Neon gravestone

By the water

" How is he doing?", Stuart asked the doctor who just walked out of the room that Fred was kept into.

"He will survive, he has not lost so much blood, thanks to you rushing him in" The doctor said as he stared into the deep blue eyes of Stuart, he showed so much concern than that Elizabeth displayed.

"Now you, we just have to wait for him to gain consciousness, but in the moment, please come into my office so that we can discuss this matter in detail" Doctor pointed to the end of the long hospital corridor where his office was. Stuart nodded his head and followed the doctor from behind, leaving behind Elizabeth who for the first time in a while had nothing bad to say about the boy. She stood up from the bench and stared at Fred through the window, her heart felt guilty for the incidence but her face showed no trace of care, she was just a perfect actor.

" Have a seat Mr. Stuart, M'am Elizabeth" doctor said as he pointed his to the two chairs opposing his big and stuffed table. He took off his lab coat and hanged it on the rack which had on suit coat and a tie for occasions.

"Water?" He asked as he made himself comfortable on his seat.

"We are good thank you" Elizabeth replied, for the first time after a while.

"Well, if I am to cut straight to the chase, the boy did attempt to kill himself by slitting his wrists, do you mind explaining to me what happened before you found him in the bathroom?"

There was a bit of a silence, Elizabeth stared at Stuart who stared back at her.

"Well, we are having a recording session, and Fred was on role; the scene was kind of challenging. He then went off to get refreshened before the shooting.. and after noticing he took long, I went in and found him on the floor" Stuart explained, demonstrating so much calmness in His speech. His eyes were fixed on the doctor's name tag that was on the table. "Mathew Hopper" was on the tag.

" I may know, I may have said harsh words to him, because he messed up during the recording, I, I believe this may have lead to the suicide trial" Elizabeth spoke, at some point there was guilt in her voice, and on the other it was just her desire to make everything plain.

"You know, the boy has more than one attempt on his life, I observed his wrists and it actually seems like this is not really the first time" Mathew explained, showing images of Fred's wrists which were heavily scared.

"Does any of you know his parent?, guardians or family of any sort?" said Mathew.

"No, not really, he came is for an acting interview together with a bunch more kids of his age, the registration process is quite simple and does not gather much details especially those about parents or family". Stuart explained. He understood that the decision to just recruit without background checks was a bit short sighted as it did not foresee risky events like the one that happened.

"Although I remember, having see him coming to the interview with another boy who came with him, although the boy did not take any acting role, but I can't get to remember his name" Stuart said.

" Jonathan" Elizabeth added, "The other boy's name is Jonathan, I heard Fred calling him before after I selected him for the role. He called Jonathan to celebrate with him the victory."

" I think, the police better be involved in this now guys, because if none of you knows the boy in detail and in the condition he is in!, the hospital has to report this" Mathew said, as if to suggest to them.

"It is okay by us, please do as needed" Stuart said and Elizabeth nodded in approval.

"Okay, then, please leave your contact details before you leave"

They the left their cards so that they can be reached in case of any thing especially of they need answer to the police. They both left the hospital building silently, not talking with one another of the events that happened, but you could tell that in their minds dwells the thought of Fred not being suicidal all along. If only he had died in the premises, this would have tarnished the image of their company in large scale.

"We will talk more about this tomorrow, Stuart, I just want to go and stay by the water" Elizabeth said referring to the swimming pool.

"Okay see you around, lay off and everything will be alright" Stuart waved her good bye and went to his grey C class Mercedes. Elizabeth went to the other side of the road where she parked her Lesabre Buick, she did the usual to walk around the car and check the car tires before she got in.

The drive to her home took a 30 minutes which she used smoking her favorite brand of cigarette "kill soft" which surely did the job perfectly. As she approached her house, turned off the cigarette, and parked her car right where she always does, exactly 3 paces from the post box.

It took her an hour to set herself ready for usually evening swim, she believed it to be her time to let off steam and be closer to her husband who had died in that same pool a few years back.

While in the water, and deepened in her thoughts about the event of the day, she felt a loud thud by the other side of the pool. She did not get startled because she has heard it before, her neighbor's son Jeffrey thew stones occasionally into her house, a game of some sort to him.

This time though the thud sounded too loud and was followed to sounds equivalent to footsteps, she decided to get off the pool and to see what was thrown in this time. She only managed three steps until she felt a sharp thing pass through her throat.

She fell by the water while she struggled to grasp for breath, bleeding her life out into the pool.