The Bodyguard

Note – there are some mature themes in this story – I don’t want to go into them because if I told you want happens now then it would spoil the story later. I’d just like to say that if you’re bothered by R rated movies, child abuse or anything, then I suggest you do not read this story.

This story is copyrighted by Ashley-Anne Douglas

PROLOGUE

It was the beginning of a long week for three brothers Isaac, Taylor and Zachary Hanson. The beginning of their weeks usually started off with a couple of photo-shoots, then interviews, which lead right up to television appearances, radio shows, live performances – the whole deal. That was what being famous was about. It was tiring, but the they loved it. So life was full of hotels, plane trips across the globe, constant harassment from the press, being stalked by teenage girls – they wouldn’t give it up for anything – it wasn’t for the money, for the love of getting to travel. It was for the music. Everything was for the music.

However the three boys, aged seventeen, fourteen and twelve were totally exhausted before they’d even made it to the airport, it seemed just relaxing for the past two weeks had been exhausting. Actually, the boys were hoping getting back to their tiring lives would wake them up a little!

Zachary Hanson – the youngest of the brothers – climbed out of the white van his parents owned (Zac affectionately knew the van as ‘The Hanson Mobile’). He pulled his backpack onto his left shoulder, and kept a tight hold of it, with the other hand he swept back his shiny golden hair, smiling broadly to himself. Zac found it easy to smile at anything – a bright and playful preteen he was with a love of adventure, excitement and the just plain goofy.

"Do you suppose we could just get through this quickly, find our bodyguard and hopefully not lose anyone in the airport?" Taylor asked of his father, folding his arms, a half smile playing over his delicate pink lips.

"Uh…that’s probably gonna be impossible," Taylor’s older brother Isaac grinned, grabbing their youngest brother Mackenzie by the back of his dungarees and pulling him back before he could make a run for the entrance.

Walker Hanson – their father sighed. "This is the part I hate the most – moving the luggage…"

"Imagine all the luggage there would be if me and the kids were going as well," Diana smiled, but she patted her belly, she was about to give birth any day now.

"Dad, we’ll meet you inside—" Zac was in the mood to avoid having to carry luggage.

"No, Zac…stay here and help me…" Walker commanded.

Getting through this tradition of trailing ten bags of luggage into the airport, trying to get Mackenzie to stay with them, and trying to stop Jessica and Avery arguing about who was the best dancer – it got old. But they somehow managed and soon, while their mother was getting her sons luggage through, while the boys and their father went to see about finding their new bodyguard who would be handling their public protection while their personal bodyguard Jason Browning was taken down with food poisoning.

"I think that could be him," Taylor pointed out to a guy standing near the glass wall of the airport which stared out onto the runway, planes were coming in and out. The guy was around six foot seven or eight, with jet black hair, kept short and neat, he wore a suit which covered up a reasonable multitude of his obvious bulk. He was wearing a pair of black sunglasses, and he was holding his hands together as he stood still looking at the once place.

"He kind of stands out, doesn’t he?" Isaac snickered, everyone here in a suit didn’t seem as stiff or as secret-agent type as this guy.

"Yeah, he looks like an FBI agent or something…" Taylor admitted seriously.

Zac stifled his laugh, then calmed down for a moment, then let out a burst of "Here come the men in black," he pointed to the guy who was wearing the plain black suit, he cracked up. Using Will Smith’s song to totally make fun of the guy was cool.

"Okay, okay," Walker rolled his eyes at his sons sense of humour and he began to urge them forward.

"Hi, I’m Walker Hanson, are you the bodyguard arranged for my sons?"

"Hello," the guy shifted his feet apart, reached out his hand and shook Walker’s hand in a firm way, the look on Walker’s face as the guy gripped his hand was enough to speak out the word ‘ouch’. "I’m Don Jacobson," the guy continued, then he got out some ID and papers just to show he was who he said he was, the Hanson’s had to be extra careful these days.

"Everything seems appropriate here," Walker said, handing back the ID. "These are my sons, Isaac, Taylor and Zachary, they’re the ones you’re hired to protect at all costs," he explained.

"Hi," Don said to the three.

"Don’t be offended if we don’t shake your hand," Isaac said with a slight smile, "But I think you nearly just broke my dads fingers off…"

"Yeah, strong grip," Walker shook his hand to release some of the pain.

"Sorry," Don said, but he smiled in a reserved way.

"So…uh….I bet you always ate your porridge when you were a kid…" Zac said, looking up at the guy who was way taller than anyone he’d ever met yet. "Or are you just on stilts," he giggled.

"Zac, don’t make fun of the guy," Walker warned.

Zac smiled to himself. "Sorry," he grumbled, but kept smiling.

Don looked down at Zac. "You obviously aren’t eating your porridge," he said with a smile.

Zac stopped smiling, he was rather sensitive about his height – mostly because his brothers were both a lot nearer six feet than he was – he was only five foot two, which he felt was small even for his age. Zac pouted then frowned.

"I’m kidding," Don slapped Zac on the shoulder in a playful way, his big meaty hand nearly sent Zac into the ground like a hammer to a nail!

"Whoah, you’re strong," Zac said, rubbing his shoulder.

"In this game you have to be," Don admitted with a reassuring smile, "so you guys all excited about going to Scotland?" he asked.

"Well…" Zac began, but Taylor interrupted.

"We love Scotland…" Taylor began.

"We’ve never been there," Isaac continued after Taylor. "But we think it looks cool…"

"We seen Braveheart like a dozen times!" Zac chirped cheerfully.

"Mel Gibson – good movie," Don agreed.

"Its our fave…" Zac smiled, then attempted a Scottish accent saying "You will never take oor freedom…"

Don laughed at the twelve-year-olds attempt at a Scottish accent.

"Okay, boys, lets go say goodbye to your mother, and the kids…" Walker said to his sons. "Don, we’ll see you on the plane."

"Right-e-o, Mr. Hanson."

Walker took his sons along to where they’d left Mrs. Hanson. "Well, we found the bodyguard…" he said to his wife.

"Is he big?" Jessica asked.

"Majorly big – he’s like seven feet tall," Zac slightly exaggerated. "Well…maybe six foot seven…" he trailed off.

Diana Hanson looked at Zachary. "You behave while you’re in Scotland," she said, she reached over to hug him with difficulty considering she had this huge bulge in front of her.

"Okay, mom…" Zac nodded – but didn’t plan on behaving really. He grinned and his mother knew it.

"Isaac – for god sake, don’t go getting into fights with anyone down there…"

"Mom, since when have you known me to get fights with anyone?" Isaac asked, a half smile playing his lips.

"Just a warning…" Diana said. "Someone at the supermarket told me her son went down there, got in a big fight, and ended up with a broken bottle twisted into his stomach – lucky he lived but—"

"We have a bodyguard mom," Taylor reminded, he kissed his mothers cheek. "Bye mom, we’ll miss you, take care and don’t let Jess, Avie and Mac stress you out…" he smiled, looked down at Mac and ruffled the blonde four year olds hair playfully. "Be good," he warned the three year old.

"I will," Mackenzie promised, nodding.

"See ya later," Zac never hugged his sisters, because he felt it was mushy, he hated that, he did however pat their shoulders as he said goodbye.

"Yeah, bye," Jessica said shrugging boredly.

"Jessie," Isaac motioned for the nine year old to come over, and he knelt before her. "Take care of mom, okay?" he asked, and he quickly pushed a rolled up five dollar bill into her tiny hand paying for the request.

"Of course I will," Jessica smiled at the money in her hand.

"And lay off Avery," Isaac added. "See you when we get back," he gave his sister a quick hug and then hugged Avery afterwords. "And you be good," he told Avery, he hugged Mackenzie, who returned the hug with equal affection.

"Bring me a present," commanded Mac when he moved back from Isaac.

They all laughed, and Isaac stood up. "Okay," he said, he leaned over and hugged his mother, "See you when we get back on Friday," he said.

Walker moved over to his wife and gave her affection kiss on the cheek.

She stared at him. "What the heck was that?! I'm carrying your seventh child and a kiss on the cheek is all I get?" she asked.

"Not in front of the little ones, Di…" Walker blushed a little.

Diana rolled her eyes, but pulled her husband in for a loving kiss on the lips.

"Aw, no…" Zac slapped his forehead. "Stop the mushy stuff already!"

Everyone laughed again, Diana shoved Zac playfully.

Walker hugged Diana, and then moved back. "Love you," he said.

"Love you back," she grinned, patted his chest, and then let him go.

After the goodbyes were all made, the Hanson boys made their way onto the plane accompanied by their father – ready for another busy week ahead.

CHAPTER ONE

Zac stared out of the window of the hotel room – the beautiful view of the quaint city – the castle up on the mound, with its craggy bluffs and its brownstone walls. And all down the street before it, the gardens, the monument shaped like a cathedral with a hollow under belly with a statue hiding under its alcove. It was a wonderful sight. Zac had always been into scenery.

"This place is great," he said.

Taylor glanced over Zac’s shoulder. "Yeah, whoah, its like breathtaking," he admitted, he flicked a lock of golden hair back from his blue eyes. "Kind of makes you wish you could go out on your own and just sight-see – but there's no chance of that anyway since we’d have to take that big…what's his name – Don? – with us and plus we only have an hour and a half until we’d due to arrive for our photo session…"

"Where’s dad gone anyway?" Zac asked, "Isn’t he a little worried about leaving us in hotel on our own when they have complimentary matches on the nightstand – and we could set fire to something?" Zac grinned. "We’re all pyromaniacs…"

Isaac was putting clothes away in a big chest of drawers, trying to get things organised. "Dad went to see about a car rental," he answered.

"Tay, I gave you my Discman, what did you do with it?" Isaac asked, suddenly.

"Uh…" Taylor thought for a moment, still looking out over the city in aw. "I think I put it in my backpack," he said.

Isaac found Taylor’s backpack beside all the other suitcases and bags, and he began searching through it, "what the—" came Isaac’s surprised mumble.

Taylor straightened up, an "uh-oh" passed his lips, he turned and looked nervously over his shoulder.

"Taylor…" Isaac began in an irritated voice.

Taylor and Zac both looked at what Isaac was holding up.

Isaac read the label of the cigarette box. "Kensitas Club King Size?" he asked, frowning.

"Uh…those aren’t mine," Taylor said guiltily.

"Whoa, Tay…you are in so much shit when dad finds out," Zac bit his lip, somehow managing to suppress the urge to smile at his brothers situation.

"Then…uh…who do they belong to?" Isaac asked, tapping his foot impatiently.

"They’re Zac’s," Taylor lied, his face going redder than his shirt.

"Hey!" Zac said in shock. "I don’t smoke! I’m twelve for crying out loud!"

Isaac glared at Taylor. "Need I remind you this isn’t the first time I’ve had to confiscate cigarettes from you, Tay…"

"What? You mean he’s done this before? How come you never told me?" Zac asked.

"Because you’re a blabbermouth," Isaac answered simply. "Tay, I’m gonna go break these up and throw them down the toilet…and if you don’t like it you can lump it…"

"Aw…but Ike—!" Taylor whined.

"Need I remind you what could happen if the fans found out you were smoking? You’d be thought of as a bad example," Isaac reminded, then he went into the bathroom, moments later there were the sounds of the toilet being flushed, and Taylor’s expression dropped, his blue eyes dulled.

"I’ll just buy another packet," Taylor then told himself in a chipper way.

"You dare," Isaac’s voice floated from the bathroom. "I am soooo disappointed in you for this, you should know better by now."

