In the small community of North Lawndale, Chicago sat rows and rows of brick and concrete buildings. The streets were clouded in darkness thanks to most of the street lights being broken, shattered glass covering the ground underneath them. There were large groups of teenagers spread all across the community. All of the teens had speakers playing music while they were smoking weed and cigarettes or drinking alcohol they stole from their homes. One group was playing hip hop music loudly and danced around with loud laughter and cheers. Another group was playing old school jazz, the kids smoking weed and sitting on the ground in peaceful and quiet relaxation. Another group had gospel music playing, the people singing along and showing off their impressive singing chops. Another group had funk music playing, the people dancing with each other in a slower but still energetic dance.

Inside one of the brick buildings, the curtains were shut tight as a teenage boy slowly opened his eyes. He could hear the music very faintly, but it was enough to wake him up. He sat up slowly, his shirtless body quite lean and muscular. He moved his blanket to the side to show his legs were quite muscular, yet lean like his torso. He slid off and stood on his cheap wooden floor, a splinter digging into the bottom of his bare foot.

“Ow.” He whispered as he sat back down and pulled it out. He touched his foot in the darkness, able to feel he was bleeding lightly. He got back up and hopped on his healthy foot over to the bedroom door. He opened it, and carefully and silently moved across the floor to the bathroom. He shut the door before turning the light on.

His skin was quite dark with dark brown eyes looking like the night sky. His teeth were blindingly white and his hair short and thick, most of it slicked back but with a few small spots sticking out. He opened the top drawer where there was a large amount of different type of medicines and pills.

He shut it before opening the second drawer. Even more bottles filled it when he quickly shut it. He opened the third drawer and found a small box of bandages. He grabbed the box and stretched his leg up and placed his foot on the counter with ease, his body very flexible and fluid.

He looked in the mirror, but the cut on his foot was gone. He looked confused and pulled his foot around to stare straight at it.

“Huh…weird.”

He put the bandage back and shut the drawer before turning the light off, then shut the bathroom door quietly. He slowly made his way to his bedroom, but heard a noise.

He turned to look at another bedroom door. There was a single large living room with a couch, chair, television, and multiple bookcases full of all sorts of objects. The boy made his way over to the other bedroom door, slowly pushing the door that was already cracked open. He pushed it open further, the old hinges and wood cracking as it moved. He heard soft movement in the bed sitting in the center of the room.

“Taylor?” A soft female voice asked.

He sighed and flicked on the light switch, which only turned on a small lamp sitting next to the bed.

“Hey Mom. Can’t sleep?” Taylor asked as he moved closer to the bed.

“I was going to ask you the same thing.” She joked.

Taylor went and helped her slowly sit up.

Her skin was a pale brown shade with her black hair as thin as paper. Her body was covered by a large white sleeping gown, but it was obvious she was incredibly thin and frail underneath. Her arms more resemble toothpicks than human limbs. Her eyes were very bright but faded blue, the pupil discernible from the rest of the eye.

“I came when I heard you move around.” Taylor said, sitting next to his Mother on the bed.

“I’m okay sweetie. I just move around in my sleep.” She said, putting her weak and soft hand on his cheek.

“But you’re okay?” Taylor asked, raising his own hand up to hold hers.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go back to sleep soon.” She replied.

Taylor smiled and leaned in to kiss her forehead. He helped her lay back down before tucking her in with the blanket.

“Sleep tight.” Taylor said with his smile as he stood up.

She smiled back and rested her head back on the pillow.

Taylor pulled the door almost closed, keeping it cracked open. He made his way over to the couch, laying on his side with his eyes open, just in case any more noise came from the bedroom.

Taylor could hear his alarm going off and jumped awake from the couch. He made his way to his bedroom where his phone was plugged in, quickly turning it off and looking at the time.

5 AM.

He rubbed his eyes and went into the kitchen. He reached up into the cabinet and opened the door, a small jar of spice leaning forward and falling off the counter.

Taylor didn’t have time to react or process what was happening, but his hand was down to catch the jar. He looked at his hand confused.

