*~Altered States~*
by
Courtney Brown
September 25, 1999

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On to Chapters Two and Three of Altered States

"Try to never lie, I really do, I wonder if my friends will get me through..."  Bush, "Altered States", The Science of Things

Chapter One

It was a dark and stormy night when Gavin Rossdale arrived home at his flat in London.  Of course, he thought to himself as he shook the rain out of his longish red hair.

"Winston?"  he called.  "Winnie?  Where are you?"

A dark shape bounded out of the shadows and jumped on the lanky man.  It was Winston, his beloved.  His Puli.

Gavin knelt down and lavished Winston with pats and ear-rubs.  Winston was almost his child, and they had missed each other in the long months that Gavin was on tour with his band, Bush.

Gavin stumbled his way into the door, carrying his suitcase (razorblade) and a few other things.  As soon as he stepped into the door, he noticed that something was not right. 

The house was bare.  Not just void of its furniture and belongings, but completely bare.  No furniture, no pictures, nothing.  He wandered around the house to find his beloved guitars missing, as well as the framed picture of him from Rolling Stone magazine.  All of the photos of his family were gone, as well as the old ones of he and Jasmine, and the pictures of Winston, and of his girlfriend Gwen.

"What the fuck?"  Gavin said in disbelief.  He couldn't believe he had been robbed.

He set his suitcase down on the bare floor and went into the kitchen to use the only remaining wall phone.  He decided the first thing he should do was call the police.  That being done, he decided to phone Jasmine, who should have been at the flat every day to feed Winston.

"Jasmine?"  he said as she answered the telephone.

"Gavin?"  Jasmine Lewis said slowly.  Their conversations were always a bit awkward since they had broken up.

"Did you come here to feed Winnie today?"

"Yes, I did.  Why?"

Gavin sighed.  "Did you leave the door unlocked?"

"Of course not," Jasmine replied, growing a little annoyed.  "Why?"

"Because all of my shit is gone.  Everything."

Jasmine gasped in disbelief.  "Someone broke in?"

"It appears that way," Gavin snapped.  "There's nothing left, nothing here but Winston."

"Oh my God," Jasmine breathed.  "I swear I locked the door, Gavin.  You know me.  I'm careful about things like that."

He did know her.  They had been together for five years.  "I believe you," he said gently.

They hung up because the police arrived.  They combed the entire flat, looking for fingerprints, but they found none.  They asked him a thousand useless questions that led to nothing.  Finally he decided to leave, and called his Bush bandmate, Nigel Pulsford, to come get him.

When Nigel came to the door, he gasped.  "Jesus, Gavin, I thought you were exaggerating."

"I wish I was," Gavin replied, rubbing his temples.  All this was making him tired.

Just then Winston began to bark hysterically.  He started running around in circles, then he pulled on Gavin's trouser leg and growled.

"What now?"  Gavin said.  He and Nigel followed Winston into the bedroom.  He stopped at the closet doors.

"What's in there?"  Nigel asked.

"Normally my clothes, but since everything else was stolen..."  Gavin moved toward the doors and opened them, expecting to see an empty clothes rack.

Instead, there was what appeared to be a giant black hole. 

"What the fuck is that?"  Nigel gasped.

"Do you think I know?"  Gavin asked. 

The hole wasn't entirely black.  It had some strange silver colors and designs.  It appeared to be moving, swirling endlessly around.  Its motion never ceased.

Gavin stepped up to the hole and stuck his finger out toward it, intending to touch it.

"Don't," Nigel warned, putting a restraining arm on Gav's shoulder.  "It's too bloody weird."

Gavin was inclined to agree.  Something else was not spoken between the two men, but both knew it was there:  fear.  They were both scared shitless.

"Let's call the others," Nigel suggested.

"Okay," Gavin said.  They went into the kitchen, where Nigel called the other Bushmen, Dave Parsons and Robin Goodridge, and told them to haul ass over to Gavin's flat.

They both arrived at the same time, shaking the rain out of their clothes.  "This better be good," Dave growled.  "I just got home, for God's sake.  Sarah is ready to kill me."

"We all just got home," Robin said.

Gavin and Nigel took Robin and Dave directly to Gavin's bedroom and showed them the anomaly.  Their reactions were about the same as Nigel and Gavin's.

"Jesus Christ!"  Dave exclaimed, backing away from it.

"What the hell is that?!"  Robin said, moving closer to the hole.  Unlike the other three men, he wasn't afraid of the black hole at all.  He was fascinated by it.

"Should I call the police back?"  Gavin asked, worry and fear prominent in his deep brown eyes. 

"I don't know," Dave replied, running a hand nervously through his short, tousled dark hair.  "Don't you think maybe they'd call a bunch of scientists here?"

"I hadn't thought of that," Gavin replied.

"Besides that," Robin started, "they're not going to believe us.  They are going to think we are some stupid rock stars looking for more attention."

"Either that, or, they are going to think we are on drugs," Nigel said quietly.  He was scared bad.  Sweat was glistening off his bald head.

Gavin cracked his fingers nervously.  He was scared too.  He was wishing for a joint right now, but he knew that wouldn't help the situation.  He was scared because it was in his home, and he had no idea how it had gotten there.

Suddenly, the hole began to make a strange whirring sound.  It began to spin very quickly, and a fierce wind hit the men, ruffling their clothes.

"Ah fuck!"  Robin yelled, as he realized what was happening.  "We've got to get out of here!  NOW!"  He forcibly grabbed Nigel by the shirt and pushed Dave toward the door.  Gavin had also recognized what was happening, and, after he grabbed Winston in his arms, he also hauled ass toward the door.

The hole was trying to suck them all in.