Taylor was standing in his kitchen cooking a large spread of food. His Mom was sitting on the couch, staring blankly forward as Baba Hengates by Mtume Umoja Ensemble was playing on the vinyl record player.
Taylor danced around as he cooked rice, fish, vegetables, and a spicy glaze all at the same time. Taylor continued to dance and cook as he looked over at his Mom with a smile. His body was mostly back to normal, only looking a bit thinner than it did before but still enough that she wouldn’t notice…hopefully.
Taylor continued to dance when he could feel his body starting to shake. He looked down while his hands were shaking violently, tossing a wooden spoon quite far against the wall. He clenched his fists tightly to try and make his body stop, but it was vibrating in place very quickly.
His entire body continued to shake and vibrate hard, but then a loud popping sound snapped him back to normal.
He turned to see the spicy glaze was popping and boiling, so he quickly turned off the heat and grabbed the wooden spoon to spin it around.
“Is everything alright sweetie?” His Mom asked from the couch.
“Yeah, just zoned out for a bit. It should still be good.” Taylor said in a cheery tone, but his face was straight and perplexed.
He plated two plates of rice with two pieces of fish on each pile, vegetables piled on top in a beautiful looking array, then he poured the glaze slowly on top, making a professional looking dish.
He carried both plates carefully to the table and sat them down before making his way over to his Mom.
“Alright Mom, ready to get up?” He asked as he softly held her arms.
She smiled blindly up at him as she tried her best to stand, but Taylor had to keep her balance for her.
Taylor smiled as he began to slow dance with his Mom as the music played. She smiled wide and softly laughed.
“Oh Taylor, you are such a wonderful dancer.” She said while laughing.
Taylor smiled and made his way over to the table, pulling her chair out and helping her sit down before pushing her in to be close to the table. He put the fork in her hand and guided it to the pile of food, letting her collect everything before taking a bite.
“My Taylor…this is incredible.” She said with a proud smile.
Taylor smiled just as wide and sat across from her, eating his own food rather quickly.
“Thank you. I made sure to add that secret ingredient you’ve always told me about.” Taylor said as he was quickly downing all of his food.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrTJ9e1t5tD
“Oh yeah? Remind me what that ingredient is.” She said in a joking tone.
“Love of course.” Taylor said back.
They both softly laughed and were smiling wide as the music faded out, the vinyl record ending as Taylor looked over at it.
He stood up and prepared to walk over, but instead he quickly appeared across the room in a single second.
He stared confused as he felt a small but violent gust of wind smash against his back, nearly sending him falling forward. All of the furniture shifted and the things lining the walls all smashed against it.
Taylor turned to look back at the table confused while his Mom was wiping her head.
“Did you leave the window open?” She asked.
“Yeah…I’ll close it.” Taylor replied as he looked at the record player.
He still looked very confused and perplexed before he removed the vinyl record, sliding it into its sleeve before walking back across the room and pretending to shut the window.
“Thank you sweetie.” She said as she went back to eating her food.
Taylor felt his stomach rumble and growl as he groaned, going back to his own plate and shoveling the remaining bites into his mouth, not letting even a single crumb stay on his plate.
Taylor sat in his seat, his stomach still grumbling as he looked at his Mom. She was eating very slowly, taking a few pieces of food with every bite and chewing for multiple seconds before slowly taking more. Taylor stared at her plate of food as his stomach continued to grumble.
Taylor covered his mouth as he groaned and quickly but quietly made his way to the kitchen, opening cabinets to see whatever other food they had. He didn’t want to cook more and draw suspicion, but there was very little pre-made food.
Taylor finally found a box full of granola bars, ripping the cardboard open and ripping open each bar, shoving them into his mouth and chewing quite messily.
As he ate, Taylor could feel his body growing. It was like every bite added muscle to his frame as he kept eating, but once it was back to his normal size it stopped.
“What is going on with me?” Taylor whispered to himself as he finished the bars.
“Sweetie?” He heard his Mom ask.
Taylor made his way over to see her plate about half eaten.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxZGQ3fUtAA
“It’s lovely but it's so much…would you like the rest?” She asked.
Taylor was breathing quite hard but quiet as he looked down at the food taunting him. His stomach grumbled again, but not as loud as before.
“I’ll wrap it up so you can have it later if you want.” Taylor said with a loving smile, taking the plate.
