Taylor
After putting the phone back and declining his father's offer for breakfast, Taylor headed down the basement. Aka, Ike's new room.
And knocked on the door.
"Ike? You in there?"
Isaac
Isaac hard Taylor's called and telekinetically opened the door from where he sat on his chair, strumming his guitar.
"Come on in," he said.
Taylor
Taylor faltered in the doorway for a moment, the worry definately showing on his face.
"Ah... Ike? Can you take me over to Zac's?" he asked hopefully.
"Like... right now?"
Isaac
Isaac blinked, then put his guitar down.
"Sure," he said, getting up. "Special occasion?"
Like maybe the end of the tension between them after the whole Mouse thing? he thought to himself as he picked up his keys.
Taylor
"Ah... yeah," Taylor scratched his head, stepping back through the door.
"I want you guys to come with me to see Tanya. Straight away."
Isaac
Isaac raised his eyebrows as he walked with Taylor out to the car.
"Tanya? What for?" He asked, hitting the central locking to open up.
Taylor
"I..." Taylor hesitated with his hand on the door handle.
"I need you guys, to see what I'm doing. Because I need you to stop me. Just... Tanya could explain it better."
He got in the car.
Isaac and Zac
"Okay, I'll take your word for it," Isaac said.
He drove off to Zac's house. At least Taylor wanted Zac around. That was something, right? He put his phone into the car kit and dialed Zac's number.
"Hello?"
"Hi Zac, it's me. Tay and I are going to pull up outside your place soon. You wanna meet us outside?"
"Umm... okay... why?"
"We're going on a trip to see Tanya."
"Riiiiight... Okay then... I'll meet you outside..."
Taylor
Taylor bit his lip looking at the car kit, then returned his gaze to out the window.
Isaac and Zac
Isaac and Zac hung up and a few minutes later, Isaac pulled up outside Zac's place.
"Hey," Zac said peeking in through the window.
"Hey," Isaac said.
Zac opened up the back door and stepped inside.
"Well," said Isaac. "I'm glad it's morning because we're going to be driving for a while."
And on that, he started driving south to Houston, Texas.
Taylor
Taylor glanced at Zac uncomfortably but looked away as he got in the car.
After a long moment of silence, he suddenly twisted himself so he could face Zac in the back.
"Before we get there, I need you to know something totally unrelated, ok?" he began softly.
Isaac and Zac
"Umm, okay," Zac replied.
"Please let this not end in a huge fight all the way to Houston" Isaac thought to himself.
Taylor
Taylor bit his lip for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts.
"Ever heard of the old saying... 'those the Gos love die young'?" he began.
Isaac and Zac
"Umm, no can't say that I have," Zac said.
"Only the good die young," Isaac sang. "Uhh, sorry..."
Taylor
"Ok then..." Taylor hesitated again, trying to think of what to say.
"Well, now you've heard of it anyway."
He looked into his brother's eyes.
"Mouse is one of those people, Zac," he began carefully, continuing before he could say anything, "I'm not saying she's going to die young. The way that Blakesley put it... he said, 'those the Gods love best they first drive mad'. Mouse isn't mad, but... to put it plainly, someone's been f**king with us."
Isaac and Zac
"That's always fun," Zac said dryly.
"Messing with you how?" Isaac asked.
Taylor
"By screwing with our heads," Taylor glanced at Ike.
"I know Mouse. And if she was in her right mind, she never would have let any of this happen. And I..."
He stopped himself. Time for the apology.
"I know, somewhere inside me, that you would never do that either," he looked up at Zac again, "and I'm sorry for doubting your reasons or whatever, but... things were just getting really crazy. I know now that you weren't yourselves, and quite frankly I'd be horrified if you were."
Isaac and Zac
Zac nodded slowly.
"I think all of us have been going through a rough time," he said. "The tour will be good. Give us some time away from home. To clear our heads."
Isaac opted not to say anything, and pulled into the car park of the teleportation station in Tulsa.
Taylor
"Well as I said, you're still my little brother," Taylor held his hand out to grab Zac's.
"But through Mouse, this God has become interested in me. And only the God itself can say why. This is part of the reason I want you guys here today."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac parked the car and opened his door.
"Here we are, all out, all change," Isaac said.
Zac put his hand on the door.
"And why do you want us here today?" He asked.
