𝙇𝙤𝙤𝙠 𝘼𝙩 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, 𝘽𝙤𝙬𝙞𝙚!

TWENTY FOUR - Zowie Bowie

A piercing ring woke Mari up that morning.

She didn't know what it was at first, as far as she knew neither of them had set an alarm the night before.

Once she gathered her surroundings and finally realized the telephone was ringing, she hastily moved over and reached just far enough to answer the phone.

"Hello?" She spoke, her voice raspy with the combination of sleep, an incoming hangover, and the show the night before.

"Hello? Is this Marionette?" The woman on the other end of the line spoke. Mari didn't recognize her voice.

"Yes."

"Is David there?" The woman asked.

Mari looked over to where David slept, she felt awful to wake him.

"He's asleep." She answered, "Who is this?"

The woman sighed, "I'm his assistant, Corinne. You need to tell him that Angie and Joe came by and Joe had a medical emergency. He's in the hospital."

"I'm sorry, who's Joe?"

"David's son."

Mari's heart dropped.

She didn't know how to respond, she was in shock. How could she respond to that? She'd just been woken up by a woman she'd never met, anticipating an awful hangover, and told that her closest friends son was in the hospital.

"...Alright, I'll wake him. Don't hang up."

She put the phone down on the nightstand and got up from her bed, moving to wake David.

She lightly shook him, "David, you need to wake up, it's important."

When he finally began to wake, he groaned and tried to ignore her.

"David, Corinne is on the phone. She says Joe's in the hospital."

It took him a few moments to process the information, but once he finally did, his eyes shot open.

"What?"

He looked to where the telephone laid on the nightstand, sitting up and reaching for it.

"Hello?"

"David?"

"Yeah."

"Joe's in the hospital with a head injury, he and Angie got in a wreck."

David's heart dropped, it was like the world slowed down.

"What do you mean they were in a wreck?" He began, frantic, "Were they in the city?"

"Yes, they came down to pick up some things."

"Is Joe okay? How bad is it?"

"He's been unconscious since last night."

David was shocked, his hands shaky and his vision hazy. He was lightheaded, balancing between a hangover and unconsciousness. He didn't know what to do.

"...Should we take the next flight back?" He asked Corinne, though it was implied to be a question for Mari as well.

Mari had no more business to take care of in Berlin, and David was lucky of it, but she didn't doubt that he would've flown home without her either way. The look on her face was pained, littered with worry and sorrow, as she tried to come up with a response. To David's relief, she finally nodded.

"That's what I would do." Corinne told him, though his decision had already been made.

"Alright...we will."