Before I start with it I want to thank all my readers for sticking with me these last few chapters. Some of you responded and wondered why this was all happening again to Nick. I can't tell you that yet but I think that it will all come clear in the next few chapters. I though about it for a long time and then came to the conclusion that it was necessary as it was the only way to let Nick grow. I hope you bare with me for the next chapter to find out how Nick and Francis are dealing with this all.
I never though we would reach chapter 50 but it is so far and I hope that you are going to enjoy it as I made it to a longer one then the last few chapters. So don't be a stranger and contact me to let me know what you think as I am always intersting in what you are thinking about it all.
For this years anniversary of CA I want to do something special. I want to know where are you from so I can make a picture of all of my readers where they are on this world, or even outside it LOL.
Well let me know bye e-mail: noway16@hotmail.com or through ICQ 36967366. To be kept informed about my updates of the story go to my yahoo group which is mentioned on my website at www.geocities.com/timsfunplace.
Now lets go on with chapter 50.
[in Mike's room, Mike speaking}
"Ahh ... hmmm ... no, I haven't seen him around."
"Did you leave the hotel last night, sir?"
"Yea, for a short time ... but I came back just after midnight, I think."
"Did you see him anywhere around?"
"No, I don't think so."
"OK, thanks. Please let us know if you somehow remember that you might have seen him."
"I will ... is he missing?"
"Yea, since last night, it seems. We're doing a full hotel check to see if anyone has seen him."
"OK ... well, I'll be leaving shortly but if I remember something, I'll let you know."
"Fine, thanks ... have a good day."
I closed the door and let out a big sigh of relief.
That was close! What if they'd wanted to look into the room? They didn't push or anything ... but if they were going to check on every room, they'd get to Andrew and Peter eventually. Time to leave, I thought, and fast.
I quickly gathered everything, all my toys, into my suitcase. Got all my clothes. I put in the drugs and started to clean to make sure there weren't any fingerprints left.
It took me about 15 minutes to do it all, taking some of the food from the trolley and putting the rest in my bag so I could take it with me.
I sat down for a few seconds and then looked around to see if I'd left anything behind. I looked at Nick, who was sound asleep by now. I moved close to him and detached the bondage stuff from the bed, then gently rolled Nick's body over and checked all over the bed for fingerprints. I softly touched Nick's cock, then his balls. As I did that, Nick let out a soft moan.
You'll remember this for a long time, I thought, just as I'll never forget you.
[down in the lobby, the security officer speaking]
It was now around 11 and Alexei and his friends had been searching the hotel for an hour and a half. When they finished their own floor, they'd gone downstairs to meet with me and the others. We waited for some time before everyone had shown up.
"So, any one find anything?" Alexei asked hopefully.
"Sorry, Alexei, but so far nothing," Colin said.
"Damn! Where is he?"
"Take it easy, Alexei," I said. "Knocking on all the doors was just the first step and I must be honest that I didn't expect him to be found."
"You didn't?" he said, surprised.
"No. You see, if Nick had been in any of those rooms, we'd have found him ... but as you noticed there were quite a number of rooms where no one answered our knock."
"Yea, that was kind of frustrating," he said.
"So, what we're now going to do is ... everyone has their own list of rooms we didn't search ... so we're going to check those rooms and see what we can find."
It took a while before that was done, and I was surprised to see how late it now was.
"That's more then 10% of the rooms?" I asked.
"I think perhaps a bit more," Colin said. "It looks more like 15 or even 20% didn't answer."
"So, now what?" Andy said while he put his arm around Alexei's shoulder to make sure he knew he wasn't alone in his determination to find Nick.
"Well, I know we had about 5% of the rooms not occupied last night. So, we'll strike them off the list and see what we have then."
"Then you'll give the remaining names to the cops?" Kathy asked.
"Sorry, not yet. We'll go around the hotel one more time, knocking on all the doors where we got no response the first time."
"How will that help?" Alexei asked, now thinking that this was some kind of way to delay us from going to the police.
"There were quite a number of people in the restaurant and by now, they'll have gone back to their rooms, so let's check those first and then see what we come up with."
More or less disappointed with the lack of results, everyone returned to knocking on doors ... well, those where we'd not yet gotten a response.
[back in the hospital, Nick's dad talking]
"Don't you think we've waited long enough now?" Linda asked when it was almost 11.
We'd had breakfast and were already onto our second cup of coffee. Brian had contacted Andy again but there was no news from the hotel yet. I was really starting to get worried.
"I think you're right. I want to see how he is so I can get back to the hotel."
"I know you're concerned about Nick and would rather be back at the hotel. If you want to leave, that's fine. I think David wants to go with you as well. Brian can keep me company."
"Yea, dad, let's go. I'm eating myself up here and feel that I'll be more help at the hotel."
"I'm not sure, David. I think they're doing everything possible for Nick at the moment."
I said that more to convince David to stay here as anything else, because I knew the moment I entered the hotel, I'd go completely nuts. There was nothing more we could do at the hotel, I knew that. Here, at least, we'd be there for Francis when he woke up ... if he woke up.
"Let's go and see if there's any more news," Linda said as she walked towards the nurses' station.
"Is there any news?" she asked.
"No, not yet. I'm sure we checked about 15 minutes ago but he was still asleep."
"Can you check again, please"?
'We'll do that in 15 minutes when we are finished with distributing the medicines."
"Do you think it'd be OK if we take a look?" I asked, not wanting to stand around any longer doing nothing.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure ... let me check."
She got on the phone and talked quietly for a minute or so.
"Yea, two of you can go in, if you want, but if he's still sleep, don't touch him or make any sounds that would wake him up."
"OK, I think we can do that."
David walked back to Brian to tell him that we'd be going in.
I took Linda's hand and I could feel she was trembling. When we reached Francis's room, she hesitated for a second and looked at me.
"You know, I have no idea if he's really lost his memory. I'm not sure if I could handle that. What if he wants to see his father again? I can't let that happen ... but if he insists, then I don't know if I'd be able to stop that."
"I know ... but don't worry ... your husband is still in custody, so there is no way that you'll have to deal with that for the time being."
"Thanks for your support, Robert ... first for Francis, when we abandoned him, and then for me."
"That is what friends are for. Now come, let's see how he's doing."
[in Peter and Andrew's room, Andrew talking]
I slowly opened my eyes. I wasn't sure where I was at first, but then I felt the strange bed underneath me and the even stranger wall behind Peter. Peter! Well, at least he was here, I thought.
