9

The doorbell rang.

Phillip leapt to his feet and scrabbled for balance, nearly knocking over the table covered in glasses and drinks in his panic. Somehow he managed to keep from actually knocking anything over, saving one of the shot glasses from crashing onto the carpet. Meanwhile, in complete contrast, Brandon stood up from his armchair and gave Phillip an absolutely annoyed look before calmly walking towards the door. There was no way he could be so calm about this. Phillip glanced back at the rope placed out in the open by the window. It wouldn't take much for Brandon but it would take a lot more for him.

"Go ahead and come in, David." Brandon's tone was so jovial. How could he stand there like that, welcoming a man into his home, ready to be murdered? David came in behind Brandon, hat off, perfectly at ease. Phillip slid over to the piano and looked down at the black and white keys. If only everything was so simple. Black and white, good and evil - but then there was grey. This sort of grey. His grip tightened on the edge of the piano.

Meanwhile David dropped into a proferred seat with a sigh, a glass in one hand, engaging in conversation with Brandon. Phillip simply stared down at the keys, the familiar image trying to comfort him, but it was only working somewhat. His fingers rested on the keys and he began to play the same tune as always. Brandon glanced up from behind David and gave Phillip a nod. It took so much effort to extract himself from the keys. He managed to wander past David without blurting out what was going to happen. "Hello, Phillip," David's voice was so polite. Brandom murmured something that sounded like a hello and began to draw the curtanis.

"Why're you closing the curtains?" A little bit of panic was rising in David's tone. He couldn't have missed the signs.

"Just atmosphere," Brandon being soothing was not working. As Phillip watched the glass was extracted from David's clenched fist and just as Brandon was about to put the glass down, Phillip moved forward and knocked him out simply, a clean blow to the back of the head. His body tumbled forward but was quickly dragged upwards by Brandon. "The rope, the rope," he hissed at Phillip, supporting the limp body. Phillip snatched up the length of rope from where it lay and wrapped it around his neck. Brandon was the first to pull with surprising strength.

The rope tightened.