Gloomy Sunday (5/8) By Joe Hakim

(1/8), (2/8), (3/8), (4/8), (5/8), (6/8), (7/8), (8/8).

The pub was pretty empty. I went over to the bar and ordered a pint and a whisky chaser. I slammed the whisky down and then took a long sip from my pint. My hands were shaking. I'd managed to get hold of some tablets to help keep me awake, but they were making me edgy. Just to the right of me a voice said: "I'm guessin' you're Ben." I look around, and there was a middle-aged guy nursing a pint of bitter. His face was lined and craggy and covered in greying stubble. It looked like a face that had been exposed to the elements for a number of years.

"And you're George?" "Yeah...let's get a seat." We sat down, and George reached into his pocket and pulled out a tobacco tin. "Smoke?" he asked. "I'm ok, got some ready-mades," I replied pulling a pack of cigs from my pockets. We stared at each other for a while, summing each other up. "Look, you haven't invited me for a drink so we can make friends with each other, so let's get to the point: You said you knew something about Mike."

"Typical reporter, huh?" he said, smiling. "Straight to the point, no messin', I like that." I didn't respond; I just waited for him to continue, sipping my drink, trying to work him out. "Well, up until recently, I worked on the rigs," he said, puffing on his cig. "My last job was working on the Omega just off Spurn Point." "That was the one which had the fire, right?"

"Yep, I was on the rig when it started." "You hit a gas pocket or something." He leant back in his chair. "That's the official line, but I know different, I was there when it happened. That's why I wanted to speak to you." "So, what actually happened, and what has it got to do with Mike?" I asked. He took a long drag on his roll. "We have several crews that take it turns manning the drill. One of my mates, Bill, was working on the drill when it hit the gas pocket, only it wasn't actually a gas pocket that they hit."

"Carry on." "It wasn't anything, really, just an air pocket, an underwater cave or summat...at least that's what we thought." "So what was it then?" "I don't know...all I know is Bill and the rest of his crew started acting a bit strange afterwards. They withdrew from the rest of the guys on the rig. One night, we we're all laughing and drinking together, and the next night they're ignoring us. They started spending all they're time alone in their bunks, away from the rest of us. And then the fire started."

"But I thought that it was the gas/air pocket - whatever it was - that started the fire." "The fire was started almost two weeks after we hit the pocket...it was started by Bill and his crew." I took a long drink. "I'm finding this hard to believe. You're saying that the fire was an act of arson." George finished his pint in a long gulp, before continuing: "I was one of the first ones there. We got to Bill's cabin and it was locked from the inside...I looked in and they were just sat there. The fire was raging all around them and they didn't lift a finger to save themselves. These guys had families, children, and they just let themselves burn...Christ..."

Continued...Next Page (6/8)

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