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by Fred's Angel 1 Richard reached the door to the room his friends were sharing. He was about to knock when he noticed that the door was open. He pushed on it gently and it swung wide. Looking inside, he was surprised by what he saw. The bed was bare, the table was gone, and any evidence of Tim and Paul was nowhere to be found. He stared at the room oddly, before shaking his head. Maybe they changed rooms? he wondered groggily as he shuffled out of the room and back down the hall. He didn�t notice the middle-aged woman who had paused in her cleaning of the bathroom when she saw him enter the room. She stood there, paralysed in fear, not daring to breathe until he had finally left. Rather than check which room they were now in, Richard decided to head straight for the theatre for their rehearsal, in the hope of finding the other two there. When he finally reached the theatre, he went inside. After a quick survey of the place he realised Paul and Tim weren�t there yet. So, not knowing what else to do, Richard located his guitar, and sat down with it to wait. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now, this is where you decide the outcome, 2a or 2b? 2a Meanwhile, Gemma was sitting alone at the airport. She had been crying for most of the previous night as well as today, but had now reached a point where she didn�t think it was possible to cry anymore. To say that she felt emotionally drained was an understatement. She was booked to catch a late flight out of the country. She couldn�t afford to fly all the way back to Australia, so she was heading to New York to stay with her brother. She just needed to put as much distant as possible between herself and him. Gemma was bored waiting, and needed something to occupy her mind to prevent her from thinking about everything that had happened in the last twelve or so hours. She decided to go and buy herself something to read. After purchasing a couple of magazines and the PM edition of the newspaper, she returned to her seat in the airport lounge. She opened the paper on her lap and began skimming the headlines, until something caught her eye. The bodies of two young Australian men were found late this morning in an Edinburgh hotel room. The two men, both of whom appear to be in their mid to late twenties had been guests at the hotel for a number of days. It is believed that the deaths are a result of a brawl between the two victims and at least one other person. One of the men is said to have been bludgeoned to death with a heavy object, while the fatal injuries of the second man have so far not been disclosed. As yet, the names of the two young victims have also not been released. Gemma couldn�t believe what she had just read. She re-read the small article a second, then a third, time. Finally she just sat there, staring at the black ink words in front of her. Fragments of one phrase in particular stood out amongst the rest. The deaths�brawl between the two victims�at least one other person. The words echoed through her mind, swirling around her head in a tangled mess. She didn�t want to believe it was a story about Tim and Paul, but deep down inside, she knew it was. Glancing down at her wrists, she saw the scraped skin and deep purple bruises. Richard. His name caught in her throat. She hadn�t thought it was possible for her to cry anymore, but she was wrong. As she sat alone in the corner, crying openly, she realised something. She had to contact the police and tell them what she knew, as difficult and painful as that was going to be. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2b Meanwhile, Gemma walked through the ward to room 666 north. Had she been in a better frame of mind, she may have been amused by the irony of the room�s number, considering Paul�s temper. Sadly, she was not. There was a uniformed police officer sitting just outside the door, flicking through a magazine. She went to stop Gemma from entering, but relented when she recognised the young woman. Gemma entered the room cautiously. The sight that greeted her red, bloodshot eyes (a result of too much crying) almost managed to disturb her more than what she had discovered earlier that day in the hotel. Tim lay on the farther side of the room. A large, white bandage was wrapped around his head, pushing his long fringe up at bizarre angles. He had been knocked unconscious by Richard�s sharp blow with the telephone, and had been in that state since. In the bed closest to the door lay Paul. His injuries appeared far worse than those of his lover. His chest was bare, but beneath the now very pale skin were his three cracked ribs and the lung they had pierced. His face, arms and torso were nothing but an array of ugly black and purple bruises, and red scratches. He had a line of stitches in the deep gash along his left cheek, while a less severe cut ran up his forehead and into his hairline. Both men had intra-venous drips in their arms, and thin tubes transporting oxygen into their bodies through their nasal cavities. And beneath the bruises and bandages, both Paul and Tim were a deathly pallor. Gemma dropped into the chair in the corner of the room, and buried her face in her hands, crying softly. Outside the hospital room, a second police officer walked up to the woman guarding the door, ready to take over the shift. The officer who had just finished her stint asked quietly if there was any news concerning the attack. She was informed that the third member of the comedy trio was still the only suspect, but as yet, no one had been able to locate him. However, one of the cleaners at the hotel had mentioned briefly seeing a man fitting his description earlier in the afternoon. The hotel was now under surveillance, and if he did happen to return, he would be seen. After giving his fellow officer the latest update, the policeman asked about the two men in the hospital room that they were responsible for guarding in the event of the attacker returning to finish what he started. In hushed tones, she said, "The doctors say the outlook for the taller one is not that promising. He was beaten up badly, and then hit in the head pretty hard, and he�s been unconscious ever since. But the shorter one�s doing a bit better than his friend. Even though he was crushed under that table and cut and bruised seriously, they�re expecting him to be fine in about a fortnight." The male officer then inquired about the girl who was with the patients. "Well, she�s still quite shaken up � but with good reason. Not only did she find these two this morning � she was so scared, she said, she thought they were dead, and the truth is, they weren�t far off � but she�d also been beaten up by the same guy last night. And to make matters worse, it was her boyfriend who did it." The policeman looked through the small glass panel in the door, and watched Gemma as she cried. "We�ll get the bastard," he muttered with conviction, as the female officer slowly walked away. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 After waiting for more than three hours for Paul and Tim to show up, Richard was ready to leave. "Bloody typical," he grumbled as he put his guitar away. "They�re prob�ly off bonking each other somewhere." He didn�t really care anymore whether or not they bothered turning up for the performance tonight. At least it would save him from being ignored and put down by them in front of a theatre full of people again. Richard decided he would walk back to the hotel, and see if by any chance the other two were there. Not to mention Gemma. He hadn�t seen her since yesterday before the show, and he missed her. As he eventually got closer to the hotel, he noticed absently that there seemed to be more cars than usual lurking outside the building. He was heading towards the entrance to the hotel, when he felt a strong arm drop onto his shoulder. "Richard Fidler?" a voice asked gruffly. The End |
