The Criminal Diaries

      Daniel spends a few seconds trying to do his best to calm Terrence down a little, clapping him on the shoulder or stroking his back, while the black-haired man keeps looking closely at Edward lying unconscious as if he is begging him so hard to wake up. And then the men hear someone’s steps getting louder and louder. Later, someone’s figures show up somewhere far from here. Peter finally comes back here in a quick step as he is leading and explaining something to the young girl with blonde hair gathered in a ponytail, who is wearing a medical robe.       “Damn, finally!” Daniel exhales sharply.       “Where have you been?” Terrence resents in a loud, high-pitched voice. “How long do we have to wait for you?”       “I rushed as hard as I could!” Peter exclaims, moves his eyes aside, and makes a calling gesture. “Quick, here! Come here!”       “He collapsed, doctor,” Daniel explains. “First, he complained about dizziness, weakness, and nausea, and then he started to cough strongly and cough up blood.”       “How long has he been unconscious?” the girl specifies.       “A few minutes, for sure.”       “Edward has no pulse!” Terrence says excitedly. “And he’s not breathing!”       “What?” Peter opens his eyes widely. “What do you mean he has no pulse?”       “It’s gone! We can’t feel it! No way! He had it first, but now he doesn’t! No pulse! He is not breathing!”       “Fucking shit…” Peter grabs his hair with both hands. “Not this.”       “Step back, please, let me come to him,” the girl says and gets down on her knees beside the unconscious Edward.       “Edward is dying!” Terrence starts to fall into despair. “We’re losing him! He’s about to die! Nobody knows why!”       “Calm down, Terence, hold yourself down,” Daniel says confidently and helps Terrence get up after he stands up himself.       “But everything was under control!” Peter exclaims. “MacClife had a pulse, and he was breathing!”       “Yeah, but now my brother is not breathing!” Terrence breaks into a cry.       At this moment, Daniel, Terrence, and Peter move their eyes full of prayer to the young girl, who conducts an initial examination, checking Edward’s pupil response, his breath, and his pulse on his neck and wrist. Then she takes her mobile phone, types the number, and asks someone to come here shortly because she needs someone’s help.       “What happened to him, doctor?” Terrence asks excitedly. “What happened to my brother?”       “There is really no pulse, there’s no breath,” the nurse replies.       “Please, do something!” Peter begs. “Don’t let him die!”       “I will do everything I can do.”       Not wasting time, the nurse starts to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation, following the strict instructions that she has memorized since the time of her studies. Peter and Daniel watch what’s happening with horror in their eyes and grab tightly the arms of Terrence, who is breathing heavily and praying so hard that Edward survives.       “Please, Edward, please, don’t die…” Terrence whispers in a shaking voice. “Live, I am begging you!”       “Hold on, man, hold on!” Daniel exclaims. “I don’t believe you can’t get out of this. You’ve run into the fire with a naked ass so many times, but you’ve always remained alive.”       “If you die, it’s gonna be unfair!” Peter adds. “After you’ve been through fire and water! After you’ve been tried to kill so many times.”       “You’re strong, brother,” Terrence pronounces in a shaking voice and grabs his hair with both hands. “You must be strong. Please, hold on. Please, kid, hold on. You can do this, I believe in you!”       A few seconds later, a young man in a medical robe runs up here with a small case in his hands. He asks the girl about something, tells her to do something different, and starts giving Edward a heart massage, while she opens the case and starts looking for what she needs. And the more time goes by, the more Terrence, Peter, and Daniel start to panic, refusing to believe such a tough guy can give up and leave this world. For an unknown reason. The pale, dumbfounded friends watch everything the doctors are doing with widely open eyes with the thought that they lack air due to the panic that is possessing them more and more, and their legs are getting weaker and weaker.       But it’s much harder for Terrence, who is getting closer to the moment when he can fall into hysteria and lose the ability to think soberly. Understanding this completely, Daniel and Peter do not leave him alone for a second and try to calm him down somehow, even if they are also madly excited and worried about Edward, who still does not give any signs of life, despite all the attempts of the doctor to have his heart work again.       “Please, Edward, please…” Terrence begs in a shaking voice, closing his mouth with both hands. “I don't wanna lose you… Nobody the fuck knows why…”       “Come on, MacClife, come back to us!” Daniel exclaims determinedly. “For your parents! For your brother! For Natalia! For all of us!”       “Why, why?” Peter wonders. “How can a young, healthy man be one step away from death? I don’t understand!”       “Fuck, I can’t even do anything now!” Terrence throws disappointedly. “I can’t help him! I CAN DO NOTHING!”       “Quiet, quiet, Terence, calm down.” Peter claps Terrence on the shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay. Edward can get through it.”       “It’s fucking disgusting that I just have to stand here and watch my brother dying. IT’S DISGUSTING I CAN DO NOTHING!”       “You think it’s funny for us?” Daniel wonders. “It’s funny that Edward is about to die in a few minutes if the doctors don’t get his heart working again?”       “Fuck… Fuck… FUCK, FUCK!”       Terrence smashes his fist strongly against the wall near him, not caring about the pain that instantly echoes in every part of his body.       “I shall hang this rag by the balls if he dies,” Terrence threatens in a low voice. “IF HE DARES TO LEAVE ME LIKE THIS!”       “Hold yourself down, brother,” Peter says softly, stroking Terrence’s back. “We completely understand your pain, but you should have your mind sober.”       “Hey, hey, stop, MacClife!” Daniel jabs, taking Terrence’s hand tightly when the man wants to hit the wall with his fist again. “Stop! Calm down! Hear me! Calm down!”       “Fuck off, Perkins!” Terrence throws rudely, gets his free sharply out of Daniel’s grip, hits it for the second time, and pushes Peter off himself. “You too, Rose!”       “Don’t go crazy, Terrence. Your hysterics can’t help Edward at all. He won’t come back from the dead if you keep screaming like this.”       “Don’t dare to tell me he’s dead! DON’T DARE!”       “Terrence!”       “Do you naively think I will feel better from such words like, ‘Calm down, Terrence, it’s gonna be okay?’”       “If you can’t do anything now, at least just keep calm and believe your brother can get through it,” Peter insists.       “If I knew what caused this shit, I would do my best to save Edward.”       “We know, Terrence. But right now, we can do nothing. Everything depends on the doctors. And Edward himself.”       “EXACTLY, NOTHING!” Terrence breaks into a cry. “WE ARE FUCKING STANDING HERE LIKE THREE COLUMNS AND WATCHING THE ONE, WHO IS ABOUT TO BECOME A CORPSE! FOOD FOR DOGS! FERTILIZER FOR THE EARTH!”       “Enough, MacClife!” Daniel cuts off sharply, raising his hand in front of himself. “Enough! Stop your hysteria now and brace yourself before we hit you in the face.”       “If you make me wild, I shall hit both of you.”       “You are the fuck oldest of us!” Peter exclaims. “You are kinda smart, wise, and restrained… So, stop acting like a child and giving people a reason to spread some rumors about your unstable character. Remember my word, people will believe it. Because everyone knows well it’s the truth.”       “Exactly!” Daniel agrees. “Behave like an adult man since you’re pronouncing yourself the one!”       “Fuck off!” Terrence hisses through his teeth with a heavy breath and tension in every single muscle. “YOU TWO! I AM DONE WITH YOUR LECTURES!”       When Terrence wants to go aside, the young nurse gets up on her feet and comes to him with widely open eyes, while her colleague keeps trying to bring Edward to life with no success.       “We can’t start the heart,” the girl says excitedly. “No resuscitation actions give us any result.”       “Do you want to say he will die?” Peter opens his eyes widely.       “We have a few minutes yet. If nothing changes, we will only have to call an ambulance, so they can confirm the death of this guy.”       “Please, don’t let it happen!” Daniel begs in despair. “Do what you want, but bring Edward to life. He can’t die.”       “I’ve already called an ambulance, but that guy will probably not make it to it. We will keep trying to start his heart again, but I can promise you nothing.”       “But what happened to him? He is young and as healthy as a bull! Why is he dying?”       “I cannot say anything to you, young man. But I will not hide that the situation is very hard.”       “DO SOMETHING, THEN!” Terrence screams at the top of his lungs, setting his bloodshot eyes on the girl, who oohs in fear. “DO WHAT YOU WANT, BUT BRING MY BROTHER TO LIFE!”       “Don’t scream, please…” the girl shakes sharply, putting her head on her shoulders and rounding her eyes. “I und-derstand it… But…”       “I WILL BRING DOWN THIS WHOLE FUCKING WORLD ON YOUR HEADS IF EDWARD DIES! IF YOU DO NOT GIVE YOUR EVERYTHING TO SAVE HIM!”       “We are d-d-doing our b-b-b-est…” the girl swallows nervously, feeling that tears are coming to her eyes. “W-w-we… Will not g-g-give up…”       “DO THIS, THEN!”       “Hey, hey, hey, Terrence, stop, enough!” Daniel demands coldly, pulling Terrence sharply by his arm. “What are you attacking the girl? What’s her fault?”       “EVERYONE’S GUILTY HERE! YOU ARE ALL GUILTY OF WHAT’S HAPPENING TO EDWARD!”       “P-p-please, sir, c-c-calm d-d-down…” the girl says in a shaking voice, looking at Terrence scarily, while he looks at her with bloodshot eyes full of anger, keeps his hands clenched into fists, and tenses all his muscles with a heavy breath.       “DO NOT CALM ME THE FUCK DOWN! DO NOT! I AM ABSOLUTELY QUIET!”       “Don’t scream…” the girl begs with tears in her eyes and sniffs, embracing herself tightly with her arms. “Please…”       “STOP CRYING HERE, LITTLE GAL! YOU CANNOT HELP MY BROTHER BY CRYING!”       “Just like by having a fucking hysteria like yours!” Peter says rudely.       “I SWEAR I WILL TURN YOUR LIVES TO HELL IF I LOSE MY YOUNGER BROTHER BECAUSE OF YOU! I WILL CALL ALL MY FAMILIARS AND DO MY BEST FOR THIS PLACE TO BE ERASED FROM THE GROUND!”       Terrence runs sharply to the girl, who almost shouts, and looks at her with such great anger that she squeezes much more, feeling like a little, unprotected one in front of this tall man, who does not control himself.       “YOU GOT IT, BITCH? YOU GOT IT, I ASKED? OR DID YOU UNDERSTAND THE FUCK NOTHING?”       “ENOUGH, TERRENCE!” Daniel breaks into a cry, pushes Terrence rudely far from the nurse, turns him to himself, takes him by the shoulders, and shakes him. “YOU ARE CROSSING ALL THE LINES!”       “I KNOW IT BETTER!”       “Open your eyes, moron! Look what you brought this girl to!”       Daniel glances at the nurse, who is crying quietly and shaking in fear with her mouth closed with a hand. And after watching her for a second or two, Peter comes to her determinedly and takes her silently in his tight hug, caressing her head softly with the hope of calming her down a little, while she snuggles her nose in his shoulder.       “She is not guilty of what’s happening! This girl is just doing her job!”       “SHE MUST DO IT, THEN!” Terrence roars. “SAVING EDWARD IS HER DUTY!”       “Stop the fuck screaming! You are making everyone nervous with your fucking hysterics. And you will not help anyone with it!”       “DO YOU WANNA SAY I AM A PSYCHO?”       “That’s good you don’t deny it!”       “I AM FINE! I AM HEALTHY! I AM NOT FUCKING ILL!”       “STOP, MACCLIFE! STOP THIS HYSTERIA RIGHT NOW! STOP TAKING IT OUT ON EVERYONE AND BLAMING EVERYONE FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO EDWARD!”       “AH, SO, DO YOU THINK I DID BRING HIM TO THIS? AM I GUILTY OF THE FACT THAT HE IS ABOUT TO DIE?”       “Hey, psycho, if you don’t calm down now, I will do what you are asking for so hard,” Daniel threatens, clenching his hand into a fist. “And if you keep doing this, the doctors will quickly twist your arms and inject a sedative into your ass since you haven’t learned to control yourself.”       “I AM NOT A PSYCHO! STOP SAYING I AM SICK! I AM NOT SICK! NOT SICK! REMEMBER THIS! I AM HEALTHY! ABSOLUTELY HEALTHY!”       Getting sick of bearing all these hysterics that cannot be kept under control, Daniel smashes his fist against Terrence’s jaw as strongly as possible. That’s why the man cannot stand on his feet and falls to the floor, grabbing his face that literally starts burning with a taste of blood in his mouth. Strong pain after this pain makes MacClife, Sr. more or less sober, even if he moves his eyes full of hate to Perkins, who raises his head proudly, being sure that he did the right thing and having no regrets about what he did.       Thinking it’s time to leave his friend alone and let him think about everything, Daniel pulls down his jacket slightly and comes to Peter, who is still trying to comfort the crying nurse with words and hugs.       “Please, girl, don’t be mad at him,” Daniel says quietly. “Terrence did not want to hurt you.”       “It’s ok-k-k-kay…” the girl pronounces in a shaking voice, embracing herself tightly with both arms. “I… I g-g-g-get it…”       “Edward is his younger brother, he loves him, and he is madly worried about him. That’s why our friend is so excited. He is nervous, and the thought of his brother’s death drives him crazy.”       “Yes, girl, of course, Terrence is a little unrestrained guy,” Peter adds. “But trust us, he is not bad. It’s just a type of his character.”       “He cannot hold himself down. He hasn’t learned yet. We’re trying to help him, but it’s unsuccessful yet.”       “It’s alright, young men,” the girl replies quietly, sniffs, and wipes tears under her eyes. “I understand it… I was just really scared… He had such an evil glance… I thought… He would kill me…”       “Don’t worry, sweetie, we will not let him hurt you,” Daniel promises, hugging the girl around the shoulders. “We understand you’re guilty of nothing.”       “Thanks a lot, I am really grateful to you.”       At some moment, Terrence gets up on his feet after calming down a little, pulls his t-shirt and jacket down, strokes down his hair, and comes to the girl a little hesitantly, looking at her with a sense of guilt and having his fingers locked.       “I’m sorry…” Terrence pronounces restrainedly. “I got too excited and shouldn't have attacked you.”       “It’s f-f-f-fine…” the girl replies hesitantly, inclining her head. “It’s fine…”       “Please, don’t think I’m some kind of monster. Yes, I… I can’t hold myself down and can take it out on the scene. But I’m really trying to work it out. I’m trying to hold myself down in any situation.”       “Don’t excuse yourself. I understand it.”       “Now I’m just super nervous. Because of my brother. I’m afraid to lose him so badly. And the thought of his death makes me hysterical. Edward is one of my closest people. My best friend, who means a lot to me. Our connection is much deeper than you think.”       “I know, sir.”       “Please, girl, I’m begging you…”       Terrence takes the nurse’s hands, looking at her with pity in his half-wet eyes, while she shakes slightly and tenses all of her muscles.       “Save my brother… Do the possible and the impossible, but don’t let him die. I can’t lose him.”       “We will do our best, but I’m not lying to you when I say the situation is hard. Moreover, we don’t know what brought your brother to this condition.”       “Use any little opportunity. If there’s the smallest chance to bring Edward back to life, do this.”       “We’ll be fighting until the very end,” the nurse promises. “I will not tell you he will live for sure, but if there is a chance, we will use it.”       “Please, girl, save him!” Terrence begs in despair, putting his hands together and bringing them to his mouth. “We all need him so badly. We can't do without him.”       “Pray for the best and believe that it’s going to be alright. Now this is the only thing you can do.”       Wiping the rest of the tears under her eyes and exhaling slowly with a wish to get rid of tension in her body, the girl turns around and goes to her colleague, who uses the flashlight to light up Edward’s open eye, then puts the stethoscope to some areas of his chest. Then she starts talking about something with him and takes the tonometer that she needs now.       “Don’t be mad, too, guys,” Terrence says, putting his hands on Daniel and Peter’s shoulders. “I know I got too excited.”       “C’mon, we’re already used to your hysterics,” Peter crosses his arms over his chest.       “And we’ve almost accepted the fact that you will never change,” Daniel adds.       “You know well that I’m trying to fix it,” Terrence replies.       “But now you’re horrible at this.”       “Anyway, try to understand me. Understand what I have inside. While I have to see Edward in this condition. To know he’s one step away from death.”       “We understand it, buddy,” Daniel says confidently. “I would also be overwhelmed if Cassidy were about to die. I mean, I felt it so well when she needed a little to die.”       “Besides, Edward was also excited and threatening to kill everyone when Wainwright almost sent you to another world,” Peter puts his hands on his hips.       “Oh, yeah, we had to tolerate a lot from him. Moreover, he is our super sensitive guy.”       “Yeah, we’ve got problematic friends: a sentimental romantic that’s pretending to be a hero and a psycho penguin that thinks nobody can replace him.”       “Nevertheless, I was serious when talking about bringing down the world on everyone’s heads,” Terrence throws gloomily.       “Oh, buddy, let’s think it’s gonna be okay. I know it’s hard, but still.”       Terrence says nothing and wipes his pale face with his hands, runs them over his hair, puts them together, and brings them to his mouth, looking at Edward with widely open eyes full of despair and begging him silently to survive. Meanwhile, Peter is hugging his friend tightly and clapping him on the back, while Daniel standing next to him puts his hand on the blond’s shoulder and looks at the oldest member of their company with sadness in his eyes at times.       “Resuscitation has worked!” the girl announces.       “Really?” Peter exhales loudly, opening his eyes widely. “It has worked?”       “The man is breathing now, but barely,” the girl’s colleague says. “He has a pulse, but it’s too weak and thready.”       “Aren’t you lying to us?” Terrence asks in a shaking voice with a sense of a fast heartbeat. “Please, tell me it’s the truth.”       “Yes, sir, thank God, we managed to restart his heart.”       Terrence squats down sharply with a loud exhalation, closes his face with his hands, and puts his head on his knees, while all the muscles of his body squeeze from a strong tension and great relief caused by the thought that Edward is alive. And while he does even let himself cry a little and sits on the floor, Daniel gets down in front of him and takes him in a tight hug with an encouraging smile, clapping him slightly on his head.       “Okay, okay, man, relax,” Peter calms down, squatting down and clapping Terrence on his back. “Edward is alive. Everything is okay!”       “Holy shit, I shall kill this rat…” Terrence says in a quiet, shaking voice and sniffs. “For doing this to me.”       “We did tell you everything would be okay,” Daniel recalls and ruffles Terrence’s hair a little.       “Even Raquelle doesn’t make me as crazy as Edward.” Terrence runs his hands over his face and wipes tears under his red, little puffy eyes. “Both of them drive me crazy. Again and again.”       “He is not waking up yet,” the girl says thoughtfully, trying to wake Edward up with a piece of cotton soaked in ammonia that she waves in front of his nose with no success. “Ammonia doesn’t work.”       “But what caused this stop of the heart?” Daniel wonders. “What happened to him?”       “We will find it out after the guy has a full examination,” the girl’s colleague replies. “At this moment, he does need urgent hospitalization.”       “This guy has a low blood pressure and a high fever – a little more than 38 degrees,” the girl states.       “My gosh…” Peter horrifies.       “Alright, could you tell us what he drank and ate?” the man asks.       “The case is that he has eaten nothing since the morning,” Terrence replies, fixes his hair with a sharp movement of his hand, and gets up on his feet. “Edward did confess it when he felt dizzy in front of us.”       “Yes, we wanted to go to the cafeteria and give him just something, but we did not do it,” Daniel adds, getting up along with Peter. “And we did not reach you because he first coughed blood out and then fell on the floor unconscious.”       “Anyway, we have to order to check all the food and drinks that they have at the cafeteria,” the man says confidently. “All the signs let us know that this guy has been poisoned with something.”       “He was only drinking water with our pretense,” Peter confesses. “Just clean water in a bottle.”       “Alright, we got it,” the girl replies quietly. “So, we will figure it out. Now, we are waiting for the ambulance’s arrival, so they can take the guys to the hospital.”       “Can we do something?” Terrence asks.       “Just pray that the guy gets well soon.”       Terrence says nothing and looks at Peter and Daniel with a heavy sigh, while they clap him on the shoulders or squeeze them slightly, glancing at each other at some moment. And a little later, someone runs sharply out of the corner on the other end of the hall. Seeing what’s happening here, the unknown person runs so fast down straight and gets attention from the men, who are breathing heavily from excitement. And as it turned out, that’s the help of “Against The System” named Blake Connor.       “Hey, folks, what’s going on?” Blake wonders. “I’ve asked so many people, but nobody knows a thing. Nobody knows what’s wrong, and who’s screaming.”       “Edward suddenly collapsed,” Daniel explains and points at Edward lying on the floor unconscious, while the doctors keep trying to support his life.       “Edward?”       Blake moves his eyes sharply to Edward and opens them widely, getting horrified by how terrible he looks now.       “Fucking shit, Edward!” Blake looks at Daniel, Terrence, and Peter. “What happened to him? Why’s as fucking pale as a dead person?”       “We don’t know!” Terrence throws his hands up. “It happened suddenly. It started with just dizziness but ended with a cough with blood, loss of consciousness, and a cardiac arrest.”       “What?” Blake horrifies loudly. “Cardiac arrest? He died? Edward died, yeah?”       “Thank God, the doctors managed to bring him to life,” Daniel exhales with relief. “But he is still unconscious.”       “May five girls fuck me! But why? He is young and healthy! How can Edward be literally a step away from death?”       “We don’t know, Blake, we’re also overwhelmed and don’t understand a thing,” Peter replies excitedly. “We thought the problem was about a hunger strike, but it ended with this.”       “Erm, just in case, I don’t have to do with it. I did nothing to Edward, I swear.”       “Calm down, kid, nobody’s blaming you for anything,” Terrence says quietly, putting his hand on Blake’s shoulder.       “The doctors believe he is severely poisoned,” Daniel specifies. “But nobody knows what he was poisoned with and how they found the poison.”       “Holy cow…” Blake swears.       “I know, we’re gonna have our heads explode soon!” Peter raises his hands.       “Yeah, you aren’t really lucky! The situation with the attack that doesn’t kinda wanna end first, but now this shit.”       “It’s alright, we will now talk about this situation with the organizers and the staff of this concert hall,” Terrence says determinedly. “They must check food, drinks, staff members… They must examine everything! But they must find the one to be guilty of what happened to Edward.”       “And we will do our best for the guilty person to pay for this,” Daniel adds. “Whoever that is, they will be punished cruelly.”       “Damn, is that what I was afraid of so badly?” Blake blunts under his nose, glancing aside. “Is the problem with that bottle?”       After barely looking at each other, Terrence, Daniel, and Peter immediately set their suspicious looks on the thoughtful Blake.       “What bottle?” Terrence frowns strongly.       “I just…” Blake pronounces hesitantly, locking his fingers tightly. “I saw something… Weird…”       “If you know something, speak now.”       “Yes, Blake, what bottle are you talking about?” Daniel specifies.       “The bottle of water. I mean… The bottles of water… Well… That were brought to your dressing room…”       “What’s wrong with them?” Peter asks.       “Listen, I… I ain’t sure about it… I can’t say if… My eyes are lying to me…”       “Say what you know, Connor!” Terrence demands a little harshly. “Don’t dare to hide anything from us.”       “Yes, young man, tell us please about everything you saw,” the girl says. “Maybe your story will help us understand what happened to that man and find out how to heal him.”       “I just…” Blake pronounces hesitantly and bites his lip slightly. “I just have a suspicion that… Something is not right… With the water in the bottle…”       “What do you mean something’s wrong with the water?” Peter asks impatiently.       “They added something to it. I don’t know what, but…”       “Added something to the water?”       “Who added?” Terrence wonders. “When? Speak clearly! We don’t the fuck understand you!”       “Your team and I came here a little earlier than you. And… When the guys were preparing your instruments and talking about something with the show’s organizers. I helped them carry heavy bags and did some other shit that they asked me about. So, in short, later, someone asked me to carry the bags with your suits to the dressing room prepared for you. And I should’ve made sure there was everything that was included in your rider. To ask the organizers to fix all the issues.”       “What’s next?” Daniel rushes.       “In short… I only needed to carry one little bag. I thought I’d leave it in the dressing room and then go to George and tell him everything was fine. But when I came to your dressing room, I saw a stranger there. Not from your team.”       “Who was that?” Terrence asks.       “A certain girl! I don’t know who she is! Met her for the first time! But I clearly remember that she was wearing a cleaning woman’s uniform.”       “And what did the cleaning woman forget in our dressing room?” Peter frowns slightly, crossing his arms over his chest.       “First, I thought she was just washing the floor and wiping dust off the surfaces. I thought I’d go there quickly and wouldn’t bother her. But when I watched her better, I saw that girl taking a pack of bottles of water and taking one of them.”       “Just one?” the girl specifies.       “Yup. I thought she just decided to get all the bottles and put them in their places. But she didn’t. That girl opened one of the bottles and then took another bottle from her pocket. She opened it. And she began to add what was in it to the bottle.”       “Fucking shit…” Daniel swears.       “And how much did she add?” Terrence gets suspicious.       “Much enough,” Blake replies. “And then she closed the bottle and shook it.”       “So, is everything confirmed? Did they wanna have Edward poisoned? Or maybe even kill?”       “But why did the cleaning woman need it?” Peter throws his hands up. “What did he do to her if she did such a horrible thing?”       “Listen, sir, was just one bottle poisoned or all of them?” the girl specifies, putting her finger on her lip.       “I’m sure that she would’ve added that shit in all the bottles,” Blake replies. “But I understood that the case was serious and decided to meddle.”       “You should’ve meddled before that gal added poison to the bottle!” Terrence exclaims.       “I know, but I wasn’t sure about what I saw.”       “Yeah, didn’t it seem weird to you that one bitch entered the dressing room so easily, opened one of our bottles, and added something to it?” Daniel puts his hands on his hips.       “Yeah, guys, I know…”       “Alright, what did you do next?” Peter asks quietly. “You stopped that girl?”       “Yes, I decided to meddle,” Blake nods hesitantly. “When she put an eye on the second bottle. I just entered the dressing room, left the bag near the entrance, and came to that girl determinedly. And I was like, ‘Whatcha doing there, girl?’”       

