"Thank God you're alright!" Diana said, throwing her arms around Taylor. He was sitting in the hospital. He was pretty much done with, but he'd have to stay in the hospital until his wounds healed. He had an IV in his wrist and bandages all over him. He was cleaned up a bit now, but his hairline was still red from the blood. His neck was in a brace. "I love you so much, don't ever do this to me again. You're still my baby." When she finally got the courage to let go of him, she stepped back and looked at him.
"What the hell were you thinking?" she yelled. "Never, under any circumstances, do you drive drunk! Take a cab home, let someone else drive, just never drive drunk!"
"Mother I've learned my lesson," Taylor hoarsely said. "It's bad enough I nearly killed six other people, and myself. I have to live with this forever. It's been an hour and Kris is still in surgery, I don't know what's wrong with her! Zac's still in surgery too, I don't know what's wrong with him! I can't take it, Mom! I can't take not knowing what's going on with them. For all I know they could die and it will be all my fault!"
Diana looked over her son. He had scratches everywhere, of a lengths and sizes. She couldn't believe how many he actually had. 20�25�oh my God there's thirty of them! She said in her mind. When she'd talked to that Misty girl, she'd had scratches too; hers were lesser but much worse. His arm was in a cast now, from his broken hand. She saw the stitches peeking out of the top of his hospital gown, and down his leg, that was propped up. It wasn't in a cast, so she figured he'd just sprained it.
"Have you seen Kris or Zac at all? Heard anything?" Taylor asked, almost losing hope in the two of them. Diana shook her head.
"You're father's asking about Zac. Once he finds out, we'll know." Taylor sighed, and looked at his legs. He'd have that scar on his leg until the day he died.
"I didn't mean for any of this to happen," Taylor said, quietly. It made Diana feel small the way he said it. He sounded so afraid and in so much pain. "If they're not alright, I don't know what I'd do."
"None of us knew it was going to happen," Diana said, taking a seat. "But everything's going to be alright." A tear fell from Taylor's eye. It only made Diana feel worse. Two of his closest friends were in critical condition because of him and the decision he made. With his un-bandaged but still fucked up hand, he carelessly swiped at his damp cheeks.
"You don't know that." She took her son's hand, trying to generate the least amount of pain she could.
"No, I don't, but I can pray." Taylor looked to her. "Taylor none of this is your fault. You just happened to be the one driving. If it wasn't you than it would have been someone else." Taylor looked away, not believing her. "Listen to me, Taylor, I know you didn't mean to do any of this. If you did then you wouldn't be acting the way you are. I know that you're going through a lot and there isn't anything I can do to ease the pain. I just want you to know that I still love you no matter what happens."
"Even if Zac dies?"
"God forbid, but yes. Even if Zac dies. You are still my son. It's only one mistake and it's never going to happen again. Right?" Taylor tried to nod.
"It's never going to happen again."
"That makes me feel better." A doctor walked in the room. Taylor looked up, as did Diana.
"Kris has gone into brain surgery now, she's had some damage done to her brain. We won't hear about her for a while." Diana waited to hear about Zac. "Zac is still in surgery. He lost a lot of blood and has had many transfusions. They're still trying to repair the broken bones and get rid of the excess scar tissue. It'll be a while before we can let him out."
"Will he be alright?" Taylor ventured, uncertain if he wanted to hear the answer.
"I don't know." Diana gripped Taylor's hand, which sent pain throughout his entire body.
"Ow!!" he said. Diana jumped and let go of his hand.
"We'll make sure to let you know the minute he gets out of surgery; the minute they both get out of surgery." When he left, Taylor let out a sigh. He didn't know exactly what that all meant. He didn't want to know, either. Zac wasn't turning out the way he'd expected. He feared Kris had the worst, and knew now that she did.
"Do you believe that Zac's going to be alright?" Diana asked. Taylor shook his head. "You should. Even if he's still in surgery, it doesn't mean that he's going to let go. He's strong, and you know that."
"I always thought he'd be stronger." Taylor looked out the window, into the hallway. Misty was there, just sitting there. She didn't have a ride home; her parents weren't even contacted yet. They didn't know what was wrong with her, if they knew there was anything wrong with her at all. "Misty turned out to be fine," he said. "Out of a pure heart she said she didn't want to leave Zac after he passed out in the club, and she ended up here. I don't think she has a way home."
"What's up with Misty? Who is she?"
