Chapter 1
October 1st
London, England – 10:30am
Adam Moore

“We don’t choose to be special, destiny forces it upon us. Nobody wants to be different, because that means being an outcast, exiled from society, but when we look back over history, is it not the special people, the ones that stand out from the crowd, that end up changing the world, the future, for the better, or sometimes for the worse. It’s these choices we make that define our lives, our legacies. It’s a pretty scary feeling when you wake up and realise that you can change the world.”

The sound of knocking comes from the main entrance, and quickly after the door swings open. In walks a smartly dressed lady holding a teapot and a tray containing a couple of pieces of toast.

“Good morning, Prime Minister,” the lady says with a broad smile on her face, which looked to unnatural to be anything but fake.

The Prime Minister replies simply by nodding his head, as the women walks in and places the tray on top of his lap top. She quickly, and nosily, scans over his writing, quite interested by it.

“Is that what you were reading?” Once more the PM nods. “It sounds very interesting, sir.”

She pours him a cup of tea, as he scratches the stubble he’d been growing for the past few days. “Yeah, I’ve been working on it for the past few weeks. You weren’t being nosey, were you?”

“Oh, no, sir.” He teasingly gives her one of those ‘who you kidding’ looks. “Only a little, sir.”

She puts the tea pot on the tray and scuttles towards the door, like a dog whose just been told off, with it’s tail between it’s hind legs.

Interested in someone else’s opinion on it, he asked, “did you like it?”

“I wouldn’t mind a read when you’re finished, sir, if that’s okay with you.” Her chirpiness returning.

“Yeah, that’d be fine.” Quickly before the door closes, he adds, “and for the last time, call me Adam!”

************************

London, England – 11:00am
David Hobbs, Juliet Wallace

She knew she was sad, but what she had done last night had been unforgivable. It was only a year ago that they had gotten their divorce, and Juliet had the stupidity to ring him up and ask if he could comfort her. She had been feeling bad, her mother passed away only last week, and she just felt so alone. She only wanted someone she had loved to comfort her, but of course, David being David could never just be there for her, he needed something in return. So after they had had a couple of the bottles of wine, that David had brought round to drown both their sorrows, he decided to take advantage of her. Had she remembered more of it, then she might have considered it to have been rape, but David was lucky, and she had enough of the wine, so that she didn’t remember any of it, only the morning afterwards.

She got up, wrapping herself with her nighty, and went in to the bathroom, sitting on top of the toilet, trying to remember what had happened. Flashes of them both kept coming to her, and they, along with the alcohol, made her throw up on the tiled floor. Ashamed of herself, she got in the shower, and turned it on, trying desperately to wash the stink of him off of herself.

She started crying. Nothing had gone her way recently, and this was another thing that made her wish the ground would just swallow her up. She wondered if karma was catching up with her, evening everything out after all these years. If that was the case, she felt, the universe was being a little unfair, as if it was making an example out of her.

It was not until she tried to touch her face that she realised something was wrong. In stead of feeling her warm skin touch her face, all she felt was cold water. She moved her eyes to look at her hand and screamed, waking a dazed David.

David got up and walked, naked, towards the source of the screaming. He banged on the door, and shouted out, “You alright in there?” not really caring about the answer, as he expected that she just had a spot or some other lady trouble. In fact the last thing he expected was for Juliet to scream “HELP!” back. He surprised himself when he clicked into action, kicking away at the door. He kept hearing her scream, and that only motivated him more. After about twenty seconds of smashing at the door, the lock gave way, and the door swung open. He rushed inside, hearing a scream fade, pulling back the shower curtain. Puzzled, he looked around as the shower was empty. Turning off the shower, he put it down to some sick prank she was playing on him, and he went back to the bedroom, getting changed for work, as the last remains of water trickled down the plug hole.

************************

Brighton, England – 5:10pm
Benjamin Jacobs, Christian Connor, Sarah Murphy

People were panicking, there were flames everywhere. The bus had come out of nowhere and hit straight into a fuel tanker, that had been there filling up someone’s oil supplies. The driver of the bus was killed instantly, vaporised as soon as the fuel exploded, along with several passengers. Luckily, there were a few people still alive in the bus, who’d been sitting nearer the back of the bus. The flames had engulfed everywhere; the houses nearby set alight, as if they had been soaked in petrol. Onlookers could hear the cries of the people trapped in the bus, some dieing out, with all hope was lost, when three people dressed in tight spandex and bright colours appeared out of nowhere. The people watching cheered, they knew what was happening.

