When The Right Door Opens (4 page)

Once Jamie stood up straight, the man hit him
hard in the stomach. Jamie instinctively held his stomach and
doubled over. The air rushed out of his lungs and he coughed,
gasping for air. The man crouched down in front of him and grabbed
his chin with a bruising grip.

“If you call the cops or anybody else, I will
find you. I will fuck you inside out and then I will kill you. Are
we clear?” Jamie felt the man's spit hit his face and he nodded
slowly. “Good boy. Now stand up straight and get outside and into
the car. Don't try anything funny!” Everything in Jamie was
reluctant to get into that car again, but he had no other choice.
He had no money for a cab, since the man hadn't paid him yet, and
he wasn't able to walk home, because it was too far.
And too
painful!

“Move!” the man yelled and pushed Jamie, who
lost his balance and hit his head against the sink. The next thing
Jamie registered was his surroundings fading to black, and someone
cursing colorfully.

~~Chapter 2~~

Later that same night, Jamie woke up, lying on his
side, his head against the wet cold pavement. He was tired,
confused and cold. Jamie tried to turn his head and see his
surroundings, but the throbbing pain in his body wouldn't let him
move too far and prevented him from getting up. He took a deep
breath and tried to sit up and despite the pain, he was able to get
up and stand on his shaky feet. Dizziness almost overpowered him
right away, but he was able to wobble to a nearby tree and lean
against it for support. Jamie was light-headed and closed his eyes
briefly before opening them again. His head hurt and his chin did
too, in fact, his whole body hurt. It was still freezing cold, his
breath was frozen in the air. Only now did he realize, that he was
shivering and when he wanted to wrap himself into his thin leather
jacket for comfort and a little shelter from the winter's night,
frustration set in.
No jacket.

Jamie looked around for a clue, to find out
where he was. It was dark night and he could see the moon and some
stars. But nothing apart from these stars and the moon looked
familiar to him. The houses looked like suburban upper class,
complete with short mowed lawns and picket fences. If this was
still Gabefield, he had certainly never been to this neighborhood.
No light could be seen from the windows and Jamie realized that it
must be late.
God! What have I gotten myself into?

Reaching for his cell-phone, he found it was
missing. Panicking, he patted his pockets, only to find out that
his wallet was gone too, as well as his watch. Tears welled up in
his eyes
. Christ! What have I gotten myself into? I need to call
Agnes.

Jamie had no idea where he was or how late it
was, but he knew that he needed help, he needed to get out of the
cold and he needed to go and get Agnes. Lauren would not hesitate
to leave her home alone and unguarded for the rest of the night. He
needed to be there for her. He had promised.

Jamie pulled himself together and buttoned
his shirt with shaking fingers. The yellow light of the
streetlights made him aware of the dried blood on his hands and
shirt and he realized that he looked really bad. Still, he made his
way to the nearest house, where he rang the bell and knocked
against the door. Lights went on inside the house and a flicker of
hope spread inside of Jamie. Help was near.
Stand upright!
He had to tell himself. His body just hurt so much that he stood
hunched over.

The door opened and Jamie faced a middle aged
woman who was wrapped in a white robe. She looked at him, shocked
and disgusted. “Help me.” he croaked, reaching out his hand, but
the woman took a step back, shook her head and closed the door
again without saying a word. Jamie slammed his fist against the
door without any real force and felt tears of frustration burn his
eyes. He wasn't sure if he could make it to many more houses. He
felt his body weaken and there was nothing he could do about it.
What if people refused to help him? He needed help or at least, he
needed to make a call. He had no other choice than to try to get to
the next house. This time, an older man opened the door and
instantly pushed Jamie from his porch angrily.

“Get off my property or I'll call the cops,”
the man yelled, while looking Jamie up and down. In the distance,
Jamie could hear dogs barking and he saw lights go on and curtains
being moved from the windows of the neighboring houses.