It hit me. Damn! What had we done? We'd talked about it for a short while before we went to sleep but it still felt wrong, very wrong. We'd tell Mike tomorrow, when we were home, that he'd not have to threaten us again, that we'd tell rather than do it again.
And then we probably needed to talk with Nick about it, too. We couldn't hide this from Nick. We wouldn't tell Francis but, if Mike didn't tell Nick that we'd been the two persons assisting him, I would. I knew that for sure.
I looked at Peter, who was still asleep. He looked peaceful ... well, that was good. At least we had a good night of sleep. I looked over Peter to see the clock and saw that it was just past 11 p.m. Hmmm, time to get up! We needed to leave the hotel before noon. I slowly rocked Peter until he opened his eyes.
"Hmmm, morning, Andrew," he said.
"Morning, sweetheart."
"Not time to get up, is it?"
"Yea, I think it is ... and we do need to move quickly, as we have less than an hour before we need to check out. We'll probably see the others at the front desk ... I'm not looking forward to that."
"Why not?" Peter asked quietly.
I could see he was trying to wake up but he needed some time in the morning.
"Hmmm, you know we missed going out last night, and I'm sure that Nick missed it too, of course, so I wonder what excuse he used to stay in?"
"Damn! We'd better come up with something good, then."
"They probably checked our room, so we'd better say that we went out for a walk and just forgot the time or something."
"You think they'll buy that, Andrew?"
"I'm not sure, but we'll see. Now, let's get out of bed and jump in the shower."
Just as I was stripping off the few clothes I had on, there was a knock at the door.
"Can you open it?" I asked Peter, as he was still partly dressed.
"OK."
I saw him walking towards the door and opening it. I couldn't make out the conversation. I was under the shower and felt my body start to wake up, my body catching up with my mind. When I had finished washing my hair, I wondered where Peter was, as he should have come back by now. I turned off the water and listened, to see if I could hear anything.
"Peter, are you coming? I'm already finished."
I didn't get any answer, so I walked into the bedroom. Damn! Now what, I thought.
[in the lobby, Alexei narrating]
We were all back quickly, so that was a good sign. We all returned at more or less the same time.
"So, come on ... let's see which rooms are still not checked," Colin said.
We walked towards him and handed in our lists. On our own list had been 15 rooms and another five of them had now answered, so we still had ten to go.
"OK, I've about 45 rooms here that still haven't been checked, so we're going to make a list with what we know about those rooms now and then the police can have a go with our information."
"How long will that take?" I asked.
"Not too long ... they'll run the names through the computer. I guess it'll take about 30 minutes as the policemen are waiting for it."
"Damn! I thought we might just go open those last 45 now without waiting."
"Sorry, Alexei. I know you're eager but it has to wait. We just can't afford any claims against the hotel, you know. It'd damage our reputation forever."
"What should we do, then ... just sit here and wait?"
"Perhaps. Did you call the hospital?" he asked Andy.
"Not recently ... I got a call from Brian about an hour or so ago."
"Well, he should be awake any time now so maybe you'd better check."
"Good idea."
"I'll walk with you, Andy," I said. "I want to talk with the coach or David if either of them is in the neighborhood. I'm sure they'll want to know what is going on."
"OK."
We walked a little distance away to a quieter area.
"Hi, Brian. It's me, Andy."
Probably Brian asked how things were, and Andy started to bring him up to speed with the latest news.
"Any news from your end?"
After that question it stayed quiet on this end on the phone for some time. I'd no idea if that was good or bad news but I waited patiently.
"Here's Alexei, he wants to talk with David."
I got the phone from Andy. "Hi there! How are you doing?"
"Like shit," David replied.
"Yea, I know, David but trust me ... we're doing everything we can."
"I know but I think I'll come back as soon as we've some more news. If you find Nick, he'll need some familiar faces around him, and I don't think that dad can get away from here. Francis will need him, whatever his situation is."
"He may well. Anyway, I'll keep you informed. Have Brian call Andy if you're coming here, OK?"
"I will."
"He'll be OK, David. He's just probably fallen asleep somewhere."
"Still, Alexei ..."
Hmmm, he'd gotten me there, I thought. We tried to give each other some strength and then we hung up.
[Francis's room in the hospital, Linda speaking]
I was glad that Nick's dad was with us. Robert had been a really great friend so far. I started to realize where Nick had gotten his good qualities and understood why Francis loved him so much.
I slowly opened the door, making sure we didn't make any noise. I didn't want him to wake up. I walked slowly towards the bed and sat on the side of the bed where he was looking. When I saw his face, I could tell he was asleep as his eyes were closed and he was breathing regularly.
I looked up and saw that Robert had gotten a chair and had set himself down on the other side. I smiled at him.
I tried to make sure the "what if"s wouldn't overtake me. I needed to be strong. Whatever Francis needed, I'd give it to him. He'd earned at least that much.
His hand was resting alongside his body but not underneath the sheets. He looked so vulnerable, just as he'd been when he was a child. When I looked up again, I saw some fluttering movements on his face. I wasn't sure what it meant.
He definitely wasn't a child anymore. You could see some facial hair starting to grow on his upper lip. But, still, he had some innocence about him ... not the same as a year before but still he hadn't lost it completely, either.
For the next ten minutes or so, we just sat there. I looked from time to time to Robert, who smiled back ... but most of the time, I just closely watched Francis's face. It did move a few times, but I wasn't sure if those were signs of him waking up or not.
Then his face tightened, his smile disappeared. I thought, now what? I got up a bit and waved to Robert to come to the other side. Just as he reached me, Francis's face twitched several times.
I started when, suddenly, he opened his eyes, tried to get up and screamed, "Nick."
I looked at Robert and then back at Francis, who now started to cry hard. I got up and moved closer to the bed.
"I'm here, Francis, I'm here."
"Mom! Where is Nick?" he asked through his barely controllable cries.
[back in Andrew and Peter's room, Andrew speaking]
Peter was sitting on the bed, not doing anything ... looking more or less straight in front of himself. I walked towards him and said his name, but he didn't respond. I slowly went down on my knees and took his face in my hands.
"Peter, what is wrong? Who was that at the door?"
"He's missing," he said quietly. He was still staring, not towards me but somewhere towards a far distant point.
"Who was that at the door, Peter?" I repeated.
"He's missing ... can you believe that?"
He turned his head a bit and was now looking at me. I saw a tear starting to run down his cheek.
"Who's missing, Peter?" I asked now, as that was the thing that was bothering Peter the most, it seemed. Not who was at the door but more that someone was missing.
"What did he do to him? How? Why?"
