#2 : 2/2~ Fly By The Wayside
"So cool and crazy and wild and upside down.
I'm bored, and that's not fun.
I wanna get away,
But I'm too tired to run.
I'm gonna find a place where there are no rules,
and the world is wild.
I have the tools to make things happen.
And the reaction will explode.
The lights go off, the world flips upside down,
I brought the party to town.
My deal to make, my chance to take.
So take a ride, fly by the wayside.
Fly by the wayside!"
"Are you okay?"
Tayoncé lied flat on her back and when she looked up, she looked up to metallic blue orbs.
Her heart stuttered again, in fear. Her mouth moved in attempts of making words but all that came out was hot air. The piece of metal above one of the orbs rose, as if giving the robot eyebrows. Tayoncé scurried backwards until hitting a cabinet.
The robot shrugged her attitude aside and paid the hospitality obligated to do. "Carl," he introduced, noting her difficulty in speech at the moment. "Now if you've calmed down from your little show—-and you look like you're new here. Have you seen a guy with black hair—"
Tayoncé sat up, rubbed her eyes. "There's Gaston; I think he's still racing Billie—-"
"—About ye tall," the robot held out a metal arm to his side, shorter than his height and indicating Billie's stature. So, it was definitely not Gaston.
Tayoncé turned quiet again. Carl seemed to be using one of his gadgets, then he suddenly took off, and quite fast for a robot. He disappeared around a corner and Tayoncé turned around just in time to see the boy Carl was supposedly talking about skid from the opposite way. He was much younger than the others she's seen and wore black skinny jeans. It took him a moment to register as he ran past, and skidded to a halt to double-back upon realizing he had pasted a new person.
The boy walked back slowly, his gaze not so friendly, roaming up and down her stature. "Hey, new person, you seen Carl? Tall golden robot about ye tall," he added when Tayonceé only stared, raising his hand to indicate the robot's height.
Tayoncé pointed in the direction she saw the walking golden metal go moments ago.
The boy thanked her, just in reflex, and too was gone. Tayoncé shrugged her shoulders in answer but he was already gone. She shuffled back into the kitchen in search for a sponge to clean the spill when she heard a voice.
"How did you get here?"
It was the boy again. He had retraced his steps, his curiosity getting the best of him. He was currently looking at her, eyes squinting and brows narrowed as he stared down at her, leaned against the kitchen door frame. Tayoncé wondered where Lucille was and what was taking her so long.
Tayoncé thought about her answer before speaking. "I'm a friend of Tallulah's," is all she answered.
"This your first time here?"
"...Yeah."
His eyes widened and a look of regret spread over his face. "Oh boy…."
Why was everyone saying that, Tayoncé wondered. Was there something here that she don't know about? Have they kidnapped before? She was running into too many people.
Her slanted eyes narrowed. "What?"
"Nothing. Just…have you already met an old lady with pink hair and another lady who might be wearing a red ribbon in her hair?"
This only confirmed Tayoncé's suspensions. She raised an eyebrow and taking a step back.
"'Nothing," the boy waved it off instead. Then his eyes darted to the floor, Tayoncé knew he saw the spilt milk. "...You don't know where stuff is do you?"
"No... Why..?"
"Well of one: you're using a bowl instead of a cup," he answered, grabbing the bowl from the floor and carrying it to the sink, "when the glasses are in the next cabinet."
Tayoncé looked dumbly inside to check, then back at the guy questionably. He chuckled, told her to leave it in the sink then grabbed her wrist without any further objection.
*~o~0~o~*
"Gaston! Uncle Gaston!" Tallulah walked in, screaming. "Where is she?"
Gaston turned from the giant cannon and towards his niece standing in the doorway.
"Where is who?"
Tallulah glared up at Gaston and a mental-lightbulb went off in his head.
"Uh, I thought she was with you." he questioned, getting worried.
Tallulah's face instantly switched from angry to stunned and then to confused anger. "No! ….Oh god, you lost her—-!?"
"-—Me?"
"-—We lost her? How can you lose a girl!"
"Me?—When I left she was with you!"
"DINNER WILL BE READY IN 15 MINUTES!" Franny voice called from small megaphones installed in the walls.
Tallulah and Gaston turned to each other. "Oh, no."
*~o~0~o~*
With this guy—who said his name was Wilbur—practically dragging her around, it was a while until Tayoncé saw anything she as used to, which was the house's front door. Tayoncé had told him that she had came here with a friend but had lost them somehow. She didn't know where he had been intent on taking her at first, so when she blurted that lie, she was relieved that he believed it. She also took this small walk around the place as a way to map out this large house, and possible means of escape.