Taylor
"As I told Ike, Tanya would be able to explain it better than I would," Taylor shrugged, before getting out of the car.
He closed and locked the door.
Isaac and Zac
"Okay," Zac said.
He and Isaac exited and locked the car, then they headed inside the building.
"Good morning Taylor," said the receptionist. "Your brothers coming with you to the station this time?"
Taylor
"Yeah," Taylor shrugged with a smile, completely putting on an act.
"Bit of a... I think it's about time they see what goes on, you know?"
Isaac and Zac
"Sure," the receptionist smiled. "You can go in now."
The boys entered the teleportation room, where the met up with the resident teleporter.
Not long thereafter, they were are the Houston facility, where they were soon teleported up to the station.
Taylor
As soon as Taylor stepped foot out into the space station, he was worried.
He'd missed his last few treatments. Mainly on purpose. And now she was going to find all these... things in his head... Was it safe for a pregnant woman to view that?
"Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all..." he murmured, slowing in his tracks.
Isaac and Zac
"We can always wait outside or in the community level or something while you have your treatment," Isaac offered.
"Yeah, we don't want to intrude or anything," Zac confirmed as they stepped into the elevator.
Taylor
"I'm not here for a treatment," Taylor fretted, fiddling with his fingers.
He gulped slightly and kept his head down.
Isaac and Zac
"You're not?" Zac asked. "Why else are you here?"
"You... you have been having your treatments, haven't you Tay?" Isaac asked suddenly in suspicious concern.
Taylor
Taylor hesitated, not answering for a while, before slowly shaking his head.
Isaac and Zac
"Taylor!" Isaac exclaimed. "You can't just skip your treatments like that! How many have you missed?"
The elevator stopped at the appropriate floor and Zac stepped out, looking after his brothers to follow.
Taylor
Taylor jumped as his brother yelled.
"I... don't know! A few?" he shrugged, following Zac.
"And technically it's not up to Tanya when I get healed anyway, it's up to this God, whoever she is. She wants me mentally handicapped, I will be."
Isaac and Zac
Isaac shook his head, following his brothers to Tanya's.
"God or no god, Tay, there's no need to tempt fate, so to speak," Isaac said. "Whether or not there is a god out there who doesn't want you to be better, if you don't have your treatments, your not going to have any chance of getting better. In fact you'll probably get worse."
"Ike's right, Tay," Zac said softly.
Taylor
"Yeah well... you'll soon see why I did," Taylor murmured.
He stopped just in front of her door.
"Just promise me you won't let her put me in a mental institute or something," his voice softened.
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
"I'm sure there isn't going to be any need for that," Isaac said firmly.
Zac knocked on the door.
"Just a minute," Tanya's voice floated through.
Taylor
"I'm not so sure," Taylor's voice croaked.
They waited for the door to be opened.
Isaac, Zac and Tanya
Tanya waddled over to the door and opened it.
"Why, hello Taylor, it's been awhile," she said. "Hi Isaac, Zac."
"Hi Tanya," Isaac smiled.
"Come on in," Tanya said.
Zac and Isaac followed Tanya inside. Zac glaced back at Taylor to make sure he came in too.
Taylor
Taylor ran his fingers through his hair before stepping through and closing the door behind him.
"Yeah, it has been a while..." he breathed worriedly.
He spotted a chair and went to sit down.
Isaac, Zac and Tanya
"Make yourself at home," Tanya said.
"Thanks," Isaac said, sitting down as well.
"How's the baby?" asked Zac.
"Oh good," Tanya smiled. "Looking forward to next month like you wouldn't believe though."
"That's when you're due?"
"Uh huh," Tanya then looked at Taylor, trying not to visbly wince at the level of telepathic festering she could feel eminating from his mind. "So what can I do for you boys?"
Taylor
Taylor rubbed his lap nervously with his hands.
"Is it... safe, for you to view gore?" he asked quietly.
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
Tanya looked at him curiously, then glanced at Isaac and Zac. Isaac shrugged and Zac shook his head, indicating he didn't know.
"I've seen a lot of gore. It bothers me but I wouldn't say it's a danger to me to see it. Why?" Tanya asked.
Taylor
Taylor took a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
"Go into my head, and find the 12th of April. There's a couple of hours that I don't remember, so it's somehow blocked from me. I've been told what I did, but I... I just don't remember it exactly."