“I would like that. You’re such a sweetheart.” She said as her hand weakly went to rest on his cheek.
Taylor smiled and kept holding the plate as he stared into her blank, white eyes.
“I’ll help you get in bed when I’m done with this.”35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBsbsNbNZt
Taylor kissed her hand before walking to the kitchen. He took the remaining food and placed it inside a cracked glass container and then wrapped flimsy and cheap plastic wrap around it. Taylor quickly opened the refrigerator and placed it on a mostly empty shelf, then went to his Mom and carefully helped her to her feet. He held her arms and very slowly led her towards her bedroom, pushing the door open for her and then sitting her on her bed, helping her slowly lay down and shifting the blanket around to lay on top of her.
After the blanket was pulled on top of her, she closed her eyes and softly groaned as if the weight of the blanket was too much. Her arms struggled to lift up from under the thin fabric, Taylor having to pull them out for her before laying the blanket back on top. She wasn’t in severe pain, but she was trapped under the blanket.
“I’ll go get your medicine.” Taylor sat her up before heading to the bathroom, opening the mirror to reveal at least thirty different medicine bottles. He opened about half of them and collected the pills in his hand, carrying them to the kitchen and grabbing a small plate, then a glass to fill with water. He carried all of them to the bedroom and sat them nicely on the nightstand next to his Mom, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding her hand.
“You’re too sweet Taylor…you should go out sometimes.” She said with a smile.
“I have to get you your meds, otherwise you won’t remember to take them.” Taylor said.35Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcBJKGiyMmH
“You don’t need to take care of me so much. You need to go out and do teenage things. Make friends, start dating, go to parties and get in trouble.” His Mom said with a soft chuckle and smile.
“But…what about you Mom?” Taylor asked as he gripped her hand tighter.
“I’ve been like this since you were born. I think my time was years ago, but you’ve just been taking care of me.” She said with a smile.
“Mom, I’m not letting you go. I still need you.” Taylor said, feeling a tear begin to form in his eyes.
“You don’t need me. You are a smart, athletic, handsome, talented, and kind man. You should go share that with the world.”
Taylor and his Mom sat in silence, holding each other’s hand softly. Taylor opened his mouth to speak, yet nothing came out.
“Promise me you’ll take the next chance to go to a party, or go out with your friends?” She asked.
Taylor nodded softly.
“Alright. I promise Mom.” Taylor said.
He helped his Mom take every pill one by one, and helped her raise the glass to sip water after each pill. Once she took them all, the glass was empty and Taylor slowly laid her down all the way on her back.
“Are you comfortable?” Taylor asked.
“Yes…thank you sweetie.”
Her eyes very slowly closed as she near instantly fell asleep.
Taylor sat with her for a few more seconds, then slowly got up. He made his way to the door, stepping through then pulling it until it was about to close, stopping so it stayed open for easy access.
Taylor made his way over to the record player, turning the volume down before grabbing another record to put on.
Controversy by Prince began to play, loud enough for Taylor to hear from the kitchen but not loud enough to disrupt his Mom sleeping. Taylor cleaned the sink and sang along with the song, his hands scrubbing the pots and pans.
His hand suddenly began to become a blur as the sponge scraped the pan. He looked confused as he could see a subtle green glow wherever he was looking. He suddenly stopped, lifting the sponge up to see it had been grinded down to half the thickness. He looked down at the pan, which had a few layers of it scrapped away and smeared on the stainless steel.
“Shit…” Taylor whispered to himself as he put the pan down into the sink, staring at it unsure of what to do to fix it.
As Taylor looked down at his hands, he focused and concentrated hard. They began to shake, going faster and faster until they were blurry and unclear.
As he watched his hands vibrate, he looked down at his arms and could see the muscle slowly fading away. He made his hands stop, and his arms were skinnier than before. His muscles had all grinded down and disappeared. He looked around again for food, but there was hardly any left. He sighed as his arms slowly lowered onto the counter, staring at the slender limbs while his stomach began to grumble again.
Taylor reached over and lifted his shirt up to show his abs. The slightly defined abs were shrunken in and tight, the six pack only slightly more defined and visible as he breathed in and out.
Taylor closed his eyes, concentrating and breathing in deeper and faster as he thought, his eyes squinting tightly as he tried to figure out what was happening to him.
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