Disclaimer: still don't own anything… if I did I wouldn't be here now would I? I do own the book I am working on.
A/N: here is chapter 6, hope you guys enjoy!
Summery: Will Taylor ever open up and tell her brother what happened while she was kidnapped? Will Taylor forgive Samantha? Find out in this chapter how Taylor heals from her ordeal, and the struggles she faces when she goes back to school.
It had been one week since Taylor had been in the hospital; she was relieved to be going home. Once home she went up to her room to rest for a while, she got her Ipod out and listened to her music for a while. She was listening to one of her favorite songs and decided she would try to sing along, when she did her voice was badly cracked and very ruff sounding. She knew the doctor had been right; she would never be able to sing again. Laying there she thought about all that had happened to her, about what Jeremy had done, and what Samantha had done. She had not seen Samantha since they got admitted to the hospital a week ago; she was still pretty upset at her for all that had happened. She found that she now startled easily and would often jump at the slightest sound; she jumped when Haley entered her room. He looked at her and told her "Tay sorry didn't mean to startle you, would you like some lunch?" Taylor was on a strict diet right now to regain the weight she had lost, "no, not right now." "Taylor, please don't make me go get mom, you know she will start nagging if you don't eat." Taylor rolled her eyes and got up; she followed her brother out of the room and down to the kitchen where her mom had made some soup and sandwiches. Taylor ate it all then started to go back up to her room, "Taylor? Honey why don't you stay down here with the family for a bit?"
Taylor stood at the foot of the steps and looked back at her mom "remember? I'm supposed to keep a normal routine, and this is normal for me." even though Taylor's voice was low and some times hard to hear she still sounded sad "Honey, please just stay down here for a little bit. Its not going to hurt you to be with your family." Taylor just looked at her questioningly "ok, what's going on? You would have normally let me go?" Taylor saw the look in her brother's eyes and then asked "ok you two spill it! What is going on?" none of them missed how her voice attempted to raise, Eric looked at his older sister and said softly "the police are coming by in half an hour… they want to ask us some questions…" Taylor looked furious at her mother and told her plainly "I really don't want to talk about it mom, you cant make me talk about what happened!" Kris walked up to her daughter "honey, his isn't a punishment, we aren't forcing you to do anything…" "Then let me go to my room!" Haley could see how upset his sister was getting "Taylor, they are talking with Eric too, its not just you. What you need to understand is if you don't tell your story then Jeremy walks… he wont get into trouble for what he did to you or Samantha…" he could see the defeated look in her eyes and continued "I know its hard, but we have been holding the police off for a week now. They say we cant do that now that your home, they want to talk to you and get your statement." Taylor felt tears welling up, she really didn't want to talk about it, and she didn't want her brothers to know what Jeremy had done to her, or nearly forced her to watch.
Taylor was sitting between her brothers when the police arrived, the female officer sat in front of Taylor and Eric, and she had asked that Kris and Haley step out of the room. The officer smiled kindly at them and said first "my name is Mandy, I just need to ask you both some questions ok? Eric can you recall anything that happened in the time you were in Jeremy's control?" Eric looked at his sister then to the officer "well, I hadn't been caught for very long so I wasn't too sure about what was happening. I know that in the woods when we escaped dad had me protect Taylor and Samantha, but when Jeremy arrived he hit me over the head with the gun he had. I got knocked out, after that happened I came too, but by then it was too late… Taylor had been recaptured." the officer nodded and wrote down what Eric said, she then looked to Taylor, she could see the tears already welling up in the young girls eyes, "would you feel better if Eric stepped out of the room for your turn?" Taylor looked over at her younger brother and said in a horse voice "yes, but I would rather my other brother be here with me." Eric understood, the few times that he had come to visit Taylor would be talking in her sleep; he knew most of what had happened to her. He could understand why she didn't want him there and respected that. He got up and left the room, he saw his brother and mom in the kitchen joined by their dad, and they all looked up Brett spoke first "how did it go?"
"Fine, but Taylor wants Haley in there, she is too scared to tell what happened." Haley nodded and stood up, he went to the living room and sat next to Taylor, he could see some tears falling from her eyes. Taylor took a deep breath and said to the officer "Jeremy made me get into his truck with Samantha when we were at the beach, he didn't have a gun at the time, and we drove to where my friend Scott works. He made me go in and get him some food; at first I didn't think anything was wrong. But then we started to drive, we went to this abandoned house deep in the country out by the lake; he forced me and Samantha to stay in this room. At first everything was ok; nothing bad was happening to us, I kept in contact with my parents and brother Eric by texting. But when Jeremy found out… he changed… he hit me once… then he…" she paused and looked at Haley, after taking a deep breath she continued "then he touched me, he forced me to go to his room, and he touched me all over… I kept telling him no… but he wouldn't… he never raped me if that is what your thinking… he came close though… dad stopped it… he tried to rape Sam too… he tried to force me to watch… I was frozen I was so scared of what was happening… I ran forward and head butted him… he fell off of Sam… she was ok…" the officer looked at Haley and then at Taylor "so, what else did he force you to do?" Taylor took a deep breath and looked at her brother then down at her hands in her lap, "he made me clean the entire downstairs, it wouldn't have been so bad if I wasn't cleaning with ammonia…"
The officer frowned and picked up the folder that she had set on the floor beside her, she opened it and flipped threw it, "I see here, this is your medical reports and I see that you must have been exposed to a high volume of ammonia to be put on oxygen?" "I-I opened windows every time I went into a different room… he was always leaving when I was doing a different room…" the officer's frowned deepens as she says "but even then you shouldn't have had to be on oxygen?" just then Brett entered the room "I'm sorry for interrupting, Haley take Taylor upstairs for a moment please." Taylor frowned at her father and said to him "what's going on dad?" the officer frowned as well "Mr. Hillridge I really need to get this information from your daughter." he swallowed hard "please, I need to talk to you then you can finish talking to Taylor ok?" the officer saw the confused looks on Haley and Taylor's faces but agreed to talk to him. Taylor followed her brother up the stairs, as soon as they were gone he took the seat that the two had left he said softly "there is something that is not in the reports, Taylor doesn't even know about it, her friend Samantha was also forced to clean with ammonia. But she was just trying to make Jeremy sick so they could escape, she hadn't anticipated that it would backfire." the officer brought out her note pad and wrote this down, then asked "what didn't Taylor know?" "the real reason she got so sick, you see Samantha had soaked a rag with ammonia and stuck it under Jeremy's mattress. Jeremy almost an hour later had taken Taylor and attempted to rape her, little did either of them know that the rag was under the mattress.
