[HANSON STORIES]

The Gifted Child

Chapter 12 - What Kind of Power is This?



It had been about fifteen minutes since Sheila had given Taylor the counter drug and Jacob was getting antsy. He glared at the boy.
"Geez even in his sleep he is stubborn!" he said in a harsh whisper. He turned around and walked to the machine where Sheila now was sitting again.
"Why is this taking so long? I thought you said you gave him a fast acting drug!"
"I did sir," Sheila said in her defense, "It should start taking effect very shortly. It needs time to run thoughout his system. It won't be much longer sir."
"It better not be because I'm sick of all this waiting!"
Just then they heard a moan coming from Taylor's direction. Jacob looked to Taylor and then the machine. Sure enough, it was showing much more mind activity. Jacob smiled.
"Excellent." He said and looked to Sheila.
"You advise me of any sudden changes. I'm going to go keep an eye on him."
Sheila nodded as Jacob walked towards Taylor. He looked down at the boy and saw sweat forming on his forehead.
"That's it my boy, dream a little dream." he said, laughing at what he thought was a nice little joke. He looked up at yet another machine that was monitoring Taylor's heartbeat. He noticed his heart rate had increased. Taylor started to moan more and his breathing quickened. Jacob looked at Taylor, who now had sweat running down his face and was breathing rather quickly. Taylor started to moved his head back and forth as his face twisted up in fear.
"Sheila! What are those readings?"
"Sir I think you should come and take a look at this." Jacob came up beside her and gasped.
"My gosh." he said breathlessly. Taylor's readings were off the charts.
"This is incredible! His readings have never been this high. Not even when he was purposely using his power! This is unbelievable! Do you know what this means? It means his power to has grown. This is great!"
"Noooo!! Please no!"
They looked up when Taylor started yelling. He was now thrashing and fighting the straps that held him down. Suddenly his head shot up and his eyes opened wide.
Jacob turned back to Sheila, "Get some more sedative now!"
He then began to walk towards Taylor who had his head back on the table looking around wildly. Jacob stopped in his tracks when he noticed the straps were all simultaneouly coming undone, without Taylor looking at them.
"No way." He said just above a whisper.

Daniel, who had been keeping his distance from the boy, now took an interest. He got up and walked over next to Jacob. The staff and Sheila all looked on in amazment as well. Suddenly all the straps came undone and Taylor began to yell again,
"Let me go! You can't keep me here! I won't let you!"
With that the machine monitoring his mind activity completely malfunctioned sending sparks into the air and causing the entire room to jump nearly out of their skin.
They all looked back to the boy who was still looking around blindly. The drug had not worn completely off so he was still very disoriented. He sat up quickly.
"Dad! Help me!"
Almost as soon as he was sitting three huge men ran up to him and grabbed him trying to hold him down. Taylor bagan to thrash and kick wildly, all the while screaming his head off.
Jacob turned to Sheila, "Get the sedative! Hurry!"
He then ran over to where the men where holding Taylor and grabbed Taylor's face.
"Stop it! Stop it right now! Do you hear me?"
Taylor just looked at him fearfully and screamed even louder. Jacob looked up and saw Sheila standing there with the syringe.
"Sedate him now!"
One of the men held out Taylor's arm as Sheila approached it. Her heart broke in two when he looked at her with fear like she'd never seen. She saw him look at the needle and then her and for a brief moment, she thought she saw understanding in his eyes.
"Sheila!" Jacob yelled, "What are you waiting for? Sedate him!"
Sheila then broke away from her thoughts and injected the fluid as Taylor let out a blood curdling yell and struggled to get free. She removed the needle and almost instantly the boy began to calm down.
After a few minutes, the men let go of Taylor and stepped back. Taylor lay on the table, his eyes moving back and forth as if trying to come to grip with reality. A few moments later, his eyes slowly closed and he was asleep. Jacob looked at the heart monitor and noticed it was back to normal as well.
Jacob sighed, "Let's get him back to his room. That's enough for today."

