stephen king

misery

Zac was rocking gently back and forth in an old overstuffed easy chair in the sunroom. His expression was one of concentration and perhaps apprehension as he listened to the soft creaking sounds. Looks can be deceiving, however. There were only two thoughts simultaneously repeating themselves through Zac's mind at the moment. It seemed to him that there was a very odd echo in his brain while the thoughts, "Chair needs oiled," and "Not finishing the book. No way," went in and out of his brain as they pleased.

After a moment Zac started to be bothered by it and forced himself to think of something else. He thought about who had finished the book, which of course, was everyone but him. Taylor had finished only days after receiving the assignment. Isaac finished sometime last week. Even Jessie had finished it three days previous. Zac could not bring himself to read it though. Horror just wasn't his style. He didn't mind people dying in action films and all, but in horror books it was different. It was much more senseless and even worse in horror books because he had to imagine for himself what these slaughtered people looked like. (so vivid!) Yep, there was the book playing games with his mind already.

“Throughout the whole book Paul's always thinking about his ‘vivid’ imagination, now so are you,” Zac accused himself silently with dismay. Zac wasn't very fond of having disgusting pictures in his head, nor of having his brain start talking senselessly to him. “I refuse here and now to read another single page out of that stupid book. The whole thing just makes my lunch turn over in my stomach. Yuck-o! No way, I just won't," Zac murmured to himself.

"You won't what, Zac?" Zac looked up, startled out of his thoughts by his brother's voice. Isaac smiled and patted Zac's wide-eyed young head. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about Misery, would you? Zac you can't bail on an assignment. You have to finish today because the chat's in two hours!" Zac's face showed his distaste, but after a few more minutes of this he allowed Isaac to persuade him into finishing the horrid book.

He did not, however, say just when he would finish.

*2 hours later*

Jessie threw herself down on an old, red leather beanbag chair in her family's rec room. Taylor was lounging on a pile of sofa cushions. Zac had draped himself over the arm of the loveseat. Isaac was sprawled out on the floor. Things were strewn all about the children from an earlier game of "furniture war!" as they liked to refer to it. The game consisted of breaking up into teams who, using pieces of furniture as not only bases but also weapons, attempted to "capture" each other. When all but one player on a certain team had been caught then that player was forced to forfeit and hand over their weaponry and fort. After these games they usually had a celebration "feast", which was more often than not ice cream and cookie sundaes. Mrs. Hanson did not much care for the game, however because:

1) it left her house an absolute mess and

2) the kids always spoiled their dinners with those elaborate sundaes.

"Shall we begin?" Isaac asked from his place on the floor, cocking an uncertain eyebrow at his younger siblings.

"By all means, please do Isaac dearie." Jessie teased in her amazingly good impression of "Mrs. Doubtfire."

Taylor snorted and stifled a giggle. Isaac rolled his eyes heaven-ward as if to say, "Now what, God?" Jessie tapped Zac's bottom and he sat up quickly.

"Oh you wicked, wicked monkey!" he squealed, not missing a beat. Taylor went into a fit of giggles, laying back against the cushions with a "FLOOMPH!" and laughing so hard his face turned red. This set Jessie and Zac giggling too, while Isaac tried to reprimand them but couldn't help chuckling a little himself.

When they had settled down a few minutes later, Isaac tried again. "Ok, let's say...Zac, you start," he ordered.

Zac looked surprised at being picked to go first. "Um, uh, well, uh." Zac paused, staring blankly at his hands. He really hadn't read that much of the book, but he couldn't tell that to his brothers. They would be so mad at him. And he knew their mom would be disappointed and Jessie would tease him forever just because he didn't want to read the stupid, stupid book.

"Zac?" Isaac questioned him. Zac could hear in his voice that his older brother was not very pleased about the hold up. Zac couldn't bring himself to look into his brother's face for fear of seeing anger or something akin to it there. Most likely impatience, he supposed.

"Um, I don't think Annie's such a bad person," Zac responded tentatively. This much was true, he thought. She might have been ok if she weren't loony. His siblings groaned as usual. They never seemed to understand why Zac would try and stick up for the psychopaths and killers and all out strange people in the books.

"Zac, how many times have we been over this?" Isaac half sighed, half questioned.

"Yeah really, Zac. You are forever arguing the case of the murderer/whacko in the stories! Give it up bro, they're bad people!" Taylor said emphatically.

"Evil, mean, bad people," Zac added, puckering his lips and bulging his eyes so he looked like a Zac-fish. Then he tried to repeat the last two words with his face like that, but it came out sounding more like "breepreeproor."

