Finding Taylor

Later that day, Bonnie snuck out of her bedroom to search for answers from Taylor. She rode her skateboard across town and looked down every alleyway and outlet along the way.

“Dang it, how hard is it to find a homeschooled graffiti artist?” Bonnie asked herself. “Wow, that sounded a lot lamer aloud than it did in my head.”

Bonnie continued to explore the streets of Pierview until she found Taylor riding across the sidewalk on his skateboard. She quickly skateboarded in Taylor’s direction through the crowd of people between them.

“Hey, Taylor!” Bonnie yelled.

“You again?” Taylor asked over his shoulder before he skated away from Bonnie.

"Hey, wait up!” she shouted.

Taylor continuously brushed his feet on the ground, propelling him further and further from his pursuer.

"Dude, I just want to talk!” Bonnie screamed.

Taylor continued to distance himself with each stroke. He was nervous to talk to Bonnie after what happened yesterday at the docks. Taylor turned down the alleyway on his right that led down a flight of stairs with a metal railing in the middle. Taylor easily hopped on the rail with his skateboard. He brushed the tips of his fingers across the railing and froze it behind him as he slid down. The metal exploded a few seconds later and turned into particles.

When Bonnie arrived at the flight of stairs, she stared at the shattered metal railing. It was nearly impossible to keep up with his pace.

"Not going to lie, that’s cool,” Bonnie shrugged.

Taylor hid on the right side of the building away from Bonnie’s line of sight.

"Hopefully, that will get her off my back,” Taylor said to himself.

However, just as he had said those words, Taylor used his enhanced hearing to detect Bonnie’s skateboard rolling closer to him.

“Damn it! This girl won’t quit,” Taylor complained. He turned and skated off to an abandoned industrial park as Bonnie slowly followed. She noticed Taylor was about to take a left turn that led to a dead end.

“Got you now,” Bonnie said and sped towards the industrial park.

As Taylor reached the cross point between three buildings in the industrial park, he pointed his hands at the ground and released two massive pillars of aquatic energy that propelled him up five stories to the roof of the middle building.

“No way she’ll be able to find me now,” Taylor said as he packed his skateboard into his backpack and walked off.

Bonnie reached the dead-end, but Taylor was nowhere to be found.

" Are you kidding me?!,” Bonnie exclaimed as she climbed off her skateboard. She looked down and noticed a receipt for spray paint.

“This place must be where he bought all his graffiti paint,” she smirked and looked up at the sky. “See you soon, waterboy!”

Believing that he had finally escaped Bonnie, Taylor climbed through his bedroom window later that afternoon. He plopped on his bed with a sigh of relief.

“Finally got rid of that chick,” Taylor sighed. A loud knock on his door interrupted his peace.

“Hey, Doofus, open up! It’s me,” Eliza said.

“Speaking of annoying chicks,” Taylor muttered and rolled off his bed. He opened the door and his rather aggravated sister stood with her arms folded and a newspaper in her hand.

“Look, Liz, if you are worried about that Kaiju that attacked, relax. I took care of it,” Taylor said nonchalantly.

“What Kaiju?” she demanded.

“I’m guessing John didn’t tell you about the little incident,” Taylor squirmed. “Relax, Liz, no one knew I was there. No one saw the Kaiju. I was able to get out of there before anyone caught on. You can rest assured that I’m still the invisible freak that I’ve always been.”

“First off, you’re not a freak,” Eliza corrected, “and second, that’s not why I came here. I needed to show you this.” Elisa slammed the newspaper on Taylor’s desk. The headline was “Local Amateur Artist Defiles Town Landmark”.

Taylor replied, “How could anyone seriously call that dump a landmark? I mean no one even comes to this backwater town!”

“The point is that what you did just brought a lot more attention to us.”

“Us? Are you serious?” Taylor asked. “Half the town doesn’t even know I exist. While you are off being Miss Straight-A honor roll student at the police academy, I am stuck here on twenty-four-hour house arrest. So, if I need to have a little expression outside of this house, sue me!”

Eliza walked towards her brother and gently wrapped her arms around him as they both sat on his bed.

"Listen, Taylor, I can only imagine how hard this is for you. Because of what you are, you’ve been homeschooled since you were five.”

“I know, I know,” Taylor interrupted. “It was Mom’s suggestion before she passed away.”

“I know you miss her,” Eliza said. “I miss her too.”

“You’re allowed to go out in the world and do stuff without having a leash,” Taylor added. “The only way I deal with stuff is by painting. Frankly, this place is a little too small for that.”

“I get that, Taylor, seriously I do. I still remember when Mom would take you out of the house to explore the city. I also remember her teaching you all about mythical creatures and how to paint them. So, I get why you need to do that type of stuff. But, for the people who are still here and who love you, please stop. This type of stuff just brings the wrong kind of attention.”

Taylor clutched his hands and fought back the welling tears. “Look, I’m not going to stop painting. But I will try to keep it on paper,” he answered.

“Or you can try it on canvas,” Elisa said as she pulled out an 8 x 11 canvas from the hallway. “I stopped by that old art store two blocks from here. I thought it might help you relax.”

“Thanks, sis,” Taylor said and hugged her. 

Eliza hopped off Taylor’s bed and walked out to the door then turned around and said, “You should thank your girlfriend.”

“Wait, girlfriend?” Taylor asked.

“Yeah, I met her at that art store Kelly’s. She came to drop off a few art things for you. I was going to tell you after we had this little talk. She should be still waiting downstairs.” 

Taylor quickly ran down the stairs to see who his supposed girlfriend was. Taylor barely spoke to girls except for his sister. He stormed down to the landing and saw Bonnie drinking a cup of water and holding two of his spray cans.

“Hey, Taylor,” Bonnie smirked. “You forgot these.”