the Boyd mansion chapter 1

The rising sun glistened off the wet, perfectly tended grass of the front Yard of the Boyd Mansion, illuminating the flawless lawns and gardens. The mansion itself was also flawless. It was a large three story building made of tan colored bricks, with ivy growing up the sides.1

Inside the mansion there were ten bedrooms, a large library, a spacious dining room, two living rooms, a huge kitchen, a gym, an indoor pool, and a couple dozen other rooms used for offices, game rooms, and many other things.2

The Boyd mansion had a back yard a good three times bigger than the front, with an outdoor pool complete with a waterfall, a slide and a hot tub. There was also a tennis court, a basketball court, a helicopter pad, and more gardens as well as plenty of open lawn perfect for running around and playing in.3

The Boyd mansion was owned by a man named Edward Boyd. Mr. Boyd had a wife Cassie, a sixteen year old daughter Dana, and twin seventeen year old boys named Zachary and Carter.4

Mr. Boys was the CEO of a very big successful monopoly business in On the Eastern Coast of The United States. Mr. Boyd loved money, power fame, and popularity. He had a family only for the benefit of looking like a family man to the press which helped make his business more favorable to the public. His three children were products of his late wife Roseanne, who had died a year ago. Mr. Boyd had wasted no time in finding a new wife, and married six months after his wife's death. Long enough to satisfy the press, but not nearly long enough for his children who hated their step mother and resented their father who they felt didn't care about them. They were not entirely wrong.5

Though he didn't pay much attention to his children Mr. Boyd did want them to be happy. So he showered them with things. TV's, movies, Dana had an unlimited credit card, Carter who was a certified Genius had all his expenses paid for, and had just finished his third year of med school, and Zachary, who was very ill and very frail had the best doctors money could buy, as well as a 24 hour nurse who lived in the bedroom next to his and was always on call.6

But all the big screen TV's in the world, and all the gifts money could buy did not make the Boyd children very happy. What made them most happy was the rare moments the three could spend together playing board games, or just talking. These moments, sadly, did not happen very often. Carter was very busy with med school, Dana was involved in cheerleading and popularity, and Zachary was often so ill that he couldn't talk, much less sit up and play games. Zachary had the best doctors, and they had run a million tests, but still they could not find a way to cure him. It was a miracle that they had managed to keep him alive for so long. It was Zachary's illness that had driven Carter into Med school, and Dana into cheerleading. Carter longed to find a way to save his twin; it had become almost an obsession with him. Dana couldn't care less about cheerleading and popularity, but it did offer a distraction from always thinking about death and illness.7

Carter stood on his balcony watching the sun rise. It was May now; Carter's classes were done for the summer. He had gotten all A's as usual. But the praise from his professors, some of the best medical minds in the country did not satisfy him. Another year had gone by, and he was no closer to saving his brother. Well maybe next year, or the year after... Carter turned away from the sun rise furious at his own inability to protect his family. He HAD to find a way to save Zachary, he just HAD to!8

When Dana entered the kitchen in her bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a towel from her shower she saw Carter sitting at the bar, a bowl of soggy cereal and a cup of cold coffee lay forgotten as he paged furiously through text books and medical journals. It didn't surprise Dana to see her genius brother reading text books during his summer holidays; she knew the burning desire that motivated him.
"Hey Carter, did you sleep at all?" Dana asked sitting on the stool next to him at the bar as the cook Beth brought her a cup of coffee. "What?! Oh, yeah, I slept great." Carter said distractedly. Dana took a sip of coffee to hide her frown. She knew Carter hadn't slept. She had seen him pacing his room when she had come home from a party at four that morning, and it was clear by looking at him that he hadn't slept a wink. But before she could call him on the lie her Father entered the kitchen to get some coffee.9

The Boyd children became very still as they watched their father get a cup of coffee and leave instruction with Beth. As he turned away from the cook he noticed his children for the first time. "I am going away for a few days. Cassie is in charge while I am gone. You are to do as you're told." Mr. Boyd announced. Before he could leave Carter got up and blocked the doorway.10