"Zac, it isn't funny. You'll grow up to be a scummy lawyer who gets people out of prison sentences they more than deserve or whatever," Jessie added, looking at Zac like she thought he already may be one.

Zac was obviously offended by that remark. "Well excuuuuse me! She seems like she could have been a nice person you know," he grumbled, giving a lock of his hair an angry tug. He often did this, not as emphasis so much as a substitute for striking out at people when they made him angry. He found this way to be much safer and saner, although not quite as fulfilling.

"’Could have been’ doesn't cut it!" Jessie snapped back, her eyes were blazing and it was clear she would not rest until her voice had been heard.

Taylor was busy picking lint off his sweater. He was always uncomfortable during fights. He also wished he had a mirror to see his hair. He was almost positive it was all mussed up after the furniture war. Besides, he had also been rolling on the floor laughing earlier. A sudden thought occurred to him and made him smile. It was his own voice a while ago saying, "Nobody cares about your hair, Ike." Taylor flinched when Jessie broke into these thoughts by pitching her voice up a bit.

"Zac, she killed people! A LOT of people! Some of them were little kids and babies, and did that satisfy her? No! One of the people was her own father, Zac. Her father! The first time she killed people she was my age! The second time she was your age. And when she grew up she kidnapped a famous author and held him captive just so he would write a novel just for her. She amputated his foot with an ax! Where exactly are you seeing possibility here?" Jessie was trying to catch her breath after all that loud "discussing" with Zac.

Zac, meanwhile, looked stricken. As though he had been slapped in the face.

"Don't forget the lawnmower. She killed that rookie cop by running his head over with the lawn mower, remember?" Isaac added. He usually tried not to be so childish, but found it rather amusing to watch the color seep slowly out of Zac's face and the shock mount in his eyes.

"I guess you're right," whispered Zac. He grimaced and looked away, then turned his eyes down to the floor and began the careful task of studying his oldest and most loved pair of togs (sneakers). One was missing the shoelaces and the other only had about half of one. That half was in pretty sorry shape. There were lots of scuff marks on these shoes and a small hole in the upper right side of his left shoe. A tingling slowly began to work its way up Zac's spine and a moment later became a full-fledged shiver.

"Zac, it's ok. It isn't real. Just a book, that's all," Taylor soothed as he gently patted Zac's shoulder.

"I'm not a baby, I'm fine!" Zac said indignantly. He wished he could make himself believe that. Maybe it was just his age, he tried to reason. Maybe people were just more sensitive at thirteen than at any other age. After all, Taylor had been very moody when he was Zac’s age. It was harder for him to remember how Isaac had behaved because when Isaac first became a teenager, Zac had only been eight years old.

"You guys, be nice," Taylor added, looking at them disapprovingly.

"The world isn't a nice place, Taylor. Things like this really happen! All the ti- . . ." Jessie started, but quickly clammed up when Taylor and Isaac both shot her icy looks.

"Enough about the violence, let's talk about the plot," Isaac decided, chewing absently on his thumbnail and glancing at the faces around him thoughtfully.

"Easy," Taylor said, opening his mouth and taking a deep breath before he went on. He frowned and pursed his forehead when he noticed Isaac and Jessie both shaking their heads at him, silently telling him to stop right there. Taylor did. Though he was slightly confused until Isaac turned to Zac and smiled a large, fake smile. Jessie winked at Zac, who looked uneasily, but steadily back at them.

"Why don't you explain the plot, Zac?" Isaac asked, giving Zac a look that said "I'm not really giving you a choice, I'm just putting it in the form of a question to be nice to you in case Mom's listening at the door which she has sometimes been known to do. But if you don't cooperate for me, then perhaps I will loose this ‘smile’ and gentle tone of voice, do I make myself clear?" It had always amazed Zac how much Isaac could say with just a look, and how easily understood those looks were once you got to know him. Creeps!

Zac nervously cleared his throat and began the summary he had pasted together from what he read, what the back of the book said, and what Jessie had told him. "Well, an insane woman named Anne Wilkes kidnaps her favorite author, Paul Sheldon, after he crashes his car 'cause he's drunk. She keeps him at her house for months and makes him write a novel just for her. The whole time no one really even knows he's gone 'cause he doesn't have a family and he likes to disappear where his agent can't find him so no one thinks anything about it. But one day he gets rescued by some cops who had been there before, but didn't find him until then. Even though Annie was already dead by then, because he had killed her," he finished, swallowing hard against the huge lump that had formed in his throat as he remembered Jessie describing Paul shoving wads of paper down Annie's throat and telling her to eat her book all up. Zac shivered again.