“Huh…reflexes are better than I remembered.” He whispered to himself before putting it down carefully.

Taylor began to cook multiple meals at a time. He made fresh omelets filled with vegetables. The insides looked like a large garden as he folded the eggs. Red tomatoes, green asparagus, brown mushrooms, and orange carrots wrapped in a warm and vibrant yellow blanket. Next he made a fresh and small caesar salad with chicken and sliced up eggs sitting on top, sprinkling some parmesan cheese on top to add to the color and flavor. Then a few pieces of honey glazed salmon sitting on more green vegetables.

He placed the salmon and salad in different bowls before wrapping plastic around them, then putting them into the refrigerator.

He went to the bathroom with the plate of omelet, putting one pill from nearly every bottle onto the plate. He then grabbed a large glass to fill with tap water as he looked in the mirror. His eyes had heavy bags underneath, but he tried his best to give a warm and loving smile.

He carried the plate and glass to his Mother’s bedroom, softly pushing the door open.

“Mom, it's breakfast time.”  He said softly as he used his shoulder to turn on the light switch. His Mother very slowly sat up in the bed, rubbing her eyes.

“Thank you sweetie, but you didn’t have to wake up this early.” She whispered, still trying to wake herself up.

“I had to make you food for the day. I Need a large amount of time.” Taylor replied.

She smiled and looked at all of the pills.

“You didn’t mix them in with the omelet this time.” She said as she collected all of them into her hand. She put them all in her mouth at once before drinking half the glass of water at once.

“I had to make sure you took them all. Couldn’t let you leave a few bites and miss out on some of the medicine.” Taylor replied.

His Mother was sitting uncomfortably as she struggled to find somewhere to put her plate.

“Don’t worry Mom, I got it.”

Taylor took her plate in one hand before helping her lean forward so he could fix her pillow with his other hand, then gave her the food back.

“Thank you sweetie.” She replied and smiled.

Taylor kissed her cheek before standing up.

“I gotta get ready for school.”

“You do that, I’ll be alright in here.” She replied.

Taylor shut her door about half way before heading to the restroom. He stripped his clothes off and jumped into the shower, humming some music as the hot water hit his skin and steam began to fill the room. Taylor continued to hum as he showered, his mind clear as he tried to only focus on cleaning his body. His hands grabbed the soap and used it to cover his body in white bubbles as he let out a sigh. His eyes were shut as he began to softly sway side to side. His body became more relaxed as his arms dropped to his sides, swaying subtly back and forth.

His body was so exhausted he began to drift asleep, his breathing very relaxed and slow.

His feet slipped from the water covered floor as his eyes went wide open. His arms thrashed around, but he was suddenly back up to his feet. Soap and water covered every inch of the walls, curtain, and ceiling as Taylor looked around. He rubbed his eyes, his hands shaking very quickly before they slowed down into a stillness.

Taylor turned the shower off before stepping out and grabbing a white towel, drying off his face. He kept rubbing it against his torso and arms as he stared into the mirror covered in fog.

“I gotta focus. Alright…:”

Taylor wiped just enough fog off the mirror to see his face in the reflection.

“Today is qualifiers. You can do this. You’ve always been the fastest on the team. You got this.” Taylor hyped himself up before smiling and heading to his bedroom with the towel wrapped around him, quickly getting dressed in a black MF Doom t-shirt. He put on dark blue jeans and grabbed his red backpack, then a large athletic bag filled with athletic clothes and a roll of tape. He went to his Mom’s room again, kissing her forehead.

“Do you want me to put on music for you today?” Taylor asked.

“Oh yes. I’ll let you pick today.”

Taylor smiled and went to one of the many bookcases sitting in the living room. He opened up a large, old school vinyl record player. Underneath it was a shelf full of vinyls, all of which were by black musicians of all different kinds of genres.

“Let’s see…Ma Rainey. Jimi Hendrix. Scott Joplin. Robert Johnson. Ooh, Odetta.”