Tanya and Zac
"Okay," Tanya said argeeably.
She moved into Taylor's mind, taking advantage of the time to fix up some of the minor damage on her way. The twelfth wasn't all that long ago, so she soon found the memories. She also found the blockage. She looked around until she could find a suitable hole - big enough for her to get in and out, but not big enough for Taylor to remember anything behind it.
What she saw in there was enough to make her pull out at record speed.
"Taylor!" she gasped, staring at him.
"What is it?" asked Zac.
Taylor
Taylor jumped at her reaction, before pulling his feet up onto the chair and wrapping his arms around his legs.
"I'm sorry," his voice croaked, not brave enough to look her in the eye.
"Can you... can you send it to them?"
He barely took notice of the headache that was starting, due to her pulling out so quick.
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
Tanya took a moment to contain herself, then nodded.
"Brace yourselves," she advised Isaac and Zac.
Carefully, she put the memory of what she'd seen into their heads, making sure to block it in Zac's head as best she could so that another telepath wouldn't be able to read it. She didn't have to do that with Isaac as she was the only one who could get into his head on account of the fact that she was the one who had made his telepathic shield.
"Oh my gosh!" Zac exclaimed. "Taylor!"
Isaac just stared, dumbfounded, at his brother.
Taylor
Taylor cringed and his his face in his arms, not daring to look up again.
"I... might not remember it," he began, his voice obviously shaking, "but lots of other people know. The police didn't find anything. No evidence at all. No one knows that it was my fault."
He looked up at the floor again, eyes red from tears.
"This is worse than Ronnie. Back then I didn't know what I was doing. It was an accident."
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
"I can't believe you did that," Zac said. "After all the things Blakesley did to you... you go and hurt someone else!"
"Zac, that's not helping," Isaac said quietly.
"Helping? Helping?" Zac repeated. "What do you expect me to say? 'Oh there, there Taylor. It's okay. Let me just kiss it better and it will all go away.'? He murdered someone. Painfully. For no damn reason."
"Zac - there is a reason..." Tanya said quietly. "It's some kind of - forgive me Taylor - insanity. But whether it's been brought on by the telepathic damage in his mind, or the psychological damage brought on by Blakesley, I can't say. It could even be a mixture of both."
"So, what do we do?" asked Isaac.
Taylor
"The worst thing is that it wasn't the only time," Taylor said softly, almost whispering now.
"Blakesley called me this morning."
He turned his head away and closed his eyes.
"I don't know if you saw the news this morning or anything."
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
Isaac shook his head.
"Preoccupied with other things," he said.
"I don't watch TV - or at least not human TV any more," Tanya said.
"What did you do?" Zac demanded. "And why are you talking to Blakesley?"
Zac went on with a rather descriptive name for Blakesley that cannot be repeated in polite company.
Taylor
"I'm not talking to him voluntarily. I tried to hang up on him, but he was going to keep calling the house phone."
Taylor wiped his eyes, before returning his graze to the ground in front of him.
"Tanya? Do you mind?"
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
Tanya sighed and picked out the memory Taylor was talking about, then passed it onto Isaac and Zac. Tanya was looking a little teary-eyed as she did this.
"You killed Ewan?" Isaac asked, his voice low. "After... after everything... He was our friend... and you... you killed him?"
"Now I know why you were worried about being sent to a mental institute," Zac said. "You don't just going around killing people - killing friends - for no reason Tay. Maybe you should be locked up - tour or no tour. That's what they do to the criminally insane."
"Zac - " Isaac began.
"What?" Zac demanded. "What, Ike? Tay needs help - badly. And I don't know how to give it to him. But obviously, it isn't safe to be around him any more. He killed some random girl. He killed Ewan. What's going to stop him from killing again? Maybe even one of us."
Taylor
"Ewan was no friend of mine," Taylor shook his head, "we hated each other from the start."
He gulped when he realized his voice had croaked.
"But I know that's no excuse. Quite frankly I don't really care what you do with me now. I mean... if I keep going the way I am, I don't doubt that more people are going to get hurt. It's only... It's Ashtoreth. It's just Blakesley f**king with me. And I can't take this much longer."