I got closer to him and took him in my arms, making sure his head was resting on my chest. I started to get irritated but Peter was far from here and I didn't want him in shock or anything.
I thought about getting up and seeing who had been at the door but they would have been gone by now.
When he started to cry a little less, I pushed him gently away and looked into his eyes.
"Who is missing, Peter?"
"Hmm, do you have any idea what he's done with him? After what we'd seen, he could've been up to anything."
Damn! I thought ... now when was I going to get a straight answer out of him?
"Peter, please tell me, who's missing?"
"Nick," he said quietly.
Now his answer got me pretty shook up. I wasn't sure I'd heard him correctly.
"Nick is missing? How do you know?"
"There was a guy at the door, asking if we'd seen the guy in the picture as he was missing ... so I looked at the picture."
"Nick's picture, you mean?"
"Yea, it was Nick's picture."
I was too stunned to think clearly. Now what? was my first thought ... then, what happened? What had Mike done? Did Nick not tell them about the evening with Mike? Had the two of them overslept? I wondered more and more about what had happened.
Now I saw why Peter was upset. This was no good. I looked at him again and asked, "What did you answer?"
"I think I said no. I couldn't tell him I'd seen him. I couldn't tell him where, either. We have no idea if this is what Nick wanted, or what Mike has done with him, or what Nick had told Francis about where he went last night."
I felt that Peter was right. There was no way we could blow Nick's cover. The truth would hurt a lot of people. I knew that Nick should have realized this but, still, to tell them what we knew was something completely different.
"Do you think we should go downstairs and see what we can find out?"
"Yea, I guess. They'll come for us anyway if we're not down in 30 minutes or so."
"I'd better shower," Peter said and walked into the bathroom.
I sat down on the bed, not knowing what to do now. Several ideas went through my head. We could go to Mike's room and see if Nick was there but then the guys would have checked there, just as they knocked on our door ... so there'd be no need for that, either, I guess. Would Mike have ordered Nick to go home with him? Would Nick do that? Would he risk his relationship with Francis for that? No, he wouldn't ... they were too close. I guess going downstairs with the excuse that we went out for a walk and ended up somewhere romantic would do the trick for us and then we could learn what was going on. I started to get up to dress.
[in Francis's room at the hospital, Nick's dad talking]
When Linda had motioned me to come to the other side of the bed, I was somewhat startled with what I saw on Francis's face: from a smile it turned to a more frightened look and then, when he jumped up, screamed and looked around, it was as if I'd suddenly been frozen into rigidity. Nick! He'd dreamed of Nick!
I watched as Linda held him close in his arms while he cried. I saw a door opening and a nurse came walking in. I smiled at her and, when she saw what was going on, she slowly closed the door again. They must have either heard him or seen something on the monitors but they looked unchanged to me.
I waited patiently until Francis started to sob a little less. He'd looked up at me a few times and, the last time, there was something of a smile on his face. I thought then that I heard him whisper something. I saw that Linda must have heard him as she pulled him a bit away from her.
She looked at me.
"Mom! What's wrong?"
He looked at Linda while he said it but turned his head towards me when he saw that she looked at me.
"Coach ... where is Nick?"
He had asked the question we dreaded the most. I wasn't ready to tell him anything, so I'd better find a way to reassure him. He'd dreamed something about Nick. Did he know where Nick was, was that the reason he had screamed it out?
"Nick is fine, Francis. How are you feeling?" I thought this was the best way to see if we could get his mind away from Nick.
"I'm OK, I think."
"Well, are you sure? The way you woke up ..."
A dark cloud went over Francis's face as Linda said that. I wasn't sure it was the right thing to say.
"I'll get the doctor so he can do a check up, Francis."
I walked away before he could try to ask anything more.
I heard him talking with his mom as I closed the door behind me. The nurse was still in th corridor.
"How is he? I heard him scream."
"Yea, I thought you would. Well, he woke up very suddenly, as if he'd had a nightmare or something. But he's asking questions I don't want to answer before I'm sure he's doing OK, so if there's a doctor to look at and talk with him ..."
"I'll get one ... be right back."
I decided it was better to wait outside. I didn't want to answer the questions Francis had asked and I didn't trust myself to keep a straight face, either. I was too worried for that.
The doctor came pretty quickly, I thought, and I brought him up to speed with what had happened.
"OK, I'll go in and check him out. If he can't remember his nightmare, we might need to do some more tests, just to make sure he's OK."
"Fine ... whatever it takes ... but doc ..." I wasn't sure ... should I tell him about Nick? Was it important for him to know? I thought about it but then told him about that as well, as I wanted to have an answer from him about when Francis might be strong enough to hear what was going on.
"OK, I'll talk with him and see how it goes. But if it was just yesterday when he saw Nick for the last time, I'm not sure telling Francis is a good idea."
"I understand. I'll come up with some lame excuse."
"Good."
With that, he entered the room. I waited for Linda to come out.
"Wow! Am I ever happy to be out of there! After you left, his questions about Nick came fast and furious. I'm not sure I was able to avoid them all, though."
"Hmmm ... well, we'll see what the doctor has to say after his checkup. Let's tell David and Brian he's awake."
"Can you do that? I'll wait for the doctor's return here."
"OK ... are you all right, Linda?"
"Yea, keeping up ... so go and tell the others."
I left her and walked back to the lounge where David and Brian were chatting.
"Sorry to interrupt but he just woke up."
"And?" Brian asked.
"Well, he's awake. The doctor is checking him now."
"Good! Any sign of ...?" David asked but I interrupted him before he could finish.
"No, but he woke up screaming out Nick's name, and his face went all funny when we asked him about it."
"Screaming about Nick? How?"
"Yea ... well, that's something we need to ask him after the checkup ... but we want to make sure first that he is not having any more head problems."
"Oh, OK ... do you think it'd be OK if I went back to the hotel then?"
"I'd thought about that, too, David. I'm getting more and more worried about Nick, but I think that Nick would want me here with Francis as well. I think if I leave, Francis'll be very suspicious, so that's not a good idea, I guess."
"OK ... well, I talked with Alexei. He's not sure I can do a lot if I'm in the hotel but I want to be there just in case they find Nick."
"OK, as long as you keep in touch with us, go."
"I will, don't worry. I'm just as concerned about what is happening with Francis, too. Can you give Andy a call and tell him that I'm on my way?"
"I will," Brian answered.
David walked away from us. I wanted to go with him, but I knew that Francis would be very suspicious if I wasn't there, so I turned around. "Come on, Brian, let's see how he's doing."