The room already smelled of ammonia so neither of them knew the difference, well it didn't dawn on Samantha when we had escaped that the reason Taylor was becoming so sick was because she had placed the rag under the head of the mattress, Taylor breathed in the fumes with out knowing that it was there." the officer was silent for a moment and then said softly "you do relies that if Taylor had died Samantha would be in trouble for involuntary manslaughter? She could still be in trouble for this new information." Brett was desperate to keep Samantha out of trouble "she was defending her self and Taylor; she didn't know that Taylor was going to be taken back into that room not long after. So it was defense on her part, she would never hurt Taylor to the point of killing her." the officer could tell that he didn't want Samantha to be in trouble "Mr. Hillridge, your daughter told me that Samantha pretended to be some one else online, there may not be any Cyberbully laws in this state, but, its against the law to create a fake profile on the internet." Brett knew that Samantha had done wrong by making that profile but he just was hoping she wouldn't get into trouble. "I just don't think she needs to be punished, not with everything she has been through, she is a victim here too."
Taylor had been standing at the stairs listening, she was furious with Samantha; if she had been mad before now she just down and out right hated her. She flew down the stairs and right into the living room "so its her fault! Its her fault I got so sick! She deserves to get into trouble! She did this to me!" she turned to run back up the stairs but was stopped by Kris who had come in after hearing her daughter's out burst, Kris said firmly "Taylor, look I'm not happy with her either but you were not the only one who was hurt by Jeremy, you have to understand that." Taylor was so angry she didn't try to control her temper "I don't give a flying leap mom! That bitch nearly killed me! I never want to see or talk to her again! I hope she rots because of this!" suddenly Taylor started to cough hard; she had gotten her self too worked up. Brett rushed to her side as she nearly went to her knees coughing. Eric rushed in with a glass of water; the officer came over as well and asked "is she alright? Do I need to call for an ambulance?" Kris shook her head, "this has been happening when she gets too worked up, give her a few moments and she will be ok." Kris and Brett walked Taylor to a chair near by and sat her down, she now had to take an inhaler when she couldn't catch her breath, so Kris gave her a squirt of the medicine and after a few moments she calmed down.
She never had asthma a day in her life and now because of the ammonia fumes she has asthma, the doctors were hoping it would subside over time. Taylor had tears in her eyes and said hoarsely "I'm fine now, I'm sorry, I'm just so mad at her." Brett and Kris looked at each other and then Brett said to Taylor "I know you are honey, but you cant hate her forever, you two go to the same school, you will have to face her eventually. She was hysterical when she realized what she had done to you, that was why she ran off the way she did in the forest. It had dawned on her what had happened, honey she wanted us to just leave her behind, but I refused to do that. Honey every one makes mistakes, but part of being an adult is learning to forgive and forget. Forgiving will be a lot easier then forgetting I know, but you have to try ok?" Taylor looked up at him with tear filled eyes and said softly "ok…"
The officer looked at the family and said firmly "we really need to get back to the report." Eric and Haley went back into the living room while their parents stayed with Taylor. "now Taylor, how did you hurt your arm?" Taylor looked at the white cast and then back at her "well, when Jeremy brought me back to the house he threw me into the empty room that he kept me in, but when my brothers and my dad showed up in mom's car he panicked and threw me down into the basement. I was dizzy and couldn't keep my balance; I broke my arm in the fall." "where was Samantha?" Taylor looked up at her dad then back to the officer "I found out later that she had stowed away in the truck, she was hiding in the closet, and she couldn't stop him from hurting me. She had tried before and it backfired, but she stopped it from happening when I was in the basement." the officer frowned and looked up at Brett then back to Taylor "what happened in the basement?" "nothing, I hid beside the dryer when Jeremy came looking for me, he was drunk… that's usually when he tries to rape me… he was going to try again… this time he knew I wasn't going to be able to fight him… but my brothers, my dad and Samantha along with Scott started to shout and yell to get Jeremy's attention off of finding me. After he left, I found this trap door in the basement, it didn't lead out side but it was a storm place and I hid in there, there was a latch on the door that could only be locked from the side I was on. I found a blanket and some other things in a large tote that was down in there. There was out dated cereal, some canned food, and a gallon of water. I drank the water, but I didn't really wanna attempt to eat the food, I would if I got desperate enough."
The officer looked back at the medical report and asked "how much do you weigh Taylor?" Taylor looked up at her parents then at the officer "95 pounds, before all of this I weighed 115 or so." the officer took down some more notes and sighed standing up "well I think I have enough information now, you get some rest and feel better ok?" Taylor nodded and watched the officer leave, Brett crouched down next to her "you did good, are you feeling better?" "yes, can I go lay down now?" he grinned at her "yes, go rest ok." she walked up the stairs and went to her room, instead of getting into bed she got on her laptop. After logging on to the social website she went to her profile page, she couldn't believe some of the comments that had been left for her to see. One thread which was left between Samantha and Lindsey was:
Lindsey: wonder what the skank has been up too for the past two weeks? Bet she's pregnant.
Samantha: not, she was kidnapped same as me.
Lindsey: what ever lardo, you know damn well that little slut was off doing god knows what with James.
Samantha: Lindsey why don't you just leave Taylor alone! She has been through enough, and James turned out to be some creep that kidnapped her. I went along for the ride and I helped her out a lot.
Lindsey: huh, guess you two really are freaks, bet he done both of ya… always knew you were a freak Sammie just didn't know you would broadcast it here on the site!
Samantha: that's enough Lindsey; I have had enough of your bull shit! If any one is to blame for Taylor's kidnapping its me, but don't you dare start attacking Taylor because you're a bitch that cant keep her damn mouth shut!
Lindsey: watcha gonna do if I don't Sammie, besides if Taylor wasn't such a slut then maybe she wouldn't have been in this situation? Ever think about that? Did you ever think that if she hadn't agreed to meet James that this would never have happened. Face it your friend isn't as innocent as you think she is.
Taylor had tears in her eyes, how could Lindsey say that she was to blame for all of this. She noticed the times between this post of Lindsey's and Samantha's reply it was about ten minutes apart.
Samantha: Lindsey… do you really wanna know who's at fault here? Really do you? Well it's me… its my fault Tay is sick, its my fault that she got kidnapped, its my fault for everything. If it wasn't for me and my stupidity then none of this would have happened.
Lindsey: how do you figure that? What is the truth Samantha?
Taylor noticed another pause before a reply
Samantha: I… created a fake profile… that James guy… that was me… I found some random guy online that looked like the picture and arranged a meeting… I didn't know before hand what would happen… if Taylor's reading this I hope she knows that I am so sorry… I didn't mean for any of this to happen.
This time Lindsey paused before replying
Lindsey: you're lying, I may not like Taylor but not even I would stoop that low… wow your like the worst friend ever to do something like that Sammie. If what your saying is true then you're the bitch not me, I may say stuff to and about Taylor but I wouldn't go that far with it and create a fake profile.
Taylor couldn't believe that Lindsey defended her; she noticed that Samantha didn't reply. The conversation took place just a few hours ago, she clicked reply and typed
Taylor: thanks for defending me.
Lindsey must have still been online because the reply was immediate
Lindsey: don't get too use to it, I was just in shock. I half don't believe her; I still think that part of this was your fault.
