[Action/Video]

[othersdie]

[Justin, unaffected by the cold induced by sitting near the fountain that the City had seen fit to drop him into during winter, finally tires of waiting for what he’s convinced what must be a trick of the mind to dissipate and resolve itself into the nothingness of death. For a lack of any other distractions, he fumbles with the device he had found in his pocket earlier.

He doesn’t fully understand why he would bother hallucinating what resembles a camcorder. The brain is truly a strange and unfathomable thing.]

Am I dead yet?

[It’s a ridiculous question. He still exists enough to imagine things; the answer is clearly no.]

If not--if not, I hope this doesn't last long.

Comments

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

[Yes it is, Justin.]

Then why are you waiting for death?

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

[Oh, and Chase's haircut is full of joy and rainbows.]

I was--or I am--being asphyxiated. I understand that hallucinations may precede brain death.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

[That sounds familiar. It shouldn't. If Chase shows anything in response it's a very small flinch.]

You'd be right about that. Instead of wishing it over, you might want to consider enjoying it while it lasts.

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

I've been wishing it would be over for months. If this is a hallucination, it needs to get over with.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

You want to die and someone's got a hand around your throat? How lucky can you get.

If this is a hallucination, it's incredibly complex. Unique among anything reported as a near-death experience. Sure there's no interest in looking around?

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

Not a hand. Hydrogen cyanide gas--metabolic asphyxiation.

If this isn't a hallucination, I've gone insane. Either way, looking around wouldn't hurt.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

[Hold up.]

What year is it?

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

2002. Almost 2003.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

[pre-2010. West coast accent.]

How did you end up in a gas chamber?

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

[Damn it. This was something he had meant to avoid and he had all but confessed to a stranger.]

Hubris, flawed philosophy, vengeful cops, and exceedingly good lawyers on the side opposing me had a lot to do with it. I suspect a general reluctance to keep a seventeen year-old in prison for life contributed.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

Public reluctance to kill one tends to be the firmer guiding hand. Must have been nasty.

[And, obviously, he's thinking school shootings. That particular variety of teenage 'acting out' so much more prevalent in America than anywhere else.]

Or it could be that 'flawed philosophy' doesn't sound very contrite.

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

It wasn't. Not really.

Should I apologize for what I believed in? That doesn't work.

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

If it was flawed, if you were wrong about it, then apologising makes sense. Plenty of people have died or killed because they believed in something flawed. I'd call that regrettable.

You mean apologising doesn't change things. What works depends on what you're trying to achieve.

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

[Well-played, sir.]

It was regrettable--wrong. Not in theory, maybe, but in practice... more so when the practitioners are more flawed than their ideas.

What should I be trying to achieve?

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

It's not my job to tell you that. But if you want any advice while you're here, you might want to keep your record closer to your chest.

[He is, after all.]

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

I will.

May I ask for your name?

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

Doctor Chase.

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

A medical doctor?

[intheblanks.livejournal.com]

Surgery and intensive care.

[Well, it's the start of the list.]

Are you going to give me yours?

[othersdie.livejournal.com]

Ah.

Sorry. Justin.