"Yeah, well, It soothes my nerves…"

Isaac walked back into the room. "Just another excuse to use a worthless drug which will eventually end up taking around twenty years off of your life," He muttered, he then searched out his Discman out of Taylor’s backpack. He hooked it up to a pair of mini speakers and switched the radio of it on, and instantly a song called ‘The Day We Find Love’ began to flow through the room.

"Caffeine is a drug, I saw you drinking coffee the other day," Taylor pointed out.

"Coffee can’t give you lung cancer," Isaac shot back, tapping his foot to the song.

"Shut up you two," Zac muttered.

Isaac began searching through his clothes as he’d been doing before – putting things away. "You better pick out something to wear for the photo-shoot – and better pick out something to take with you and change into…"

Zac rolled his eyes. "I'm wearing what I have on," he said, motioning to the chocolate brown T-shirt he was wearing and the leather pants which were his favourites. "I’ll wait for you guys down in the lobby, because I really don’t want to hang around here and listen to you two arguing about a pack of stupid cigarettes," he said, he grabbed his backpack and made his way to the door.

Zac left the room – immediately finding Don just standing at the side of the doorway. He looked at the tall dark-haired man with surprise. "Uh-hi…what are you doing here?"

"I’m supposed to be protecting you…"

"From what? A couple of boy-crazy girls who want to meet the famous Hanson brothers?" Zac smiled attentively, and rolled his eyes, he was about to go down the hallway when Don stopped him by placing one of his big meaty hands on Zac’s shoulder and bringing him back.

"Where are you going?"

"Down to the lobby, I’m sick of hearing Tay and Ike argue…" Zac answered.

"I better go with you…"

"Hey, I’m not a kid, I can handle things on my own," Zac admitted.

"Your father told me to stay with you at all costs and that is precisely what I'm going to do," Don stated.

"Look, Dan - or whatever your name is – its not like I have a murderer stalking me you know – there isn’t any guys with shotguns waiting downstairs to assassinate me," he added. "Besides," he grinned. "I got a machete in my backpack."
"Yeah, right kid," Don followed Zac down the hall.

"No…I'm not kidding…" Zac paused, held up one finger, then he searched into his backpack and pulled out a set of keys, the keyring was a tiny silver machete, it looked quaint and cool. "See…"

Don gave a laugh. "How…cool…"

"Yeah, Tay got me it when we went to New York…that was when I was feeling a little bit weird about going on stage…"

"I read about you – but I actually haven’t even heard your music…"

"You don’t listen to the radio?" Zac asked.

"No, I don’t," Don answered. "I don’t watch much Television either, don’t have time in my job," he answered. "What kind of music do you sing?"

"Well, we play it, and write it and sing it," Zac admitted. "Its…like…a combo of rock music, pop music, some R&B, it goes into its own category really," he shrugged, and threw his head back to shake his hair out of his face.

"I guess I’ll get to hear you perform some time this week – when are you scheduled to play?"

"Well…" Zac thought for a moment, then took a piece of paper with dates and places written on them out of his back pocket. "We’re to do a free concert in Princes Street Gardens tomorrow afternoon at three, and then on Wednesday we’re supposed to do a full-fledged concert at a place called Murrayfield Stadium…that’s up at somewhere called Meadowbanks, dad said."

"Sounds like you’re gonna be busy…"

They got into the elevator, and Zac pushed the ground floor button, the doors closed and the elevator began slowly making its descent.

"Do you have kids?" Zac asked nosily all of a sudden.

Don paused. "No, why?"

"Just wondering," Zac shrugged. "My mom, she has six kids – that’s me included and over the next week she’s going to have another one. We have a feeling its gonna be a girl…" Zac admitted. "My mom gets pregnant every three years or so. She’s never not pregnant," Zac laughed.

Don looked straight at Zac, he was silent. Zac knew it was hard to tell Don was looking at him – those sunglasses were pure black and there seemed to be no trace of eyes behind them – but the feeling of someone staring at him began to make Zac feel very uncomfortable. As if he were being studied somehow.

The elevator stopped – which Zac was thankful, and he climbed out, just as Walker Hanson was about to climb in.

"Zac…where are you going?" Walker asked.

"I was just about to take a look around before the photo-shoot," Zac shrugged and stepped out, just as Don stepped out.

"Well, I was just about to go up and get you guys – I thought we could go up and see Grayfriars, how about it?"

"Whatever Grayfriars is, that’s fine with me…" Zac admitted. "I’ll run up and get Ike and Tay," he stated then dashed back into the elevator and pressed for the seventh floor before Don could climb in. The doors shut quickly and the elevator began ascending back up.

In the elevator, Zac couldn’t seem to forget how Don had looked at him, as if he was studying him in detail. Still shaking off that feeling he was still being looked at – Zac left the elevator as it arrived back on the floor their room was on. Somehow, the way that Don had looked at him through those dark sunglasses still lingered with him.

CHAPTER TWO

Tuesday afternoon – 14.30

"Zac, how many times have you done this now?" Taylor asked of Zac, they were standing outside the hotel doors, they were supposed to appear at Princes Street Gardens for their free concert within the next half hour when Zac had suddenly remembered he'd left Taylor’s tambourine up there – Taylor had asked him to grab it on their way out, but Zac had been so lost on his own thoughts that he’d neglected to do so.

"Look, I said I was sorry," Zac rolled his eyes, he looked sneakily over his shoulder to see that Don was talking with their father.

You can't see his eyes, Zac thought. How do you know when he’s looking at you or not looking at you? He thought, frowning slightly.

"Well, don’t just stand there, go up and get it for heavens sake," Isaac instructed.

Zac was momentarily somewhere else, and confused, he looked at Isaac. "Get what?" he asked stupidly.

"The tambourine, brainiac," Isaac slapped Zac gently on the head. "We’ll wait here for you…" Isaac held up the room key.
Zac groaned, grabbed the room key from Isaac, and turned on his heel and began a quick pace off.

He got into the elevator, and pressed the button of the seventh floor. The elevator was moving, gently vibrating, making him feel unsteady and weak. He gripped onto the handle at his left side and held onto it for support. Yesterday had been one of those bothersome nights, the photo-shoot had been a complete disaster, the camera had exploded! Although Isaac and Taylor had thought it was pretty funny, for some reason, Zac couldn’t see the funny side to it. He’d been more concerned that Don had been following him about – it seemed to be him in particular, not Taylor or Isaac.

I can’t even go to take a piss without the giant following me into the bathroom, Zac thought miserably. At least Jason wasn’t like this.

The door of the elevator slid open and Zac stepped out, walked a few doors down into the hall and found the room. He opened the door, and he stepped inside, closing it behind him. He found the tambourine on the windowsill – where Taylor had left it last. Zac walked over to the window, and picked the tambourine, listening to the rattling it made as he did. Absently, he looked out of the window, his view on Princes Street Gardens, he could see it from there, and he could the crowds already formed up, he wondered how long they’d been there already.

He and his brothers hadn’t even arrived at the gardens, but he could already hear the impatient and adoring fans screaming the name Hanson at the top of their lungs – it was faint, but noticeable even from here.

Looks like we’re really gonna need our earplugs, he thought to himself.

He looked at his watch, it was twenty-five minutes until three, his brothers were going to kill him if he didn’t hurry up and downstairs with the tambourine.

Quickly, he left the room holding tightly on to the tambourine – scared he would forget it again – and then he locked the door securely and just to be sure, he checked it, he was just about to turn when he saw Don heading for him.

"How long does it take you to get a tambourine, kid?" Don asked.

"I got held up," Zac lied, he tried to think of a reasonable excuse and he found absolutely none.

"You got something in your hair…" Don pointed out.

"Where?" Zac asked shaking his hair wildly, trying to get whatever it was out.

"Hold still," Don instructed, and he reached over and tenderly picked something out of Zac’s hair with his huge hands. Zac watched that hand as it moved, it was swift, and could probably break someone’s neck with one crush. Zac swallowed, but tried to remain calm.

Don held out a feather that had been embedded in Zac’s hair. "See?"

"Must have flown in through the open window," Zac shrugged.

Don was looking at him again.

"Do you always have to wear those glasses?" Zac asked. "Its not even sunny today."

"I think it makes me look cool, what do you think?" Don asked, a strange smile appeared on his face.

"I think it makes you look like a wannabe member of the Men In Black," Zac answered.

Don gave a smile, and he reached up, taking off his sunglasses, showing Zac exactly why he needed them. One of his eyes were pale blue-and there seemed to be no pupil – the other eye was just normally dark green, it looked terribly freaky, and Zac stepped back in slight surprise, and bumped against the wall.

"Uh…that’s weird…" Zac choked out, he’d never seen anyone with an eye like that.
"Someone stubbed a cigarette out into my eye because I got on their nerves."
If you don’t stop following me around I’m gonna get Taylor to do the same, Zac thought, suppressing the urge to smile evilly,

"That must have hurt…"

"I’m blind in this eye," Don admitted. "But it doesn’t bother me," he said, he took one step closer.

"Uh…" Zac nervously looked down at his watch. "Its twenty til three…don’t you think we should go down?"

"You have all the time in the world – the gardens are only across the street…"

"Yeah, but—"

The guy shushed Zac by placing a firm hand on Zac’s shoulder, sending Zac’s skin crawling immediately, Zac felt his breath come out in nervous rasps and his skin turn to gooseflesh, he could actually feel the hairs on the back of his neck beginning to stand on end.

Was this what real fear was?

Zac couldn’t remember ever feeling something like this. Not going on stage in front of thousands of screaming girls – not being tugged at and pulled at trying to make his way safely through a crowd, this was very different.

He felt cold, so cold he was shaking.

"Cold, Zac?" Don asked in a soft voice, even from so low down from the guys face, Zac could feel his hot breath – he could smell the nicotine, coffee and something else – possibly alcohol – Zac wasn’t really sure, he hadn’t taken time to really notice the smell of alcohol.

Where did this guy find time to drink anyway if he’s been following us around all day? Zac wondered, it broke through his fear, he managed to get up the courage to move. "I’m gonna be late," Zac muttered, and pulled right out the guys reach, he was about to enter the elevator – but then thought about it, there was no way he wanted to be alone in an elevator with this guy all of a sudden. Zac turned around the corner to where the staircase was and he began making his way down all seven flights – not even waiting to see if Don was following.

He’s a freak, Zac thought. I better tell Dad so he can fire him.

But would he believe me? No one ever takes me seriously.

Zac finally reached the ground floor after five minutes of going down the stairs, Taylor was seated on a chair in the lobby, Isaac was standing around with an impatient expression on his face. Walker was apparently waiting in the car.

"Where have you been?" Taylor demanded. "We sent you up like…fifteen minutes ago!" he looked at his watch, he frowned. "We’re due to perform in fifteen minutes!"

"Sorry," Zac mumbled, paused guiltily feeling that he was responsible for being late – but then quick memory of Don standing over him in that weird way, the way he'd put his hand on his shoulder. "Guys…I need to talk to you…"

"Save it for when we’re in the car," Taylor grabbed Zac by the arm and began dragging him along forcefully. "We’re gonna be late!"

CHAPTER THREE

Zac stared out over the crowd carefully – he always did this, just in case there was someone he really liked whom he could watch out for when he was signing autographs. The last song they were playing was ‘Mmmbop’. Zac’s eyes kept averting his eyes slightly down in front of the stage where Don was standing trying to keep fans off of the stage. His thoughts were shouting at the girls ‘don’t let him touch you’, but his mouth was singing "can you tell me who will still care" along with Isaac and Taylor.

When the song was over, Zac threw his head back in relief, his throat had slightly begun to hurt from singing, he looked down at the crowd again, screaming for him and his brothers, clapping their hands wildly.

