The lady introduced herself as Ashley. She seemed to have an odd love for the colour black: even the bandage she used for my legs was black. I also got new, black clothes that were a bit warmer than my stage clothes and she put my cloak in a bucket of cold water to wash the blood out. It was by then that I had finally calmed down completely. 

"Who hurt you like that?" Ashley asked again.
"It was an accident," I said, "I climbed out of a broken window, and there were some shards sticking out."
"Why did you climb out of a broken window?" she asked, raising her left eyebrow.
"I was trying to escape. Some crazy guy named Ma- I mean, Carl, kidnapped me and locked me up in a bedroom. I couldn't call the police because he stole my watch."
Ashley nodded. "Do you mean the Carl next door?"
"That one."
Ashley stood up. "I'll call the police. Don't worry, it'll be okay. I'll be right back." 

Ashley tapped the call-button on her watch and walked out. Thoughtlessly, I stirred with my hand in the bucket with my cloak. The water had already turned slightly red. The only sounds I heard were a ticking clock in the corner of the room and Ashley talking in the hall. 

I missed my gloves. To take them off for one song already takes courage, every time again. So much darkness is locked away inside me, and if I don't look out it can come out all at once. I knew that I should just have processed it instead of doing this, but I couldn't have thought that something like this could happen. Everyone who had ever been to one of my shows could have known what kind of beast I can become without my gloves. 

At that moment Ashley raised her voice. She sounded frustrated. "Listen, man, the problem with you is that you don't have any patience! I've been telling you every time this happened!"
I doubted that she was talking to a police officer.
"I know what you were trying to do, Carl, but just that she surrenders to emotions doesn't mean she surrenders to you. You should really learn the difference someday." 

I knew enough. 

In Dutch you have this expression "de brutalen hebben de halve wereld", which literally means "the bold have half the world". Let's see if I can get my half of the world. I simply stood up and walked to the door Ashley was still ranting behind. I opened it.

"Good day," I said.
"Yeah, hi," Ashley replied distractedly.

And I walked on to the outside door. But there my fortune let me down. It was locked.

Behind me Ashley realized what was going on. She said: "Wait a minute..."