[down in the lobby, Andrew narrating]
When we got downstairs, we didn't see anyone around, not any members of the gym team or any of our friends. We got ourselves a cup of coffee and sat down in the lounge so we might see anyone who showed up in the lobby. I knew we'd have to come up with some excuse when they found us but, for now, it was more important to discover what had happened to Nick than worry about our own situation. We had to find out what was going on. We couldn't betray Nick ... that was his own responsibility ... but, then again, what if something had happened later on? What then? We'd brought our bags with us, as we knew that they expected us to leave in about 30 minutes or so ... at least, that was what we'd planned earlier. We'd wait for another ten minutes or so, drinking our coffee, and then check out of the hotel.
We didn't say a lot but just stayed there in the lobby, sitting with our own thoughts. I looked at Peter several times, but I could see he didn't really feel like talking a lot either.
"We'd better go and check out, so that'll be done, Peter," I said.
He nodded and together we stood up and walked to the counter.
"We want to check out, please."
"Room number?"
"318."
I saw the reception guy look at me now. "I think I have a message for you, sir."
"Well, to be honest, I hoped for one," I said.
"Good. Wait here a second ... I'll get someone to take you to a private room behind the restaurant."
I looked at Peter. "So they must be there!" I said.
"Probably."
"Are you ready for this?"
"I think so. Have you any idea how to handle this?"
"Not exactly. We'll have to stick to our first idea and then see where that leads, I guess."
"OK, as long as we can help to find Nick."
A bellboy walked over to us and led us to the restaurant area. He opened the door to let us in. Oh, yea, we were welcomed but not with the exact words we expected, I guess.
"Thank goodness, at least you two are OK," was Alexei's greeting.
But others had a strange look on their face when Alexei introduced us.
"So, where have you been? You opened your hotel room door to my knock earlier. Why didn't you say you knew Nick?" a guy in a security uniform asked us.
"We, we were ..." and I started to break down. I just wasn't sure I could say lie any more.
"Well, it was me who opened the door, and I was too surprised by it all to respond to your questions, to be honest," Peter said before I gave us away completely.
"Oh, well, I can understand that ... but, as I remember, it seems you weren't around last night, either." The security guy went on looking at Peter now.
I had no idea how we could get out of this, but it didn't feel comfortable at all. I turned a bit red, I could feel that.
"Oh, I think we know enough," Alexei said. I looked up to see what he meant. There was a bit of an evil smile on his face.
"Hmmm," Peter started to say.
"No, I probably wouldn't have answered the door if I'd have been in your position either, guys, so don't worry about that. Although I do wonder if Nick had been by your room last night, as he said he would."
Nick told them that he would come by our room? I knew now what had saved our asses so far, but we had to find out what had been going on. What had happened to Nick?
[back in the hospital, outside Francis's room, Robert, the coach, speaking]
"Well, I told them what was happening here, and David left to go back to the hotel. It seems they haven't made a lot of progress down there so far."
"Oh, good... I'd appreciate it if you don't go back to the hotel yet, Robert," Linda asked me.
"No, I'll stay here. There is nothing that I can do better or more than any of the guys is already doing at the hotel and, for now, I'm of more use in calming Francis down, I think."
"Yea, he might get very suspicious if you leave."
Then the door opened and the doctor walked out.
"Can I talk with the two of you for a moment?" he asked Linda and me.
"Of course," I answered.
"Can I go in?" Brian asked.
"Are you Nick?" the doctor wanted to know.
"No, but a good friend."
"OK ... as long as you don't say anything about Nick, agreed?"
"Fine."
I saw Brian walk into the room as the doctor started to talk with us.
[in Francis's room, Francis speaking]
It was so strange. I felt as if I'd slept too much, too well. I wasn't sure what had awakened me, but the thought of Nick somehow had made me scream out and feel despair at the same time. I couldn't define it and, when the coach left so suddenly, I knew there might be something wrong. The doctor asked me a lot of strange questions ... questions about the past ... about the day before ... about my dad. Now why did he want to know my feelings towards my dad? They must have been quite obvious after yesterday after what that bastard did.
I started to slip back into a doze when the door opened. I opened my eyes and saw the smiling face of Brian.
"Ahhh, good to see that you're awake, Francis."
"You're here, too."
"Of course, I am. I wanted to see how you were doing."
"And the others??? Nick?"
Brian didn't answer immediately, as if he wasn't sure what to say.
"They went back to the hotel to sleep. I only came this morning."
"Good! No need to stay here waiting for me to wake up, is there? As there's nothing wrong with me."
"Well, that's what we thought as well, Francis."
"Sorry I ruined the party idea last night."
"Oh, I don't think they'll care when they hear you're OK."
"Good, we can go home later today and celebrate in our home town."
"Oh, I'm sure we will. I don't think the school will pass up the opportunity for some publicity from this ... do you?"
"No, I'll bet you're right. So did you hear the doctor say anything about when I'd be allowed to leave the hospital, Brian?"
"No, not yet, but I'm sure your mom can tell you in a moment."
"Well, I'm ready to go. He kept asking strange questions about my dad and about last night. I thought they would have told him what happened."
"Oh, maybe he just wanted to check to see how your memory was doing."
"Might be, so ..." My questions were interrupted by the ringing of the phone.
I smiled at Brian and said, "You're not allowed to have them on in here, you know."
He smiled back and answered it.
"Hi, Andy! Yea, he's OK, I'm just sitting in the room with him now."
Ahhhh, his boyfriend! Love was so nice! I saw Brian's face light up. I was happy now that we'd bumped into each other. It was good to know that he'd found someone who loved him and I could see that he loved Andy very much as well. It'd always been the darkest part of my life, leaving something unfinished. Not knowing what had happened with Brian had been a bitter memory from back home.
I could see that he looked towards me several times. Brian didn't say a lot as Andy did most of the talking. I wasn't sure what it was all about, but it felt wrong. Why was Andy talking this much and not Brian telling him that I was OK?
I slowly started to remember again that I'd awakened strangely as well. All the time there was that odd feeling of something that was not right.
"Brian," I said when he hung up the phone. "Is there something wrong? You'd never normally leave your phone on in the hospital, would you?"
Again it took him some time to answer that one.
"What is wrong, Brian? Is something wrong with Andy?"
"No, he's fine."
"It's Nick, isn't it? There is something wrong with Nick! Why is he not here?" I suddenly realized that they'd been lying to me. There had to be something wrong with Nick! He'd not been with me last night ... then he didn't come to visit last night ... and this morning, he'd never have gone back to the hotel before I woke up. He'd have stayed here, waiting for me to wake up if he'd have been here ... and then there'd been that dream! "Oh, my god!" I realized that I'd said that out loud when Brian appeared beside me and took my hand.
