The phone suddenly rang, causing me to spill a bit of the coffee I was holding. It was probably a mistake to ingest caffeine in the already jumpy state that I was in. Tim had answered the phone and was involved in a conversation with the person on the other end of the line.

"Yeah I know ... Really?" Tim laughed. "Do you think it would work? ... What does Ted think? ... yeah sure ... I’ll talk to him tonight ... Huh? ...Oh, fine! Well if you would rather talk to her than me ... be like that then! ... Yeah you too. Sam, its Paul. He wants to talk to you." Tim handed me the phone.

"Umm, hi Paul" I said.

"Hi, are you okay? You sound funny."

"Yeah, I’m just a bit tired." I couldn’t tell him the truth.

"Oh okay. I was just wondering about tonight ..." I cut him off before he could say anything else.

"Paul, I’m really sorry but I don’t think I can make that drink after all. I really want to, but something’s come up." Well that much was the truth.

"Oh." He almost sounded disappointed. "Are you still coming to the show?"

"Yes, but its probably best that I don’t go out afterwards."

"Can I ask why?"

"Like I said, something’s come up. It’s a really long story."

"Like the knee?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

"You could say that" I said.

"Well can we still catch up after the show? Only for a little while if you want."

"Yeah, I’d like that. But only for a short while. I’d better let you go. I’ll see you tonight okay?"

"Sure. Sam ... are you sure you’re alright?"

"I am."

"Okay then. I’ll see you tonight."

"U-huh. Bye."

"Bye Sam." He hung up and so did I. I went back to the couch to watch the rest of the video.

"Sam, if you want to go out tonight then you should" Scott said. "Maybe it would do you good to relax and have fun."

"I know, but I don’t think that I could relax, and that would just make things uncomfortable for everyone."

"Are you sure?" Scott knew how much I had been looking forward to going out after the show.

"No, but I don’t see that I have a choice." I got up and left the room so that the guys wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes. I hate that Steve still has this power over me. I thought he was out of my life but I was so wrong. He’s not only still in my life, he’s slowly ruining it.

I sat down on my bed, looking at my knee brace. "Why is this happening?" I thought. "When will he just leave me alone?" I looked up as Scott opened the door. He came in and sat next to me.

"Sam, I’m really sorry. If there’s anything I can do ..." his voice faded away as I put my head on his shoulder and let the tears flow freely.

"Sam, you look great" Tim said, sticking his head around the door. "Are you about ready to go?"

"Thanks. Yeah I’m ready. Why are we going so early?"

"I need to speak to Ted about something Paul and I were talking about earlier." Tim walked out to the living room, me following him. Scott was already waiting for us, so I grabbed my bag and hobbled out the door behind the guys, checking to make sure that the door was locked.

Tim followed Ted down the corridor as Scott and I turned to make our way to the studio cafe.

"Sam!" A voice from behind us stopped me. I turned to see Paul heading towards us.

"I’ll meet you in the cafe okay?" Scott said. I nodded so he left.

"Hello" I said as Paul reached me. He looked at my face closely.

"Hi," he said. "How’s the knee?"

"Not too bad. Better than yesterday thankfully."

"That’s good." Paul started fiddling with the ring he was wearing. He looked in my eyes again. I lowered them, but he must have noticed how red they were. "You’re not okay are you?"

"No." Even admitting that was enough to bring me close to tears again.

"What is it?" Paul asked.

"I ..." I started to tell him but was cut off by a voice from down the hall.

"Paul! Get your butt back here so we can go over these changes!"

"I better go. Will you tell me later?"

"Maybe." I said. I did want to tell him, but did I really know him well enough ... if at all?

"Okay, well wait in the studio after the show and I’ll come back out." Paul hurried back down the corridor before the person could get more impatient. I headed off to the cafe to find Scott, actually feeling a little better.

Half an hour later as Scott and I were drinking coffee Tim joined us in the cafe.

"Guess what?" He continued before we had a chance to guess. "I’m going to be on the show in a few weeks!"

"Cool, which one?" I asked.

"Night Lite. Ted wants me to sing with Paul."

"That’d be great." Scott said.

I agreed with him. "I wish I could still be here to see it." Just my luck that something like that would happen after I go back home.

"Yeah, isn’t there any way you could come back here?" Tim asked.

"Umm let me think about that ... No! I can’t afford a three hundred dollar air fare, plus I can’t take any time off uni. It’s too important."

"Yeah, I guess. Pity though. I know one TV host who would like you to come back."

"Bloody hell Tim! We’ve only been talking. We hardly know each other, he’s not interested." I actually did believe this, though I secretly hoped otherwise. Tim just raised his eyebrows at me and went to get a drink.

The audience burst out laughing as Ted Robinson came out and threw one of the ‘Strange But True’ clues at Paul. It missed, and there was an interesting sounding crash as the prop hit the floor. Paul looked behind him and laughed.

"You broke it!" he yelled. "Medic, Medic!" He reached down and picked up the pieces. "You do realise that we that don’t you?" He glared at Ted.

