[HANSON STORIES]

The Gifted Child

Chapter 2 - The Memories



Mr. Hanson sat on the edge of his son's bed where Taylor lay sound asleep. He gently stroked his son's hair and let out a sympathetic sigh. He shook his head thinking about all they had gone through. Taylor had suffered the worst. He quietly got up, walked to the door and turned around.
"Sweet dreams Tay." And he meant it too. Taylor had been having an alot of nightmares lately and it was starting to worry the family.
Mr. Hanson walked quietly down the hall and into his and his wife's room, thinking she would still be asleep. But to his surprise, she was sitting on the edge of the bed and looked up at him as he came in.
"How is he?"
"Asleep." He shut the door and sat next to his wife.
"I'm really worried about him," Mrs. Hanson said looking at her husband. "What is causing these nightmares? And why is he so uneasy lately? In the past, everytime he gets this way it means that some kind of danger is near."
They both knew very well that Taylor could sense danger. When they found out she was pregnant with him, Mr. Hanson began to slowly lose his ability to sense things like that. Well, he found out why. He had passed it to Taylor.
Mr. Hanson put a loving arm around his wife's shoulder, "Honey, it'll be alright. Nothing else bad is going to happen. We're safe out here. Nobody knows where we are."
"But what if they find out? They'll come for the two of you again!"
Mr. Hanson gave her a loving kiss on the cheek, "Believe me, we're safe. I wouldn't have moved us all out here if I didn't believe that. Please try and relax. I hate seeing you so upset."
"I can't help it! I don't want to lose the two of you again!"
He kissed her forehead and held her tight. She had suffered a lot of emotional distress over the past few years. Poor Taylor. He felt it was his fault. Mr. Hanson shook the thought away. He released his wife and looked into her tired eyes. He smiled at her with a reasurring look.
"Come on. Let's try and get some sleep."
"I can go for some of that." They both laughed a small laugh.

********************************


About two hours later, Mr. Hanson lay awake. He looked to his wife who now lay fast asleep. He smiled slightly, glad she was resting. He looked to the ceiling, a million thoughts running through his head. He thought about Taylor. Poor kid. He prayed that he would sleep the rest of the night with no nightmares interupting his sleep. He sighed. All those men. All those tests. Everything his son had been through. And for what? Simply because of what his son could do. He shut his eyes. Telekinesis. Taylor had been born with it. It wasn't his fault. You are who you are. He then thought about himself. He thought of the tests they had run on him. Why? Telepathy. He sighed again. The tests. All those horrible tests. The pain. The fear. The nightmares. Poor Taylor. The kid had so many nightmares he probably held the record. At one point he had been afraid to go to sleep. He remembered when Taylor was a little boy. He would always feel bad when he would accidentally use his power. He would feel bad if he did it wrong. Poor kid. He never really understood why or how he could do these things. He just knew that he could. Mr. Hanson smiled as a memory flashed through his mind.

"Come on Tay, concentrate." Mr. Hanson smiled. He stood next to Taylor on the front porch watching his five year old son. He decided it would be best if Taylor learned how to use his gift so that he wouldn't lose control of it. Taylor was now making a small peice of wood float.
"That's it! Good boy Tay! Now, bring it down slowly. Slowly."
Taylor tried to bring it down but lost his connection. The wood fell to the porch. Mr. Hanson sighed.
"I'm sorry Daddy." Mr. Hanson picked his son up and sat on the porch swing, placing Taylor in his lap, "That's okay kiddo. It takes a lot of practice to learn how to do stuff like that."
Taylor smiled and leaned against his daddy.
"Daddy? How come I can do these things?"
Mr. Hanson looked at his son, "Well, when you were born, God looked at you and said 'I think I'm going to make that little boy extra special. I'm going to give him a gift that someday he will use to help somebody." Taylor sat up and looked at his daddy, with a smile a mile wide, "Really!?"
"You bet!" Taylor then hugged his daddy. They sat for a few minutes, Mr. Hanson swinging gently.
"Daddy? How come Mommy and Ike and Zac can't do this stuff?"
"Well, God only picks certain people for things. I guess we're the ones he picked. Now that doesn't mean He loves them any less, it just means that we are meant to have these gifts. You see Tay, God makes sure everyone has something special. This if our something special." Taylor smiled.
"Do you understand Tay?" Taylor nodded.
"Good." Mr. Hanson then kissed his forehead and held him tight. They sat, swinging again. A few minutes later he looked down at his son and smiled. Taylor had fallen asleep.


Mr. Hanson smiled at the memory. Taylor, so innocent. Not once did he ever think of the things he would be forced to do with his gift. Poor little guy. He was forced to make his power mature faster than him. Mr. Hanson felt partially to blame. Perhaps if he hadn't started making him practice so early, he wouldn't be ashamed to face his Aunt today.

It was Christmas Eve at the Hanson house. Everyone was smiling and having a good time. All of sudden there where shouts. A seven year old Isaac and a five year old Taylor came into the room arguing. Mrs. Hanson walked over to them to find out what was going on.
"He took my car!" Taylor yelled, pointing at his brother, refering to a small matchbox toy.
"I did not!" yelled Isaac in defense.
"Boys that's enough! Isaac give me the car." Isaac handed ot to her.
"Now, neither one of you will get it until after the party."
"But Mommy," Taylor started, "it's my car! I wanna play with it!"
"I said no Taylor!"
"Yes Mommy, " he was now crying now, not understanding why his mommy wouldn't let him have it, "I want it now!"
"I said NO!" Mrs. Hanson stated firmly.
"Yes Mommy, NOW!" he said stomping his foot. The vase on the mantle burst into pieces and hitting his Aunt Janey. She screamed. Taylor's eyes widened at the blood on her arm. He didn't know how but he knew he had done it to her. Mr. Hanson ran to Taylor. Taylor began to cry harder.
"I didn't mean it Daddy!" He cried out as his daddy picked him up and quickly took him out of the room. "I'm sorry Daddy! I didn't mean it!"


Mr. Hanson sighed. It was a good thing the whole family knew about he and Taylor's abilities or it may have scared and confused them beyond belief. Poor Taylor. It took almost three hours to get him to calm down. Everyone was trying to help him. His Aunt had even tried to tell him that she wasn't mad, that she had only screamed because it had surprised her. Nothing worked. For nearly three hours Taylor cried and cried. All he seemed to understand was that his aunt got hurt and it was him that did it. For three hours Mr. Hanson sat holding Taylor trying to comfort him. Taylor wouldn't let anyone else near him. He clung to his daddy not understanding how he had done what he did. Things like that had happened before but he had never hurt anyone. He felt so bad for hurting her. And it really wasn't his fault. As they later found out, it really was Taylor's car. He, Isaac, and Zac all had matching cars. Mrs. Hanson had put their initials on the cars so they knew who's was who's. Isaac had felt bad because he had been the one that made Taylor upset. It had been a very hectic and strenous day. Eventually, Taylor had cried himself to sleep and they made Isaac understand that it was a mistake and not his fault.

The cuts his aunt recieved had been deep so they had left four small scars. They weren't very visible but they could still be seen. Everytime she would visit them, she would wear a long sleeve shirt so Taylor wouldn't have to be reminded of it. She had tried to explain to Taylor many times that she wasn't upset and didn't blame him but he didn't believe her. He would try to avoid her as much as possible because he thought that she was afraid of him. Even though she was always open to him and tried to talk to him, he still thought that. It had happened over ten years ago and Taylor still held it inside of him. Mr. Hanson took a deep breath and let it out slowly, closing his eyes. He said a silent prayer for Taylor. His son could use all the help he could get.


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