"So he did finish it," Taylor marveled. His blue eyes clouded over a little as he sighed and pulled out his wallet. Taylor pulled out a crisp $10 bill that he must have just gotten for allowance and silently forked it over to Isaac who had a glint in his eyes. Isaac stretched his hand out palm up and eagerly accepted the money.

Zac smiled to himself, understanding now why Isaac had been so insistent that he finish the book earlier. Zac got that warm, fluttery feeling he always did when he knew a secret that someone else, like Taylor, didn't. A secret like he had never finished the book, never read more than the second chapter. Zac had no plans to tell, however. He found this prospect fairly amusing.

"So, what were your overall thoughts after finishing this book, everyone?" Isaac asked, wrapping things up as he greedily pocketed Taylor's money. Taylor still looked a little sullen. He was picking at the sweater lint again and scowling.

"I felt really glad that Paul got away safely. I wasn't really scared at all, it was a good book and I loved all the detail and how well it was written," Jessie said.

Isaac nodded his approval. "Taylor?"

"Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug, make ya’ want to holler hi-de-ho!" (You have to read the book to get it.)

Everyone laughed. It felt good for them to laugh after being so serious for a while. It eased the tension in the air after the few little spats that had occurred between them. "Really, Tay. I realize your brain always picks out strange little pieces of stories and commits them to memory. Who knows why, but we need to be serious here ok?" Isaac said, trying to hide a smile.

"Welllllll," Taylor answered slowly, dragging out the “L” for all it was worth so he could think for a moment first. "I guess it made me think about myself. I mean, I've got obsessive fans and if one day I were to get drunk off of my a- uh, my butt," he glanced at Jessie who smiled sweetly.

"Well, so that could happen to me, you know? It's just kind of weird-" Everyone groaned. Taylor rolled his eyes at them and went on, "Ok, so I guess we'll just say it made me think is all," he finished, looking rather deflated.

Isaac nodded and tried to let this seep into his brother’s brain to see if he could agree with at least a little of it. "Yeah," he finally agreed, mentally checking off some unknown part of the prior statement by Taylor. Everyone then turned to Zac, waiting for his little speech.

Zac had a faraway look in his eyes, like his mind was a million miles away from his body. He answered slowly and purposefully, almost in a trance-like state. "I saw a deer run across our yard this morning around 6:30. It made me think about life and how special that is.” Then his face fell. "And then it ran out into the street right in front of a car. I thought about all the dead deer you see along the highway and how all of them used to be little bambi deer with spots on their backs and mommies and all," he paused to take a breath. By now Zac had gathered everyone's undivided attention, and they waited with baited breath while he continued.

"Somehow the car swerved just right and the deer ran just right, because they only freeze if they are blinded by the headlights and this time it was half daylight so it wouldn't have been and the deer got away without a scratch on him. But I'll bet he looks both ways next time before crossing the road. I guess that's when I really understood the meaning of this story," Zac finished.

The room was silent for a moment as they all thought this over. Zac saw very clearly that no one quite understood what he was trying to say, but they weren't going to tell him so, he was sure of that. "Wow. I'm impressed, I guess we underestimate you a lot Zac," Isaac said finally.

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, but he sure showed us."

Jessie opened her mouth to comment, and probably point out the fact that no one knew what the heck Zac was talking about. But at just that moment both of their parents walked into the room. Zoë was whimpering on Mrs. Hanson’s left hip. "Here," she said and handed Zoë over to Isaac, “Avie and Mackie just went over to Ashley’s for awhile.”

Mr. Hanson began, “Hey guys . . . Your mom and I didn’t want you to read this book at first, because it sort of hit almost too close to home with the Fanatic thing, etc. But then we thought, ‘This might be a good forum for the guys and Jessie (He winked at his oldest daughter.) to talk about this, sometimes scary aspect of fame.’”

Their mom agreed, “Right. This is all just part of our decision to see how far we can take the music. I mean everything has its darker side, along with all the fun. But we thought we’d give you guys a chance to let us know how you’re feeling after our trip to, eh, Albertane.” She smiled.

Isaac looked at Taylor, who was leaned back staring out the window, but then glanced at his older brother as if to answer his questioning look. Zac leaned forward to stare intently at the carpet, but was the first to speak.

Zac made his voice sound goofy, almost sarcastic, “It was -- terrible!”

Isaac chuckled, then added, “Yeah.” His voice switched to a more serious tone, “You guys know it was a lot of fun for us mostly, but there’s always that element of . . . hmmm . . . knowing that people are just dying for something from you that is so, yeah, beyond what you can humanly give them.”

Zac confessed, “I kept having these dreams where I was surrounded by people who kept closing in on me – grabbing – and all I was doing was passing out drumsticks, passing out drumsticks, passing out drumsticks . . .” He began to talk as if in a trance.

