video;

[gotsomebadnoose]

[a burst of static. Shadows blot out the corners, dip into the frame. Dim. Dreary. Lee's been thinking. It's a dangerous place to be. Makes him lament. Reminds him of things he didn't have or of what he did have, but lost. Out of reach. Out of grasp. Close enough that maybe, just maybe the tips of his fingers could brush it, but then he'd just knock it away. Weighed down by a heavy heart. Heavy mind.

The audio kicks in with a loud crackle and adjusts into a tolerable almost hum in the background. A corpse, well tended to- dressed in a jacket, black sweater, and jeans, slumped in a chair- head lulled to the side, tilted back against the backrest of the chair, and craned against the cement wall, lies. At a glance, the figure was only in a deep rest. A sleep of ages claiming both body and breath, stilling his pulse and stealing his color. Blue lips parted. Words left unspoken, silenced by a descended crowbar. The scene faintly illuminated by a pale blue glow.

The video remains stubbornly glued to the body. The speaker standing somewhere behind the device.]

I've b__n th_nking again...I r______…what my life was __ke bef___ this place an_ _ rea____…there w_sn't m_ch th___e. I ___ed my life with___ RE__LY living it. Then again, everything in between ___ ____ght, I ___ss. __ o___ it hadn't ended the way it DID.

[silence slips in, the static simmering to a barely audible level. His words easier to hear. Images of the last few hours he had lived float on the surface. Lee speaks quietly. He didn't want to startle those memories.]

Anyways, what do y_u do when you're feeli_g bl-...down?

I'd really like to k__w.

non-static version I've been thinking again...I remember...what my life was like before this place and I realize...there wasn't much there. I lived my life without REALLY living it. Then again, everything in between was alright, I guess. If only it hadn't ended the way it DID. Anyways, what do you do when you're feeling bl-...down? I'd really like to know.

Comments

[sonatasedge]

[The past tense and the way he swallows like that are not lost on him.] ... Oh.

[Seriously, what else is there to say? He wonders if this is the same boy that Undertaker said he- ...]

He's not around anymore, is he? [His tone is soft despite the direct way he says it.]

[gotsomebadnoose]

No, he's not.

[Solid confirmation. The flaking away of a flimsy emotional wall, that maybe he could talk about this without a wavering voice or having to look away. That isn't the case. Lee's jaw subtly clenches and he closes his eyes for long enough to bat away whatever regrets and sorrows sought to wash over him.

He keeps his composure. It's the best he can manage.]

We didn't see it coming, but no one really does when it comes down to it.

[sonatasedge]

[He's silent for a moment, just letting that wash over him. Undertaker said he'd lost an adoptive son and he got the feeling that this ghost's son was the same person. He feels uneasy because of what Undertaker said his relationship was with this guy. But he just assumed Undertaker was being senile or something. Not only all that, but he feels bad for Lee and unsure of how he should feel about the fact that someone he was close to and doesn't remember had died. But first things first: confirmation needed.]

A guy named Undertaker told me something like that too. Was he talking about your son?

[gotsomebadnoose]

[Tired and heavy, like the world weighed on his words, making them sag and bend. He felt terrible for Soul too. It really does seem like the guy doesn't remember. Maybe it was better that way? Lee couldn't tell.]

Yeah, that's him.

[sonatasedge]

[Well, there was his answer, the implications of both ghost and senile old man claiming fatherhood over this guy are not lost on him, but he doesn't judge. It's none of his business.]

What was his name?

[gotsomebadnoose]

Veser Hatch. You...don't remember anything, do you?

[Good job, Soul can see more between Lee and Taker than Lee has even noticed for himself! :D]

[sonatasedge]

... No, I don't.

[It's more just process of elimination and assumptions. Though Soul is pretty intuitive. Not to mention that kind of thing is torturing his subconscious ever since Undertaker trolled him with the supposed fact that Veser was his lover.]

I'm sorry. [He means for the loss of Veser more than not remembering.]

[gotsomebadnoose]

I-It's okay. It's not your fault.

[to both subjects. One of Lee's growing regrets is not have really known Soul before he had departed. That all he really knew was from the small bits he saw or heard from Veser.]

[sonatasedge]

Yeah... [He's really tired of being jerked around by other worlds that whisk you away and mess around with your memories and your anatomy.]