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Monday
May 7, 2010 1:55:41 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 1:55:41 GMT -5
Adrien knelt on the floor, clutching a piece of plastic in his hand and sobbing into its receiver, trying to calm down. His hands were shaking. "Adrian - all those people - Adrian, how - "
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Monday
May 7, 2010 1:58:49 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 1:58:49 GMT -5
This time he nearly panicked.
"Adrien, what have you been looking at?"
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:00:07 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:00:07 GMT -5
"Why?" he begged him over the phone.
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:03:39 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:03:39 GMT -5
"Were you on the computer?"
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:06:10 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:06:10 GMT -5
He nodded through his tears, then realized he couldn't see him. Trembling still, he dropped the phone with a loud sound and then scrabbled for it and sobbed out "Yes," clinging to the phone desperately. "Oh God oh God the whole room feels cold - "
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:08:01 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:08:01 GMT -5
"What were you looking- never mind, stay there, and don't speak to anyone else about what you saw. I'll be there as soon as I can."
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:08:45 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:08:45 GMT -5
"No!" came a hysterical cry of fear. "No, please don't leave the office - "
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:10:23 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:10:23 GMT -5
"Adrien, I'm coming home, and I swear I can explain everything-"
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:11:51 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:11:51 GMT -5
He drew a quick, deep breath, trying to force the energy down so that he could be understood. "...please don't leave me alone," he whimpered. "Stay on the phone, please - "
It was no longer hysterical. It was boneyard-quiet and whispered, and that somehow made it even worse.
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:13:27 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:13:27 GMT -5
"I can call you on my portable-"
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:15:31 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:15:31 GMT -5
His breath came in quick jerks, and he pulled himself to an upward-sitting fetal position.
"I just - don't understand how anyone could let it happen," he said again in the deadly clear whisper-voice, a bit of hysteria seeping back in. "Isn't there any - any goodness left oh god," he said, sounding immediately as though he were warding off hysteria again as he began to weep in an out of control manner, trying desperately to stop and then going quiet but for the sobbing.
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:17:47 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:17:47 GMT -5
"Adrien," he said as he started shutting down his own computer and stuffing the fax into his briefcase to worry about later, "I'm going to call you back on my portable phone. Do you understand?"
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:18:40 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:18:40 GMT -5
The phone rolled out of his hand and onto the floor and he wept like a child.
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:21:00 GMT -5
Post by Adrian Veidt on May 7, 2010 2:21:00 GMT -5
"Shit."
He slammed the receiver and scrabbled into his coat while dialing the penthouse's number and was already out the door by the time the ringtone started on the other end.
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Monday
May 7, 2010 2:23:57 GMT -5
Post by Adrien Baillon on May 7, 2010 2:23:57 GMT -5
The phone, however, hadn't been hung up and was busy. Adrien rolled over onto his side and clutched the carpet with his fist, trying to hold onto something, but it was a poor substitute for Adrian.
But how would Adrian explain it? That there was no God? That men were horrible? His skin felt as though beetles made of ice were directly beneath it, moving, pulling it off. He didn't want to live in a world where that was true, where everything had been killed like that... he should have been one of them... it was his era, his generation who had died... and he should have been with them, not here, not now, not facing this - he couldn't bear it...
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