They ended up not finding her "friend," and decided to look outside. Unfortunately, the yard was much too wide to run, and at the far edge, a tall fence caged in the premises.
Tayoncé stomach sank.
Night was approaching and the city ahead starting light up to counter the approaching darkness.
Tayoncé slowed down her pace, falling behind Wilbur who seemed more irritated and had decided to head inside. She could feel a headache coming on—it was probably from fatigue.
Wilbur stopped and turned, notching her lagging behind. He asked her if she was alright.
Tayoncé nodded. She was leaning against the leg of a giant dinosaur-shaped bush. "G-go on without me; I'll be fine," she waved her arm lazily. She hoped he listened to her.
Wilbur opened his mouth and began to say something else but was cut off by the an echoing voice that sounded over some intercom: "EVERYONE COME FOR DINNER!"
Wilbur's mouth snapped shut as Tayoncé's head shot up.
"Oh no," she whispered, looking up to the darkening sky. "I-I gotta—-Where's...Tallulah and Gaston?"
"Probably in the dining room. And probably with Aunt Billie, if she's not there also." He looked at her shocked face toward the sky. "Why do you—-"
"—-How do you get inside?"
A brow raised as he watching her leaned over her knees, breathing heavily.
Tayoncé snapped her head upward and stood up. "Y-yeah. I'm all good," she lied, covering it up with a forced smile.
Wilbur looked at her for a few seconds before answering. He motioned for her to follow.
"You're not from around here are you?" he asked as he raised his hand.
Their steps sounded in sync on the porch steps. Tayoncé's hesitation to shake her head was interrupted by a shout of someone insisting her to ring a doorbell. A yelp escaped the girl's throat as she jumped about 3 feet in the air in shock from the head popping out of the potted plant by the door, similar—if not exactly like—a jack-in-the-box.
"No! Ring mine!" An identical head exclaimed, making the girl shriek and jump again.
Wilbur chuckled. "That's—-"
He stopped as a large, purple creature swung the giant door open. Its one eye landed directly on the girl and the color drained from her face. She was running down the lawn a second later.
"Woah! Where're you—-" Wilbur reached for her hand, but failed as his reflexes weren't as quick.
Tayoncé made it halfway down the long driveway before he caught up with her. Grabbing her shoulders, he clumsily attempted to turning her around, only to get smacked in the face by flailing, fearful arms. She only paused hearing a cry of pain.
"What are you doing?!" Wilbur cried, grabbing her wrists.
Tayoncé's eyes flew open and she stared at him with brown saucers, her mouth dropping open.
"What are you so scared of?!"
She dropped her head. How could she tell him that she shouldn't be in this time? How can she even begin to even try to describe what she's dealt with all her life, and why she's in such a rush it be to her new home? How could she begin to tell him that she shouldn't be here?
Why not tell him?
Her mouth open and closed like a fish, looking for the words to say. Wilbur raised a brow in suspicion. He was on the verge of burdening her with yet another complicated question when Franny opened the front door.
"Kids. Inside—now!" She stood in the doorway, hands folded across her chest
Wilbur gave one last, worried look at the new girl way. Tayoncé ignored it, pushing her way past him and towards the house.
*~o~0~o~*
Huge wouldn't even describe the dinning room to her. The table alone would've taken about two whole rooms to fill, but the room itself… It was gigantic in comparison to what she was used to. Tayoncé concluded that this must be a mansion. That was the only explanation.
But even in the room full of strangers and strange people, the fact that she was so close to her kidnappers didn't escape her thoughts—not by a long shot. Many times already, Tayoncé found herself on the verge of tears—when she ran into the man with the gun, when she was insisted to stay and watch the frogs, when she saw the large fence surrounding the house—but she couldn't show weakness. She refused to. She just needed to find the right time, the right plan to escape when not a lot were watching.
Franny smiled when the young girl eered the room, and then offered the seat between her and Tallulah. Tayoncé swallowed the lump rising in her throat and put on a smile and sat. And as if on cue, the redhead walked in, immediately giving Tayoncé an aggravated stare.
"Here, take the seat next to your friend," Franny offered.
Forcing a smile, Tallulah obeyed, more than happy to take the girl off her hands.
Steering the girl away, Tallulah hissed, "where have you been?"
Tayoncé whispered in defense that she hadn't even known, probably all over the house. Tallulah had glared at the girl and sat back, shifting in her seat.
The room was filled with chatter and the Robinsons barely seemed to notice their guest at the table. Mainly Gaston, Tallulah and Wilbur were the ones that did—and kept eyeing Tayoncé as if expecting her to perform a crime.
