blood was everywhere, pouring from his head and from his chest, onto the stretcher and spilling to the floor. For the first time she noticed the piece of the car stuck into his stomach. "Oh my God."
"He must have slammed into the side of the car. We won't remove it here, we'll leave that to the doctors. They know more about what might be hit if they just take it out than we do. We're just here to keep them alive until we get there."
"How long until we get there?"
"We should be there pretty soon." Misty looked at Zac, and the piece of the white convertible stuffed into his torso. She was the lucky one.
"She's out!" yelled another paramedic in a third ambulance. Quickly the people rushed to try and revive her. Two minutes later her heartbeat returned, and the rush calmed a bit. Another man pushed her eyelids back. Her eyes were rolled back into her head.
As soon as he let go, her entire body began to twitch in convulsions. They tied her down tightly, trying to keep her alive. A woman poked around, discovering three cracked bones�probably her ribs. Her foot was completely turned around, but the bigger problem was the fact that her lungs were filling with fluid. They pulled into the hospital, and she was immediately put into surgery. The doctors soon discovered the punctured lung, along with a broken collarbone and twisted neck. Her legs were turning blue from the lack of blood, emitted from many different gashes.
Her heart stopped again. They shocked her chest, which after two tries, revived her heart. A nurse left when another doctor came in. She ran next door to Zac's room. They were still trying to revive him and get him back into consciousness. He had five cracked ribs and needed to get rid of the piece of metal inside of him.
The nurse accompanied a doctor in taking out the metal, which only revealed gushing blood. The rush and panic returned when they realized that they were running out of time.
Taylor's doctor stood at a counter with a phone to his ear. He heard ringing, and was hoping someone would pick up. Even if it was five in the morning, it was an emergency. After a while, a man's voice picked up the phone.
"Hello?" he asked, wearily. Why am I getting a phone call at five in the morning? It better not be someone calling for one of my sons again.
"Is this Mr. Walker Hanson?"
"Yes."
"Mr. Hanson, my name is Dr. Franklin Corder. Your sons, Taylor and Zachary have been in a serious accident." Walker sat up in bed and put a hand over his mouth.
"Do, do you know how?"
"Taylor consumed a lot of alcohol at a club downtown and also got a hold of some drugs. The others were in the same state as him. They left the club when Zachary passed out. Taylor drove drunk and ran a red light. The car was hit on both sides, hit a telephone pole, a telephone booth, and three pedestrians."
"Are they alright?"
"Taylor's awake right now, but Zachary is still in surgery. The girl that was with them, Kris, is in serious condition, worse than Zachary. Misty is perfectly fine, she just has a few scratches."
"Who's Misty?"
"She was in the car with them. I'll need you to come down immediately."
"I�I'll be right there." Walker looked to Diana who was next to him. She was still asleep. After finding out what hospital and how to get there, he hung up the phone and shook Diana. "Diana�wake up." She eventually stirred.
"Walker it's five in the morning."
"The boys have been in an accident." She sat up.
"What?"
"We need to get to the hospital now." He got out of bed and went to wake up Isaac, so he could watch the kids when they woke up. Diana got dressed and they were on their way to the hospital in fifteen minutes.
"What happened?" Diana asked.
"Taylor was driving drunk and was hit on both sides when he ran a red light." Diana shook her head, leaning her elbow against the armrest, rubbing her head. "You'd think he'd have more sense than that."
"Well you never know. How'd he get a hold of the alcohol?"
"They were at a club."
"They were at a club?" Diana asked. "What the hell were they doing at a club?"
"I don't know. They also had drugs. Zac passed out; that's why the left." Diana rubbed her hand over her face. "There was another girl in the car, I'm just guessing it's one of Kris's friends. Her name's Misty."
"Misty? What the hell did they do, get a stripper?" Diana yelled.
"Diana calm down."
"My children just got into a serious accident and you want me to fucking calm down! Walker they could of died! For all we know one of them may die! I don't want to think of what's going to happen when this is all through."
"We'll find out what really happened when we get there. Taylor's awake, but Kris and Zac are both in surgery. Kris is in critical condition." Diana took the cell phone.
"I'm calling her mother."