Chapter 14: Some Sanity in A Harsh Realm

"Zachary Walker Hanson! You are GROUNDED! You will not be able to see your friends, no video games, no TV, and no Internet. Got it?" His father growled at him. Zac nodded. He left his head down and kept looking at the ground. He only half paid attention to what they were saying. He was too busy counting how many red squares were in the carpet at his feet. When he was done with that (he counted 1,637 red squares) he moved on to the stitches in his shoes, then the dots on his mother's shoes and was interrupted as he started counting things on his father's shoes by the slamming of the bedroom door. Zac sighed at their exit. He had been "rescued from the harsh environment of the world" and strapped to his mother's wing once again, the binding wing of a mother. Zac started as the door creaked open. There was Taylor. His bright blue eyes peered around the door before stepping inside fully.

'He's lost weight' Zac thought with an open mouth. He hadn't seen his brother's figure fully as he was rushed by the slave drivers through the airport and back to home. Taylor had lost a lot of his muscle he once had some time before, when they released 'This Time Around'. He looked like he was trying out for the scarecrow in 'The Wizard of Oz' now.

"How are ya bud?" Taylor croaked out. Zac looked up from the floor with a grin and stifled a laugh. "Well, besides that I'm grounded for the rest of my life, didn't get my hands even near Alanis, lost my wallet to a heroin-to-be… if she finds Alanis, I was bitten by this creature that's really evil and I almost died…besides that, I'm great" he said with a smile. Taylor giggled, which caused Zac to laugh out loud. After they laughed a bit Zac sighed. "I really miss her. I miss them both." He said and his brown eyes fell to the floor once again. "Both of them? Zaaac? Are you playing, you… player." Taylor said with a grin that was only meant to cheer his brother up. "Divia and Alanis. You know Alanis, of course, and there's Divia. She's almost eighteen and she saved my life. She's also the heroin-to-be" Zac explained. "Ooh" Taylor said and gave a grin; "You really gave Mom and Dad a run for their money. Man, you should've seen Mom the entire trip up" he said and started to mock his mother. "She's going 'Oh my baby, my baby. I hope he's all right! Oh my baby!'" then he lowered his voice to a growl, "then she goes 'I'm going to kill him, I swear. I'm going to shoot him in the face with a bazooka! I don't care if my son's band depends on his drum-work! I'm going to shoot him! Walker, don't you DARE interrupt me when I'm talking! I'll get another bazooka and shoot you too!'" And both brothers burst into hysterics.

The opening of the door interrupted them both once again. There stood Isaac with a goofy grin on his face. "Yes, that's exactly what she did. And Taylor never explained the worse part. She threatened to take away my guitar if I didn't shut up. Man, she was irritable that night. I think all that coffee and over 6 months of worrying kinda dumped on and spilled out. Oh, man. You DIDN'T want to be in that car with her!" Isaac groaned and fell on the bed where he put his palms over his eyes. Zac smiled at how cheerful his brothers were. Taylor put his arm around Zac and hugged him tight. "At least you're still alive bud. Heard you almost died" he said and smiled. "Damnit," Isaac said, "I wanted his stereo" and he laughed at himself. Taylor grinned too. "Zac, you're gonna get Alanis back, don't worry bud. Divia will find her." Isaac said and clapped Zac on the back.

Zac laughed and stretched forward. Taylor looked at him with a gaping mouth and wide eyes. "What the FUCK happened to your arm Zac?" he nearly screamed.  Zac looked down at his arm. The scars from the bites were still there. He quickly covered it with his sleeve. "Nothing happened. Just a few scratches that didn't heal right" he said. He couldn't let out what had really happened to his arm.

Diana glanced down the hall toward the boys' bedroom. She heard laughter and stomping. She just smiled and let it go. She figured it was just a welcoming back 'party' for Zac.

Taylor threw his pillow at Isaac's head but missed and feathers flew everywhere. Zac laughed and cackled but was soon silenced by a whopping on the head by Isaac and it nearly knocked him to the floor. "HEY!" he shouted and raised his own pillow to fight back. Taylor clobbered him in the side and knocked him to the floor.

"TICKLE TIME! AHHHH!" Taylor screamed and jumped on Zac. Zac squealed and tried to roll away but was still caught by Taylor and was tickled.

"UNCLE! Uncle! Tay! I can't breathe!!!" Zac cried through laughter. Taylor stopped and lay down on the bed. Zac laughed and stayed on the floor. Zac yawned and listened to Taylor drone on about nothing until he dozed off on the floor.