This was slowly becoming the worst day of Taylor Hanson’s young life. I mean, in all reality he should’ve been the happiest fourteen year old there was at that time, but he wasn’t. It was their last concert before their first album would be released, there were going to be lots of screaming fans, and so far things were going great, except for the inevitable. His best friend had called the phone they had on the tour bus crying her eyes out and he hadn’t been able to get out of her what was wrong. He knew something horrible was happening at home and he wasn’t there to stop it.

Taylor hated when Delaney called him, because, as I’ve already told you. She doesn’t talk. So, if someone other than Taylor would answer there’d be silence on the other end. After a while they just started giving the silent calls to Taylor and most times out of none it’d be Delaney, but then there’d be those other times when it’d be a prank call and then he’d have to hear something about a refrigerator running or something strange like that.

Only this time when Delaney called, it was different. This morning Isaac handed Taylor the phone and so Taylor pulled it up to his ear to hear a light sniffling on the other end.

“Laney? Delaney, is that you?” Taylor asked concern filling his voice and worry outlining his features.

“Taylor… you have to get me out of here. Please Tay, I’m begging you, something’s happened and…” but before she could finish Taylor could hear another voice in the background.

“Delaney, get your fucking ass in here and get me another beer,” at this Taylor heard Delaney let out a soft sob. “Do it now bitch before I have to come in there and make you,” At that tears started rolling down Taylor’s cheeks. He knew what Delaney’s father did to her when he made her do something. He hated when she told him about it, and he hated to hear her father threaten to do it.

"I love you Tay,” and at that she hung up.

“NO! NO! NO! Come back please,” Taylor sobbed into the receiver.

Diana ran to the small bunk that Taylor was currently resting in to find him hugging his knees to his chest and sobbing, much like Delaney did when she was frightened.

“What is it Taylor?” his mother not ready for the blow she was about to receive.

“This is all your fault Mom. She’s being hurt; he’s going to kill her and all because we couldn’t take her along. Normally I’m there to save her, but this time I’m not all because you didn’t trust us enough so that she could come!” he screamed at his mother. The one person he had never yelled at in his life. He loved his mother to death, but right now he hated her and he hated what she had made happen.

“Taylor, what are you talking about? Who was that on the phone?” She said tears coming to her eyes, not knowing what she had done to cause her son so much pain. But, whatever it was, it must have been a horrible decision. And it was.

“Delaney, mom. Her dad’s going to kill her and it’s all because you didn’t let her come with us, and I couldn’t have stayed home to save her like I normally do,” he was crying uncontrollably. He didn’t care if his entire family and band crew was standing there watching him, he needed to cry the tears that Delaney couldn’t cry and he needed to save her. He loved her and he had to make sure she’d be there when he got home.

“Taylor, you’re not being sensible. Her father’s not going to kill her, and you know that. Now tell me what you’re talking about,” Diana was angry now, her son was accusing her of something and not being clear about what she had done.

“Mom, you don’t understand. He will kill her. He’ll tear her clothes and give her bruises and then he’ll…” he stopped. Delaney had sworn him to secrecy. He couldn’t have told if he had wanted to. It was too awful to say, he knew if he said it, it would happen and it just couldn’t happen.

“Taylor, honey, what will he do? You can tell us, and if you do tell us then maybe we can save her. You just have to tell us,” she said realizing that he wasn’t lying about Delaney being killed, and she had a pretty good idea what Taylor was getting ready to tell her.

“I can’t say it out loud,” Taylor whispered into his knees.

“Then tell me in my ear baby, its okay,” She took his face in between her hands and forced him to look at her. His eyes were piercing, but even more so when he was feeling an extreme emotion.

“Okay,” he once again whispered. His mom put her ear up to his lips and waited for him to get the courage to say what he knew he had to say.

“He’ll rape her, again.” As soon as he said it he turned away from his mother so fast that she didn’t have time to react to what he had said while he was still there. He pulled the covers above his head and grabbed his teddy bear that he always slept with. He couldn’t believe he had told. He had betrayed his dear Laney.

He waited under his covers until he was sure that everyone was gone and then he crept his hand out and felt around until he found his journal. He pulled it back quickly and then turned over so that he was lying on his stomach. He retrieved that pen that he kept under his pillow. He needed to write a song for her to make up for the secret he had just told. That’s how he had always said he was sorry to Delaney. He just wrote her a song and it always seemed to be enough. She always welcomed his songs with open arms and forgiveness. If only he knew that she was never really mad, he just assumed that she would be. Delaney loved Taylor and she had never been mad at him and she couldn’t imagine ever being mad at him.

The only thing between Taylor and Delaney was that they both loved each other, but they were both too shy to fill each other in on that little emotion they had and they both just assumed that they wouldn’t feel the same way back. So they were both at a dead end together and everyone knows you can’t get anywhere from a dead end, unless you go backwards.

An hour later Taylor woke suddenly because he felt the bus begin to slow down, he knew they must’ve been at the venue and he wanted to go home so badly that he didn’t think he wanted to perform tonight, and there had never been a time before that he didn’t want to perform.