Taylor: why cant you ever be nice to some one?
Lindsey: because I can, besides if you hadn't flirted with some one online then maybe you wouldn't have even wanted to meet him and then you wouldn't be in this mess. So your kidnapping is still your fault.
Taylor slammed her laptop shut, she sat there looking into the mirror she could tell she was still very pale. She knew that what Lindsey was saying was some what true, but she didn't wanna believe that any of this was her fault. Taylor got up and went to lie down; she lay awake for some time before sleep finally came.
When she woke up it was dark out, she looked over at her clock 8:34pm she had slept most of the day away. She sat up in bed, the house was silent, getting up she walked down the stairs, the entire house was dark. She got to the first floor and noticed that no one was there. Suddenly a bright light came on from some where and standing in front of her was Jeremy he had an evil, sadistic grin on his face and said "I told you there was no escaping me Taylor!" she began to scream, she couldn't hear any sound come out of her mouth but her mouth was wide open.
Taylor bolted upright in bed, her entire body was drenched with sweat, and her face was soaked with a mixture of tears and sweat. She looked around her room, it was still daylight, looking at her clock it was only 5 in the afternoon. Getting up she went and took a shower, she had to put a bag over her arm since it was still in a cast. She put on a pair of pajamas and took the bag off of her arm. Going downstairs she could smell spaghetti cooking in the kitchen, she knew this was one of her favorites. She went into the living room and curled up on the couch and got under a blanket, she just looked out the window and watched people going about normal routines. She could see Samantha out walking, part of her wanted to confront her and another part of her didn't; she went with the part that didn't. She saw her mom's new rental car in the driveway; she wondered why her mom didn't yell at her dad for totaling the car. She saw her two brothers in the yard playing football, time was she would be out there too, but right now she couldn't.
She looked at her cast, she knew it was so plain and white but she also knew that underneath was a broken arm, she hoped it wouldn't slow her down any. She also knew she couldn't sing, she always wanted to become a writer but she also wanted to become a singer. She saw the notebook lying on the coffee table she picked it up and took a pencil in her hand, supporting the notebook with her left hand she began to write. Thirty minutes later she looked down at what she had written, she couldn't decide what this was she had written. She read it over and over, getting up she put the notebook down, and keeping the blanket around her she walked into the kitchen and saw her mom take some bread out of the oven.
Kris saw her daughter out of the corner of her eye; she smiled at her "are you feeling better? You've been asleep all afternoon practically." Taylor sat down at the table and sighed "yea, I guess I am feeling better. I just wish the nightmares would end…" "I guess you had one?" "yea that's why I woke up, why are these dreams haunting me?" Kris sat down across from her daughter "they will end in time, but everything is still so fresh in your mind. Does your arm hurt?" Taylor shook her head "no, it aches but that's about it, nothing that needs any medicine." Kris nodded and looked over at the back door, they sat in silence for a moment, "mom, what are we going to do about the car?" Kris looked at her "don't worry about it honey, I'm just so happy that every one made it out of there alive. I don't even care about the car, you can replace a car but you cant replace a person. There is no reason to be mad when it can be fixed easily."
Taylor knew her mom was right, Taylor watched her mom finish dinner then Kris turned to her "would you tell your brothers its time for dinner?" Taylor got up and walked to the front door she opened it and called outside "hey guys, its dinner time!" both boys looked up as Taylor had called out to them, Haley said back to her "ok we will be right there." when she shut the door she could hear her mom on the phone "if you want to Brett, its ok with me." Taylor walked in and asked "what's dad doing?" Kris looked at her as she put the phone down "he's coming over for dinner, its not going to bother you is it?" "no, its fine." Taylor knew dinner was going to feel really weird because the entire family hadn't been together for a meal in almost a year. After her father showed up they all sat down, everyone was silent most of the time, and Brett knew that Taylor was tired of people asking her how she felt. So he decided not to ask, if anything was wrong Kris would tell him, he cleared his throat and announced "I found an apartment, here in town. I figured I should be closer to the family, in case you wanted to visit or anything."
Taylor and Eric looked at him and then at each other, Taylor put another fork full of spaghetti in her mouth as Eric said "that's cool, when did you find it?" "a few days ago, I move in next week." "where are you staying right now?" "at a motel down town." every one was silent for a moment, Taylor finally spoke up "I wrote a little today, I'm not sure exactly what it is I wrote though?" Brett frowned and asked "what do you mean?" "well, I mean its not a poem, and its too short to be a story." Haley chipped in "maybe it's a song?" "but I'm not a song writer." "it doesn't matter; you can write anything if you put your mind to it. It can be anything from a song, to a book to a poem." Kris listened and normally didn't like for any one to get up during dinner but she said kindly to her daughter "why don't you go get your notebook and we can all have a look." Taylor looked at her unsure "its ok Taylor, go get it." Taylor scooted her chair back and left the table, her mom never usually showed this much interest in her writing. She got her notebook from where she had left it and came back and handed it to Haley. She continued to eat while he read it, he smiled at her "it's a song Taylor, its not a poem." he handed it to his dad Brett read it over then passed it to Eric who in turn handed it over to his mom. Kris read it over and smiled at her "it is honey; it's a song, where did you get the idea for this?" Taylor looked down at her plate then back up at her family "I really don't know, I just started writing and it came out of me." Eric sighed and said putting his own foot in his mouth "too bad you cant sing anymore or you could have sang it to us."
That had been a sore spot for Taylor for a week now, she pushed her chair out and stormed up the stairs, she could hear her parents and Haley get after him for saying that. She had tears in her eyes as she sat on her bed, she wanted to cry, but couldn't. Moments went by and a soft knock was on her door, when she didn't reply the door opened any way and Eric came in. She frowned at him and asked "why did you say that?" he sat on her desk chair and sighed "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I didn't mean to make you mad." they were both silent for a moment, then he said "mom said for you to come back downstairs." she rolled her eyes and got up with out saying a word and walked out of her room and back to the table. Kris knew that her daughter wanted to become a singer but chose journalism instead, but she knew her daughter could sing and did really well. But now that her vocal cords were damaged she couldn't sing at all, it would take a long time before she was able to ever sing again.
two weeks later…
Taylor walked up to the school, she knew it was time to go back, she really didn't want to but her mom said she really needed to go back so she didn't get any further behind. She went to the office and gave them her doctors' note, they were happy she was back. She went to her first class which was History; she was one of the first people there. She took her usual seat and waited for class to begin, her voice was getting better but she was still extremely hoarse. She looked up when Scott walked in, he smiled at her "welcome back, how are you feeling?" she was tired of this question but she answered anyway "better, hey I never thanked you… thanks for being there, I do appreciate it." he gave her a half smile as he took his seat "your welcome, I'm just glad your ok, I was really worried, I'm sorry I haven't been by to visit…" she shook her head "its ok, I understand…" suddenly a voice that Taylor wished she could have avoided came across her ears "well, well, well… look who's back… so have you worked on your cover story about why you have been gone for three weeks?" Taylor looked up at Lindsey and said in a hoarse voice "I don't have to explain anything." "what's the matter with your voice? Got a frog in your throat? Huh makes me wonder what really went on while you were gone." Scott spoke up "just leave her alone! She doesn't have to answer to you, besides its none of your business why she lost her voice." Lindsey gave him a knowing look then looked back at Taylor "huh… I think I have a pretty good idea of why she lost her voice…" she took her seat as the bell rang, Taylor knew that hell was going to raise now because of Lindsey's 'theories' of what had happened, she just hoped she was ready for what was about to come her way.
