VIVA LAS VEGAS - 1 ENGLISH EDITION

VIVA LAS VEGAS-1/53

I grabbed one of the notes, that a girl gave me and read it:

„Dear Elvis. Whatever life will bring you, god will be with you. Your fans are standing by your side. Please don't leave us. We love you!"

Then I told the fans: „I will bring this to Elvis right away. I hope it will make him come to you. Wish me luck!"

Suddenly the crowd applauded and cheered: „We love you, Idy!", „Good luck!", „You are our only hope!"

All of a sudden it all came clear to me and I realized what motivated Elvis to endure all these effort and privations. Maybe this dream was for a higher purpose, to finally see his love for the fans. I was determined to bring Elvis back to the stage. Charly was at my side the whole time through and he made me feel safe. I took his hand, as we climbed the stairs to the hotel.

„You can do it!", he told me, „He loves you. He will listen to you! I will wait for you at the lobby. Go and get him back!"

When I stood in front of Elvis' suite, my heart pounded wildly. Suddenly I felt sick. I didn't know what to expect. Did he want to see me at all? What if he wouldn't open the door? I took a deep breath, then I knocked:

"Elvis! Please open the door! It's me, Idy!"

But he didn't answer. I held my ear against the door and I could hear that the TV was running. I knocked again:

"Elvis? Come on! Open, please! I have to show you something. You won't believe this!"

I knew that Elvis probably hadn't noticed what was going on in front of the hotel entrance, because the windows of his suite showed in the opposite direction to the backside of the building. He could not hear the singing and the cheering of his fans.

I had been standing in front of his suite for quite a while now, but Elvis still didn't open the door. For a short moment all the terrible pictures came back into my mind, the horrible events of that night, when I found Elvis lifeless inside his suite. I was getting really worried that he might had done something stupid again. But then a heard a noise. I looked down and through the small gap between the door and the floor, I spotted the shadows of two feet, standing behind the door.

„Elvis, I know that you are in there. Please let me in!", I begged. But it seemed to be futile. The door remained shut. I still held the note in my hand that one of the fans had given me. I knew that this message would matter to him. I folded the piece of paper and pushed it through the gap beneath the door.

„You should read this!"

With a blink of an eye, the note disappeared. I was relieved because at least I had managed to get his attention. A few seconds later I heard the sound of the key unlocking the door.

I startled when I looked into Elvis' face. He was in a very bad condition. His eyes were red, his hair was a complete mess and his shirt hang from his body. His eyes said it all. He looked really desperate. When he looked me into the eyes, he instantly embraced me. Then he cried and cried. I held him tight.

„He is dead!", he sobbed.

„I know!", I kissed his cheek.

„H...his...his name was Thomas!", Elvis had a hard time to breath properly. I could tell that he went through hell, „He was seventeen, can you believe it, Idy? He was only seventeen!"

It was horrible. The boy suddenly had been torn out of his young life.

„It's not your fault!", I tried to calm him down, „It's not your fault!"

But Elvis released his embrace, put his face into his hands and shook his head:

„It's my fault, Idy! I'm fully responsible for what happened to boy. He died before his life really began. What am I supposed to tell his mama? What do you say to woman who suddenly lost her son? Do you have an answer to that, Idy?"

He starred at me. I was deeply shocked by the expression in his eyes, that were full of pain and hopelessness. I had no idea how I could calm him down. But suddenly I knew that words would not be enough. I grabbed his hand fiercely:

"Come!", I told him and dragged him out of the room.

"What are you doing, Idy? Let me go!", although he protested, he still seemed to be curious. He stopped resisting and followed me. I dragged him across the hallway to the door that was located on the other side. I knocked:

"Please open the door! This is an emergency!"

It took less than three seconds, when the door opened. It was an older man. He probably had been getting ready for bed because he wore pajamas. He gazed at me anxiously: „Emergency? Is there a fire?"

„Something like that.", I answered, „Could we use your window, please?", I pushed myself through the door and entered the room.

„Of course.", the older man answered. He seemingly was quite intimidated by our sudden invasion. I was still dragging Elvis along with me. When he also pushed himself past him, he apologized politely.

„You...you are...you are ELVIS PRESLEY!", the man suddenly shouted enthusiastically, „Please go ahead, use my window as long as you like. May I offer you a drink? Please excuse my appearance. If I had known that I would be visited by ELVIS PRESLEY, I would have put on some other clothes."

Elvis placed his hand on the man's shoulder: "Please, don't worry. We won't stay long. Thank you very much for letting us in."

„See it for yourself!", I told Elvis after I had opened the window. Bingo! From this side of the building we were able to see the crowd in front of the hotel. Elvis was pretty surprised.

„What's going on down there?", he gazed out of the window.

The noise was almost unbearable. The fans went wild when they spotted Elvis.

„What are they doing here?", I could see a little smile on his face, „That's where the note came from?", he asked. I realized that he still held the note in his hand. I nodded and grinned.

„Come! Let's go downstairs. Let's meet them."

He hesitated for a short moment but than he was ready to go outside. But first he took the time to sign an autograph for the man who had opened his room for us.

When we arrived at the hotel entrance, we immediately were surrounded by the fans. They wanted to touch and hug Elvis. Suddenly it was awfully quiet. Everybody seemed to think about the dead boy. Then, all of a sudden, a young girl started to sing an old Gospel song, „Amazing Grace", and without any hesitation, Elvis joined her. Then everybody in the crowd began to sing.

A cold shiver ran down my spine because I knew that Elvis would be singing this song in a few years from now at his live performances. Deep inside me, it came clear to me that we sang this song for Thomas, the boy whose life had ended before it had began.

-to be contiued-