“Taylor, wake up,” the soft voice of his brother greeted him. Zac could make someone smile even when he wasn’t trying to. Taylor loved Zac, even though he got on his nerves sometimes, He didn’t know what he would do without Zac and he was glad that his mom had sent Zac to wake him up.

“I’m awake,” Taylor said hoarsely. His throat was hurting from crying so much and that wasn’t a good thing to experience right before a concert.

“Where are we Zac?” Taylor asked praying to God they had just stopped at a rest stop; he needed his voice in order to perform for an audience. He couldn’t imagine what their fan population would do if the day before the album came out and the lead singer of the band, all the sudden, couldn’t sing.

“We’re stopping so Dad can make some calls,” Zac said pulling himself up onto Taylor’s bunk so that he was sitting there looking down on Taylor, but he never meant to look down on him in a bad way. It was just how he comforted people, Taylor knew that and he accepted it. It was love that only a brother could give.

“Why is he making calls?” Taylor asked confused. They had a destination and they only had time to get there in a short period of time. It wasn’t like his dad to not be prompt.

“Because mom talked him into rescheduling the concert for the day after tomorrow so we can go back home and get Delaney.

“What?” Taylor said sitting up fast almost knocking Zac out of the bunk, but catching him at the last second.

y eah, mom cried for a good half an hour after you whispered to her and then dad finally said we could go back and get Delaney. Mom wanted me to come and wake you up to tell you. She also said that maybe you should call Delaney and tell her,” Zac told Taylor kind of scared at almost being knocked to the floor.

“Yes, I’ll do that right now, I love you Zac,” Taylor said hugging Zac tight. He couldn’t believe his mom had talked his dad into going back for Delaney.

Taylor jumped down from his bunk and ran out into the family area of the bus where his found his mom sitting and reading one of her many books that she took on the road with her.

Taylor sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Hey, Taylor,” she said slightly surprised by the outburst of love from her son. “Thanks,” he said, and they both knew that all that needed to be said. Taylor sat there with his mom for a while, while his father was outside making calls. It was probably about a half an hour when Walker finally came back inside. When he walked in Taylor sat upright and just starred at his father.

“What’s happening?” Taylor asked.

“Well, we’re going to stay here; I got us rooms at a hotel about two miles from here. And I’ve gotten Maria to go and get Delaney. And she’s going to drive here and meet us and drop Delaney off. I figure it’ll save us some time if we don’t have to drive home and all the way back,” Walker finished. It sounded like a good plan to Taylor. Maria was the woman who took care of their house while they were gone, Taylor trusted her enough to bring his Delaney to him.

They were stopped just outside of Indianapolis and so they were going to have to stay in that hotel until Maria got there. It would only be about a ten hour set back and Taylor felt like they couldn’t wait ten hours.

They drove for about ten minutes and finally got to their hotel. They checked in and Taylor went upstairs to the room that he, Isaac and Zac had to share and just sat on the bed. He figured that if he slept the time would go faster. Which in all reality was true, but the only bad thing was that Taylor was so antsy that whenever he would lie down he ended up getting right back up. So finally he got an idea, he ran down to the bus and grabbed his walkman. He put his own album into the tape player and ran back inside. He went into the gym and found an empty treadmill. He felt weird being the only young person in the room, and it probably didn’t help that all the old people were staring at him, but he didn’t care. He had never cared what people thought of him, he had only cared what Delaney thought of him. He got a treadmill and stepped on. Found a speed and an incline he found acceptable and pushed start. He pushed play on his walkman and started running. He ran and ran and ran and ran. Finally about two hours later Isaac found Taylor still running. Taylor was completely numb to what he was doing. The tape had stopped playing and his legs were completely numb. From the door Isaac could vaguely see Taylor’s treadmill. It looked like Taylor had run about thirty miles.

That scared Isaac so the first instinct he had he acted on. He ran over to Taylor’s treadmill and cut if off. As soon as the treadmill stopped Taylor stopped and looked at Isaac. His eyes looked completely dead to Isaac and Taylor’s legs finally stopped moving. When he finally stopped running his legs were so weak that Taylor couldn’t hold himself up. He fell right onto Isaac and Isaac fell to the floor under Taylor’s weight.

“Help,” Isaac mumbled.

A man who was working out in the gym ran over to the two boys and pulled Taylor up off of Isaac.

“Sorry,” Taylor mumbled strangely to the stranger and to Isaac.

“It’s okay,” the man laughed. I’ve over-worked myself before too. But, I wasn’t lucky enough to have someone come in and save me,” the man laughed. Isaac was oddly interested with this man. He had electric blue eyes, just like Taylor’s, and there was a sparkle in his eyes that reminded Isaac of Zac. The man looked somewhat familiar, but Isaac just couldn’t remember where he had met this man before.

“Well, I better take my brother up to our room so our mom can take care of him,” Isaac said taking Taylor’s left arm and putting it around his shoulder. Isaac took a step away from the gentleman and almost immediately fell. He wasn’t used to supporting almost double his weight.