***

      Blake goes confidently to the dressing room prepared especially for Edward, Terrence, Peter, and Daniel – the members of “Against The System”, whose performance is going to start in two or three hours. Helping the members of their band sort their stuff out, checking if the organizers followed all the conditions of the ride of the musicians, whose assistant he has been working for several months, the guy wants to carry the last bag with everything they may need. But when he comes to the door with the erasable board on it, the blonde-haired boy stands sharply on the doorstep when he sees someone is already in the dressing room. The young girl with dark hair gartered in a bun, who is wearing a cleaning woman’s blue uniform, left aside the old mop, the iron bucket, and the holed rag that has literally experienced a lot. She is now much busier with what is on one of the tables. To be clear, the pack of bottles of water that were prepared for the musicians, who always suffer from an excessive thirst after any show.       Blake sees the girl take one of the bottles from the pack, open it, and check the pocket of her waistcoat to take a transparent middle-sized bottle. Frowning slightly, the boy gets suspicious and tries to look at what the girl is adding to it better, trying not to show himself, and deciding to know what is going to happen next.       “I don’t like all of this…” Blake thinks. “Why’s that girl adding something to the bottle? The guys are gonna drink from them!”       Blake thinks about something for two seconds and closes his mouth with a hand.       “Fuck, what if that’s some kind of poison? What if someone wanna harm the guys? I wouldn’t be surprised, knowing about the situation with the attack on Peter. I wouldn’t be surprised if one bastard told that girl to poison him with some mortal shit.”       While Blake tries to figure out what’s happening, the girl adds just a little bit from the bottle and leaves something in it. After this, she puts it on the table, closes the bottle tightly, and starts shaking it energetically to mix what she added with water. The girl is doing this quietly and confidently, as if something gave her a clear instruction and explained what to do. She is not afraid that she may be caught by someone. She is not afraid someone may kick her out of here since she has no right to be in the musicians’ dressing room.       “I wonder if she’s gonna add that shit in one bottle or all of them?” Blake asks himself. “I’ve gotta watch her and find out what that girl is gonna do.”       Blake does not move his eyes off the girl, whom he tries to look at very closely and memorize with the thought that he may need it. Something tells the guy that she is going to harm the musicians either at her wish or by someone’s order. But sadly, he cannot see what’s inside the bottle that the strange girl puts on the table. But he rounds his eyes and gets sharply pale when she takes the second bottle and wants to open it to add the unknown liquid to it.       “Holy shit, it seems like she’s gonna add that shit to all the bottles!” Blake horrifies. “That girl wanna harm the men and disrupt their show. And if she added some poison, she may easily kill all the four men.”       Blake shakes his head sharply, seeing that the girl is not able to do what she needs because the bottle is closed too tightly and cannot be opened.       “Alright, it’s all fucking wrong! I’ve gotta meddle and tame that girl. I must not let her become the reason why Peter, Edward, Terrence, or Daniel may suffer. And if she shows off, I will tell the stadium’s staff about her. So, they deal with her.”       After exhaling sharply, spreading his shoulders, and raising his head, Blake leaves the small bag near the entrance in the dressing room, then enters it determinedly, and comes to the girl.       “Excuse me, Ms., what are you doing here?” Blake asks quietly.       The girl shakes sharply in fear with a quiet cry, throwing the bottle off the table, stepping back, and setting her widely open eyes on Blake.       “Oh, young man, you scared me!” the girl exhale sharply, putting her hand on her heart. “You were creeping from behind as quietly as a mouse… I did not hear you…”       “Can I know what you are doing here?” Blake crosses his arms over his chest. “As far as I know, you are not allowed to be here. This dressing room was prepared for the band that is going to perform on the stage soon.”       “Erm, I…” the girl chuckles nervously and exhales loudly as she is twirling the edge of her waistcoat with shaking hands. “I… Erm… I was cleaning here…”       “Cleaning?”       “Y-yeah…” the girl takes the mop placed near the table in the corner. “So… I just finished this…”       “But what were you looking for at the table? Why did you need the bottles of water?”       “Oh, I was just wiping dust off…” the girl smiles falsely, touching her face with the tips of her fingers, and takes the rag placed on the bucket. “It was too… Dusty here…”       “Does it seem to me that you opened one of the bottles and added something to it?”       “Me? Added?” the girl waves her hand with a heavy breath as she looks pale enough. “C-c-com-m-me o-o-o-on, sir! Come on… It seemed to you.”       “I just saw everything,” Blake says determinedly. “You opened the bottle and added it to that bottle.”       “It seemed to you, young man! It’s not the truth!”       “It’s the truth, my sweetie, it is!”       “I just moved the bottles slightly to wipe the table. That’s all.”       The girl places the bottles the way they were placed before, not thinking that the pack has already been opened.       “And the pack was opened…” the girl adds in a shaking voice and folds her hands in front of herself, smiling at Blake tensely.       “Don’t try to make me crazy,” Blake says quietly. “I am not blind and saw clearly what you were doing here.”       “I don’t know what you saw, but I was just doing my job.”       “And who asked you to clean this room?”       “My boss.”       “Shouldn't dressing rooms be cleaned some time before artists’ arrival?” Blake puts his hands on his hips.       “Listen, who are you to tell me what to do?” the girl starts attacking. “Who actually let you in? I see you for the first time!”       “I am the assistant of the band, the dressing room of which you broke into so shamelessly.”       “All of our cleaning women have keys to all the rooms of the stadium. They are allowed to go anywhere at any time and clean it quietly.”       “So, don’t you want to say you added some poison to the bottle?” Blake frowns slightly. “Don’t you want to say you are going to ham the men, who will be changing their clothes here?”       “Don’t say stupid things, please.”       “Do you know they will come here soon? Is that why you came here to do your dirty tricks?”       “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”       “Who the hell are you?” Blake asks coldly. “What do you need from the guys? I mean, it would be better to ask who sent you here?”       “I think you overheated under the sun a little,” the girl throws gloomily. “Since you are starting to see what has never happened.”       “Alright, if you really did nothing, I suggest we go to your boss and ask them to confirm you were really ordered to clean this dressing room.”       “I will not go anywhere with you! Why are you annoying me? Go your way and do not bother me with your talks. I have wasted too much time on you.”       “What’s wrong, girl?” Blake smiles evilly. “Are you afraid that someone will know about your dirty tricks? Know how you are trying to poison the men you know with some shit.”       “Excuse me, young man, but I have too much work to do,” the girl says distantly. “I do not have time to talk to you.”       The girl grabs the mop, the rug, and the bucket with shaking hands, wishing to leave the dressing room as soon as possible, and being so scared that she forgets about the bottle that rolled under one of the sofas some time ago.       “Hey, stop, cutie!” Blake closes the way with no hesitation. “Where did we start to rush like this?”       “Let me go!” the girl demands coldly. “Let me go, I said! Let me go!”       “Or what?” Blake grabs the girl by the wrists. “Will you be screaming like crazy? Or come up with something better?”       “I swear I will scream! If you don’t let me out, I will tell everyone you are harassing me.”       “What are you talking about?”       “Everyone knows me! Even if I’m a cleaning woman, everyone respects me deeply. Anyone would dare to call the police and tell them to get you arrested.”       “Oh, excellent!” Blake smiles slyly. “Come on, girl, call the police! Call them since you are so sassy and bold!”       “I am not kidding, young man! If you do not let me go now, I will make you regret it.”       “Come on, call the police! You will tell them how you tried to take the lives of the members of ‘Against The System’. Tell them what shit you added to that fucking bottle.”       “I don’t know what you are talking about.”       “Oh, no, you do understand everything.”       “Get off me, young man. Let me go! I have too much work to do.”       The girl tries so hard to push Blake off herself and get out of here as soon as possible, but the boy turns around sharply and grabs her under her arm tightly.       “So, girl, are ya nervous?” Blake smirks evilly. “Are you afraid that the cops will put you in jail after I charge you for a murder attempt? Or don’t you know what to tell your accomplice? Who probably has to do with what recently happened to Peter Rose after one of the shows.”       “I have no idea of who Peter Rose is,” the girl snaps, while her eyes are running chaotically from side to side. “And I do not want to meet him at all.”       “Yeah? But I think he would be very happy to meet the one, who wants to harm him and his friends. He would be happy to know what he did if some assholes could not leave him alone.”       Blake smiles slyly, raising his head slightly and sticking out his chest.       “Moreover, I heard Peter has been attacked more than one time. He’s been pushed off the stairs, he’s been hit by a car, he’s been tried to strangle… So many coincidences don’t usually happen, right?”       “My gosh, man, why are you annoying me so hard?” the girl moans tiredly. “Are you in love? Don’t you know how to get my attention?”       “Relax, girl, you are not my taste. And I don’t suffer from a lack of fans. Many girls are ready to please the hot and attractive boy at the age of twenty, who is open to meeting young beauties.”       “Get off me, then!”       “Do you think I will do nothing even if you get out of here?” Blake asks surprisingly. “Do you think I will tell nobody about what you tried to do? You think the team of ‘Against The System’ will not know it? No, sweetheart, you are deeply wrong! I shall tell them everything.”       “You will prove nothing!” the girl says boldly, raising her head proudly. “You have no proof of what I did.”       “I will do my best for them to believe me.”       “Try. You will just waste your time.”       “M-m-m… The best protection is an attack.” Blake smirks contemptuously. “That’s so banal!”       “Alright, I am leaving! This talk doesn’t make sense! I’ve been here for too long.”       “How hard you’re rushing to run away… How hard we’re trying to run away from the crime scene… Oh, la, la, la, la…”       Breathing heavily enough from excitement, the girl grabs sharply her cleaning stuff with her shaking hands, pushes Blake rudely off herself, and literally runs away from the dressing room. While the boy just watches her with a sly smile and his head proudly raised, deciding not to rush into a chase.       “Run, run, cutie, run to the end of the world,” Blake says confidently, putting his hands on his hips. “If you’re really working here, it’s gonna be easy for the staff to give us as much information as possible.”       Blake thinks for two seconds.       “Wow, how hard she peed her pants. She ran away from here at the wind’s speed. She thought she’d do her dirty trick quietly and remain invisible. She was freaking unlucky to be caught by me in a crime.”       Blake crosses his arms over his chest.       “Hm, I wonder what she added to the water?”       Blake turns around, comes to the table, takes the poisoned bottle, and starts looking at it closely to try to find something.       “It’s just water at first sight…” Blake notices thoughtfully. “No sediment at the bottom… The color is transparent… I wouldn’t say she added some shit to this water…”       Blake opens the bottle and starts sniffing the water.       “It smells like nothing… But I wouldn’t dare to drink it… She could add any sort of shit: from drugs to something they use for drain cleaner.”       Blake exhales sharply.       “Okay, I’ve gotta take this bottle with me. Just in case. I guess it’s some trick over the guys. One hundred percent. Someone wanna disrupt their show.”       Blake closes the bottle quickly, puts it on the table, and moves closer to the one that the girl just wanted to poison.       “Damn, I’ve gotta talk to the guys from the team and the staff of the stadium. And find George. Warn them that Terrence, Daniel, Peter, and Edward may be in danger. And I’ve gotta tell the guys not to drink or eat anything. I don’t like this place at all…”       While Blake is reflecting on the situation and deciding what to do, young girls run into the dressing room. At first, they are talking about something, but then they fall into silence as they see the blonde-haired man standing in front of the table.       “Blake, sweetie, that’s so good we found you!” the dark-skinned girl with dark hair exclaims excitedly.       “Oh, girls…” Blake pronounces hesitantly, shaking slightly in surprise, and starts to breathe a little heavily. “You scared me!”       “We need your help so badly,” the blonde-haired girl says with sadness in her eyes. “Whoever we ask for help, everyone’s busy now. Help us, please.”       “Erm… Y-y-yeah, sure… I… Shall help you… If I can do this.”       “We accidentally broke something that the guys are gonna need, but we don’t know how to fix it.”       “But we’ve got too little time!” the dark-haired girl adds excitedly. “The guys are on the way to this place.”       “If they know we did it, we’re gonna be in trouble.”       “Calm down, girls, calm down, don’t jab,” Blake says quietly. “Relax and breathe deeper.”       “Quick, Blake, we’ve gotta fix everything while we have time! Otherwise, the guys won’t be able to go on the stage.”       “Okay, okay, let’s see what we can do.”       “Fast, Connor, fast! We’ve got a little time!”       The girls come to Blake in a quick step, take the man being a little confused under his arms, and start pulling him after themselves to the exit from the dressing room.       “Erm, but…” Blake barely opens his mouth.       “Don’t worry, we’ll explain everything on the way,” the blonde-haired girl promises.       “Don’t yawl, Connor!” the dark-haired girl claps Blake slightly on his head. “We’re gonna be in trouble if we don’t find a way to fix that thing now.”       “Faster! Faster! Time can’t wait!”       The girls take Blake away so quickly that he can barely understand anything. The boy does not even manage to take the poisoned bottle and leaves it on the edge of the table. And Connor starts to swear at himself and feels anxious because he probably did not prevent the catastrophe that is about to happen in the nearest time.       

