Warszawa II

Yves. I bang my fist against the door over and over again before I realise I could just walk in, so I rattle the door handle, forgetting how it works at the most important moment. This is when the door opens all by itself and I practically fall in.
I am not expecting the person I collide with.
-Shirley? What are you doing here? Where is Gabriel?
-Waiting for you. I don't know where he is, I think he went to work.
-No, no, no...why...
This is when I notice what's wrong here. Shirley shouldn't be here, because Sally-Ann isn't here. And she shouldn't be here anyway because she doesn't live here. And moreover, she isn't smiling. That's not normal. She looks serious, she looks upset, she looks angry. I have to make her understand the urgency of this situation.
-I need to see him, Shirley, I need to see Gabriel now.
-No, Yves. I need to talk to you. Can you come in, please?
Her tone is infuriatingly relaxed. I follow her because she might be able to tell me how to get to him fastest.
-Sit down.
-I really need to go, please can we be quick?
-I saw you yesterday.
-Yes, we saw everyone, remember?
-No, I saw you with Christie.
What? I get a sudden flash of the glimpse of blonde I saw last night. It was Shirley...
-You did? Oh thank god...
-What do you mean, Yves?
Her tone is more threatening, I can't understand it...
-You know what happened. You can tell Gabriel what happened? Well, you won't have to, I will, but you were there, so you know what happened.
-How in any way is that a good thing, Yves? What are you talking about?
I have no idea why she sounds so angry at me. It wasn't even...
-Shirley, what did you see? What did it look like to you?
-I saw you shagging Christie in the club toilets, Yves, what the fuck do you think it looked like?
Oh jesus christ, I don't know how I missed this painfully obvious and integral piece of logic when running to convince Gabriel that I didn't mean to....
-I didn't mean to.
-Oh, wow, that's just brilliant, you didn't mean to. Wonderful! Problem solved. You didn't mean to. Right.
-No..no, I really didn't. I mean I didn't have a choice. I mean...he...that drink, oh god the drink!
Flashbacks are, well, flashing back. This is a weird and grotesque thing to be realising right now but I have a feeling this happened.
-He gave me something, then in the toilet he wouldn't let me go, I couldn't see, it was nonsense, I was hallucinating and he wouldn't let me leave. Do you believe me?
Her eyes are as wide as they were last night, her painted mouth a perfect shocked circle once again.
-You're sure that's what happened?
-Yes, absolutely, I wouldn't...I wouldn't do that-
-I know. I know you wouldn't.
She speaks quietly now, looking down. She raises one flawlessly manicured hand to her forehead, brushing away an impeccable blonde wave.
-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-
-No, it's fine. Thinking a little more logically about things I can't imagine what other possible conclusion you could have come to! Sorry I didn't explain.
I think about the conversation we are having.
-Fucking hell, why am I even having to say that? I shouldn't have to explain, that shouldn't have happened! That shouldn't have happened, I shouldn't be here having this discussion, he shouldn't have done that, oh god, why did he do that? Why in hell would anyone do a thing like that? I thought- I thought you said he was nice. You told me he was good. You told me he was a nice person I didn't know enough about. Why?
She brings her other palm to her head, looking quite pained and very puzzled.
-I...don't know. That's the thing. I can't figure it out. This isn't right, I can't believe he'd do that, I can't see why...I mean, I haven't seen him for a month, none of us have, all we heard was that at the beginning of the month he texted Gabriel a couple of times, which Gabriel was annoyed about. Apparently he was just asking about you.
-So he knew about me and Gabriel, it wasn't some misunderstanding...
-No, he definitely knew about you and Gabriel. The thing is...I think..I don't know though. I can't be sure. I can't quite believe it myself.
-What? Tell me, this could be anything.
-It's like he wanted to be seen, last night. It's like he wanted the wrong thing to be thought, like he was doing that deliberately...I'm just trying to think if he'd have done that because of Gabriel.
-How do you mean?
-It always seemed to us that he never gave a damn about Gabriel. And Gabriel adored him, and that was what was wrong with the whole situation. Now I'm thinking maybe Christie cared a lot more than he was letting on, because Gabriel certainly didn't feel the same way he does about you towards him. He was never this...protective. This...relaxed, really.
-And now I've ruined it.
-No, you really haven't. This wasn't you, it wasn't your fault.
-He's known Christie a lot longer than he's known me. Who's he going to believe?
-I wouldn't worry about that. It's pretty much common knowledge that Christie Stone is the best actor any of us have ever met. I've seen him be completely unrecognisable with other people when he wants to be. To us, he doesn't speak much, but I've seen him pretend to be everything. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been giving us a completely made-up impression of him from the start.
-That makes it sound like you couldn't put it past him, caring about Gabriel, that is. He could have been pretending.
-Exactly. That's what I'm thinking is the most likely thing. Fucking hell, the guy's bad news. I didn't ever expect this.
-Who could ever possibly anticipate that one of their friends would do something like that, though? It's not reasonable to have to think about this kind of thing. It's just...wrong.
We sit in contemplative silence for a while, mainly bad things sinking into our minds. I stand up after about three minutes.
-So I have to go and find Gabriel.
-Of course, yes.
-You think he's at work?
-You could always wait for him...
-No, I need to see him now, it's early. He won't be back til at least eleven. Where is it, where he works? The name of the place?
-Can I come with you? I need to go down that way, I'll show you.
We leave quickly, I'm wrapping my coat around me as tight as possible because there's a freezing winter breeze outside, so slight I only feel it for the velocity at which I'm walking, but moving at any pace feels like an assault from the air when it's this cold.
We get into a cab and set off a way I've never been before. I've only gone with Gabriel to work once, and that was the day when we drove round a long way, this way is through the city and probably shorter. Not that I'm complaining at the memory of that glorious evening, driving down the motorway under a purple sky.
Shirley directs the taxi through some backstreets, apparently knowing the place like the back of her hand. We pull up at the bottom of the road and start walking.
I can see Gabriel from here, his figure dark and in contrast to the rest of the scene in the winter sun, which I only just notice now...I'm running, Shirley is left behind looking shocked, until she's running too, until I get to where Gabriel is standing.
He pushes straight past me, not registering my presence and not caring if he did, the scene he left behind is all the explanation I need.