The young guest looked down at the plate of salad she guested was the appetizer or sort. She wasn't going to eat anything else from here—if something as simple as milk lost its taste, then the salad probably wouldn't be any better.
"Sorry I'm late."
Tayoncé looked up from her plate at the man that came rushing in. His clothes were covered in soot and dirt; he fixed his obscured glasses, leaving his hair to stand on end at an odd angle and Tayoncé's head tilted in confusion. He gave Franny a quick kiss before taking his own seat next to her, only to spring back up and rush into another room. When he came back a few seconds later, he appeared to have cleaned himself up a bit. He as well as the others began eating and chatting, totally ignoring the quiet one slumped in her seat.
It felt like minutes until Franny saw her out the corner of her eye trying to sink down under her seat and under the table to escape.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" Franny eyed the girl, almost suspiciously.
All the plates were at least half empty by now and were being taken up by that robot, Carl, and all Tayoncé had been doing was stare at hers—it must have drawn attention.
Tayoncé remained silent, not knowing how to respond and Franny cleared her throat. Tayoncé had spaced out. Then, remembering the question, Tayoncé swallowed and then opened her mouth to speak. No words came out.
"She's not a big salad-eater," Tallulah answered as if it was no big deal.
She took a mouthful of lasagna to keep from further questions. That must be the main course tonight.
Tayoncé snuck a glance at Franny.
The brunette turned her suspicious eye and began chatting with the blonde man beside her as a bowl of lasagna clattered in front of Tayoncé. She merely stared at it, her stomach doing unfamiliar twists.
"No more than today," she overheard Gaston hiss at his younger cousin. "We have to leave. A.s.a.p."
"You don't think I know that?" Tallulah hissed back, harshly. "And I know what asap means. You don't have to spell it out."
Down the table, Art noticed his nephew's staring.
"So...how long you've known...this girl," Art asked Wilbur, distracting him from eavesdropping on Gaston and Tallulah. "...What's her name, she looks nice?"
"Tayoncé," Wilbur answered curtly. He strained his ears to find out why his cousins wanted the girl away so badly. As far as he knew, she hadn't done any wrong, just awkward.
Art watched his nephew The food was going down his mouth by the forklift at any obvious too-fast of a speed. Wilbur focused intensely at his cousins.
"She's pretty, huh?"
Wilbur choked, fork clattering to his plate. He just met the girl—barly even. That wasn't even on his mind.
She was decent looking, at the most in his eyes, just average. Despite the few healing bruises she had and the small bit of acne across her nose and cheeks, there wasn't anything particularly catching about her—but the thought never crossed his mind on that she was pretty.
Art hit his back in an effort to stop Wilbur's choking.
Tayoncé jumped the an unfamiliar voice that belonged to the blonde man. He had his hand outstretched behind his wife for his guest to shake. Tayoncé hesitated; the man introduced himself as Mr. Robinson.
"You should try some of this," Bud blurted to the guest, pointing to the dinner in front of him.
Almost every eye turned to the girl, noticing she hadn't touched her food. Tallulah ganged from her to Gaston, to sure on what to do.
Bud just smiled.
All were looks of anticipation despite three: Gaston's mouth was open, Wilbur glanced at his relatives, and Tayoncé's eyes wide like they were caught in headlights. She wanted to run but knew now was one of the worst times.
Tallulah had a look of, "go on. You got yourself into it."
Hesitant as ever but mostly due to fear and anxiety, Tayoncé took a bite. She put on a smile for good measure and to her luck, the family resumed dinner.
The bowl of food was indeed pleasing and the smell reeled her in. Back with Darla, a dish this extravagant would have been a rare treat. And now that she thought about it, Tayoncé hadn't had it at Mayonna's house yet. They were planning to have it the coming Wednesday and tacos would have been the dinner for tonight.
The pressure was still bothering her. It had been too much—all eyes on her. When had eating food been so complicated?
Tayoncé lifted the fork to her mouth when she noticed Lucille looking to her. She smiled assuringly once more and then began lifting fork-full after fork-full of lasagna into her mouth. But it tasted so good and she quickly for got to act.
Tallulah kept eyeballing the young girl out the corner of her mascara-lined eye.
At the speed she was eating, Tayoncé began looking as if she'd hadn't eaten a meal in months—which she wasn't, not a good one like this. She began filling her cheeks full, practically inhaling the plate.
Everyone had returned to eat and their normal conversation, content about their guest.
She quickly became full but there was still food in the bowl and contemplated whether it is worth it to eat the last few bites or call it quits. And like a child when their eyes are bigger than their stomach, she forked yet another piece.
