CURIOSITY

Community General Hospital: 1:03am

It was six thirty in the morning. Even at this time, the hospital was strangely silent. The Doctors were milling around and most victims from the Knightsbridge Hotel fire had been saved. There were some losses, some which could not be helped but most were okay. It had been a strenuous night for all Doctors. For Jesse Travis, it had almost proved to be too much. He was lying down on one of the hospital waiting room couches, curled up with his eyes closed sleeping peacefully. Occasionally he would open his eyes and through blurry vision see doctors and nurses walking past him. The receptionist remained where she was and every so often Norman would walk by, looking a little lost and then wandering off somewhere else.

Jesse closed his eyes every time and then drifted off into another five-minute nap. His shift ended over an hour ago but he knew he was in no shape to drive. As a doctor he knew that. He would most likely land himself in a hospital bed. He remained sleeping on the sofa so that hopefully when he woke up, he would be more alert to drive himself back. Jesse had done a double shift that night. He personally believed he'd done well and deserved the rest.

Eventually, he felt someone shaking his shoulder gently and calling his name. Jesse opened his eyes and looked into a pair of eyes. He groaned and tried to blink away the tiredness. "Don't go back to sleep, Jesse, you'll drive all the patients away," the voice joked.

"Very funny, Amanda," Jesse muttered and tried to sit up. His head felt heavy on his left where he had been lying and he almost toppled over. He managed to keep his balance and rubbed his hands across his tired face. "Man, I swear, if I stay awake for any longer than ten minutes I'll case an accident by crashing out."

"How about I take you home?" Dr Mark Sloan suggested. Jesse hadn't even noticed he was there. He had only been looking at Amanda, but he did know that he was so completely out of it that it did not surprise him. "I don't think you'd be able to last another few seconds on your feet even if you tried. Besides, I have to take Steve as well and my shift finishes in about five minutes." He yawned involuntarily as well.

"It seems that everyone is the walking dead round here," Amanda commented. Both Doctors gave her a dirty looked as she smiled and walked off in the direction to finish what remained of the half burnt corpses that didn't make it from the fire.

Jesse nodded. "All right, Mark. I'll take you up on that offer." Mark nodded, saying he'd be back in a few minutes after clearing up. By the time Mark arrived back, Jesse was asleep again, his head against the wall, looking up towards the ceiling. To Mark Sloan, he looked like a small boy who had been asked to do too much on his first try-out. He was close enough. Jesse was the youngest out of them all and even though he was a reliable and trusted intern, there were times when he couldn't keep up with the big boys.

Mark had to admit sometimes that he wasn't able to do it either but these were rare occasions. A fire as big as this one was a rare occasion so Mark did not blame him.

Steve Sloan walked up to him. "Busy night died down then?" he asked his dad and he nodded. "Good. Ready to go back home because I'm beat as well." He spied his father looking at the fallen Jesse Travis and automatically smiled. "I suppose we're taking him back as well?"

"Well, we can't leave him here for Amanda or Norman to deal with," Mark said, smiling as he walked over to Jesse. Together, they got Jesse awake and made him over to the car. He fell asleep in the backseat as well. No matter how hard he tried, sleep just took him over. Mark and Steve managed to get him into his apartment with difficulty and left Jesse to deal with himself. The young intern fell asleep on his bed without even changing. He didn't hear either Steve or Mark leave.

Neither did he hear someone else enter his apartment around half an hour later. A bomb could have dropped on his block and he still would have been able to sleep through it. Steve and Mark never saw anyone either as they walked back down to their car. "Poor, Jesse," Steve said, "he's had a bit of a rough night, hasn't he?"

Mark nodded. "Yes, I suppose you could say that but personally, I don't blame him for crashing out like that. I'm surprised Amanda hasn't been so tired lately. I thought she would have been extremely tired after doing two night shifts in a row like that." He shook his head, marveling at how some of the doctors were able to do it. He stretched whilst his son drove. "It must be my old age, Steve, I think I'm getting old and unable to keep up with you lot."

Steve laughed immediately. "Old age and unfit? I doubt it. Not with your diet and constant exercises. If anything, it's Amanda's high coffee doses and those pills. I've seen them in her cupboards." He drove into the garage of the beach house and both men got out lazily, ready for the night's sleep. Back to the Community Hospital, Amanda was just packing up and ready to go and Jesse was still on his bed, dead to the world. He heard none of the cars, nor the dog that howled beside the rubbish bins.

