My New Star.
My name is Macey Tayler. This is my story.
"Addison! Stop it!!" I laughed. We were out in the forest, it was after midnight, and I was playing around with my older brother Addison. He's eighteen, and so is my older sister, Caitlin, they are twins. Then there is my other older sister, Meredith, she's almost nine-teen, just eighteen months older than Caitlin and Addison. And last, but certainly not least, is my little brother, Beckett, he's just nine, and I'm fourteen. The five of us had to stick together, we didn't have it, as most people would call easy. It was hard, but we had each other, and our loving mother. But our father, he's a whole different story.
"Make me!" He laughed as he hurled another pine cone down at me. He was up in a tree, that immature fool, and was now throwing pinecones at me. I would have gone up there to get him, but sadly I am probably the least coordinated person you will ever meet.
"There you are!! We have to get home!! Dad will be home any minute!!" Caitlin said, out of breath as she ran up. Oh, no. If we weren't there when dad got back, it would be serious trouble. We all started running back towards the house, through the dark dreary forest, but oddly enough this had always seemed to provide comfort, we came out here a lot. Our father hated it when we came out here, we didn't know why, but the only time we saw him was when he stumbled in the door at night, or when he wanted more money from our mother. He hadn't always been this way, he used to be the picture perfect father, came home in a suite around seven every night to have dinner with the family, read us bedtime stories, and kiss us goodnight. But, after he lost his job, he started off as just sitting around the house, doing nothing, then he started drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and hurting us. He had just gone down hill until he had hit rock bottom, and he had to drag us all down with him. Mom wanted a divorce, we all wanted that with all our hearts, and for him to have no custody of us, but he wouldn't let her, when ever she brought it up, he would beat her, and all of us. So that leaves us where? With a drunk father who does drugs and beats his children and wife. Lovely. I had tripped again, Addison pulled me up with out missing a step, man had he gotten good at that.
We finally made it to the house, Meredith and Beckett were standing in the back yard waiting for us.
"Thank goodness! I thought he was going to get here before you did!" Meredith said with a sigh. We all ran in the house and jumped onto the couch like we had been there all night, we would usually wait for our father to get home, or else he would freak out. We switched the TV on and waited, he should be here any minute. Just as Beckett was about to doze off, leaning against my shoulder, we heard loud tire screeching and a car hit some thing. We all jumped and ran out side to see our fathers car barely miss a tree, we could see the damage he had already done, it was bad, everything from mail boxes to trashcans, to small trees, were down. Right then, he turned sharply, and the car was headed straight towards us. He was absolutely drunk, no surprise. My first instinct was to push Beckett out of the way, I pushed him all the way over to a near tree, far out of the way. Just out of the corner of my eye I saw that Meredith had pushed Caitlin and Addison that way too. She was just about to pull my that way too, I could feel her hand on my wrist, then I felt an unimaginable pain. It went black.
I woke again, to yelling and screaming, and pain so deep I didn't even know what to do. I pulled my eyes open as much as possible and looked over to find Addison unconscious in a chair next to me, I could hear Meredith screaming. No. He couldn't hurt her again, no, no, no. I wanted to get up and help her, to protect her. But I just couldn't move, my body wouldn't let me. Then my father stumbled into the room, still wasted.
"Well, look who decided to get up." He stumbled over his words. I didn't answer. "You answer when I speak to you!!" He screamed unnecessarily, and I felt his fist collide with my face. I was free falling into unconsciousness again. The last thing I saw was Caitlin storm into the room and start yelling at my father. He turned slowly towards her. Then I passed out again.