“Stand back!” the yellow coloured hero addressed the crowd, as the one in red went over to a drain pipe and pulled it, and the ground around it, out with minimal ease. The female, in blue, put her hands in the air, aimed towards the drain. The water rose up from the drain, and flew towards the heroine, which she then sprayed on to the flames on the bus. The guy in red then ripped off the side of the bus, and the yellow guy, disappeared, quickly returning with an old woman in his arms.

An explosion from one of the houses throws the guy in red back. The metal of the bus starts melting, as the temperature rises, and closes the only remaining exit. The guy in yellow quickly goes back, as the women tries in vain to put out the fire. In side the bus the guy in the yellow costume sees two people, a small, young girl who’s being held by a blonde, middle aged man sitting in the corner, who’s rocking backwards and forwards, crying. The guy in yellow tries to pick them both up, but in vain as he falls back, singeing his arm in the flames.

“Take the girl!” the other man shouts, clearly terrified.

“The tanker is gonna blow! I can’t leave you here to die!”

“GO!” he shouts back.

“I’ll be back for you,” he promised, and before he realises he’s even gone, the yellow guy has run away.

He puts the girl down, and turns back when he sees that the bus is melting away. He tells the girl to stop and the three quickly vamoose, not wanting any attention.

Back inside the bus, the man is sitting in the back seat, but is no longer crying, realising his fate is decided. Everything starts to darken as a mixture of the black smoke given off, and the bus melting on top of him create a shadow all around the accident area. He feels the darkness consume him as he prepares to die.

************************

Chapter 2
October 2nd
Odessa, Texas, America – 8:30am
Alexandra Hardy, Samantha Stone

Early in the morning two girls, dressed in cheerleader’s outfits, walk along a path in an estate. The shorter, red haired, girl is reading the paper, and the other girl is listening to music on her MP3 player, moving her head slightly backwards and forwards to the music as she walked.

“Woah, look at this Lex!” the shorter girl exclaimed, pulling out one of her friends earphones and pointing at the picture of a burning train wreckage.

“Oh my God! Was anyone killed?” the taller girl replied in a somewhat high pitched, excited voice.

“Doesn’t say; there’s a guy in critical condition, but apparently a cheerleader ran in and pulled him out of the burning fires.”

“What?” she replied with an amazed looked upon her face, “that’s stupid, reckless, and she could have hurt herself just before the big game!”

The shorter girl raises one of her eyebrows, giving the fishhook eye look, before sarcastically replying, “Yeah, how selfish of her…she should really think of others before doing something crazy, like saving someone’s life.”

“Exactly!” she goes to put the earphone back in her ear, completely oblivious to the other girls sarcasm, before pausing and thinking about the ordeal. “You know, I bet it was Wilcox. She’s always doing things for attention, trying to upstage everyone else.”

“I dunno, Jackie seems a bit too self involved to risk her life for someone else’s...I bet it has something to do with that b****, Claire…erm…Claire Bennet. She’s been acting strangely recently.”

“True, but you just think the worst of her because you have a thing for her boyfriend.”

“He’s not her boyfriend!” she shrieks in an almost supersonic voice, which then makes her start blushing. She quickly recovers and dismisses the idea, “I’m way out of his league.”

The taller girl, Alexandra, turns and gives her a cute but inquisitive look, “Sammy?”

The blushing on the smaller girl, Samantha, increases, but it only makes her annoyed, “Shut up.”

“Whatever,” Lex knew about Sammy’s crush on Zach, and how Sammy had been trying to get his attention for ages. The only problem with that, it seemed, was the fact that Zach appeared to be gay. Still, she wasn’t going to talk about it if Sam didn’t want to, and, thus, changed the subject. “So, what you doing tonight? I should be studying for the science test Mr Ball said he was gonna throw at us tomorrow, but if your not doing anything then we could go out.”

“Actually,” Sam replied, rather surprised by the fact she was about to blow off Lex, when it always seemed that Lex would have something better to do than hang around with her. “I’ve already made plans. I’m studying over at Zach’s house.”

Alexandra sighed, knowing full well what Sam was hoping to happen, whilst also know that it was the least likely thing that would. “Look Sam…I’m sorry, but Zach’s not into you. He’s not into any girl, not even Claire…Zach’s…well, he’s gay.”

Sam wasn’t amused. She was well aware of Lex’s protective nature towards her, and wasn’t always too fond of it. She knew her friend was only trying to help her, well most of the time anyway, but sometimes she just wanted to be able to make her on decisions. Sam also knew that Lex, and the majority of their friends, didn’t like Zach’s or anyone of his type, and didn’t want her going out with him, and therefore Sam presumed this was another of their tricks to get her to avoid him.

“Yeah right. Just like he has herpes? Just like he’s a transvestite? Just like he’s not the best thing that’s ever happened to me?” Sam was really feeling let down, and her eyes even welled up. “You know, you can be a real b**** sometimes Alex.”