"Zac picked her up at the club; she's fifteen. They took a liking to each other and stayed with each other all night. When Zac passed out she wanted to stay with him, because she felt responsible."
"How?"
"She made him buy the E." Diana gave him a strange look. "The drugs. It was her idea. She'd tried it before and liked it, so she wanted to show Zac what is was like, I guess." The sudden thought of Kris shot into his mind. He saw her on the stretcher, going to her ambulance. She looked horrible�everything looked horrible. "I just hope Kris is okay."
"I hope so too." Taylor refrained from rolling his eyes. Ever since the two of them began seeing each other she wasn't happy about it. He never completely understood, either. Everything was fine, until now.
"Since when do you care about Kris?" Taylor asked.
"She makes you happy," Diana said. "As long as she makes you happy I'll be happy for the both of you."
"Why didn't you bother saying that before? We could of had so much to talk about instead of the silence if you would had just told me that." Diana sat back. She had been a bit hard-headed. "I thought you hated her."
"Kris is a sweet girl," Diana said. "There's no way I can hate her. Every time I met her she had a smile on her face and was too polite." Taylor held in his laughter.
"To tell you the truth, Kris is far from polite." Taylor looked outside again, to Misty. She was just sitting there all alone. He wished he could go out there and talk to her, but he couldn't get up.
Misty could feel his stare even through the thick windows. She could only sit there, separated from everyone else. She could only sit and wonder what was going on with everyone. Taylor looked like shit, but he'd be okay. Kris and Zac were still fighting for their lives somewhere else in this immense building. She needed to call someone.
Misty stood, trying to break Taylor's stare. She headed over to the pay phone and had to call her sister collect. "Hello?" her weary voice answered.
"You have a collect call from�caller state your name here."
"Misty."
"Will you accept charges?"
"Yes."
"Thank you." The auto computer shut off, and Misty's sister spoke up first.
"What the hell are you doing calling me collect at five-thirty in the morning?" she yelled.
"Skyler, I'm at the hospital. I went home with these people I met at the club and we got into a car wreck and I'm in deep shit right now."
"Why?"
"Cause I told one of them, Zac, to by some drugs and that's why we got in the car wreck, we were all too high to realize what was going on. I need you to come and pick me up."
"You don't want to stay and get checked out or anything?"
"I already got checked out. I'm the only one who's allowed to leave. There were three other people in the car and they all got it pretty bad. Another guy, Taylor, he's the only one out of surgery. He hurt his neck and has a whole bunch of cuts everywhere. His girlfriend, Kris, just went into brain surgery and Zac isn't out yet. I didn't think any of this was going to happen."
"Listen, I'm just as shocked as you are. I'm coming now." Skyler hung up the phone, and Misty sat back down to wait.
"Is it really that bad?"
"I'm sorry sweetie, but yes." Skyler sat down next to Misty, who's head fell on her older sister's shoulder. "I'm sorry it took so long, I never thought traffic would be a bitch so early in the morning."
"It's alright, it's not like I had anything else to do anyway." Misty sighed. "And I'm the lucky one. I don't want to know what's going on with Kris and Zac."
"You seem like you're close to these people."
"They're very welcoming," Misty said. "Zac is the sweetest person I've ever met, he actually spent the entire night with me. Taylor and Kris were just so nice that they took me in quickly. I've never met people like that before." The night replayed in Misty's mind. "If I wasn't holding on to Zac so tightly he would of flown out of the car just like Kris did." She closed her eyes and sniffed, feeling the tears overwhelming her. That night was starting so wonderful, but ended so horrible.
A doctor stepped up to Misty and Skyler. "Zac is out of surgery now, and in the recovery room. He's in a coma, all we can do now is wish for the best." Misty looked away. "You can go see him now, if you like." Misty nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes.
"But I think his mother should see him first," Misty said, pointing to the room in front of her. "She's in there." The doctor nodded and walked into the room. "Shit." Her head hit the wall, making a thump noise.
The doctor walked into the room where Diana and Taylor were still talking. "Zachary is out of surgery now, but he unfortunately remains in a coma. I told Misty out there, and she said maybe you would like to see him first." Diana nodded. She looked to Taylor before following the doctor out of the room.
"Mom," Taylor called out, before she left.
"Yes."
"Can you send Misty in here?" Diana nodded. Taylor waited a few minutes until Misty walked in the room. "Hi."
"Um, hi."
"You look like shit."
"So do you." They both awkwardly laughed.