Taylor grabbed Odetta’s “It’s A Mighty World” and placed it on the record player. The music started and Taylor could hear his Mom move in the bed. He kept smiling and stared at the doorway as his Mom slowly emerged. Her legs were shaking as she very slowly moved across the floor. Despite her eyes looking blind, she was able to move around the furniture with ease. Taylor walked over and helped her over to the couch, slowly lowering her down onto the cushion.

“Alright Mom, I’ll see you after track today.”

He left the apartment and shut the door firmly. There were five other doors in the hallway before Taylor walked to the front door. He walked past a stairway and opened the door, stepping out onto the cold and silent sidewalk and street. He put some earbuds in his ears before taking out his phone, pressing play on some lofi hip hop beats.

Taylor continued to walk down the empty and silent streets as the sun was only just coming up, turning the sky a gorgeous purple and orange water painting that shifted around. Taylor softly smiled as he kept walking, the music loud in his ears and blocking out the entire outside world.

Taylor had been walking long enough that the sun was fully above the horizon. The sky was a bright and warm blue shade with puffy white clouds filling the air in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Taylor continued to walk, humming along with the music. The streets began to get busier, cars driving and more people beginning to walk along the sidewalks. He nodded his head along with the music, getting really into the music and starting to forget there were other things around him. He bumped into another person, immediately apologizing before going back to vibing. He laughed to himself, but then saw the school bus drive by. The song ended and suddenly began to play very fast paced breakbeat jazz, filling Taylor with an anxious energy as he watched the yellow and black bus move further and further away. His eyes went wide and he started to run quickly down the sidewalk, trying his best to dodge anybody else nearby. The music filled him with the energy he needed as he kept running. He reached an empty stretch of sidewalk and could see a small group of teenagers all wearing backpacks, standing around as the bus started to slow down. Taylor ran as quickly as he could, but as he ran faster everything around him began to grow cloudy and fuzzy. His vision blurred as he ran.

“No no no.”

Taylor’s vision was blurry enough that he didn’t spot a small hole in the ground, his foot entering it and causing him to fall forward. His ankle and foot let out a loud breaking sound as Taylor held back from screaming. His earbud fell out as the bus stopped. Taylor pulled his foot out and tried to stand, but his foot bent and twisted horrifically to the side. He was about to fall, but he felt somebody catch him. He looked down at a very short and fat black kid, skin slightly lighter than his own. The kid had very thick glasses, a button up shirt that was too big tucked into very tight dress pants that were just too small, stopping just above dirty brown dress shoes of two different sizes.

“Oh…hello.” The kid said.

Taylor groaned and grabbed his ear bud as he tried to walk, but leaned hard against the new kid.

“Don’t worry, I can help.”

Taylor rolled his eyes as he had to limp to the bus with the new kid helping him. The group of teenagers were taking their sweet time getting on the bus, but then two of them began to shove and shout at each other. One tackled the other when the bus driver quickly ran from their chair, down the stairs, and pulled them back.

“I will not have any fighting on my bus! Maurice, you go sit in the back. Trevon, you’re sitting in the front.” The bus driver said with a southern drawl in her voice.

The boy who got tackled smirked and got on the bus, walking his way to the back. The bus driver got back in as Trevon turned to see Taylor and the new kid.

“That’s gotta be a new record. Started a fight before you even got on the bus.” Taylor joked.

Trevon had a warm smile that he tried to hide by turning his head and picking up his bag. He had short black dreads pulled back messily. His hair was close to the same shade as Taylor, but with more ashiness to it. His shirt was a very old and faded shirt that appeared to have multiple artists on it with their group name, but it was ineligible.

“The **** you do?” Trevon replied, finally looking down at Taylor’s messed up ankle.

“He was running down the sidewalk when his foot got stuck in a hole and broke. I saw the whole thing.” The new kid said.

Trevon just laughed as Taylor rolled his eyes, moving his arm from the new kid and wrapping it around Trevon’s neck.

“You gonna be able to run today?” Trevon asked.

“I’ll make sure I am.” Taylor said with a smile.

The bus driver honked her horn, which made the new kid run on quickly, followed by Trevon very carefully helping Taylor up the stairs.