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


Mr. Hanson sat on the couch of his room blanking staring at TV. He had turned it on to make it looked like he was watching it when in reality he was trying to think of a way to get him and his son out of this horrible place. His headache had subsided quite a bit since he first woke up and he was very thankful for that. But he also knew that they would either be drugging him again soon or preparing to test him somemore. He sighed an angry sigh when he thought about the people holding them. They didn't think of them as people. They thought of them as mere objects. They didn't see people when they looked at him and his son. They only saw their powers. It was like he and Taylor didn't even exist. To these people, he knew, that without their powers, they would be considered nothing.
Mr. Hanson felt his anger boil as he angrily threw the remote control for the TV across the room at a vase, smashing it to pieces. He smiled and let out a slight laugh.
"Serves you right," he said just above a whisper, "I only wish that was your heads." He then said thinking of Daniel and Jacob.
He looked back up to the TV to see a cartoon playing and made a disgusted face. This was supposed to take their minds off of the thing? To make them feel at home? Mr. Hanson thought of home. Whenever a cartoon was playing on the TV, their were little children laughing at the characters' antics. At Wiley Coyote trying hopelessly to catch The Road Runner. At Bugs Bunny foiling Elmer Fudd's plans for rabbit stew. Mr. Hanson smiled at the thought. Oh how he missed home. His wife and children. Tripping over toys left carelessly in the middle of the floor. The puppy dog eyes little Mackenzie would give him when he spilled his juice on the floor because he was running with it. How the girls would be found playing Barbies together after lunch. How Zoe would cry when he and his wife finally had a moment of peace. The sounds of Isaac, Taylor, and Zac rehearsing in the basement. Mr. Hanson got tears in his eyes. He then thought of Taylor and got angry. With a determined tone he looked upwards.
"So help me God I will get my son back and we will get out of this place and get home to our family where we belong!" He vowed now yelling as he looked at the survelance camera.
"You hear that!? Huh!? You know you do! And don't think I'm lying! We will get out of here! Just you wait!" With that he got up and stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behid him and leaning on the sink with his head down.
"Please God," he whispered, "Please."

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


Daniel opened the door to Taylor's room and was followed by two men carrying a sleeping Taylor. Daniel watched as the men roughly layed Taylor down and threw the covers over him. Jacob and Sheila walked in. "I told that boy that if he didn't cooperate he would suffer. I guess he decided to learn the hard way," Daniel said as he looked at Taylor with a cold, hard look.
Jacob looked at him, "Lay off Daniel! I don't want any trouble from you or him. And if you give him trouble, he will give us trouble! Got it!?"
"Yes sir," Daniel said in a disgusted tone.
Jacob looked at the sleeping boy, "That boy has something in him that is beyond anything I have ever seen. Did you see what he did to that machine!? And the straps. He didn't even look at them. And there was no way that he was coherent enough to do it on his own. It's like his power has built up some sort of defense, and I'm gonna find out what that is and how it works."
He walked up to Taylor's bed and rubbed his hand down the side of his face.
"You hold within you a great power my boy. You will tell me how it works. Because if not, I will find out one way or another. If only you could understand how important it is for us to learn about you. You will understand! I'll make you understand! So help me God you will understand if it's the last thing I ever do!" He said, not in a mean tone, but a very determined one. He stood up.
"Let's go everyone, I want him to rest." With that everyone filed out except for Sheila.
She touched Jacob's arm, "Sir?"
He looked at her, "Hmm? Yes?"
"I would like to stay with Taylor."
"Why is that?" Jacob asked with a curious look on his face.
"Well, after what happened in the lad and all the drugs we gave him I'd like to stay until he wakes up to make sure he is okay. Is that alright sir?"
Jacob looked thoughtfully at her and to Taylor.
"Is there a danger they could have some serious side effects? If so tell me now," he said as he looked back to her.
"Well, no sir, but he will more than likely be very disoriented and I'd like to be here to make sure he doesn't get too scared because you saw what happened in the lab."
Jacob thought for a moment then nodded.
"Alright. You keep an eye on him. We'll be watching you on the monitors. If he get out of hand, we'll come in."
With that Jacob left and Sheila was left alone with Taylor.

She let out a sigh of relief, glad that Jacob let her stay. Of course she hadn't told the entire truth. She also wanted to stay so she could comfort him. She knew he didn't remember her. But there was something in his eyes that told her that even though he didn't remember her, he hadn't completely forgotten about her. She sat down on a chair next to his bed and looked at him. She wanted to wrap her arms around the boy and just take his pain and fear away. But if she did, they might get suspiscious and think she is helping him. She sighed.
"So what? I don't care if they get mad," she said in a whisper, "I'll comfort him if I feel like it. They have no right to do this." And with that, she reached out and took his hand in hers, rubbing it gently.
"It'll be okay Taylor. It'll be okay."


<< Next Page of Story>>
<< Previous Page of Story>>

<< Back to Story Page>>
<< Back To Index Of Chapters Page>>
Back To Main Page>>