The Last Beatle

2- Days later

Barbara had fallen asleep in a chair in the corner of her fiancé's room waiting for him to regain consciousness.It had been two days since the shooting.

She had been in John's apartment, talking to Linda when they heard gunshots from outside. Gunshots were not an uncommon occurrence in New York but still, it sparked some curiosity. Yoko went to the window and peered down, but the mass of crowd that gathered meant she couldn't get a clear view.

Then the phone rang. Yoko picked it up and after a series of yeses, there was a long period of silence. "Ok, thank you." She put the phone down shakily. "That was a call from the police. We must go to the hospital now,"

"What? Why?" Linda asked.

"Our husbands have just been shot and they are dying,"

That cinched it. They grabbed their children and immediately got a taxi there. The drive was silent but tense with negative anticipation. They all expected the worse. Olivia was hugging Dhani as tight as she could. He didn't understand was was going on so just fell asleep. He didn't know his father was about to die.

Two days later, Ringo propped himself up before swearing loudly. There was a bandage around his left shoulder but other than that, he was unharmed. Barbara grabbed his hand and tears streamed down her face. "Ritchie, I thought you were going to die," she said through sobs.

"Well, I didn't. What about the others? Are they ok?"

Barbara looked down and started to fiddle with Ringo's fingers. "I..." She started "They...didn't make it...I'm so sorry," Ringo slumped back down. His best friends...were dead? No, no, that can't be it...if he survived surely the others could too! How long had it been? A few minutes? They could use CPR or something! They'll be fine.

"Barbara...how long was I asleep?"

"Uh." she checked her watch "two days," Ringo felt his heart sank. He grabbed the tv remote. If they were dead it would be on the news; so he could confirm it.

"And that was the weather, with Alfred Gustafsson. Now, for the news. Just two days after three of the former Beatles were killed in a shooting outside John Lennon's apartment, crowds have been flooding in from across the world to honour those men. One of the victims, drummer Ringo Starr, is still recovering in hospital and reports suggest he will be back in full health shortly."

Ringo switched off the tv. They were dead...really, actually dead. He bit his lip. He leaned into Barbara's shoulder and before he knew it, fat tears were rolling down his cheeks. She started crying too. They stayed like that for what felt like hours. Finally, Ringo took a deep breath and sat back up.

"Where are the kids?" He asked.

"They're back in England, with Harry, remember? They didn't even come to America with us,"

Ringo nodded as just then a nurse walked in and smiled as she saw Ringo. "It's nice to see you awake, Mr Starkey," she said. She was carrying a clipboard. "Now I just need to make sure everything's okay. And you must be his fiancée, correct?"

"Yeah," Barbara replied.

"Well I'm please to meet you. I might be moving around a bit so it'd be better if you just waited outside for a second. Just so you don't get in the way,"

"Oh...that's alright. See you in a bit, Ritchie." She kissed him on the forehead and went out the door.

"Right, Richard Starkey, born 07/07/40 in Liverpool, England. Is this you?"

"Last time I checked, yeah,"

"You were recently a victim of a shooting and was shot in the shoulder, causing severe bleeding and a wound. I'll need to check that wound so lean forward please." Ringo did just that and the nurse took the bandages off and applied some liquid, making it sting slightly.

"The surgery to remove the bullet was successful but unfortunately you've lost 30% of your range in motion in your left arm. So you can still drum," she added quickly to the end after seeing Ringo's face. "We don't think it hit anything major but you'll have to stay here for a bit. Or, if you prefer, we can transfer you to a hospital in England. Speaking of, when you're back home, you'll need painkillers everyday and we recommend you to take it easy,"

"Yeah, I would like to go to England, please,"

And so he did. He wanted to get away from America was quickly as possible. A funeral was held at the McCartney farm to honour the musicians. Fans swarmed Liverpool, Abbey Road, New York. Wherever. The Queen herself issued a statement saying how devastated she was to hear of the men's passing. There were plans for an official tribute concert in April, musicians from all over played. People cried and patted Ringo on the back. They were saying how sorry they felt. Sorry? Why would they feel sorry? The man that shot them should and he was rotting in jail. Ringo hadn't cried since the day he woke up. He felt broken, like he should be sad, but he wasn't. He didn't even feel happy. He just...didn't feel.

That's when he decided to get help. He contacted the local mental clinic and made appointments. When he got there,van small woman called Hannah greeted him. She was friendly enough and was ready to talk, but Ringo withheld information. He didn't tell her about the 1 gram of cocaine he took a day or the alcohol he would drink just to feel something, anything. He would never do it around his kids, but Barbara had seen him do it. Then she started, too. She wasn't sure why. Ringo wished she would stop but nothing would convince her and it would be sightly hypocritical.

"So anyway...today has been okay overall. I've been videoing Barbara and watching TV mainly. Well, not really watching it, more just listening to it as background noise,"

Hannah wrote something down on her notepad." Do you think the background noise makes you feel better? Like there's something to fill the hole?" She asked.

"Maybe..." She was correct in saying a hole. It did feel like something was missing from his life. The men he loved and the men who died. People would say he was lucky. He wasn't. It was wrong that he was alive. He wasn't the greatest out of them all. The fantastic duo Lennon-McCartney should've. Or George with his toddler of a son that will have to grow up without a dad. Ringo knew there'd be backlash saying he should've died for them. He should've died.