[back in the hotel, Alexei talking]
It was good that Peter and Andrew had turned up while we were waiting for the police to come up with something. I could tell they'd something they wanted to hide but I guess that was normal for two young guys spending a night in a hotel for the first time. I could remember mine.
After about 25 minutes, Andy called Brian again and was told that Francis had woken up, so that was good news. David was on his way to the hotel, and I was hoping there'd be something that we could tell him by the time he got here.
When Colin's mobile went off, we waited to see if there'd be any good news but his face didn't exhibit any strong emotions, so we just waited. It took quite some time or maybe it just seemed that way, because we wanted to know the answer.
He hung up and looked around. "Sorry, guys, but nothing much came out of that. It seems they have no criminal record of any kind."
"Now what, Colin?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. I think we should go and do those rooms again."
"Again? Are you sure?"
"Well, there's not a lot more we can do at the moment. We know he might have gone upstairs, but he disappeared after that, that's why we did the search."
"Hmmm, well, let's go and do it again."
I saw that Peter and Andrew held back. "Come here, you two lovebirds. You can help, too."
They came closer and I explained to them what to do.
Well, let's say that, during the next few hours, we searched the hotel twice again. By the end, we'd covered all rooms again and no one had anything to contribute. We found a few of the hotel rooms that didn't answer initially, answered this time, and others were still unoccupied.
By around noon, David had joined us and he'd put some energy in checking the hotel the second time. But it was the coach ... who was still in the hospital ... who made it possible to open the doors of the rooms that hadn't answered our calls.
When we weren't going around door to door, we were in the private room. We'd some sandwiches down there and some more food was delivered later, but we didn't eat that much. We had the impression that Francis would be back here soon, too, but we hadn't got that information officially yet.
Around 4 p.m. the coach and Francis arrived at the hotel.
[back in the hotel, Francis talking]
Brian had told me the truth, and I was happy to finally know what had been happening. They make me stay in the hospital for some time, though. It seems they wanted to do the tests again and they even ran a new brain scan. I kept on telling them that I was all right, but they didn't want to listen.
I'd talked with Andy on Brian's phone just after noon, but there had been no news then. I was worried more than I showed the others, as I was afraid they might have kept me there if I made a fuss. I know that the coach had told me that my dad hadn't seen Nick before he came up to our room, but I wasn't about to trust that bastard any more, not one bit.
Then, finally, they agreed that I could leave. I wasn't sure that was a good thing, as I know only more waiting and worry was waiting for me in the hotel. And all the time there was the memory of how I'd awoken up that morning. I know I'd screamed Nick's name and that I'd had some kind of dream. They tried to find out what it had been about but I just didn't know anything. It was a frightening dream, it must have been, and that didn't make me happy at all.
So we all met back in the large room we'd been using. It looked like it had been their headquarters all day so far. They all hugged me and wanted to know how I was doing and I tried to force a smile and tell them I was doing better. I had to keep the charade up as I felt my mom's gaze following me all the time.
Peter and Andrew's hugs had felt a bit strange to me, more emotional than they usually are. But my mind was on Nick. Where was he and what had I dreamed?
The coach was taking the lead now that he was back. First, he made sure that all the other team members had left the hotel and would get back home safely. Peter and Andrew would go with them, as they needed to be at school the next day, too. James would go home with his mom. She wanted him not to miss school tomorrow, so they left just after the bus. Brian and Andy offered to stay for one or two days, but the coach convinced them there was no reason to do so. Alexei said he was staying; there was no way he wanted to go already.
Kathy decided to stay, and I was surprised to see that the coach didn't argue with her, but he told her to call her parents to ask permission.
So it seemed that he'd planned it all out. He'd called Keith a few times, too, and that resulted in a new search of the rooms that were unchecked until then, but this time they were opened as well. Not that that got us any new results, but still it felt like something had been done.
Around 9 in the evening, the search was stopped for the night. I felt empty. I'd no idea what to do except to sleep. That was something I didn't want to try, not after that dream of this morning. The coach had made sure that I was brought to my room by my mom. She stayed ... she said she'd sleep in the same room. I didn't argue with her. I just didn't have the energy.
Most of the time I just laid on my bed, thinking of where Nick was, what could have happened, where he could be, and what more we could do. I felt useless, just lying in bed. But most of all, I started to dread the idea of what I'd do without him. I cried several times, hoping mom wouldn't hear it. I must have fallen asleep at some point, so I guess that was good.
What I didn't know was that they'd put a sleeping pill in one of my glasses of water earlier that night. I know the feeling I have when I wake up and, indeed, I'd a very difficult time waking up. I didn't blame them ... who would? ... but still it wasn't very easy to accept that they did it because they cared.
I looked at the clock and saw it was 7 a.m. I'd slept almost eight hours, a lot more than I thought I would. I called Reception and, after I ordered breakfast, I got Colin on the line who told me there was nothing new at the moment but that the police would start doing a full search of the hotel and its surroundings and that they would go around asking people if they'd seen him leaving the hotel.
A bit disappointed with all this lack of progress, I found myself staring off into nothingness, just a blank face with a head not able to think about anything other than where he could be. There were some flashes of the dream of the day before, but I just couldn't place my finger on anything specific. Still, it got me all shaking again.
[Peter and Andrew back home, Andrew talking]
I had no idea what to do about the whole situation. We'd talked with Brian and Andy about it on the way back, trying not to get too obvious about all the background information we knew. I wasn't totally sure but, more and more, the idea started to form in my head that maybe, just maybe, Mike had forced Nick into this. I wasn't sure, but it could be the case. Would Mike lie to us and, if so, why would Nick not have said anything?
Had he blackmailed Nick, just as he'd been blackmailing us? And, if so, where was he now? It was all so difficult to understand and, even more, to decide what to do about it. When I came downstairs to have breakfast, Peter was already waiting down there. We'd done that before, gotten together for breakfast before going to school but not after we'd just spent the weekend.
"Have you read the newspaper already?" Peter asked me.
"No, not yet."
"I have ... there is something interesting in it."
"Oh, you must have been up early then."
He smiled back at me. "I'm going to go and get it ... be right back," I said.
When I returned, I started to read the main article that was there. I knew then what Peter had meant.
"Star Athlete From Gymnastic Team Missing?"
