Chapter 3

He was trapped....

He could hear the screams of the crowds outside...

He could feel the vibrations coming through the walls...

“Help me, please someone help me...” he cried.

Softly the tears started to flow from his eyes. The salty liquid running down his face. He could taste his tears as he licked his lips.

“I can’t do this...” he said quietly to himself.

“What if they ... hate me?” 

He could hear the roar of the crowd getting louder and louder as each second passed by.

The sound of stamping feet and chanting made his panic attack even worse.

“It’s been too long. What if they laugh at me? What if they say I’m washed up?”

He continued to voice his concerns as he heard a loud bang on the door.

“OPEN UP” said the loud and menacing voice behind the door.

“You gonna hide in there all day you sissy? It’s time to make us some money! You wanna make some money don’t you fool?” Said the voice again as he banged and banged the door.

BOOM... BOOM... BOOM...

“I ... I ca-can’t” he replied in a hushed tone.

“Boy, you better get to opening this door NOW before I BREAK it down!” Said the man behind the door with hate dripping from every word he spoke.

“P-p-please don’t m-m-make me do this...” he sobbed as he heard the banging on the door get louder.

“Boy, when I count to three you betta have opened this goddamn door or so help me God Im’ma gonna whoop your ass...” 

“One”....BANG ...

“P-p-please don’t make me...” he cried out.

“TWO” the man shouted louder, BANG...another kick to the door.

“Please help me God, p-p-please....” he sobbed as the tears came running harder and faster down his cheeks.

“THREEEEEE” the man shouted.

BANG ....as the door flew open and smashed violently into the wall behind it.

He could see the hatred burning in the thuggish looking mans eyes whom now stood in the doorway. He had his fists clenched and an evil smirk on his lips. His eyes seethed with hatred and he was laughing.

At first it was a chuckle that came from the back of his throat, but then it turned into a loud roar that seem to erupt from deep inside his chest and was almost as deafening as the crowd chanting outside.

He took a step closer to his victim. He looked like he was enjoying this too much.

“Im’ma gonna make you pay for your insolence now boy. Do you understand ME?” He boomed whilst flexing and cracking his knuckles.

He took another step further.

Breathe he told himself...

Just breathe...

“Wake up...” a voice cried out from a corner of his mind.

“Wake up...hurry...”

“If you wake up he’ll go away...” it said again this time more rushed.

“Come on quick wake up, before he gets ya...” it said again.

As the man reached forward to grip his shirt he screamed out.

He thrashed wildly against the man whilst closing his eyes...kick...slap...kick...until he felt the grip loosen on his shirt.

He opened his eyes...

Confused he now saw that he was in a darkened room that didn’t look at all familiar. He looked down at his body that was no longer sat on the floor.

He was lying in bed. Bed sheets were tangled around his legs and he was clutching onto a pillow for dear life.

“Where are my stage clothes?” He said to himself shakily.

As he sat up he realized that he must have been dreaming. The sweat was now dripping down his face and back as he took in his surroundings.

The beige and gold color bedding, the antique urn on the dresser, the chaise long, the 50 inch plasma TV on the wall above the fireplace... he was in a hotel suite.

“Yea that’s right I’m staying at ...the... the Bellagio yeah” he said to himself.

With reality now coming into focus Michael pushed the tangled bed sheets from his body and swung his legs out of bed to land on the soft carpeted floor. His head felt like it would explode at any moment. He was shaken up pretty badly and needed to feel better. He needed to... forget.

As he stumbled into the bathroom he switched the light on. He needed to calm his nerves. He needed something to make this pain go away.

He found his toiletry bag sitting on top of the bathroom counter. Retrieving the small yellow bottle from inside the bag he shakily opened the lid and shook four of the small blue pills into his hand. Tossing them into his mouth he turned the faucet on and cupped some water into his hand and splashed it onto his face. As he crunched the pills between his teeth he could taste the familiar bitterness as he swallowed and felt the drip of the medicine hitting the back of his throat.

