Remember Me
(Disclaimer: I do not know Hanson nor do I claim to know them. The way I portray them in this story is not what I think they are like, it is just a story. I am not writing this with the permission of Hanson, I am not writing it for profit. I wrote it mearly for fun and for the enjoyment of those who chose to read it.. Everything in the story beside the Hanson family is fictional, any resemblance to anybody is a coincidence. If I left anything important out I am sorry. Please do not copy this story without my permission.)
PART I
It was early Saturday morning and the hit group known as Hanson was back home for the first time in almost six months.
"It's sure good to be home," Taylor commented as the family of eight sat down at the kitchen table, "touring is great but it sure takes alot outta you."
"I know what you mean." Isaac replied as he buttered his pancakes, "Could you please pass the syrup Jessie?"
"Sure." Jessie eagerly answered, "By the way Zac, you got a phone call last night from Lucy, but you were asleep and Mom said not to wake you."
"Geez," Zac muttered through a mouthful of waffles, "she's so annoying. I can never get a moment of peace when she's around."
Mackenzie laughed when he saw the face that his older brother Zac was making.
"Now Zac, Lucy's a very nice girl." said their mother, Diane, "I want you to be nice to her."
"Yeah," chimed in Taylor, "she gave you the inspiration for the song 'Lucy'."
"Only the name!" Zac shouted as he jumped up from the table.
"Whoa...." Isaac said in surprise of his younger brothers sudden outburst, "Zac, take it easy, their just kidding. I'll tell you what, why don't I take you and Tay to the mall after we eat. We all need some new clothes after touring for six months."
"That's a good idea Isaac," said their father, Walker Hanson, "but are you sure you'd be up to fighting off all the girls that will be there?"
Zac, who was really eager to go to the mall, spoke up.
"We can wear sunglasses, and hats, and really, really long coats, and we'll talk in really deep voices, except for Isaac, he can talk really high and squeaky like he sucked in to much helium, and then we'll..."
Isaac cut him off, "Zac, I think we'll just wear hats. If we dressed like that then everybody would think we were spies or something."
"But that's the point, who wants to mess with top secret undercover government agents?" Zac said as he tried to defend his logic.
"Actually," Taylor jumped in, "I promised Amy Sabec that I'd come over and help her with some song lyrics."
"Isn't that Madeline's older sister?" asked Avery.
"Yeah, that's her." answered Taylor, "You two can just go without me, I'll have mom take me tonight or something."
"Okay. Are you almost ready to go Zac?"
"Sure!" Zac yelled as he shoved the last of his waffle into his mouth, "Jusht le mm ge ma shous aw!"
"What!?" Isaac asked in confusion.
Zac hurried and swallowed his food.
"I said, 'Just let me get my shoes on'. I'll be back in an MMMBop!" Zac hollered as he ran into their room to grab his sneakers.
"Strange kid, wonder where he got it from." Walker commented.
Diane just rolled her eyes and laughed.
PART II
After Zac finally found his shoes hidden in the closet, Isaac took him to the mall.
"Well Prozac, where do you want to go first? Shopping or the arcade?" Isaac inquired as he eyed the music store.
Before Zac answered, Isaac started laughing when he saw a six-by-three foot poster promoting their CD, Hanson: Middle Of No Where.
"How 'bout the food court?" Zac asked with pleading eyes.
"The food court? We just ate breakfast! Don't tell me your still hungry!" Isaac said in disbelief.
"Oh fine, let's go to the arcade." Zac said giving in.
As soon as they got to the arcade Zac headed straight for the candy machine.
While Isaac was waiting for Zac he spotted one of their friends standing by the fire exit..
"Hey Zac, Julie's here." Isaac said as he tugged on Zac's sleeve.
"Cool! Where?" Zac shouted as he spun around.
All he saw was the fire exit closing. "She's not here. That wasn't a very nice joke Ike."
"But she was there!" Isaac muttered as he pointed to where he had seen her, "Never mind Zac, I must be exhausted from the tour."
"Whatever Ike."
After an hour or so the duo left to go shopping for new clothes.
When they got to the GAP, Zac suddenly heard someone calling out his name.
"ZAC!! Over here!!"
Zac and Isaac turned around and saw Lucy Cole walking towards them.
"Hi Zac, hi Isaac. I called earlier but Tay said that you weren't home. I wanted to know if you wanted to go roller-blading. Well do ya? We could go down to the park or something." Lucy said slightly out of breath.
"Umm......Lucy, I don't feel like roller-blading right now." Zac said as he fibbed to get out of spending time with Lucy.
"Zac," Lucy asked in a questioning tone, "are you trying to avoid me or something? I mean, you always feel like roller-blading."