A very strange situation occurred tonight at the local high school. There was no triumphal return of the winning team, but sad faces were to be seen all over. There was no coach, no winning team, returning from the trip, and not many people around to celebrate their astounding state championship. As expected, we tried to get more information about the whole situation but there were few people who wanted to comment on the situation. Later in the evening, it became clear that, during Sunday, it had become obvious that a member of the team was missing. Hotel staff had searched all the rooms, asking if residents had seen a team member. By the description of some of the hotel guests, it has become clear that Nick, the star of the gymnastics team during the Saturday championships, is missing.
Furthermore, one of the team members was in hospital from late Saturday evening until Sunday afternoon. Investigation by your correspondent has not yet revealed if this is just a coincidence, or if there is more to the story. Hotel staff told us that there had been a thorough search, and that the situation had been taken seriously. There was talk of abduction or harassment of one of the team members.
We tried to get a comment from the coach, who is also Nick's father, but he couldn't be reached for comment. The victory celebration for the team, originally scheduled for later today, has been cancelled.
Damn, I thought, there was more to it. Now I realized that I hadn't spoken frankly with Alexei yesterday. Maybe I should have. I was doubting our decision about not telling what had happened. But how could we be frank without being discovered ourselves?
"I think it's time to leave for school, otherwise we'll be late." I saw the surprised look on Peter's face as I said this, but my mom just had walked in and I wanted to discuss things.
"Let's go, then," he answered.
We left the house and, as soon as we were out of sight, we looked at each other.
"Now what?" Peter asked.
"I don't know, Peter, but I think that Mike has lied to us. He might have even tricked, blackmailed Nick into this, just as he did us."
"You think so?"
"Well, don't you? After what I learned yesterday I thought he might have, but I wasn't convinced. But with this new information and the things Brian and Andy told us about Francis's father and the fact that Nick hadn't said that he'd go out but that he was just going around to tell us all they'd be a bit late ... I just don't know. What now?"
"Yea, that's what I was thinking, too. Who can we tell about this? Who can we trust enough? If Nick didn't do this by himself ... my god, I'm not sure I could ever forgive myself or look at him straight in the eye again ... you know?"
"Damn! Well, do you think talking with Mike might be a good idea?"
"No, I don't think so, Andrew. I don't trust him any more with his little sick mind."
"Hmmm, you're right, I guess ... but who then? Alexei is still with them. He might know how to help, him being older ... and he seemed close to them."
"Hmmm, well, that's not an option, Andrew. What about Andy or Brian?"
"They seemed to be quite nice and open to it all, and concerned about it, too."
"That might be an option. Do you have their address or phone number?"
"I do have their address."
"You want to go there?"
"I guess going to school is not going to help. We have to decide what to do."
We walked to the bus, as we'd have to go into town and get on another bus to the other side where they lived.
"You think we can tell them everything?"
"I have no idea. Are you ready to face the consequences if we do?"
"No, but I don't want Nick to suffer any more, either. Who knows where Mike has taken him? The newspaper said they checked all the hotel rooms."
[back in Mike's hotel room, Nick narrating]
I woke up slowly, as if I'd been drinking an awful lot. The first thing I realized was that I wasn't at home. The bed felt strange. I tried to open my mouth, but I couldn't. There was something over it. Then I felt my wrists and ankles ... and, when I tried to move them, I knew I was bound to the bed. All kind of memories started to come back to me ... frightening ones. I moved a bit but, when I did, a pain went though my balls. Damn! Then I realized what had been happening before I went to sleep. Mike ... Mike had done this to me. I opened my eyes to see if he was still here. I could see almost the complete room but there was no Mike. Good! At least that meant the torture was over ... but now what? Damn! Everyone would be worried that I wasn't there. What time was it? I saw some light coming through the curtains, but not a lot. I knew I'd slept a long time, so probably it was getting close to Sunday evening. Francis would be devastated by now. How could I release myself ... hmmm, when would they come in to clean the room? I would have expected they'd have done that by now. What if the room wasn't to be used? It could be late Monday before they'd come and check it out.
I couldn't scream. I tried to move on the bed, trying to get more give for my wrists and ankles, but that didn't help a lot, either. Damn! Mike! How could he? Oh, god! There'd been two people with him. Could the doc be involved in this? Was that the reason I'd not been allowed to see who was there? I looked a bit closer now at my dick and balls. My dick didn't look too bad, but my balls were blue and bruised. It didn't hurt too much, as long as I lay still. But that way I couldn't get loose. I decided to try again.
But however I moved, a few more shots of pain went through my balls. I couldn't stand this. This was just too much, so I stayed still again. Moving only gave me pain, and not a lot of more give in the bandages. I'd better go back to sleep. In the morning someone would come and clean the room for sure ...
[back in Francis's hotel room, Francis talking]
I lay there for I'm not sure how long, but my mom showed up with breakfast, so I guess someone had brought it up to the room.
"You feeling OK, Francis?"
"No, mom, I'm not. It just can't be, you know, not now."
"I know, sweetheart, but they'll find him soon, I'm sure."
"Dad, you think he did something?"
"No idea, Francis. The police asked and he said he hadn't seen him."
Do you think he'd tell the truth?"
"No idea, Francis. You're asking the wrong person."
'They have to find him. I can't go on without him .," I whispered, and my voice broke and I started to cry.
I felt my mom hold me, but it felt fake. The only one I wanted to hug and feel was Nick.
I know I kept crying for a long time and, when I stopped, there was nothing to say. I heard other people coming in and leaving again after talking with my mom, but I guess I lost it. I lost all hope for the moment.
[at Brian and Andy's house, Andrew talking]
We reached the house a bit after 9 a.m. The house was dark and a few curtains were still closed. I realized we might have arrived a bit too early for them to be awake. But we thought of that only after we had pressed the bell.
It took some time before the door was opened and a sleepy Brian looked at us. "Oh, hi, guys! What are you doing here?"
"We hoped we could talk with either you or Andy."
"Nothing is wrong with Nick, is there? Not bad news, I hope."
"No ... well, not as far as the news is concerned but ..." I wasn't sure if I could go on or not.
When Brian saw my hesitation, he opened the door further. "You'd better come in."
We walked into their very big house. It'd looked nice from the outside but inside it was even better.
"Do you want me to get Andy, or do you want to talk just with me."
"Hmmm, we don't have any secrets from Andy ... but you might be able to help us more, since you know Francis much better than we do."
"OK, come on in. I'll tell Andy that you're here and then we can talk. Go ahead in there," he pointed towards the room on the left side.
"Are you sure, Andrew?"
"Well, Peter, I know we might lose some friendships over this, but if Mike forced Nick just like he did us, then we have to speak up and help them."
"You think he'd have left us then? I'm sure he wouldn't."
