Connected Read Online Free PDF

felt a lump in his throat. It made no sense. He looked up at the
window again. It couldn’t have been an accident though; the windows were all
fitted with stops that usually prevented them opening all the way, unless
purposely removed.
    Another car pulled up and was approached by the
big man. Gangly-features was trying to disperse the few remaining stragglers.
Doug started back to his room, wondering again why Cindy had disappeared. Just
then, his mobile bleeped twice indicating another text. It was from a number he
didn’t recognise and simply read “Need 2 talk – Cxx”. It had to be Cindy,
although he hadn’t given her his number. He toggled through the options and
selected call.
Cindy answered immediately. “Are you OK?” she said.
“No, not really. Where did you go?”
“I had to get away from there. I’m sorry. Can we meet by the lake?”
“What? Now?”
“Yes”.
He wanted to ask why? - Why the lake? - But she had hung up. He re-dialled, but
it went straight to voice mail. “Damn it! What’s going on?” he said to himself,
as he turned and set off across the grass. The ground was waterlogged from the
previous week’s rain and soon his trainers and socks were soaked through. A
cold wind blew across the park piercing Doug’s thin sweater like icy needles.
He’d probably catch a cold now and have to miss the match on Saturday. He
stopped. What was he thinking? His best friend had just become part of a Golf
cabriolet and he was worrying about a rugby match?
    As he approached the lake, three ducks flapped
angrily into the water. Where the hell was she? He trudged round a little
further and called her name. A couple of geese took flight, startled by the
sudden noise and disappeared under the grey clouds now looming ominously above.
A drop of rain landed on his cheek followed by another. He started to shiver.
“Fuck!” he shouted across the empty park. “Fuck!”
He turned and started running back to the tower, his mind a jumble of
unanswered questions: Had Kal jumped? Could he have been pushed? Where had
Cindy come from and where was she now? The rain picked up and his pace
increased. Despite the sodden trainers, he felt curiously light-footed as he
sped across the damp earth and in no time at all, found himself back at William
Morris. With the lift apparently stuck at the twelfth floor, he took the
stairs. He and Brian often raced each other up the twelve flights after a
session at the gym. They would usually run about five, walk a few and then
sprint the rest, but this time Doug ran the whole way. He burst into the flat,
his heart pounding like some demented jackhammer intent on escaping through his
rib cage, while his lungs screamed out in pain, prompting another silent vow to
stop smoking. On reaching his room, he noticed the door was ajar. Perhaps Cindy
hadn’t shut it properly as they’d left. A cursory glance around showed his
things to be in order, or rather the same state of disorder as before. With
rain and sweat pouring off his body in torrents, darkening the thin beige
carpet tiles around his feet, he headed once more for the shower. Someone had now
mopped up the vomit from the floor of the shower room, although the acrid smell
still lingered. This time, no naked nymphomaniacs were waiting for him as he
got out, so he dried and went for a drink of water.
    In the kitchen, he found Brian busy frying scraps of
bacon from a two-kilo economy pack of off-cuts. He glanced up as Doug entered,
but looked away again sheepishly. “Want some?” he offered, as Doug filled a
stolen pint glass with tap water. Doug had expected Brian to be hostile after
Cindy’s sudden change of allegiance, but if he was, it didn’t show. Perhaps he
didn’t know.
“Yeah thanks. I’ve got some eggs if you like.”
Brian tugged at the pack of bacon until a piece the size and shape of a door
wedge emerged from the plastic and fell into the pan. He prodded it around
distractedly. The two were silent for a good minute