Chapter 8: Story Time Taylor's eyes fluttered open as a sea of light engulfed his vision. Directly above him stood Zac, staring down at him. He tried to read his countenance; his eyes seemed to display either frustration or annoyance, or perhaps concern.
"Sorry to disturb you, but you need to get up. You slept late again and everyone left the house. They wanted me to stay with you," Zac explained.
Almost as if the words went straight in one ear and immediately out the other, Taylor looked at him and snapped. "Who are you? I don't need you here. Get OUT of my HOUSE!!!!!!!"
Zac scratched his head full of blond hair. "Very funny. I'm your brother. We met yesterday, remember?" he joked uneasily.
Almost as quick as it had come, whatever had possessed Tay left him. He looked at Zac with a puzzled expression and said "No kidding. Obviously you're my brother. We went over this already."
Poor Zac did a double-take as he looked at his brother and his face flushed with anger. "You know Taylor, what happened to you wasn't your fault, but why don't you handle it more maturely?! Just because you don't remember things doesn't grant you permission to act like a jackass! [author's note: if they can say it in Pinnochio, so can we] Maybe you don't remember me, but you could atleast stop making this harder than it is!"
"What are you talking about? I wake up to find you telling me you're my brother when I already knew that! You were being sarcastic! Go ahead, make me feel worse!" Taylor shouted, raising his voice. He could practically see the steam leave Zac's body and fire enter his eyes.
"No you didn't!! I came in, told you to wake up, then you asked me who I was, and ordered me to get out of your house!" Tay could see he wasn't about to cool down.
Taylor stared at him blankly. "I - I don't remember saying or hearing that. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I mean I didn't even know..."
"No, it's my fault. I just kind of...miss you, you know? You probably weren't completely awake. I should have controlled my temper better." Zac said.
Taylor's mind raced. 'But I remember reading his expression. I was awake' he thought. He decided to brush it off. "So...where's Ike?"
Zac looked at him like he had six heads. "I told you before, everyone went out and left me to keep an eye on you. Oh that's right, I'm sorry. I forgot, you don't remember when I woke you up." He said sincerely.
"Hm...weird. 'Little by little you will be mine for the taking...'" Tay remembered.
"Uh...do you wanna say that again?" Asked Zac.
"Say what?"
"What you just said!"
"What did I just say?"
"That I'll be yours for the taking!"
"I said that outloud?!"
"Yes! I just want yo let you know, I'm not really into the incest thing, Tay..."
Taylor laughed at his brother's shocked expression. "No, I didn't mean to say that. It was in my dream last night."
"Yeah, well it must have been some dream because I couldn't even wake you up," Zac retorted.
"I don't know, it's really weird. I had a dream about this girl two nights ago. I can't remember much about that one, but the one I just had I remember pretty well," Taylor got up from his bed and stumbled to his dresser, stillhalf asleep. He grabbed a brush and tried with hardly any success to remove the tangles from his hair.
"Tell me what it was about!" Zac said, being a fan of stories.
Tay sat down and told his story. When we was finished, he looked at Zac only to find a confused face looking back at him.
"That was pretty weird. What did she...look like?" he asked innocently.
"Well, she wasn't very tall, but not short, and she had this beautiful long, silky black hair. She's really skinny, too. She seemed so fragile. Um...what else? Her eyes. The first time I saw them, they were a sparkly blue, but last night they were cold and icy." Tay described. He continued to add little details that would seem unimportant to anyone else.
Zac seemed very fidgety. "Did she...tell you her name?"
"Yeah, she said she was Drew, but it's only a nickname," Tay remembered.
"Oh," Zac mumbled. The color in his face completely drained from him, leaving him with a complexion that could have belonged to Snow White. Zac wondered how much Taylor actually knew.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Tay shuddered. That was ironic in itself because he knew a bit too well what the experience was like.
"Oh, um, nothing. I just remembered...I uh...forgot something!" Zac stumbled over his words.
"Urm...what?" Tay asked
"Um...yeah...I forgot...that I left the, uh, the stove on downstairs!" he finished uneasily and ran off, leaving Tay alone in a world of darkness.