Trevons sat in the seat directly behind the driver while Taylor sit across the aisle. The new kid then sat right behind Taylor, immediately lifting his arms and head up to look over the seat and down at Taylor.

“Who are you? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.” Trevon said.

“Me?” The new kid asked.

“Naw, the guy in front of you.” Trevon responded in a sarcastic tone. Taylor couldn’t help but laugh as he kept his leg elevated and kept pressure off of his ankle and foot.

“Oh…I think his name is Taylor. I’m not sure though. Today is my first day.” The boy said.

Taylor and Trevon both looked at each other before laughing.

“Yes, my name is Taylor. What’s your name?” Taylor held his hand up for a fist bump, but the boy wrapped his hand around it and shook it up and down awkwardly.

“The name is Stephen.” He replied.

Taylor gave him a warm and kind smile as Trevon just laughed and rolled his eyes.

The bus stopped and they looked out the windows at the large but poorly maintained school. A giant building of grayish concrete, all of the windows reinforced with steel bars and doorways leading inside having duct tape over the hinges. The students began to get off as Trevon tried to help Taylor down the stairs. Maurice came up and laughed when he pushed both of them. Taylor freaked out, but his body was suddenly a few feet further from the stairs then Trevon. Trevon fell onto his side on the ground while Taylor was standing on both feet.

Taylor looked back at the bus confused, but nobody else seemed to really notice or care.

“Oh sorry, didn’t see you there.” Maurice said as he laughed.

Trevon was staring intensely at him when Stephen held his hand out. Trevon slapped it away and got up on his own, looking over at Taylor.

“The ****?”

Trevon looked down at Taylor’s ankle, which looked completely normal and unscathed.

“I don’t know. I don’t…”

Taylor became lost for words as he began to walk around, his foot able to sustain his weight with ease, even feeling better than his other foot.

“Man…you gotta teach me that trick.”

Trevon and Taylor walked shoulder to shoulder towards the doors, meanwhile Stephen followed a few paces behind, his eyes locked onto Taylor.

Taylor sat in a science classroom, the chair next to him empty as the students sat in groups of three with very large black desks.

Stephen walked into the classroom and looked around.

“Oh you must be the new student I was told about. Stephen, right?” The teacher asked.

She was a young light brown skinned woman with light brown hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was wearing a tight button up shirt and dress pants with glasses similar to Stephen’s. She had a warm smile, but Stephen froze. He stared at her with wide eyes and began to shake from nervousness.

“I…um…yes…” He replied.

Some of the other students began to laugh softly at his nervousness.

“Well nice to meet you. My name is Mrs. Palmers. You can go ahead and sit next to Taylor.” She pointed over while Taylor was leaning back in his chair, not paying attention as he joked with other students. Taylor turned as Stephen very slowly sat in the seat next to him.

“Hey.” Stephen still sounded nervous.

“Hey…” Taylor replied, looking at Stephen confused before looking back at Mrs. Palmers.

“Everything okay with you?” Taylor asked.

One of the students behind them laughed.

“I bet he’s got a thing for the teacher.” He joked.

Stephen shivered and rubbed his face.

“N…no…” Stephen said, covering his face.

Taylor began to look concerned, but then the bell rang for class to start.

“Alright class, we are starting our next unit. We will be looking at velocity and how that applies to things all across the scientific world.” She smiled as she began to write on the dry erase board.

Both Taylor and Stephen wrote down the notes as detailed as possible as the teacher continued to speak.

Taylor and Stephen were the only two really taking notes and the only people paying close attention. Every other student was barely writing anything, sneakily texting away on their phones, or whispering away to each other.

The class seemed to take forever, the seconds stretching out into minutes. Taylor kept writing when he looked over at Stephen. Stephen leaned back, but the chair tipped too far and he began to fall back towards the table behind the.

Taylor was out of his chair, catching the chair and Stephen with a speed that left him surprised and confused.

“Um…thanks Taylor.” Stephen replied.

Taylor set the chair back up as the bell rang. All of the other students immediately left the class while Taylor and Stephen slowly put their stuff away in their bags.

“Thank you for catching me. I must’ve leaned back too far.” Stephen said with a polite and warm smile.