After school Taylor had gotten a ride from Scott, she saw a strange car in the driveway when Scott dropped her off. Scott asked her "do you want me to stick around?" Taylor shook her head "no, its fine, but thanks." he smiled at her and watched her leave.
Taylor walked inside, at first she didn't see any one, then walking into the kitchen she saw a strange woman sitting at the table talking to her parents. Taylor put her bag down on the chair near the computer desk, Kris looked up, it was apparent she had been crying. Taylor frowned and asked "what's going on?" Brett had tears in his eyes as well and said "Taylor, sit down please." Taylor sat down, the woman looked over at Taylor and said "I am Natalie, I work with the hospital, Taylor, and I understand that you have been scared of Jeremy finding you." Taylor started to fell fear creep up inside of her "what's going on?" Natalie continued "Taylor, he got out of jail last night." her eyes grew wide "what you mean he got out of jail? Like how? Escaped?" all three adults were silent for a moment then Natalie sighed "yes, he did… Taylor, because your still a minor and because we feel that you are not safe here, we have to take you into protective custody." Taylor stood up suddenly and said as best as she could "what! No! I'm not leaving! Mom! Dad! Tell her! I don't wanna leave! Install an alarm system or something but your not taking me away!" Brett stood up and said calmly "Taylor, honey, its for your own good. You wont be gone that long, just long enough for the police to catch Jeremy, and then you can return." Taylor had tears running down her face, "no! I wont go dad! I don't wanna leave! What about school? Will I have to transfer?" Natalie looked up at her "no, you will be home schooled temporarily." Taylor was blinded by her tears her life was just starting to return to normal "where will I go? Will I still get to see my brothers? What about my parents? And my friends?"
Natalie stood up and sighed "Taylor, know one can know where you are out side your family. Your brothers can come visit you as can your parents. As for where you will be, well since your over 15 you will be going to Juvenile Hall for girls. it's a safe place for young girls, don't worry you will be ok there." Taylor couldn't believe this she knew what that place was she wasn't stupid "so your putting me in jail? That's what that place is… its jail… for minors… I know more then you think I do… I wont go, how can you make me?" Natalie looked over at Taylor's parents then back to Taylor "option one, your parents can take you, option two I take you or option three and believe me you don't want this option the police can take you." Taylor was shaking she was so upset, she looked at her parents "I don't wanna go… please don't make me…" Kris couldn't hold in the tears anymore, Brett hugged her in support; Taylor looked at them and then back to Natalie. "when are you taking me?" Natalie looked at Taylor's parents then back to Taylor again "I was hoping for tonight, but in the morning works too." Natalie could see the family needed to talk about the options so she said "I will be back later to find out what you all decide."
After she left Taylor was outraged "I am not leaving! I don't want to go!" Brett walked over to his daughter "I know you don't sweet heart, its going to be ok, your mom and I decided that we would take you…" Taylor began to cry again and stormed up the stairs, she could hear her parents calling her but she didn't care at this point. She slammed her bedroom door and got her cell phone out of her pocket and called Scott a few rings and he picked up "Taylor? What happened? Why are you crying?" "they are sending me away Scott! I am not leaving!" "wait what? Why?" "because Jeremy escaped jail, so Social Services is taking me into protective custody. I don't wanna leave! I want to stay! If they make me…" Taylor dared not finish that sentence, Scott said softly "Taylor, please just calm down ok, I will talk to my parents… maybe we can work something out ok, just please hang in there. Do you know where they are taking you?" "Juvenile Hall for girls." They talked a little longer until Scott felt she had calmed down and then they got off the phone.
Later that evening Taylor was still locked in her bedroom when she could hear the door bell, she hoped it wasn't that Social worker again. After a while Kris came upstairs and knocked on Taylor's door "Taylor, come downstairs please." "not if your sending me away." Kris had cried her self out earlier but now she knew she had to be strong "Taylor, come downstairs now please." the tone in her voice told Taylor she had better listen so she came out, Kris sighed when she saw her daughter emerge from her room "honey, Scott's parents are downstairs and would like to talk to us." Taylor felt relief since it wasn't the Social Worker; she followed her mom down the stairs, once down there she saw Scott sitting in a chair off to the side of the room while her dad sat in the love seat on the far end of the coffee table and Scott's parents sat on the couch. They smiled when Taylor walked in; Mrs. Ozsik said kindly "hi Taylor, I'm so happy your doing better." Taylor smiled weakly at her and said "thanks." softly Mr. Ozsik said matter of factley "ok, Mr. and Mrs. Hillridge, Scott told us about the situation, we talked it over. Now by law Social Services have no rights to take Taylor out of the home unless for what ever reason you are unable to create a safe environment for her. Just because Jeremy is out of jail doesn't mean that he will automatically come here and try to take Taylor again. Now my wife and I discussed it and as you both know I work for a company that installs alarm systems. I am willing to pay for a system to be installed in your home, I don't have a daughter but I understand what your concerns are. I can only imagine what you must be feeling, now if Social Services is worried that Taylor cant yell for help then what we can do is create a voice for her." Taylor frowned and said hoarsely "how?"
"we can give you a bell to ring, or a safety siren, or something that makes a loud noise that would be heard threw out the entire house. We wouldn't be sitting here telling you all this if we didn't care about Taylor's well being; I know how I would feel if some one came in and tried to take my son away from me. So I am willing to help you keep your daughter, by keeping her safe until she can speak again." Taylor was glad that they cared that much for her, her parents were quiet for a moment and then Kris said "but the Social worker said that installing a system wasn't an option? That it wouldn't be enough to keep her safe." Mrs. Ozsik spoke up "she didn't have the right to tell you that, unless Jeremy makes a direct threat or direct contact to your daughter no one can take her away, besides she is over 15 but she is not disabled just because she cant talk and has a broken arm. She can think for her self and do her own cares still, that woman technically didn't have the right to come in here and tell you anything about this. The only way they can legally take Taylor is if Taylor had some sort of mental disability that would stop her from seeking help." Taylor knew that Scott's mom worked with the Department of Social Services, but she worked more with foster children then anything else and knew the law by heart. Taylor felt relief that she wouldn't be leaving after all. Brett sighed and told Mr. Ozsik "thank you but are you sure you don't want us to pay you back?" "don't even think of it, like I said if I had a daughter its what I would do, especially in your case."