"Sit down?" Taylor asked. She walked over and sat down next to him. "Lucky."
"Not really," she said. "I feel really bad because I only walked away with a few scratches. They're gonna be there for the rest of my life." Taylor shrugged. "What happened to you?"
"Everything." She looked over him. He was horrible. If he was that bad, she wanted to see what the others were like. "So Zac's out of surgery now, huh?"
"Yeah. But he's in a coma."
"I heard."
"I don't know you at all but for some reason there's a connection between us," Misty said. Taylor looked over at her.
"I think it's called the car accident."
"No, stupid." Taylor raised a painful eyebrow. "There just seems like the four of us clicked. Before the accident."
"Yeah, Zac did seem to take a liking to you. Feel special, he doesn't like many people." She smiled. "But I feel it too. Me and Zac live out in the boondocks of Oklahoma, so you're going to have to connect with Kris."
"How pathetic are we?"
"I'm the one in the hospital bed with a neck brace." Misty rolled her eyes. "You shut up, you're scratched."
"Yeah, well, whatever."
"Like that was a sentence." Misty laughed. Even with the current stressful situation, there was still a bit of humor in it all. Misty encouraged whatever she could get out of him. "You, woman, turn on the TV!"
"Not if you talk to me like that!" Misty said. Taylor smiled sweetly at her and let his big clear eyes fill up. She melted. "Fine." She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV.
"Works every time."
"Don't start or you can turn on your own damn TV. I caved once, I'm not going to do it again."
"Sure you are."
"Shut up, Taylor." They sat in silence for a long period then, having run out of things to say. They didn't know each other at all, and they weren't even bothering to ask questions. That's how Taylor and Kris started out� Taylor suddenly remembered Kris.
"You haven't heard anything about Kris, have you?" Taylor asked, looking over to Misty. He still needed to get used to the stitches that outlined parts of her face and neck. Misty shook her head. "Oh, alright."
"I'm guess you two are really close."
"We've been going out for about three months now. I was in love with her the first day I met her." Taylor wanted to change the subject. He didn't want to think about Kris right now, because it would only lead to her current situation. Brain surgery�he bit his lip and looked out the window, into the hall. "Is that your sister or something?"
"Yeah, that's my older sister Skyler. She came to pick me up, but I'm going to be here a while, to check up on Zac."
"There's going to be a lot of people doing that, you know."
"Yeah, I know," she said, lowering her eyes. "But I want to. I really feel guilty over all of this�I got him to buy the drugs and got all of us out there."
"Yeah, but I was the one driving. I feel guilty."
"Everyone keeps telling me it's not my fault, but it's going to take a lot to convince me of that fact. Even if I was just in the car, and I just convinced Zac to get the drugs, everyone keeps telling me that I had nothing to do with it. I can't believe that. I can't believe anything anymore."
"I don't want to start believing in anything right now. My brother is in a coma and my girlfriend is in brain surgery right now. You and me are the lucky ones, we're awake right now."
"And that's another reason why I feel so bad! All I got was a couple of stitches. You're all messed up, even if you are awake. I walked away with a few scratches while everyone else was carried out on stretchers. I walked to the ambulance and just sat in there with Zac. He had a piece of the car stuck in his abdomen! I saw it there, it was a huge piece right there."
"I had to write an autograph with a broken hand. That hurt."
"I think it would, Taylor." Taylor looked at his broken hand. He couldn't see much of anything, just his fingers poking out of a cast. He looked to his other hand. This one wasn't broken, but it looked just as bad. Scratches from shattered glass and broken particles had almost mutilated it. As he looked at it, he couldn't even recognize it. He could use the expression I know that like the back of my own hand anymore, because he didn't know his hands. It'd be hell trying to play the keyboards again.
Shit, he thought. The band. He'd forgotten about the band. He'd forgotten about the singing, the playing, and the fans. He remembered the fame from the autograph, but forgotten about music. The past few days he hadn't thought about Hanson the band at all. The fame would make things even worse. Everyone would know what happened, what went on, what condition they were in. Everyone would know that Zac is in a coma, everyone would know that it'd be months before they could play again. Shit.
"Taylor?" Misty asked, calling his attention. "What are you thinking about?"
"The band," he said, then looked at her. "That was actually the first time I'd responded to that kind of question without answering 'nothing.' I must be delusional or something." Misty smiled. "And you're smiling at that?"
"Yes, do you have a problem with that?" Misty smacked his good leg with a pillow from the next bed over.
"I guess not."