collects_strays: (birdcage)
Will Graham ([personal profile] collects_strays) wrote2014-04-12 12:59 pm

[OOM] a farewell, of sorts

Graham had heard the attending call it "lucky." Through and through, one of the cleanest shots she'd ever seen. Nothing inside shattered or torn. Minimal care required, for a gunshot wound. Jack Crawford knew what he was doing.

The encephalitis was less "lucky," but just as treatable. At first, everything was so quiet, so still, Graham thought something was wrong with him again.

Then he realized he had forgotten what it was like to think clearly.

It didn't seem like very much time had passed before Jack came into the room, to tell him he had been deemed healthy enough for transfer. He entered the room with his hands his pockets. He didn't take off his hat, or his long coat. He didn't want to stay. Graham knew why, but it didn't stop him from saying exactly what he knew Jack didn't want to hear –

"We're following up on your allegations against Dr. Lecter, Will," Jack cuts across him, in a stern tone, managing to make Graham feel like a child who has spoken out of turn, but not to make him feel bad for it. "Now do yourself a favor and start thinking less about Hannibal Lecter, and more about yourself."

Transfer happened the next day. Unimpressed with his stealing the last ambulance he was in, the personnel from BSHCI take no chances this time.

At the new "hospital," there was a very different routine. Meals were passed through the food tray at 7:00 AM, 12:30 PM, and 6:30 PM; the tray and plastic cutlery were picked up no more than fifteen minutes later. He had recognized the jumpsuit – an off-putting, pale shade of dark blue – from interviewing Abel Gideon a few months ago. It's stamped with B1327-1. Unlike Gideon's cell, his own is painted bricks, a wall of bars separating it from the hall, a light above his cot that dims for eight hours, but never goes out entirely. Leaving the cell is another careful ordeal, but it hasn't happened very often yet. Graham was told his treatment with Dr. Chilton would begin on Monday.

He doesn't know what day it is. But then, he'll find out soon.

It's still not Monday, and he's sitting on the cot, leaning forward, hands folded between his knees. Or he's not, really – until the now familiar sound of the buzzer at the end of the hall cuts through his mind and pulls him back into the cell. The buzzer goes off when any door on the floor is unlocked. Graham can tell, as the heavy bolt slides back into place and slow footsteps follow, that it's the main door, and someone has entered the hall. Only one someone, not another inmate returning, likely not one leaving; not the food cart.

Graham can also hear that the footsteps have stopped outside his cell, but he doesn't move, and doesn't look up.
cook_the_rude: (a - Out of darkness into darkness)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 12:29 am (UTC)(link)
"Do you feel safe in your bare little barred brick cave?" Dr. Lecter asks, in a tone of voice that might be interpreted as gentle.
cook_the_rude: (Auger of curiosity)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 12:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"You want to stay whole, Will?" Dr. Lecter muses, tilting his head questioningly like an auger of curiosity.

"These bars will keep some more wayward parts of you from escaping, won't they? You'll be safely whole inside them."
cook_the_rude: (a - Hello Will)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 04:39 pm (UTC)(link)
"You may think you have regained control of all your wayward parts now, but have you?" Dr. Lecter says, smiling.
cook_the_rude: (a - Out of darkness into darkness)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"It may be a bit late for stopping, Will," Dr. Lecter says.
cook_the_rude: (Actually really very deeply concerned)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"I wanted to see how you are, Will," Dr. Lecter says, his voice calm, almost pacifying, as if talking to a dog spooked by thunder. "Perhaps I should come back another day."
cook_the_rude: (Coming out of the darkness)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
"Are you sure you have your own gauge for the truth back then, after losing it to the encephalitis?" Dr. Lecter says, gently.
cook_the_rude: (Actually really very deeply concerned)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, Will," Dr. Lecter says. "Will, Will, Will. You will still insist on that?"
cook_the_rude: (Coming out of the darkness)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
"You do realise you developed those delusions under the influence of your encephalitis?" Dr. Lecter asks, voice mild, almost sorrowful.
cook_the_rude: (Actually really very deeply concerned)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 10:01 pm (UTC)(link)
"What did you think you saw, Will?" Dr. Lecter asks.
cook_the_rude: (Auger of curiosity)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 10:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"I had driven you there," Dr. Lecter says. "At your vigorous insistence. You don't remember, do you?"
cook_the_rude: (Actually really very deeply concerned)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
Dr. Lecter gives him a painful look, and takes a deep breath, as if to regain equilibrium after the pain of being reminded of Abigail.
cook_the_rude: (a - Hello Will)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-13 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm here to see how you are," Dr. Lecter says, "and what I see is that you still haven't separated what happened in the outside world from the theater inside your brain when it was on fire."
cook_the_rude: (a - Hello Will)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-14 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think I'll be back another day, Will," Dr. Lecter says. "You might need more time to sift through you memories."
cook_the_rude: (Honest face not for public consumption)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-14 08:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Dr. Lecter holds his gaze.

"I hope you find what you need."
cook_the_rude: (a - Hello Will)

[personal profile] cook_the_rude 2014-04-14 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good-bye, Will," Dr. Lecter says, his voice calm and level, and then he turns and walks away, quickly vanishing from Graham's field of visions.