Had it not been for the fact that Sam had called her Alex, Lex would have assumed that she was only kidding, but because she had, Lex took great exception to it. She knew that she was sometimes a bit mean to people, and sometimes a bit cruel as well, but to be called a b**** was a real insult, especially when it came from her best friend.

“Fine, do what you want. Go get your heart broken. Better yet, get your cherry popped. Because Zach is not good enough for you, and it’s time you realised that. You only get one go before you end up like all the other girls, and I just wanted your first time to be special; something you’d never forget.”

Lex stormed off without giving Sam a chance to reply, putting the headphones back into her ear and turning the music up loud so as not to hear anything Sam may try to say. It didn’t matter in the end, as Sam just felt bad for shouting at her. Maybe Lex was being cruel, but she was looking out for her. Sam sighed and threw the paper in the closest bin, deciding that she’d just let the situation cool down and talk to Lex tomorrow or later on that night.

************************

Manchester, England – 11:00am
Jason Bennet, Robin Reynolds

It had been a hard last week for Robin Reynolds, his father, a long time fighter against a cancerous tumour of the brain, died, leaving Robin and his mother to look after themselves. This however, was the catalyst for other events to happen. Robin returned to school, only a day later, and was the constant attention of the entire 1,500 persons as they tried, in vain, to make him feel better. The fact that he was now the centre of attention, and not just a guy in a crowd, was not as great as he had pictured it not so long ago, and he was already wishing that he could go back to being the guy everyone knows, but never notices.

There seemed to be only one man who understood how he was feeling, his ex-science teacher, Jason Bennet. The retired teacher had been a friend of his parents, who had, as they often told Robin, introduced the couple to each other. Robin had forged a friendship with the man mainly through their love of football, both of which supported a club from Manchester. Robin was born and bred a Manchester City fan from his father and his father before him, but Jason had simply gotten hooked on Manchester United’s crowd pleasing and attacking way of play when he was invited on a date with a previous girlfriend a long time ago. Through these connections the two had become good friends and the younger would often go to the older of the two if he ever needed any help or advice.

Today Robin had woken up and felt like dieing. He simply felt that there was nothing going for him and that the world would be better off if he was no longer in it, and it was for that reason that he decided to skip school, and go to see the retired teacher. His mother had called the school and told them that Robin simply needed time to grieve, which was probably true. As soon as he had gotten to Jason’s semi-detached house, he was ushered inside and into the sitting room, where he was given a glass of orange, just the way Robin liked it, and a couple of bourbon biscuits, to which Robin thanked him quickly.

“You see the result on Saturday?” Jason asked, but knew that Robin would have checked it on the television even had he not gone to the game. It was more of a way to ignore the fact that Robin was there now, rather than at school, and that he probably wouldn’t want to talk about the death that had undeniably shock the young man to the core.

“Yeah, I watched it on Match of the Day,” he replied following it with a long sigh. “It didn’t seem right to go without him…Did you go and watch United?”

“No, I was away on business. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when James…when your dad died. Had I known I wouldn’t have gone.”

“Save it,” Robin interrupted, “no offence, but I’ve heard enough sympathetic apologies in the past few days to last me a lifetime.”

“Fair enough. Just know what a great man your father was. He was helping to heal the world. It’s just a shame that he won’t be able to see the benefit of his work.”

Robin looked at him confused, his father had been an office worker for some third rate magazine, and in fact he was only the office supply worker. So when Jason told him that his father was changing the world by sorting out paper and pens for everyone, it didn’t make a lot of sense. “And how is he healing the world exactly?”

“Your father was special Robin, just like you. Well, in your own separate ways that is. Whilst he was a brilliant man, you have your own special gift. We know you do.”

“Wha-” Robin tried to think, but he was feeling a dizzy, he tried to stand up, but in doing so he just fell back into the chair. Angry, he was now finding it hard to put sentences together, “What have you done to me?”

“Just relax Robin, it’s only a light tranquiliser, you’ll be fine. We just can’t have you knowing where you’re going.”

Robin was more frightened now than anything and tried to stand up, managing only to make a mess of the cutlery that was on the seats arm. Quickly he fell unconscious, and into a deep sleep.

“Another bagged and tagged…” Jason said almost arrogantly. “This seems to get easier with age.”

************************

London, England – 1:00pm
David Hobbs, Benjamin Jacobs

David was feeling scared, possibly for the first time in his life, he wasn’t too sure as he didn’t usually remember the bad things that happened to him, not even the beatings he’d take as a child. Yeah, it’s true that David had had a rough upbringing, one that nobody, especially a child, should have to endure, but that hadn’t helped him knowing what was right and what was wrong. If anything it had twisted him further into the emotionless, self-centred empty carcass that he was now. So in a way it wasn’t his fault for him being the way he is, it was just a mixture of bad parenting and bad influences, after all it was the only way he knew how to survive.