“Please do, sir. I'm hurt. My child is alone.
I need help. Please, sir. Please!” Jamie pleaded, but the man
looked him up and down once more and turned back into his house,
closing the door and turning off the lights. Jamie sighed in
exasperation.
Why do these people refuse to help me
?

Sitting on his throbbing ass, Jamie looked
himself up and down too and saw the bloody mess on his clothes. His
white shirt was blood stained and his jeans were drenched in
red-brownish color between his legs. Jamie felt cold and tired. His
eyelids were heavy and his head hurt. He wanted to sleep, and if it
had been summer, he might have just done that. Sleeping perched up
against a tree - but as it was, it was winter, it was freezing cold
and falling asleep could have meant dying too.
I don't want to
die without fighting! Get up! Fight! Come on!

One last time,
for Agnes
, Jamie
dragged himself up and stumbled off a little down the road, his
view was becoming blotchy as he made his way up to one last door.
He chose a house where lights were still on. It was the last house
before a T-junction.
For Agnes
. Stumbling, Jamie dragged
himself along a fence and was grateful for the little help it
provided. Three stairs led to a porch. Three stairs had never been
harder to climb. With his last remaining force, he knocked on the
door. He heard a key turn in the lock and it opened. Relief spread
inside of Jamie and he even managed to smile faintly. A tall figure
stood in the doorway, but Jamie couldn't make out how the stranger
looked or even if it was a man or a woman. Jamie wanted to say
something, but his throat was constricted. He held out a hand,
barely touching whoever stood in that door and then, his legs gave
out under him, his head became heavy and his world faded to black
once more.

****

Sebastian walked down the last stairs, careful to not
put too much pressure on his bad knee. He was drenched in sweat
from his exercise, his blond hair stuck to his forehead and his
white t-shirt was almost see through. He cursed his knee over and
over again. He was used to exercising every day, and much harder
than how he did now. One stupid fall had probably ended his
professional dancer's career. He was a good dancer, with a special
affinity for ballet. He had had the leading role in many ballet
productions and he had trained to do so for a long time. When he
started taking dancing classes, people laughed at him and he was a
famous target for the bullies in his school. His twin brother often
needed to break up fights for him. Doctors had told Sebastian that
his career was over and that, at thirty-three, he was too old to
expect a full recovery. The accident had happened five months ago
and even though most days Sebastian felt no pain, it only took an
extensive training session to mess it all up again. Doctors told
him to stop the dancing altogether, but he didn't want to hear any
of that. He refused to believe and accept that one fall down the
very same stairs he was descending now had ruined his life. One
fight too many with his husband had cost him everything. Sometimes,
Sebastian didn't know what was more painful, being divorced,
heartbroken and single again, or not being able to dance. Every
time those thoughts became too much to bear, Sebastian fled to his
dancing studio in the attic and danced. It helped him relax, it
helped him think. Tonight's dancing session had happened because of
fight with his ex-husband. Again. Why Rudy couldn't leave him alone
and in peace was beyond his understanding, and it annoyed him that
Rudy and he couldn't talk anymore like they used to. Once they had
been so much in love that they had vowed in front of friends and
families to cherish and to love each other until death would part
them. Death didn't part them, Rudy's constant lies and cheating
did. The shove down the stairs was simply the last nail to their
marriage-coffin. Never before had Rudy been violent and he would
never be again. Some nights, the separation and the divorce where
harder on both Rudy and Sebastian, like this night. Their eighth
wedding anniversary. Rudy had called and wanted to hook up with
Sebastian. “One last fuck for old time's sake” Sebastian had
declined and Rudy didn't want to hear any of it. Only a little
after the call, Rudy's red Lexus had pulled into Sebastian's
driveway and they had had a huge fight once again. Rudy had left
with squealing tires and Sebastian had slammed the door and stomped
to his safe haven.

****

Sebastian was on his way to the kitchen, to take a
painkiller and reward himself with an ice cold soda, when he heard
commotion on the street. The neighbor's dog barked aggressively. It
never barked unless there was a stranger close to the house.
Sebastian shrugged it off, maybe someone was walking his dog or
something. Just when he leaned into the fridge, he heard a knock on
his door. It was not very forceful, but definitely there. Sebastian
took an annoyed look at the digital clock of the oven. It was past
midnight.
When did it become midnight? It was still light
outside when I went upstairs!

