Not under control   von VideoGameCrack
          (Mein NaNoWriMo-Projekt für 2010 - mit täglichen Updates!)
================================================================================
                            Kapitel 11: Day Eleven
                            ----------------------


It must have been past midnight when they arrived at Frank's office again,
taking place in his room.
„So, Frank“, started Vincent, „what have you found out?“
There was silence. Frank was sitting behind his desk, thinking.
„Frank?“ He moved his hand in front of his face. „Are you still there?“
„Huh? Oh, of course.“ He shook his head to regain his senses. „I have
found out that they don't seem to be as organized as we thought.“
„What do you mean by that?“, said Anthony.
„The attacks Gerald witnessed were more or less random. And they don't seem to
plan any more of them right now.“
„That can only mean that they are planning something bigger“, Anthony said.
„We need to be more cautious. They probably want us to lower our defenses so
that their attacks get more effective in the process.“
„But otherwise, this information isn't really useful, considering that the
only thing we got out of it was to not behave stupidly“, said Gerald.
„Anything else, Frank?“
„That was basically it, sorry“, Frank replied. „But that woman... that
bloody woman...“
„What are you talking about?“, Anthony wondered.
Frank turned to Gerald. „When you left my office this afternoon, have you seen
a woman with red hair and a black dress entering?“
Gerald shook his head. „I closed the door when I left again, I'm sure.“
Frank was shocked by that answer. He held his head with this hand, stuttering:
„But- how could she have entered then? How can that be possible?“
„You don't look alright, Frank“,  said Vincent, getting closer to Frank.
„Maybe you have a breakdown.“
„But I'm sure that she exists! I've talked to her several times now! She threw
me against a table! I even lost my gun in that jazz club thanks to her!“
„You mean this one?“, Anthony asked, pointing at the wall.
Frank couldn't believe it. The gun was there, hanging on a nail! He was sure
that he didn't return to the jazz club since, and Helena didn't give it back to
him either.
„Frank, you start to make me worried“, Gerald said to him.
„...that's probably all part of her plan“, the detective whispered.
„You're talking in riddles“, Vincent replied.
„It just has to be! She wants to make me crazy! It only makes sense this
way!“
„...maybe you should get some sleep before we continue“, Gerald said in a
worried tone. „You seem to be pretty nervous right now.“
„That's exactly what she wants to achieve!“
„Frank, calm down“, Vincent said calmingly. „Gerald is right. You're
probably just working too much. That could explain your condition. We see you
tomorrow then. Good night.“
The three of them left, leaving Frank behind in his office.
„I can't her her win!“, he yelled in rage. „Whatever she's doing and
however she's doing it, I'm going to discover her secret and use it against
her!

It felt like an eternity passed since he slept the last time, even though he
always comes back home again after half a day at most. Gerald thought that,
maybe if he slept over it as well, he might understand better what Frank was
talking about. But it didn't. While Gerald could just stay away from the novel,
preventing them to get close to him, he couldn't stop seeing Frank's pale,
sweaty face with bulging eyes after he heard that he hasn't seen that woman. It
was clear that his character needed help. The Freedom Seeker were still a
problem, but he couldn't just stop. His novel itself wasn't as important at the
moment.
But before he returned to his story again, he decided to go to his computer
first. Sebastian must be pretty worried, and maybe Catherine has some news as
well. 
And he was proven right, as his mails indicated. Among all the cheap spam mails
trying to sell him all kinds of garbage and telling him he won a journey to
Hawaii or some other place that's either crowded, has good climate or both, he
found one mail by Sebastian titled „hi there“ and another one from the
writer's forum telling him that Catherine contacted him via the PM system. He
decided to check Sebastian's mail first.
„I couldn't contact you via our Instant Messenger, so I thought I wrote you
this directly. 
You don't seem to be around this much since I've told you about that ritual. I
can understand that now, you got some brilliant ideas for your stories, and I'm
not going to stop you – especially since I was the one who told you about it
in the first place – but I thought it might be nice to do something again. You
know, as friends.“
Gerald then replied:
„Don't worry about it. I'm pretty far into the novel right now, so it can't
take me too long anymore until I finish it.
So, do you want to meet me in the bakery again? Tomorrow morning? And don't
think about how I'm going to forget again why I put the alarm on.“
After clicking on the „Send“ button and seeing the confirmation screen, he
promptly went to the forum to read Catherine's message.
„Hey, Gerald. How is it going? Is your story still attacking you?“
He replied that question with:
„Sort of. They formed some kind of cult and are meeting behind my back to
plan. What is with your story?“
Like always, it took a few minutes before the reply followed:
„Nothing unpredictable happened. They still play their parts properly and
after I asked if they try to escape. The answers were mostly variations of
„Where would you get that idea?“.“
„Well, saying it's weird wouldn't be enough.“
„Maybe you did something in your world to upset these people?“
„Doesn't really convince me. If I did, I would have to fight them alone. And
it doesn't seem to be that big of a group. Though, maybe the thing with the sun
was a little bit too much for them...“
„...thing with the sun?“
„Don't ask. It was one thing and it terrified far more people than this cult
could possibly have.“
„Anything else that could have caused the cult?“
„Not that I could think of. At least nothing to get this many people fixated
on me.“
„I see. Well, if they attack you, why do you still keep visiting the
world?“
„One of my characters has gone insane and needs help. And I have two people
protecting me for the worst case scenario.“
„Understandable. I hope you manage to get over that.“
„Me too. See you soon.“
As he looked on his clock, he decided to visit Frank again. Maybe he will be
easier to understand now.