He did, however, have moments when he seemed human. When he would let his guard down and let in someone, like he had done with Juliet, or when he would take time to reflect on the bad things he’d done. And it was the second which he was doing during his lunch break at the construction site. He was sitting in the portaloo, and he simply was sitting with his head resting in his palms. He was feeling scared, but he wasn’t quite sure why. It was because of Juliet, but he didn’t know whether or not he was feeling scared for her well being, or scared that she’s gone and done something stupid after the other night, like slitting her wrists, or calling the police. There were a million thoughts going through his head, and not one of them seemed to have a happy ending. Luckily for David, though, there was a knock on his door before he got too lost in his thoughts.

“Yo, dude, you done yet?” A male voice asked. “Oh, and there’s a kid here asking for you.”

David snapped back to reality quicker than you can click your fingers. If there’s one thing he can’t stand, it’s when people show weakness…when they cry…and it’s even worse if he’s that person. He got up and pulled the chain, flushing the toilet, just to be extra careful that nobody thought he was doing anything but have a number 2, before opening the door, and asking where the kid was.

He was rather surprised when he walked over and found Benjamin Jacobs eating his tuna sandwich. Had it been anyone else, he may have been annoyed, but he knew Ben as he used to date his mother before she divorced his dad, and surprisingly, he was one of the few people David actually liked.

“Given up on school?” David asked jokingly as he sat down opposite Ben.

“Nah mate, it gave up on me,” he responded equally jokingly and quite quickly. They both had a quick laugh, and David sat down next to his young friend, helping himself to the remaining sandwich.

“So,” David began after a short break of silence, “you wanna tell me why you’re not at school?”

“Well, technically, it’s my lunch break.”

“Just decided to run up and quickly say hello then?” David replied sarcastically with a nonchalant smile.

Ben gulped, he was always nervous about his “gift” and hated these ironic situations. He then realised that he hadn’t said anything in a while so he just smiled and said “yeah.”

There was another moment of silence, but this time it was more mutual, and so David used it to finish off his sandwich. He waited another few minutes to see whether or not Ben wanted to tell him why he was visiting, but when it seemed that those couple of jokes were the height of their conversation, David stood up and decided to get back to work.

Ben realised that he was probably just wasting David’s time, and that he was probably just being selfish, but he didn’t want David to go because, for the first time in his life, he was feeling alone.

“I…I couldn’t help him,” Ben stuttered, brushing his hands over his head, and through his short shaven head.

David sat back down again and, showing a bit of humanity, wrapped his arm over Ben and tried to comfort him. “Who?”

That one word started a long story. It was not quite a truthful one, but that was simply because Ben didn’t want anyone to know what he could do. After all, if you go up to someone and tell them ‘I can run super-human-fast,’ then the likelihood of them believing you is significantly smaller than that of them calling you crazy. In the end, David was told a very vague story about Benjamin witnessing a car accident, saving a girl in the backseat, but not being able to rescue the guy in the front seat because the car blew up before he could.

“Well I don’t think you could have done anymore,” David replied after listening for a good five minutes.

“I…I should’ve tried.”

“You’ve just gotta realise that had you gone back then you wouldn’t be here…and I think the guy knew that too,” he didn’t know whether to believe that or not because, frankly, he wasn’t there, but he thought it would help Ben. “We all witness terrible things in our lives, but in the end you’ve gotta over it. You can let these experiences, these emotions, control years of your life, or you can man up now, and forget these feelings. After all, who wants to feel frightened, sad, or lonely?”

And just as he finished speaking, there’s a loud crashing noise, and they both look up, seeing a large metal column falling towards them. There was little time to react, let alone think, and they both froze in fear. Everything seemed to slow down, when they heard a loud scream from somewhere. David closed his eyes and tried to jump away. Then the beam came crashing down, and a puff of soil clouded the area.

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Odessa, Texas, America – 5:00pm
Samantha Stone, Alexandra Hardy

Samantha Stone was panting as she walked up the steps to Alexandra Hardy’s house. She quickly knocked on the door three times, like she would always do, just with a little more urgency. Lex responded to the familiar sound by quickly getting up off her arse and running to the door, holding a piece of pizza she had been eating whilst watching one of her favourite chick flicks.

She was rather surprised that Sam would be over their little war of words they had earlier on, they were both, after all, pretty big drama queens, and would therefore make the most out of nothing. She hurriedly opened the door, and hugged her best friend, which basically was saying that she wanted to forget about earlier. Sam returned the hug, but only shortly, as she had something to show the other girl.