He didn't even hear someone enter his apartment around half an hour after Steve and Mark left. Someone expertly picked the lock and entered his apartment, looking around. The black clad figure quietly closed the door, making no sound at all. He walked through the rooms before seeing Jesse on top of the covers of his bed. He smiled beneath his mask and began to move forward. His friends outside were ready as well. It wouldn't have taken a minute.

Slowly, he made his way towards Jesse Travis, taking cautious steps not to wake the sleeping figure. If only he knew how dead he actually was. As soon as he got close enough as he dared, he turned Jesse over and put a hand across his mouth in one swift movement. It was enough to wake Jesse up and notice that something was wrong. He tried to cry out but found that he couldn't.

He smelt the leather that came from the glove he was wearing. In desperation, he kicked out and tried to cry but nothing came out but a bunch of muffled cries. Jesse began to realize that his situation was slowly becoming serious. Someone really meant business and in a flash Jesse soon figured out who he was. Panic gripped his heart and he started to breathe faster in fear. In absolute fear, he started to struggle more. He knocked a lamp over in the process.

Suddenly, the hand came away from his mouth. Instead, it was replaced by some sort of cloth. A strong smell came from it, which Jesse tried to keep back. He tried to hold his breath and push the cloth away from him but he couldn't hold it forever. Eventually, he had to take a breath, not matter how small. With his own tiredness and the strength of the chloroform, Jesse soon fell into unconsciousness.

The intruder kept the cloth there for a few minutes for careful measure. As soon as he was satisfied that his victim was totally out of it. He got off the bed and turned Jesse over. He ordered his friends to come in and together, they got Jesse out of the apartment and into a car that was waiting downstairs. The whole kidnap had been perfectly set up and everything had been prepared carefully beforehand. Jesse was driven away in the back of a van without anyone knowing.

* * * * *

Day sat at the bar thinking for a few moments. That was his name—Day. At first, it had always been Daryl. Everyone in school up to Eighth Grade called him Daryl and then suddenly, some right freshmen without his glasses called him Day and from then on, the name kind of stuck. Day didn't mind. It was more interesting than your average name. He certainly thought the name was more interesting than Daryl. Now everyone knew him as Day even in formal things like court and newspaper. He was known as Day Passer. Not Daryl—Day. He now usually made a habit in making sure people called him Day.

He was having his last drink at the bar. After several drinks, which he usually had, he would return back to his safe house. It was something he had to do these days to keep his nerves down otherwise he knew he'd get into a panic. Anyone could be one of them…and the only thing that allowed Day to lighten up a bit was that alcoholic drink at night.

Tonight, though, he had spent a lot longer at the bar than he intended to. With the few alluring girls and one drink too many, they just kept on coming and eventually, he thought he would pass out. But strangely enough, Day always had an ability to fight off the unconsciousness that usually swept people after a few alcohol bottles. But eventually, Day managed to drag himself away from the bar, say goodnight to some of the girls and then left the tip on the table. He left and staggered out onto the road.

After a while, he got into his car and drove slowly back to the apartment. Day purposely went slowly. He was already close to losing his life as it is. He didn't want a car crash to end his life when he spent so long hiding away from a gun. But then again, if he did crash, then maybe it would save him from running, always using a different name…always being cautious to who you talk to…check your back…check your phone line…The list went on and on. It was like you were never free.

Day hated it.

Finally though, he made it to the apartment Drunkenly, he made his way up the stairs. When he finally reached the door, he leaned against the banister and stopped. The door was open…He looked around carefully, wondering whether there was anyone around ready to pounce on him at any moment. When he was positive there wasn't, he turned back towards the door again. It was wide open and no sound was coming from inside it. Jesse never left his door open. He was always careful not to.

And even if he were back late, he would make sure he closed it. If there was one thing he learned about Jesse was that he was a very cautious person and he had to be lately. Day always guessed that it was because of his job as an intern at the hospital.

