He had sat by the door for something like 3 hours. He didn't want them up when he came in, he didn't want to run into a pissed off Jeremy or a sad sister. The door silently opened. Pushing the wood door in, he realized he was as cold as the night outside, and the house was nice and warm. He went to the sofa, sat down and stared straight ahead.

Zac knew that he needed to talk to someone. Unfortunatly, he didn't feel comfortable doing it. He wished he wasn't un-normal. He wished he could go to class and answer every question outloud. He wished he could tell his family why he felt so bad about everything. He wished his problems would go away.

He wanted something that would take all that away. Liquor. He had been completley clean from the stuff for over a year. Hell, he was only 12 now, but he had a problem previously. Dorin drank some, but nothing like what Zac had done, nothing even close. Zac remembered seeing liquor under the counter, Dorin's stash. That's what he wanted. He walked to the cupboard and opened the door. There it sat. Almost 2 liters of Tequila. Sure, it was strong stuff, but he could handle it. He grabbed the bottle. Eying it cautiously, he took the cap off. Smelled damn good. He looked around, there, in the corner. Behind the kitchen table in the corner, he could sit and be comfortable. He crawled under and sat hunched up. Cozy he thought. And so it began. Zac's cure to all his problems. Temporarlily anyway. He felt it surge through his body. He felt warm.

"WHERE THE HELL IS HE!!"

"Mey, chill ok, we'll find him."

Jeremy walked to the kitchen to call the police, see if he had been caught doing anything he shouldn't have. He was just about to pick up the phone when he saw a sight much too familiar.

"Mey! Stop yelling, you'll wake him up."

Mercy ran to the kitchen, looking at her brother, she suddenly sighed.

"Damn, what the hell was he thinking."

Dorin walked into the kitchen. Zac lay on the floor in the corner, curled up like a small child. He was shivering, and his blonde hair was drapped over his eyes and nose, like curtains. The empty bottle on the ground next to him disapointed all of his siblings.

Dorin walked to Zac. He had an urgency to touch him. Stroke his face, touch his hair. Dorin reached out, touching Zac's hair and smoothing it down. It was soft, very healthy, very smooth, like baby hair. He stroked Zac's cheek with the back of his hand. What innocence? Dorin knew Zac was anything but, but he also knew that Zac's quote un quote corruption was due to the life that had been givin to them. Dorin felt Zac's forehead. It was extremely warm. Not unusual, Zac hadn't had liquor for over a year, so the fact that he was a little sick from it made Dorin somewhat proud.

As Jeremy and Mercy watched, Dorin lifted his cold brother from the floor. He was feather light. So young. He carried him to the sofa and laid him down, covering him with a blanket.

"Zac's staying home for today. Lets go."

Mercy and Jeremy looked at eachother. Shrugging their shoulders they picked up their lunches and walked out of the house. Zac sleeping soundly and peacfully.

At school, Mercy, Jeremy and Dorin had sat down together. They were now forming a plan to handle their brother.

"Mercy, when we get home, after I start talking to him, you are going to go out and sit on the lawn. Jeremy, the second you step in the house, go to your room. This way he has to stay in the house and he can't lock the door. Things might get ugly guys, so if you think that I'm going out of my way, I want you to step in. He's your little brother too."

Mercy nodded in agreement.

"K Door. You aren't gonna, like, hurt him or anything are you?"

Jeremy looked at Mercy. She knew as well as he did that the conversation that would consist between Dorin and Zac would not be pleastant. One of those conversations that you wished you could forget, but not one you were going to. He knew that last night at dinner the reason Zac was so cool and calm was because he had a beating in mind. That's how he got, very quiet. He had told this to Dorin who had come up with the idea that if Zac was going to ask for it, he was going to get it, not otherwise though. They hadn't said anything to Mercy, she would worry herself all day. This was between Door and Jem, just the part about the beating thing. Dorin had told Jeremy what he had thought and they had decided this was the best thing.

Dorin looked at his sister.

"Mey, I can't say anything ok. I'm not going to purposfully hurt him."

It was decided. Zac needed to learn to listen, stop with this attitude, they had to take a stand. Now was as good a time as any. It would start after school. Zac would listen, Dorin was sure of that, and he would respon. He better.