Alister's storage unit

[Narg]

Solomon's face became quizzical. He looked a tad anxious. "What's Saoirse want with you?" His tone was a fusion of confusion and suspicion. Alister got the sense that Solomon somehow knew his new doctor.

"I would watch out if I was you, Alister. Ya' see, I work with a very diverse group of people. My job is a little too complex to go over at the moment, but let me jus' say that I've had to work with Saoirse. The woman only cares about herself and her damn job. Don' care if it's right, don' care if it wrong, she will use whatever's at her disposal to get what she wants. She can help ya', ya' jus' gotta weigh whether or not what she's offerin' is worth the cost she demands." Solomon's words were wise. That would be funny to Alister if he gave a shit about the bible. He found himself wondering how this strange man knew a genius in the medical field, and then noticed that he didn't really seem to care. He figured she was like any typical doctor, in it for the money, and at her level, the fame. Solomon's description of her didn't surprise him in the least. 

The two sat and talked for quite a while longer. They spoke of freedom and strength, telling stories of wild jobs they had pulled, and friends they had made and lost along the way. Alister didn't even notice the pain for the hours he talked with this strange man. Eventually Solomon pulled out a phone and looked at it. He put it back in his pocket, stood up, walked over to Alister and held out a hand to help him up. "Have to fly. Got another job to do, and lovely as this been, I'm late already." Solomon hoisted Alister up to his feet, "May I see your cellular device, please?" Alister handed Solomon his phone.

"You ever need me..." Solomon muttered, as he punched numbers into Alister's cell, "you... just... call," He said, emphasizing the last word as he hit enter, "And I will be there fast as I can, time permitting." He held his hand out and nodded at the coat. Alister returned it without hesitation. Solomon smiled at Alister, "Hope it was warm. You're just about too big for it, and I've got the shoulders of a god!" Solomon patted Alister gently on the shoulder, laughed heartily, and turned to go.

As Solomon walked towards the entrance to the storage facility, he turned around and said to Alister, "Remember that ya' freedom and ya'existence are worth everythin'! Don' let no soul take that way from you, no thing no body!"

With that, the stranger waved goodbye and stepped out onto the street, past the napping attendant at the booth, and off into the night.

[Alister Rockwell]

Even though he shivered in the cold, Alister watched Solomon go, and only made to leave after he had rounded the corner and vanished out of sight. The storage facility felt a lot windier and emptier without the other man there, and without the jacket the chill swept back through him.

He took another look at the number that Solomon had left on his phone, a battered Samsung J1 (running on pre-paid credit with a pretty shitty provider). It was...touching. Genuinely. Alister was never really much of a talker, especially not about his thoughts and feelings, but it had all come so easily with Solomon. Talking with him had been like talking with a very dear friend he hadn't seen for some time - in a few short hours, he'd developed a genuine feeling of kinship with the man. Apart from Ferric, Alister felt like Solomon was the only person on the entire Isles who'd give a shit if and when he died.

The time on his phone read around 5am - shit, almost sunrise. He really hadn't noticed the time passing, and he had a long day to kill before the shuttle arrived. Punching in the code and stepping back into his locker, Alister retrieved his jacket and the model of accursed brew he'd been nursing and then went back out. The storage facility was right by the water, and with nothing better to do he found a place to sit, went hard on the bottle, and watched the sun rise.

[Narg]

Alister walked for about ten minutes, slowly and surely, across the road and down past an old cannery. He could see people pull into the lots behind the cannery ready to start their day at work. He saw truck drivers and their helpers moving palettes of cans into their vehicles, some pulling out, off to do their routes. The grey dawn brought busy people out to work.

It had been months, maybe a year since Alister had held an honest day job. It didn't pay as well as crime, and his needs were expensive. The dusk had become Alister's friend. This world was almost alien to him. His illness had shoved him into the dark and demanded he hide from the honest world.

He got to the water just as the sun started to break over the horizon in the east. He sat down at the end of a lonely dock and thought back on his reminiscing with Solomon. He got to meet interesting people and had so many stories to tell. Tales of deceit, and outwitting those ready to betray him. It seems like Solomon was living a full life. 

The sun turned the sky light blue, and gave the pale dawn to new morning. The gulls started their chatter, some of them landing near Alister and giving him a weird look before leaving to scour the beach for scraps. Life was happening all around, and Alister was missing out. Surely Solomon had understood that, but still warned him about Dr. O'Connor? Missing out on this, on life itself, might not be worth the cost for her cure?

Even with such an ominous notion plaguing Alister, it was difficult not to be uplifted by the scene before him. The shakes were practically nonexistent, thanks to the meds, and Alister's booze concoction was really starting to grow on him. Shortly after taking a couple of sips from his bottle, and relishing the morning sun on his face in the cool wind, Alister then felt something wet touch his hand. He wheeled around, as fast as his sick body could, to see a ratty, yet healthy, dock mutt staring at him. The pooch looked to be a mix between some sort of shepherd and a schnauzer. It had the furry mustache going on, and the somewhat bent pointy ears, but the long snout and build of a German shepherd. He could see intelligence in the dog's eyes, and felt an alarming amount of compassion emanating from the mutt. It backed up and sat down a foot or two away from Alister, and looked at him, seemingly content to spend a portion of his empty day with this hurting, sick man. What else is a dog to do on an early morning in Old Harbour?