They all talked a little longer, before leaving Mr. Ozsik asked "would you like us to take Taylor for a little while? Just in case that Social worker comes back?" Kris looked at Taylor then asked "Taylor do you want to?" she looked at Scott then to her parents and said softly but hoarsely "no, I want to stay here." every one understood, this was Taylor's comfort zone and no one was going to take her out of it. Around an hour or so after they left the Social worker came back, but she also brought a police officer with her, Taylor felt scared again seeing the officer. Brett answered the door, both Natalie came in and the officer, Natalie looked at Taylor and said "are you ready to go?" Taylor shook her head no, Brett spoke up "Taylor's not leaving this house; she will not be locked up because your police department couldn't handle keeping a kidnapper behind bars. We have talked to the Department of Social Services and they said you have known rights to take Taylor out of this house. We have been told that unless she has some sort of disability that enables her to not seek help in some way shape or form then you cant take her out of this house. Taylor's only disability at this moment is her speech and her arm witch she goes in to get the cast off in just a few days time." Natalie shook her head and said "no I have reasons why Taylor is to come with me." "what would be the reason?" Natalie sighed and told him "if you couldn't stop Jeremy from taking Taylor when you were in the forest then how am I supposed to believe you can protect her now?"
Brett was trying so hard to keep a cool head; he firmly stated "Miss, do you have children?" Natalie adjusted her self then said "no, I do not." "ok, well if you did have children and a man was holding your daughter at gunpoint, what would you do? I couldn't do anything, he threatened to shoot her, and I did the only thing I knew that would save her life. You better believe I was willing to die for my daughter if I had to, but damn it woman your not standing there telling me that I did nothing to protect my daughter! If I had even moved he would have freakin shot her! Dead don't you get that? Or do you even care? My daughter could have died in that field if I had taken even one step in her direction. And my son was lying unconscious at his feet from being knocked out! He could have shot both of my children if he wanted! My children's lives could have ended at 17 and 15! You can not possibly know what's best for my child, I know what's best and right now with all the hell she has been through, taking her out of a place she feels safe at and placing her some where else is suicide! If you have heard half of the horror stories that I have about those places then you would know what I am talking about! I don't see why your even here! My daughter has never been abused a day in her life by us and she never will!"
Taylor looked at her dad in shock, she had know idea where any of that came from but she was glad he stood up for her. Kris looked at her ex husband in utter shock, she knew he was angry but for him to say all of that to some one who was just moments away from taking their daughter away from them meant something. He was never like this, but try any funny business with his kids involved brought out his protective side. Natalie was outraged and said to the officer "ok this has gone on far enough, would you get the girl please, now." Taylor hid behind her mom as the officer stepped up to her, Kris stood her ground "no, you don't have any business taking my daughter, we are getting an alarm system installed tomorrow, Taylor is safe here." the officer looked back at Natalie and then back to Kris "sorry mama but we have to take her now, its for her own protection." Taylor screamed "no! I'm not going!" she bolted for the stairs, the officer raced to catch her, Brett accidentally on purpose put his foot in front of the officer causing the man to fall. This gave Taylor her opportunity to run; the officer looked up at Brett "sir, you know I can arrest you for not cooperating." "go ahead, because my daughter isn't going with you."
They could hear Taylor's bedroom door slam shut. She grabbed her phone and dialed Scott's number he picked up after two rings "hey Taylor…" "Scott you have to help me! They are trying to take me away! She brought an officer with her this time! He tried to take me but I ran, dad tripped him, please Scott help!" he could tell that Taylor was getting more and more upset by the moment he yelled behind him "mom! We need to go back to Taylor's! pronto!" Scott turned his attention back to Taylor "we will be right there, lock your door and stay put!" he hung up, Taylor waited and could hear running up the stairs. She remained silent; she knew if she was found then the officer would take her away. Suddenly the door knob jiggled as the officer tried to get in, Taylor went to the other door that would lead out to her balcony and opened it up, she hadn't been out there in a wile so she went out the door. She could see a police car pull up along with Scott's parents, and she saw Scott get out of the car, and suddenly the door came open. She could hear the officer say "Taylor, come on, if you come with me now then I wont arrest your father for assaulting me. Come on be a good girl and cooperate, just come with us it will be ok."
Taylor had her back up against the wall as the officer opened up the balcony door, he saw her standing there, he stepped out and said "ok Taylor, this is the end of the line, just come with me now." she stood there completely terrified as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back into her room pulling the door with them. She struggled but to know avail, she went wile when he pulled out his hand cuffs, since she had one hand that was not able to be restrained he handcuffed her right hand to her hip using the belt loop on her jeans. He lead her back down the stairs, when they got to the bottom the sheriff was standing there along with Scott's parents. The Sheriff looked at the officer and said "you can turn in your badge as you walk out of this house… you were given strict orders not to come here. Unhand cuff her this minute, and get your ass out of this house, and as for you Natalie, your under arrest for attempted kidnapping. And for using an officer to help you." he took the handcuffs that had been taken off of Taylor and put them on Natalie, after he put her in the patrol car along with the officer he just fired he returned to the house.
He could tell that Taylor was frazzled and said to her parents "I am so sorry about that, I knew we had a leak in the department, I just didn't know who. You see we had one other case like this a couple of months ago; a girl was kidnapped and returned safe and sound only to be kidnapped again by a social worker and a police officer who tried to force her out of the house. This was almost a repeat of what had happened." Brett looked at the Sheriff and asked "how, how did you know to come here?" Scott answered him "Taylor called me; she told me that the officer was trying to take her out of the house. So I told my parents and we came right over, see Taylor I told you I had your back." Taylor smiled at him and said softly "thanks." Mr. Ozsik said to Taylor's parents "I'm having your alarm system installed first thing in the morning; the guy should be over around eight am." Brett shook the man's had as he walked them out along with the Sheriff "thanks for everything, I really do appreciate it." "any time." Taylor was so relieved that she didn't have to leave her home, even better she didn't get kidnapped again. Kris ordered pizza and they had a family dinner together again with Brett present. Brett was choosing to stay near the family so he could help Taylor with the healing process.
Hours later after every one else went to sleep, Taylor stayed up at was chatting on the social website, everything was going fine until Lindsey came on:
Lindsey: what are you doing on here Taylor? Figured you would be out screwing Scott or something.
Taylor: why don't you just leave me alone, I didn't do anything to you?
Lindsey: you need to keep your legs together Taylor; I thought you didn't believe in sex before 18?
Taylor: Actually its best to wait until your married but then again you wouldn't know about that would you seeing as you lost it back in our Freshman year.