Half expecting his twin brother, half
expecting Rudy to be in front of the door, he limped to the door,
glaring at the cane that stood under the coat rack. Sebastian
ignored it and hobbled to the door as fast as he could, cursing his
hurting knee. He watched through the peephole and saw, that it
wasn't Kai and it wasn't Rudy,
thank God!
But a man who
seemed to be badly hurt. Hurriedly, Sebastian opened the door and
before he could adjust his eyes to the darkness outside, a young
man fell into his arms. He reacted instantaneously to catch the
man, doing his best to support the feeble body. “No cops” he
whispered, before he closed his eyes and went completely limp in
Sebastian's arms. Panicked, Sebastian took the young man inside. He
cursed his knee again, if he had been able to put full pressure on
his leg, heaving the stranger inside would have been much easier.
Instinctively, he carried him to the living room and laid him on
his couch rather ungracefully, before he checked for a pulse. He
found it beating strong and fast and only now, he took a moment to
look at the stranger. He was covered in blood.
Whose blood is
that?
His lip was split, his face was badly bruised and dried
blood was smeared in his hair. A big bump on his forehead, just at
his hairline, was shining blue and purple, but it didn't bleed. The
man's clothes were covered in blood too, the worst seemed to be his
jeans. His crotch. Sebastian felt like he was going to be sick,
afraid of what might have happened to the unconscious man on his
couch. He got up and paced his living room worriedly. His hand went
up and combed his sweaty hair desperately, all the while, he
watched the man lying there. Sebastian bit his fingernails, until
he finally had an idea what to do.

****

It didn't take long for Kai to arrive and let himself
in. Sebastian was still pacing anxiously, keeping an eye on the man
on his couch, working himself up and increasing the pain in his
knee considerably.
What if he is a criminal? If I don't know it,
am I making myself liable to prosecution? What if he dies on my
couch? How will I be able to explain that?

“Beb, what happened? Are you alright?” Kai
asked concerned, while eyeing his twin brother up and down before
placing a soothing hand on his shoulder. Sebastian nodded his head,
but Kai could clearly see how agitated he was.

“Come on, man. Talk to me. What happened? Why
did you need me here?”

“There's a man. On my couch. He's covered in
blood and he's unconscious. I didn't know what to do.” Sebastian
rushed his words, rising his hand to bite at his fingernails again.
Kai stopped his hands with a look of disgust.

“Stop that bro, that's disgusting. Now,
where's that man?” Sebastian pointed at the sofa and Kai turned to
see, what –
who
– his brother saw.

Kai was a paramedic and had seen a lot in his
life, but the tension and the anticipation of what he would
discover when he arrived at a scene never failed to make his heart
beat faster. Kai approached the couch and just like Sebastian had
said, there was a man. Split lip, face bruised, clothed
stained.

“What did you do?” Kai whispered
accusingly.

“I – I no! It's not what it looks like. He
knocked on the door. Roughed up like that.” Sebastian whispered
back.

“Try to wake him up!” Kai ordered, but
Sebastian took an unsteady step back.

“You are limping again. You aren't supposed
to exercise yet. Jesus, Bebbi. Would you listen to the doctors?
Only once? Man...”

Sebastian stretched out his bad leg, while he
knelt on the other.

“I couldn't do this if I stopped training.”
he glared at his brother, who stood behind him.

“Yeah, I bet your lovers appreciate how
flexible you are in bed.” Kai snapped, knowing full well, that
there were no new men in his brother's life. He rolled his eyes and
concentrated on the injured man again.

“He looks pale. We have to wake him up. That
bump on his head worries me.” Kai nudged Sebastian to do something,
and while Sebastian was still contemplating how to try and wake up
the injured stranger, his eyes started to flutter and he knew that
he would come to without his active help.