“You like Claire?” she asked hesitantly.

“She’s alright,” Lex replied, simply as she had no reason to like or dislike the younger cheerleader, she just hadn’t really tried to get to know her. “Why? What’s she done?”

“You know I went round Zach’s,” Sam begins, and Lex walks inside with her following, closing the door behind herself. “Well, he went out the room, and I was feeling nosey…I…Well I found this.”

She held up a tape in her hand and a camera in the other. “You’ve gotta see this.”

They both walk over to the couch and sit down next to each other. Sam opens the side of the camera, puts the tape in, and presses play. The next five or six minutes are filled with a sequence of events. First both girls will remain quiet as the young blonde girl prepares herself; Lex will then scream, mainly in shock, as she sees something she wished she hadn’t, with Sam simply cringing as she notices something she hadn’t seen in her first viewing; there will then be a series of bowel movements as the witness Claire Bennet standing up, saying her little “…and that was attempt number…” bit, before rearranging any protruding or broken bones. Like I said, this lasted at least for a good five minutes, not very pleasant for the weak stomached girls. As the film stopped, they let the black and white screen on for a little until Sam lifted the controls and turned it off. Silence filled the room once more, until Lex was filled with questions.

“What was that?” Lex finally asked as if she expected Sam to know. Unsurprisingly, Sam shrugged, but that only lead to Lex wanting to ask more questions, all of which Sam had no idea of the answer. Finally, when Lex had asked all she could think of, Sam responded with a question of her own, one Lex hadn’t even thought of.

“What should we do with it?”

“…” Lex really didn’t know. “We should tell someone…shouldn’t we?”

“I suppose, but who’s gonna believe this is anything other than a prank?”

“Well we’ve got to show someone, who knows what she is. Or what she can do.”

“Her dad,” Sam answer the questioned Lex had posed only a few seconds ago. “We should show it to her dad.”

Lex thought that was the stupidest idea she’d ever heard, and she’d heard a few over the years. “Surely her dad would know about this…besides, why would he believe us, two cheerleaders notorious for bitching, deceit and just general hatred against all other girls.”

“Hey!” Sam replied quite irritated. “I am not one of those stereotypical fake and plastic cheerleaders, not even you’re like that.”

“Yeah, but how well does Mr. Bennet know us?”

“…True…We should post it in an unmarked envelop.”

“But what if he does know about it?” Lex reminded Sam.

“He can’t know. Think about it, Claire’s adopted right?” Lex nodded slightly. “So if you found out that you had adopted someone like her, wouldn’t you freak out and call someone and get her taken away?”

“What like Area 51?” she replied.

Sam wasn’t sure what to say. Thinking about it, she really didn’t know what Area 51 did, and more importantly, what Claire was, so the chances of their being a government controlled operation for whatever she was, Sam believed was far from the possible. “Don’t be stupid,” she therefore answered.

“I wasn’t…Have you ever seen what’s inside there? I don’t think so.”

It was a good point, but, really, this was an argument that neither of them could win, because they were dealing with the supernatural.

“So what are we going to do?” Sam posed the question once more.

“We give it to her dad…well, Mr Bennet…in an unmarked envelop. That way we won’t be involved and her dad can decide what to make of it on his own.” Lex answered in a surprisingly organised manner.

“Alright, I’ll drop it off on my way back home. Speaking of which, I should go home, I expect my dinner will be ready soon,” Sam replied.

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Chapter 3

October 3rd
London, England – 12:00 noon
Juliet Wallace

For just over the past two days, Juliet had been in no-mans land. It was like being lost at sea in a storm, only she was part of the movement, part of the waves, part of the crashing, part of the anger. She had become part of the water, and had been lost for what had seemed an eternity, and had given up on any hope of getting out of this nightmare.

It was, only after she had all but given up and closed her eyes just waiting to die, that she saw a bright light on her eyelids, making her open them straight away. She wished all she could that somehow she’d escape whatever this was, even praying to God. She felt herself breathing sweat fresh air once more.

Soon she felt land, and when she did, she grabbed hold of it so tightly; you could see she never wanted to leave it. Pulling herself up the bank, she felt the strength return to her, and it was only until she was out of the wet, she realised she was lying on the muddy embankment in dry clothes. She quickly jumped into a sitting position, and then realised that she could see her normal old pink hands again. She rubbed her face, just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating and pinched herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. She had to be sure.

Luckily for Juliet, she had only been about 15 miles from her house, which she found strange considering the time she thought she spent in…well, in the water. She really wasn’t sure what to make of what happened to her, and therefore, eventually, came to the conclusion that whatever she had experienced a few nights ago was so bad, that her mind had come up with this elaborate “dream”. The more she thought about it, the more she convinced herself that this was the case, and the more it made her mad at David for whatever it was that he had done to her.