Anne. I'm standing here, Cassie still lying across my arms, I can't move. I can see the guy in black that came out of the room running down the street, two more people coming towards me. One of them is the boy I know I'm supposed to see now...the other is a blonde woman who I've never seen before.
I don't know what to do, the guy comes up to me and he's speaking but I can't figure it out. I bend down and lie Cassie on the ground, taking his coat to put under her head. I can't concentrate on words because I can't quite believe what's happened. I stand up and stare at him, I wonder if he can see that I'm trying to tell him I don't understand? I close my eyes because he's still talking at me and he looks so worried. I suppose I can't blame him. It takes a while but soon the noise around my head settles down until I can make sense of his words. Just two words. He's saying them over and over again, it started with urgency and now it's just a mantra, a comforting thing to repeat so that we feel like we're getting somewhere.
-What happened.
I open my eyes and a blur of information dictates my next move.
I raise my hand to point to the dark disappearing figure.
-He attacked her. I was on the stairs because I heard something and he was running away.
His eyes widen and his mouth drops.
-...No...it wasn't...he didn't...
-Yes he did. He attacked Cassie. I saw him.
I can't even remember if that's a lie or not. He returns my gaze and turns it to a stare of contempt, confused vitriol towards something I can't understand. He crouches down to sit beside Cassie, stroking strands of hair from her face that stick there with congealed blood.
-Cassie...can you hear me?

