Their parents found waiting to be the worst part. Zac had gone with Taylor in the ambulance, and Isaac had driven his car right behind them; he�d called his parents from his car phone to let them know what had happened. The drive to the to the hospital � all of the younger kids with them � seemed like one of the longest drives of their lives. When they got there, Isaac and Zachary were sitting outside Taylor�s room; Zac turned quickly to look into Taylor�s room to avoid having his parents see his bruised face � he knew Taylor didn�t mean it, but would they?

�Is he OK?� It was the first thing their mother asked.

�He�s stable.� Isaac replied. �He�s lucky to even be alive.�

�Do they know what exactly caused it yet?� Their father asked.

�The doctor is running some tests on his blood. I told her he was a cocaine user, but she knew that already, and put him on detox.�

�What happened?� Their mother asked him.

�When Zac found him, he was just laying on the floor, and he wasn�t breathing�� Isaac paused for a moment, tears stinging his eyes. �And his heart wasn�t beating�� Both of their parents were on the verge of tears, just as he was, but Zac hadn�t said a word; the younger children, save for Jessica and Avery, knew that Taylor got hurt, but they didn�t know what actually happened. Isaac fought the tears. He used to be so close with Taylor, how did he not see this happening? How did he not figure it out? He just kept thinking those thoughts. Zac wasn�t doing much better at all.

�How�s Zac?� Diana asked her son quietly, seeing Zachary standing by Taylor�s room window.

�No better than us.� Isaac replied. �He�s the one who found Taylor�� Walker was holding four-year-old Zo� on his hip and looking at Zac.

�Daddy,� the little girl said quietly, �what happened to Taywer?� Walked looked at his youngest child. She may have been young, but she was far from stupid. Even she knew that something was wrong with her big brother. He never did answer the question.

Diana walked over to Zac and touched his shoulder gently. Without thinking, he turned to see who it was. His mother gasped.

�My God, Zachary,� she said, taking his chin in her hand. �What happened?� When he didn�t answer she looked to Isaac, and as soon as he opened his mouth Zac spoke.

�It�s nothing.� He said, taking her hand off of his chin. All he was doing was protecting Taylor; he felt he needed to. She tried to touch gently, and he winced and backed away.

�It was Taylor.� Isaac said. She looked at him incredulously.

�Ike!� Zac yelled at him.

�Taylor did this to you?� She asked him.

�He didn�t mean it,� Zac defended him.

�Have you had this checked yet?� She asked.

�No,� Isaac answered for him. �The doctor tried to get him to have an x-ray, but he wouldn�t leave Taylor.�

�I want an x-ray.� His father said.

�Dad-�

�You heard me.� He said sternly. �The next time we see the doctor she�s taking you for an x-ray.� Zac didn�t protest � he knew better.

�Don�t be mad at Taylor,� he said quietly. �He wasn�t himself; he�d never hurt me, or anyone else, and you know it.� No one said anything. No one knew what to say. The old Taylor would never have hit his brother, but with Taylor being on drugs� there was no telling what he�d do.

They had to wait a while before the doctor came to them with Taylor�s blood test results. They weren�t pleasing, but no one expected them to be.

�What did you find?� Walker asked. Jessica, Avery, and Mackenzie were sitting in chairs outside their brother�s room, Zo� on Jessica�s lap.

�Nothing to be happy about. There were extremely high levels of cocaine in his blood, as well as heroin and traces of strychnine.� She told them. �Whoever supplied his drugs this time didn�t give him pure cocaine. He�s lucky he�s not dead. I don�t know if they�ve told you or not, but I�ve got him on detox.�

�We know,� Diana said, wiping a few tears. �Is he going to be OK?�

�Your son�s a cocaine addict, Mrs. Hanson. It�s going to take a whole lot more than detox to make him OK.�

�Can you tell us what happened?� Walker asked.

�A common cause of death in cocaine addicts is seizure followed by respiratory arrest. That�s what I�m surmising was the case with Taylor, only his brothers found him.�

�When can we go in and see him?� Diana asked. �I need to see my son, Dr. Murphy.�

�He�s not awake, but you can go in and see him, one at a time.� She replied.

�Dr. Murphy?� Walker spoke up. �Can Zac still be seen? I�d like him to have the x-ray you offered him earlier.�

�Sure. I can take him up to radiology right after I check on Taylor.� She said. She went into Taylor�s room with his mother and made sure his heartbeat and breathing were stable; they were. She left his mother in there with him and took Zac up for a facial x-ray.

�Well?� Ike said. �How�d it go?�

�Three stitches.� Zac answered, and looked at Taylor�s door. �And a broken cheekbone.�

�He broke your cheekbone?� Isaac asked disbelievingly. Zac nodded once.