“Yeah…don’t mention it.” Taylor was looking down at the ground as he quickly made his way out of the classroom, speed walking to his next class. Stephen frowned and began to walk in the other direction of the hallway, looking down at the ground as well.

By lunch time, Taylor was sitting with Trevon and other friends. The table was a large white circle, allowing them to all see each other and talk in a large and friendly manner. The seats were small circles attached to the tables by long metal poles, curving up after touching the ground.

“...and I just know that we are going to crush Woodcreek.” Trevon said.

Taylor had subtle but happy glances at Trevon while the other boys were laughing and joking around.

“Well that’s obvious. They’re the worst track team in the state.” One of the other boys said.

“Yeah, problem is Darius goes there now.” Taylor replied.

“Who’s Darius?” Stephen asked, seeming to come out of nowhere. All of the other boys jumped as Taylor looked over his shoulder. Stephen was sitting close to him, yet he hadn’t noticed until now.

“Fuck man! Where’d you come from?” The student asked.

“I’ve been here the whole time.” Stephen replied.

“Who even is this kid?” Another student asked.

Taylor sighed.

“Trevon, Jervonte, Prenell, this is Stephen. Stephen, you already know Trevon. Those two are Jervonte and Prenell.” Taylor said, pointing to each person as he said their names.

“We’re the fastest kids in the country.” Jervonte said.

“Well, nice to meet you.” Stephen held his hand out for a handshake. Trevon, Jervonte, and Prenell all burst out laughing loudly. Taylor put his hand on Stephen’s, pushing it down.

“Alright, anyways. Darius used to be hanging out with this crew. Fast kid, only person we’ve ever seen keep up with Taylor. Problem was he was a hot head. He never won a race if Taylor was in it, so one night Darius and Taylor got in a brutal fight. It was bloody man. Blood everywhere. Didn’t you break his hand or something?” Jervonte slapped Taylor on the arm.

“He was on top of me, I got him off, he grabbed my foot to try and trip me up, I stepped on his hand.” Taylor replied.

“Anyways. We all get there and pull them apart. Darius shoved us away and got one last punch out that knocked Taylor on his ***. Finally got him back and he was expelled the next day. Apparently he was allowed to go to another school though and has won every meet they’ve had, mostly cause Taylor wasn’t there.” Prenell finished the story off.

“So you’re racing them today?” Stephen asked.

“Hell yeah. And we’re gonna crush them like we crush everyone else.” Trevon laughed.

Taylor smirked, looking down at the table.

“And Taylor is gonna break that record!” Jervonte said loudly.

Taylor rolled his eyes and covered his face as he smiled.

“What record?” Stephen asked.

“The fastest four-hundred meters dash. It's currently held by Jack Lars…” Trevon started.

“Fucking white *** name.” Prenell interrupted.

“He had a forty-five second dash, which is fucking great. He got it the very first year this school existed, and nobody has beaten it in the eighty years since.” Trevon continued.

“Wow.” Stephen had wide eyes, awestruck and curious.

“My personal record is forty-seven point two. But I’m going to push myself further and break it.” Taylor said.

“Well I believe in you Taylor.” Stephen said with a massive smile on his face.

The other students laughed, but Taylor smiled back.

“Thanks Stephen, that means a lot.”

Taylor held his fist up, but Stephen took it with an open hand and shook it up and down.

Taylor and Stephen laughed together while Jervonte and Prenell started to talk amongst each other, but Trevon was staring intensly at Stephen. His eyes were like daggers drenched in fire as Stephen didn’t notice, just laughing and joking with Taylor. Taylor played along, being the nice person he often was.

Taylor was in the locker room after school, getting ready for the race with Kendrick Lamar’s “Count Me Out” and struggling to rap along. He was smiling and getting excited and hyped up for the race. He stood up, wearing a very tight athletic shirt and some short athletic shorts. His nipples were covered by tape as he finished putting on his running shoes. He jumped around a bit to get the blood pumping and his heart racing. He lifted his phone up, but it slipped and immediately raced towards the ground.