By now Zac was thoroughly annoyed with Lucy and all he wanted was to just get rid of her.
"Of course I'm trying to avoid you! You are the most annoying girl I know, and I know quite a few girls. You never leave me alone, you follow me everywhere, your always calling my house. I never even asked to be your friend, I don't even want to be your friend for petes sake! Just leave me alone!"
"What?" Lucy cried out in astonishment.
"You heard me! Now leave!" Zac yelled again.
Lucy just stood there for a moment before she whispered 'good-bye' and turned her back and ran out before Zac could see the tears falling from her eyes.
Isaac just stood there in amazement as he tried to figure out what had gotten into his normally cheerful brother.
"What are you looking at?" Zac snapped at his older brother.
"Maybe we should go home Zac." Isaac said, still in shock
PART III
When they got back home Zac ran and locked himself in their room.
As Zac laid on the bed, lyrics from the song 'Lucy' flooded his mind.
'The day I left Lucy
A tear fell from her eye
Now I don't have nobody, and I was such a fool
On the day I left Lucy.
The day I left Lucy she cried, then said goodbye
Now it's done, and it's over, and I am all alone
On the day I left Lucy'
Zac quickly dismissed any thoughts of Lucy.
"I don't like her that way, I never have and never will." Zac told himself.
But in his head he knew better than that.
Zac heard someone knocking at the door and jumped up while acidently knocking over Isaac's LEGO house.
"Zac, it's me, Tay. Can I come?" Taylor asked in a slightly muffled voice.
Slowly he got up to open the door, "Are you alone?" Zac questioned.
"Yeah."
When Zac opened the door Taylor walked in with a concerned look on his face. "Are you ok Zac? I heard what happened at the mall. When I was at Amy's Lucy came to get Madeline and she was really upset over something. Amy asked her what was wrong and she told us the whole story and then she left with Madeline to go roller-blading at the park. Why'd you go off like that?"
"I don't know. She's just really getting on my nerves. I guess I was a little hard on her wasn't I?" Zac admitted.
"A little? When she came in the house the first thing I thought of was the song 'Lucy'. I mean, she was bawling." Taylor said.
"Really? Maybe I should go find her and apologize. But I don't want to go by myself." Zac said in genuine concern.
"I'll go with you, and I'm sure Isaac would love to come along." Taylor said, glad that Zac was showing some common sense.
Zac and Taylor soon got Isaac and left on their roller-blades in order to find Lucy and Madeline.
PART IX
As Isaac, Taylor, and Zac made their way through the park they noticed two police cars and an ambulance parked on the other side of the road in front of a pizza parlor.
"Let's go find out what happened." Isaac suggested.
Carefully they made their way across the street.
As they drew closer they noticed Lucy sitting next to her blades on the curb. They could see her shoulders shaking with hysteria.
"Oh my gosh!!" Taylor screamed when he noticed who's body it was sprawled on the street, "Madeline!!"
"What?" Zac asked in confusion.
"Look!" Taylor said in a shaky voice as he pointed at the body.
When Zac and Isaac looked they realized it was their friend Madeline.
She was laying on her back covered with blood and it was obvious that something major had happened.
Isaac went to the nearest police officer and asked what happened. When he came back he didn't have good news.
"Apparently Madeline got hit by a car as she was crossing the street to get some pizza. They said the only thing Lucy will say is that Madeline had been right behind her and when she turned around she was laying on the ground. It was a hit-and-run accident, no witnesses either. They're getting ready to take her to the hospital right now. They're not sure if she'll make it through the night."
"She can't die! She's to young!" Zac started to scream, "It's not true! This can't be happening!" Zac broke into uncontrollable sobs.
Isaac reached over and wrapped his arms protectively around Zac and Taylor as they all tried to face the reality of what they had just been told.
Lucy looked up and saw the three of them standing there. Slowly she pulled herself up off the ground and walked over to them.
Isaac noticed Lucy standing there and without even a second thought he pulled her into their hug.
The four of the just stood there in a silent embrace until long after everyone else was gone.
"I guess......I guess we should get going." Lucy said after her tears had slowed.
"Yeah, I suppose that's a good idea." Taylor added, "Isaac, why don't you take Lucy home and me an' Zac will go talk to Mom and Dad."
"Ok, I'll catch up with you guys later." Isaac said in a voice that was still slightly muffled by the nearly silent sobs of the group.
Zac left clinging onto Taylor's arm as they walked back home on foot.
Isaac left carrying Lucy, who had just fallen asleep in his arms.
PART X
The next few days were a whirlwind of activity as everybody from the Hanson, Sabec, and Cole family gathered together to comfort each other.
