Truth of That Day

Deathly silence stood in the household of Dagaz family. But still, the ticking of the clock as well as the buzz of some cars outside the closed window were barely audible. However, for the man who was sitting beside the occupied bed, they were painfully loud. He wanted to crush the innocent wall clock that was only doing its intended purpose, and then throw the remains out of the window and right into the passing vehicle. The man was indulged in despair, at that moment he felt like all gods left him. He felt like the least fortunate person in the world.

"I should have told you sooner… now, just like maman…", he uttered and squeezed the hand of his unconscious brother. Even though the doctor reassured the family of this ailment being from stress and that soon enough Eugene Dagaz will wake up, Christopher's mind kept generating the most pessimistic futures. In the end, it was not the first time someone dear to him unexpectedly entered the dreamworld, and he prayed to every god he knew, starting from Christianity and ending with old as time pagan beliefs, just for this dream to not be permanent for his brother.

Suddenly, a door to the tiny bedroom opened and in came Vera, holding a plate full of different snacks. Her face was glooming with anxiety, yet she somehow managed to put a facade of calmness on her face at the sight of Christopher. Afterwards, she made a few steps in and sat on a chair in front of her husband. He lazily took some of the biscuits and swallowed them like a snake.

"These are good as always, thank you."

"You are welcome, honey." Said Vera and tried to expand her smile, but ultimately failed to do so, due to the essence of her question that followed, "Are there any changes? Perhaps he talked or at least moved?"

The only answer that followed was a slow shook of Christopher's head. And so they sat in silence, monitoring Eugene for even the slightest move, until the doorbell rang and in came two neatly dressed men. One of these gentlemen, the younger one, was familiar to both Vera and Christopher. It was Douglas, who apparently bought a new attire, a navy three-piece suit with a red tie. His old clothes, though, were in a paper bag. His companion was a more peculiar and unexpected visitor. He was a middle-aged man in a similar suit, which was, however, two-piece with all the buttons fastened. He also wore a monocle in his left eye and a hat, which was seemingly bought just recently.

"Hello, Douglas." listlessly said Christopher and looked at the other man, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

"I am pleased to meet you, Monsieur Dagaz. My name is Vincent, and I come on behalf of the la Avise family."

Christopher raised his brow in confusion which was expected by the stranger, thus he proceeded with his talk.

"The la Avise family requests your help in the investigation of Monsieur Weisen's death."

"Huh, so thats what you came for?!" exclaimed Douglas and turned to Christopher, who appeared to be furious.

"Listen, I did not know about the reason of his visit. I was a little lost on my way back home, but this man was on his way to your house, so I just tagged alo-"

"I… get it. Can you be quiet for a second?" Christopher rudely interrupted Douglas, to which he just narrowed his brows, but remained silent. Christopher, however, continued speaking or rather shouting, "Listen, I really do not want to deal with this shit anymore. I am done with journalist idiots like yourself! As I said for the thousands of time, it was a goddamn accident! So, please, tell your press company to kindly fuck themselves! I have a sick relative here, I am in no mood for this!"

No more words were heard in the room, Vera and Douglas were staring at him in awe. So did their guest, though his expression remained unfazed, as if he is long used to hearing insults. This further solidified Christopher's assumption of this man being a journalist. So, he turned away and marched towards the room where Eugene was sleeping.

Alas, Vincent was not done with interrogation, he tapped twice on the floor with his left feet, shook his head while humming and said, "I am sorry to hear your unfortunate experience with press, as well as the state of your relative. I am praying for him to feel better soon!"

Even though these words were quite encouraging and hopeful, Christopher still felt hostile. He turned around to repeat his lack of wilfulness to cooperate, but stone-cold expression of this man astonished Christopher enough to gulp down his words and listen.

"I would also like to clarify that I do not belong to any press company. In fact, we suspect that the death of Weisen was caused by an outside party. You were framed, Monsieur Dagaz."

"What?" Christopher could not believe the words spoken by this stranger. It was only in his perfect fantasy where this incident would simply fly over his head to not be heard of ever again. But that's exactly the reason why it is called a fantasy, he was well aware that the scalpel that cut George's artery was in his hand. He was aware of his slow reaction in seeking help, aware of his panic upon realization of such a devastating blunder. And now this man is telling him that this fantasy might actually be true!?

