Another heart: A Look sideways.
This was her most promising project yet. The girl's sleep was restless and she would rather put her energy to a useful purpose.
Her table, which was recently clean, was now covered in tools and materials. Her usual inspirations didn't take her so strongly. Tonight was important, she could feel it. Her hands waved as she busied herself. Every cut had to be perfect, every fold just right.
It was the light of morning that broke her attention from her work. She hesitated, the last piece in her hand ready to be added.
With a careful precision she attached it to the top of the creation. A red pom-pom that almost glowed in the early light.
Chapter 5: A Fragment of Hope
Responses are great as usual! Please don't worry about diving in to heavy debate about KH lore or such, I really enjoy seeing people dig in and enjoy themselves.
"Remember. You hold the mightiest weapon of all. You are the one who will open the way."
The first thing Taylor felt was how dry her mouth was. Letting more of her body slowly come to life was a slow process and Taylor nearly fell asleep several times trying to sit up.
When Taylor felt brave enough to open her eyes she immediately regretted it. Light shone through the window near her bed.
Taylor kept her tired eyes closed for a minute and thought.
Taylor's bedroom window wasn't on that side of her bed. The bed and pillows felt cleaned to business level degree.
Risking another peak Taylor opened one eye.
Green walls, white curtains and what smelled like enough disinfectant to dye her hair, surrounded her in every direction.
Closing her eyes again as she felt them begin to ach, she began to move her heavy fingers.
Taylor clenched and unclenched her hands in slow motions. Whatever she had in her system was making moving a real obstacle but Taylor supposed if she had that much pain-killer in her it might be for the best.
Her thoughts were also being hard to get any clear understanding of what was happening. Taylor laid in the sterile sheets for a small while remembering, her hands clenched harder with each clear memory.
The shadow, Taylor had...
"Taylor?" her father's voice tentatively reached out to her.
If it were anyone else Taylor might have not have opened her eyes, despite the pain and ache, to blink slowly.
His grey complexion was startling in comparison to the heavy black bags under his eyes.
Danny Hebert look like he was having a very bad day. His clothes were at lest a day old, his hair was messed up from his hand running through the receding hair-line, not that Taylor had any idea of saying this aloud.
Her day was already starting off crap as it was already, she didn't need to add upset father to the list.
"Hey dad." Taylor said, or tried to. Her tongue felt like dried beef in her mouth. Taylor reached for the clear glass jug of water on the bed desk that hovered over her.
Her hand had lifted so far but dropped suddenly with a feeble thud.
Taylor's hand had barely touched the sheets before her dad had a fresh glass of water, plus straw, at her mouth.
He was responding to her. This let her feel a lot better as she sipped, however long she had been here hadn't been long enough to let him sink to post-mom's funeral mode. Taylor would rather he wasn't here at all that be here like that.
The state of waking up, wander around the house, pushing Taylor's pasta around then going back to bed in almost near silence was not something Taylor had enjoyed in those days. The weeks after the car crash had truly made Taylor like she had lost both parents.
Then Taylor, off hand one night, had said that she'd rather eat the dust under the couch than any_more pasta, which had made her dad blink at her and without a sound pull her close in a tight hug.
They had ordered pizza that night. From the usual place.
The cool water had returned flexibility to her tongue at last.
"Thanks dad. where are am I?" Taylor said softly. Her throat protested any sound at all,but Taylor was sure she could keep up short sentences without straining herself too badly.
"The hospital, Taylor." Danny let loose a shaky breath. Taylor thought the IV fluid drops and heart beat monitor were a give away but why think to hard right now? Taylor's mind delved a little deeper into the drug haze as she felt her mind slip backwards to... when?
"Dad, how long...?" Taylor started to say, but a coughing fit had her body shaking. Danny hovered over her in obvious helplessness.
Taylor's began to breathe easy again. Her throat has just dried up. Taylor gratefully accepted another sip from the glass.
Her father's posture relaxed as he helped her in someway.
For the first time in who knows how long, Taylor thought bleakly.
"Dad?" She asked again. Danny pulled his plastic chair closer to the bed, his hand softly holding hers.
"Just two days Taylor, you've mostly been under a lot antibiotics and painkillers. One of the nurses told me it was just enough for you to fight out any minor infections and bug bites, but you've overslept kiddo, the staff thought you would be up hours ago." Danny's lips turned up just a little.
"I don't think they've ever treated a teenager if they still have ideas about you being awake before 11 when you don't have to be." The attempt at humour made Taylor smile back at him weakly. Taylor was still trying to keep herself from drooling as the pain medication and whatever else kept trying to pull her under again.