[Alister Rockwell]

"Hey buddy," Alister greeted the mangy mutt. His favourite breed had always been German Shepards, but the little fella was still pretty cute. He held out the bottle. "Don't suppose you want some?" 

The dog inched forward, took a sniff of the accursed brew, and then recoiled. Alister chuckled, withdrew the bottle, and held out his hand, palm down and fingers curled. The pooch eyed him, sniffed his fingers, licked them, and then let Alister reach up and start scratching him behind the ears. Eventually the pup scooted forward a little more, letting Alister scratch and pet its whole body. 

The sense of doom in Alister's spine had not gone away. He knew, somewhere deep within him, that this was the end of his journey. No conversations with Solomon, no medical help, no optimism could change that. Deep, deep, deep down, he knew, he was certain, that he was going to die. But maybe, just maybe, this was his last moment of peace before it happened - a good drink, no pain, a nice view, and a good companion.

One thing Alister had always excelled at was living in the moment. He let this moment last, and forgot about the rest of the day, just for a while. If this was his last moment of peace, he'd enjoy it while it lasted.

[Narg]

Alister's day went by, muddled by alcohol, intermittent sleep and anxiety. Time could not go any slower. Being sick, and with nothing to entertain himself, Alister awaited the evening with worry and excitement. 

Sundown was fast approaching. It was 7:36 when Alister figured that it would be a good time to go wait for the hospital shuttle. He walked out front and sat on the curb. Andy wasn't back yet. He saw the attendant come out from the bathroom and get in the booth. The man nodded at Alister, stepped into the booth, picked up his phone, and went back to chewing on some beef jerky.

The sky was a dull orange, noticeably purple, deep into evening and almost dusk. Alister shivered in his coat. Today seemed to be even colder than the last. He had uprooted his small life, only a duffel bag, and a bottle of alcohol, ready to see what this doctor wanted.

The two important people in his life had warned him about Dr. O'Connor. She had gotten Dr. Ferric's medical license revoked, and Solomon had warned him of her selfish nature. He wondered whether or not this Doctor would be able to follow through on whatever promises she made him. This interaction seemed to be relatively off the books. The late appointment, the burner phone; Alister had seen this kind of setup before. This felt far too criminal to be a regular doctors visit. Funnily enough, his appointments with Dr. Ferric felt more normal than this.

Alister saw a white van coming toward him down the road. As it pulled up near him, at 7:51, he noticed it looked like a regular airport shuttle. It had windows and multiple rows of seats. The only other person in the car, other than the driver, was a nurse in light purple scrubs seated shotgun. The door opened and the nurse stepped out and looked down at Alister sitting on the curb.

"Hello, I assume you're Alister. My name is Nurse Campri. We're here to pick you up to bring you to your appointment with Dr. O'Connor." She was a young woman with light brown hair in a bun and thick rimmed glasses. She was terribly short and wore comfortable looking white sneakers, She had an engagement ring and a surprising amount spunk and excitement for a woman sent to pick up a terminally ill man off of a sidewalk in front of a storage unit complex.

"Wanna get in the car so we can be on our way?

[Alister Rockwell]

"Nah I wanna stay here and die," Alister said sardonically, and then rose to his feet. He reached out to shake her hand. "Alister. Thanks for coming to pick me up." He hefted the duffel bag - it had clothes, a phone charger, a pocket knife; Alister wanted to bring a gun or something, but historically hospitals never appreciated when he did that. A pocket knife he could potentially pass off more easily, and it was better than empty handed. "This is all I have." 

He threw the duffel bag into a seat and climbed in. The interior was clean, but spartan and not exactly comfortable. "At least it's not a hearse," he muttered under his breath, and belted in. Time to meet this Doctor for himself - rumours or no rumours, if she held the key to curing him he'd go through hell to get his hands on it.

[Narg]

"Make sure you're all buckled up." The driver said in a monotone, entirely disinterested voice. It seemed he had been called in for a shift that he didn't particularly want to do. Alister certainly understood that feeling from his days of full functionality. 

Nurse Campri got in the passenger seat and buckled in. "Ok we're ready to go! It'll be about a thirty minute drive before we get to the hospital. Make yourself comfortable, and please answer these questions as we go. I understand you have difficulty writing so I'll be filling in as many forms as we can along the way!" Her chipper attitude was thoroughly annoying, and seemingly disingenuous. At least it felt that way to Alister. It seemed like this nurse was pretending that these circumstances were normal, when by no means were they.

Alister spent the next thirty minutes saying the words "Not applicable." It was the usual insurance and primary care provider bullcrap that Alister had been through a million times before in the emergency room and he didn't have half of what they were asking for, being poorer than dirt and at death's door.

Eventually they pulled up, not near the main entrance of the building, but in an employee parking lot near the back of a smaller hospital building. Alister and the nurse got out of the vehicle and gathered his effects before the shuttle pulled away. It was close to nighttime now, and the only thing that greeted Alister was a grey green door with a 'staff only' sign next to it. The nurse walked up to it and opened the door for Alister. "

I'll lead you to where you need to go!" Nurse Campri chimed, and motioned for Alister to come inside.

continued in this thread