"You’ve been a great audience," Taylor called out into his microphone, he practically had to shout this because even with the microphone which made his voice a hundred times louder – he still couldn’t be heard over the fans.

Zac was the first to make his way off stage – which his brothers found strange. Isaac and Taylor followed to the back way of the stage

"Hey, Zac," Isaac followed on, "how come you didn’t say anything or do anything weird like usual?" he asked.

"I wasn’t in the mood," Zac answered, he took the megaphone strapped to his neck off and he let it hang on his shoulder.

Don appeared up moments later, letting security handle the rest of the fans trying to climb onto stage and stuff. "You guys are great!" he said in a loud cheerful voice.

"Thanks," Isaac said, putting his guitar down.

"Yeah, thanks," Zac muttered under his breath, though his voice was so slight, no one even heard the sarcastic tone in his voice. "Are we gonna hang around and do autographs?" Zac then immediately shot back into normality, forcing thoughts of the creep away.

"We can't," Taylor pointed out to a television crew who were hanging around at the edge of the stage. "We’re gonna have to do a quick interview…" he said.

"I hate these backstage things…"

"Its just for a few moments," Isaac patted Zac’s shoulder realising Zac was a little on edge. "Come on…"

Zac's mind was elsewhere while Isaac and Taylor made nice talk in front of the camera, saying the normal stuff that become so boring after saying it seven hundred times – ‘no, we don’t have girlfriends’, ‘We always hope to do the music’, ‘We started six years ago…’

Zac was actually glad no one wanted him to say anything – because he felt a little awkward – he could feel Don staring at him again, and this time he was convinced Don was bad news.

CHAPTER THREE

Zac didn’t like sitting in the room on his own, Ike and Tay shouldn’t have gone off to get something to eat and trust Zac on his own. It wasn’t so much the feeling that Zac was going to mad out of his loneliness – it was more to do with the fact that Don was somewhere in this hotel – having him in another hotel wouldn’t be far away enough.

Zac went into the bathroom to look for something to do, he stood at the mirror above the sink and stared at himself.

"Looking good," Zac smiled at his reflection and a cheesy smile was returned right back at him, he fiddled with his hair for a moment, pulling it back, folding it so it looked shorter, wondering how he’d look with a haircut. He sang the words to Man From Milwaukee as he mucked about with his hair.

He was bored, he realised as he finished the second verse from Man From Milwaukee. He went back into the bedroom, and headed for Taylor’s rucksack, wondering where Isaac’s Discman was, at least if he didn’t have anything to do he could listen to music. Zac began rummaging through the bag, his hand finding a small cardboard box right at the bottom of the bag, stuffed in between a bag of jellybeans and a box of tictacs. "Huh?" Zac asked softly, he pulled the box out of the bag and stared at the box in his hand.

"Cigarettes," he read out loud to himself. "Tay’s been at it again, Ike warned him not to get another packet, I guess he must have slipped away sometime and got one," Zac realised. He opened the packet and found a disposable orange lighter inside, he took it out and began flicking it. "Heheh, cool," he said, the flame from the lighter was huge! Zac was surprised he hadn’t singed his eyebrows off.

Zac took a cigarette from the packet. "Lets see what all the fuss is about," he muttered, and he put the cigarette to his lips and awkwardly lit it. Smoke began rising from the cigarette end. Zac sucked at the filter, and then began spluttering as the smoke filled his mouth and his lungs.

"Oh, man! That is gross!" he took the cigarette from his mouth, ran to the bathroom and tossed it out of the open window. He washed his mouth out – though it didn’t help - and he still found himself coughing.

"Well, Zac, that was stupid," Zac told himself, then he tensed up hearing the door from the bedroom opening.

"Back so soon?" Zac called through to the bedroom, he turned and walked through the bathroom doorway and paused, seeing Don there – not Isaac or Taylor – but Don! Zac gripped onto the chair by the wall for support. "What do you want?" he asked in a tiny voice.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay," Don answered in a firm voice, he took one step closer, and Zac wanted to run back into the bathroom and lock himself in – but a big guy like that could probably shove the door open, break the lock without breaking a sweat.

"Yeah, well, I'm okay, you can go now," Zac said, putting a little more force into his tone, hoping the guy would back off. But Don didn’t. Don took two steps forward, and Zac took one step back until he was in the doorway of the bathroom, instinctively, just as Don shot towards him with a speed that Zac didn’t think possible!, he flew into the bathroom and tried to shove the door closed, but Don was already against it, shoving back with all his strength, Zac saw the hand pushing through the gap in the door and he shoved harder, hoping he could crush the guys hand in between the door and the frame. Zac saw enough space in between the counter of the bathroom and the door that he could stretch his leg out and press his foot against the front of the counter, propping himself up and forcing all the strength he could into his back, he grunted in the attempt, feeling Don push back with a strength that would have made Superman jealous.

Don shoved the door heard, Zac tumbled to the floor, banging is back up against the counter, clumsily tried to get up, but didn’t succeed in doing so.

Don knelt in front of him, looking at him with a strange gaze. "Why are you trying to lock me out?" he asked in a voice of teasing. "You like playing games?"

"Back off now, Don, or I'm calling the cops," Zac growled.

"How? You don’t have a phone in your bedroom, Zac. And…unless I say so, you aren’t going anywhere…" he reached down and put his hand behind Zac’s head, and hauled him that way, Zac whimpered, too afraid to struggle.

Looking into the one green eye, the one lifeless blue eye, Zac saw something he hadn’t seen before – a danger lurking around. Zac then took control of his situation, instinctively, he kicked hard at Don’s crotch, Don yelled in agony, and Zac saw his chance of escape. Zac fled for the door of the room hoping to get out into the hallway, but before he had the chance, Don grabbed him and threw him to the floor.

Zac hit the floor with a hard thud, his arm seemed to go completely numb instantly, and he let out a holler of frustration as he tried to get up, Don was on him, pushing down on him so he couldn’t move.

"You little shit, you think you can get away with hurting me?!" Don demanded, he slapped Zac hard on the face, Zac couldn’t even scream in pain, he just lay there silent, burning hot tears stinging at his eyes.

There was a long period of silence.

"I’m gonna go now," Don suddenly got up, seemingly back in that reserved mood once again. "Don’t you breathe a word of this," he warned. "You tell them you fell, understood? Because if you don’t…you know what will happen."

Zac could only nod in complete terror and he lay there, watching as Don disappeared out of the room.

Zac closed his eyes tightly and forced himself not to cry.

CHAPTER FOUR

"Zac! What happened?!" Isaac demanded instantly, it was five minutes later, and Isaac and Taylor had entered the room to find their younger brother lying on the floor in pain.

Taylor instantly sensed distress in Zac – and rushed over to help Zac up. Zac let Taylor help him onto his bed, and he slowly began to calm down.

Isaac immediately noticed the purpling spot on Zac’s cheek. "What happened to your face?"

Zac looked at Isaac and Taylor. He couldn’t tell them – because he knew somehow that Don would know. He swallowed hard, took a deep breath. "I fell."

"What do you mean you fell, how did you fall?" Isaac asked worriedly.

"I was fooling around…jumping on the bed…" Zac trailed off. "It hurt a lot…my shoulder feels a bit sore…I landed on my shoulder…"

"Then how did you hit your face?" Taylor asked, examining Zac's red cheek closely.

"Off of the bedpost," Zac answered wearily.

"Oh…" Taylor muttered. "Well…you better do something or it could swell…"

"Are you okay?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah…" Zac nodded.

"You better not do that again, Zac. What if you’d hit your head on the bed instead of your face, you could have knocked yourself unconscious, maybe even killed yourself," Taylor warned.

"I’ll be more careful in future," Zac nodded his head.

Yeah, like maybe carrying a gun with me in future, Zac thought. God, why did I let him do that – I could have done far worse than kick him in the balls…I mean, beat Tay up when I was nine and actually made him cry! Why couldn’t I do that to Don?

Because he’s bigger than me and he’s trained to take pain. He could hurt me so bad even my brothers wouldn’t be able to recognise me after the damage he’d done. Zac got up. "I’ll just go get a cool washcloth for my face," he said to himself, and he headed for the bathroom.

In the bathroom mirror he saw his reflection had changed from that of a normal healthy twelve year old boy to one of a twelve year old boy with fear in his eyes. Zac saw his lip tremble, he was getting a bruise already from where Don had slapped him, and his face felt numb and tight. Zac prodded at the area gingerly. "Ow…" he whined at himself, he lowered his eyes. Don really hurt me – and I can’t really do a thing about it either. If I tell…what would he do to me? Would he hurt me worse? Why does he even want to hurt me? Does he get some kind of sick twisted pleasure out of beating the crap out of kids?

The answer to Zac’s last question was obvious.

Yes.

CHAPTER FIVE

"Zac, you’ve been quiet all morning," Isaac said, after speaking he shovelled a pile of scrambled eggs into his mouth quickly.

Zac stared at his plate of breakfast, and stuck his fork right through his egg and burst the yolk. "I'm just tired," he muttered. Half true. He hadn’t been able to sleep because of the pain that kept travelling through his arm – from when Don had threw him to the floor yesterday. Zac decided to not mention when he finally did get to sleep, he woke up from having a nightmare that the bodyguard had tried to kill him.

"I heard you tossing and turning all night," Taylor muttered, he took a sip from his glass of milk. Taylor looked tired too – though more likely from Zac’s tossing and turning keeping him up most of the night.

Zac let out barely audible "sorry," and he went back to playing with his food.

Taylor was fooling around with Isaac’s Discman – actually with the radio of it trying to find some suitable station where they weren’t playing the Spice Girls. "What was keeping you up?" he asked of Zac.

"Stupid pains in my arm," Zac shoved his plate away. "Not hungry," he muttered.

Isaac and Taylor glanced at each other. Isaac seemed to sense there was something wrong instantly, while Taylor hummed along to a song called ‘Perfect Day’.

"Is there something wrong, Zac?" Isaac asked, always worrying about his little brother.

Zac looked slightly to the right – a few tables away his father and Don were having breakfast and coffee, talking like old friends. How can dad not see what a creep Don is? Zac wondered. Zac absently began rubbing at his sore arm, frowning.

"Zac…I’m talking to you…"

Zac didn’t seem to hear.

"Zac," Isaac – forgetting about how much pain Zac was in with his arm – reached out and touched Zac’s arm, Zac flinched in pain and yelped.

"Oh, geez…sorry," Isaac bit his lip. "Here…let me see…" he said. "If its really bad then you won’t be able to play your drums later…"

Zac pulled his arm away from Isaac. "No, its okay, Ike…"

"No…let me see…it must be really bad if it hurts that bad," Isaac said, taking a hold of Zac’s wrist gently, he began rolling up the sleeve of Zac’s dark blue tie-dye sweatshirt.

Zac lowered his eyes to the table, he listened to the words of the tune Taylor was listening to on the Discman – it was loud enough to practically let the whole hotel hear it.

Isaac frowned. "Geez, Zac…your arm…" he trailed off. "Look at it…"

Taylor’s blue eyes widened as he glanced across, seeing nothing but a big trail of bruises lining Zac’s upper arm. "You must have fell with some force," he reached over and took Zac’s wrist and pulled the arm over so he could see properly. "You should have had this checked out…"

"Its just bruises, Tay, doctors can’t do anything for bruises, just have to wait until they go away on their own. Besides, I’ll be alright for the concert," Zac rolled his sleeve down, he could feel Don’s eyes on him. Don was probably worrying that Zac had told, Zac knew he was in for it now. If only Isaac hadn’t been so persistent wanting to see the damage.