“Whoa there buddy. Do you want me to help you?” the man asked. Isaac’s first reaction was to say no and run away and keep his brother from this man. But, then he realized that he needed to get Taylor up to the room and he couldn’t do it on his own.

“You wouldn’t mind?” Isaac asked skeptically. He was hoping the man would say no so he wouldn’t have an opportunity to help him.

“Of course not, you need help and I’m willing to give it,” the man answered unfortunately.

“A little too willing,” Isaac thought.

Isaac and this strange man got Taylor in a position where they could carry him and they headed upstairs, with Taylor complaining the whole way up, even though he had no strength to fight back.

They finally made it upstairs and Isaac stopped in front of his mother’s door where he could hear his sisters laughing and playing inside the room. Isaac knocked and the room got silent quick.

“Mom, it’s Isaac open the door hurry!” he said the panic he was feeling for Taylor finally reaching his voice. He heard the sound of something dropping inside the room and then he heard his mother hurrying to the door. Diana threw the door open and gasped.

“Taylor, my baby! What happened to him?” Diana asked Isaac.

“He’s been running the entire time we’ve been here,” Isaac told his mom. “I was looking for him because I wanted him to hear a new riff I was writing and I looked for him for like a half an hour than I found him in the gym. He had run like 30 some miles and he told me that he’s not stopped running for the full two hours we’ve been here,” Isaac said tears coming to his eyes. He absolutely hated it when his brothers or sisters were hurt and especially Taylor.

“It’s okay Isaac he’s just fatigued and dehydrated, we’ll get him back up to strength. Jessica would you go in the bathroom and get me a couple glasses of water,” Diana said to her oldest daughter.

“Yes mom,” she said as she started to walk into the bathroom.

Diana was sitting on the bed with Taylor’s head in her lap. She was running her fingers through his hair and she kept randomly placing kisses on his forehead.

Finally after about thirty minutes of a mother’s love Taylor came to enough to sit up, even though when he sat up it felt like all the blood rushed to his head.

“You okay baby?” His mom asked.

I' ll be okay, I’m sorry I scared you guys,” he said truly sorry that he had started to run. Because he knew he had found his cure, his disorder, and his way out. He had liked the way he felt while he was running with music playing loud in his ears.

“It’s okay sweetie, but why were you running so hard?” his mom asked.

“Because I wanted to find a way to pass the time until Delaney got here. I just couldn’t bare it anymore,” he said laying his head back down onto his mother’s knee.

“Oh my gosh!” Diana exclaimed all the sudden making everyone in the room jump including Taylor.

“What!?” everyone asked suddenly.

“Jonathan?” Diana asked, while everyone was thinking she was hallucinating.

ye ah Di, it’s me,” a man said making everyone turn their gazes to the man who had helped Isaac bring Taylor up who was still standing at the door.

“Mom, you know this man?” Avery asked in her small voice.

“Yes, actually I do,” she said sounding somewhat confused.

th is is your uncle, your dad’s brother whom disappeared a couple years back when he and your dad had a fight,” Diana explained to her unknowing children.

The silence that filled the room held an explanation of its own. Everyone was confused. Why did their father fight with his siblings and why were his siblings showing up now.

Diana was the first one to think the thought that everyone would think eventually. Jonathan, Walker’s brother, knew the band was about to hit it big so he was here to make himself look like a hero and then he’d have a free invitation to the money, but if anyone was going to stop him; she’d be the first to do it.

“It’s nice to see you Jon and thank you for helping my son, but you had better leave before Walker comes back. He won’t like seeing you here,” Diana said calmly trying not to sound like she was the one who wanted him to leave.

“That’s fair Di, it was nice seeing you and tell Walker I said hi, oh, and Taylor, try not to run so hard next time. It’s okay to take it easy. Bye guys,” he said to his nieces and nephews.

“That was weird mom,” Taylor spoke up.

“Yeah, it was,” Isaac agreed with him.

“It’ll be okay,” Diana reassured them. “Hey, how about you guys go and find Zac and then Isaac you can play that riff for Taylor that you wanted him to hear,” Diana said to her boys giving Taylor one last kiss of the forehead.

“Okay that sounds good,” Isaac agreed. “Are you up for it Tay?”

“Sure am,” he answered back some of his old self reappearing in his voice.

After they had found Zac playing video games on the bus the three of them hung out doing different things just making the time pass.

About five hours later during a rather grueling game of Mario Kart racing Taylor just happened to look at the clock.

“Oh my gosh!” he exclaimed dropping his controller.

“What?” his brothers said in unison.

“She should be here any minute; I’m going to go wait for her. You take my controller Isaac,” he said getting up and walking off the bus almost as if he was hypnotized.

“It’s no use playing for you now you’ve already lost,” Isaac muttered while Zac proudly pulled across the finish line and did a little winning dance.

Taylor sat on the sidewalk in front of the hotel for about fifteen minutes when finally a car pulled up in front of him and Delaney stepped out.

She was here, she was actually here.

“I missed you,” she whispered in his ear as he wrapped his arms around her in an unforgettable hug.

“I love you,” he whispered back.

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Email: hshanson09@yahoo.com