The sun was at its highest point, when they all met in the bar to properly talk
to Frank. He still looked slightly nervous, but not as bad as in the last
night.
„Okay, Frank“, started Anthony, „what is up with this woman you were
talking about?“
„When I first met her, I didn't pay much attention to what she said“,
replied Frank. „I thought was weird, though still harmless at this point, and
I thought that it was the alcohol which caused me to lose the control over my
body. It didn't do what I wanted it to do.“
„I see“, threw Vincent in.
„Then I got to the adress she gave me. She kept talking about that she knew
what I was going to do next, and it made even less sense than before. When I
attacked her due to pure rage, she countered it like I was a child fighting
against a bear. And that smile... this weird smile...“
„So, to get this straight“, started Gerald, trying to recollect what Frank
just said, „this woman is trying to confuse you by telling you that she knows
everything you're going to do.“
Frank nodded. „No matter how I explained to her that it has no use, she always
kept herself calm. She didn't even look like she was about to burst.“
„And you're sure you talked to her when she visited your office?“; Anthony
asked.
„As sure as you can get. Though I can't remember if she brought my gun back in
the process...“
„Maybe she broke in“, wondered Vincent. 
„No, that's impossible. I can hear if there happens anything in this building.
Even when somebody opened the door with a picklock, I would have heard it.“
„And at this meeting?“
„She was talking the same incomprehensible mess as always. Stuff in the vein
of „You're hiding behind a fassade“ or similar.“
Gerald raised an eyebrow. „Fassade?“
„She thinks that I'm hiding behind the image of a private detective. It's
probably all a part of her plan to confuse the hell out of me.“
„So we now not only have a cult trying to capture Gerald“, summarized
Vincent, „but also a woman that plays around with Frank.“ He stopped there
for a moment. „That came off wrong, didn't it?“
Gerald nodded. „Kind of.“
„That's not the problem right now“, interrupted Anthony them. „We need to
get rid off these people quickly. Who knows if they aren't trying to find new
members? If we wait too long, we might have to deal with all the remaining
people! And that just can't be easy.“
„So you got a plan?“, Vincent asked him.
„Yes, but we only got one chance for it.. With Frank's current condition, we
can't let him spend more time investigating.“
„But you have to let me go there!“, Frank complained. „She says she's
going to kill me if I don't come there. And believe me, you don't want this
woman to be around you if she visits me again!“
„But we can't let you go there, either“, Gerald argued. „If you let
yourself get manipulated like that for any longer, you might end up even worse
than you are already!“
„So we need to wait for her to show up. Then we can get all the information we
need and don't have to deal with all her followers.“
Frank sighed. „I warned you guys about her.“
To which Anthony replied: „And we won't let you get killed.“

Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)