Chapter 22
*********
"Well, I'd say it's good to see you guys, but judging by the looks of this situation, I think we might want to get out of here as soon as possible!" Taylor said, glancing at the man laying in a pool of blood next to his feet. He looked at Becca, crying softly on Isaac's shoulder, and knelt down. "Guys, let's go. Come on, Becca," he said, putting her arm around him and struggling to help her up, as she was weak from crying so long. He helped her into Ike's retrieved blue bug and put her in the back as she was breaking into hysterics. He returned to Isaac who was staring at the man's face, dumbfounded.
"I can't believe it. I just can't believe I killed someone. Me, Clarke. I can't believe that my guitar hands took this guy's life..." he trailed off.
"Well, actually if you want to be critical it was your feet," Jacqui muttered, letting out a weak laugh. The two brothers looked at her, and Taylor raised an eyebrow.
"Umm, ok," Taylor said. "Come on Ike let's get out of here," Taylor said again, grabbing Isaac's hands and pulling him up, Isaac's gaze never leaving the man whom he had hit. Jacqui got in the back seat with Becca, and Taylor shoved the dumbfounded Isaac into the front seat. "I can't believe it," he kept whispering to himself. "I can't believe it."
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"Oh my gosh!" Vega spoke aloud, staring at the picture in front of her. A picture of the Hanson family was glued into the front cover of an old notebook she had found on the floor of the brothers' closet. All three brothers had short hair, and Mackie wasn't even in the photo. Wow, this must have been take a long time ago! she thought to herself. She flipped through and found some worn pages filled with words and old photos. She didn't bother to read the words... for now anyway. She continued looking through the pictures and stopped at one. "Woah," she said aloud, gasping at what she saw. Looking down, she saw an 2-year-old photo of her, surrounded by words. She read:
"Vega Madeline"
Birthday: 4/12/83
Age as of 5/19/97: 14
More and more words poured off of the page as she read all about her life, her activities, and basically her whole being. Even the weight issues, and her incident with Taylor. She was beginning to get scared. How on earth could the Hansons have known her before the concert? She'd never even heard of them before then! It was just her friends bringing her to it, and that's when she fell in love... with the music, yeah right. She thought about her friends. Michelle and Cameran. She had met them about 2 months before the concert, and they had tried everything to become her friend. Were they jealous of her money, or what? Then, it hit her. She didn't know why, but for some reason, they wanted her. The Hansons. She didn't know why, but they wanted her, and she wasn't sure what they wanted.
*-*-*-*-*-*
The car ride was silent as the four teens drove. Taylor didn't know where he was going. All he knew is that they had to get away... fast. He wondered where Vega was, and what she was doing. Something in the back of his mind told him not to think about her, but he couldn't concentrate on driving and think about her at the same time, so he put her out of his head. Isaac was silent, staring out the window. Becca had her head hung in the backseat, and she was muttering to herself. He couldn't make out what she was saying, but he heard repeated apologetic words, and assumed she was praying. She seemed like the goody-goody girl to Taylor. Not that he minded those type, but sometimes their perkiness just got annoying. Taylor didn't consider himself "bad", but not the Becca type either. He found himself in the middle. He wasn't the praying type either though. He would occasionally talk to God in church, but the words were never good, and he felt guilty sometimes. He constantly thought about "what if I die today", and knew he would even more, since his brother had just killed a man. NO! he thought. It wasn't Isaac's fault. He didn't kill anyone. If it really came down to it, he'd have to keep that in his mind, and make it convincing. But who would know? Who would find out if they all swore to never tell anyone. Taylor glanced in his mirror and made a lane-change, not noticing there was another car behind him making the same move.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
I knew it! I knew I could find something on them!! That's what they get for rejecting me! They will not have the chance to do it again. I will become famous, and they will be in jail! the man trailing the blue bug thought to himself. An evil grin spread across his tanned face. "I guess that's what they get when they mess with me!" he said aloud, not noticing the blood on the tires of the Jimmy that left and marked trail behind him.
*&*&*&*&*&*&*&*
Vega continued to examine the page about her in this tiny diary she found. There were no clues whatsoever of why this page would be in here. She decided to flip backwards in the book. Nothing. Just a few pages about record deals that fell through. Then a name caught her eye.
"My friend Michelle and Cameron are moving away to Michigan. I don't know why, but mom and dad said that they will be there for our family's purpose. I have no idea what they mean! Michelle is my favorite sister, and Cameron is my favorite cousin!"
Vega froze. Cousin? Family's purpose? "What is going on!?!?!" she said aloud.