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Post by Gabriel Taylor Adams on Jan 7, 2010 15:40:13 GMT -5
"I like whatever people think I like. Anything I say is just an excuse, or so I'm told. I don't know." Gabriel pulled away from the baby.
It was like he was looking through Zach and the baby. Like they weren't really there. Gabriel's eyes went a little cloudy, back to Zach's panicked words on his voicemail. The smile didn't fade, even when he snapped back to the present.
"I guess I care about her. I haven't really made up my mind yet." Gabriel sighed, rubbing his temple. There was that uncomfortable knot in Gabriel's stomach, the knot he got when he was lying about something strange. He didn't have a real reason to lie, he just was. He'd made up his mind in Pontiex.
Yeah, he cared.
"Man I'm getting soft," Gabriel murmured. "Yeah. I wanted him dead. I wanted to-"
He broke off. It felt wrong, talking about what he wanted to do to that man with a baby sitting there, in a square where little old ladies walked around complaining about how cold it was. The square was too normal. He didn't want to ruin this.
Not today. Zach didn't get much but that faint, constant smile. He felt hazy. He didn't want to be here. Why hadn't he walked away? Why hadn't he just kept walking when he saw Zach? Gabriel knew he could be hateful to Zach while he held that baby.
Not today.
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Post by Zachary Mark Flaherty on Jan 7, 2010 15:57:28 GMT -5
Zach shook his head. "Back in Pontex I could have asked you and you would have slit my ribs open again." He said. He probably could. He bit his lip slightly. He didn't need to say anything at the moment.
"Face it, Gabriel. You wouldn't have rushed to my apartment if you didn't care about her. You like her. No, you probably are in love with her, and you don't even know it, or won't admit it." He said. "I did that for a long time with her. She doesn't wait you know." He looked down at the baby.
"We both wanted him dead, but no one did anything about it. No one went over there and killed him. We stayed with Eliza." He said. Since when did Zach get so wise? He didn't know. He found it kind of creepy. He traced the baby's face with his index finger. He smiled at her softly.
"You're getting soft you know. Actually caring about someone. That isn't the Gabriel that would have killed me in a heartbeat if he wanted to." He said.
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Post by Gabriel Taylor Adams on Jan 7, 2010 16:21:39 GMT -5
He was right, probably. "Ribs are a little messy, honestly. That's not personal experience, that's just..biology knowledge. I guess." Gabriel shrugged, pulling the mask over his face. His nose was cold. He knew the baby had to be cold, Zach had to be cold.
"I don't know Zach. I doubt I'm in love." He grinned behind the mask, eyes flashing in their slits. "That doesn't happen to guys like me."
Gabriel stuffed his hands in his pockets, looking like some kind of a plastic figure breathing smoke. Funny, since he'd never smoked a cigarette in his life. It almost made him laugh, one of those mad thoughts that just popped up and clicked against his buttons.
"She's waited this long, and she'll have to wait longer if she thinks I'm just gonna erase all my rules."
"Besides, killing the son of a bitch would have upset her. That was the last thing we wanted to do, right?" Gabriel had started to turn, but now he glanced over his shoulder at Zach.
Gabriel sighed again. "I just came from an institute. Do you know what they do there? They give us drugs and every time we do so much as make a smart remark, they lock us in a room. There is nothing but a bed, and there isn't any light. No one talks to you. They leave you there for days."
"It's a government program. Isn't that funny?" Gabriel let out a sharp, joyless laugh. "The government lets them shoot us with drugs and tie us to a bed, feeding us on cold turkey soup and pills. We had to where a uniform, or they wrote little notes on our file and stuck us back in Isolation."
"I hated it."
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Post by Zachary Mark Flaherty on Jan 7, 2010 16:57:35 GMT -5
Zach rolled his eyes. "My point is, you would have sliced me open like a can." he said. He was starting to get cold, and Ember had to be cold. He reached into the bag that he had with all her stuff and pulled out a warm blanket. He wrapped it around her tightly, enough to keep her hands inside.
He looked up as Gabriel had a mask on. "Nice mask." He said. "Have you ever been in love? Because you won't know until you finally kiss her that you're in love with her." He said.
"You would think. But unless you like her with Joey, I suggest you pick it up."
"That is what you think. She hates him." He said. He held the baby close to his chest, trying to keep her warm. He should have put a coat on before he left, but he didn't.
Zach stared at him, his eyes huge. "Um.." He was all he could choke out. He didn't know what to say, or think. He knew Gabriel was a little insane, but enough to be locked up, he didn't think so.
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Post by Gabriel Taylor Adams on Jan 8, 2010 13:28:51 GMT -5
Gabriel snorted with laughter. "Zach, do you know what I was doing in the cemetary that night? I was carving a name on a piece of wood. When Eliza walked up, I was pissed she'd interrupted me. She ran, and I thought, 'I could kill her.' I could bury her in one of those graves and no one would ever find her."
His eyes narrowed, sharpened to pale onyx chunks. "Does that sound like love to you? I whispered little things in her ear to make her scared, because I liked it. I wanted to slit her throat and see if the blood just leaked, or it really sprayed like it does in the movies."
His knuckles whitened, nails digging so hard into his palms they left little crescent moon imprints when he stopped. "Do you know where I've been the last year? I got thrown out of schools, and spent my time in jail or the psychiatric ward of a hospital. They put me in that place because they ran out of places to put me."
Hadley hadn't been able to fix him, because he'd made his life that way. It had been totally intentional. They didn't have a word for what he was, so they labeled him a sick freak and locked him away. That hadn't worked, he'd gotten items smuggled to him.
"She doesn't hate him, I've never seen two people more in love," Gabriel said scornfully. Why was he telling Zach, Zachary Flaherty, all these things, of all people?
Gabriel was fed up with it all. He bit his lips, sighing. "I'm going. Have fun, spinning around everything I just told you in that head of yours, Zach. Don't screw up what you got, buddy." He gestured to Ember. "I'm going to try and get back on my feet, but sooner or later, Hadley's drugs are going to wear off. And then you'll be in trouble."
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