Chapter 2

Stu

Isn't it funny? You hear a phone ring and it could be anybody. But a ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it?

Stu woke up with a gasp, sweat dripping down his face.

"Fuck," he muttered into his hands.

He'd had that nightmare again. The one that he'd had every night for the past few months, ever since that damn phone call.

It always started the same. He'd be in the centre of a room, with Pam and Kelly on either side. In his hand he'd be holding a telephone.

The telephone would ring, over and over. He'd ignore it at first but it would get louder and louder, until eventually he'd have no choice but to answer it. Then he'd wish he'd never answered the phone.

"Hello Stu," that oh so familiar voice would say, a hint of amusement in his voice.

Stu had never been given the opportunity to say anything back to the man in his dream, but he knew what he would say. "Fuck off you bastard." He could even imagine the reply that he would get. "Stu, that kind of language is uncalled for."

However the dream never went like that. Instead the caller would start laughing into the phone, making Stu's anger flare up. Then he'd say the words that had always haunted Stu, not just in his dreams but throughout his life since as well. "Kelly or Pam. You choose." Stu would look from left to right, almost as if debating but it was always useless. Two shots would echo through the room, and Pam and Kelly would drop to the floor, dead. Then he'd wake up, usually shivering and drenched in sweat.

You'd think that it would be the image of Kelly's and Pam's dead bodies that would scare him the most but it wasn't. It was the words that the caller would say. "Kelly or Pam. You choose."

Simple words really. Simple words that would never haunt anyone else throughout their lifetime, only Stu, but just hearing the names of the two girls whom he'd loved made him want to punch something in anger. The words "you choose" scared him as well. What kind of idiot would give him, of all people, a choice?

He'd realised, whilst in that phone booth, that he didn't love Pam. If it had been love that he'd felt towards her, then it was minor, significant even, compared to the love that he felt for Kelly. He loved her more then life itself, and it took this man to show him that. However it also took this man to reveal to Kelly that Stu was a bad man that she could do without. Just because he'd made a public apology for everything, didn't make what he'd done any easier for her to understand. He'd been a bad man and Kelly couldn't cope with that.

Sure, she tried her hardest to make it work. At first she loved him more then she ever had before, but after a while Kelly couldn't cope anymore. It wasn't just the bad things that he'd done previously that scared her shitless (which were the words of Kelly herself) but the new man that he'd become.

Sometimes Stu struggled to understand this. Sure, the man he was now was incredibly different from the man he'd been before, but he didn't think that it was an altogether bad change. Before he'd been greedy and selfish, now he was more reasonable and altruistic. Well, maybe not as reasonable as most people always were, but enough for it to have made an incredible difference on the way he lived his life. She'd told him that it wasn't this that made her not love him anymore.

She said that it was the nightmares that he had and the nights when he'd wake up screaming and crying.

She said it was the fact that he now took medication for the constant anxiety attacks that had become an unwilling part of his life.

She said that what had happened on that day had mentally scarred her and she couldn't look at him the same anymore.

She said that she didn't feel the same about him.

She said that she couldn't take it anymore!

What about him? What about the fact that everyday he had to look at the man in the mirror and realise what a failure he'd become.

Sometimes he'd blame himself for what happened and sometimes he'd blame the man who'd called him and changed his world. Either way, he knew that he'd never be the same again. For better or worse, he didn't know.

Stu sighed as he reached over to the table next to his bed and picked up a small bottle of tablets. Pouring two of them from the bottle, he walked over to the bathroom and swallowed the small pills down with a glass of water.

Now that he was standing in front of the sink, he had no choice but to stare at his reflection in the mirror.

His brown hair was now shrivelled and long, compared to how neat it had been before. He hadn't shaved for over a month now, meaning his lips were barely visible against the darkness and heaviness of his beard. The eyes were what scared him most. His brown eyes never looked as warm as they once had. When he looked at them, he could see something that scared him senseless. What it was he didn't know.

You wouldn't have expected a man like Stu to have been changed so much by the experience. He'd been the kind of man who thought he had it all. Money, a wife, a mistress, power. What more could a man have asked for? A lot, that's what. His life hadn't been perfect, not at all, and the caller had pointed out these flaws.

Then again, it was partially his fault. Of course he wasn't willing to take all the blame but he knew now that he shouldn't have done what he did. It was wrong. It was even more wrong because Kelly had left him because of it.

'Fuck my life' he thought as he slowly started to walk around and get dressed. Usually he'd stay at home in a t-shirt and pair of tracksuit bottoms but today he was meeting with his sister.

He'd phoned her earlier to ask whether she wanted to meet him. It'd been over a month since he'd last seen her and he knew that they needed to talk.

She'd be worried about him but she wouldn't want to call in case he didn't want to talk. That was just the way Emily was.

So, to try and stop Emily from worrying so much he grabbed a pair of jeans and a jumper and put them on. He even brushed his hair and sprayed some aftershave on himself.

However, just as he was about to walk out of the door to meet Emily the phone rang. He paused, already halfway out of the doorway, with half a mind to ignore it. Then he realised that it might be Emily so he closed his front door behind him and grabbed the phone off of its handset.

"Hello?" he asked.

Emily's voice came through the speaker in the phone. "Hey Stu."

