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The shrill sound of the telephone ringing awoke Zac from his deep slumber. His hand clumsily searched for the receiver and after failing at the first few attempts, he lazily opened one eye and clutched the phone, moaning as he placed it up to his ear. "Zac, time to wake up. Wash up and come join us in our room for some breakfast. We're going to leave within the hour to start for the next venue, so don't take too long." Mrs. Hanson said as Zac groggily moaned a reply into the telephone. After placing the phone back into the cradle, he flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. His caramel eyes searched over the entire room until they finally rested on the pillow adjacent to his head. "Funny, it looks like someone slept on that side of the bed. I didn't know I tossed and turned that much in my sleep." Zac mused to himself. He shifted his body so his 5'10" frame was in a sitting position, as his feet were firmly planted on the floor. He twisted his neck so that his eyes could once more focus on the sunken pillow. Softly, he shook his head as he pulled himself out of the bed and dragged himself to the bathroom. As his eyes began to adjust to the surroundings of the room and his mind awakened to reality, his whole body froze. The whisper that came from his full lips was the only sound in the room. "Melanie!" Thoughts careened through his head from the night before as he tried to decipher if Melanie was a reality or just a dream. "There's no way that what happened last night was just a dream! Holding her pinky finger in mine was too real. And how can one explain the crease in the pillow next to me on the opposite side of the bed? I saw her drift to sleep. Maybe she is an angel, but I know that Melanie isn't just a dream!" Zac uttered to himself as he cautiously edged near the bathroom door. His heart thundered in his chest as he thought of Melanie behind the plain, white door. Gingerly, his hand twisted the knob as his eyes peeked around the corner to see if he could detect any silky, long, brunette locks of hair. His ears strained as he heard the sound of running water as the steam blocked his vision. He didn't want to intrude his presence, but his body ached to find out who was behind the shower door. As he tiptoed closer, he saw a male figure standing inside. His heart sunk as he recognized the body was of his brother, Taylor. "Taylor, you scared me to death! I didn't know who was inside my bathroom. What are you doing in here?" Zac yelled above the hot, steaming water. "Zac?" Taylor opened the door and wiped the water out of his eyes. "Sorry, Ike was hogging my shower when I woke up, so I crept in here while you were sleeping." Taylor ran his fingers through his soaked hair and closed the shower door. "Oh, that's okay. I just thought someone else might be in here, that's all." Zac said as he reached for his toothbrush and toothpaste. "Like who, a chic?" Taylor laughed as Zac turned pale. "Does he know about Melanie, too? Will he tell mom and dad?" Zac frantically asked himself. "What are you talking about? Like some girl would get in my room. She would have to go through a maze to reach me." Zac said trying to sound non-chalant. "Zac, I'm joking. Did you have a bad dream about an obsessed teeny again?" Taylor said as he turned off the water and swiped the towel draped over the shower door. "Hardly. But can I ask you something, Tay?" Zac said before he stuck the toothbrush into his mouth. "Sure. Anything." Taylor wrapped the towel around his waist and grabbed a small towel to dry off his hair. "Do you believe in guardian angels?" Zac turned around to face Taylor as he lifted himself up onto a space near the sink, chewing softly on the bristles of his toothbrush. "Absolutely! You know God has kept us from harm many times, Zac!" Taylor pointed out as he turned his head upside down and rubbed the towel vigorously against his damp locks. "I think I saw my guardian angel last night." Zac said seriously causing Taylor to stop what he was doing and look up at him. "Really? That's awesome! Well I hope you learn something from him." Taylor tossed a clean towel to Zac and draped the mini towel around his shoulders as he exited the bathroom. "From her... from Melanie." Zac whispered to himself as he stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror. He sighed and scrubbed away at each tooth letting his thoughts wander, until a few minutes later when he undressed to soak his scrambled mind in a warm shower. Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep, Beep The alarm continued to shout as Melanie smacked the snooze button on the alarm clock so hard that it careened to the floor with a loud thud. "Alright, alright! I'm awake! Are you happy?" She mumbled groggily as she tossed the covers aside and sat up rubbing the sleep out of her eyes with the back of her palms. The yawn she tried to contain escaped out of her mouth and instantly she stretched her body like a cat. Sluggishly, her eyes peeled open as her mouth dropped to the floor. "I must be dreaming. This isn't my room. Where am I?" Her first reaction was to pinch herself to awaken from this confusion, but no matter how many times she pulled on her flesh, she still sat in the same spot. Frantically she ran to the bathroom and vigorously splashed cold water in her face, but to her dismay her body remained in the foreign room. "I might as well take a shower and refresh myself. Then I'll try to find my way out of this mess!" Melanie sighed as she found some clean clothes in a dresser drawer beneath a vanity mirror. "What's for breakfast?" Zac said as he picked up his youngest brother, Mackenzie, and wandered over to the table spread with bagels, pop tarts, butter, cream cheese, and orange juice. "Dig in, bro. Don't take too long deciding though, we've got about ten more minutes before we leave. Do you have all your stuff packed?" Taylor said as he slabbed butter on his cold pop tart. "Yeah. So, any word on the situation downstairs?" Zac said as he gently placed Mackie on the ground and reached for a plate. "Oh yeah. Doesn't look too good downstairs. Mark and the guys will probably have to escort us to the bus." Taylor said as Zac slathered a bagel with cream cheese and took a healthy bite out of a slice. "Why can't we go out the back way? Why do we have to walk through the scream squad?" Zac sighed. "Beats me. But remember Zac, even though the girls can get quite extreme, they are the reason why we're here." Taylor threw the empty plate in a nearby trashcan and gulped down the last of his orange juice. "I know. If they only stopped screaming loud enough to actually ask us how we're doing I wouldn't mind so much." Zac stated as Taylor picked up Mackie. "Trust me Zac, I know that's on everyone's wish list around here!" With that, Taylor and Zac headed to their rooms to make sure they didn't leave anything behind. Melanie wrapped her soaked brown tendrils into the white towel as she applied her make-up to her flawless face. As she opened the bathroom door and turned off the ventilating fan in the bathroom, her ears strained as she heard an ear-piercing scream. "What is that awful noise? It sounds like thousands of girls screaming. What in the world are they saying?" Melanie whipped the towel off her head as she vigorously dried the ends of her hair. She chucked the towel to the moist bathroom floor as she ran to the edge of the bed, deftly tying her sneakers on each foot. Grabbing the key to her room she ran to the elevators, her heart pounding as she descended to the main floor. Her mouth dropped as the metal elevator doors swung open. There, before her very eyes were a mass of about thirty-to-fifty teenage girls clad with Hanson memorabilia. Their hands were loaded with cameras ready to capture a glimpse of one of the Hanson brothers. "HAN-SON, HAN-SON, HAN-SON, HAN-SON!" The girls chanted, as Melanie walked toward the front glass doors in search of some answers to the questions she had. "Excuse me if I'm interrupting this little parade, but what is going on?" Melanie asked a blonde girl around sixteen years old as she made her way outside into the cool, fresh air. "Where have you been, under a rock? Hanson is staying at this hotel and they're ready to come down to be on their way to the next venue. I hope I get a glance of Tay; he's so sexy." The girl replied. Melanie rolled her eyes as she walked her way back to the front entrance. "You think that if they wanted to see Hanson they'd shut up for two seconds to actually say something to them. I wonder if 'Hi' is in their vocabulary?" Melanie pondered to herself as she desperately tried to find her way out of the maze of fans. "Listen, I don't care who you think you are! I was here first and I'm not going to let some little brat come all up in my face and get away with it. I've been here since seven am! Now, go back to your little kiddy corner and get out of my territory!" A brunette snapped at a black-haired girl. A scowl formed on the black-haired girl's face and she turned away. "Can you believe that girl?" The brunette asked her friend. Suddenly, the black-haired girl whipped around and pushed the brunette with so much force that she bumped into Melanie. Melanie lost her balance and her head smacked against the brick wall of the exterior of the hotel; her vision blurred as she slumped up against the wall, fans screaming for a guard to help her. "Hey, hang in there. We're getting you some help." She heard a voice faintly in the background. She felt a little drop of blood streaming down her face. But before she could thank the voice, her eyes closed and she blacked out. << Previous Page of Story>> << Back to Story Page>> << Back To Index Of Chapters Page>> Back To Main Page>> |