***

      “So, in short, I said I saw everything she did and would tell the organizers and your team about how she added something to the bottle,” Blake says, fingering over nervously. “She started to get super nervous, lie to me insolently, and pretend to be innocent. It was like I didn’t know what was wrong.”       “So, is there a second poisoned bottle there?” Terrence frowns slightly.       “She wanted to add that shit in the second bottle, but I stopped her.”       “She definitely wanted to poison all the bottles,” Peter concludes. “No doubt about it!”       “I pressed her to the wall fucking hard and even threatened her to call the police. And at some moment, she started to attack me and threaten me. It was like that girl would charge me for harassing her and tell someone to call the cops. I told her, ‘Okay, do it! You’ll tell them how you wanted to harm the men!’ The girl tried to show off, of course, but I saw she was fucking excited and scared.”       “And how did it end?” Daniel asks.       “She just grabbed the bucket, the mop, and the rag, and got outta the dressing room in the wind’s speed. I didn’t rush into a chase and decided to see what she did to the bottle. But at first sight, it seemed that everything was okay ‘cause there was no sediment on the bottom, and it was perfectly transparent.”       “Oh, shit…”       “I wanted to take the bottle with me and show it to the guys and George. But two girls from your team ran into the dressing room and started to jab so loudly that I forgot everything to the fuck. They said they broke something, took me under my arms, and pulled me after them, not giving me time to realize something and take the bottle. They jabbed, jabbed, and never let me say a word. So… That’s how I left…”       Terrence exhales slowly with closed eyes, putting his folded hands to his mouth, and Daniel and Peter reflect silently on what they heard and look at each other at some moment. While more and more people come together in the hall, wondering what’s going on, ask each other what happened to Edward, who is still lying on the floor unconscious and kept under the close control of the doctor.       “You could’ve…” Terrence pronounced in a low, shaking voice. “You could’ve prevented it… If you’d taken the bottle, Edward would’ve been okay! He wouldn’t have been one step away from death!”       “I’m really sorry, Terrence!” Blake apologizes with pity in his eyes. “I swear I really wanted to take the bottle with me! I wanted to warn all of you about what that girl did.”       “But why didn’t you warn?” Peter wonders. “Nobody told us about that fucking bottle!”       “The girls distracted me. They got me busy with their talk and made me forget about this case. And we spent a lot of time trying to fix their mistakes.”       “Oh, Connor, Connor…” Terrence moans tiredly. “What did you do? Do you actually understand what you did?”       “Forgive me, Terrence, I didn’t do it on purpose! I didn’t really want everything to happen so!”       “Alright, Blake, tell us please, did you memorize that girl well?” Daniel asks. “Can you describe her?”       “Yes, yes, I watched her closely and memorized her,” Blake nods confidently. “I will recognize her shortly if someone brings that girl to me.”       “If that’s really a cleaning woman, the staff of the stadium can tell us everything about her.”       “Don’t you know where she is now?” Peter asks. “Have you seen her after she got out of the dressing room?”       “Nope, I haven’t seen her,” Blake throws his hands up. “There are many cleaning ladies here, but I don’t see that madam among them.”       “What if it wasn’t a cleaning woman?” Terrence assumes, frowning slightly. “What if she got through this place, pretending to be a cleaning woman, and did her dirty tricks? It may happen that the girl doesn’t actually work here.”       “Alright, I shall find someone of the staff members, explain the situation, and tell them not to let anyone out of here,” the nurse says determinedly.       “She has probably already run away from here!” Blake exclaims. “It’s been more than two hours.”       “Anyway, we must question everyone, who is working here, and find out if someone can tell us about that cleaning woman.”       “I will personally make her explain it all!” Terrence says coldly. “That bitch will tell me everything. Who she is, who she is working for, and why she needed to poison my brother.”       “Most likely, you four were supposed to be poisoned,” Blake assumes. “That girl didn’t just manage to add that shit in all the bottles. And Edward wasn’t probably lucky since he drank that poisoned water.”       “Listen, everything does fit!” Daniel puts his finger on his lip. “Yes, Edward looked tired, but he was cheerful enough and funny before we came to the dressing room. He was okay!”       “Yeah, he changed his clothes earlier than we three,” Peter adds. “And then he said he wanted to drink, came to the table, took one of the bottles… And started to drink from it at times, while we all were talking.”       “And after that moment, Edward lay on the sofa and didn’t get up anymore,” Terrence recalls. “After this, he started to fall asleep. He suddenly became silent and began to speak too little. And in the end, he actually fell asleep, while we were having fun.”       “And stomach… He kept his hand on his stomach all the time. As if he suffered from pain.”       “And he felt dizzy after he drank a little more water from the same bottle,” Daniel adds. “And he did say he suffered from the pain in his stomach.”       “And I gave him the same bottle when we seated him on the sofa,” Peter recalls. “And he was getting worse and worse. He couldn’t stand on his feet and started to cough up blood.”       “And he said something about his heart! It was like it was beating fucking fast, but then the beat suddenly slowed down.”       “Fucking shit…” Terrence swears with widely open eyes. “Every bottle has one liter of water! And Edward drank almost everything. There was too little in it.”       “Do you mean he drank almost one liter of the poisoned water?” the nurse concludes.       “And she added a lot of poison in the first bottle,” Blake says thoughtfully.       “Hey, how long was the bottle the girl took from her pocket?” Peter specifies.       “Well… Not too big, but…” Blake glances at his hand. “It could easily fit the size of my hand.”       “Shiver me…” Terrence closes his mouth with a hand, opening his eyes widely.       “I don’t know what to say…” Peter shakes his head, running his hands over the top of his head to the nape of his neck. “I don’t know what to say…”       “Excuse me, where’s the bottle now?” the nurse frowns slightly. “I want to look at this.”       “Erm, all the bottles should’ve been in the dressing room…” Terrence says thoughtfully. “But I clearly remember that Edward let go of the bottle after he fell on the floor with dizziness.”       “Rolled over something?” Blake specifies.       “I will go to the dressing room and find it,” Daniel says determinedly. “Bring here the bottle Edward was drinking from and try to find the second one that should’ve gotten poisoned, too. We’ve gotta take them away just in case. Before someone else drinks it and dies.”       Daniel turns around and goes quickly to where the dressing room is, while the others watch him with sadness in their eyes.       “Why was it Edward?” Terrence wonders with a heavy breath, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “Why?”       “Don’t worry, Terrence, Edward is gonna be okay,” Blake says confidently, clapping Terrence on the shoulder. “That guy would get out of any shit.”       “If only the ambulance comes soon before it’s too late.” Terrence grabs his throat with a hand with the thought that he lacks air. “If his heart stops again, he will not handle it.”       “Do not worry, young man, the doctors are on the way, and my colleague and I are doing our best to support his life,” the nurse says quietly, glancing at the man in a medical robe, while he does not stop watching Edward’s condition closely. “Though, if he has really been poisoned, it would be great to induce vomiting, so he cleans his stomach a little.”       “It seems like that girl added vigorous shit since he felt so bad. Coughing with blood and stopping to breathe…”       “Hey, Blake, find George now and bring him here shortly!” Peter says determinedly, taking Blake by the shoulders. “Explain the situation to him and tell him we need to talk to the organizers of the show now.”       “Yes, yes, gimme a moment!” Blake nods confidently. “I’ll bring him here! He was somewhere and talking with someone some time ago.”       But when Blake wants to run down the hall, he sees George himself somewhere far from here along with two people. They all come here and talk about something with anxiety on their faces.       “Hey, he’s coming here!” Blake exclaims, pointing at George. “And if I’m not mistaken, that’s someone from the staff of the stadium.”       “What’s going on here?” George wonders, setting his surprised glance on the little crowd of anxious people. “What’s happening? Why is everyone standing here?”       George stops his eyes on the unconscious Edward at this moment.       “Gosh, Edward?!” George opens his eyes widely, comes to Edward, and squats down beside him. “My boy… What happened to you?”       “He collapsed, George,” Terrence exclaims excitedly. “It started with dizziness, but it ended with a cough with blood and a stopped heart and breath.”       “What are you talking about, Terrence? Fear God!”       “It’s true, George,” Peter confirms. “Everything happened too fast. We didn’t manage to lead Edward to the doctor. He felt unconscious on the way.”       “My gosh, he is so pale and hot!’ George horrifies, putting his hand on Edward’s forehead and touching his cheek. “What did they do to you, my sweetheart?”       “He’s probably been poisoned, Mr. Smith,” Blake says hesitantly. “Edward drank almost all the water from the bottle that was poisoned with something.”       “Poisoned?” George gets up sharply on his feet. “But what? And why are you so sure about it?”       “I saw it! I saw one girl in the dressing room of the guys and added some shit to one of the bottles of water.”       “What girl? Where did she come from?”       “She was wearing a cleaning woman’s uniform and had the cleaning stuff with her.”       “But why did the cleaning woman poison Edward?”       “I don’t know, Mr. Smith. But I scared her with my appearance. And when I threatened to tell everyone about what she did, that girl disappeared immediately. She got out of the dressing room shortly. No tracks left.”       “We didn’t even guess the water in the bottle was poisoned,” Peter says confidently. “But Edward felt worse and worse every time he drank it.”       “Alright, did you drink the water?” George asks.       “No, no, we didn’t,” Terrence shakes his head.       “Hey, where’s Daniel? Why isn’t he with you?”       “He went to the dressing room to find the bottle,” Peter replies.       “He didn’t drink the water?”       “Nope, he didn’t. Only Edward did.”       “Jesus Christ…” George moans quietly, running his hands over his face. “What’s going on here?”       “One thing is clear: that girl agreed with someone,” Blake assumes. “She couldn’t find the courage to do this on her own. Someone persuaded her to do it.”       “Excuse me, young man, could you describe that girl?” one of the women, who was accompanied by George here, asks.       “Yeah, sure… She is middle-height, with dark short hair, dark eyes… She has a tail… Slim… Young… She was wearing the uniform of a cleaning woman… Well, like the one all the cleaning staff members are wearing here. Erm… She kinda wore sneakers with a yellow shade. Not quite new… Oh! She also wore a necklace on her neck… Golden… With a pedant in the form of a little heart. And she had a big birthmark on her left elbow.”       “What a phenomenal memory!” Terrence surprises.       “This description fits one of our staff members,” the woman replies thoughtfully. “She is working here as a cleaning woman. Her name is Carla. Carla Brook…”       “So, is she really working here?” Peter concludes. “And as I understand, that girl can enter any room with no problems. She probably has all the keys.”       “Yes, it’s correct. Carla has worked with us for ages. She is active, obedient, and respectful enough. Her colleagues respect her, and her boss praises her for working hard. As far as we know, she is a single mother, who lacks money catastrophically.”       “I wouldn’t be surprised if someone paid that girl, so she poisoned the bottles,” Terrence says.       “If that’s really the girl, we must find her immediately and question her with a degree,” Peter says confidently. “Make her confess who she is and why she decided to poison our friend.”       “Yes, women, find Carla immediately and bring her to us,” George says determinedly.       “We should also probably call the police,” Blake says thoughtfully. “That’s an attempt on life, for sure.”       “Of course!” the staff member of the stadium exclaims. “We will immediately notify the police about this incident and start the investigation of this case.”       “And we will tell our familiar policeman about it,” Terrence promises. “That’s the friend of my father's friend. He knows about all the attacks on Peter, but he cannot help us with anything yet.”       “Yes, yes, guys, you’re doing this right,” George approves, while the staff members, who accompanied him here, turn around and rush to leave. “We will not close our eyes to this and will learn the truth. We will find out what that cleaning woman wanted to poison Edward.”       “It’s important, undoubtedly, but knowing that Edward is alright is more important,” Peter replies confidently. “He will not survive the second stop of the heart.”       “Oh, God, save him! But I do believe that the boy will survive. He is strong, endurable, and healthy. There’s nothing that Edward wouldn’t survive.”       “I don’t personally know what I’m gonna do if he does not survive,” Terrence says with sadness in his eyes.       “Don’t worry, Terrence, believe that your brother will be alright.”       “You just didn’t see him before he lost consciousness. The guys and I almost passed out in horror.”       “Agree, we’re shocked,” Peter confirms.       “I think we were scared much more this time than when Wainwright tried to kill Terrence,” Daniel’s voice sounds as he comes closer to his friends.       “Yeah, we will never forget the hysteria Edward had. Just like we will not forget the way Terrence was acting like a psycho now, while the doctors were trying to revive his brother.”       “You would’ve seen me when I learned about my brother’s death,” Blake says thoughtfully, while Daniel gives Peter his smartphone, and Terrence gets his own and the one that belongs to Edward. How I was fretting and fuming after I found out that drugs did kill Matt, after all.”       “So what, Daniel, did you find something?” George asks, moving his eyes to Daniel. “You went to the dressing room to find the poisoned bottle.”       “Yeah, I found the poisoned one and the one that should’ve been poisoned, too,” Daniel says confidently and shows two bottles that he is holding. “One of them is almost empty, and Edward was drinking from it. And the second one is still full.”       “Are you sure this bottle was meant to be poisoned?”       “This bottle was placed on the table near the open pack. And Blake said that the girl didn’t manage to poison the second bottle. So… I am sure that’s the one.”       “Yeah, if it wasn’t in the pack, that’s the one,” Blake nods confidently. “And the others are supposed to be clean.”       “But nobody should better open them,” George warns. “Don’t drink and eat anything here.”       “The bottles in the pack remain closed,” Daniel says. “I checked all of them. The poisoned bottle was poisoned. The second one was half open.”       “Can I take a look at one of them?” the nurse asks thoughtfully.       “Yeah, sure.”       Daniel gives the girl the bottle, which Edward was drinking from.       “Hm… At first sight, I can’t understand anything. Water looks like water. Transparent, no sediment… Anyway, we will give it to the doctors from the ambulance, so they can send it for examination and find out what was added to it.”       “Haven’t they been on the way for too long?” Blake asks thoughtfully. “How long ago did you call the ambulance?”       “They’re supposed to come now. But the nearest hospital is far from here.”       “And yeah, I found something interesting,” Daniel confesses. “One little thing. It can probably help us.”       Daniel puts his hand in the pocket of his jacket and takes the bottle that the girl named Carla let go of after Blake caught her at the crime scene.       “Oh, damn, that’s the bottle!” Blake exclaims. “The one that the girl took from the pocket. There was poison in it! She added something from this to the bottle.”       “Did she want to go so hard that she forgot this thing in the dressing room?” Peter surprises.       “Listen, Dan, where did you find it?” Terrence frowns slightly. “I can’t remember that the bottle was there.”       “It rolled under one of the sofas,” Daniel explains. “Before I left, I decided to check the whole dressing room. I thought I’d manage to find something interesting. And… I found this bottle. Some liquid did even fall on the floor from it. Transparent, no smell.”       “But the bottle is not empty…” George notices thoughtfully, taking the bottle in his hand and starting to look at it and shake it. “There’s something in it.”       “Let me show it to the doctors, too,” the nurse says and takes the bottle from George. “And compare if there is the same thing in these bottles.”       “Maybe, there’s something else?” Peter asks. “Maybe, that girl lost something else?”       “Nope, I didn’t find anything else,” Daniel shakes his head.       “At least, we’ve got proof of the fact that Edward was tried to be poisoned,” Terrence notices. “And found out who we could add to the list of suspects.”       “Alright, you will go to the hospital and wait for the news about Edward, but I will stay here and find out everything,” George says confidently.       “And we’ve gotta make a decision about the show,” Daniel adds. “People are waiting for us.”       “Don’t worry about it, I will solve it personally. Your team and I will have a conversation with the organizers and reschedule the show. Depending on Edward’s condition. When he feels better, you will perform.”       “After this horror, I’m just not able to sing,” Terrence moans tiredly, running his hands over his hair. “All my thoughts are about my brother only.”       “It’s alright, Terrence, don’t worry. Just be next to your brother. He needs you, Daniel, and Peter now.”       “Yeah… I will go to the hospital with the doctors. Undoubtedly.”       “And warn his other relatives about…” the nurse wants to say.       But the girl has to fall into silence because everyone pays attention to Edward’s loud cough. When the doctors give him a little bowl given by someone, he vomits in it, making some people wince slightly at the sight of it. Not thinking a lot, Terrence comes quickly to him, gets down on his knees and hugs his brother around the shoulders, while the guy has to clean his stomach from what wants to leave his exhausted body.       “Oh, looking at him, I’m starting to get sick, too,” Blake confesses, wincing slightly, while the nurse comes to her colleague to help him. “I wanna clean my stomach so badly.”       “Anyway, that’s good he’s vomiting,” George notices. “Maybe, some part of the poison will be out of him.”       “You’re right…” Daniel nods with a thoughtful face. “The nurse said it would be great to cause vomiting.”       “What kind of poison is this if he nearly died here?” Peter asks himself.       “I am sure the doctors will tell us everything after they work on all the necessary tests,” George says confidently.       “I wish everything ended well!” Daniel begs. “We can’t lose Edward. We need him. So many people need him. They’ll go crazy if this guy dies.”       “No, no, I do believe he can do this. Edward is a strong and healthy boy. He has proved it many times.”       “The guys and I used to think he was an irresponsible bonehead that gave a damn about everything,” Peter confesses. “But when we suggested that he join the band, Edward showed himself to be a very responsible man. He was super serious about work and was ready to work for hours for a perfect result. To meet all of our expectations.”       “Yeah, even when he felt too bad, Edward was thinking about the show more than himself,” Daniel adds. “About his reluctance to let us down, the team, the organizers, and the fans. MacClife was ready to creep on the scene even in such a terrible condition.”       “I always say the well-being of my wards is more important to me,” George recalls confidently. “If someone doesn’t feel good, I will not let them on the stage and make them go to the interview.”       “Yeah, but that’s the reason why the agency is losing a lot of money. And they may have claims for you.”       “If money is more important to someone than health, it’s fine. And my goal is to help people fulfill their dream to perform on the stage. And for it, I am not ready to make anyone work with an illness and swear at them for not very good performances or wrong words.”       “We’re so sorry about giving you so many problems all this time,” Peter apologizes with sadness in his eyes. “We’re starting to feel super awkward.”       “It’s alright, guys, we can get through anything. I will not get sick of reminding you that I am putting great hopes on you and will not give up on my wish to make you superstars. Every one of you has a great talent, and the agency wants to help you use it right.”       “Anyway, the health and well-being of each other is much more important to us,” Daniel says with his head proudly raised. “And now, when trouble happened to our friend, we must be next to him.”       With these words, Daniel moves his eyes to Terrence, who is stroking softly the back of Edward, who looks exhausted after intense vomiting, and says something with anxiety on his face, but the guy does not react to this since he is half-unconscious and does not realize what’s happening.       “We must be next to Terrence,” Daniel adds thoughtfully. “Who’s going crazy at the thought he may lose his brother.”       “Yeah, he was so nervous that he took it out on us and the nurse,” Peter says. “She did even cry and fall into a stupor after Terrence shouted at her.”       “Don’t be at him, guys,” George advises. “Terrence is nervous because he loves his brother and always takes care of him and cares about his comfort. He’d notice any changes about Edward and do his best to make him feel better.”       “That’s right,” Daniel notices with a slight smile. “The guys fight and play on each other’s nerves as much as they protect each other and show their care.”       At this moment, Terrence takes off his jacket, wraps it multiple times, puts it on the table, and, holding Edward by the head, helps him lie down carefully, while the nurse checks his blood pressure again, and her colleague bends the guy’s legs at his knees. All this time, they have been surrounded by a big crowd of people, who are watching what’s happening with horror in their eyes, being truly worried about MacClife, Jr. Who is breathing heavily and lying powerlessly with closed eyes.       “Looking at them, I think about Matt and me,” Blake says with sadness in his eyes, embracing himself with both arms. “About how we spent time together. Before he started to take drugs and fucked me off.”       “And I’m regretting again not caring about Cassidy before,” Daniel confesses. “Deciding to fulfill the last wish of my parents at the last moment and almost losing my sister.”       “I will personally never forget the time I’ve spent with the lads,” Peter says with a slight smile. “Those I can confidently call my brothers. We’re united by so many bright and funny memories.”       “I wish my niblings got on as well as Terrence and Edward,” George sighs heavily. “But alas, they aren’t able to talk quietly. If they start arguing, it’s something like hell. Feathers and fur are flying from side to side.”       Terrence takes Edward’s hand and strokes his head with a free hand, looking at him with pity in his eyes, and the thought that his heart is squeezing painfully, and every sign provokes discomfort in his chest. Meanwhile, the nurse glances aside, asks the people from the crowd to step out, and comes quickly to the doctors, who have just arrived here, carrying bags with all the drugs, cures, and instruments they need and a folding stretcher. And she keeps telling them something as she brings them to the suffering man, who is watching what’s happening with his dead eyes with his unclear vision, but feeling safe thanks to the pretense of his older brother.       “Alright, guys, go to the hospital, but I will solve all the problems here,” George says quietly and hugs Blake around the shoulders. “Blake will stay here, too, and help the guys from the team and me.”       “Yes, Mr. Smith!” Blake exclaims. “I will do anything you say.’       “Maybe, we should stay and help you?” Peter asks, glancing at Daniel.       “No, guys, you better be with your friends,” George shakes his head. “Take care of Terrence. He must not stay alone. Yes, he is trying to hold on, but it’s very hard for your friend now. He needs your support and care.”       With these words, George glances at Terrence, who is talking to one of the doctors from the ambulance, who is trying to calm the excited man down a little and promises they will do their best to save Edward.       “He is standing so pale and tense! And his hands are shaking. He’s breathing like he lacks air.”       “Are you sure you can really solve everything without our help?” Daniel asks hesitantly.       “Go to the hospital, guys,” Blake insists. “We will solve everything. Solve the problem with the girl, who poisoned Edward.”       “Yes, Daniel, Peter, now you should only think about Edward’s recovery,” George agrees. “About not letting Terrence go crazy and lose his mind. Remember, no matter how strong a person is, it doesn’t mean they can get through anything. Especially with an illness of their close people or their death.”       “Alright, George, we got it,” Peter nods confidently. “Since the doctors are here, we will go with them.”       “I think we should personally tell everyone that the show will be cancelled,” Terrence says in a low, little shaking voice after coming to everyone. “Go on the stage and apologize to the folks.”       “I will give an order to publish the announcement on the band’s accounts,” George promises. “And I will agree that the tickets bought for tonight’s show are valid for the day the rescheduled show takes place.”       “Honestly, I do want to come to the people and apologize to them,” Peter confesses.       “Moreover, the show is about to start,” Daniel adds.       “Oh, that’s one of the organizers!” Terrence exclaims, pointing at the woman standing not far from him with a folder in her hands. “Let’s come to her and ask if we can get out?”       Not waiting for the answer, Terrence takes Daniel and Peter under their arms, comes to the woman, and asks her if they are allowed to go on the stage and make an announcement of the show’s cancellation personally. Since the organizers have not done it yet and are just going to upset everyone with this piece of news, she agrees and asks them to follow her. After saying quickly to George and Blake and promising to come back shortly, the men go somewhere down the long and wide halls along with this woman, whom two more people join later.       