As she walked through the front of her door, she heard the ever familiar beeping sound from her answer machine. She bent over to pick up the newspaper, only then realising the date. Putting the paper on the table next to the machine, she pressed a button and the messages began to play. She went in to the kitchen and got out a cup, but froze before she turned the tap on, afraid that the same thing would happen again.

“…I’m calling on behalf on your ex-husband, David Hobbs,” she heard a male voice speak, “he was involved in an accident yesterday and would like you to visit him.”

She dropped her glass, and it smashed on the floor. She cleaned up the glass before playing the message again.

************************

London, England – 4:30pm
Christian Connor, Sarah Murphy

Chris had fallen in love with his brother’s girlfriend. Well, his half-brother’s girlfriend, so really, he didn’t have to put “bro’s before ho’s”, his loyalty didn’t lie with Ben. That’s what Chris kept telling himself anyway, it’s what he wanted to believe. So then, on the off chance that Ben would finish with Sarah, the most perfect girl ever, Chris could go for that one in a million shot, and take the plunge.

Chris, however, was extremely shy, and kept himself to himself. No matter how much he wanted to tell Sarah how he felt, he would never be able to mutter those words. Even when they talked on MSN, he felt as scared as if she was right there beside him, although it did bring out the real him…something which she seemed to like.

Chris says: (4:30)
Hello beautiful

Sarah says: (4:30)
Hey stud , how are you?

Chris says: (4:31)
Good thanks, just annoyed because I lost at Dungeons and Dragons earlier…the other guy got lucky…:@

Sarah says: (4:31)
Aww, unlucky…I’m sure you’ll win next time though.

That’s what Chris liked about her…she made him happy.

Chris says: (4:32)
Hey, my mum wants to know whether or not you’ve seen Ben today?

Sarah says: (4:32)
No, sorry, I thought he was ill :s

Chris says: (4:32)
Nah…he didn’t come home yesterday…

Sarah says: (4:33)
…Sorry…hope he’s alright

Chris says: (4:33)
Don’t worry, he’ll turn up sooner or later…that’s just him

Chris says: (4:35)
How are things between you two then?


Sarah says: (4:36)
*sighs*…not that good…I think I may break up with him…

Chris almost jumped out his seat in excitement, but managed to keep his ‘cool’. He tried to be interested so that she would still talk to him if she did break up with Ben, but didn’t want to seem too desperate or forward.

Chris says: (4:37)
What’s wrong?

Sarah says: (4:37)
…I shouldn’t really be telling you…

Chris says: (4:37)
I promise not to tell…in fact I pinkie swear

Sarah says: (4:37)
*pinkie swear*

Sarah says: (4:39)
Alright…it’s just he seems so empty and emotionless…like he’s trying to be someone else…I know it sounds stupid, but he doesn’t seem to be the same guy I was going out with.

Chris was happy with her choice of words there…she hadn’t said that she was in love with him, which was good news for him. He did, however, agree with her; Ben had been getting more and more distant, as if he was trying to be a cold heartless person.

Chris says: (4:40)
I actually know what you mean…he just seems so…cold

Chris says: (4:40)
…empty

Chris says: (4:40)
…impassive, like you said

Sarah says: (4:40)
…eh?

Chris says: (4:41)
Impassive = emotionless

Sarah says: (4:41)
Oh yeah

Chris says: (4:41)
brb….phones ringing

At possibly the worst timing ever, the phone had decided to ring, meaning Chris would have to leave this promising conversation and go answer what would probably be a salesman calling to ask them if they want a second conservatory, a roof toilet, or something else they would never have any use for. Unfortunately, this was not one of those phone calls. In fact Chris would have gladly taken thousands of those calls just so he would never have to hear this call. It was, actually, the hospital calling, and as soon as the bad news was delivered, Chris dropped the phone, and fell backwards, luckily landing on a couch. His whole word had come crashing down.

************************

Previously that morning
London, England – 10:15am
David Hobbs, Benjamin Jacobs

“Sir?” a female voice asked.

“Excuse me, sir. Are you awake?” the women repeated.

‘Well I am now, you moron,’ he felt like replying, but kept it in his head as he opened his eyes, realising that he was in a hospital. Instead he replied by opening his mouth and murmuring something which sounded more like a bear softly roaring, than anything else.

“Is there anything I can get you?” the women asked in her gentle and polite voice.

This time David just shook his head. After an extended silence, the women started to write something on the clipboard she was holding, which David assumed was his medical details.

“Where’s Ben?” he finally asked.

The women stop with her writing, and put the pen and board down on a table. She moved up the bed and sat next to him. “Is that his name? The boy who was with you?”