The show was stopped as people went off in search of another cup. Paul took this opportunity to address the audience.

"So ... while we’re waiting," he threw another glare at Ted, who was laughing, "does anyone have any questions at this point?"

"Yeah, I do!" a loud voice called out. I recognised it immediately, it was Steve. I grabbed Scott’s hand and he looked at me, a worried expression on his face.

"Oh do you now?" Paul responded.

"Yeah. Me and my mates here want to know something." Steve shouted.

"Okay, what’s that?" Paul looked like he was enjoying himself, but suddenly the smile disappeared from his face. I looked at Steve and saw why.

"We want to know how quickly you can hit the floor." Steve said, pointing a gun at Paul.

"Yeah, that’s real funny mate!" Paul said. He turned to Ted. "Are we ready to go again?"

"You don’t get it do you?" Steve called out, still pointing the gun. "This isn’t a joke." He raised the gun to point at one of the monitors near the roof. There was a deafening noise as the monitor exploded. Steve pointed the gun back at Paul, whose face was quickly draining of colour.

"Now listen up. Me and my mates here have some business to sort out. It doesn’t require most of you, so if you behave then you can go." Steve walked out on to the stage, still pointing his gun at Paul. His ‘mates’, two of his cousins and two friends, all of which I knew, came out of the audience and rounded up the people working behind the scenes.

Soon there was a big group of people in the studio, with Steve’s cousins blocking the exits. they also had guns.

"Now isn’t this cosy?" Steve said, his eyes searching the audience. "I just want to let you all know that if anyone tries anything to stop us, we will kill you, then we might kill him" he said, motioning at Paul. "Okay, now like I said before we don’t need all of you, so my mates here will escort some of you out. Once you are gone, you are to stay gone. Calling the police would be a mistake because there’s not a fucking thing they can do that doesn’t end up with lots of dead people."

Steve’s cousins began pulling people out of the audience. His two friends were dealing with the security guards, taking their radios and equipment. Steve still had his gun pressed against Paul’s temple. Paul was looking at the desk, but as if he could hear me thinking about him he looked up. Our eyes met and I saw fear in his. I’m sure he saw the same in mine. Maybe it was that look. I’m not sure what possessed me to do it but as the tears started to fall I stood up. Paul looked confused and shook his head.

"Steve!" I called out. Everyone stopped and looked at me.

"Ah, Samantha. Glad you chose to join us. How about you and your two friends come one down here?"

I hesitated, no sure of what to do. I looked back at Paul, confusion was clear on his face.

"Come on, we don’t have all night ... well actually we do, but these people don’t."

I grabbed my walking stick and slowly made my way down the steps. At the urging of Steve’s cousin Tony, Scott and Tim followed.

We stood on the stage and watched as the rest of the audience were allowed to leave. Soon there were only the cast, crew, security people, Scott, Tim and myself, and we were surrounded by the five men pointing their guns at us. I watched as Steve got into a discussion with Tony. When they had finished, Tony told all those in the crew that they could leave, as well as the security guards.

As they were leaving, one of the guards reached into his jacket. He pulled out a small hand gun and aimed at Steve. There was a loud noise and the guards face froze. He fell to the floor, blood seeping through his jacket. Tony was holding out his gun, a hint of smoke still around the barrel. He looked at Steve.

"I thought you said they weren’t armed" he said.

"I didn’t think that they were. Well it doesn’t matter any more. If anyone else tries anything, just shoot them. No more warnings."

Everything seemed to be going in slow motion. I looked around. I saw Steve and two of his friends that I had met a couple of times. I saw Mikey, Julie, Margaret Scott, Will Anderson, Adam Spencer and Amanda Keller sitting in their places at the desks. I saw Scott and Tim, panic showing on their faces. I saw Paul, who was sitting at his desk, staring at me. Finally I saw the shape of a person, lying on the floor in a crimson puddle which was growing larger by the minute. It was then that I realised just how crazy Steve was.

Tony and Chris, Steve’s cousins, returned from escorting the crew out. The rest of us had been moved to the middle of the stage, on the floor, with Mark and Dave, the friends, pointing their guns at us. Steve was pacing, every so often turning to look at me. When Tony and Chris walked in he stopped and turned to them.

"Well?" he demanded.

"Yep. All exits done. There’s no way anyone can get in or out without one of us" Tony grinned, "unless of course they want to blow up the building and everyone in it."

"Good." Steve turned back o us. "I was thinking, we really don’t need all of these people. Only her," he pointed at me "and a few others ... just in case."

"I agree" said Mark. "But keep the important ones." He looked at Paul.

"Okay then, you five come with me." Tony signalled to Julie, Adam, Amanda, Margaret and Will. They got up and followed Tony out the door. A few moments later a gun shot caused me to jump. I looked at Scott and reached for his hand. Tony came back in and went over to Steve.

"Problem?" I heard Steve ask.

"Not any more" Tony replied. "There were cops out there. As I let the others out a cop pulled a gun on me, so I shot one of the ones we just let out. The cops backed off."