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
"Fact is..." Tanya said slowly. "I don't recall us every having a case like this. The people we usually have to deal with going on a mass killing spree are alien hunters, and well, we all know how we deal with them! But... but this is different. And I couldn't say for sure that it's just psychological. If I could, I would agree with Zac. But it may be - if only in part - telepathic. And then there's your theory that there are supernatural forces involved, Taylor."
"So, what do we do?" Isaac asked.
Tanya tapped her fingers on the table.
"First and foremost - you start having your treatments again Taylor. If you miss too many, the damage will just get worse and one day no amount of treatments will be able to reverse the damage. You understand me? You keep missing them and one day it'll be permanent. Not even Avery will be able to help you then, unless I'm severely underestimating her abilities."
"Secondly, I'm still all for the locking up idea," Zac said firmly. "I love you Tay, but they say mental illness affects one in four people."
Taylor
"Then you're not totally immune, are you?" Taylor frowned, still not looking up.
He scratched the back of his neck.
"I'm... I am claustrophobic, but I guess I'd eventually get over it. I just... maybe, maybe that's a good thing. I mean Blakesley can't get me there."
His knuckles began to turn white as his grip on his legs intensified.
Isaac, Zac and Tanya
"Well, there are four people here and you're the only one who kills people for no reason," Zac replied. "I think it's you."
"Zac you're not helping," Isaac said.
"Yeah, well, excuse me if I want to be sure that Dee Dee isn't going to die at his hands while we're on tour."
"Again, not helping."
"Boys, boys," Tanya said, holding up a hand. "No petty bickering please. At this point, yes there is a problem. But there isn't a huge lot that locking Taylor up is going to accomplish. Okay, yes it will stop him from killing to a point. But what about the long term? We don't know exactly what's causing this. Perhaps the key is to keep a watch on you Taylor. Make sure there are plenty of people around to keep an eye on you with the capacity to stop you if you try anything."
Taylor
"You mean like a bodyguard?" Taylor glanced at her for a split second, completely ignoring what Zac had said.
"Ah... I guess that um, Steel could help us there."
Isaac and Tanya
"Possibly," Tanya replied. "Although, the less people who know about this, the better. And in any case, I think maybe, it might be better still for someone who knows you fairly well to be the one. Or ones. They'll be more... in tune with the intricacies of your personality."
"Like who?" Isaac asked.
Taylor
"I think it'd be easier for everyone if I found my own place or something," Taylor murmured.
"At least I wouldn't be around... you know. Mac and that."
Tanya, Zac and Isaac
"Not by yourself," Tanya said firmly.
"And he's not moving in with me for the same reason," Zac said. "No offence, Tay, I love ya and everything, but... the kids..."
Insert awkward silence here.
"Well, I can move in with you," Isaac offered.
Taylor
Taylor's gaze didn't even flinch from the floor.
"I don't want you to end up hating me or anything," he began softly, "I mean if something happens..."
Tanya, Isaac and Zac
"Something pretty bad would ahve to happen for me to hate you Tay," Isaac said.
"What? Going around killing people isn't enough?"
"Zac... can it already."
"Y'know, maybe you can readily accept that Taylor's gone psycho enough to kill people, but I haven't," Zac said. "I mean, obviously, he has had a few too many knocks over the head, and maybe that's my fault. But... and don't take this the wrong way Tay, I think that just letting him loose is just asking for trouble."
"We're not letting him loose. We're going to be keeping a close watch on Taylor," Tanya said.
"Yeah, well," Zac said, standing up. "I think I'll wait outside. I'll be somewhere on the commercial level when you're ready to go."
"Okay, see you," Isaac said quietly.
"Good bye Zac," Tanya nodded.
"Yeah, see ya," and Zac left.
Taylor
Taylor gulped at Zac's reaction and closed his eyes again.
Knowing he was going to regret it, he looked up at Tanya - his eyes filled with tears.
"Can you show me what I did?"
Tanya
Tanya nodded.
"Yes," she said. "I can go into your mind and pull down that block enough for the memories to get through. I can't pull it all the way down though, without risking damage."
She sighed to herself, wishing that the damage to Taylor's mind had never been allowed to get so bad.
Taylor
Taylor nodded, then took a deep breath.
He closed his eyes and waited.
Tanya and Isaac
Tanya delved into Taylor's mind again and opened up the blocks just enough to let the memories through.