Without any sort of thinking, his body dropped down into a crouch and caught the phone. Taylor’s eyes blinked rapidly as he stared at it.

Before he could do anything else, he heard the locker room door open. Trevon walked over to him and started to jump with him while the music was still playing.

“You ready to do this?” Trevon asked.

“Yeah.” Taylor replied.

“Weak! You ready?” Trevon asked louder.

“Yeah!” Taylor shouted.

“I can’t fucking hear you!” Trevon shoved Taylor hard.

“I’m ready!” Taylor screamed at the top of his lungs.

The two chest bumped hard before they ran out together to the track around the football field. Their teammates were all stretching, ready to go.

The team huddled up, but before anybody could give a speech, they spotted the other team coming up. The person leading the Woodcreek school was much taller and larger than everybody else. His skin was the same shade as his sunglasses as he walked with a confident and arrogant smirk. Taylor went and stood in front of his team, crossing his arms as Trevon stepped up right behind him.

“Well well, if it ain’t the golden boy.”

The tall guy removed his shades while smiling wide.

“Darius…welcome back.” Taylor replied dryly.

“I was expecting a red carpet. I am deserving of it.”

Darius’s hands were covered in rings. His wrist housed a very expensive golden watch. Around his neck were multiple golden chains. His shirt and shorts were extremely high quality.

“Just because you’re the top of the bottom? The king of shit?” Taylor asked.

Darius’s face dropped as he stepped forward, but Taylor wasn’t backing down.

“Keep talking. I’ll knock you out again.” Darius’s tone shifted from joking arrogance to violent seriousness.

“Before or after I break your hand again?” Taylor smirked.

Jervonte laughed loudly.

“I’ll punch you so hard it’ll break your skull.” Darius replied.

Taylor and Darius were only a few inches away, Darius towering over him.

“Good luck trying to punch me. You’ve never been able to get close enough while we’re running.” Taylor responded.

“You haven’t seen how hard I’ve been busting my ***. I’ll leave you eating dust.” Darius said.

“Alright, let’s get it started then. You and me, one endzone to the other. What do you say?” Taylor stretched his hand out.

Darius laughed before firmly gripping his hand, pulling him close.

“Don’t go crying when you lose.”

Darius took off all of his jewelry as Taylor and Trevon made their way to the endzone.

“You got this man.” Trevon said.

“Yeah, I know.” Taylor replied nonchalantly.

Trevon laughed as they made it to the endzone. Taylor stretched his legs as Darius finally walked over.

“Alright, keep it a fair race you two.”

Trevon stood behind them as both Taylor and Darius bent down into sprinting positions.

“On your marks…”

Taylor and Darius both turned their heads to look at each other. Taylor smirked, starting to feel confident. Darius turned back first, his face stoic and serious.

“Get set…”

Taylor turned his head back as both men lifted their bodies up while staying in the position.

“Go!”

Without any hesitation, both Taylor and Darius used all of the strength their bodies could muster to push off the football turf as hard as they could. Both men lifted their torsos up and brought their arms up to their sides, using them to gain extra momentum with every stride. The two were neck and neck by the 20 yard line, but Darius began to creep ahead. By 30 yards he was about a stride ahead, which shocked Taylor. Taylor pushed himself harder.

By 40 yards the two were neck and neck again.

50 yards Taylor pushed ahead, but everything began to go fuzzy. Everything became shapeless blobs.

60 yards and Taylor pushed himself as hard as he possibly could.

70 yards and Taylor’s vision was unable to make out anything.

80 yards and Taylor suddenly felt both of his legs explode.

He collapsed and fell to the ground, rolling violently on the turf past the 90 yard line before ending just a few inches away from the endzone. Darius ran across and raised his arms up while cheering loudly.

All of the students quickly ran to Taylor, Trevon having to run across the entire football field before sliding on his knees and lifting up Taylor’s head, holding him close.

Both of Taylor’s legs were thin sleeves filled with nothing. They had no structure to them and just flopped around without any sort of control.

“Taylor, are you okay?” Trevon shouted loudly.