Zac looked at his brothers. "Can we go back to the room or something?" he asked.

"Zac, all we do is spend time in that room – why don’t we go out somewhere?" Taylor asked, his mood brightened through his exhaustion, making even his eyes gleam brightly.

"I don’t feel like going out," Zac said, knowing exactly why he didn’t want to go out anywhere – because they would have to take Don with them, and Zac didn’t want to go anywhere near the guy who’d caused him so much pain the previous night. "Anyway, we still have that stupid radio show to do first."

"I meant after that…" Taylor rolled his eyes.

"Look, I don’t want to go anywhere, okay?" Zac slammed his hand down on the tabletop hard, the plates clattered vibrating along with it, and Zac got up, backed away from the table and then spun on his heel and sped off down the corridor. He could hear his brothers calling after him.

Zac found his way to the lobby, and made his way into the elevator, and slammed on the close-door button, he then slid down the wall, hugging his legs and resting his chin on his knees, he was shaking violently. Eyes wide, and darting around. Why is it like this?! Why do I feel so afraid of him?! Zac threw his head back against the elevator wall, not caring that it hurt, and knocked him silly, he just sat there. I have to tell Ike, I have to tell Tay…or someone…I could call mom…I could tell her…then she could tell Dad and dad could get the guy arrested for assault…I have to tell someone, I can’t let him…no…I can’t let him do it again…

The elevator doors slid open, Zac hoped for Isaac and Taylor to appear, but to his horror – it was the very person he didn’t want to see. Don.

"D-d-don’t you come near me!" Zac stuttered, trying to get up but staggering with the attempt.

Don stepped right into the elevator with a grace that carried his bulk smoothly as he moved. Don reached out and slammed his hand against the buttoned panel, and the elevator doors shut, and it began moving, the whirring of machinery breaking the silence.

"Why do you want to hurt me?!" Zac demanded, he scuffled into the corner, trying to get as far back as he could.

"Is that what you think I want to do?" Don asked, for a moment sounding sympathetic, speaking the way someone would to a frightened child. His voice was soothing, and soft, and Zac knew not to trust it. "Believe me, Zac, the last thing I want to do is hurt you," Don said, he knelt before Zac.

Zac was reminded of the last time Don had done this, he’d knelt down in front of him in the bathroom last night. His fear had doubled since them – worse, it had tripled now.

Don reached over and patted Zac’s hair in an awkward clumsy way, his hands heavy and clammy, Zac frowned, and tried to flinch away.

"Don’t be scared, this time…I won’t hurt you…" Don promised, he traced Zac’s bruise with his little finger.

Zac couldn’t even muster up the strength to tell the guy to get his clammy hands away from him, he was paralysed in the fear that this guy wanted to kill him for some reason. What did I ever do to him? What, he wants to kill me just because I kicked him in the balls?

Don ran his large hand over Zac’s neck. "It’s a crime you’re so young."

What was that supposed to mean? Zac wondered, he shuddered, having Don’s hand this close to his neck was not a good feeling. Is he going to try and strangle me? Was that what he meant? It’s a crime I’m so young, it’s a crime I have to die so young? Zac swallowed heard. "Get….away…from…me," he managed through short spurts of breath.

"Don’t be that way, Zac," Don said in a soft voice, he placed his hand on Zac’s shoulder and began massaging the area with a horrible gentleness. Zac struggled.

"Nuh-nuh-nuh…" Zac managed out, then with a soft "no."

Don didn’t listen, his hands continued to massage in that suggestive way.

Zac slowed his eyes tightly, forcing out the words, "get away."
Just then the elevator doors opened, and Zac, gaining enough guts, shot out, finding himself on the twentieth floor. He heard Don cry out his name and without thinking, he was heading for the stairwell, down the flights he went, Don hot in pursuit, Zac nearly killed himself twice, jumping over a banister and dropping to the next level just to get a head start, finally, Zac saw the sign that said seventh floor, he sighed in relief, just as he flew out of the doorway, and began heading down the hall, he saw Isaac and Taylor making their way into the room.

"Ike!" Zac called loudly, "Tay!" he added, he dove into the room, Isaac and Taylor looking at him with strange expressions.

"Where were you? We were just coming to see if you were here," Taylor stated.

Zac dropped down to his bed in exhaustion.

Don’t tell them, Zac.

It wasn’t Zac’s own voice in his thoughts, it seemed to be Don’s. Then Zac’s thoughts came as his own with, You know what he’ll do if you tell.

"The…the elevator jammed…I had to force the doors open, I had to come up four floors just to get here," Zac lied, feeling awkward and lost for words after this.

"Well, at least we found you," Isaac said. "Why do you look so freaked?"

"I’m just tired, and I got a little upset when the elevator stopped…" Zac trailed off.

"You’re okay though?" Isaac asked, his eyes searching for an answer.

"Yeah…" Zac nodded. "I’m fine…just…lets get going for the radio-show interview," Zac made his way across the room and grabbed his coat and pulled it on, when he turned back, Isaac was standing very close to him.

"Zac, are you absolutely sure—"

"I said I was fine, just back off, Ike, okay? I’m not in the mood for repeating myself," Zac grumbled, and began his way out of the room, stopped when he realised Taylor and Isaac were still standing watching him. "Are we going or not?"

CHAPTER SIX

Zac watched Taylor survey the crowd with a pleased eye that so many had come to the concert – the whole stadium was absolutely packed with screaming girls. It reminded Zac of a lot of things. Of why they were doing this. It wasn’t about the money or the sacrifices made like not having a social life anymore. It was the music and the fans that mattered now.

Taylor was already sweating terribly – he got so into the music by the first song he looked like he’d run over fifty miles non-stop by the second chorus. Zac was actually glad they were doing an acoustic song – because he felt he didn’t have enough strength to even attempt at drumming, he felt so weak and positively threatened and his arm did still hurt. Don was everywhere with them – Zac had been forced to sit in the back of the car with Don sitting in front, he could see the guys eyes looking into the rear view mirror at him, Zac cringed thinking about it.

What had he wanted to do to me, Zac wondered, forcing himself to muster his voice up enough to carry the background harmony of Madeline. He went positively off key, and Taylor’s eyes widened as he tried to sing along to it, his eyes darting and looking out of their corners at Zac, the look on his face said "what the hell are you doing?!"

Zac frowned closing his eyes tightly. Concentrate, Zac, he thought at himself. Keep your mind on the music or Ike and Tay will know there's something going on.

Zac kept trying to hit the right notes, but his voice kept doing the complete opposite of what he was supposed to do, it went low when it was supposed to be high.

Taylor sneakily kicked Zac in the leg, Zac let out a small whine. He looked down into the crowd, he could see even the fans were starting to notice something was up.

Zac prayed the end of the song would come soon, but it didn’t come for quite a while yet, Zac sighed miserably, tried to remember which song was supposed to come next, Taylor looked at Zac – something was wrong, being his brother, Taylor could sense that. "Zac?" he asked in a soft voice, one hand on Zac’s shoulder as they walked to the keyboard, which was nearest the drums.

"Which song, Tay?" Zac asked, a little embarrassed.

"What do you mean which song?" Taylor frowned. "Thinking of You," he said softly so his voice wouldn’t be loud enough to reach the microphone. "Zac…I want a word with you after this…" he added in a loud whisper.

Zac nodded guilty, and he went to his drums, climbed up onto the platform and took his seat, he counted out aloud "1-2-3-" and then he began his drumming into Thinking Of You. Taylor and Isaac responded playing their parts, and soon the song was into full swing.

Zac thought about the way Taylor had put his hand on his shoulder – and then the thought of how Don had did the same thing. How different it had felt. The bodyguard was support to make Zac feel safe. He’s supposed to protect me.

Don is supposed to protect me from the world. But who’s gonna protect me from him? Zac wondered, he felt himself slip in the beat, and the song went off, it caused Taylor’s tone to change, and Isaac looked over his shoulder, wondering what had happened.

Oh, god, now I’m in for it, Zac thought, looking at the expression on Isaac’s face. I’ll get in trouble for not keeping my concentration on. But even Zac couldn’t keep his concentration up – his arm was in agony and every beat of the drum hurt.

Keep thinking of the music, Zac, he told himself in thought.

But then the thoughts of Don returned,

Zac suddenly himself wavering, and nausea was starting to build up, he didn’t want to wait to see what happened, he shoved the drums forward knocking most of the set over – nearly falling backwards off of his seat – and he dashed for it, making it behind the canopy and curtains just as it came up. He rested his hands on his knees, and leaned downwards, throwing up, he heard the sudden confusion of the fans, oohs, and ahs and what the hells. A second later, Taylor and Isaac appeared.

"Zac…what's going on?!" Taylor asked, then noticing Zac throwing up, he rushed over, placing his hand on Zac’s back. "Oh, geez, why didn’t you say you were feeling sick?"
Zac leaned up, breathless, weakened, Isaac caught him before he went tumbling into his own vomit.

"Zac…we have to end the concert now…we’re taking you to see a doctor…"

"No…I’m fine…" Zac managed out, but then another wave of nausea continued through him, and he found himself once again puking up everything that he’d eaten that day – and that wasn’t particularly much.

"Tay…go apologise to the audience," Isaac instructed. "Don’t tell them what's going on, we don’t want anyone getting worried…"

"Okay," Taylor nodded, and immediately went off to do exactly what he’d been told.

"Zac?" Isaac asked.

"Ike…I want to go home…to Tulsa…" Zac whimpered, clutching his stomach.

"Zac…we can’t go back to Tulsa," Don appeared on hearing what Zac had said. "The plane trip would be no good to you – its probably food-poisoning from something you’ve eaten…"
Zac looked up at Don, there was a glimmer of triumph in his eye. Had Don poisoned his food – or had he merely upset him so much that he'd caused him to be sick from the stress. Whatever it was – both answers would be bad. Zac flinched away as Don tried to help him away.

"I can walk on my own," Zac hissed, and then he did so.

CHAPTER SEVEN

"I don’t know what's going on, Tay," Isaac sighed to himself, sitting on a chair near the wall of the hallway outside their hotel room. "Why didn’t he tell us he’d been feeling sick before we went onto the stage?"

"Maybe he was okay then," Taylor shrugged. "First it just started with that going off key thing, I knew something was up then, but then the drumbeat changed and I knew for certain something was wrong," he sighed. "I hate seeing the little freak so ill, makes me feel like I’m not doing my job as a big brother looking after him."
"I know, I feel so guilty, obviously he’s not been feeling good since this morning when he got upset with us and ran off at breakfast…now this…what's going on?"

"I don’t know, Ike, I just don’t know," Taylor sighed.

Walker Hanson stepped out of the boys hotel room, a grim look on his face. "Your brother is suffering from stress, guys," he said.

"Just stress?" Isaac asked, standing up.

"Yeah. The Doctor said the reason he was throwing up so much was because his body was so uptight, that he couldn’t even digest his food, he mostly threw up acids in his stomach, since he’d barely even eaten…"

"At least its not food-poisoning or anything," Isaac sighed in a half relief.

"Still, what stressed him out? We’ve barely been stressed, we’ve had a week of rest, three days doing simple little things like concerts and all that shouldn’t have brought on a bout of stress related illness like that…" Taylor looked worried.

"The Doctor said its because he’s so young, it just weighed up one thing after another…but Zac is assuring us he’s fine…" Walker said.

