Taylor blinked rapidly in the harsh light. Something wasn’t right. He was still… alive? What? This wasn’t how it was supposed to have happened.
   Images flashed rapidly in his mind almost like a fast camera snapping pictures.
   He remembered laughing and walking with his brothers. Just hanging out together and laughing. It was late at night though, and they were on their way from the movie theater, into the parking for the van. But something else had happened, what was it?
   Struggling to remember, Taylor shut his eyes tightly against the blinding light that kept flashing continuously behind his eyelids, and thought hard about what had happened.
   The image flashed quickly, and he almost didn’t remember. But the flash of something metallic in the street light triggered his memory.
   A young teen had stepped up to them. Asking if they had any spare money. Isaac had smiled at them, but answered ‘no.’ Saying that they had just spent it all on the movie tickets.
   The person nodded their head and shrugged their shoulders. Acting as though they were about to walk away, they had turned back as if to ask a question, but pulled out a handgun instead.
   Instantly, Taylor remembered shoving Zac behind him, and looking over at Isaac for direction and answers. But Isaac was just as confused as he was.
   The one holding the weapon smiled at them, and asked for money again. And this time they were awarded with wads of bills. They had grinned, but pulled the trigger anyway.
   Taylor had felt the tingle in his chest, before the sharp pain and heat overtook him and he fell. Crying out, he called for help, and Zac and Isaac had instantly appeared at his side.
   The memories washed away and Taylor blinked again as the bright light continued to burn his sensitive eyes. Licking his lips, he felt an awkward feeling in his mouth. Something was different. Way different.
   More images flooded his mind, and flashed before him.
   A girl hovered over him, as his brothers were too. She kept telling them to go for help, while she stayed there with him.
   Something about her had made him calm, and he actually felt the fear leaving his body. Watching her closely, she started to lean towards him.
   At first he struggled, cause he thought she was a fan, just trying to kiss him. But she didn't touch his lips. Instead she placed her face in his neck, and nuzzled it for a second.
   He had to admit, it felt good, but what came next made him cry out painfully. She bit him. Hard.
   She had to have punctured his skin, because when she raised her head away, her lips had a dark crimson color to them. He watched her, as she watched him.
   "Don't be afraid. It'll only hurt for a minute." Were her soft soothing words.
   Not knowing what she was saying, he was about to tell her that he was okay. That there was no pain.
   But almost as if something knew he was about to say that, a deep harsh pain wrenched inside his stomach. Causing him to scream, shift, and struggle; trying to get comfortable and release whatever pain that had suddenly encased him.
   After a few seconds, a dull sense settled over him, and he could smell the strong scent of his blood on her lips. It burned his nostrils, and his teeth began to ache pleasurely and painfully.
   Smiling at him alluringly, she had cut her skin open on her breastbone with a long dark-red fingernail, and almost as if he had been forced to, Taylor had placed his lips against the wound, and began to suckle the blood from the opening.
   He felt the deep rich liquid flame down his throat as he swallowed it, and as his teeth began to ache even more.
   It was near unbearable to handle. The more he drank, the more he ached, but he wanted to drink more, and more… and more.
   She had laughed after a few moments, and pushed him away. Saying that he had had enough. He didn't think so, and tried to drink some more.
   Violently she shoved him away.
   Quietly and quickly, she explained to him the new rules to his life. Feeding's, every night, sensitivity to the light, no more tans and no more running out of breath, there would be no more scars or wounds. Immortality she called it. Living forever.
   A beautiful gift.
   The idea had appealed to him at first, while his brothers came back, saying there was no phone, and that the theater had closed for the night.
   Getting up slowly, and wincing from the newness of his body, Taylor had stood in front of them, and said that he was ok. Showing a small wound, stating that the guy obviously did not use bullets.
   Isaac and Zac were wary of the lie he had told them, but he couldn't think of anything else besides, "I'm immortal?"
   He had enjoyed his immortality for two weeks, before he then started thinking and realizing certain things. When Aurora came to check up on him, he slammed her brutally into the wall.
   His face distorted from the anger he was trying to keep under control. "You bitch!" He shouted in her face. "What have you done to me?" He voiced savagely, his eyes wild with cold anger.
   Aurora blinked once before she steadied her gaze on him, "What are you talking about?" She demanded harshly. "I gave you a beautiful gift!"