He avoided looking in the mirror as he didn’t want to upset himself any further tonight. He knew looking at his reflection would certainly do that so he flicked of the light switch and walked back into the bedroom.

He sat back down on the bed and reached over to the side table. He picked up his reading glasses and the book that he was engrossed with at present. He needed to take his mind off of the nightmare he had just arisen from until the medicine started to kick in. He didn’t like taking medicine all that much, but sometimes when the pressure got too much, or the headaches wouldn’t go away, or the nerves wouldn’t settle he’d follow his doctor’s orders and reach for the pills. He wasn’t an addict though. No sir, he just had a lot of sh** to deal with and if his Doctor prescribed these pills to him then clearly he needed them. Right?

He turned to the page in his book that was bookmarked by a cute little drawing Paris had done for him recently of “her daddy dancing with his princess of a daughter”, as she politely informed him when she gave it to him. He had to admit that she was quite the artist – obviously a trait she inherited from him, as he knew for a fact that Debbie couldn’t even draw a stick man if her life depended on it. She had confessed that to him early on in their friendship when they were getting to know each other.

As he started to read the next chapter of Leonardo Da Vinci: The Flights Of The Mind, he found himself unable to focus on the words before him. He couldn’t concentrate even though this book was a really good read. He enjoyed reading about one of his most favorite artists but for some reason his mind kept drifting away...

His mind wandered to her ...

He had thought about her before he had drifted off to sleep and really would have preferred that she had entered his dreams instead of that awful nightmare he’d had.

He kept replaying the events of tonight in his mind and how at ease he felt in her company. He didn’t intend on meeting anyone tonight. He simply wanted to feel normal.

He hated being cooped up all of the time and wanted to get out of the confines of the hotel suite. After putting his children to bed he’d asked Javon to take him to where the action was. He simply wanted to observe other people having a good time and play what if...

Even if it meant torturing himself he wanted to see what he was missing. Yes he wanted to feel what it would be like to be normal for once.

But then she walked in and his curiosity tweaked. Her beauty drew him like a moth to a flame. He was a man after all and no man in their right mind would pass her by without a second or third or even fourth glance he chuckled.

But it was something else about her. At first he couldn’t put his finger on it but as he observed her interact with the two men sat either side of her he could see...innocence.

Innocence was hard to come by nowadays and he was greatly attracted to anyone who displayed this quality. She oozed innocence...she looked so out of place. So awkward, so rigid, so uptight, so nervous.

But she definitely had an innocent quality about her that he really admired. Even if she did admit that she was considering being a ... prostitute?!

She had said that he had saved her, and being a sucker for a pretty face he would do just that. She knew the path she was considering was morally wrong and he could see her fighting with her conscience. She just needed some reassurance that life wasn’t always easy – hell he could write the book on that, but she would get by. That taking the easy option is not always the best route to happiness.

The way she blushed and looked at him, he could tell he was having an effect on her and she responded by touching his arm every now and then.

He couldn’t take his eyes away from her bee-stung looking lips and his mind drifted away...

I wonder what she’d taste like he had thought as she kept on talking. God this woman could talk a lot. But that’s okay, her talking means I don’t have too he mentally thought to himself.

It had been quite a few months since he had been with a woman in the physical sense and meeting Ava tonight had really awoken those urges he got when he needed some satisfaction. But he didn’t want to use her for that purpose. She was too naive and vulnerable to simply quench his desire and lust.

He needed to speak to her...

He wanted to speak to her again...

The clock on the bedside table read 04:26am. "I wonder if she’s sleeping"...

“Of course she is you idiot, its four twenty six in the morning. Not everyone is an insomniac like you” he said aloud.

As he pushed the thought of calling her out of his mind he could now feel the effects of the medication starting to kick in. He removed his reading glasses and put them back on the bedside table along with his book.

His nerves now felt a lot calmer and as he closed his eyes he could feel his body starting to relax. Every muscle of his body seemed to sink into the mattress and he had this overwhelming feeling of lightness take over. His breathing began to soften and as he felt his consciousness float away and as he drifted further and further into a slumber he thought of her again...Ava he whispered.