By nature I’m not a brave person, but I couldn’t stand this any more. Ignoring Scott’s protesting hand, I stood up. "Steve, what’s this all about?"

He turned to face me. "Sam, you of all people should know the answer to that."

"Why don’t you tell me anyway?" I looked him straight in the eye.

"Nah, I don’t think so. I don’t really want to talk to you right now. We can talk, and do other things later" he leered at me. How did I ever find him attractive? He turned to Chris. "Take them to the room we talked about, then wire the door."

The others were forced to their feet and we were shoved into the corridor. We followed Chris, with Tony and Mark behind us. There was no chance of getting away. When we reached the green room we were told to get inside.

"Now I should warn you that if anyone tries to open this door it will set this off." Chris held up what I can only guess was a bomb. "Feel free not to believe me and try it, its your life." With that he shut the door, leaving the five of us alone.

"I wonder why they chose this room." Mikey said, sitting on one of the chairs.

"Probably because there’s only the one door and no windows," Paul said. I looked around. He was right. Steve really had planned things well.

"Sam, you know this guy don’t you?" Paul asked.

"Yeah." I stared at the floor. It suddenly hit me. This was all very likely my fault.

"Who is he?" Paul sat next to me. I just stared at the floor. "Sam?" Paul lifted my chin so I’d look at him.

"He’s ..." before I could answer, the door was thrown open. Mark came in and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me up.

"Come with me" he said, as if I had a choice. As I was dragged out the door I looked over my shoulder to see Paul, but the door was shut before I had a chance.

Mark took me to a small room which I think was a dressing room. There was a mirror on one wall and a pair of jeans and a jacket hanging on the back of a chair. Sitting on a table in the corner was Steve. He was playing with the gun, shifting it from hand to hand. When he saw me he put the gun on the table and nodded to Mark, who left and shut the door behind him.

Steve got up off the table and walked over to me. He stood in front of me, looking me up and down. He walked slowly around me, I could feel his eyes on me the whole time, until he arrived back in front of me. I met his stare, refusing to show how scared I was.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about now?" I asked, surprised at how steady my voice came out sounding.

"You didn’t answer my letters or take my calls. I decided to try and get your attention a different way."

"Well it worked." I was right. This was all my fault.

"Good," he said. "So, how have you been?"

"You dragged me out here for small talk?"

Steve ignored this. "You know for a while there I almost forgot why I fell in love with you. But as soon as I saw you again I remembered."

"Well why don’t you do us both a favour and forget again." The back of his hand connected with my left cheek, causing me to fall sideways. The pain was immense, but I ignored it and regained my balance. Steve immediately came to me and tried to put his arms around me.

"I’m so sorry," he said touching my cheek. "You know I don’t mean to hurt you."

I shrugged off his embrace. "Don’t touch me!" I said.

"C’mon Sam. You know that we were meant to be together."

"Is that why you hit me with the car?" I asked.

"I told you, I didn’t mean it." Steve went back to looking at me. I didn’t respond, just looked around the room. I saw Steve’s gun still lying on the table. Maybe if I moved quick enough I could get to it.

"I don’t think so." Steve said, as if reading my mind. He went and picked up the gun. "I’ve gone to too much trouble to get this right and I can’t have you screw it up now." He paced the small room before stopping and looking at me again.

"Yeah, I can see why I fell for you. I can also see why that little prick is making eyes at you."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"That host. Paul something. All night he’s been watching you. What’s the deal there?"

"Nothing. I don’t even know him." This was partly true.

"Well now that I’ve got you here it doesn’t matter anyway."

"Look, if it’s me that you want then why don’t you let the others go?" I tried.

"Because. How do I know that you won’t try something stupid? If they’re here it gives me a backup." He fingered the gun. "But I’m willing to compromise."

"What do you mean?"

"Well there’s something that you might be able to do to help me change my mind." He came closer and put his hand on my shoulder. He still held the gun in his right hand.

"I’ll make you a deal" he said as his left hand slid down my arm. "If you agree to it then maybe I’ll let the others go." His hand moved to my waist, then behind my back.

"Wh ... what do you want?" I was fighting very hard not to cry.

"All I want," he pulled me to him, pushing the gun into my ribs, "is for you to agree to act like a proper girlfriend. I think you know what I mean." He leant forward and kissed my neck. I tried to pull back but he held me tight. The harder I struggled that tighter he held me, bringing his right hand on to my back as well. He brought his face up to mine and kissed me hard, his lips crushing mine. His hand moved and I felt the gun on my chest as Steve roughly grabbed my breast. I managed to pull free, crying openly now. Without even thinking I lifted my hand and slapped him as hard as I could.

I don’t know which was the bigger mistake. Slapping him or turning my back on him. After I slapped him I turned towards the door. I heard Steve move behind me, then I felt a rush of air on the back of my neck. Suddenly it felt like the back of my head exploded. There was enormous pain. Fireworks went off behind my eyes and I started to fall over.

Then everything went black.