Toxic [Richard Kruspe]

Revelations

Till's POV

I feel the need to stay away from Richard as much as I can. At least untill I calm my nerves. I've loved this man since day 1, he's been a brother and a great friend to me whenever I needed him. But things have went downhill for him from the very moment he started drug abusing and drinking. He lost himself, his smile, his cocky, yet positive and cheerful attitude. Richard always had problems with his family, but never tried to hurt anybody; on the contrary, he took a deep breath and wore a huge smile on his face, stating that he got this and moved on. I'm not sure how to handle these recent events. They are too shocking to process. Looks like that Anna has the answers to some of my theories.

Speaking of Anna, she's still not responding. Her eyes are shut and she's breathing through technical support, even though the doctors stated that there's no need, it's just preemptive. I open her room's door and I see a girl sitting on her bed, crying silently. She's holding her non-injured hand and her cheeks are red. She must have been crying for more than an hour. I approach her, speaking softly.

"Hello."

She gives me a desperate look and continues crying, not saying a word.

- "She will wake up and recover soon. The doctors said that her life is out of danger." I take a step closer and sit on a chair.

- "Yet she still hasn't opened her eyes...", the girl says wiping away her tears. "How did this happen? Why?"

- "That's something not appropriate to be discussed at the moment, don't you think? All you need to know is that it was an accident.", I try to appease her, telling half the truth.

The girl looks at me again and changes her position on the bed, to face me completely.

- "You must be Till Lindemann, if I'm right.", she half smiles. "Nice to meet you, even under this kind of circumstances."

- "Nice to meet you too...?", I hesitate, waiting to hear her name.

- "Melanie. Melanie Hennings. I'm Anna's closest friend from uni. And Alex's as well.", she adds.

- "Well, Melanie, looks like 2005 is going to enter our lives the hard way, isn't it?"

- "You tell me. Two of my friends are unconscious in the hospital and your guitar player is awake, yet in a fuzzy state of mind." She fixes a strand of her black hair behind her ear and drinks some water. I frown.

- "You know Richard?"

- "It would be weird if I wouldn't. Anna is in love with him. And the strangest part of this story, is that she crashed against Richard's car. What were the odds?"

I clear my throat, realising that she's not aware of the dark romance story between the two patients and I try to change the subject.

- "I- I know right? Too karmic. So, uhm... Did the doctors let you see Alex?

- "No, still no.", she shakes her head. "His life is still in danger, even though his condition is stable. Poor Alex...", a tear escapes from her eye. "Sad info? His girlfriend from Austria was supposed to spend the Christmas holidays with him. Her flight is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I informed her. She's crushed..."

Alex has a girlfriend? It's official. Richard's idiotically impulsive and got jealous for nothing.

A low pitched sigh interrupts the conversation between me and Melanie and we are happy to realise that Anna is finally waking up. I rush to the doctors and Melanie is super shocked. A nurse checks her pulse and her reflexes. She also removes the technical support after the check-up. Anna can hardly open her eyes but she eventually manages to open them completely. She tries to move her arms and legs, but instead, she earns a strong pain.

- "She isn't going to face any danger, as long as she's awake. Her arm and leg have to be wrapped in a plaster cast for one month. She will stay in the hospital for two more days and then, she can go home. Surveillance is necessary." The nurse turns to Anna. "You are a strong girl Anna. Be patient. Everything's going to be fine."

Anna nods smirking and the nurse leaves the room.

- "Thank you very much, nurse.", I hand shake her and go back to Anna who attempts to move again. I hold her back. "Woah, woah, you don't want to do that, trust me."

- "Till? Is that you?, she smiles although she's in pain. "This must be a dream, it can't be real..."

- "No Anna, it's true! Your favourite singer came for a visit!", Melanie informs her, almost cheering that her friend is awake.

- "Mel... You're here too...! Who told you to come over?, she asks, looking at both of us questionly.

- "Paul did, the other guitarist. He was the one who saved you and called the ambulance."

- "Paul? But- but he left much sooner before the crash... Nevermind."

- "Were you on a date with Paul Landers Anna?", I ask her softly.

- "Not an exact date, to be honest.", she pauses for a second, trying to remember the events. "We met at a bar because we had something to discuss. We introduced ourselves earler at the campus."

- "And what did you discuss exactly?", I continue.

- "Who else is here?", she quickly avoids my question and looks outside the window.

- "All 5 of Rammstein, including me. We were supposed to meet together to talk about some tour stuff and-"

- "5?...Where's Richard?", she asks with a concerned look on her face. "And... and Alex... Where is he?"

- "Anna, you just came around of a terrible accident. You need to stay calm to hear this.", Melanie starts.

Anna clasps her fist and hits the mattress.

- "Where. Are. They.", she demands through clenched teeth and focuses her stare on me. It's impossible to avoid her look.

- "In situations like this, sometimes the straightforward way is the only way."

Melanie looks at me worried, but I continue anyway.

- "You crashed against Richard's car. Both of them are in this hospital and are being taken care of the doctors. My bandmate was lucky and ended up with a light concussion and some external wounds. And Alex..."

- "Alex... What??, she asks intensely. Damn it's hard.

- "Alex is in a coma."