And that puts me where I am now, I lay here, coughing, with barely enough energy to lift my hand or keep my eyes open. I could hear the beeping of the heart monitor, the quiet dripping sound of my I.V., and my mother's soft breathing, she was sleeping in a chair next to my bed, she held my hand tightly. Other than that, it was eerily quiet. It was difficult to just fill my lungs with air on my own. I didn't even know what time it was, all I knew was that I had been here for much too long. A nurse came in the door, checked the monitors, and had a slight frown on her face, which worried me. She left the room with out a sound, so I laid my head back down on the pillows and closed my eyes. I heard the door opening again, so I opened my eyes as far as they could go, and saw the very pale but handsome blonde man, that had come to visit my room more than a doctor would usually visit, come in with the nurse who had just been here. He smiled at me, I tried as hard as I could to smile back, but it was hard.
"How are you, Macey?" He asked me in a sweet, almost fatherly voice.
"Will I ever get to leave this place? More importantly, when can I get out of this stupid gown, its atrocious! " I breathed, I didn't think he would hear me, but he did, he always seemed to.
"I get the feeling you would get along very well with my daughter, Alice." He said to me, and brushed the hair out of my face. He was like a father to me. I loved him like my father. Considering my biological father was never much of a father to me, he was the reason I was here. I tear escaped my eye, Dr. Cullen brushed it away.
"That's not an answer, Dr. Cullen." I said and I tried to smile, and almost succeeded.
"You are one of the only people I have ever met who can find a reason to smile when life gives you a thousand reasons to frown." He told me with a grin. A small giggle escaped my lips. "That's why so many people love to be around you."
He turned and checked the monitors, and frowned slightly, but quickly composed his face again. "You never gave me an answer, Dr. Cullen." I raised an eyebrow and gave him a joking incredulous look. He laughed.
"If I have anything to do with it, you'll be just fine, I promise." He told me with a smile and patted my arm. I nodded. He left the room with the nurse, who had watched our whole exchange. There was something different about Dr. Cullen. There was something that told me he was a danger, but it was easy to over look that. I trusted him. He made me feel safe; he made me feel like I was already his daughter. He really felt like he was my father.
My mother raised her head, wiped the sleep from her eyes, and yawned quietly.
"How are you sweetie?" She asked in a motherly, loving, tone.
"As well as some one could be in this place." I answered her. That was a lie, I just couldn't stand to see her worried, but she knew. They told me I probably only had about three days left to live. This was all my fathers fault. I wouldn't be here in this place if it weren't for him. But for some weird reason, I felt like this was some sort of turning point in my life. But, I had a feeling that I was going to survive, despite what the doctors said. I trusted what Dr. Cullen had said. My mother smiled at me, but you could see the pain in her eyes.
"Here, do you want me to turn the T.V. on?" She asked. I nodded my head. She switched the T.V. on, and started flipping through the channels, and settled on one. I started to laugh quietly.
"What is it?" She asked.
"You know, Mom, I'd rather not watch E.R. while I'm here, Thanks." I laughed.
She started laughing too. "Good point!" We laughed. Then Dr. Cullen came back into the room. He smiled at us.
"Macey, your laughter is like a virus. You seem to spread it everywhere." He smiled at me. "Ms. Tayler, they have a few questions they want to ask you at the front desk. If you would like, I'll stay here with Macey while you answer them." He was talking to my mom. She nodded and got up from her chair.
"I'll be back in a minute, Sweetie." She leaned over and kissed my forehead, then left the room.
"Macey, I have a question to ask you." He walked toward my bed, and sat in the chair my mom had been sitting in previously.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Do you trust me?" He asked carefully.
"Of course." I answered without hesitation.
"Would you trust me with your life?"
"Yes." I said, again with out hesitation.
"Ok, that's all I needed to know. Thank you, Macey." He said sounding almost sad, and almost solemn. I was very confused by his question. Then, almost if on queue, my mother came back in, with tears streaming down her face.
"What is it, Mom?" I asked quietly, then I started coughing again, with small gasps in between them. I was having a hard time breathing, despite the breathing tubes around my nose. I tried with all my energy to fill my lungs with enough oxygen, but couldn't. My mother gasped. That was the last thing I saw before everything went black.