"Well, let's see what Brian thinks about it all."
When Brian returned, we asked him to do nothing that we didn't approve of when he'd heard our story. He had it a bit of a problem with that but he promised. We told the complete story, from the way Mike had found out until the moment we'd left the hotel room. It was not easy to tell him this and I had tears in my eyes when I finished.
"I don't know, Brian, if Nick was there of his own free will or not, but if he wasn't, then I'm not sure I'll ever be able to look him in the face again ... or even go back to school, as a matter of fact."
"Hmmm, yes, I can see that ... but I don't think you have to worry about that.
I know Nick had some rough time some months ago, but I thought he'd left that all behind. Do you trust me enough to follow my advice?"
"I guess ... depends on what, though. We've been thinking several things this morning on the way here but we just can't see what we should do."
"Well, I'm not sure either, but I think there's someone who knows the situation better than we do, and that's Alexei Nemov. He seemed to be very close to Nick, so he might be able to help."
"You think so? I don't want too many people knowing about this."
"Well, I think he might know what to do, and he knows Nick a lot better than I do. I know they did something to push the hotel to act so swiftly. Otherwise, they'd never have bothered all the guests like they did this time."
"OK, do you have his number?"
"No, but I have David's as I wanted to contact him later to see if there is anything new ... so I can ask."
Brian called David and asked for Alexei's cellphone number, then he called that number and gave the phone to me.
I knew I had to tell that same story again, and I probably knew that it wasn't the last time but this was the one that I dreaded the most.
'What's up, Andrew?" he said when he answered the phone.
"I need help, Alexei, big time help ...," and I started to tell the story.
[back in the hotel, Alexei narrating]
I was in shock by the time Andrew had finished his story. I tried to calm him down, as he was crying a lot by the end. I got Brian back on the phone and told him to keep them there until someone would talk with them. They were as much victims as Nick was. But now I had to deal first with Nick. I got Colin and the coach to come to my room. It had been quite empty last night without James, but with a bit of luck we'd see each other more now his mom knew.
I waited for Colin and the coach to arrive. When they did, I calmly told them what I'd been informed of, not telling them by whom.
"Stop! I know enough! We'd better get Nick, I guess," said the coach.
"But didn't we check that room?" I said.
"Well, we did. The door was answered, so we didn't check it any further."
"You think he's still there?"
"We'll see. Let's go."
I looked at the coach. "You know Mike better than I do. Do you think he hurt him badly?"
"I don't know, Alexei. I never expected him to do something like this. I can't believe he set it up by himself, either. But I'll check with Keith later ... first priority is Nick now."
"OK, I'll go with you if you want."
"Yea, Nick looks up to you, so that might be a good idea and I want to be sure he is there before we tell Francis."
"OK, let's go," Colin said.
We walked towards the room. I saw that the coach was trembling as Colin opened the door.
"Wait here, let me check the room," he said.
We waited outside as Colin walked in. I held the coach back as I felt that otherwise he'd have stepped in straight away and whatever was behind the door might just shock him, so we waited.
It was about a minute or so before Colin opened the door. "Come on in. There's no one here except Nick but he looks to be sleeping."
He opened the door. I walked in behind the coach. I heard him take a deep breath when he saw Nick. I looked over his shoulder and tears came to my eyes when I saw him.
He was more or less folded up a bit on the bed. His hands and ankles were tied to the bed. He had something in his mouth. There was a definitely the smell of sex in the room. When I came a bit closer, I saw that his dick was a bit red and his balls ... oh, my god, they were blue and bruised. There was cum all over his belly and the sheets around him. I felt a sympathy pang go through my own balls. I tried to see what had caused this as Andrew hadn't told me this ... but I supposed they either hadn't told me everything or Mike had more fun with him later on.
"Shall we wake him?" the coach asked through the tears on his face.
"I've called an ambulance. Let's wait until they're here, OK?" Colin said.
I saw the coach nod. He sat down beside Nick on the bed but he didn't wake up. I walked behind him and I could hear him whisper something like "that bastard." I knew who he meant by that.
We waited until the ambulance arrived. They though it was better to keep Nick asleep as long as they could, as he'd maybe feel less pain if he could sleep all the way to the hospital.
So they left. The coach went with them, back to the hospital again, I thought. I looked at Colin. "Thanks. I guess this leaves it up to me to tell Francis."
"If you would do that?"
"Yea, I will."
"OK, I'll make sure no one else enters this room until the police see it."
I walked to the room where Francis was, not sure that I was ready to tell him what I just had seen. I know he'd be furious about Mike, so maybe I wouldn't tell him that yet. I had to keep it together, too, as I probably had to drive later.
I opened the door to the room and was welcomed by David, Kathy, Francis and his mom. Good, I thought, they're all here.
"So what did Brian tell you?" David asked.
"Oh, it wasn't Brian who wanted to talk with me but someone who was with him at the time."
I looked at Francis but there was no or little response from him. He looked a bit in shock, I thought. But then I was no doctor.
I sat down beside Francis and looked at him. I could sense from the others now they knew I had some important news. I looked up at them and smiled and nodded reassuringly. Relief showed on their faces as well as questions, but they looked at Francis now who was more or less still just sitting there.
"Francis, it's me, Alexei."
He didn't respond. I could feel him twitch a bit, then I got a bit closer to him and I looked him in the face.
"Francis, it's me, Alexei. Can you hear me?"
"Where is he, Alexei? What has happened to him? Do you think he walked out on me?"
"Don't be silly," I said when he started to talk rapidly.
"I found him, Francis," I said quietly. The moment the words left my mouth, he turned to face me.
"You did? Was he ... is he all right? Can I see him? Why isn't he with you?" Each question followed quickly on the one before, Francis giving me no time to answer.
"He was found in one of the hotel rooms. His dad is with him, but they're bringing him to the hospital now."
"Oh, no! What is wrong? What happened? Did my dad get to him? Did he try to commit suicide?" While he fired off more questions, his voice got quieter and quieter ... and the last bit came out more or less as shaky whispering.
"No, nothing of the kind." I saw the others looking with surprise. It seemed that Nick had played a very close hand with this aspect of his desires.
"But he was hurt, Francis. I'm not going to hide that from you, he was hurt and he needed to be looked after, so he's on his way to the hospital now."
"I want to go there now," he said as he got out of bed in his underwear.
"Yes, that's why I'm here. I came to get you. But I think you'd better shower first."
I saw that he finally realized that he was standing there, dressed just in his briefs. He blushed a bit and said, "Yea, probably, be right back."
"Oh, I'm sure you will."