Peter and Daniel do not leave Terrence alone and ask him how he is doing a couple of times, even if they hear that he is alright and can handle it. But the guys do not believe it because they see their friend looks too tense and excited, and definitely thinks about Edward only. About him to survive. He is worried as much as MacClife, Jr. was when his older brother was close to death after he got a big dose of a sedative. Yes, the friends are nervous and afraid to lose one of their close friends, but they try to hold on and believe in the best. At least because there must be someone, who would help everyone remain sober and not do any stupid things.       Some time later, the woman and her companions bring Terrence, Daniel, and Peter to the room, behind which there is the big scene. They can see some people are running from side to side and getting ready for the show, not knowing what happened, or the cancellation of it. Thanks to the defeating shouts, happy whoops, and encouraging phrases heard not far from them, the men understand they know nothing yet and are impatiently waiting for their idols to show up on the stage.       “Are you sure you want to go to your fans?” the woman asks.       “Yes, we want to tell them about the show’s cancellation personally,” Terrence nods confidently. “And apologize to them.”       “Alright, do what you think is right. You can go to the stage when you are ready.”       “Thanks,” Daniel thanks, while Terrence, Peter, and he get microphones.       The woman nods slightly, turns around, and goes aside along with her colleagues, talking about something with them on the way and showing something in the paper that she takes from her folder. Meanwhile, Daniel, Terrence, and Peter look at each other, feeling how their hearts squeeze painfully at the thought that they are going to upset everyone with the cancellation of the show.       “So what, guys, are you ready to go?” Peter asks hesitantly.       “Yeah, let’s do it quickly and go to the hospital,” Terrence says quietly, swallowing nervously and squeezing the microphone tightly in his hand.       “If only you knew how disgusting it is for me to do it,” Daniel sighs tiredly.       After exhaling sharply, spreading their shoulders, and raising their heads, Peter, Terrence, and Daniel come determinedly to the stairs that lead to the scene, get up, pass some distance down the narrow hall, turn to the left, and go on the stage. They can see a large arena where all the places are taken. That’s what confirms the news about the sold-out show. Seeing their idols, the big crowd starts whooping happily and greeting the men, not noticing that they are missing something under the influence of adrenaline.       The friends do not find the courage to stop the loud applause and listen to them with a false smile, watching all of these happy faces with sadness in their eyes and feeling great discomfort because they have to tell them the news that may be truly tragic for someone. Attending the show of your favorite band is a dream that cannot be true for someone. Nevertheless, Terrence, Daniel, and Peter brace themselves quickly and ask everyone to calm down and listen to them with gestures. Some time goes by before silence settles on the arena. Though it may be broken by the whistles, whoops, and some slogans.       “Ladies and gentlemen!” Terrence says confidently as if nothing happened, using his acting skills. “Good afternoon, everyone! We’re so happy to see you at this place.”       “Peter, Terrence, and I have a short announcement for you, and we have to tell you that, no matter how hard it is,” Daniel adds. “No matter how much our hearts are breaking.”       “First, we’d like to thank you with all our hearts for coming to our show tonight,” Peter continues. “Thank you for buying all the available tickets. It really means a lot to us.”       Some people in the crowd applaud for the men loudly.       “Yeah, and as you can notice, our band is not completely whole,” Terrence says in a little shaking voice, while Daniel and Peter are standing on both sides and hugging him. “We’re missing someone. We’re missing Edward. And… Our announcement has to do with my brother.”       “To our great sadness, some time before the show, Edward suddenly collapsed,” Peter announces. “It all started with a mild discomfort, but it ended with a loss of consciousness. We will not tell you everything yet, but we will not hide that the situation is hard enough.”       This announcement makes everyone shocked and makes them ooh loudly and open their eyes widely.       “We tried to wake him up on our own, but we did not do it. So, we had to call an ambulance. And now, our guitarist is under the care of the doctors.”       “So, due to the current situation, we’re heartbroken to tell you that tonight’s show has been cancelled,” Daniel says with sadness in his eyes. “Yes, we could’ve performed as a trio. But first, we don’t wanna perform without Edward and any of us. And second, we care about his condition much more now. And… We aren’t just able to play now. We’re gonna be honest, we’re applying a lot of effort just to smile at you. All our thoughts are about him only.”       “Peter, Daniel, and I do truly apologize to you for this situation,” Terrence apologizes. “We’re really sorry about letting you down like this. For some of you, this show may be the first one, someone spent a lot of time saving money… We understand it all, but sadly, all of this ended in a bad way.”       “The show will be cancelled today and rescheduled for another day,” Peter announces. “It will depend on Edward’s condition and the doctors’ verdict. The announcement of the new date will be published on our accounts on social networks when we agree on the date.”       “All the tickets you bought for today will be valid for another date. You will not have to buy new ones. But if some reasons make you return the tickets, the guys and I will personally make sure you all have all the money returned to the last cent. If you have some issues, you can contact us personally, and we will solve your problem.”       “Edward is also devastated because of the forced cancellation of the show. Our friend wanted to go on the stage and rock on. Rock on the way our guitarist can do. But sadly, he is physically unable to make you happy and charge you with his powerful energy. And he is giving you his sincere apologies and hoping you will not get mad at him.”       “Please, friends, pray for my little brother and wish him to get well soon,” Terrence says. “Send a couple of nice words to this guy on social networks. Show him how much you love the kid. It would be nice for Edward to read all your messages. It would give him the strength and motivation to return to the game again.”       “Yes, folks, let’s show how much we wanna see his tricks on the stage again!” Daniel exclaims. “See Terrence and him play on each other’s nerves. Everyone agrees that they get pleasure from this, and we are happy with these cool moments?”       Everyone at the arena applauds loudly and whoops loudly.       “We thought it would be right to tell you this piece of terrible news personally, and the organizers agreed,” Terrence says. “We promise to come back to you shortly after we know something about Edward’s condition. And if everything is alright, my brother will show up to calm you down.”       “Again, we give you our sincere apologies for the inconvenience,” Daniel apologizes. “We hope to come back soon and make you happy with our performance. We were waiting for this day impatiently and were terribly excited, but… Everything went wrong.”       “Thank you for your attention, rebels!” Peter exclaims. “We love you!”       “Pray for Edward!” Daniel, Peter, and Terrence pronounce at the same time. “He needs you!”       After looking at everyone with sad eyes, Terrence, Peter, and Daniel turn around and leave the scene in silence, while the dumbfounded people do not believe what they heard, try to accept this information, and start coming to the exit from the stadium under the control of the security that watches everyone to make sure no crush happens. The men notice that some people standing in the first lines cannot hold down their tears, and someone has not realized what’s happening and starts to ask those, who are near, tons of questions. And when they are behind the scene, the guys exhale sharply and take off the smiling mask with a feeling of absolute emptiness.       “Oh, that wasn’t easy!” Peter exclaims.       “Yeah, it’s like we told them about someone's death,” Terrence throws gloomily.       “Luckily, Edward is alive and even cleaned his stomach a little,” Daniel notices.       “Yeah, but he is half unconscious. He's kinda breathing and moving his hands and legs, but he doesn’t react to anything. I tell him something, but it’s like Edward doesn’t hear. He just blinks his eyes and looks into the distance with dead eyes.”       “No wonder,” Peter puts his hands on his hips. “He’s literally experienced a clinic death.”       “Ugh, don’t remind me about it!” Terrence raises his hands as he winces. “I do feel too bad now.”       “Yeah, all the past events seem nothing unlike what happened to Edward,” Daniel notices, leaning on the wall with his back and putting his hand on his stomach. “I’m afraid to imagine what’s gonna happen next.”       “I feel it’s gonna lead to the day when someone goes crazy over all this bullshit and wanna hang themselves,” Peter throws gloomily, crossing his arms over his chest.       “That’s gonna be me, surely, if that little rutrag plays on my nerves like this again,” Terrence says, putting his hands on his hips.       “Yeah, MacClife would wake up any dead fly.”       Peter glances briefly at Daniel, who winces slightly as he runs his hand over his stomach as if he feels some kind of discomfort.       “Hey, Perkins, what’s happening to you?” Peter gets suspicious. “Why are you having a face full of pain?”       “My stomach kinda hurts…” Daniel confesses. “Not too much, but it’s not good…”       “You are fucking kidding me!” Terrence resents loudly. “The first one almost went to our grandparents, and the second one ate some shit, so that he got pain in his stomach. Do you want to put me in the grave?”       “Calm down, MacClife, I ain’t gonna die,” Daniel replies. “A stomach pain is not such a rare thing, for your information.”       “But why did you have your stomach hurt?” Peter wonders. “Did you really eat some shit?”       “Or…” Terrence opens his mouth slightly.       “No…” Peter shakes his head. “No… Just don’t tell us you…”       “Yeah, I had to make an experiment on myself and make sure Connor’s suspicions weren’t just his fantasy,” Daniel exhales sharply.       “Perkins, are you an idiot?” Terrence gets enraged. “Did you really drink the poisoned water? The one that almost killed Edward?”       “Just a couple of sips! And I’m gonna tell you that it’s fucking bitter to taste. It doesn’t smell, though.” Daniel winces much stronger, still running his hand over his stomach. “I don’t know why Edward didn’t notice anything suspicious and kept drinking as if nothing fucking happened.”       “And you, idiot, went on his way!” Peter throws gloomily. “You do know well that the water has some poison, but you did drink it. And now you’re acting so innocently, ‘My stomach kinda hurts!’”       “But now we know it, for sure.”       “Why did you the fuck do this? Why, tell me? You need more impressions? It wasn’t enough for you to get amnesia, and you decided to get a ticket to the afterlife?”       “Exactly!” Terrence exclaims.       “Calm down, guys, why are you crowing as if one or two chickens have been brought to the crowd of roosters?” Daniel sighs tiredly. “I was just wondering and did just a couple of sips.”       “These two fucking sips may cost you a lot!”       “I am fine! Not talking about pain in my stomach!”       “Edward was also fucking alright in the beginning!” Peter throws loudly. “And then he coughed blood out, died for a few minutes, gave a greeting to all his dead relatives, came back from the dead, and got a full bow of vomit.”       “And now he is lying there half dead,” Terrence adds. “We don’t fucking know if my brother is conscious there or not. He doesn’t answer and doesn’t react – he is like a vegetable!”       “Oh, guys…” Daniel rolls his eyes, rubbing his forehead with his hand. “Why you’re crowing…”       “Hey, brace yourself and run to the doctor!” Peter orders. “While they’re working on MacClife and haven’t left.”       “Yes, may they give you a tablet, a mixture, or something else to get this shit out of you,” Terrence adds. “Reviving you and watching you cough blood would be too much.”       “Come on, Perkins, come on, let’s go! Faster!”       With these words, Peter takes Daniel tightly under his arm and pulls him in the right direction, while Terrence follows them. And when Perkins feels a little dizzy on the way, Rose starts holding him just in case, swearing at his friend for being so irresponsible with his health again. And when they come back where they were before, they see the doctors from the ambulance have already carried Edward on the stretcher and set up an oxygen mask on his face. While someone puts their stuff in the case, someone starts to push the stretcher forward, telling the crowd to step back, and someone keeps the condition of the victim under control all the time. He can still barely realize what’s happening and does not react to the words and actions of those, whose faces show up before his eyes so fast that they seem blurred spots.       