"It's Monday? I remember the... the locker." Taylor struggled so far not to think about the locker.
Danny's hand held on tighter, his words failing where his feelings did not.
Memories of the tiny metal prison pulled at her. It was dark, she remembered staring through the three slits that decorated each locker door, the sun set just as the school finished up.
Taylor couldn't have been there for more than an hour or two before the cleaning crews found her. Something didn't really make sense to her as she played back her tentative stay.
Taylor been left in the locker, but somewhere between her getting in and her getting out, Taylor must inhaled some of the worlds most potent moon dust and went of to dream land. Taylor had so busy looking for her marbles that she failed to notice someone had helped her.
"Shh kiddo, it's okay, I came looking for you after you didn't turn up for dinner. I arrived just as they...as they carried you out on a stretcher." His remaining hand grabbed my beds rail tight enough to turn his knuckles white.
It was a remarkable feat that he kept his other hand gently as it held on to hers.
"I thought you were dead. They was a lot of police and other uniforms kicking about. I kept thinking that maybe finally the gang kids had exploded at each other and you got caught in the middle or something. But you were gone before I could even get close, I didn't know where they were taking you or if you were alive.. " Danny paused to swallow back his emotions.
Taylor almost crushed his hand in comfort.
"I am alive, dad." Taylor murmured. Her eyes grew dim as her body began to relax. Her eyes shut of their own accord.
"That's my girl."
"...and you sure about these names?" The tired tone matched the tired appearance, Taylor had decided. The man stood next to her bed, refusing a seat at every offer, with a note pad a boring unnchewed pencil.
Detective 'Wade' Marsh was a man who seen too much in his ten - twenty years of being on one force or another. Now, it seems, he just didn't look very hard anymore. When he came in and introduced himself, Taylor had the distinct impression she mattered to Detective Marsh as much as the chair he declined.
"Yes, several others helped but those three are the ring leaders, I heard their voices as the door shut on me." Taylor said calmly. Danny paced next to her bed. Taylor had almost asked him to leave.
But the idea of him leaving, after she clawed her way out of a spiritual and physical darkness to get back to him, was painful that Taylor had decided to let her father see the extent of what she had being going through.
After a morning of doctor visits and bandage replacement for her raw knuckles, Taylor was ambushed mid-breakfast with her dad by Detective Marsh, who claimed to be gathering information to get a clear picture of the incident.
Taylor want to throttle him. Clear? A girl was stuff into a locker filled with waste and left there for an unknown amount of time. What did this guy think happened? Taylor fell head in first and then shut the door behind her? Taylor really liked small cramped spaces?
The detective grunted. His note pad snapping close.
"I'll look into this, but it's a mess. Due to the end of class time, no one student was able implicate any other one student. Everyone just wanted to get home. If it comes down to your word against three others then its going to slow the investigation to a snail's pace unless you got evidence?" Detective Marsh asked, sounding already disappointed.
"Besides being locked in locker full of used...products? Which is not possible to get for DNA comparison? How about a record of the last four, going on five, months of me recording what they did to me?" Taylor said, carefully not looking at her father.
Detective Marsh let loose a sigh but flipped his note-book back open.
"DNA can't be compared or taken from anyone unless they're suspected and ruled by the law to give a sample. What kind of records? Pictures? emails? Make my job easier if you had video footage." He said sardonically. I kept my temper from flaring up as more perfectly good evidence went on its way to an incinerator , it wasn't going to help here, shame dad was worse than me.
"Is this a joke to you?" Danny stalked up to the unimpressed Detective.
"No sir, it's a serious issue that's not going to have a happy ending at this rate. I'm sorry your daughter was treated this way, and trust me, no one is as sick as me when it comes to this type of crime. " Marsh sighed as he finally took the seat that was vacant.
"This city is gone to hell and when I get out of here I've got to go pick up someone else's kid that died in the gutter last night, looking for his next high. Then I get to go tell his parents about what happened. Then I go out and i find the next one. Like I said, I'm sorry your daughter was treated this way. But you're a lucky man and should be thankful you still have her. Now I'm going to ask your daughter, Taylor, to tell me what she has and I need you to let me do my job." Marsh finished slowly.
Danny, lips thin, turned back to the window and stared straight ahead.
Turning back to Taylor, he motioned for her to continue.
"I have a few emails that were sent to me, but there's nothing really special about them despite the IP address that returns back to the school. They weren't sent from any school emails, yahoo and all that. All dead ends. I've written every single incident down the hour that they happened, minutes sometimes."