He was stunned and lost for words, but he didn’t quite know why. Assuming that he felt guilty about the accident, he managed to utter a very quite “where is he?”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It had taken him a little while to get out of his bed, his body felt heavy and he felt tired, but he desperately wanted to check in on his young friend, and managed to make it to the room in which they were keeping him. The nurse was still there with David, and was standing beside him as he looked vacantly into the room and at the boy who seemed so full of life such a short time ago.

“He managed to get the most part out of the way, but his legs were crushed in the accident. They had to be amputated to get him out,” she explained as David fought back the tears that were trying desperately to escape the d*** he had created in his eyes. “He seems to be stable, but we can’t be sure whether or not he’ll survive.”

David turned to her, “why?”

“Well,” she tried to continue, but was starting to feel emotional too, “his body will recover, as much as it can, but I don’t know if he’ll ever recover.”

“No,” he said, as he turned away from her and walked in the door. She thought he was dealing with the grief, but really he wanted to know why it was Ben and not David. After all, David had nothing going for him, Ben, on the other hand, had the world at his feet.

As the door closed, leaving just the two in the small room, Ben slowly moved his head and looked at David, managing to even make a lax smile. David just smiled back, he didn’t know want else he could do.

“Hey kid,” he sat down on the chair beside the bed. He opened his mouth to say more, but nothing came out of it. What could he possibly say?

Before silence could creep into the moment, and make it more uncomfortable than it already was, Ben opened his mouth. “I just stood there.”

David needn’t worry about silence making the atmosphere uncomfortable, because you could now cut the tension with a knife, a blunt one too. All David could say was “why?”

“I…I didn’t think I deserved to live.”

“Don’t be stupid. You have to live, so you can put things right, you don’t ever take the easy way out…Ever.”

Ben smiled again, “I wish I was more like you.”

David looked down at the floor. He knew well and true that he was not the kind of person that a kid should be looking up at. “You don’t want to be me,” he therefore said. “I’m a drunk, a bum, a dick and generally not a good person…I’ve killed, I’ve ruined lives, and I’ve…I’ve never felt…I’ve never regretted any of it. I’m not the type of person you want to turn into… I don’t even like who I am, how can you?”

He didn’t want an answer, and swiftly got up and walked to the door, opening it before pausing, and turning his head back. “Your only a kid, you’ve got the whole of your life ahead of you…Just live it with no regrets, okay?…Be happy.”

He left the room, walking only a few yards down the corridor before collapsing on the floor. The nurse quickly caught up with him and sat beside him, giving him a shoulder to cry on.

“Is there anyone you want to be called?”

“His family…his surname’s Jacobs… might be listed as Connor,” he thought about it before asking. “Can you call my wife?”

************************

London, England – 6:30pm
Benjamin Jacobs, Christian Connor, Sarah Murphy

“Ben!” both Sarah and Chris said simultaneously as they entered his room. They had had to get the train up by themselves because Chris’ dad and step-mum were on holiday, and Sarah’s mum was working and didn’t see this as a good enough reason to risk getting fired from her comfy office job.

They walked up the side of his bed and towards his heads’ end. Sarah gave him a quick hug as Chris stood over them feeling slightly jealous. However, as she moved back, and sat down in the seat next to the bed, Chris stared at his step-brother with something he could never remember feeling for him, pity. For once, he had felt the luckier of the two.

“How you doing?” he asked out of instinct, immediately realising how stupid a question that was.

Ben decided to humour him; he could do with a laugh. “Yeah, good thanks. I skived off school yesterday to catch up on some beauty sleep.”

Although Chris managed a half smile, Sarah wasn’t amused, and showed it by slapping Ben gently on his arm. “Don’t act all tough. It’s okay to be scared sometimes.”

Ben turned his head to face Sarah, raising one of his eyebrows, “I’ve never been scared before in my life, why should I start now?”

Sarah simply looked back at him in disbelief, eyes wide open, with tears starting to form. The apology she had hoped for never came, leaving an awkward instead. Chris felt sorry for Sarah, and angry at Ben for the way he treated her. He wanted to say something so badly, but as he opened his mouth Sarah got up and quickly made for the exit.

Ben chuckled, as if he found it all funny. “Women, eh?”

Astonished at Ben’s disrespectful and vulgar attitude Chris sighed, shaking his head; within the few minutes he had been there he had gone from looking up to his sibling, to having no respect whatsoever for him. This was mainly influenced by the fact that Ben had just insulted the women he loved, twice, but Ben had gotten an even worse look on the world in just a couple of days.

Despite wanting to go after Sarah, and see if she was alright, he knew that the right thing was to stay with his brother, despite abhorring him at the moment. It remained quiet for quite a long time before they made any sort of conversation.

