Angels Fall First

30

Laying on his bed and looking at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts, Tuomas was rudely interrupted by a pounding on the door of the room next to his; Anette’s room.  Over and over, someone pounding – not just knocking, Tuomas could tell – on her door, shouting, “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” over and over again. Annoyed and curious, Tuomas finally got up to investigate , and as he got closer to his door, he was able to identify the voice as Jukka’s. Now alarmed, Tuomas pulled open his door and stuck his head out into the hallway.

“What’s going on, Jukka?”

Jukka jumped in surprise, and sagged with relief when he saw that it was Tuomas.

“I said something to Anette that I shouldn’t have. She won’t open the door for me.” He looked desperate, but Tuomas couldn’t help feeling mildly amused. Anette was being quite childish.

“Here, let me try,” he said sagely, stepping out into the hall and in front of Anette’s door. He knocked on it twice. “Anette, open up. It’s Tuomas.”

No response.

Tuomas frowned and knocked on the door again, a bit harder. “Please open the door, Anette. I have to talk to you.”

Still no answer. Tuomas turned to Jukka. “You’re sure she’s in her room?” he asked, puzzled. The drummer nodded, looking worried, and knocked on the door again.

“Please, Anette. I’m so sorry about what I said. I wasn’t thinking. Open the door.”

There wasn’t a single sound of life on the other side of the door and Tuomas was getting worried. He pounded on the door with his palm.

“Open the door, Anette. This isn’t funny. Jukka’s apologized, what more do you want? Let us in.”

He paused and the two of them stood absolutely still, listening for any sound on the other side. Nothing. Without thinking, Tuomas began pounding on the door recklessly. Why wasn’t she answering? Was she okay? What had Jukka said? Why wouldn’t she open the door?! He knew he had to be annoying everyone else on the floor, and sure enough, a few minutes later the hotel manager approached them.

“Is there a problem here?” the manager, a short, balding man in his late 40s, asked.

“Yes, actually, there is. I’m worried something may have happened to my friend. She won’t answer the door.”

The manager looked at him in disbelief, and, obviously annoyed to be bothered with such lunacy, rapped on the door with his knuckles.

“This is hotel management. Please open the door.”

Nobody answered him.

“Is everything alright in there?” he asked after a pause. Getting no response to this either, he knocked again. Still no reply, so he called through the door, “I’m coming into the room.” From his pocket, he pulled out a keycard and swiped it through, opening the door to reveal an apparently empty room, though the light was on.

The three men walked cautiously into the room, but saw no sign of Anette ever having returned. The manager turned on Tuomas.

“Was this some kind of joke? Well, nicely done, you had me fooled!” The short man’s face was livid, blotchy red with anger as he fumed. Before he had a chance to continue, Jukka called out to them from the bathroom.

“Tuomas! Come quick!”

Worried at the tone of Jukka’s voice, the panic, Tuomas rushed to bathroom  to see what had Jukka so shocked, the manager following. There, on the floor, Anette lay unconscious. Tuomas stood stock still, shocked beyond thinking, as Jukka kneeled down beside her and checked her pulse and the manager hurried back into the other room to call some paramedics.

“She’s just unconscious,” Jukka breathed, lifting her head into his lap, his face screwed up in guilt. Tuomas, his shock wearing off, began to look around, to see if he could find the cause of her unconsciousness. It was right in front of him; a half-empty bottle of anti-depressants on the counter. She’d done this to herself…on purpose? Tuomas hoped with all his soul that she hadn’t done this on purpose, but the evidence was irrefutable. She had to have been aware what would happen if she overdosed. He closed his eyes, a leaden ball of conflicting emotions forming in the pit of his stomach. Was Anette too far gone to save?

“What happened, do you know?” The manager’s voice pulled Tuomas from his sadness and he nodded even though his back was to the man.

“Yes. She overdosed.” He could hear the pain in his voice and tried to choke it back. The was a thick silence at these words, Jukka likely shocked to hear it and the manager unsure what he should say.

“Well, the paramedics are on their way. The hospital is a good distance away, but it shouldn’t take them very long,” said the manager, finally. Tuomas nodded again and felt a heaviness settle over him, a pain take hold of his heart. This would be the second time Anette was being driven away in an ambulance, the third time she’d be in the hospital. He sent up a silent prayer that this would be the last time, and vowed to make sure it was.