The doctor stepped out of the hotel room. "Your son is resting now…I’ve left my card on the dresser just in case you need my services again, until then I prescribe this for him," the Doctor – who had a seriously strong Scottish accent - handed out a slip of paper to Walker, then he began to make his way off without even explaining what the stuff was.

How unprofessional, Taylor thought.

Walker stared at the paper. "ValerginP40," he muttered.

"What's that?" Taylor asked.

"Its like the children’s version of Valium, its more of a sedative for calming hyperactiveness than calming stress…"

"That’s not what Zac needs!" Isaac protested.

"Well…if the doctor prescribed it…" Walker sighed. "I guess I’ll go down to the pharmacy down the street and see to getting this. You two stay with Zac and make sure he’s okay," he ordered.

"We will, dad," Taylor nodded.

The boys made their way back into the room. Zac was sprawled out on his bed, no covers on, wearing his pants from earlier, but he was now topless – mostly because he’d gotten vomit on his shirt. Zac opened his eyes wearily, looking up at his brothers in a guilty way.

"Sorry guys," Zac mumbled.

"For what?" Isaac asked, moving over, he sat on the edge of Zac’s bed, looking at him.

"For ruining the concert…" Zac sighed, closing his eyes.

"Hey, its okay, its just a concert, and those people got their money back," Taylor said, walking over.

Zac looked up. "Guys…I really have to tell you—"

"Sssh, Zac…you need to get some sleep, you’re not well, and you’ll make yourself worse," Isaac placed his hand on Zac’s arm. "Just close your eyes and sleep."

"But—"

"We can hear all about it tomorrow, okay?" Taylor said in a soothing voice, reminded of the way his mom would speak to him when he wasn’t feeling so good.

Zac sighed and closed his eyes wearily, drifting off into a slumber.

"Maybe we should call mom," Isaac said after a while, he’d been sitting in silence for some time, watching Zac sleep, as if somehow it gave him solace that he was really okay.

"Yeah, she’d want to know this had happened, she’d go nuts if she found out about it from some newspaper or on TV," Taylor agreed.

"I…think you should go," Isaac said. "I better stay here to make sure he’s alright…"

"Okay," Taylor nodded. "Gimme some money…"

"There's a fifty-pence-piece on the cabinet," Isaac pointed out.

"Yeah, right, Ike, like a call to Tulsa is gonna come to fifty-pence? C’mon, it could cost anything up to ten pounds!"

"Okay, okay," Isaac sighed. "Go through my wallet, see what you can find…"

Taylor began searching through Isaac’s wallet which had been sitting on the top of the dresser. "Okay, I found a five pound note, and three pounds in loose change. Most of its in coppers though, I guess I’ll have to ask someone if they can swap the fiver for change," he shrugged. "I’ll be back in around fifteen minutes – coz that’s how long is gonna take in order to get through to Tulsa from a stupid phone in this hotel…"

Isaac nodded.

"Ike, by the way, I seriously recommend you have a shower, you’re stinking of Zac’s puke…" Taylor added, before he left the room.

Isaac frowned, and sniffed at his shirt. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. Taylor was right, he did. "I guess you’ll be okay, for a moment, little buddy," he said, he patted Zac’s arm, turned off the light, then he went off to take a shower.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Zac's eyes fluttered open moments after he’d fallen asleep – he was alone in the room and the lights had been turned off. He sighed, he could hear the water running in the bathroom, and knew immediately at it was Isaac in there, he could tell because Isaac’s shirt was hanging on the door handle – Zac could see it from where he was.

Zac turned over uncomfortably, he fidgeted until he was comfortable, and then he sighed, trying to go back to sleep – eventually, he began to feel cold, and he had to slide under the covers, he snuggled up and shrouded himself in the dark safety of his blanket, completely relaxed. At least he was safe here, his brother was next door – lord knew where Taylor had gone but at least Isaac was close by.

Zac had always felt safe around Isaac – and not just because Isaac was older and bigger than he was. Through the years Zac had always seen Isaac as calm and in control, and when Zac was in trouble, he knew he could rely on Isaac to get him out of it. Zac saw Isaac as the glue that kept the band together, the joke that made sad people smile, and most importantly the protector for his brothers when harm came too near.

Zac thought about this and instantly felt guilty. Ike would be hurt that I didn’t tell him what Don did, he thought. He’d feel hurt and that we weren’t as close as we used to be, there was a time I could tell him everything…

Zac then realised if Isaac knew what had happened, he'd probably try to kill Don, and this could wreck future situations for the band too. Zac frowned. What should I do? He asked. Keep secrets until we get back to Tulsa and get Jason back, and we can be rid of Don, or do the right thing and tell Ike and Tay what Don did.

Just then, Zac heard the door creaking open, and he froze, knowing. Zac had begun to know when Don was coming, he’d feel all cold, and right now, he could feel it.

Zac lay still, keeping his eyes closed, he pretended to be asleep. He’s taking a chance, he knows Isaac is in the shower – he must have known that Tay isn’t here too, Zac realised. He bit his tongue to stop himself from whimpering in complete terror. He knew what was coming, he could sense it now.

Don made his way over to Zac’s bed and he knelt on the edge or it, Zac could feel the bed shifting under the weight.

"Zac?" Don asked in a soft whisper, barely even audible – this Zac suspected was to stop Isaac from hearing in the bathroom.

When receiving no answer, Don began shifting the covers down Zac’s body, very slowly. Zac tensed up, he could feel his heart thudding hard in his chest, pounding in his ears hitting ninety, louder than any drumbeat Zac could play.

Don’s hands began wandering, and Zac wished he could muster the strength to scream loudly for Isaac, Isaac would stop this, Isaac was big enough to do some damage to this guy and stop the whole thing from happening.

But out of fear, Zac let it happen. He couldn’t move, he could just pretend to be fast asleep as Don’s hands wandered at the most intimate of places, places Zac hadn’t even dared take a fleeting glance in the bathroom mirror as he went to take a shower.

Zac prayed that Don would stop soon, his fear was causing him to almost start trembling, he tried to keep in complete control of this, and somehow managed, keeping out his thoughts of what Don was doing, and concentrating on other things, Zac thought of music, of Tulsa, of his mother and his siblings, trying to force out everything else, until something Don did caused him to break into tears.

Don had taken Zac’s hand very firmly, and was using it to rub at a place Zac didn’t even want to think of, Zac broke into tears instantly revealing he was awake.

He could hear Don chuckle cruelly as he continued using Zac’s hand. Zac tried to recoil, but couldn’t Don was firm and very persistent, Zac could do nothing but sob and listen as Don moaned deep in his throat.

"N-n-nuh-no…please…" Zac sobbed.

But Don continued.

The water stopped just then, Zac sat straight up, a gasp of relief pulling at his throat and Don looked at Zac. "Don’t you even think about telling," he hissed, and took Zac by the throat. "Do you hear?!" he whispered evilly.

Zac nodded barely able to breathe, and Don let go of his neck, then rushed off to make it out of the room quietly before Isaac could enter the room.

Zac wiped his tears with the back of his hand, made sure his face was completely dry and he slowed his breathing down considerably. Moments later, the door opened and light from the bathroom flooded in, lighting half of the room up in a pale yellow white glow.

"Oh, you’re up," Isaac said as he padded into the bedroom with a towel wrapped around his waist, his long dark blonde hair was dripping around his shoulders and neck.

Zac nodded weakly, and wiped at his sweating forehead.

"You don’t look so good, Zac," Isaac stated.

Zac got out of the bed, his knees felt so weak, he stumbled a little, then regained his composure, and he began to head for the bathroom. "I need a shower…" was all he could say, before he closed and locked the bathroom door, and turned on the shower. He felt a build up of tears coming already, and before he could start howling hysterically, he switched on the waterproof radio Isaac had left in there quickly and a song by Ocean Colour Scene blasted out.

Zac stripped himself of his pants and underwear and he stepped into the shower quickly, grabbing the soap and rubbing it all over himself, feeling completely disgusted by the thought of having Don’s hands anywhere near his body. He couldn’t believe he’d let him do that. He should have called for Isaac.

But Isaac could have been hurt, Zac remembered how easily Don had thrown him to the ground the first night Don had tried something, Don could easily hurt someone of Isaac’s tall-skinny frame just as easily as he had done with Zac.

Zac let the tears come, and belted the sides of the shower-stall brutally until his hands hurt, sobbing hysterically, hoping the music would drown him out to Isaac.

Zac slid down the wall, and sat naked and trembling in the shower, crying into his hands. Why did this have to happen to him?

CHAPTER NINE

"Zac, c’mon, its time to get up…"

Zac felt Taylor shaking him at eight am, and frowned, and slid deeper under the covers, wanting to be left alone.

"Zac, c’mon, we have to have breakfast and then we have to go to ITV studios…"

"I’m not going, leave me alone," Zac grumbled tiredly.

Memory of last night swept over him, leaving him feeling empty and used.

I let him touch me, Zac thought. How could I let him do that to me?! Zac fought back the need to cry desperately, not wanting his brothers to know what was wrong.

Taylor shoved Zac out of the bed roughly, and heard Zac make a soft thud on the floor as he landed. "Look, Zac, we know you aren’t feeling too good…but guaranteed once you take this stupid ValerginP40, you’ll be feeling as right as rain," Taylor said.

"Leave him alone, Tay," Isaac warned. "Let him sleep just now, we can come back for him after breakfast…and anyway, if you give him that stupid ValerginP40 he’ll fall asleep during the interview!"

"Ike, he’s fine. He always pulls through the day after, like us," Taylor grinned, he leaned over the bed to look down at Zac. "C’mon, Zac. Wakey Wakey," he called to Zac who was sprawled over the floor, covers half draped over him, hanging from the bed. Zac was still intent on sleeping. "PYSCHO BOY!" Taylor shoved Zac again. "Wake Up!"

"Piss off!" Zac kicked Taylor in the shoulder, if Taylor hadn’t moved it would have been his face.

"Okay, okay!" Taylor put his hands up in surrender. "Geez, what's your problem?"

"Look, I’m not in the mood for being poked and prodded and shoved around, okay?! Not by you or anybody." Zac sat up, his brown eyes were bloodshot. "Leave me alone or I’m gonna kick your head in."

"Okay, Zac….gee, sorry," Taylor leaned back and regained his balance surprised by Zac’s tone of voice.. "But you have to get up, if we don’t appear at ITV by nine, then they’re gonna put us on MTV news because we only did two songs at last nights concert. If we don’t show up today, they’re gonna think something is wrong."

Something is wrong, Zac thought. Some guy keeps getting personal with me, Tay, but I can’t tell you that.

Taylor seemed to sense Zac was thinking something, because he stared at Zac as if he had actually heard the thought.

"What?" Zac asked, staring at Taylor, feeling suddenly abrasive. Could Taylor read my mind, does he know something is going on?

"Zac…take it easy today…we don’t want another incident like last night," Taylor said.

Zac got up from the floor and began to make his way to the bathroom to go take another shower – five hundred showers couldn’t take away the dirty feeling he had from Don’s hands. "And we can’t have that, can we Tay? That would make the band look bad, wouldn’t it," Zac’s tone was bitter and unfeeling.

"Zac…what are you on…you know that’s not what I meant…" Taylor said, he sounded a little hurt that Zac would insinuate such a thing.

"Yeah, whatever, Tay," Zac muttered, and made his way for the bathroom door.

"Zac," Isaac said in a stern voice, he’d seen enough of Zac’s nasty attitude to know that something was wrong. Since yesterday at the breakfast table Zac had been considerably irritable. Now, Isaac had just about had enough. "What is with you? You know Tay is only worried," Isaac said, he walked over. "What's going on? Why is every time we even attempt to show you we’re worried, or try to make you feel better you blow us off?" Isaac put his hand on Zac's arm.