Taylor decided to end the conversation when she could hear some one go to the bathroom which was very close to her room. She shut the laptop and went to bed. At school the next day Lindsey continued her taunts and insults to Taylor, feeling like she didn't have a friend in the world she began to isolate her self from others. Scott noticed this and tried to get her to talk, days went by and it only seemed to get worse. About another week and a half went by, Taylor had gotten her cast taken off, but she refused to really talk to any one. Lindsey kept harassing Taylor online and at school, her buddies joined in most of the time. Scott noticed Taylor wasn't at lunch one day, he found her in the hallway sitting on the floor with her knees drawn up to her chest. He stood there and tried not to startle her as he said "Taylor? What's the matter?"
Taylor jumped and then looked up at him "nothing, I'm fine." "do you not think that I don't see what Lindsey says to you online? Taylor, you have to stop listening to her, look at you… your falling apart, this isn't the Taylor I know…" she had tears running down her face and said to him hoarsely "then why don't you go find some one else that isn't a freak then! I cant talk, I cant sing and I cant seem to do anything right." Scott got down to her level "Tay, I am not going to leave you. I know this is all hard on you but you have to keep fighting, don't give up because Lindsey and her friends are being bitches. Your stronger then this, I know you are." Taylor began to cry and said threw her tears "I have lost all of my friends… Cheyenne abandoned me… Sam hates me… no one else will talk to me or even look at me." Scott sighed "come on Taylor, I'm still your friend… I wont leave you ok? Your not alone, you may feel that way but your not. You have to keep fighting; you have survived so much in the past month." Taylor sighed in frustration and stood up "what's the point… know one cares about what really happened, all they care about is what Lindsey is saying about it… I keep trying to tell people the truth but they don't listen…"
She didn't give Scott the chance to get a word in as she walked away; he saw Samantha walk up to him "is she ok?" Scott looked at her "no, she's not… thanks to Lindsey and her stupid friends Taylor feels completely abandoned and alone. You need to make up with her so she doesn't feel like she is alone." Samantha couldn't look at him "she still hates me… she wont talk to me…" Scott gave a frustrated groan "would you two stop being so stubborn and just talk, my god the kidnapping happened a month ago." Samantha went the other direction from where Taylor went leaving Scott in the hallway alone.
Days passed and Taylor decided she didn't want to go to school one day, Kris didn't think anything of it and allowed her to miss one day. Kris didn't know how far down hill her daughter had gotten, Taylor sat alone in her room in the big empty house. She got on her computer and noticed a video had been posted, she clicked on it and Lindsey's face appeared saying:
"Taylor if your watching this then your as pathetic as I thought you were! I wish you would stop lying to every one and admit that you're a slut and you know what happened was your fault. Your in denial about it and you need to get your head together and face the facts, you were born a looser and you will die a looser."
Taylor began to cry again, this time she completely lost it, she cried harder then she had ever cried in her life. She didn't know how much time had passed but her melt down continued for some time. When she stopped crying she stood at the window and just looked out, she noticed that school must have let out early that day. She saw the bus pull up and Eric get off, she looked to make sure her door was shut she didn't want Eric to know she was up there. She looked over to the computer… a thought crossed her mind… a dangerous thought… she walked over and opened it up to the webcam and clicked record, she wiped her sweaty palms on her blue jeans and took a deep breath. In her hoarse voice she said "I'm the real Taylor Hillridge… I don't understand why every one hates me so much… but then, maybe I do… because I hate me too… now I don't even see the reason for crying… for trying… or talking… or even breathing… I'm just done… well that's it I guess… bye…" she felt tears running down her face as she shut the webcam off, after saving the file she uploaded it onto the social network.
She walked into the bathroom and looked at her self in the mirror… her face was wet with tears, her long blond hair was a mess… she didn't care at this point… she opened up the cabinet and found her pain relief bottle… sitting on the edge of the bathtub she attempted to open the bottle… she was having problems because her palms were sweaty and she had forgotten that this was the arrow type of cap…
Three blocks away Scott had just gotten home when the house phone rang picking it up he could hear Samantha on the other end "Scott! Get over to Taylor's! I called her mom! I think she is trying to kill her self!" Scott didn't have any words to say as he ran out his front door, since he was a quarter back he could run fast so instead of taking his car he ran to Taylor's. He could see Taylor's house coming into view, he made a final dash as he saw the ambulance pull up, and he also saw Samantha pull up and jump out of her jeep.
Inside the house Taylor was still fighting to get the cap off the bottle, she could hear some one calling her, she knew if she answered then who ever it was would try to stop her. Blinded by tears she kept trying, suddenly the bathroom door flew open and Samantha ran in "Taylor! No!" Taylor turned her eyes to her and said loudly "I cant get the cap off!" Samantha raced forward and attempted to get the bottle from her. The two struggled for a few moments then some how the cap flew off spilling the pills everywhere. Taylor pushed Samantha out of the way and rushed to pick up the pills. Just then they could hear some one flying up the stairs, Scott could hear the screaming and crying and raced to the bathroom. He could see Samantha was trying to pull her friend away from the pill but to no avail, Scott raced forward and grabbed Taylor and said firmly "no, Taylor don't do this!" Taylor dissolved into tears and same as laid in a fetal position in Scott's lap crying, Kris ran in with the medics and Eric along with Haley and Brett on her tail. They saw the site before them, Taylor lying in Scott's lap sobbing her eyes out, and repeating over and over "let me go! I wanna die! Let me go! Please… I just wanna die…" Kris had tears running down her face as she watched her daughter get injected with a sedative by the medics, with in moments Taylor's body went limp and she fell silent.
Brett stepped forward and told the medic, "I will carry her out down to the stretcher." the medics had left the stretcher at the bottom of the stairs, Brett gently picked his daughter up and carried her down the stairs, he laid her down on the stretcher as the two medics strapped her in. Kris was standing near the bottom of the stairs crying as Haley tried to calm her down, Scott and Samantha came down the stairs as did Eric, Brett looked at every one and took a deep breath "ok, Kris, you me and the boys will follow the ambulance, Scott you update your parents on what happened and Sam you can either follow us or wait here." Samantha knew that if it wasn't for her selfish act then non of this would have happened to Taylor, "no, I will follow you guys." Brett dropped Scott off at his house then loaded up his sons and ex-wife and drove off to the hospital following the ambulance. His car had never been recovered, so he took out a loan and bought a different car, and he replaced Kris's car.
At the hospital Brett and Kris were questioned by doctors about what had happened with their daughter, after that was over they were able to see her. Neither one could understand why Taylor did this, why she wanted to end her life at just 17. It took about an hour and Taylor moved her head from side to side moaning slightly, she slit her eyes open and looked around. She could see the worried expressions on every ones faces, she saw Samantha first, and beside her stood Scott. Behind her parents stood her two brothers, she could tell in Haley's eyes was a mixture of emotions.
