The end is nigh :)
Thank you for ArmageddonClan for obvious 'Hand of Doom' inspired stuff!
-v- Omen Mortis -v-
-v-v-v-
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
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The next Friday afternoon Ian was dozing off in the hospital bed when he heard it. A drum beat quickly joined by an electric guitar.
He got out of the bed as quickly as he could and within seconds he was by the window, opening it. Even if he had guessed what he'd see, he just stared at the sight. Right under his window, which was on the second floor, there was Jo and Erik, on the neatly cut hospital lawn, under the big maple trees, the latter behind his drum kit and the first very much concentrated on playing her red ESP, her face hidden behind her hair.
Ian's heart immediately missed a beat when he recognized the song... It was A-ha's 'Take on Me'.
She was playing the famous lead riff. It started on the 7th fret of the B string. Jo's index finger then rolled onto the G string just next to it, also on the 7th fret, followed by her ring finger fretting the 9th on the D, G and B strings in turn, and finally her pinky lifting the melody to its highest point.
Ian thought of it almost as an out-of-the-body experience, to be able to concentrate on her left hand from the distance. Especially when the motion was so fluid and minimal.
As the song finished there was a pause as she took the guitar off and put it against the half-stack. For the first time she now looked up and directed her words towards Ian.
"Hi!" she shouted. Erik raised his hand too.
"We have a band here and we were thinking... I mean, we don't have a vocalist or a basist. Or a name. Yet. And we're still looking for musical direction but I... I mean… We'd really need a second guitarist."
She had sounded so nervous, talking way too fast. And Ian just knew what he needed to do.
"Wait, I'll be right there!"
He heard Jo began to shout something back but he had already rushed out of his room, wearing his light blue hospital pyjamas. In a few minutes he raced down the corridor and three flights of the stairs down to the yard. Ian couldn't help thinking that was it this easy to escape from a hospital?
Jo ran to meet him and he noticed Erik remained behind, standing by his drum-set. Ian stopped a few feet from Jo.
"I'll join your band," he said, now gasping for breath. He had felt perfectly fine until now but his vision suddenly blacked out and he lost his balance.
"Fuck!" he heard Jo cry out and felt how she caught him in her arms.
They landed on the soft lawn.
"Erik! Get help!"
He felt Jo's hands on his face.
"Ian! Are you okay? Ian?"
He opened his eyes, seeing her blue eyes close to his.
"I'm okay… now," he said.
"Okay. At least you're conscious… Help should arrive soon. Just stay calm."
"Jo, I'm fine. Okay, maybe I shouldn't have run..."
"Damn right you shouldn't have," she cut him off, shaking her head.
"And I know this was too much and like some eighties movie."
"Jo," Ian tried to begin, just to say eighties movies were not a bad reference, but she cut him off again.
"Please. Let me just say something... There was another thing, not just the band thing, I wanted to ask..."
Jo closed her eyes.
"Fuck, I'm so bad at this..."
"I actually kind of hoped you'd figure it out from the song but I still had this great monologue planned out…"
Ian couldn't help but smiling.
...
Jo was desperately trying to remember what she had planned to say... But then, the next moment when she felt Ian giving her a kiss, she thought words were overrated after all.
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"You seem to be fine," they suddenly heard a nurse's voice above them and the couple sprang apart.
"We still have to take him back though."
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