Dark Tidings

Chapter 28 - The Morning After

"See you after work, have a good day."

As it turned out, Faith was too ill to go out that night, indeed she left work early complaining of 'food poisoning'. He also had a gut feeling but his wasn't food poisoning, his gut was telling him to go and meet the strange pair again, even if he had to go alone.

He arrived at the Ritz shortly after six o'clock. His new friends were nowhere to be seen so he settled into a large leather armchair and ordered a coffee. Tung and Madrick arrived before the coffee did. He nodded awkwardly at them because he was a bit unsure how this was going to pan out.

"Let's adjourn to the restaurant and get some food under our belts. Then we can see who remembers most about last night."

"Food's always good," said Tung. "Let's go eat."

After the small talk which accompanied the meal, Madrick launched into a short spiel about how they were strangers in these parts. It was a well-practised speech which had served him well up to now.

"And we've no close acquaintances here," he added. "And we've got no one who we can trust. We want to, no, we need to forge some lasting friendships otherwise we're not going to be able to fit in. Summary, we need a friend."

He didn't expand on the reasons why. That was all he was sharing for now.

"Thanks for considering me as a potential friend after such a short time. The truth of the matter is I don't have many friends either... and a man without friends is like a day without sunshine."

He didn't expand on why he hadn't many friends either. He didn't want to share that for now.

As the conversation, oiled by some fine wine, progressed, they shared more and more about each other and their aspirations. At one point, he noticed Madrick and Tung looking at each other and nodding conspiratorially.

"Come up to our suite, we'd like to tell you a bit more about us," said Tung. "We have secrets and surprises which will blow your head."

"I think you mean 'blow your mind', Tung," said Madrick. "You still need to work on how you use modern expressions."

"Modern expressions?" said Michael.

"I think you'll understand when we tell you our story."

"I look forward to hearing it," said Michael, "and I have something I'd like to share with you guys too."

They all settled into the leather furnishings and interestingly each took the same seat as the night before. It was as if the spirit of déjà vu had followed him into the room. The familiarity of the suite rekindled some lost memories in his mind.

"Fancy a glass of champagne?" said Tung. "There's plenty left from our last party."

"Why not, you only live once."

"Okay, let me begin," said Madrick, adopting a strange monotone drone which Michael recognised as his storytelling voice. There was no small talk, no preamble, no scene-setting.

"We've chosen to trust you with an incredible secret. The story you'll hear is all true but I'm quite sure you won't believe a word of it. Tung will tell you our tale because he's a bit more, ahmmm, engaging than me."

"Oooh," said Tung. "I thought you were going to tell the story."

"No. As I said, you're a bit more engaging."

"True," said Tung straightening up in his chair. "Your storytelling technique is a bit dry and boring... like a dehydrated woodworm."

"Get on with it," said Madrick.