Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Toulouse rolled over in bed again desperately trying to get back to sleep. He had only gone to bed a couple of hours ago and now he was being woken up by some ignorant fool who thought it would be nice to take a shower at the crack of dawn. He jammed the pillow over his ears to try and block out the sound that the pipes always made whenever the water was running. Knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, he rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling. Whoever was taking a shower, was taking a really long one. It had been about twenty minutes, and Toulouse was sure there wasn't enough hot water to sustain a shower for that long, especially in the winter. Reluctantly, he flung his feet over the side of his cot and massaged his temples in a sitting position. He needed a drink. Sleepily he stumped over to cupboard where their supply of alcohol was usually kept and pulled open the two cupboard doors. Nothing, not even an empty bottle was in there.

"Shewt." He grumbled. He eyed the whole that had been made almost two years ago now, when Jose had fallen threw into Christian's room, that they had never bothered to patch. Toulouse had done this on purpose; this was the only way he could make sure Christian was all right. Suddenly, he had an idea. He'd ask Christian if he had a drink, at least he might be able to talk to him. He hadn't seen or spoken to him in quite a while now, and he was beginning to be a bit concerned. He walked over to the hole and lay flat on his belly. The racket the pipes were making must have woken him up by now. But then again, with the amount of drinking that he did, he could easily be passed out tell noon. At any rate, he took of his hat and placed it besides him. He then stuck his head threw the hole and shouted

"Hey Chriwstian!" no response. He tried again, this time a bit louder. "HEY CHRIWSTIAN!" still nothing. Toulouse inched his body further so now his whole torso and head were threw the hole which gave him a perfect view of Christian's room. "Chriwstian?" he said almost in a whisper. He wasn't in his bed, the balcony doors where shut, and the desk chair sat empty. He couldn't have left, not for good. He would have taken his things with him. Maybe he went to the bar. No, no, the bars didn't open tell around 10:00 and it was only about 6:30. Then a thought struck him. Hey, maybe he's the one in the shower. Fear began to flood through Toulouse's veins. The water had been running for about a half an hour now. It would be impossible for someone to be in the shower without freezing. The room wasn't heated either, which made it even colder. And with snow like there was last night, surely the pipes were frozen.

'My god he thought, he's tried to kill himself.'

"Oh no! Oh no!" Toulouse screamed waking the Argentinean with a start.

What? What? His words were sleepily slurred but he sounded concerned.

"He'ws done wt, Chriwstianw's done wt! He'ws killed himwslef!" Toulouse shouted at Jose. He had told Christian that suicide was no answer to his problems. He had been raised Catholic, he knew he shouldn't. He promised Toulouse that he wouldn't. Toulouse didn't wait for the Argentinean to fully grasp what he was saying for his words had been heavily slurred due to his lisp and fright. He tore down stairs and down the hall as fast as his little legs could carry him, and heard thundering footsteps behind him which told him that Jose had finally comprehend what Toulouse had said and was coming to help. He reached the bathroom door and wrenched it open.

He was laying there, spread eagle on the bottom of the bath with the water pounding on top of him. His body was blue. His fingertips and lips were purple. His face, his face was white. So white it looked as tough he were wearing make up. Toulouse ran over and hurriedly shut off the faucet. His hands shaking uncontrollably he shook Christian's shoulders. His head flopped lazily to one side and then to the other. Toulouse felt tears begin to flow out of his eyes blurring his vision. He shook harder hoping to wake him up all the while moaning "no, no, no." Jose bounded in the door and hesitated as a look of shier terror spread across his face.

"Stop! Stop!" he shouted at Toulouse who obeyed and backed off. The Argentinean picked up Christian's cold limp body and started out the door. He ran as fast as he could without dropping Christian back up to their room with Toulouse following closely behind. Jose kicked open the door and went to his bed. He threw back the covers and placed Christian inside and covered him again. With the help of Toulouse, the piled as many blankets upon him and then pulled the ice off his strands of frozen hair. They rapped a towel around his head so in the end only his nose, mouth and eyes were exposed. Toulouse whipped around and, a little harder than he meant to, kicked the half asleep Setie. Setie sat bolt upright and looked frantically around.

"Go, hurwey, get a doctor as fast as you can! Tell him a man's freezing to death, tell him to hurwey!" Setie, still hung over from last nights debacles got up as fast as he could and ran flat into the wall next to the door. Shaking his head he got up again and this time ran threw the door and downstairs. Toulouse heard his feet echo all the way tell he was out the door.

"I just whope he can tell the doc before itsw too late." Toulouse said with a sidelong glance at Christian.

"It's not enough," the Argentinean said. "He needs more warmth. Toulouse, come, crawl in with me. We can use our body heat to warm up the blankets for he has none." They both crawled in besides Christian and pressed their bodies against his.

Not long after, they once again heard footsteps coming up the stairs to their room. Halfway up they heard a loud thump and the other pair of footsteps temporally pause, and then continue to run to the top. An older man in about his 50's ran in. He had graying hair and a mustache that completely covered the top of his lip. He was quite tall, but a wispy man that didn't look to have much weight on him. Red eyed and still in his sleeping gown, he hurried over to the bed where barley visible, white, Christian lay with Toulouse and the Argentinean close besides him. The doctor quickly pulled out a stethoscope and put it in his ears. With the other hand, he shoved it down the blankets and after a moments rustling, found the right spot and became absolutely still. Toulouse realized that he was holding his breath waiting for the doctor's announcement.

"How long has he been like this?" he asked with a shaky voice. Toulouse saw his hand move again under the covers, looking for a sign of life.

"About 45 minutews Sir." Toulouse was able to whisper.

More rustling, and then the doctor's body went stiff. He seemed to press harder with his hand, his brow furrowed. Then he removed his hand and sighed.

"His got a heartbeat, but its so faint I could barley hear it." The doctor said looking relieved.

Toulouse was thrilled. He began to sob uncontrollably again, but this time it was for joy.

"You have got to keep him very warm, lying with him for a while longer can only help him. Quite frankly your lucky, if you had gotten to him any later, well I don't think I would have been able to give you good news. Here's a medication that should help his heart pump faster, getting the blood flowing better; I don't want to take any chances, he might just not make it you know. But, if you keep him warm and give him this every 2 hours, in a couple days he should be almost fully recovered. I'll come by tomorrow to check on him."

Thank woo doctor, thank woo." Toulouse called after him as he picked up his bag to leave.

"Ah yes," he said turning around once again, "your friend out there became unconscious half way up the stairs. It's a good thing he was even able to deliver the message. May I suggest that he, or this young man in bed don't have anything to drink for a while? Humm, yes, especially the young man, it would be bad for it to get in his blood stream along with the medicine." The doctor then turned and left, his nightgown swishing as he turned sharply out of the door and down the stairs.