Instantly, that was what broke Zac’s mind, the touching, he couldn’t deal with it, even from his own brother. "Get away!" Zac didn’t know why he did it, all he knew was he couldn’t take the touch lightly. Zac punched Isaac square in the face, knocking Isaac back a couple of feet. Zac then proceeded to spin on his heel, shoot into the bathroom and lock the door behind him.

"ZAC!" came Taylor’s distressed cry. "What is with you?! What did you do that for?!"

Zac rubbed at his first – it had already begun to feel red hot raw.

"Zac! You’ve made him bleed! Get a first aid kit or something!" Taylor called.

Zac felt fear entering his every vein. It had brought him to this, feeling even his own brother was trying to molest him the same as Don had. He cradled his hurt fist in his other hand, he was close to hyperventilating.

"Zac! Will you open the door?!" Came Isaac’s voice, his voice was booming, it meant he was angry.

I’ve turned them against me. I turned my own brothers against me, Zac closed his eyes tightly.

"ZAC! OPEN THE DAMN DOOR OR I’M GONNA GET DAD!" Isaac warned loudly.

Zac bit his lip until it almost started to bleed, he realised Isaac wasn’t fooling around. It was rare that Isaac shouted this loudly with his brothers. Zac reached out and turned the lock, opened the door a crack and then rushed into the corner of the bathroom between the sink and the shower-stall, huddled there insecurely, he pulled his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them.

"Zac…" Isaac stepped into the bathroom, seeing Zac there in the corner, he paused. "Uh, Zac…I’m not gonna beat you up or anything…" Isaac’s voice had lost its hostility, he now seemed calm, but his lip was bleeding. "Why’d you hit me?!" he then asked more in a tone of shock than anything else.

"You kept bugging me!" Zac whined at Isaac.

"Zac…you're going mental, I swear it," Isaac walked over to the sink turned on the cold water tap, and leaned over, rinsing his mouth out, spitting out blood. "You didn’t have to punch me…"

I punched you because you touched me and I didn’t want to be touched, Zac thought. But I can’t tell you that, Ike…I want to tell you but I can’t.

Taylor stepped in and glanced at Zac. "What are you huddled up in the corner for?" he asked curiously.

"No reason," Zac uttered, he began pulling himself up.

"Here," Taylor offered his hand to help Zac up, but Zac shoved it away.

"I can get up myself thank you very much," Zac muttered.

"Okay, okay," Taylor rolled his eyes. "Geez, why are you so hostile towards us these days?"

"If you’d just leave me alone to get on with things maybe I wouldn’t need to be," Zac sighed. "Look, I want to have a shower, so if you mind…" he motioned to the door.

"Zac…you had a shower last night," Isaac stated.

"I want another one…" Zac said.

"Zac, we really don’t have the time," Taylor sighed.

"Look, I’m sweaty and smelly, I need a shower!" Zac growled. "Now let me take a shower or I’m not going anywhere and I mean it!"

Isaac and Taylor shook their heads and left the bathroom.

Zac slammed the door shut, locked it, and turned the hot water on in the shower, he stripped off his night-clothes and he slipped under the hot water, scrubbing at his skin until it looked almost red raw. Once he was convinced he was clean – but however not clean enough – he got out, pulled a towel around himself and headed into the bedroom, Taylor and Isaac were still waiting, they seemed annoyed.

"Zac, just hurry up, we’re losing precious time, and I really need something to eat," Taylor complained.

"No wonder," Zac gave Taylor a glanced. "You look practically anorexic," he began digging stuff out of a drawer, found one of Taylor’s T-shirts, and a pair of pants, then went back to the bathroom to get changed.

"Why is he going in there to get changed?" Taylor asked in a half whisper when Zac closed the bathroom door. "He usually dresses in here…"

"I have no idea," Isaac shrugged. "Probably just that getting older stage…you were like that for a while…"

"Yeah, but I wasn’t acting as weird as he is lately."

CHAPTER TEN

"I am so glad Edinburgh has a McDonalds," Taylor sighed in relief as he slumped into a chair at the McDonalds on Princes Street with a tray of food. "I hated that girl at the counter though, she kept giggling, knowing who I was – god I hate that."

Zac sat down very slowly, in a careful manner, Taylor wondered what was up with that.

"You’ve been quiet, son, something bothering you?" Walker asked of Zac, he put a large coke in front of Zac, and Zac stared at it as if it were some sort of drug, he pushed it away.

"No thanks, dad, just tired because of the medication," Zac sighed. Actually, he was very depressed. He knew he was supposed to be. The fact that he’d been molested last night kept playing itself in his mind, he was some guys toy, some guy had been getting off on him, and he hated it. It was so disgusting he didn’t even want to go to the bathroom for fear of having to see the place that Don had touched the most. It sickened him so much. This was actually distressing, Zac desperately needed to go to the bathroom too.

"It’s not like you to turn down a giant coke," Isaac said. "Here, if you don’t want coke you can have my hot chocolate," he offered.

"No thanks, Ike," Zac shook his head, but smiled at his brothers attempt to be kind.

Why couldn’t I tell them? Zac wondered, looking at his two older brothers and his father. The three guys Zac had always looked up to in his life and he couldn’t speak a word of the pain he was feeling inside. Ike’s always been so understanding, Zac thought, he attempted to take a bite of his burger, and put it down wearily.

Zac felt dull and tired – The ValerginP40 had taken effect. The stuff made him very calm and collective, but also very sleepy. Zac had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the McDonalds and was still only half-awake now.

Don stepped over from the counter, he’d been getting his own food, Zac had made sure to take a seat in between Taylor and Isaac so at least Don wasn’t anywhere near him. However, Don had to sit across from him at the table, and he frowned at his own miserable attitude towards it.

"You should go straight to bed when we get back to the hotel," Walker said to Zac. "You want to be bright for the interview at six…in fact…maybe I should call and cancel that interview, you don’t look too good after all…" Walker put his hand on Zac’s shoulder.

It was all Zac could do was to stay still and attempt not to cringe.

There was a look of triumph in Don’s eye when he saw this, and Zac deliberately threw a look Don’s way, and Don threw one back.

Zac suddenly couldn’t contain the need to go to the bathroom any longer.

"I really need to go to the bathroom," he said, he was about to dash off.

"Take Don with you, I don’t want you going into a mens room on your own, you never know what kind of sick weirdos are in there," Walker warned.

If you send Don with me then you’ll know the answer, Zac thought, he glanced at Don, and then didn’t speak, he just headed for the bathroom, Don practically on his heels.

Zac was glad to relieve himself, even if he felt disgusted having to even unzip his pants, thinking that Don was behind him, watching him as he did this.

He’s watching me, Zac thought, he stood at the Urinal, wondering if he was just peeing because he really needed to go or peeing because he was afraid of what Don could do.

"Need any help there?" Don asked in a taunting voice.

"I can take a piss by myself, thank you very much," Zac mumbled.

"What was that, ya little shit?" Don asked, taking his glasses off.

Suddenly, Zac felt the willpower to fight back – if not physically then verbally at least.

Zac looked over his shoulder. "No, I don’t want any help. Just back off!" he said, he zipped himself up.

"Don’t speak to me like that, pretty-boy or I’ll knock you back so hard your head will be spinning…"

"Promises, promises," Zac dared to state.

Don shot over, Zac wasn’t prepared for the speed of him, even if he remembered how fast Don could be. Don held Zac to the wall with one hand, holding him firmly by the front of the shirt. "Now get this straight, Zac. No one fucks with me, understood…"

"But you feel the need to fuck with everyone else, is that it?!" Zac demanded, tears burning at the corner of his eyes. He wished he had the strength to kick or punch or something, but the damn medication had sedated him into almost unconsciousness, just to move felt like he was dragging a thousand weights with his body.

"Why you little—" Don went to slap Zac, but then stopped. "That’s what you want me to do, isn’t it? Hit you and make your pretty face ugly so that when you go out there your freaky family will know what's going on between us!"

"Nothings going on between us, Don. No more than sexual molesting a twelve year old kid! You could get years in prison for what you’re doing!"

Don looked lost for words for a moment, then let Zac go. "You dare go against me like this again, and I’ll make you pay dearly…and you know what I’ll do…"

Zac moved out of the way. "And you better hope I don’t suddenly get a hold of a kitchen knife, because I’ll castrate you for sure, you bastard," he hissed. "You come near me again—"

"You wait until tonight, Zac…you wait…" Don’s eyes were blazing, so odd and creepy, it sent chills down Zac’s spine. "Just you wait until tonight, Zac…because when no one is around…I will fuck you to death! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"

Zac backed up against the doorway, shoved the door open and then shot out like a bolt of lightening.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Zac and his brothers were sitting in a waiting hall in a large building, hoping for their interviewer to finish up doing whatever he was doing. Zac had his mind elsewhere. Don wasn’t with them, at least Zac was thankful for that. Don and Walker were in the canteen of the building getting coffee, leaving the boys to their own thing – for once.

"I hate waiting for things," Taylor muttered, trying to read a Top Of The Pops magazine he’d bought before coming in, he saw his face splattered on the middle pages and his expression changed to one of disgust. "Ugh, I hate seeing myself in pictures, why do I look so skinny when I wear red?"

"Because you are skinny," Isaac teased, he leaned over from his chair to see the picture Taylor was referring to. "Never mind your looking skinny, why does my hair always seem to look frizzy?"

"Maybe because it is?" Taylor teased.

"Well, I might have frizzy hair, but I don’t look like a girl…" Isaac folded his arms and gave a nonchalant expression.

"I might look like a girl, Ike, but at least I don’t look like some cheesy gay dude," Taylor shot back, giving the same expression of exaggerated nonchalance.

"At least I didn’t have my flies open during a photo session—" Isaac paused for a moment, "Oh, wait, that wasn’t you, that was Zac…"

Zac rolled his eyes, and tried to force out his thoughts of Don, but could find his mind on nothing else – his brothers were actually making his head hurt with their verbal abuse of each other, this was something they did quite often.

He’s coming back for me tonight, Zac realised. Oh god, what can I do?

"Well…at least when I’m on TV guys don’t shout ‘hey, check out that hot chick on MTV! Oh, uh, wait, isn’t that Taylor Hanson?’," Isaac began laughing.

Taylor made a face, and looked at Isaac from the corners of his eyes. "At least I don’t have a squint eye," he commented.

"Its not squint!" Isaac defended. "Its just a little lazy…" he added, gaining a hurt expression.

"You guys give me a headache," Zac muttered, folding his arms.

"Well, excuuuuuse me for passing the time by dissing Ike verbally," Taylor rolled his eyes.

Zac sighed. "Can we just sit in silence, please?" he asked, and began checking out the posters on the opposite wall – the one above Taylor’s head caught his eye. Childline.

He remembered hearing only good things about childline, it was a telephone counselling service for abused and molested kids, kids with problems, kids with nightmares, suicidal kids. Zac wondered if it was worth calling in.

"Uh…where’s the phone in this place?" Zac asked.

"Its down the hall turn a corner," Isaac answered. "Why?"

"I’m…gonna go phone mom," Zac lied.

"Oh," Isaac shrugged. "Well, good luck to ya, but by the time you get through it could be time for us to go through with the interview."

"I’ll try and be quick," Zac said, he quickly glanced at the number on the poster, then left the hallway, turned a corner and went to the end of the hall where the payphone was. He began dialling – knowing that an 0800 number was a free number, so he didn’t need to worry about money. He patiently waited.