   Taylor shook his head roughly. "What you gave me is going to make me outlive my family. All of them! I won't have anyone, cause they'll all grow old and die, and I won't! I won't grow old! You did this to me! You made me into this… this thing!" He shouted waving his hands in front of his body.
   "You took away my future. Yout took away my life!"
   She stared at him, trying to get him to calm down by staying calm herself. "I didn't take nothing away! I gave you the gift of eternal life. You'll never die. You'll stay young forever!" She tried to reason with him. "You'll have music forever!"
   Taylor shook his head fiercely. "I wanted to fall in love with someone, and grow old and die with them. And now…" He gave a short bitter laugh and released his hold on her. "Now I can't do that."
   Aurora was silent, then gave him a sly smile. "You could always love and live with me." She offered.
   He gave her a disgusted look. "I don't think so." Was his reply.
   Stepping back, Aurora acted as if Taylor had stabbed her in the heart. He rejected her.
   When he started to walk away from her, she grabbed tightly onto his arm. "Where are you going?" She asked, her voice taking on a desperate quality.
   "I want to die." He murmured as he shook her off and stalked away.
   Aurora stood there in disbelief, "Only I can kill you!" She shouted at his back. "I made you, I have to destroy you!"
   Taylor heard her, but didn't turn back. He knew she wouldn't kill him, she was in love with him. And she wouldn't destroy something that she loved.
   He had to find his own release…
   "Tay? What are you doing?" Zac asked cautiously as he watched his brother take apart the shaver Isaac had just started using.
   "Nothing." Taylor replied simply, continuing.
   "Nothing is nothing." Zac informed him smugly. "This is something."
   "All right then," he shrugged. "I'm doing something." He voiced carelessly.
   After a few seconds, Taylor had ushered Zac out of the bathroom and sat on the closed lid of the toilet.
   His gaze was transfixed on the blade, intrigued by the danger and evil it held... then started jabbing himself with it repeatedly. As many times as he could, he stuck that thin piece of metal into himself and dragged it through his skin.
   Tearing, ripping, slicing.
   The door opened and he screamed in panic… Then everything was black.
   Taylor opened his eyes from the memories, his eyes reflexively started blinking again. It wasn't right. He shouldn't still be alive. It wasn’t how it was supposed to have happened. He was supposed to be dead, and deliriously happily out of his misery.
   Without warning the lights flicked on, and instantly Taylor shut eyes as the light blinded him at once. "Turn 'em out!" He shouted angrily.
   "Okay, okay." Isaac's gentle voice said from the far corner. "God."
   Taylor heard the squeaking of a plastic chair and then heard of the 'click' of the light switch.
   Cautiously, he squinted one eye open. When he was satisfied that the room was dark enough, he opened them both fully, and leaned back in his bed. "Thanks." He sighed.
   "No problem." Isaac had replied dryly.
   Looking around, he tried to determine where he was. "Where am I?" He asked after he realized he could not place himself.
   He heard his brother's deep intake of breath.
   "Oh, don't you remember, Tay?" He asked sharply.
   Taylor shook his head, "No, I don't remember." His voice and face both full of confusion.
   Isaac laughed sardonically. "You were screaming about immortality in the bathroom yesterday. You also sliced yourself a couple times all over. Saying that you weren't going to live forever."
   "Oh." Taylor murmurred quietly, his eyes closing and the images coming back.
   I won't be able to be with my family anymore. I'll outlive them all. I won't have anyone, cause they'll all grow old and die, and I…won't. I won't grow old…She did this to me. She made me into this. She's the one who took away my future. My life!
   "I don't know what's wrong with you!" Isaac exploded then, taking him away from his memory of what had occurred the day before.
   "Ever since that accident at that theater, you've been different. You've changed."
   When Taylor refused to comment, Isaac continued on. Not wanting the silence.
   "You dress in black all the time, you've got mom and dad and the little ones scared shitless of you. Mackie keeps asking if you're the devil. Zac thinks you're insane and on drugs. And you keep talking about death."
   "What the hell is wrong with you?!" He screamed frantically.
   Taylor cowered slightly on his small bed. "Nothing's wrong. I'm not the devil, and I'm not on drugs. Nor am I insane." He stated slowly, pronounciating each word deliberately.
   "That girl, whoever she was, did something to you. Or she is doing something to you." Isaac stated.
   "She makes me wanna die." He replied softly. "That's all she does, Ike."
   "She makes me wanna die..."