Eric spoke first "Taylor, how do you feel?" she moved her head to look at him, she could hardly talk still but she said "I'm fine… I'm just real sleepy…" Kris ran a hand threw her hair and said softly "it's the sedative the medics had to give you, it must be wearing off." Taylor looked over at her friends "I'm ok guys…" her head still felt heavy as well as her eyes, she drifted off to sleep again. Haley felt tears running down his face as he asked "why did she do this?" Samantha looked over at him and said softly "its because of Lindsey Fordyce… she has been tormenting Taylor online for a few weeks now." Eric couldn't believe what he was hearing "wait, why didn't she come to us?" Samantha felt like she was under investigation "she lost her computer once because she called Lindsey a name online, she didn't want it to happen again… that and I kept trying to defend her… she wouldn't talk to me at all…" she took a deep breath and continued "I think it was a combination of things, the kidnapping, the divorce, the cyber bullying, the regular bullying, the inability to talk. It could be a number of things, but only Taylor can answer that question." Brett looked at his ex and said to her "I knew that this was going to be hard on her, we both did, and she is just too tenderhearted not to be effected by any of this." Haley sighed and said to his parents "maybe if you guys didn't fight in front of her all the time she wouldn't have been as effected." Eric chipped in "yea, I could hear her crying several times a night." Brett put his hands up and stated "ok boys, we can stand here and argue about whose fault this is but what good will it do? Taylor needs her family here for her."
Scott and Samantha had gone home hours later, while the Hillridge family stayed, a doctor came in wearing a comforting smile on his face "hello every one, I'm Dr. Rilke, how are we this evening?" Kris smiled at him weakly and said "doing bout as well as we can, when will Taylor wake up?" "well, she is exhausted from lack of sleep, so probably wont be until later. I would like to keep her over night, you can take her home tomorrow, but you will all need to keep a close eye on her." Brett asked "what can cause some one to withdraw like this?" Dr. Rilke answered "well it can be many things, judging by her medical records is a lot of things." Haley popped up with "I'm sorry but I don't think this has to do with her medical records." Dr. Rilke frowned and asked "what could it be then son?" "well she was being bullied at school and online, I went home earlier and read some of what was being said to and about her. It was pretty serious stuff." Dr. Rilke looked at the family and then back to Taylor, "like I said it can be any number of things, we will know more when she wakes up. Being bullied online, there is pretty much no escape because its always there 24/7. Cyberbullies keep going because they don't think any one will do anything about it, but its hard to stand up for your self online with out becoming a bully your self." Eric looked at the doctor guiltily and said "she was bullied long before any of this got this serious… I hacked her computer and posted something mean on her status… if it wasn't for me she wouldn't have called another person a name online and gotten in trouble for it. So in some ways its my fault this happened in the first place." Dr. Rilke smiled kindly at him "no son… don't beat your self up over this, I'm sure what ever happened she forgives you. Does she still have night terrors?" Kris answered this one "not that I am aware of, I believe those stopped some time ago, she still startles easily but not as bad as she used to." Brett expressed a concern "what I am wondering is why her voice hasn't come back? She is still hoarse, and struggles with it every day."
Dr. Rilke jotted this down and told him "I will see if we can look at that wile she is still sleeping, there has to be something wrong, because her throat should have healed a long time ago." he walked over to Taylor and lifted the head of the bed, he gently opened her mouth, using a tough depressor he looked down her throat with a small flashlight, "her tonsils are badly swollen, I would like to remove those if you don't mind." Kris frowned concerned "isn't it dangerous to remove tonsils on a 17 year old?" "no, its safe for any age between 2 and 60. She is strong enough for the surgery, I will order for the surgery to be done immediately."
Two hours later, Taylor was wheeled back into the room; Dr. Rilke smiled at the family who was waiting patently "she will be fine; I am surprised that she can still talk after how bad I found her tonsils." Brett frowned "how bad were they?" "she had tonsillitis, it was sever she is lucky she didn't spread it. Did she have any cold like symptoms?" Kris shook her head "no, she never coughed, sneezed or any thing like that. She just couldn't talk." "then she must have just gotten it before the symptoms showed up, well they are taken care of. She should rest her voice for a couple of days, in my expert opinion the best medicine is ice cream will do best on her throat. She should wake up soon; we had to give her a local anesthetic because she started to wake up. We gave her just enough to go back to sleep, she should be waking up soon."
Another hour went by and Taylor's eyes opened up, she looked around and saw her family looking at her relived. Brett quickly told her "don't try to talk, they had to take your tonsils out, at least for today any way, you should be able to start trying to talk tomorrow." Taylor stayed awake for most of the night, she thought about what had almost happened, and what she almost did. Her parents and Haley left to go out for dinner, leaving Eric with his sister, he looked at her, he couldn't believe he almost lost her "were you really gonna do it?" Taylor looked at him and nodded her head, "I would have been mad if you did." Taylor whispered "you would have loved being the only child in the house." "no I wouldn't, you're my only sister, Tay I know we fight… but I wouldn't want you gone forever… I don't want to visit you in a graveyard." Taylor had a tear running down her face, she never realized just how big of a mistake she had made. Just then Dr. Rilke walked in and smiled when he saw Taylor awake "its good to finally see the young lady that has had this hospital buzzing for the past 8 hours." she frowned "that's right, your older brother brought in your note book and showed all of us the song you wrote. I would say you have felt depressed for some time now young lady. How are you feeling? Its ok to talk now, I just didn't want you to try talking right off." to her surprise she wasn't hoarse any more "better… wait what happened to my voice?" "you had tonsillitis, so we did a tonsillectomy; you are able to talk now. You probably wouldn't have ever had to have the procedure if your tonsils weren't damaged." he handed her the notebook that he was carrying she opened it up and began to attempt to sing:
I am… Just another number… stack me up, I'll crumple and drift along…
Dr. Rilke raised his eye brows "your good kiddo, that sounds like the beginning of a great song, you've got talent." she smiled weakly "thanks, before… when I was younger I wanted to be a singer… but then when I got older I decided I wanted to go into journalism." Dr. Rilke could clearly see that Taylor was still tired and said to her "why don't you rest for now, I will call your parents and tell them that you woke up ok?" Taylor nodded and settled back down on the bed.
Brett and Kris had just gotten back from dinner when Dr. Rilke stopped them "Taylor woke up while you were out, I've asked that she stay the night for observation, she will be ready to go home in the morning but you will need to keep a sharp eye on her." Kris cleared her throat "I'm keeping her out of school for the next week, and I am taking a week off of work." "good, now I have set up another one on one session with me for next week, also I run a teen support group for teens who have been bullied among other things. I think it will do her some good, also here is a prescription for a mild tranquilizer, have her take one every 6 hours or until you feel her mood has evened out. It will make her sleep but right now that's a good thing." They talked for a few more minutes and then Dr. Rilke got paged to go some where else. Haley had gone back to the house and cleaned up the spilled pills off the floor leaving his parents to go back to the hospital.