Her voice was shaky and she sounded scared so he asked her whether she was okay.

"Well, I guess so," came the reply, sounding even more scared then before.

"Emily, what's wrong?"

"I can't really-" She paused in reply and in the background he could hear another voice. "I'm so sorry for this Stu, I really am," she continued after a while.
"Sorry for what? Emily, just tell me what's wrong!"

Another voice came through the speakers and Stu fell to the ground in shock. "Hello Stu. Long time no speak." He knew that voice. He knew that fucking voice.

"No," he muttered, over and over, until eventually he was screaming it down the phone.

The man on the phone started laughing. "Calm down Stu. No need to get hysterical."

"Emily, are you still there?" Stu asked once he could speak again.

"I'm still here Stu," she replied and from her voice he knew that she was crying.
"Is he with you? Where are you?"

"He's not with me. He just called a phone booth and I picked up the phone."

"Oh but I can see her Stu," the man on the phone said, laughing slightly. "It's hard to imagine she's related to you. I mean she's beautiful, honest, smart, the complete opposite of you."

"Fuck off!" Stu shouted down the phone.
"Now, now Stu. That language is uncalled for. Especially when in the presence of a young lady."

Stu sighed. "What do you want?"

"You know that's the same question Emily asked me when I first spoke to her. What is it with you two?"

"Maybe it's just that we want to know what the hell you want," Emily interrupted. "You know, the clue's in the question."

The man laughed. "Okay then. Do you really want to know what I want?"

"Yes," Stu and Emily said together.

"I want to meet up with you, both of you, but especially you Stu."

Stu sucked in a breath. "Why do you want to meet me? I've changed. You must know that."

"Oh, I know you've changed Stu, but as I've said earlier to your sister I don't like it. You're wasting your life away. I gave you the opportunity to make it up with Kelly and you ruined it. After everything that I did for you."

"It wasn't my fault," Stu insisted.

"You see this is why I want to meet with you Stu. I think you need to learn that it was your fault. All of this is your fault, such as the situation with your sister, the fact that your life is in such a state, everything Stu."

Stu clutched his head in his hands. "Okay," he murmured. "It's all my fault. I can see it now. Just leave Emily out of this."

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" the man sighed. "We still need to meet Stu but I'm not sure whether you will agree to meet with me. Therefore it's your fault that I have to do this."

"Do what?" Stu asked, worry tinting his voice.

"I'll call you back in a few minutes Stu, seeing as I'm not sure whether Emily will be able to hold her mobile up against the phone for much longer."

"What do you-?" Emily started only for her voice to be drowned out by a loud bang, a shattering of glass and a scream. The scream came from Emily herself.

"What the fuck have you done?" Stu shouted down the phone. There was no answer and Stu's chest started to become tight with panic. "Emily? Are you there?" After a few minutes of no reply Stu was really starting to panic. Desperately he reached over and grabbed the small bottle of pills that he always kept handy. Not bothering to get up and get water, he poured out a handful of pills and swallowed them whole.

A beep from the phone, still pressed up against his ear, indicated that he had another call coming through.

As quickly as he could he pressed the call button, allowing the call to come through.

"Hello?" he asked.

"Hello Stu," came the reply from the man whom he'd been on the phone to earlier.
"What have you don't to Emily?" he asked angrily.

"Don't worry Stu. She's not hurt. Merely unconscious."

"What was that bang then?"

"I shot her," the man said, amusement strong in his voice. Stu expected him to start laughing at any moment.

Stu's breath hitched up a notch. "You shot her? Is she hurt?"

The man burst into laughter at this. "I shot her sure, but I didn't shoot her with a gun you imbecile. Do you think that if I shot her with a gun she'd be simply unconscious? I shot her with a small drug that should knock her out for a couple of hours. Long enough for you to come and find her."

"I fucking hate you," Stu whispered angrily into the phone.

"Come on Stu, don't be petty. Do you think I really care?"

"Of course not. You're a cold hearted bastard."

"Ouch Stu. That hurt," he mocked.

"Where is she? What have you done with Emily?"

"She's still in the phone booth. However I'll be moving her to my hotel room soon. But don't worry. I'll look after her until you get there."

"Well where is it?"

"Stu, don't rush me. I'll call you later on with the address. After all, I don't want you to get there before me."

Stu had reached his limit. He was scared and feared for his little sister. That's why he did something that he never thought he'd have to do again to this man. He begged. "Look, don't hurt her please. I'll do anything you want."

"I'm not going to hurt her unless you do what I say. You just have to be patient. I'll call you in an hour or so to give you the address and then you can check that your darling sister is okay."

Stu squeezed his eyes closed and sighed deeply. "Okay," he said eventually.

"Good man. Oh and Stu, don't call anyone else because I will know about it. Just sit there and wait patiently. I'll call you later."

A repetitive beeping noise sounded down the phone, telling Stu that the caller had disconnected.

Stu threw the phone to the floor but it was attached to the wall by a metal cord so it only hung in the air. He was unbelievably angry as well as worried for his sister. That man had ruined his life two years ago and here he was, ruining his life once again.

And there was nothing he could do.

So he sat there on his dirty beige carpet and prayed for a miracle like the pathetic man he was.