Taylor teased, “Zac, you’re making me hungry. Ike, KFC run?” They grinned at each other.

Mrs. Hanson gently pursued the topic, “Tay, what about you, hon?”

Taylor paused, then spoke, “I don’t know,” he made a swirling motion with his hands and arms. “It’s just all mixed together. Like – whoa! – here we are in front of all these people who are singing along and clapping and . . . “ he squinted a smile, “basically, ‘up on their feet’ when out of nowhere – BAM! – you can see guards having to hold people back, taking their cameras and stuff.”

This caused Isaac to remember, beginning to understand his brother’s comment from their earlier conversation, “I don’t know . . . those girls that climbed the fire escape in New York, those people who spend the night on the sidewalk to attend a press conference . . . . that’s all just BEYOND you somehow . . . “

Zac decided to quote Taylor from an interview, “It’s just that you’re in a band – not having to do with you personally. Tay?”

Taylor brightened when he heard his own words repeated by Zac, “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

Zac looked around to see if anyone caught what just happened, “Uh, you didn’t?” Jessica giggled, having listened to her brothers’ interviews on numerous occasions, more than she could keep track of. This “Taylor remark” was one of his favorites.

Taylor continued, ignoring whatever joke Zac and Jessica shared, “This book is really just like reading about extreme behavior you might find anywhere. I mean, it’s like hearing about those kids who go wacko and kill people at school – if you’re a teacher . . . “

Isaac decided to finish his brother’s thought, “. . . exactly, you might be like, ‘Yikes, now that’s freaky.’ But it can’t mess you up to the point where you stop doing what you love to do.”

They all took a moment to look at their father, “Although, unintentionally, what you guys are doing seems to bring out fringe behavior in some fans, whereas teachers don’t necessarily encourage that kind of thing.”

Their mother, having spent time in front of a classroom as a teacher, added with a smile, “That’s not what some students would have their parents believe.”

“Dad, I just think the fact that we’re in it together, surrounded by the people who we know REALLY care about us – it helps with the craziness,” Isaac returned to the issue.

“That’s what you guys pay me for . . . Kidding,” their father began to shield himself as if the guys would attack him.

Zac, with a conspiratorial tone, “Hey, should we give Dad a Christmas bonus?”

“Would you guys do me favor and add a clause to your manager’s contract about NOT riding his motorbike over 25 mph?” their mother chuckled and gave her husband an amused look.

Her husband mirrored her teasing tone, “It just feels so good to be back home and able to ride those bad boys again.” The guys looked at each other and stifled laughs at their father’s reference to the motorbikes. Jessica joined in the “look.” Although she had remained silent throughout this conversation, she knew that her brothers’ fame was an issue that belonged to her as well.

Realizing that the baby was still fussing, Mrs. Hanson said, “Isaac, would you mind changing Zoë and getting her a bottle? Thanks, honey. Here's the changing things." She turned to her daughter leaning against the couch at her feet, "Jessie, baby, so what did you think of the book?” She absently began to braid her daughter’s long locks.

“I think it was good,” Jessie replied, keeping her head still, so as to not disturb her mother’s handiwork. “A little boring in some parts, but sort of . . . captivating? I think that’s a good word for it.”

“Well, it is sort of vulgar at times,” Isaac pointed out, tickling his littlest sister while looking for a place to change her.

“It was thought-provoking,” Taylor added, not to be shown up by his siblings. “It was a little vulgar, like Ike said, but then again most good books are. Besides, even Zac read the whole thing so it wasn’t that bad.”

“Taylor,” Isaac said in a warning voice, wondering what had gotten into Taylor to make him act like this today. Normally he was much more supportive.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Zac growled, giving one of his blond locks an angry tug.

“Hey Ike, why do you STILL read the books when you’re out of school?” Taylor asked, trying to change the subject.

“You didn’t answer me! I’m no baby, you know that? Sue me for not liking the freakin’ book!” Zac threw his arms up in an exaggerated gesture of surrender.

“Zachary, enough!” Mr. and Mrs. Hanson gave both Zac and Taylor a stern look. Their mother continued, “You boys behave. Isaac, what are your thoughts on this assignment?” She accented the last word so that Zac and Taylor both cringed, knowing the comment was made to remind them they had better behave.

Isaac examined the hair on his knuckles for a moment before looking up into his mother’s eyes, “I guess I thought, ‘Oh good, no report for me’ – to answer both yours and Taylor’s questions.” He smirked.

Mrs. Hanson couldn’t hide a grin. She made sure to sound cheerful as she said, “Well then, let me just assign everyone else theirs and you can be on your way.”

THE END

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