Brett and Kris walked back into their daughter's room, they were surprised to see her sitting up in bed talking to Eric, Kris asked her "I thought Dr. Rilke asked you to rest?" now that her voice was back she said softly "I couldn't sleep." Eric stood up and said quickly "I'm going down to the cafeteria." he walked out of the room, Brett stood while his ex wife sat in the chair Eric had just been in, Brett asked "why did you do this Taylor? You've put so much into your life? Why did you want to end it?" Taylor looked out the darkened window and said softly "because… I… just got tired of the nightmares… it didn't seem like any one would listen to me… it didn't seem like any one cared…" she scooted back down in bed and closed her eyes. Brett and Kris knew that this was only the beginning; they hoped that they had the strength to deal with Taylor's demons.
A few days later…
Taylor was still taking the pills every six hours, she slept most of the time, when she was awake she wasn't really talking to any one. She was still very withdrawn and quiet, Eric and Haley watched out for their sister every moment, neither of them wanted to loose her. Taylor felt annoyed that her brother's were taking shifts watching her when she was awake. On the morning of her first support group meeting she woke up feeling like she was being watched, she opened her eyes and saw Eric staring at her. She mumbled softly "why are you staring at me? Am I really that fascinating?" Eric gave her a grin and said to her "mom said its time for you to get up." Taylor just looked up at him "I'm not awake yet, I will get up when I'm ready." Eric shrugged and walked out of the room, moments later Kris came up the stairs and said as she walked into her daughters' room "Taylor, you need to get out of bed now, your meeting is in an hour." Taylor laid there and said her voice muffled from the blanket "I told you last night that I'm not going, so there's no need for me to wake up right now." Kris sighed out of frustration "Taylor, your going, don't make me get your father over here to get you out of bed." Taylor rolled her eyes and rolled back over. Kris walked out of the room; about ten to fifteen minutes later Brett came over he asked his ex wife "is she really that bad?" "she wont get up, she has little more then half an hour before her group session."
Brett smiled at her and told her gently "you need to be patient; this was just a suggestion for her to go to the group. Its not mandatory, if she doesn't make this one then she can go to the one on Thursday." Kris frowned "you mean compromise with her? But she…" "is almost an adult, she has rights, Taylor has to know that she's not going to be bullied anymore. She is going to see you as a bully if you keep badgering her and threatening to call me every time she does something you don't like. This was part of why we divorced remember? Irreconcilable differences." Kris knew he had a point; there were times she was too hard on Taylor, and right now would not be the time for her ego to get the better of her. Taylor needed her now more then ever, she had to be not just her mother but her friend as well. She sighed and looked at the stairs leading to Taylor's room and said softly "your right, I'm sorry; I just want what's best for her." "I know you do, but with all she has been through please just give her a break."
Upstairs Taylor was standing in the bathroom doorway and could hear every word her parents said. She knew that her parents divorce wasn't her fault but she didn't like to be brought up when they were having an argument. She went into the bathroom, wile sitting on the toilet she looked around the room remembering just days ago she tried to take her own life in this room. After finishing up and washing her hands she went and got dressed, she walked downstairs to find her parents were in the kitchen. No one said a word as Taylor sat down at the table; Taylor looked down at the placemat in front of her and said softly "what time is that meeting anyway?" Kris looked at the clock "in about 10 minutes." Taylor was silent for another moment then said quietly "can I just go on Thursday?" Kris could see the hopeful look in her daughter's eyes and looked over at Brett who was giving her a 'please do the right thing' look. Taking a deep breath she said "yes, you can go on Thursday, oh Scott is coming by after school today to bring you homework." Taylor nodded and continued to just stare at the placemat.
Two days later Taylor was getting second thoughts about going to this meeting; she just sat in her mom's car and told her "I don't want to go." "Taylor, this isn't going to hurt you, just go to this group for me please." "no, besides, I thought I got choices." "you do and two days ago you said you would go, now please just go." Kris felt tears welling up in her eyes, she was fighting back the tears as her daughter was being stubborn, Taylor could hear the emotion in her mother's voice. "mom, why are you making me do this?" "this isn't a punishment. You need help, a week ago you tried to kill your self, if that doesn't scream 'I need help' then I don't know what does." Taylor looked out the window, after her mom nearly broke down in front of her she said frustrated "fine, ok, I'm going." she got out of the car, walking away she could hear her mom break down and cry. When she walked into the meeting room she could see there were a lot of other teens in there, some looked younger and some looked older. She took a seat as the meeting started; one girl noticed Taylor and asked "what's your name?" Taylor looked at her and told her "I'm Taylor Hillridge." "are you the girl who got kidnapped a couple of months ago?" Taylor nodded her head and the girl said to her "I'm sorry, I know what its like… I just recently moved back with my dad…" Taylor frowned and asked "what happened?" Dr. Rilke noticed the girls talking and didn't interrupt; this was part of the group, sharing experiences.
The girl developed tears in her eyes and fought back the tears as she told her story "when I was five my mom took me to the park, you see my parents divorced when I was 1 year old, my mom took me to the park… well mom was supposed to have me home in two hours… I'm 17... I just got home." Taylor stared in disbelief "you were kidnapped for 12 years?" the girl nodded "yea… but the entire time my mom hit me… she went out with a lot of guys… they hurt me too… we traveled all over the country… my mom was caught speeding last week… they noticed me in the back seat hiding behind the seats… they recognized me from the fliers… and they took me away." Taylor frowned deeper and said worriedly "will your mom be back?" the girl shook her head "no, she is in prison for kidnapping, child endangerment and child abuse." the girl became quiet and didn't talk any more; Dr. Rilke took this opportunity "ok guys, Sabrina thank you for sharing your story, does any one else have a story to share? About kidnapping? Or Cyberbullying?" Taylor knew he was trying to get her to talk again but she refused. A boy sitting next to Taylor spoke up, she recognized him from her history class. He noticed her and took a deep breath saying to the group "I've been bullied online; a lot of people have problems with me because I am gay. But it got real bad when… When I started to talk to this guy… I thought he liked me… but I soon found out that he really didn't… some of the athletes at school started making fun of me… the guy reposted what I told him…" he took in a shaky breath, Taylor was watching him talk, she spoke up "Caleb I'm really sorry… you told me people were picking on you and I didn't say anything…" Caleb looked at her and told her softly "its ok… the feelings mutual… I knew you were being picked on and I didn't say anything either…"
Dr. Rilke knew this was the first step to help these kids get over Cyberbullying, and over anything that made them have to come to this support group. He knew Taylor would be his toughest case, but he also knew that she was a sweet girl and that he could help her he just had to find the right thing that would put her on the right track again.
A/N: thanks for all the wonderful reviews! This story has been a rollercoaster, and its almost done… there is one more chapter… give me some feed back as to how you want the story to end… please spread the word about this category of fan there are only three people who have written stories in the Cyberbully category. I am going to write another Cyberbully story but its going to be a look into the book I am typing up. It's done as far as writing it I just have to type it up on the computer and make it look nice for the publisher. The name of this story is called Stand up. And that is going to be its title here on Cyberbully. Please Read and Review, no flames. Remember words can hurt… sorry this was so long, i just had a lot of ideas that needed to be put out there. The final chapter wont be as long i promise.