"How can you leave when Zachary is close to death?" Carter demanded.
"Carter," Mr. Boyd sighed looking at his watch.
"Your SON may die while you are gone, and you don't even care!"
"Carter," Now Mr. Boyd sounded angry.
"I knew it! You DON'T care! You couldn't care less if he lives or dies! You'd probably LIKE it if he died, than you wouldn't have to pay any more doctor bills!"
"Carter Anthony Boyd! That is enough!" Mr. Boyd shouted.
"Do you even know how he is doing? Do you even know what he cares about? No you don't, because you have never once cared. Not once, in the sixteen years he's been sick did you ever check up on him. You don't even know him! He's your SON and you've never even seen him! You're so wrapped up in your own pathetic excuse for a life that you barely even bother to acknowledge that he exists! If he died tonight you wouldn't care! Just like you didn't care when Mom,"
"That is enough!!! You are grounded! Get the H*ll out of my sight!" Mr. Boyd shouted. Carter looked at his father so furious he couldn't even speak. For a moment their eyes met, than Mr. Boyd changed tactics. "Carter, of course I care about Zachary. I love him you know." Mr. Boyd said gently. "Then PROVE it!" Carter snapped. Than Carter turned and stormed out of the kitchen. There was silence for several moments, than Mr. Boyd turned to Dana. "Dianne, you know I love your brother very much." Mr. Boyd said gently. "My name... is...DANA!" Dana hissed furiously. Then she shoved past her father and went off after Carter.
"Well THAT was nicely handled." Cassie said sarcastically from the door way. Mr. Boyd just gave a frustrated sigh and went to his office to prepare for his trip.11

The first place Dana searched for Carter was Zachary's room. The room was painted a pale gold color, and the king bed had a gold comforter on it. There were a fire place, and a big screen TV facing the bed, and amidst the many pillows and satin sheets lay Zachary Boyd. Zachary had light brown hair like Carter, but where Carter's hair was thick and healthy; Zachary's was frail and limp. Carter was tanned, and Zachary was so white in comparison to the Gold colored bed spread and walls that he looked like a ghost. He was extremely skinny, barely more than a skeleton with skin, where Carter was rather muscular. When Dana entered the room Zachary was slumped, his eyes closed, and his hand dangling off the bed. Carter sat next to him in a chair, his head resting on his folded arms on the bed, near Zachary's head.12

"I thought I'd find you here. You know, you could warn me next time you plan to drop a bomb and mention Mom like that." Dana scolded sitting down near Zachary's feet. Carter raised his head slowly. "I'm sorry Dana; I myself didn't know I was going to say anything at all until it was out." Carter mumbled. "Why did you do that anyways? What do you care if he goes away?! He goes away about fifteen times a year. Why does it suddenly bother you?" Dana asked furiously. Carter sighed and glanced at Zachary. "I wanted to see if I could make him feel guilty. Last night Zachary told me that he wished he could meet Dad, before he dies." Carter explained softly. Dana glanced at Zachary. He looked so frail, so ill. Dana felt the all too familiar lump rising in her throat and furiously swallowed hard, she was NOT going to cry! "Well, you didn't need to bring mom up like you did. That REALLY hurt you know!" Dana accused furiously.13

"What did he say about Mom?"
Carter and Dana looked at Zachary startled. They hadn't realized that he was awake. They certainly wouldn't have been talking about what had happened down stairs if they had known. "Hey Zach, how are you doing?" Dana asked gently, trying to change the subject.
"Really tired. Kind of thirsty too. What did Carter say about Mom? How did Dad react?" Zachary replied, his bright green eyes traveling from Carter to Dana. "I'll go fix you a drink." Carter offered starting to get up. "There's no need, my nurse is already doing that." Zachary said with a small smile. 14

"You've been awake the whole time! Why didn't you tell us?" Dana scolded lightly. "Because I've found that the most effective way to get information is to pretend sleep. You'd be amazed at the stuff people will say about you and others in your presence if they think you can't hear them. You guys just gave a classic example of that don't you think?" Zachary replied with a twinkle in his eyes. Carter and Dana laughed. It was a relief to see that Zachary felt well enough to tease them, it was far better than the days he was too weak to make noise, or the even worse days when he was barely clinging to life, and the doctors and nurse were running around like crazy trying to keep him alive. 15