Zac tried to talk to Lucy so he could apologize for the way he had acted in the mall but Lucy wouldn't even talk to him.
On Tuesday morning Taylor went to get the newspaper.
The top headline immediately got his attention: Madeline Sabec, 12, died after hit and run accident.
Taylor frantically pulled out the paper and started reading, the story went on to tell about how the accident happened, and how Madeline was a wonderful girl and that she would be missed greatly.
Isaac stuck his head out the door to see what was taking Taylor so long. As soon as he saw Taylors face he knew what had happened.
Isaac didn't say anything, he just went back inside to break the news to his family.
The next two day were spent getting ready for the funeral.
On Thursday they had the viewing for Madeline and Friday was the day of the funeral.
Bright and early Friday morning the friends and family of Madeline gathered to say goodbye.
Madeline's older sister Amy walked over to the casket and placed a single rose on top of all the others that were already there.
As Isaac watched her suddenly a thought came to his mind.
"I watched as she laid a single rose,
on what seemed like ten thousand others,
as she prepared to let her go."
The funeral started at ten o'clock, with the Preacher presenting a very moving message.
He talked about how Madeline had lived life to the fullest and even though she was gone
that she was in a place far better than the one she had left.
He talked about how everyone loved Madeline and that life would be different without her, but how she would want us to get on with our lives.
At the very end he called Isaac, Taylor, and Zac to the front of the chapel.
"In closing, these three boys have asked if they could sing a song in memory of Madeline. I saw nothing wrong with that, so without further hesitation, I present to you, Hanson."
Isaac, Taylor, and Zac slowly went into the corner and picked up there instruments.
The three of them just stood there for a moment before Taylor started to play the opening notes of 'With You In Your Dreams'
'If I'm gone when you turn back please don't cry
And if I'm gone when you turn back it's not goodbye
Don't look back at this time as a time of heart
break and distress
Remember me, remember me, 'cause I'll be with
you in your dreams'
They barely managed to get through the whole song without breaking into tears.
When they finished the song not one person hadn't shed a tear.
After the funeral Zac walked over to Lucy in hopes of apologizing.
Before Zac could say anything Lucy started to talk without even looking up at Zac.
"You know, when I heard that noise and turned around only to see Madeline laying in the middle of the road I was so scared, I thought I'd never be able to even say goodbye, I thought she was already dead. When Isaac pulled me into that hug I started thinking, I thought that if I could just say goodbye it wouldn't be so bad. The next day my parents took me to the hospital, I wasn't allowed to go into the room because I'm not part of her family, it tore me apart to see her on that bed hooked up to all those machines." Lucy paused for a moment to wipe the tears off of her face, " I went back on Monday night, it was only about an hour before she died. Amy begged so hard for me to be allowed to go in with her, she knew how much Madeline meant to me. The doctors finally let me go in, she looked so happy to see me. It was hard for her to even breath but she tried so hard to talk to me. She told me that I was the best friend that she ever had, she said she was sorry that she had to leave. I started crying so hard, Amy just put her arms around me and asked Madeline why she said that. Madeline never answered, she just asked us to do her a favor."
"What did she want?" Zac asked in a whisper.
"She wanted us to promise her something, she made us promise to remember her, that we would never forget her, and she told us not to be so sad, that she'd see us later. Then she just shut her eyes. She died a few minutes later. Me and Amy just sat there at the edge of her bed for the longest time." Lucy finally looked up, "Did you want to say something?"
"Well, when I found out that Madeline had died it made me realize something important. When I was yelling at you in the mall I didn't think about how fragile life was. For all I knew, that could of been the last time I'd see you. I don't want to lose anyone without letting them know that I care." Zac stopped to collect his thoughts, "I messed up big time when I got mad at you. Madeline dying made me realize how precious friendships are. I'm really sorry for how I acted. I want to be friends with you, I just didn't know it."
Zac finished and waited for Lucy's response.
"I accept your apology. Friends?" Lucy asked as she held out her hand.
Zac breathed a sigh of relief, "Friends, forever."
Lucy broke out into a big smile, "Let's go join everybody else in saying farewell to Madeline."
"Sounds like a good idea to me."
Zac and Lucy walked hand in hand to the group of people in front of the casket.
Isaac, Taylor, and Amy pulled them into a tight embrace.
Though they were all crying, there was no denying the smiles on their faces as they all said their final goodbye to Madeline Sabec, sister, and friend.
The End Of The Story....
First Way Out.....Stories
One Way Out.....To Home!!!
Another Way.....Alt Realm
Email: kai_yuria@hotmail.com