***

      Natalia, Anna, Helene, and Raquelle do not even suspect what’s happening before the concert of “Against The System” that will not start due to Edward’s possible poisoning. The girls came together at Raquelle’s home and decided to relax a little and distract themselves from all the bad things, having a marathon of their favorite movies. Examining all the suggestions with a remote control, the friends are lying on the sofa like they are at home in front of the large plasma TV and pressing themselves as closely to each other as possible.       They spend a lot of time watching multiple movies in all the possible genres: from romantic melodramas and hilarious comedies to psychological thrillers and detective stories. But the online library is so full that it would not be enough for them to spend their whole life watching everything. And after watching another movie, Raquelle, Helene, Anna, and Natalia find out that they have eaten almost all the food they took for themselves.       “Hey, is this all?” Anna moans with pity, shaking the empty pack of potato chips and catching all the crumbs that seem delicious, too. “Oh, no…”       “Did I eat all the candies?” Natalia surprises, staring at the empty glassy bowl with widely open eyes.       “Oops, I didn’t notice I ate almost all the chicken wings,” Raquelle smiles innocently, wiping chicken fat off her hands with a handkerchief. “They are really delicious. Even if they were cooked for MacClife.”       “What if we order a couple of more big pizzas?” Helene suggests, eating the last piece of the tender pizza with salami. “With mushrooms, sausages…”       “Ah, I wish I lied with you like this and watched movies ‘till the evening…” Natalia smiles blissfully, sitting up and stretching herself nicely.       “Yeah, it’s been a while since we spent time together like this,” Raquelle notices. “Erasing buttons on the remote control, trying to choose a movie, and eating everything.”       “So, what stops us from continuing?” Helene smiles mysteriously. “Let’s get more delicious food and go for the second round of the marathon.”       “Yeah, what else do we do, while our boys are doing the business and getting ready for the show?” Anna shrugs.       “Won’t they really translate it on TV?” Natalia specifies. “Maybe I missed something?”       “Nope, sadly, no live stream this time.”       “I hope everything is gonna be okay this time,” Raquelle expresses hope. “Nothing like what happened the last time will happen.”       “At least, George and the guys’ team are super responsible for strengthening the safety,” Helene notices.       “And the guys are so determined and gonna play the show as brilliantly as possible,” Anna replies with her head proudly raised.       “We don’t have any doubts about our boys!” Natalia exclaims.       “Yeah, they’ve been waiting for this day,” Raquelle agrees. “Getting ready for this so hard, rehearsing and repeating the lyrics of their songs and their instrumental parts for hours.”       “They went to perform with just a couple of songs for a few hours, but I’m already missing Peter so badly,” Helene notices. “Can’t imagine what’s gonna happen when they go on the worldwide tour. That may last for literally one year.”       “Ah, I can’t even imagine how I’m gonna live without Daniel, for so long,” Anna sighs heavily. “How sad it’s gonna be sad for me to spend nights alone.”       “Yeah, there will be nobody to kick their asses for the bad behavior,” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “And they will all go crazy there.”       “And we won’t let them into our home if they dare to have an affair on the road,” Natalia says confidently.       “No, my darling, I am sure that there will be no affairs. Our pretty boys are so trained that they’re gonna be even afraid to think about it.”       “Indeed, would these boneheads really leave us?” Helene laughs shyly. “We won’t even need to charm them with a love potion ‘cause they’re jumping in front of us like dogs and looking into our eyes.”       “Well, we’re holding nobody by force and ain’t gonna do it,” Anna smiles innocently. “It’s a crime. But we aren’t one of them.”       “And actually, they’ve been running after us since the day we met them for the first time!” Raquelle says confidently. “They didn’t calm down ‘till we agreed to be with them.”       “How couldn’t they run after such beautiful and charming girls?” Natalia wonders with her head proudly raised, fixing her hair brushed in a tail with a gracious movement of her hand. “May men dreamed of us, but only our boys were lucky.”       “And we’re also caring, economic, and loyal!” Anna exclaims. “We’d clean the house ‘till gloss, cook a delicious dinner, wash clothes, and iron them.”       “And we don’t mind giving birth to as many children as our men want,” Helene adds and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.       “In short, we were born to be perfection!” Raquelle pronounces funnily.       “I guess our boys agree with us since they’re still with us,” Natalia says thoughtfully.       “Yeah, but it hurts that someone doesn’t believe you even when you tell the truth,” Helene sighs heavily, moving her eyes aside.       “Do you mean Peter’s charges for not being loyal to him?” Anna specifies hesitantly.       “Because of one stinker, he looks at me like an enemy now. Yes, sometimes Peter forgets about it and is sorry about acting like this. But sometimes I feel like he’s burning from anger again.”       “That’s good the men cool him down a little and wake him up for a while,” Raquelle says thoughtfully. “Maybe, thanks to their efforts, Peter is holding himself down somehow.”       “Moreover, they’ve got a similar experience,” Natalia adds. “They do know that these things must be proven somehow.”       “It’s so painful, girls…” Helene says with sadness in her eyes, pressing her knees to her chest and wrapping her legs with her arms. “It hurts that my beloved man is doing this to me. That he believes some stinkers that wanna have us separated. It is absolutely clear! And Rose doesn’t understand it. He doesn’t wanna get it. He is sure that I am an insolent liar and a betrayer.”       “Don’t worry, Helene, Peter will understand that he’s deeply wrong early or late,” Raquelle calms down softly, stroking Helene’s hand. “If those men don’t prove your fault, he will think about it much better, for sure.”       “But what if they do their best to seem right? What if those people can frame me and make Peter sure that it’s the truth? Frame me the way Wainwright framed Natalia!”       “This time, it’s easier ‘cause Peter’s got friends,” Natalia notices. “Who know about this situation and can wash Rose’s brain. And Edward said nothing to anyone. That’s why nobody managed to open his eyes in time. When he found out everything, it was too late.”       “I doubt he’s gonna listen to them.”       “No, Marshall, I don’t think so,” Anna shakes her head with a slight smile. “If not for Terrence, Daniel, and Edward, it wouldn’t be good for you. Peter would treat you disgustingly and have no regret about it. Because he would be obsessed with anger that wouldn’t be under the lads’ control.”       “Anyway, I’m so happy they believe me.” Helene smiles shyly and folds her hands in front of herself. “They believe I’m guilty of nothing. The men know I’d never dare to do this to Peter. I have never betrayed him.”       “We know, friend,” Raquelle pronounces softly.       “Yes, it’s hard to call me an angel. You all know it well. But through the years Peter and I have known each other, I have never thought about hurting him and having him wrapped around my finger.”       “Listen, Helene, have you never wondered why those men are talking about the secrets of your past so confidently?” Natalia frowns slightly.       “They say they allegedly know the one, who’s ready to tell Peter the truth about me at any time.”       “What if it’s true?” Anna expresses anxiety. “What if someone really knows something about you that may get Pete mad?”       “I can't say anything. But all these people sound really true. So… I can’t exclude anything.”       “Maybe, you should tell him everything about our relationship issues?” Raquelle asks hesitantly.       “What do you mean?”       “On the day Peter brought you to Daniel’s home and introduced you as his girlfriend, we didn’t tell them everything. We kept some details a secret.”       “Yeah, but that case has to do with you and me. Pete doesn’t have to do with it.”       “Maybe, those people mean something connected with that thing?” Natalia assumes.       “Yeah, friend, if it’s true, we suggest you make the knight’s move and tell Peter the truth,” Anna agrees.       “You all know well that it’s disgusting for me to remember that,” Helene sighs heavily. “That’s what I’m trying to forget. What I’m trying not to talk about with anyone.”       “We know, honey, but Peter deserves to know the truth,” Raquelle replies. “No matter how painful it is.”       “Honestly, I’m madly grateful to you for saying nothing to the men yet. I was burning with shame when we had to tell them about how you suffered because of me in our school years. But if they know one more secret of mine, their attitude toward me will change.”       “That’s why those men are kinda right, to some extent,” Natalia notices and bites her lip slightly. “You aren’t quite honest with Peter.”       “It doesn’t have to do with him.”       “Who cares? You’ve got a secret – we know it.”       “Don’t worry, sweetheart, we will tell the men nothing about it,” Anna promises, stroking Helene’s shoulder. “But you must confess everything to him.”       “Yeah, you’d better do it by yourself than let someone else do it,” Raquelle adds.       “My gosh, I thought I’d forget everything and live quietly,” Helene sighs heavily and runs her hands over her face. “I’d never have to come back to this.”       “Think, Marshall, think,” Natalia advises. “It doesn’t matter if it has to do with Peter – he must know everything.”       “What if he turns his back on me after he knows everything? What if he doesn’t like it? What if the men are disappointed in me? They consider me their hope! They don’t stop thanking me for literally bringing Peter back! What would they feel if they knew I wasn’t such a perfect partner for their friend?”       “If you confess everything in time, the guys will forgive you,” Anna smiles shyly. “I can’t be sure about Peter, but Daniel, Terrence, and Edward may believe you and convince Rose to do the same.”       “I dunno, girls…” Helene runs her hands over her hair. “Now I don’t know what to expect. Besides, the case is not only about my secrets. Those people are making Rose sure that I’m having affairs with other men.”       “But that’s not the truth!”       “Of course, not the truth! I’ve always been loyal to him! Even when we were just friends, I rejected all the other men. Even if my friends and familiars tried to match me with someone all the time. Because my heart was already taken. It belonged to Peter.”       “Then you shouldn’t be worried,” Raquelle replies confidently. “If you’re saying it.”       “Do you think I’m lying to him?”       “No, no, come on!” Natalia jabs. “The girls and I believe you! It’s not a secret for us how you were going crazy when Pete was between life and death after his suicide attempt.”       “If he’d died, I swear I wouldn’t have fallen in love with anyone else. I would’ve decided to live my life without a husband and children. Despite all the protests of my grandma. Because I don’t see anyone next to me but Pete.”       “We know, honey,” Anna nods confidently.       “Yeah, I know it may sound stupid. It’s like why I was the hell stuck on one man when there were so many good men around, who could be much better. But damn, girls…” Helene swallows nervously. “I… I couldn’t do that. I tried to find Peter or a better version of him in every single man. But… I did not. There was nothing. There can’t be many Peters Rose. He’s the only one.”       “Anyway, those men don’t have and will hardly have proof for you cheating,” Raquelle replies. “They may send a hundred messages to Peter with charges against you. But they won’t make sense without proof.”       “But I wouldn’t be surprised if I was caught by a stinker, undressed, and raped, while someone else took photos and videos,” Helene says confidently. “And then sent all of it to Rose, who would really believe I fucked someone.”       “The men won’t believe it,” Anna protests. “They wouldn’t be obsessed with anger and would see you feel uncomfortable. See that you’re trying to break free, but you aren’t able to.”       “I’m afraid those people will get what they want. They’ll do their best to have Peter and me separated. Make him mad at me and leave me. A few more messages similar to what he’s been receiving since the day I was tried to drown before I stay all alone.”       “Did he receive more messages?” Natalia specifies.       “Yup, yesterday. When he was at Grandma's and I. Pete told me his claims when she went to the kitchen for two minutes. But he didn’t start a scandal with her pretense. Though he was super tense and breathed too heavily. Holding himself down so hard.”       “My gosh…” Raquelle rounds her eyes.       “Peter promises to learn the truth and find out what I’m hiding from him and who all my lovers are. But my tears and oaths of love and loyalty make him much more enraged.”       “That’s why we advise you to tell him what wasn’t said on that day first,” Natalia insists. “Because… There’s nothing else except these secrets? Right?”       “Of course, not,” Helene smiles tensely.       “Excellent, then!” Anna exclaims. “Since you know you didn’t betray Peter, keep insisting on what’s right. And you and I solved all our problems a long time ago and decided to start it all again.”       “Yes, Helene, no matter how hard it is to remember the past, I don’t judge you and do understand you didn’t do it on purpose,” Raquelle adds softly.       “I’m sure if not for Ashley, we would’ve become very good friends much earlier,” Natalia smiles shyly. “She’s the only one to be guilty of the hell that was happening. She pronounced herself a queen and thought everyone must bow to her.”       “I’m really sorry about the way I acted,” Helene confesses with sadness in her eyes. “I’m sorry about giving you so much pain. If I could come back to the past, I would change everything.”       “Sometimes even your sworn enemies can become your most loyal and wonderful friends one beautiful day,” Raquelle notices thoughtfully.       “Yeah, sometimes life does really surprise us with its unexpected surprises,” Natalia laughs shyly.       