"What a delirious thing to say!"

"I am well aware of how unlikely our theory is to be correct, but as long as the percent is not zero, the la Avise family will not back down from their goal. You can send me away like a cur, but in my place will come another person. And it will continue until they are satisfied. The la Avise are inevitable."

These words might have sounded like a threat to those unfamiliar with this family, but in actuality it was a warning, that Christopher well sensed in Vincent's words. As soon as he mentioned his masters yet again, their name clicked with him. They were those weird acquaintances of Arnold that Eugene talked about while on their way to Paris.

"Did Arnold request your help with my situation?"

At first, Vincent raised his brow, but then slowly shook his head. This further increased his suspicions, since there was nothing he knew about this family. Eugene gave them quite a harsh judgement, though their daughter was profound in making coffee, but it did not really matter. What was their relationship with this politician? He could possibly learn it only if he agreed to their butler's request for help.

He was onwards pushed to this deal by Douglas, who left quite a naive comment, "If you are going to discuss serious business, then I recommend you to visit bar "Samuel". I can lead you there!"

For the first time this day, a smile rose onto Christopher's lips. He did not want to leave his brother behind, but resolution for the whole "Death Surgeon" ordeal is quite benefitting for him. In the end, this whole farce was the reason why Eugene ended up in bed, thus not using an opportunity to correct this fatal mistake would be wasteful. And so, the man agreed.

"Fine, I hope you do not mind if we will have a talk at "Samuel"?" he said to Vincent and then turned to Vera, "I also do not want you to hear about it, otherwise your face will again be full of tears."

Vera pouted, but could not hide her smile, "What can I do if situations like these stress me out this much? But I am all for it, have a fun time, and meanwhile, I will watch over Eugene."

At this note, the three men left, leaving behind Vera who silently waved at them. They all excited the building and marched down the street.

"Would not it be better, if we took a car to bar "Samuel"? It will be quite a walk otherwise." asked Christopher with his hands in pockets. This question was not directed at anyone particularly, but to the whole group in general. Still, his gaze was directed at Vincent, he just shook his head and said.

"It's fine, I would rather have a walk. That place works throughout the night anyway." he giggled arrogantly, "I am quite surprised to hear your lack of knowledge about it."

Christopher snorted, "Of course, I knew about it!" and turned away to the road. It was brimming with people, as well as cars and carriages, that were lazily moving back home from work. Just like them, some might even be having the nearest pub as their destination. Christopher sighed at this thought, since he tried to be sober for as long as possible due to his working place not being tolerable of mistakes. Even now, while being free from such obligation, he still drank alcohol hesitantly. At first, it was like that to not show a bad example to his brother, but now the wicked memories about his father were restraining him. He knew how devastating this common tradition of leisure could be.

And as they were walking further, Vincent, butler of the la Avise household stopped and tapped with his foot, "I am sorry, but I believe the Luxembourg palace is in another direction."

Indeed, Christopher was enveloped in his thoughts and did not notice how they passed Boulevard S. Marcel that lead to their destination. Furthermore, the trio already made god knows how many wrong turns. Now they were, further away from the palace than they were from the start. Christopher turned his attention to Douglas, his brows were narrowed.

The young man, on the other hand, was baffled and scratched his head, "Are we? I thought we were getting closer to it?"

"Oh my god…" sighed Christopher yet again, rubbed his forehead and looked around. There were familiar buildings and cafés around, but he still could not figure out in which direction they should move.

"You are such an idiot, Douglas."

"Well, I am sorry, that I do not have a damn map of Paris imprinted in my head!"

"I hasten to notice it was not the first such occurrence." Even butler seemed annoyed by Dougla's confident idiocy. They were totally lost, which made them consider stopping at one of the pubs nearby. Douglas was, of course, against this course of action, but unluckily for him, he was banned from their discussion.

And as they were about to enter the unknown place, Douglas went off elsewhere. The two men were eager to abandon this youth, but at the moment he was their responsibility. At least, Eugene would not forgive Christopher if his friend would end up lost somewhere in Paris. Vincent read his regretful yet determined expression and followed Christopher. Meanwhile, Douglas already stopped one car that was vastly moving forward. The man pulled down the window and was about to say something, but he was intervened by Douglas.