Silently, Day opened the door and flipped the lights on, hoping to startle anyone inside. But there didn't appear to be anyone there. Day checked the rooms. In the living room, a few plants had been knocked over. Everything else was all right apart from the bedroom, which Jesse slept in. It was a total mess. The covers had been totally tossed about and the lamp on the bedside table had fallen and smashed. There was a strange smell in the room. With Day's strong dose of alcohol, he almost threw up.

But all the tiredness had been taken away from him. He wondered where Jesse was and he had a bad feeling about this. He had a bad feeling about practically everything these days. But Day knew this time that they had got to Jesse. A chill shuddered down his spine as he thought about what they could do to Jesse if they had him, which almost certainly they did.

In panic, Day reached for the phone with his fingers shaking. He didn't care if anyone had tapped into he phone line. He bashed the keys to get the number and he waited. "Come on, Anders, pick up the bloody phone," he hissed to himself. "Come on!" he shouted as the sixth ring came on.

"Anders!" he practically screamed down the phone.

There was a silence. "Day, is that you?" he said when it was pretty obvious that it was. Anders got angry. "I told you not to call me in case it was an emergency. Are you calling from Jesse's house?"

"Yes."

"Damnit, Day, I told you not to call from his house. It could lead both of you into danger. Do you not pay attention to anything I say."

Day could feel himself begin to get angry. "This is an emergency, Anders, and it could mean both of our safety. Someone broke into Jesse's apartment. His room is trashed and there's this strong smell in the room."

"Well, maybe someone raided his apartment," Anders suggested.

"No!" Day cried. "It's worse than that. Jesse would have come back home by now, I know it. He doesn't work past one in the morning so he would have been here. They've got him, Anders, I know it. Oh God, they're gonna hurt him, Anders, they're gonna hurt him bad."

"Now, Day, what's important is your safety…"

"And what about Jesse's!" Day screamed down the phone. "You got him mixed up in this without a choice. Now he's in trouble and he doesn't matter."

Day heard an impatient click from Anders down the phone. "No, that's not what I'm saying, Day. What are the chances that Jesse's got? Remember the other three? We wouldn't have time to find Jesse before something happened. The best thing to do is to get you out of there. I'm going to send someone over to pick you up right now."

"Okay but make it…" Day cut off when he heard the sound of a hammer not far away from him—right beside his bed. He held the phone tightly and turned round, staring at the barrel of the gun. Up close, it seemed massive. That bullet, he thought, must be massive inside his head.

"Day!" Anders shouted, but Day didn't say anything. He looked at the man in the mask in front of him. "Day, talk to me, God Damnit!" Still, Day didn't say anything but kept on staring.

Day had forgotten about Anders. He couldn't see the man behind the black mask holding the gun at him but he could almost imagine the expression. Fear overpowered his heart but there were something's he had to know first. "Where's Jesse?" he demanded quietly.

"In a place of happiness," the man said.

"You mother—"

The man held the gun up better. "Don't even try it, Passer. I've got you right in my sights. I could shoot you right now but that would suck the fun out of it. You want to know what I've done to your little friend? Yes, we got him and yes, we got the answers out of him. It took some time and some roughing up but we got there. He said you'd be back later tonight to the apartment."

Day could feel himself feeling faint. He didn't blame Jesse. Who knows what kind of torture they subjected him to but he still felt sick? "You can let him go now."

The sides of the ski mask rose up as if he was smiling but smiling evilly. "I'm afraid it's a little too late for that. You see, the damage has already been done. We had to do it all tonight otherwise we wouldn't get paid so the hard part had to be done tonight. A seven-day torture was done in less than a few hours. As you can imagine, it wouldn't have been really pretty…"

Day wanted to jump. He could still hear Anders screaming at him down the phone but his mind was screaming at the moment. In his mind he was screaming words at the man that even a grown person wouldn't want to hear. Day wanted to lunge at the man and tear his throat out for what he'd done for Jesse. He would rather die now. He couldn't stand it anymore. He had waited too long for him to get caught so he could sit at that trial and live a life of living low. It was no way to live. "I hope you rot in hell," he whispered.

"You'll go there first, though," the man said and pulled the trigger.

Day didn't remember feeling a thing. In fact, it was all over in a few seconds. Less than a few seconds even that he couldn't even think about it. The only last thoughts he had were 'thank you Jesse' in a hope that he was still alive somewhere.