REPOST - [ camp discovery ] - a tayvis short story

outtake four.

JUNE 10, 2013

17:12

"Mom, remember Taylor?" Jason asked his mother over the phone. As the groundskeeper, Jason was allowed to have his phone and use it as he pleased. The other counselors didn't have that same privilege.

"The girl that Travis has been in love with since he was around the age of nine?" Donna asked with a little laugh. Jason could hear her turn the television down in the background. "I remember her, dear. What about her?"

"She's back this year," Jason said, but his voice was somber, and he was not all that excited.

"You don't sound too happy about that. You all talk about her so much. I would think you'd be happy to see her, honey," Donna said, trying to gauge her son's emotions. She knew Travid and Jason talked about this girl all too often, especially Travis. She was convinced this girl was Travis' soulmate. No girl Travis ever dated seemed to be good enough for him in his own eyes because none of them were Taylor.

"We are happy to see her. I just didn't think we would get her back in pieces," Jason told his mother. "She's been abused really bad, Mom. Like, really bad. Even when she smiles, you can see she's in pain, and I don't know what to do to help her."

"How do you know she was abused, son? You can't make those assumptions. That's really dangerous." Donna explained to her oldest son. Jason had a caring heart. He was always the most observant between him and his brother.

"First of all, Ross snuck up behind her, and she punched the shit out of him." He kind of laughed, thinking about how Ross had mentioned it almost five times since it happened a few hours prior. "And she has scars all over her face. One looks like she had to get it stitched up. She's just really jumpy."

"Yeah, that sounds like some form of abuse and a trauma response," Donna told her son, nodding on her end. Every day, Donna noticed more and more how Jason was like her and why he took the career path that he did. He knew his shit.

"Oh, and Mom. Are you sitting down?" Jason asked his mother.

"No, I'm doing the dishes, why?" Donna asked, a hint of worry in her voice.

"I think you should sit down for what I'm about to say," Jason told his mother. He knew his mother didn't handle surprising news well, and what he was about to tell her was going to be the shock of her life.

"Just tell me, Jase," Donna told him, continuing to do what she was doing while listening to her son on the other end of the phone.

"Taylor has a seven year old son, and he looked just like Trav," Jason said. Both ends of the phone fell silent. "Mom?"

"I'm still here..." Donna said in a complete state of shock. "You think he's Trav's son?" Donna asked. If Jason said the kid looked like his brother, that meant Jason believed the little boy belonged to his brother.

"Mom, there is no denying it. Everything about Michael looks like Travis."

"Michael? His name is Michael?"

"Yep, like Travis Michael, his name is Michael," Jason said, a little laugh escaping him.

"What do you think she never said anything about her having a baby?" Donna asked. Jason confessed.

JUNE 23, 2013

20:45

"Ed, my friend, did you know your boy has a child?" Andy asked the second Ed Kelce answered his cell phone.