Yves. As I try and shake Cassie back to consciousness all I can think of is why this girl is telling me that Gabriel attacked her. Of course he didn't. It's the most unreasonable thing in the world. I try and push it from my mind but the girl's conviction is disturbing. I look up at her from where I'm kneeling to see that she's just staring at me, contemplative, wondering.
-Why? Why would you say that Gabriel attacked her? Do you not understand how unreasonable that is? Why are you lying to me, who did it?
-It was him, I saw him. I saw him attack her.
Her voice is strange, horrible to hear, monotonous and lacking all passion but convincing because it's so effortless. It's too disturbing an idea for her to be lying to me but I can't accept that.
I look around, Gabriel is walking towards me, Shirley a few steps behind him, a phone at her ear. He runs a hand through his hair and turns back to her every few steps to make sure she's still following, or ask something.
Something I've always been fascinated by is how sirens only make noise when they're in the right place; very close. I hear the sirens and I see Shirley stop walking, run up to the source of the flashing lights and start talking to the driver. Uniformed people are wheeling out a stretcher, it's like a film, the way I feel such distance from it. Gabriel is still approaching us.
-But why? You haven't said why. Why would he do that?
She looks me right in the eye, her glance unnervingly honest.
-He knows about you and Christie. He was angry. He was angry with you, so he attacked her.
She says it like she's reading from a script, but as Gabriel walks towards me with no expression on his face I find myself backing away.
I can see Shirley in the background still, I'm putting two and two together, trying hard to rearrange this puzzle so it doesn't come out with this result, I don't like it, I don't want this outcome-
-He said he blames you.

Anne. The words that spill from my mouth are the rehearsed lines Christie gave to me. I almost feel guilty for the way this information is responsible for the destroyed, desolate look on the boy's face, but I know what I saw- I saw Gabriel leaving the room and I saw Cassie having been attacked. What Christie told me as he left me on the stairs was to tell this boy I speak to now, Yves, that Gabriel knows what happened with Christie, and he blames him. I know this information, so the conclusion I'm reciting to this poor distraught boy isn't fallacy, it's the only logical explanation. It's hard to think logically when someone you unexpectedly care about, would even consider a friend, is lying unconscious at your feet- so from this I conclude that I'm doing quite well to be remaining coherent.
The people from inside the ambulance come over with the stretcher and pick up Cassie, a man comes and starts asking questions at me. I just stare at him blankly because I don't know enough to answer correctly so he turns to the boy who must be Yves.
-I don't know, I only just got here and she was unconscious, she said she was attacked-
he motions towards me and I turn my head slowly.
-I don't know what happened, is she alright? Is she fine? She's still breathing, I think she's just...
he trails off, tears in his eyes. How does he know Cassie? They lead him over to the ambulance with the stretcher, and a paramedic puts a blanket over my shoulders and pushes me towards it too. I don't know why.
The blonde lady is still talking to a person in a uniform when some police arrive to take over. Gabriel is standing in the middle of the road, his hands over his eyes. Yves didn't look at him when he walked past and when I see him back away from the centre of the scene to collapse against a brick wall I momentarily wonder what I've done because he doesn't look capable of this...
A policewoman approaches me with a notebook. I give her my best conversation-repellant look but she's probably trained to ignore those.
-This man told me you're a witness.
What? She motions to the ambulance where Yves is standing, static and uncomfortable watching everything around him.
-No, no, I just...I just found her. I don't know what happened.
My head is cleared and I can't bring myself to deliver the story I'd give to Yves. I wonder if this is because I'm unsure of it myself? I can't bring my conscience around to doubting me but something isn't right, something is stopping me from speaking.
-You are under obligation to tell us everything you know. It could be invaluable information that would help us to understand what's happened here. It could benefit the health of the victim if we know what occured.
-She was attacked, I'm sure she was attacked.
-And who attacked her?
-I don't know, honestly. I couldn't tell you.
-You're quite sure?
-Yes.
-Have you seen anyone else who could have been involved?
Now is probably not a good time to mention the dark figure staring disconsolately at the wall he sits opposite. He looks too damaged to hurt and I'm starting to worry about what I've said.
Is this guilt? Is this conscience? Is this emotion? Feeling towards another human? The broken glass, the house Cassie ran out of clutching money, Anton, the business card, Cassie's bruised face a second ago, Yves' watery eyes and the crumpled figure of Gabriel to the right of the frame I can see start to build up in my mind.
'You're welcome.' 'You're welcome.' 'You're welcome.' 'You're welcome.'

'You're welcome.

C. Stone.'

And then there was an explosion.