December 4th, 2010
"Four?"
"Four."
"But… why four?"
"Your guess is as good as mine."
Silence. Both stare at the tiny, scribbled number that sits, annoyingly peaceful – if numbers can be such things – and impervious to their clueless gaze as though hoping that it might leap out of the crime scene photograph and suddenly, magically, make sense.
"If you were dying – dying like he was, in a lot of pain - why would you write four?"
A sigh.
Golf. Family. Four noble truths, Buddhism. Four Gospels, Christianity. Number of chambers in the mammalian heart. Fourth state of matter; plasma. Fourth element of alchemy; fire.
"Four… four could mean anything."
"Exactly."
John's lost count over the amount of hours they've spend pouring over this number. This tiny, minute detail that could mean absolutely anything. Since Donovan faxed them this image – a body, turned away from the camera, with the single number 'four' on a post-it note beside him – this is all they've thought about.
"Think, John! This has to be significant. I can feel it…"
Two hours later
Four rules: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division. Greek classical elements (fire, air, water, earth). Four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter. Four parts of a day: night, morning, afternoon, evening. Four cardinal directions: north, south, east, west. Four Temperaments: sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic. Four Humors: blood, yellow bile, black bile, phlegm…
Forty-five minutes later
Evangelists; four. Horsemen of the apocalypse; four. Comic book characters, Fantastic Four. …have I really stooped that low? …Rivers in the Garden of Eden: four…
One hour later
"Hang on… isn't that Donovan's handwriting?"
AN: I'm aware that this really is rubbish and probably not very funny at all, but I was stuck for a chapter to go with the number "four", and so I wikipedia'd it and this is what I found. Hope you enjoyed my incredible writer's block! Also thank you to Arista Holmes for the beta :)
Thank you for the reviews last chapter – they will be answered in chapter 6 :) (which will be along hopefully tonight or possibly tomorrow)