Before the door of the bathroom was closed completely, David was beside me. "You're not telling everything, I can tell. How is he doing, Alexei, and I want the truth."
"Hmmm, I'm not sure you want to hear this, David, but promise me you'll stay calm. We need to get Francis to the hospital without too much stress as he's already on the edge of a breakdown."
"Good, I promise."
"Well, we found him in a hotel room where he'd been abused. I don't know exactly how badly but let's say that he was tied to the bed and I could see some bandages but no blood." I thought that that might indicate that he'd not been hurt too bad. There was no way I could tell them about his balls. That would be just too much.
"How did you know how to find him there?"
"Well, Brian had some information about that ... I don't have all the details yet, but our first concern is to get Francis and Nick back together and back on their feet."
"Yea, you're right about that, Alexei ... get them out of here and out of this city," Francis's mom intervened.
"OK, let's get out of here," David said eagerly.
"I'll get the car as I don't think either of you is able to drive," Kathy said.
"Good idea," David said and kissed her on her cheek.
We waited for Francis to get out of the shower. He yelled for some clothes so I handed him a few.
In silence, we walked downstairs. We were quickly waved through some reporters by Colin to the front of the hotel, where Kathy was waiting for us. It seemed somehow this had all become news.
[in the meantime, in the hospital room where Nick was resting, Nick talking]
I was told afterwards that, somehow, I'd been asleep until I was brought into the hospital. As they put me on the bed and put a gown on, I'd yelled. It seems that one of the sisters had by accident touched one of my more painful parts.
That was something I'd remember quite a while, a blushing nurses standing by the bed, and all of a sudden my dad and a doctor were there, too.
"Hey! Are you awake?" my dad said.
I just nodded. "Good, you're safe now, you're in hospital."
I let those words sink into my brain and I looked around. When I moved my legs a bit too fast, tears came to my eyes.
"Hmmm, I think you'd better not move for a bit, Nick. I don't think that it's a good idea."
"I guess so." Suddenly I realized what had happened. Damn! Now what? What did they know? How had they found me?
"Is Francis here?" I asked.
"Not yet ... he wasn't awake and we thought we'd better get you to the hospital as soon as we could."
"How is he doing?"
"Well, quite worried, but I haven't seen him much this morning, so I'm not sure."
"Hmmm ... well, please don't tell him anything yet ... I want to do that myself, OK?"
"Are you sure, Nick? Are you sure you're up to that?"
"You've seen it, haven't you, dad?" I asked carefully.
"Yes ... sorry, son, but I was there when we found you."
I started to cry and looked the other way.
"Cry if you want, my son ... that's a good healing method, just cry."
I felt him move closer to me, but I made sure I looked the other way. I couldn't look at him, not now, not this time.
"You'll get past this, Nick. You will, I'm sure," he whispered.
I cried a bit more and then, suddenly, I stopped. I didn't want to cry. I wasn't about to go and be sappy. I needed to be strong for Francis. He needed me after his father ... damn! What had happened?
I looked at my dad. "Dad, was Francis hurt? Is that why he's not here? Did his dad hurt him?"
"You knew ... you knew his dad came to your room?"
"Yea, I saw his dad go upstairs ... that is when ..." I swallowed deeply.
"That is why I went back up and ... well, got mixed up. But he's OK, right?"
"Yea, they met while his mom was with him, and the two of them got into a little fight but he's OK."
"Good," I said with some relief.
I just looked out the window, as I couldn't bear to watch my dad's face for too long.
"Are you OK, son?" I heard him whisper in my ear.
I knew he wanted an answer, but this time it was too soon to give one. I didn't know ... I still felt like there was something behind closed doors that could fly out at any moment. The doctor had stepped outside for a while, but at that point, he returned. "I think it's time for some tests, so if you could leave us alone, I can do some checkups on him."
"OK, I'll be right outside if you need me."
"I know ... just make sure Francis is here, so he can come and visit me."
"I will, don't worry."
He left and the doctor looked at me. "I'll be direct and honest with you, young man. I don't need to know all the details but I might need some help with this."
I nodded.
"I'll go and do some tests. Were you raped?"
Such direct questions hit me like a brick.
"Sorry, but I need to know so I can see which tests we need to do."
I knew he had to ask and, under the circumstances I was brought in, it was a normal question.
"No," I said quietly.
"Good ... that will make this a bit easier. I was afraid that, whoever did this to you, had gone that far, too."
"OK, I'll do some tests ... first, leaving your testicles out of it as long as I can. I can't give you any sedation yet, as we need to establish first how bad it all is."
"OK, I'll try to hold it together."
"Oh, no ... that is not what I meant ... cry and shout if you need to," the doctor said with a smile.
He started to do all kinds of tests ... tests which are done normally in cases such as mine, I'm sure. Sometimes he would ask something, but he kept a reasonable distance away from my balls.
"OK, we are almost done, but before I finish, I need to check them out. I know it'll hurt, but there are some things that can't be seen on the x-ray we'll take in a minute. Put this in your mouth," he said as he gave me a towel.
I pushed it into my mouth. I knew this was going to hurt.
I think I fainted within 10 seconds after he had them in his hands. I felt pain, more pain and then I was gone.
When I woke up, the doctor was using a towel to wipe my forehead.
"Sorry, but I had to know, you know."
"I'm OK now, I think," I said.
"One more thing, before we bring you up to x-rays."
"Yea?"
"Can you tell me what happened?"
I blushed. "It would be a big help. I know you probably don't want to tell me, but ... well, maybe I can tell you what I think happened and you can tell me if I'm correct. Would that help?"
"Yea, I think so."
"OK, I think that some one used electricity on them, right?"
I nodded, not able to say anything.
"And you came a lot?"
I nodded again.
"OK, that will do for now. Let's get you up to the x-ray department."
He started to push me out when the door was opened loudly and Francis walked in.
"They tried to stop me, but I just had to see you," he said as tears ran down his face.
"Well, I'm done and the x-rays can wait."
Damn! Now I had to explain to Francis what had happened!
I tried to smile the best as I could. "I'm OK, Francis, just some bruises."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea, and I'll be better if you come here and give me a kiss and a hug."
I felt him get closer but, when he got within a foot or so, I began to shake.
For this years anniversary of CA I want to do something special. I want to know where are you from so I can make a picture of all of my readers where they are on this world, or even outside it LOL.
Well let me know bye e-mail: noway16@hotmail.com or through ICQ 36967366. To be kept informed about my updates of the story go to my yahoo group which is mentioned on my website at www.geocities.com/timsfunplace.