"Childline, if you have a problem, please hold the line," came a reply, Zac waited a moment.

"Hello, can I help you?" came the voice of a woman, her voice was soothing, and relaxing.

Zac bit his lip, wondering what to say, then he began. "I have a big problem," he said softly.

"Tell me about it," the woman suggested.

"I…uh…I’m really famous, and…I need to go everywhere with a bodyguard," Zac began, he played with the cord of the phone. "Our usual bodyguard wasn’t able to come with us when we came to Scotland, and…well, we had to get this new guy…" Zac sighed.

"Is the problem due to the bodyguard?"

"Yeah…I’m only twelve years old, and he picks on me, the second night here he attacked me," Zac looked down the halls nervously hoping no one was nearby listening in. "Then…last night, I was really sick and in bed and I was alone and he came in…and he…" Zac felt the need to sob, feeling he couldn’t go on.

"Did he hurt you?"

"He…he…"

"I think I know," the woman said in a soft voice. "Have you told anyone?"

"No…" Zac sighed, sniffing. "I…feel really weird about it and the guy is threatening to do worse to me if I tell…"
"Is there anyone with you apart from the bodyguard – like maybe a parent…someone who can take care of you, make sure nothing happens?"

"My dad and my two older brothers…"

"Couldn’t you tell them, they would know what to do. They’d help you call the police…"

"I can’t tell them…I can’t tell anyone…I tried…and its too hard…" Zac felt a tear run down his cheek and he quickly wiped it away. "I feel…ashamed of it."

"You have to tell someone. What you’re talking about is assault and molestation and those are serious crimes. You have to call the police or you have to tell your brothers…they would understand…"

"I want to tell my oldest brother – he’s always looked after me, but its…this guy, the bodyguard is big and he hurt me a lot…and my big brothers aren’t really that strong – they’re tallish but skinny and this guy is like six foot seven and he could snap them twigs…I don’t want them getting hurt because of me…"

"Its possible that together you three could beat him, kid. You just have to do something…you can't let it happen again…"

Zac lowered his eyes. "Okay…thanks for the advice, Miss," he said.

"I hope you take it," she said gently.

"I…I’ll think about it," Zac promised and he put the phone down. He looked to the side of the phone – a unisex bathroom. He went in slowly, and looked around the single bathroom, and he took his backpack off and searched inside. Taylor’s cigarettes. Taylor didn’t seem to have noticed they were gone from his backpack, and Zac was ashamed to even admit to himself that he was smoking. At first it had been horrible but on three occasions he’d tried it again, never being able to finish a whole cigarette, but still, somehow it was helping. Zac lit a cigarette and inhaled the smoke quickly, it always wanted to make him cough on the first puff, but he forced himself not to.

Look what's happening to me! He thought at himself, looking in the full length mirror on the back of the door. He was holding a cigarette between his index and middle fingers, he watched himself closely as he put it back to his lips for another puff, he stopped midway to his mouth, realising his brothers would be wondering where he’d gone, he nicked the cigarette (stubbed it out very carefully and saved it for later).

He searched into his pocket, found a packet of gum, took three pellets out and shoved them into his mouth quickly, chewed speedily in hope that the minty scent would cover the smell of smoke from his breath. Then made his way back to his brothers, feeling that now he could cope with the interview.

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Well, that’s it, we’ve done everything on the list," Isaac smiled, he dropped down onto his bed in an exhausted way, reached over to the Sony Discman on the cabinet and turned on his Avenging Angels CD.

Zac was sitting on his bed trying to read, it was after nine, and finally, the last night of their being in Scotland. "We should be home by this time tomorrow night," Zac said in a relieved way.

"Looking forward to getting home?" Taylor asked, he was sitting in front of the television watching a rerun of Cybill. "I thought you liked it here…"

I do, but I don’t like being here with that creep around, Zac thought. Oh, god…he’s coming back for me tonight, suddenly shot into his head. His fear rising. He’d been able to ignore it for most of the day, up through lunch at McDonalds and the interview with the woman from the Edinburgh Evening News. Phoning childline had given him a sense of courage for a while, just talking about it had helped a lot, but now it seemed to make it ten times worse. Now, Zac was terrified, he knew that if his brothers happened to leave him alone for just the minutes, then Don would have him – probably kill him.

Zac got up and headed for the bathroom, he needed to cry and he didn’t want to let his brothers see this. He stepped in and closed the door, and looked at himself in the mirror, just as tears rolled down his cheeks. He felt so used and humiliated, and what was worse, Don was threatening to rape him, and by the crazed look in Don’s eyes, Don would actually do it too. Don was psycho, and Zac knew it. He was a child abuser, a child molester, a bastard. There was no real definition of what he was, he just was.

Zac dreaded it, the thought of what Don was going to do to him tonight, he knew Taylor was planning on leaving the room soon to go call their mother to tell her that everything was set, they’d see her tomorrow night. Something told Zac that Isaac would go with Taylor – and Zac didn’t have the nerve to go with them – even if it was for his own safety, because if he had to speak to his mother, and his mother asked why Zac didn’t seem so good lately – Zac knew he’d start crying.

Zac stared at his own dark-brown eyes, they’d lost their glitter. "Is this my life?" He asked himself softly in a whisper. "Is this what I’m here for?"

End it now, Zac, don’t let Don do this to you, Zac thought at himself, furious tears poured down his cheeks as he reached for Isaac’s Gillette razor. He slammed the front of the thing – unable to get it open with his nails – and the thing came apart, the razor fell into the shell shaped sink, and he picked it up carefully. "I can’t take it anymore," he whispered to himself, and let out a loud sob. He pressed the razor to his wrist and was about to cut.

Then Isaac and Taylor entered his thoughts.

Zac lowered the blade, and leaned down on the sink. He thought about his brothers and how much they probably loved him, how they needed him in the band, and then Zac thought of his father, how would he react finding a dead son? And what about his mother back in Tulsa – and his brother and two sisters? How would they react? Zac dropped the razor into the sink and sighed, tears still streaming down his cheeks. There was no way out. It was either kill himself and hurt his family, or put up with what was going to happen tonight and face humiliation and hurt for the rest of his life.

If no one else would understand, Ike would, Zac considered. Zac wanted Isaac to be there, to lean into his shoulder and cry, hold onto his brother tightly and scream for him to never let him go, never let him get hurt again. Isaac would do that, but Zac didn’t really think he could go through the humiliation of telling his older brother that their bodyguard had molested him, and had assaulted him, and was planning on doing worse to him tonight.

Zac opened the door very slightly and silently and peered out. Isaac and Taylor were toy-fighting on the floor, Taylor’s cries of ‘homo!’ were drowned out by ‘Jerk!’ from Isaac. Zac suppressed a slight smile, and leaned over, watching them through the tiny gap in between the door and the skirting.

"Hey, Tay," Isaac hauled himself up onto a bed.

"Yeah?" Taylor was stretched out on his back on the floor, taking deep breathes to gain back that of which he’d lost during the toy-fight.

"Zac’s been in there a long time…" Isaac said.

Zac looked at Isaac’s face, Isaac’s best feature was his eyes, because they always told how he was feeling, and right now, Zac could read Isaac’s eyes as concerned and almost hurt.

Zac leaned against the wall, leaving the door just slightly ajar, listening.

"He’s been acting weird all week," Taylor mumbled softly, in a half whisper. "Its like…I dunno, he’s going through some kind of crisis or something that he’s scared to tell us about," Taylor paused, then grinned. "Maybe it is what you thought – puberty."

"Puberty doesn’t cause kids to sit silent for hours on end," Isaac put his hands in his lap. "And he hit me, I know Zac has a tendency to get a little physical sometimes, but…not like that, you know."

Taylor shrugged.

Zac decided to step into the bedroom then. So after wiping his tears away he stepped into the bedroom and looked at his brothers, they looked guilty for some reason.

They don’t need to be guilty, Zac thought. Sure they were talking about me behind my back but they’re worried.

Isaac stared up at Zac from where he was sitting, his eyes squinted as if he were trying to focus. "Zac…you’ve been crying," Isaac stated worriedly.

Zac reached up, his cheeks were clammily dry, but probably tearstained. "Uh…no, I haven’t," he lied.

Isaac got up, and walked over, he looked down at Zac. "Okay, so if you weren’t crying, what's that on your cheek?"

"I don’t know," Zac shrugged and moved away.

Taylor just watched Zac’s every move.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Zac demanded, a little freaked by the way his brothers were watching him closely.

"Looking at you like what?" Isaac asked.

"Like you’re feeling sorry for me or something!" Zac whined, he took a few steps back. "I don’t want to be felt sorry for, Ike! I just want…" Zac trailed off, lowering his head, the tears came out then and he didn’t want them to, he tried to wipe them away before Isaac would see but it didn’t help, a fresh set of tears continued to fall.

"Zac…what's bothering you?" Isaac stepped forward and was about to put his hand on Zac’s shoulder.

Zac saw what Isaac was going to do – and he immediately stepped back two feet.

"What is it?" Isaac looked at Zac, his expression filled with confusion and concern. "I wasn’t going to hit you or anything…" Isaac stepped forward and attempted this again.

"Leave me alone…" Zac recoiled from Isaac’s reach, and backed against the wall, he tried to look casual, but he was afraid that both his brothers could see the fear in his eyes.

Isaac and Taylor looked at each other, then Taylor got up from the floor and walked over slowly, giving Zac a sympathetic look.

"Zac…is the strain of this getting to you or something?" Taylor asked. "If it is…just tell us, we know how it feels…lord knows, you’ve been taken down by stress, we don’t want to you getting any worse…if you can’t handle anymore, we could take a break for a month or so…"
"Its not that," Zac shook his head, trying to force back the tears that kept coming.

"Then what?" Isaac demanded in a hurt voice. "Zac, you have to tell us, because we can’t just sit and watch you cracking under the strain of whatever it is…"

Zac walked off – in between Isaac and Taylor, and they turned and watched him.

Zac didn’t care what his brothers would say, he needed a cigarette to calm his nerves, he knew it was helping, and he swore he’d stop the moment he got back to Tulsa. He seemed to remember Taylor giving a similar promise the first day in Edinburgh.

Zac searched into his backpack, wiping his tears with one hand, he brought out the cigarettes with the other.

"Hey…those are—" Taylor was about to say, but Isaac made him be silent by putting his hand on his shoulder.

Both boys watched as their twelve year-old brother lit up a cigarette and took a puff, his hands were shaking, his eyes darting nervously.

"Zac?"

"Don’t ask, okay?" Zac looked guiltily up at his oldest brother. "Just leave me to it, please," he added, and he took another puff, closing his eyes as he exhaled the smoke with a soft cough.

Isaac didn’t know quite how to react to this, so he did his best to stand still watching, Taylor remained mostly the same way. "Ummm…" Taylor broke the long silence when Zac had almost finished the cigarette. "So we know things are getting to you…its obvious…" Taylor sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Nothing’s as obvious as it seems, Tay," Zac said bitterly, and looked away. "I’ve had it up to here, I want to go home, I can’t wait until tomorrow," Zac lowered his eyes to his shaking hands, the cigarette lodged in between his index and middle finger.

"I think you’ve had enough of that," Taylor reached over and took the cigarette. "So…why are you so desperate to get home?" he asked, dropping the cigarette into an almost empty coke can and listening to cold liquid put it out with a ‘sssssst’.

Zac stood up, still shaking. "I…I just have to get away…" he said, his voice coming out in a whine. "I need to get away, I have to get away…please," he pleaded of his brothers incoherently, he was close to begging on his knees for safety.