Raquelle, Anna, and Helene say nothing and share a slight smile with each other, while the servants working at this house go quickly somewhere far from them as they are busy talking about something.       “So what, girls, let’s keep eating delicious food?” Raquelle suggests cheerfully. “Or should we think about our bodies now?”       “Oh, we’ll work on it hard at the gym class!” Natalia waves her hand. “Or energetic dances. Dance for three or four hours before we lose some weight!”       “Yeah, moreover, we’re now having such a stressful time,” Helene adds. “Can’t resist a chance to eat as much unhealthy food as possible.”       “Aha, the boys would tell us, ‘Hey, you’re kicking us for our good appetite, but you ate a full bowl of chicken wings, a full pizza, a bowl of candies, and a pack of chips!’” Anna laughs.       “Agree, they shouldn't better see what we’re doing now,” Raquelle chuckles kindly.       “What?” Natalia opens her eyes widely. “Girls love eating delicious food, too!”       “Right, but let them think it’s enough for us just to eat a couple of eggs for breakfast, chicken breast with green peas and corn for lunch, and a vegetable salad for dinner,” Anna rolls her eyes. “And some fruits as a snack.”       “Use the moment while nobody can see us!” Helene exclaims. “Because we’re gonna pretend that we’re freaking in love with broccoli and Brussels sprouts again.”       “You called what you dislike yourself?”       “Especially broccoli. But my grandma is a fan.”       Silence settles in the air for two seconds, which is broken by the loud melody of Raquelle’s smartphone placed on the table in front of her.       “Oh, who’s that?” Raquelle frowns slightly, takes her smartphone, and examines the information on the screen. “Strange, it’s Terrence…”       “Terrence?” Natalia rounds her eyes. “Hasn’t the show begun yet? I thought they started to rock the stage on, making the people whoop.”       “I dunno, Natalia… But I will go aside and answer. What if it’s something important.”       “Or MacClife is just missing,” Anna laughs.       “Or he’s sick of the tricks of his gang and decided to give up on them and call his sweetheart,” Helene assumes.       “Most likely,” Raquelle smiles slightly.       Getting up from the sofa, Raquelle comes to one of the windows in the living room and answers the call, while Natalia, Anna, and Helene keep sitting in their places and look at each other at some moment.       “To be serious, why did he call her?” Anna frowns slightly. “As far as I remember, the show is about to start now.”       “Maybe, they got some technical issues,” Helene shrugs. “Instrument issues, sound issues, or something else.”       “Who knows, friend…” Natalia pronounces thoughtfully. “Or the security caught someone suspicious and decided to check them closely.”       “Yeah, it would explain it all,” Anna agrees. “It would explain the delay of the show.”       “Interesting…” Helene pronounces thoughtfully, taking her smartphone from the table and starting to check something out. “Really interesting…”       “Hey, look at Raquelle!” Natalia exclaims, moving her eyes to Raquelle, who is gesticulating actively with her free hand as she is standing with her back turned on everyone and talking on the phone. “She’s kinda excited. Don’t you think so?”       “She is,” Helene agrees with a slight nod. “Cameron’s waving her hand so nervously…”       “What if something happened?” Anna expresses anxiety, putting her hand on her heart.       “Yeah, I don’t like all of this…”       “Me too,” Natalia pronounces thoughtfully. “She’s got a too anxious look.”       “My gosh, what happened this time?” Helene moans tiredly. “Did someone attack Peter again? Was someone caught and taken to the police station?”       “Or something worse happened…” Natalia swallows nervously, seeing Raquelle put her hand on her forehead with widely open eyes and ask something excitedly. “Cameron got so pale after what MacClife told her.”       “I wish nothing happened to the lads…” Anna shakes her head. “I wish those stinkers didn’t decide to deal with them.”       “Most likely, that’s why the show doesn’t start,” Helene says thoughtfully.       “But what could happen? Who did it happen to? Where? When?”       “We can surely say Terrence is one hundred percent okay,” Natalia assumes. “Since he decided to contact Raquelle and tell her something.”       “So, is the problem about Daniel, Edward, and Peter?” Anna rounds her eyes. “Does it mean something happened to them?”       “Hey, girls, no panic, don’t think of the worst in advance,” Natalia calms down in a little shaking voice. “Raquelle will tell us everything now.”       “Well, I wouldn’t be so quiet, looking at our excited friend…” Helene replies thoughtfully. “The problem is about the men.”       “Cut your tongue, Marshall!”       “What? I wouldn’t be surprised!”       “Girls, let’s really keep calm,” Anna says a little tensely. “Don’t make the situation tenser. It’s too hard for us now.”       While Helene, Anna, and Natalia are guessing and waiting for the news impatiently, Terrence tells Raquelle about what happened to Edward, making her horrified after he explains the situation briefly.       “Can’t believe…” Raquelle pronounces with a horror in her widely open eyes and closes her mouth with a free hand. “What you’re talking about, Terrence!”       “At first, we understood nothing,” Terrence replies in a quiet, shaking voice. “But now we’ve got the reason to believe someone tried to poison Edward. Someone wanted him to drink the poisoned water.”       “My gosh, but who? Who did this?”       “Now, the staff of the stadium is looking for the cleaning woman, who was caught by Blake in the dressing room of the guys and me when she was adding something to the bottle of water. But she disappeared. That girl was kinda swallowed by the ground.”       “She hardly did it at her wish. Someone helped her. She agreed with someone.”       “We think so. When Connor threatened to call the police, she got out in the wind’s speed.”       “So, had she managed to run away before Edward collapsed?”       “Most likely. We found out everything and reacted too late. Yes, the security closed all the exits and entrances and doesn’t let anyone out, but it seems like it’s a worthless trick. The girl has already gotten out.”       “What if she is not a cleaning woman? What if that’s a random person that got into your dressing room by cheating?”       “No, no, the organizers of the show confirmed that she worked there. Blake gave a detailed description of that girl, and they called her name and said she was raising a child alone.”       “Gosh, it’s awful…”       “The police have already arrived and started the investigation. George, Blake, and the members of our team stayed there to solve everything and find out how everything happened.”       “And what about Edward?” Raquelle asks with anxiety. “Did they manage to revive him?”       “Yes, the doctors managed to start his heart before the ambulance’s arrival,” Terrence confirms and exhales with a shake. “And a little later, Edward vomited. In the end, we got a full little bow.”       “Thank God, he’s alive.”       “I almost went crazy when he was close to death. I was ready to fret and fume at the thought I’d lose my brother.”       “Oh, I’m also shocked after everything you told me…” Raquelle sighs heavily.       “Although Edward’s awake now, he doesn’t react to anything and doesn’t answer questions,” Terrence confesses. “The guys and I tell him something, and the doctors try to find out how he’s feeling, but he just looks at everything with dead eyes. And he’s got a high fever, shaking strongly, and looks as pale as a dead person.”       “Did that girl add a tool for cleaning pipes? Or some shit that people usually use for getting rid of rats and mice?”       “I dunno, Raquelle. Anyway, we gave the poisoned bottle and the bottle Daniel found to the doctors, and they said they’d send it for examination. So, they find out what’s wrong.”       “Are you going to the hospital? I hear the sirens!”       “Yup, the lads and I are now sitting in the ambulance car. Edward has been moved in here, too. We’re waiting for them to move on.”       “Which hospital are you going to?”       “I was told it would be a central one.”       “Good, the girls and I will come there now.”       “You’re together?”       “Yup, at home of you and me. We watched movies on Netflix.”       “Please, sweetheart, come, I need you now so badly,” Terrence says in a shaking voice. “I am in despair and ready to get hysterical.”       “Don’t worry, honey, I’m here,” Raquelle calms down softly. “It’s gonna be okay. I believe Edward can get through it. He's a tough guy with an unbelievable power of will.”       “If Daniel and Peter weren’t near, I don’t know what I would do. Thanks to their support, I can keep my mind sober somehow. I can understand everything I am told by the doctors and answer them.”       “It’s gonna be okay, Terrence, just don’t worry.”       “You can’t even imagine what I had inside when we found out that Edward suddenly stopped breathing, and his heart stopped.”       “I know, my sweetheart.”       “Come, Raquelle, I’m begging you. The thing I want now so badly is just to hug you tightly and not to let you go.”       “Quiet, quiet, Terrence, it’s okay,” Raquelle calms down softly. “Wait for a while, we’re coming.”       “Will you tell the girls what happened?”       “Yes, yes, I will tell them everything. Don’t worry.”       “My heart is breaking at the thought of what’s gonna happen to Natalia when she knows everything. She won’t just handle it.”       “Mine too. But I have to tell her that Edward nearly died.”       “Try to make it as softly as possible.”       “Don’t worry, I’ll find the words.”       “Alright, we’ll meet at the hospital then. The doctors are kinda gonna leave.”       “If you come earlier or know something, call us shortly,” Raquelle says. “Our phones are turned on and available at any time.”       “Deal. See you soon.”       “Take care of yourself.”       Raquelle finishes the talk by pressing a button on the phone screen and squeezes her smartphone in her hand with a heavy breath and closed eyes. The girl tries to accept what she heard and brace herself somehow for a few seconds. Then Cameron exhales sharply and comes to the excited Anna, Helene, and Natalia, who have come up with so many guesses – one is more horrible than another.       “What’s wrong, Raquelle?” Anna asks impatiently. “What did Terrence tell you?”       “Why are you so dumbfounded as if you were told something shocking?” Helene wonders.       “I could say so…” Raquelle pronounces literally in a trance, locking her fingers tightly. “It’s true…”       “Something happened to the guys?” Natalia asks excitedly. “Did one asshole dare to attempt them again? Someone tried to get rid of Peter?”       “Yeah… Again…”       Raquelle sits hesitantly on the sofa next to Natalia and moves her tense glance full of sadness to her.       “Terrence said…”       “What happened, friend?” Anna puts her hand on Raquelle’s shoulder. “Why are you so pale and scared?”       “Don’t be silent, Cameron, tell us all the truth!” Helene exclaims. “We’ll handle everything! Something happened to Peter? What did they do to him?”       “The problem is not Peter…” Raquelle replies hesitantly as she inclines her head.       “But who, Daniel?” Anna opens her eyes widely. “Did those assholes decide to get rid of him?”       “Nope…”       “Edward?” Natalia starts to breathe heavily. “The case is about him, yeah?”       “Natalia, sweetie…”       Raquelle takes Natalia’s hands and squeezes them tightly, while the blonde starts to think that something horrible happened, and she would hardly like to think about it.       “Just don’t worry…” Raquelle pronounces tensely. “Breathe deeper…”       “What happened to Edward, Raquelle?” Natalia asks loudly and excitedly. “Tell me the truth! I shall handle everything! Speak!”       “I’m gonna tell you what may shock you. So, I want you to…”       “I want to know the truth! What happened to my fiancé?”       “I really received a call from Terrence… And he told me that… Erm…”       “What? What did he say?”       “Don’t pull a cat’s tail, Raquelle!” Helene exclaims. “What happened to Edward?”       “Sorry, girls, it’s madly hard for me to say it…” Raquelle says in a shaking voice and swallows nervously. “It’s… It’s too hard…”       “My gosh, what happened to him?” Anna wonders. “Is everything so serious if you look so dumbfounded?”       Raquelle spends a few seconds to exhale sharply and say what hurts her heart as quietly as possible:       “Some time before the show, Edward suddenly collapsed.”       “What?” Natalia opens her eyes widely with a sense that her heart misses a beat.       “He lost consciousness and didn’t wake up for a long time.” Raquelle swallows nervously. “And… Now they’re rushing him to the hospital.’       While Helene and Anna close their mouths with their hands with a quiet oh and look at each other with horror in their eyes, Natalia getting sharply pale understands that everything goes black before her eyes for two moments, her dry gets dry, and an invisible rope is squeezing her throat, so she cannot exhale or inhale. The girl’s breath is heavy, and the heart that is beating fast is hitting her temples painfully and echoing in the chest, so that she feels a tormenting pain.       “No…” Natalia pronounces in a shaking voice, feeling that her eyes are getting wet. “No, it cannot be the truth…”       “Edward’s condition is serious,” Raquelle says hesitantly. “The situation is so hard that… That he even had his heart stopped.”       “What?” Natalia, Anna, and Helene horrify loudly.       “His heart stopped?” Anna asks.       “When he fell unconscious, his pulse was chaotic,” Raquelle explains. “But one minute or two, while Peter was looking for a doctor, Edward stopped breathing, and his heart stopped beating.”       “No…” Natalia starts crying bitterly, closing her mouth with a hand and shaking from tension that makes every muscle of her body squeeze. “No…”       “Nobody understood what happened to him. And some time before, Edward complained about dizziness, nausea, weakness, and severe pain in his stomach. Something wasn’t right with him, but he didn’t wanna tell the guys and was gonna go on the stage like this. But… They did not go. They didn’t manage to come to the doctor.” Since Natalia’s cry becomes hysterical, Helene sits next to her and takes her in a tight hug. While Anna opens her eyes widely as she looks at her crying friend or Raquelle, who barely holds down her tears, applying a lot of effort to tell her friends such shocking news.