“So,” Ben asked, breaking the silence, “how long have you had the hots for Sarah?”

Chris was held in silence, not knowing what to say he managed a mumbled “what?”

Ben grinned “you heard. After all, isn’t everyone after her, she is gorgeous after all.”

“Oh,” Chris sighed quietly with relief, “yeah, I suppose. I mean, I really haven’t looked at her.”

His brother smiled even more, “you really are a nerd, aren’t you.”

Chris’s expression quickly changed again, this time he looked upset and annoyed. Brothers were supposed to be good to each other after all.

“What’s wrong with you?” Chris asked in a serious tone of voice.

Ben shrugged his shoulders slightly and answered, “Nothing.”

“How can nothing be wrong? You’re legs!…you don’t have anymore. You’re horrid to Sarah, you’re being a dick to me…you’re just so…you’re such a…you’ve changed. You’re no longer someone I respect, and you’re not being a good person, let alone brother.”

For the first time in his life, Chris was standing up to someone. And he was immediately regretting it.

“ME!?” Ben responded angrily. “I’m no longer gonna be an athlete! I’m never going to be able to walk on my own two legs again! And I…I’m losing the girl I love. All I’m trying to do is make the best out of a bad situation. I’m trying to be someone I like. I’m trying not to lose all hope. For once, I’m asking your help. I need you to actually act like my brother.”

“You’re right,” Chris said as he stood up. “This is problem the first time you’ve ever needed me. But what about all those times I needed you? What about all those times I came to you for advice, help, support? You’ve never been there for me.” He walked towards the door, about to open it, “It’s time I returned the favour.”

Chris opened the door and walked out, leaving Ben to wallow in self-pity.

“You’re no brother of mine!” Ben shouted before the door closed simply so he had the last word, before even thinking about what he was saying. The door then shut, leaving him once more on his own.

************************

London, England – 8:00pm
Jason Bennet

Jason Bennet in a doctor’s coat and a good looking, tall and thin, dark haired nurse, pushing a wheelchair, were walking down the hospital wing, talking.

“…so your really a really talented individual,” Jason finished.

“Well I like to think I do my part,” she replied, with a big, happy, grin.

“Do you remember the room number?” he asked, then quickly added, “I’m getting forgetful with my old age.”

Once again she smiled, this time with mirth. “Aww, you’re not that old. Besides there’s a lot worse things than being old,” she said as she trailed off, looking down at her shoes.

He knew why she what she was talking, and probably thinking, about, he had read her file after all. You have to know your friends better than your enemies anyway, or at least Jason thought so. “Look’s aren’t everything, you know. Maybe you should try being yourself for a change.”

She paid close attention to his words, but whether or not she’d actually listened to him was not his problem. He was there to bag and tag another ‘special’ person, not to be a self support group. The fact that there was a silence afterwards was pleased Jason, it made him think that she thinking about it. After all, although it wasn’t his problem, Jason liked helping people.

“Here we are,” the women said.

Jason took the wheelchair from her, and she went to the door, standing in front of it with her hand on the handle. “Just as we agreed Candice,” Jason said, as she turned the handle and walked in.

************************

London, England – 9:30pm
Adam Moore

Adam had just had possibly the longest, most inefficient day at the office, ever. He felt pretty annoyed with his cabinet, but even more annoyed with himself after finding out that out of all the promises he made during his election campaign, he found out that he was only going to be allowed to carry out three of them.

What was he supposed to do? The press would crucify him; the public would burn him at the stake. He needed something to get them back on his side, something big.

Angry with himself for being such an idiot, for digging his own grave, for believing he could make such a great difference with so little work; he overturned his desk,. Immediately an armed bodyguard burst into the room.

“I’m alright,” Adam quickly said.

“Are you sure, sir?”

“Yes, thank you. I was just letting off a bit of steam.”

The bodyguard nodded, “I’ll get someone to clean this up for you by tomorrow, sir.”

“Thanks. You can go now,” and so, he did.

Adam wandered about the room, head full of thoughts.

RING – RING

The phone rang, but Adam ignored it, and started picking up folders and files off of the floor.

RING – RING

The phone rang once more, but Adam had his focus on something else. In his hand he had a file with a red ‘Urgent’ sticker. He glanced at the name; ‘Project 37’.

RING – RING

With the file in his hand, he moved to find the phone, just so he could quieten it.

RING – RING

Finding the phone under a pile of paper, he carried it to his seat and picked it up.

“Hello Mister Prime Minister,” a woman’s voice arrogantly spoke. “I need you to approve that file in your hand for me.” So he did.

************************

Author's Note
Oh.... and please leave a review...you wouldn't believe how long this took me to do