Detective Marsh frowned. His eyes went distance as he thought about something and changed his mind.
"I'm going to give it to you straight, cause I think you need to hear this and I think you can handle it." He leaned in towards Taylor. Danny had also stopped 'not' paying attention.
"In court, all this will be thrown out as claims without evidence with nothing but your word to back it up." He started and as Taylor opened her mouth to argue he raised a hand.
"But I'm not saying give up. Now, another guy from my department is doing routine questions at the school and those three girls? Will all sit up and sing each others innocence. That's all they have to do. Innocent til proved guilty prevents witch hunts but every once in a while it gets people like you put in hospital." Marsh said with a scowl. Taylor bit her lip, waiting to see where he went with this.
"Now here's what you do, and this is all off record, you wait. You wait until one of them slips and breaks. Then you wait for them all to fold. Sure as bets that one of them runs this whole smear campaign against you but a boss can't be in charge if she's by herself. The thugs? Will roast her in a minute if they think they are going to lose anything. Find what they're not willing to lose and then when all them start to fold, you push this bomb on them." He tapped her hospital bed.
Taylor's mouth had dropped mid speech. Marsh coughed as he stood, looking a little red.
"I gotta get going. Things to do and paperwork. Stay out trouble, you hear? The department will contact you with the sad news soon. Faster if one of them kids on this list is a trust fund baby." Without looking back he strode out.
Danny took the empty seat with surprise on his face.
"That was interesting." He said distantly. Taylor fidgeted, not answering. The idea of waiting... another god knows how long number months for them to slip. To make a mistake?
Taylor's stomach churned at the thought of walking back to that school, to that locker. Taylor pulled back her sheets and wobbled to the toilet. Danny rush to help her but stalled as Taylor shut the door.
"Sorry dad, upset stomach. give me a minute." She said through the thick door.
"Shout if you need me." Her father's voice called back.
Taylor turned on the taps to splash her face. She had forgot to hit the light switch on the way in. The light shining though the door frame was enough however she assured herself.
Another splash to her face.
The Detective's grim conviction eat at her. Sophia would get away with what she had done.
Splash. Emma would get away with what she had done.
Splash. Even fucking Madison would get away with what she had done. Taylor forgot the water entirely and just gritted her teeth as she fought back a sob or a scream. Her hands gripped the sink until her hands cramped. It wasn't fair, it wasn't. Taylor had been so careful collecting evidence documenting them all and for what? For those bitches to turn around and say "wasn't me."
Fuck them.
With a single tear rolling down her eyes she looked up at a keening noise and visibly coiled away from the glass.
Taylor's reflection was invisible in the poor light except for two glowing yellow orbs, with a gasp Taylor stumbled back in fright. Her reflection didn't move at all at first, it stared at her, then it pushed at the glass.
The glass stretched like it was plastic wrap instead of solid material. Her shadow never took its eyes off her. It reached for her and Taylor raised her hands in defence. In her panick mind she thought somewhere that he wished she had her wonder staff again.
"It never left you."
A light. Through her barely open eyes a light illuminated the room. The shadow writhed away from it and fled back into the mirror. In Taylor's hands the light became longer and solid.
When the light show faded, Taylor stood alone with a... something.
Keyblade... Keyblade...
Keyblade...Keyblade
Keyblade...
The voice had whispered to Taylor. In her ear. Just like before.
Taylor turned out of habit but no one was there. In her hands the "Keyblade" remained a light, warm weight.
Holding it closer to the door's light she examined it.
Her hands was wrapped around a black handle made of some leather material, it connected to a hand guard crafted to look like drooping leaf that curved over her hand for protection on one side, making the base look like an elegant letter D.
Above the guard a long circular black flute about the size of Taylor's arm extended outwards, carved with all the proper tone hole openings to allow air to enter for music. Taylor's eyes travelled upwards as she saw near the 'head', a flower of a rose, three particularly curved petals spread out from the rest, giving off the image of a saw or teeth.
Taylor had never seen such an odd, beautiful, weapon.
As she moved it slightly to the side, a metal object gently hit leg. Looking down, Taylor had spotted a chain coming from the handle. It looped down to a small charm object that looked like a butterfly or a moth. Taylor's eye sight wasn't the best at most times, today was no exception.
Since Taylor had never seen this before, this Keyblade, Taylor should not know that this was a weapon. Nor that she should know without a doubt that this weapon, this Keyblade, had a name.
Taylor Hebert definitely knew that she should not know that in her hands was the Melody of the Lost.
Taylor Hebert did, however, know without worry that she was smiling.