Taylor was breathing very quickly and heavily as he stared down at his legs. He shifted his torso, causing his shattered bones to poke against his skin and create bumps all throughout his legs.

Taylor felt himself fall into unconsciousness, his eyes slowly closing when his body and head dropped.

Taylor slowly felt everything in his body come back. It started off with him able to move his head side to side, followed by his shoulders. His elbows began to bend slightly before his hand and fingers softly wiggled around. His back slightly lifted, followed by his hips turning. Taylor tried to move his legs, but he was snapped up into excruciating pain. He sat up and groaned, feeling a hand on his chest and head slowly and softly pushing him back down.

“Rest up man. You’ll be alright.” Trevon said as Taylor laid back on the bed.

Taylor opened his eyes and was greeted with a blinding light overhead. Trevon moved it over and let Taylor see the hospital room they were sitting inside.

“What happened?” Taylor asked, rubbing his head.

“I don’t know exactly cause the doctors ain’t saying anything, but your legs were destroyed. Like wet socks just flopping around.” Trevon replied.

Taylor looked down at his legs. They were both wrapped in tight casts and elevated above the bed.

“They are too full to do surgery right now. Man, I'm gonna be surprised if you ever walk again.”

“Thanks for the support.” Taylor joked with a soft smirk.

Trevon shook his head and softly chuckled.

“In a hospital bed after destroying your legs and already cracking jokes.” Trevon said.

“It’s how I roll.” Taylor smirked.

He sat up further when he saw Stephen curled up in a chair, fast asleep across the room.

“As soon as he learned you were here, stopped by and wouldn’t leave the room.” Trevon said.

Taylor smirked, but his face quickly dropped into shock and fear.

“Wait…how long was I out? What day is it? What time is it?” Taylor was freaking out and tried to get out of the bed, but his legs being in the large and thick casts elevated up made it hard to maneuver.

Trevon softly grabbed his torso and pushed him back down.

“Don’t worry. I went by to help your Mom. She’s okay.” Trevon replied, doing his best to calm Taylor down.

“All of her pills?” Taylor asked.

“Yes. And I made her food…not as great as yours but I think she’ll be okay.” Trevon said.

“Did she eat her lunch and dinner yesterday?” Taylor asked.

“I think so. There were dirty dishes in the sink that I washed.” Trevon replied, softly grabbing Taylor’s hand.

Stephen slowly began to wake up, shifting in the chair across the room.

Taylor and Trevon locked eyes as they kept holding each other’s hand firmly. They both smiled nicely and began to lean in closer to each other.

“Taylor!”

Stephen ran across the room and jumped onto the hospital bed, hugging him tightly. Taylor coughed as Stephen squeezed him so hard he couldn’t breathe.

“Stephen! Get off of him!” Trevon started to pull Stephen off.

Stephen got off as Taylor laughed.

“I’m sorry, I was just excited.” Stephen looked nervous and looked down at the floor.

“Don’t worry, at least somebody gave me a hug.” Taylor joked and gave Trevon a joking, dirty look. Trevon rolled his eyes before all three laughed.

The doctor walked into the room holding a large clipboard.

“You are Mr. Taylor, correct?” The doctor asked.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Taylor replied.

“Well…your friend told me what happened. I’m not quite sure how to explain it…”

The doctor kept reading over the papers, seeming to not believe what he was reading despite knowing it to be true.

“Just spit it out doctor!” Stephen said loudly before covering his mouth.

“Sorry.” He said quickly after.

“Well, your legs are nothing inside. Your bones were shattered in multiple places, your muscles shredded into nonexistence, and your veins were slashed into small pieces that were impossible to recover. There is nothing inside your legs but destroyed parts.” The doctor said.

Taylor could feel his stomach twist in knots, his heart skip a few beats, and his throat tighten as he tried to speak.

“So…I’m never going to walk again?” Taylor asked, a single tear running down his cheek.

“We are currently looking at ways to prevent that from happening, but right now we have no ideas.”

Taylor looked upset, but tried to keep his tears back.

Trevon quickly put his arm around Taylor as his eyes teared up as well.

Stephen fell to his knees, taking the news harder than anybody else.