She had just brought the food to her mouth when it started. And Tayoncé was up and sprintung from the table, knocking over her chair in the process and headed to where she remembered a bathroom was.
The whole room went quiet and then a muffled sound made its way into their hearing range from the bathroom and everyone cringed.
Petunia was the only one to comment, and quite rudely.
*~o~0~o~*
Tayoncé erupted violently into the toilet. The taste of dinner now bitter on in her mouth and she cringed.
"Damn." She gulped down a few breaths before sticking her head back down the bowl once again and empied more of her stomach.
She heard the door open and did the best she could to stifle the sound as it happened again, but it still came out horrid.
"Are you alright?" Franny's face wrinkled as the girl threw more of her dinner up in the toilet.
She could barely get any answers out of the girl but after experiencing this herself, she knew what had happened. Her child had gone threw the same thing once. Franny's memories of her own child's eyes getting big on several occasions shriveled as Tayoncé threw up more of her dinner.
She was reduced to rubbing the girl's back as the only way of comfort.
*~o~0~o~*
Tayoncé looked exhausted and disgusted when she returned to the dining room. She was groaning in pain at her once again empty belly and Franny refused to let her hand from the girl's shoulder in caution.
By now, the family had all left the dinner table and resumed whatever they had left off at before dinner.
Franny asked if Tayoncé wanted to lay down, have saltine crackers, call home—so many questions! All Tayoncé wanted to do was go home but Franny didn't like the idea of leaving her alone with an upturned stomach. But the girl just waved her off and requested to see Tallulah instead.
She thought, if she could act tired here on the sofa, when Franny left to go find Tallulah, she could make a run for the door.
But toTayoncé's dismay, Franny hooked her arm under shoulder and brought the girl along with the search. Tayoncé couldn't believe her bad luck.
After searching about the humongous house, including some pointers from others on Tallulah's whereabouts, they finally came a room dubbed The Racing Room where Gaston and Tallulah were arguing in front of a cannon. A woman wearing a dress with boots and a train conductor's hat was inspecting what looked like a locomotive train.
Franny alerted her two family members, breakimg them from their argument and dropping the girl off, her mission accomplished. Tayoncé waited until the large doors closed and stalked up to the two. She wasn't afraid anymore. That was a lie; she convinced herself she wasn't afraid of the two who kidnapped her but she was going to try to fool them otherwise.
"I need to go home. Now," Tayoncé told they for the umpteenth time that day. Her eyebrows slanted dangerously and her glare could have set them on fire. Inside, she trembled. She clenched her fists so they couldn't tell.
Gaston and Tallulah exchanged worried glances.
"Home...—-?"
"Yes, home," Tayoncé spoke sternly, surprising both Robinsons as well as herself. "Drive me back there—back in time—'nd take me home."
Tallulah twindled her fingers nervously, like a child caught in the act of lying. "Um, Tayoncé... ...There's...you see... You... ...You don't really have a home..."
Tayoncé's face instantly changed, she looked at her as if Tallulah had gone crazy.
"You're an orphan."
"What—-?"
"Look," Gaston butted in, making the scared girl jump. "We had saved your life. But now we have to take you to an orphanage like Tallulah said, because you're an orphan now." He surprised both of them by how stern he became.
Tayoncé's look didn't change as she turned it to Gaston. Her mouth was hung open a bit and dark brown eyes wide in disbelief. She had tried and wanted to appear big and an capable like an adult but now she looked like te scared child she was.
Outside the room, Wilbur pressed against the door, eavesdropping. His jaw clenched as he heard his cousins confess. All this seemed sketchy. Since meeting her and her odd reactions as of she's never seen a kitchen before raised questions and suspicions in his head. And Tallulah and Gaston were the two he would have least suspected to be involved with something as this. And what was this? A smuggling? A kidnapping? This girl didn't sound like she was going to comply, and honestly, listening to this was making him feel uneasy.
Pushing the door open as quietly as he could, Wilbur slinked inside. He kept the the wall and luckily his cousins had their backs to him. But judging by their tones, they were startimg to sound nervous and a bit scared, Gaston sounding more stern than Wilbur ever remembered him being. Wilbur ducked behind a pillar as Billy left the room. The new girl, Tallulah's supposed friend, look devastated.
Tayoncé shot them another completely confused question.
Then Tallulah turned sad eyes to her and said something that contorted her face into a mix of sadness and distress.
"Mayonna, her mother, everyone who was living there..." Tallulah took in a deep breath. "Tayoncé... they're dead."