Isaac tapped his fingers anxiously as he waited. He watched Taylor's face carefully, wondering how he'd react.
Finally Tanya pulled out took one look at the change of expression on Taylor's face and pointed, saying:
"Bathroom. Second door on the left."
Taylor
"Thankyou," Taylor choked out, before bolting.
He made it to the bathroom and slammed the door open before throwing up quite violently into the basin.
After a moment, he managed to catch his breath. He leant on the basin for a moment before turning the taps on and washing his face. Leaving them running, he collapsed beside it.
Isaac and Tanya
Isaac and Tanya looked at each other.
"Are... are you sure we're doing the right thing?" Isaac asked softly.
"No. Not sure we're doing the wrong thing either."
"That's a comfort."
"Mmm. Be glad I'm not in security any more, else your brother would be locked up. And I'm not entirely sure that would solve the problem. Least, not on Taylor's end."
Taylor
Taylor groaned and leant his head back against the cool wall of the bathroom.
Wrapping his arms around his stomach he brought his knees in to his chest and went over what was in his head.
Steel was right. He had done it. And boy had he done it.
There went any chance whatsoever of reconciling with Zac in the near future. There went whatever trust anyone had left for him. He was truly in it alone.
He covered his face with one hand as the tears started coming again.
Tanya and Isaac
"I wish there was something a bit more... tangable we can do to help him," Isaac said wistfully.
"Unfortunately, this is just one of those things where we just have to wait and see what happens," Tanya replied.
"I hate waiting."
Taylor
Taylor eventually managed to get himself together enough to actually move again.
He reached up to turn the taps off and sat for a moment again. Sending his mind blank, he managed to stand up and wash his face.
Groggily and with a headache, he made his way back down the hallway and leant against the doorframe.
Taking a deep breath, he looked up at Tanya.
"I need help," his voice croaked desperately.
Isaac and Tanya
Tanya nodded as Isaac got up to support his brother and help him back to his seat.
"And we plan to give you help," Tanya said assuredly.
Taylor
"You're not always going to be there," Taylor shook his head.
"They're cutting me off from everyone. Eventually there's only going to be me, and I just..."
He cut himself off, finally sitting down and putting his head in his hands.
Isaac and Tanya
"That's why it's important for us to help you as much as possible as we can now," Tanya replied. "So that when the day comes where you are alone you can survive."
Isaac patted Taylor's back.
"Exactly," he agreed.
Taylor
"I don't see how that can happen," Taylor managed to say, "I really, really don't. Everything's against me in this."
He bit his lip and wiped his eyes again.
Tanya and Isaac
Tanya passed him the box of tissues.
"You don't need to see," Isaac said. "That's for us to worry about. You just concentrate on... getting better."
He wasn't entirely sure that 'getting better' was the optimal choice of words, but he wasn't sure how else to put it.
Taylor
"And how am I supposed to do that?" Taylor shrugged, grabbing a couple of tissues.
"Just... lay around and not leave the house or something in case I kill someone?"
Isaac and Tanya
"No," Tanya said. "Go about your life as you normally would. Ike will keep a watch on you and make sure you don't kill anyone."
"Don't worry Tay," Isaac said assuredly. "We're going to get through this."
Taylor
"So much for a normal life," Taylor almost snorted.
"This tour will be fun, keeping Zac away from me. Um... my - our, parents should know, right?"
He gulped at the thought of his father's reaction.
Tanya and Isaac
"Zac'll deal," Isaac said. "I know things are rough between you two right now."
"As I said earlier, it's probably best the the fewer people know the better," Tanya said. "I'm going to leave it completely up to you if you want to tell your parents or not."
Taylor
"Things have been rough between us for a while," Taylor admitted, looking down again.
He reached out and took Isaac's hand.
"Thanks for being there."
Isaac and Tanya
Isaac smiled.
"You're my brother, Taylor. And my friend. If you can't count on me, who can you count on?"
"And now... if everything else has been covered..." Tanya said. "How about we get that treatment of yours done?"
She gave Taylor a look.
Taylor
Taylor took a deep breath and nodded, before closing his eyes to prepare himself.
Boy, was this going to hurt.
Tanya
Tanya got herself comfortable on the lounge and began Taylor's treatment. There was going to be a lot of cleaning up to do. Much more than originally intended.