"Zac…um…I’m not finding this funny," Isaac stated, for one moment, it seemed that Zac was only fooling around, but then as Isaac looked he could see Zac’s fear, and his heart just about stopped, he’d never seen his brother looked so scared. "Zac…"

"Its not supposed to be funny!!!" Zac screamed, shoving Isaac hard in the chest. "I have to get away!" he screamed. And irrationally, he didn’t know why, he dashed towards the door and pulled it open, he sped out into the hallway, heading for the elevator, he shot in and slammed his hand on the buttoned panel and the elevator began moving, he snuggled down into the corner, and began screaming hysterically. Don had driven him totally insane. Hot tears burned at Zac’s eyes, he was shaking violently, the thought of what Don would do to him if he found him. What struck Zac was that his father and Don were actually sharing a room. Zac found that disgustingly horrid, that his father slept in the same room as this man – and didn’t even know what he’d done.

The elevator stopped, Zac lifted his head, frowning. "What the—" he asked aloud, and then his heart stopped the doors opened, and an unsuspecting Don, Don’s eyes lit up though the moment he saw Zac.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Ah," Don smiled slyly. "I was just about to come looking for you," he chuckled deep in his throat.

Zac’s tears stopped, he just remained still, but as the elevator doors closed and Don pressed the buttons to make the elevator ride up, Zac found his voice.

"What are you gonna do to me?" Zac asked, he was still violently shaking.

"I thought I’d made that clear this afternoon, Zac," Don stated, and he took a step forward, Zac cornered himself up.

"Don’t think about it!" Zac warned. "If my brothers or my dad found out what you were trying to do they’d—"

"They’d never believe you, because you’re just a twelve year old little shit who lies constantly…"

"I don’t lie!" Zac screeched.

"Then why did you tell them you’d fallen?"

"Because you told me you would hurt me if I didn’t!" Zac yelled.

"Don’t be this way," Don said in a soft voice, he stepped forward, Zac turned to the other corner, his eyes wide.

"Get away!" Zac flailed his arms out clumsily intending to hit if Don came any closer.

"Now look here—" Don grabbed Zac by the wrist and lifted him into the air easy as a human being could pick up a rabbit by the ears. "You better stop the fighting me, because the more you struggle, the more I’ll hurt you, do you understand that?!"
Zac kicked the guy in the groin, catching the guy by surprise, the guy instantly let go of him, but the moment found his footing, the guy whacked him in the face, stunning him, Zac was then pushed to the ground on his stomach, and Don tried to hold him down, Zac somehow managed to struggle out, and he hit the emergency button on the panel and the elevator stopped and the doors opened, they were half up on a floor, the floor was at least six feet up. Zac had to leap and begin to haul himself up. Just as he about got away, Don caught him by the ankle, and began pulling him back, twisting his ankle in a brutal fashion, Zac screamed, and with his free leg, he kicked Don in the face, as Don let go of him Zac scrambled to his feet, and looked down both hallways. The stairway was the only avail he could see, he struggled running, his ankle hurting terribly. He shoved the heavy glass doors open and practically jumped down the stairway, holding onto the banister, in two leaps he was already down there, he could hear Don in pursuit, yelling swear words. Zac leapt over a banister and expecting to land on the middle steps, he lost his footing and fell down the stairs, rolling down, he let himself go limp, hearing that this was the best way to fall. He felt his back hit the last of the steps, and he slumped onto the floor between the steps he’d fallen down and the steps to the basement. He could hear Don still coming. Zac dragged himself to his feet, he felt as if he’d broken something, possibly a rib. It hurt so much, he didn’t think he could go on, he dropped to the ground on his knees in tears, pleading for help from God.

He felt hands catch him by the shoulders, and he was thrown to the wall, he was dazed, the back of his head hit the wall, and he was stunned once again, he slumped, and just waited for what he knew was going to be possibly his death. He felt Don’s hands begin to wander, and he couldn’t stop it, though he wanted to, he was weak and hurt and terrified, he closed his eyes tightly crying.

"GET YOUR HANDS AWAY FROM HIM!"

The voice caused Zac to open his eyes.

A flash of red and black flew before his eyes and he saw Taylor heading straight for Don, his fist caught the guy in the face, Zac was sure he heard a crack, he wondered what it was that he’d heard, if it had been Don’s cheekbone or Taylor’s fist.

"Bastard!" Zac heard Isaac yell and soon Isaac was part of the fight.

Don caught Isaac in the chest and threw Isaac back, and while Taylor grabbed onto Don’s arms and tried to hold him back.

"GET HIM, IKE!" Taylor yelled in a voice full of resentment.

Isaac took a hard swing at Don, and Don’s nose exploded a burst of blood. Isaac took another hard swing, catching the giant in the stomach, winding him.

Zac could not believe Taylor and Isaac could actually hurt the guy, he was so large, and what Zac could not believe was the looks of total rage in his brothers faces. They were red in the face, their eyes had the looks of crazed loners written in them, and they had taken up more strength between them than Zac had ever seen in his life.

Don punched Taylor in the face, Taylor, who had been at the edge of the staircase stumbled, his heels hanging over the edge, Zac gasped, Taylor looked like he was going to fall.

Taylor’s instinct worked in and he grabbed onto the banister, at the same time, trying to get his balance, he grabbed on the slightly off balance Don and Don went sailing, the three boys let out cries of horror as they watched their evil bodyguard fall down the stairs, and then bang his forehead on the cold tiled floor below. He remained totally still, and a small pool of blood began to appear under his head.

"Oh, my god," Taylor put his hand to his mouth, some realisation that Don might be dead hit him. Then of what Don had been doing to Zac the moment they’d seen him upon entering the stairway.

Isaac seemed to sense that. "I hope he’s dead," He whispered

Zac picked himself up, still shaking, and staggered over to Isaac and grabbed onto his oldest brother for support, his tears streaming down his cheeks.

Taylor walked over and pressed a hand onto Zac’s shoulder to comfort him. "Its over, Zac," he said in a whispery voice. "Its all over now."

EPILOGUE

A Few Days Later…

Zac sat a small table in the canteen of the hospital, his hands around a cup of hot chocolate. He looked around the empty canteen, the only other person was a girl clearing the counter, it was late, almost closing time. Zac felt exhausted, the effects of his ValerginP40 had kicked in ten minutes ago, and he felt sleepy. If it weren’t for reasonably loud rock music playing from the radio on top of the microwave behind the counter, Zac felt he would have fallen asleep by now. A song called ‘Clementine’ was all that was keeping him awake.

Zac reflected on things as he sipped his hot chocolate. It had been quite a few couple of days, just trying to get back to normal. His mother was in hospital giving birth, Zac was waiting for a new brother or sister anxiously, yet he couldn’t stand to be around his family. The way his father had been looking at him made him feel uneasy, it was a look of pity, and one of disgrace that he couldn’t have known it was going on, that he hadn’t been the one to hurt Don for what he’d done. His brothers were trying to be there, Zac had never been more thankful to have Isaac and Taylor as big brothers. As always they were supportive.

He looked back upon the last few days and shuddered. That Friday had been one of the worst nights of his life.

"Zac?" Isaac had come over, and placed a tray down. "Are you okay?" he asked as he sat opposite Zac.

Zac didn’t look up, he just gave an unsure nod.

"Want some of this?" Isaac motioned with his fork to a salad.

"No thanks," Zac shook his head.

Isaac took a snickers bar off of his tray and he put it in front of Zac. "Well, Here…"

"No thanks," Zac shoved the chocolate bar away.

"You have to eat, Zac," Isaac sighed.

"I’ll eat it later," Zac looked over at Isaac, frowning a little.

"Okay, okay," Isaac put his hands up in surrender, and began eating his salad.

Zac finished his hot chocolate in one go, then put the cup down, still holding onto it.

Isaac watched Zac’s expression, it was filled with hurt and pain, Zac had bruises on one side of his face, they were fading now. "Zac, are you sure you’re okay?" Isaac asked in a much softer voice.

Zac looked away from his oldest brother, his lip quivering, his hands tightened around the empty plastic cup, and the cup crushed under his hands. "Want the truth?" Zac asked, his voice so small and slight, almost a whisper.

"Of course I do," Isaac answered. "Zac…I want to know everything…"

Zac was shaking, his lip still quivering as he talked. "I feel disgusted, Ike," Zac forced out in a whimper

"With what?"

"With myself, with Don…and the fucking judge who only sentenced him to five years for what he did to me!" Zac slammed his fists clutched around the cup down on the table, it made a loud thud and a clatter of the fork as it fell from Isaac’s plate of salad. Zac’s eyes were filling up, his face paling. He could not believe Don was in prison for only five years for what he'd done. At least he was being held in the UK – but even another planet wouldn’t be far away enough.

"I agree he deserved life," Isaac admitted, he lowered his eyes. "Zac…y’know what hurts me? That you didn’t come to me and tell me what he’d done…I thought we could talk about anything…"

A tear dribbled down Zac’s cheek. "I told you he said he'd hurt me if I did…"

"That shouldn’t have stopped you, you know I would have protected you…" Isaac looked Zac straight in the eyes. "I’m your brother, and I’m always gonna be here for you, you know that."
Zac’s hands were shaking. "I just want to stop feeling so disgusting…" he let out in a half-sob, he pressed his shaking hands to his eyes. "I feel so dirty, Ike…and I shower and scrub and shower and scrub and I can still feel his fingerprints on me, Ike, I can still feel it!" he cried hysterically.

"It’ll get better," Isaac was about to reach over to touch Zac’s arm to comfort him, but stopped, thinking the better of it. "All scars heal, physically and emotionally," Isaac promised.

Zac took his hands away from his teary eyes. "And what if it doesn’t?"

"It will, Zac. Me and Tay and Dad are here for you all the way," Isaac stated firmly, he took a few more bites of his salad – it was the first thing he’d eaten in days, his worry for Zac’s health had been forcing him to stop eating just so he could pay all of his attention to his brother. "And like I said, things will get better – you’ll forget in time, the moment things go back to normal for you, the better you’ll feel," he explained. "Just think of high times, Zac. Don’t force yourself to go back on it, because I know that’s what you’ve been doing."
"How can I forget it…after all I went through…"

"Zac…people go through it everyday, and some of them get hurt a lot worse, somehow they get through, and if they can do it, I know you can," Isaac picked up a piece of lettuce and lodged it in between his teeth and his top lip and then grabbed two pieces of cucumber and slapped them over his eyes. He made a disgusting snorting monster noise and Zac looked up and suddenly began giggling.

Isaac took the pieces of cucumber off of his eyes. He used his tongue to drag the piece of lettuce into his mouth and began chewing on it. He looked at Zac. "You’ll get through this…you ARE a Hanson after all…" he smiled.

Zac nodded. "Yeah, I suppose," he said distantly.

"Now…are you ready to see our new baby sister?"

Zac gasped. "We have a new sister?" he asked, a twinkle entering his once dull brown eyes.

"Yeah…" Isaac got up and motioned for Zac to get up to. "C’mon."

Zac got up and paused, just as he heard the song on the radio come to a chorus. The song had changed to the song he’d listened to the other night when he’d been in the shower.

Then the nightmares come

And you get blown away

And up in your room the walls are cold

You’ll find your head is holding out

For the welcome of a better day

And Zac forgot his troubles for the rest of the night, and let them slide into the back of his mind, knowing that one day, he’d remember, but right now, his head was holding out for the welcome of a better day.

THE END…?

The songs featured in this story were…

The Day We Find Love – 911

Perfect Day – Lou Reed

Avenging Angels – Space

Clementine – Mark Owen

Better Day – Ocean Colour Scene