As We Know It
Chapter 12Zac woke up several hours later, with his head pounding as though he had been on an all night bender. It took him a minute or two to process his surroundings. Somehow, in the midst of sprawling out and passing out on Taylor's couch, he had managed to contort himself into just the right shape to guarantee he'd wake up with stiffness in every single limb. He stretched out his aching body and rolled his head around to loosen his neck. He looked up as something hit him gently against the side.
He picked it up - it was a bottle of aspirin.
"For your headache," Taylor said. "Which I'm sure you have, since you must have been drinking something last night. And whatever it was, you must have been sharing it with Isaac. I just got off the phone with him, and he sounds worse than you look."
"I didn't think that could be possible," Zac said, feeling sick to his stomach. He hadn't touched a drop of alcohol the night before, but as he wasn't too keen on telling Taylor that he had a headache from using too many of his world destroying powers the night before, he preferred he make the assumption that he had been drunk instead.
"Sorry about that," Zac said sheepishly. "Shit, what time is it?"
"Time for you to get your ass home and get ready for practice. Neither one of you gets an excuse to miss it, hangover or no hangover."
"Great," Zac said, "I'll see you in an hour."
He was out the door before Taylor could try and question him again. His head was spinning as flashes from the previous night went through his head. The Four, Lilly, it was all too much for him to take in. And then there was Taylor - of all the times he had tried to bend things in his favor and make things go his way, Taylor was the only one stubborn enough to resist it. He gathered that he had the four horsemen at his disposal, but his own brother wouldn't hear any of it. That was Taylor for you, though.
He tried to clear his head as he drove to meet Isaac and Taylor for practice, his mind racing with ideas and thoughts, each new ones causing a jolt of pain. Whatever resistance they had been putting up to this point, he was determined to break through. Once he really put his mind to it, it would break through everyone's resistance.
Zac shuddered, that thought suddenly feeling foreign and not like his own. He shook it off and continued driving.
He walked into the room, and Taylor looked, if possible, more irritated than he had that morning. It was never a good way to start the day.
"I got here as fast as I could," Zac said, hoping to fight off an attitude before it even started. "You guys ready to get started?"
"Yeah, just tell that to Isaac. He's turning everything into an argument today."
Zac glanced over towards Isaac, who was taking his guitar out of its case, handling it much more roughly than was normal for him - Zac had seen him nearly shed tears over it being dropped by airport security, he was certain that Isaac wouldn't stand for his treatment from anyone else. Not looking to start yet another conflict - by his count, it would have been the fourth within twenty four hours, he instead decided to let it go.
They went to set up for practice, and Zac couldn't help but pay more attention to his brothers than his own playing. Taylor seemed sullen and distracted and Isaac... he was a completely different story.
Isaac's theatrics were well documented in Zac's mind over the course of his life; he knew that Isaac lived for the emotional high in his performances. Also, he'd seen Hand in Hand performed about a million times. But by the end of the first verse, Isaac had already broken two guitar strings, and Zac watched him nervously, almost expecting him to combust at some point. Zac stopped playing, setting his drum sticks down, as calmly as possible.
"Chill, Isaac, come on. What's your problem today?"
"Oh God," Taylor said with realization. "I know what it is - something happened with Laura, didn't it?" "Would it be a little or a lot insensitive to say that I'm kind of hoping that it's over for good this time?"
"You're really a humanitarian, Zac."
"Well, seriously, how many times have we been through this?"
"She can't get away with doing this to me," Isaac said, his voice entirely not his own. Zac was so startled by this that he took a step back.
"Ike, it'll be ok," Zac said, but inside he could feel that something wasn't right.
"No," Isaac said, his voice becoming sharp and angrier, taking on a tone that wasn't entirely unfamiliar to Zac, but certainly wasn't his brother. "I can‘t stand the thought of them together, I'm going to take care of this now."
"Can't stand the thought of who - what are you planning on doing?" Zac asked, his mental alarm going off so strongly that he could barely hear his own thoughts.
Isaac put down his guitar and headed towards the door - Zac caught up to him, just barely, as he reached the door, Taylor at his heels.
"Just calm down, ok?" Zac put a hand out to place on Isaac's shoulder. Isaac threw him off, violently, his voice different, even his face unrecognizable.
"I'm going to kill him," Isaac said, and the other two blanched at the words.
"I'd say that's a bit of an overreaction," Zac said with a nervous laugh, but Isaac pulled away again. Taylor grabbed his arm this time, and Isaac pushed him back with such force that Taylor toppled onto the ground. Zac reached down to help him back up, but by the time he looked back, Isaac had slipped out the door. Zac stared at the empty spot, dumbfounded.
He recognized the look in Isaac's eyes now that he thought about it carefully - he had seen a similar look in the eyes of the girl that had shown up at his door the night before. He had seen that look of anger and malice in War.
Before he could think any further, Taylor shoved him, a similar, but far bitchier, look on his face.
"What the hell did you do to him?" Taylor asked, his voice accusing and nearly panicked. Zac was reminded of every time he and Taylor had placed the blame on one another when they were younger, and something in their house ultimately got broken, as it always did.
Except that this time it was their brother that was broken, and Zac hardly thought it was fair to treat that like it was the same thing.
"Hold on a minute, what did I do? I'm pretty sure I sat here and watched Isaac blow a fucking gasket, exactly the same as you did." "Sure, you did absolutely nothing to fuck with his head the way you tried to with me."
"I didn't - " Zac started to speak, but faltered. "What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying that there is something seriously wrong with you, and I can see it, even if no one else can.
"Stop!" Zac said. It was simply reactionary, but the sheer force of will caused Taylor to stop speaking right there, his eyes widened in surprise.
"No, wait, I didn't mean for you to..." Zac started, but it was too late. Taylor was backing away from him. Zac turned around and was out the door without waiting for a reaction, his face burning with shame.
He needed to get out of there and he needed to talk to Lilly. And most of all, he needed to find Isaac before he did something stupid.