Stort Stories of a Random Nature

Notlad watched the press file in, glancing nervously at Neb, sitting next to him. He wondered why Ben had insisted on a third chair. And was Ben’s sweat a sign of withdrawals from his ‘demon’ or the glaring media lights?

‘You OK Ben?’

‘Yeah, fine.’ Ben glanced at the empty chair.

Cameras started flashing. The room was almost full. The clock clicked over to signal the hour.

‘Why did we want the press here at midnight?’ Dalton asked, but received no response. ‘Are you ready to go Ben?’

‘Uh…he’s not here,’ Ben glanced sideways.

‘Who?’

‘Him.’

‘Who?’

Ben turned to answer, but at that point Steve from The West decided to start the questions. ‘Has Ben admitted the need to face his demons?’

Dalton turned to face the cameras. ‘Ben has indeed agreed to face his demons…’

‘Uh…there’s only one demon,’ Ben interjected.

‘Er…right. But Ben has decided to face it and we support fully support him.’

‘Uh…it’s a him, not an it,’ Said Ben.

‘Sorry?’ Dalton looked and felt confused.

Ben turned to the assembled press. ‘I’d just like to make it clear that there is only one demon.’

‘How do you feel about the message this sends to fans, in particular kids?’ asked Caroline Jones from Channel 9.

Dalton quickly answered as he saw Ben move to speak. ‘Ben acknowledges his role and apologises to our sponsers…er…I mean his fans.’

At this point Ben turned to the empty chair, smiled, and said, ‘Hi mate, glad you could make it.’

The journalists followed his gaze and saw…nothing. Dalton stopped speaking and looked with concern at Ben. ‘Are you OK Ben?’

‘Yeah, yeah. Just chatting. Don’t want to end up like Anna-Nicole. Got to keep relations good.’

Caroline’s gaze was drawn to the empty chair. ‘Why is there a pentagon around the chair?’

Ben gave her a withering look. ‘You can’t control demons without a pentagon. Everyone knows that. Did they find a pentagon in Anna-Nicole’s room? No. None at all. And look what happened!’

‘Can we just get back on the subject here please?’ Dalton asked, sounding just a little bit panicky. ‘We’re here to make a statement about Ben facing his…about Ben’s drug use.’

‘’Hang on a moment,’ Steve insisted, ‘Are we talking drugs or demons, or perhaps mental issues?’

‘Who do you think supplies me? Come to think of it, he might have supplied Anna-Nicole too...’ Ben suddenly stopped speaking and turned to the empty chair for a moment, listening. ‘Oh…you didn’t supply Anna’s stuff? You were simply covering for a colleague.’ Ben turned back to the press. ‘Did you guys get that? Apparently troubles with priest or something, but he wasn’t Anna’s supplier on a regular basis.’

Dalton sighed. ‘Do we really have to go through this again?’ As the press seemed to lean forward to ask more questions, he felt suffocated by the lenses staring at him, watching his every move. Was this really a good idea? Why had he agreed? And who was Ben talking to?

‘Are you saying that there’s an actual demon?’ Steve was smirking.

‘Yeah!’ Ben replied.

‘No!’ said Dalton at the same time.

‘Is demon worship prevalent at the club?’ Steve asked, smirking even more.

‘Nah,’ said Ben, ‘Just me Dan and Chad. The other guys are on the waiting list. But apparently Anna-Nicole left a vacancy.’