"Oh, you rat! You tricked us!" Dana cried grabbing a pillow and beating Zachary with it. Zachary laughed and weakly tried to protect himself from the attack, but gave up trying when Carter took Dana's side. "Traitor! Blood Traitor!" Zachary shouted at Carter as the pillow attack continued. Dana and Carter stopped fairly quickly, and they replaced the pillows silently as the nurse entered with a cup of foamy liquid and a straw for Zachary. "All right you two, leave him alone if you know what's good for him. Now look, you've gotten him all out of breath!" The nurse scolded as she arranged the pillows so Zachary could sit up. Carter lifted his brother into a sitting position and wiped the sweat off his forehead with a cloth as the nurse stirred the drink with the straw. "Here you go love. Drink this all up, there's a good lad." The nurse said holding the drink near Zachary's face and putting the straw in Zachary's mouth. Zachary made a face as he drank, and when he was finished he shuddered. "Well, I did try to make it better." The nurse said smiling apologetically. "I went off and mixed the meds with chocolate milk shake, guess it didn't help much did it love?" She asked. "No, it didn't. Sorry." Zachary apologized sadly. The nurse patted Zachary's cheek gently and left, shaking her head sadly.16

"Now, tell me what happened down stairs!" Zachary demanded. "Never mind that." Dana soothed. Zachary frowned furiously. "Tell me! No one ever tells me anything! Do you think I'm stupid?" Zachary demanded furiously.
"No, of course not!" Dana cried.
"Then tell me! Just because I'm ill doesn’t mean I don't have the right to know what goes on here!" Zachary cried
"No one's saying that." Dana half pleaded.
"Yes you are! If that wasn't what you were saying you'd tell me what happened!" Zachary insisted.
"All right! Calm down, shut up and I'll tell you." Carter intervened. Dana shot Carter a look. She didn't feel that Zachary needed to be told what had happened, but Carter ignored his little sister and explained what had happened down stairs.
"So than I left and came here." Carter finished lamely. "Than what happened? Did he say anything to you Dana?" Zachary asked fixing Dana with his bright eyes. "He... he called me Dianne." Dana said softly, tears in her eyes, even though she was trying hard not to show them. Zachary opened his arms wide, and Dana hugged him, her tears coming out at last. Somehow she couldn't hide her feelings from Zachary, somehow he always knew what she was feeling, and he always knew what to do or say.17

For several minutes Zachary hugged Dana as she cried, and beside the bed Carter sat with his head bowed, thinking about his father. Finally Carter couldn't stand the silence any more. "Let's do something. Play a game, or watch a movie or something." He said getting to his feet. "I'll watch a movie with you guys. I don't feel up to a game." Zachary answered weakly. Dana sat up, rubbed her eyes, and went over to the book shelf where Zachary kept his movies. 18

After some debate the three agreed to watch 'The Fellowship of The Rings'. But ten minutes into the movie Zachary fell asleep, so Carter and Dana lay him back down, and tucked him in. By the time Frodo and the others made it to Bree Carter had fallen asleep next to Zachary, where he was sitting on the king sized bed. Dana got up softly, turned off the movie, and went to call her cheerleader friends to see if anyone wanted to go to the mall. None of her friends were available, so Dana went to the indoor pool, and spent several hours just floating on her back and thinking. Dana hated not being able to do anything to help Zachary. Carter could do all sorts of things since he was in med school, and their Mom had always been able to help just by being there and holding Zachary's hand when he was weak and scared. Dana sat on one of the steps leading into the pool and cried. Her mom had been the best. She had been full of life and love. She had always been there for Zachary and for carter and Dana too. She had always been cheerful, always positive. She would never have left Zachary to go off on a business paid vacation, and she certainly would never have forgotten Dana's name! Dana cried so hard that she didn't even hear Carter coming, and was startled when he sat down next to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Oh, Carter!" Dana sobbed. "Shh, I know, I know." Carter whispered softly.