"I am sorry, but could you give us a ride to Luxembourg Palace?"

"Huh!?" the middle-aged man was confused by this impudent request. He nervously shook his head and was about to close the window, but stopped at the sight of Christopher and Vincent, who caught up to their bullheaded companion.

"What do you think you are doing, you damn brat?" Christopher screamed at Douglas and made him a Dutch rub.

In the meantime, Vincent came to the unknown man and apologized for the inconvenience, but suddenly, the man in the car spoke, "That's alright, I can give you a ride."

"Wait, really?" Christopher stopped scratching Douglas's head, but still held in him in a lock.

"Yeah, this is no problem, though, we must hurry."

The three of them rushed into the car, still in disbelieve about their luck, and they all drove back to the river and then towards the palace. After a small talk with the stranger, they were able to figure his name, Robin Rouse, as well as occupation. He was a professor at Harvard University in the US.

"This is insane!" exclaimed Douglas, making Christopher first raise his brow, but after hearing Douglas further, he nodded approvingly, "I have a friend who really wants to get a scholarship at Harvard. His name is Maurice Carsten. Make sure to remember it!"

"Yeah-yeah, by the way, are not you the infamous Death Surgeon?"

This sudden question caught Christopher off guard, he frowned in displeasure, but then their newfound friend reassured of his neutral stance regarding the situation, "Well, this is not like I will anyhow denounce you. There are not any human being that has never done a mistake! But I am quite surprised that you are still here."

"What do you mean by that?" wondered Christopher, the two other men also pricked up their ears."I mean, there are so many people out here mongering harm upon you. And you still have quite a healthy record of successful operations. In your place, I would just move somewhere else. For mine and my family's safety."

The truth lied in Robin's words, however, this uncertain future scared him. He was scared of not being accepted, as well as worried about his brother, who might one day move to Paris and end up known as the brother of the death. If he should choose, he would rather wait through this storm, especially now, when he has hope brought in by the la Avise family.

"I thought about it, but I would rather stay."

"Well, this is not like the whole situation would be resolved by itself." Robin further pushed his opinion.

Now, though, the one to enter this conversation was Vincent, "In actuality, this situation might indeed be resolved, though, not without help of the la Avise family. We are investigating this case and are assured of Monsieur Christopher's innocence."

"Huh, and what are your evidence?"

Vincent looked out of the car window, he smiled at the sight of lush gardens of the Luxembourg Palace that were illuminated by street lights. With a wry smile, he made an offer to the stranger, "Why do not you join us and listen, then?"

Bar "Samuel" was not brimming with clients at the moment, a quiet melody of Mozart and even quieter whispers of neatly dressed people could be heard throughout the room. It was hard to define the topic of their dialogues, due to lengthy gaps in between tables, as well as tunes mixing up words of those speaking. This made "Samuel" a perfect place for calm talks without the risk of eavesdropping, and its placement near Luxembourg Palace further strengthened its position as a main resting spot for politicians.

The quartet of new customers were weirdly seated at the centre due to Robin's demand that they followed. And the four of them, or rather three, because there was not much that Douglas could bring to their dialogue, started talking. First, Christopher described what happened during the operation, not forgetting to mention fatigue that he felt middle way through. Then Vincent asked about food and beverages consumed prior to work, and Christopher only mentioned breakfast and morning coffee that Vera made for him.

Vincent's interrogation did not bear any fruits, which made Robin quite impatient. For several times, he tried to persuade the company to exit the premise, but Vincent remained persistent. Even the fact that they would lose their means of transportation did not startle him. And so, Robin stood up, said his regards and left "Samuel", leaving behind the trio, that soon after was attacked by unknown individuals.

First, they awkwardly strolled towards the table at the centre. Upon realization that there were 2 different groups, they began shooting at each other, making those at the centre lie on the ground in fear for their lives. The devilish mixture of shots, screams and glass breaking overfilled the room, smoke from pistols made it hard to breath, the ceiling lights went off and the first one to be dragged out of this madness was Vincent. Afterwards, another body, Christopher, was snatched out of the table they were hiding under. And so Douglas lied there all alone in embryo pose until the police came to the bar and got him out of there. The grimace of shock and fear stuck with him for the whole night.