�It�s not that bad.�

�He broke your cheekbone, Zac.�

�It wasn�t his fault.�

�I love him too, but you can�t keep making excuses for him. He chose drugs over his family. I know he has a powerful addiction � but it was his own fault.� Isaac said to him. �That doesn�t mean I love him any less, or that I won�t do whatever I can for him, I will. But he hit you, Zac, because he needed more cocaine. Do you think I want to believe that Taylor would do that? Because I don�t, I don�t want to at all, but it�s the truth, Zac.� Zachary had tears in his eyes, as well as Isaac. Zac didn�t want to believe it either; he didn�t want to believe Taylor, someone he used to look up to, would ever even think of using drugs� and now he was a cocaine addict. Part of him wanted to hate Taylor for doing this to himself, to their family, for doing something so incredibly stupid. And the other part of him loved him more than ever, because of what he was going to have to go through. No matter how angry he was with Taylor, he knew in his heart that he couldn�t hate him, ever, no matter what he did.

�Why drugs?� Zac asked quietly. �Why did he have to take drugs?�

�I don�t know.� Isaac answered. Nobody could understand why; only Taylor did.

When he did wake up, he was barely conscious, and couldn�t understand what he was saying; he was mumbling completely unintelligibly. She assumed he wasn�t lucid � she was right, and he passed out again.

He did OK for a few hours, and then things took a turn for the worse. Their mother was sitting beside his bed � everyone else was outside, Zac standing by the window looking in � when one of the machines he was hooked up to started beeping, and alarms started going off. He was having a seizure.

�Oh God,� she said to herself, and got up quickly; Zac had seen from the window and already called for the doctor. This wasn�t a good thing at all � this was bad. From that point they kept a close eye on him. He never did wake up.

It was a few hours later when the worst happened. He had another seizure, and stopped breathing � and then went into cardiac arrest.

�Do something!� Diana shouted, her husband holding her back.

�Start chest compressions,� Dr. Murphy told a younger nurse. She ran to the door. �I need a crash cart in here now!� A nurse placed a mask over his mouth and nose, and began squeezing a blue bag at the end of it. Zac and Isaac also watched in horror.

�A-systole.� One of the nurses said; the crash cart had just been brought in.

�Charge to 200.� Dr. Murphy said. �Clear.� She shocked his now bare chest with the paddles she held in her hands; his body jerked upwards. The long whine continued from his heart monitor. �Clear.� She did it again. His body jerked and the whine continued.

�Charge to 300,� she ordered, and waited. �Clear,� and shocked him again. It wasn�t working. �Charge to 350.� She called clear again, and shocked him again, over, and over, and over� each time his lifeless body jerked upwards, but the continuous whine from his heart monitor didn�t change.

�How long?� Dr. Murphy asked.

�Eight minutes.� The nurse to her right said, squeezing the blue bag attached to the mask on his face, looking up at the clock on the wall. Dr. Murphy closed her eyes for a moment; she knew it was over.

�Call it,� she said quietly. �Time of death: 8:31 p.m.�

�No,� his mother said. �No, keep trying� keep trying!�

�I�m sorry�� Dr. Murphy said quietly, and regretfully.

�Oh God no,� she sobbed, turning and burying her face in her husbands chest. Walker put his arms around her, crying as well. Zac fell numbly into a nearby chair, tears rolling down his cheeks. Isaac was in shock, tears in his eyes as well.

�I�ll go tell the kids,� he said quietly. He opened the room door, and the kids were still sitting in the chairs outside Taylor�s room. Zo� was on Jessica�s lap. Jessica could tell by the look on her big brother�s face that something was wrong.

�Ike� what happened?� Jess asked him quietly. He looked at all of them.

�You know that Taylor was� very sick�� he said, speaking quietly. �Well something bad happened� and he had something called a seizure.�

�Is he OK?� Avery asked.

�The seizure made him stop breathing� and then his heart stopped�� He looked at all of their scared faces.

�Is he OK?� Mackenzie asked this time. The tears in Isaac�s eyes welled.

�Say he�s OK, Ike�� Jess told him quietly. She studied the expression on his face; tears filled her eyes. �No�� she whispered.

�He died a few minutes ago.� He said quietly and painfully, tears rolling down his cheeks.

�No.� Jessica burst into tears, as did Avie; a moment later Mackie began to cry. Isaac lifted Zo� from his younger sister�s lap; they got up from their chairs, crying, and all three of them put their arms around him. In Taylor�s room his parents still stood crying by his bed. Zac sat close by his bed in a chair, elbows on his knees, head in his hands, crying.