Day 47: Recreational Field [Second Shift]

[vsyourface]

Scott wasn't really what one would call the sporty type, at least not currently. In the past, maybe. He could have called himself a hockey player at one point - in grade two (it totally counted). And he had been a jock in high school, hadn't he (he had at least played a lot of Track & Field for the NES, anyway)? Regardless of what his athletic

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[otnemememento]

A quick flash, and the photo was ejected from the camera and in Leonard's hand. He habitually shook it before taking his pen to the space at the bottom:



"I guess they know about my system," he said, closing his camera and returning his pen to his pocket. "To be able to function like this, you've got to have a system. They probably pity me. They don't need to. The system works. You just have to be organized, disciplined. Structure your life around habit and routine. You need to have a reason to live and make it work."

He retrieved the other photographs from his pocket, adding Dent's to the pile. The man seemed to understand where he was coming from, or maybe he just didn't like to ask a lot of questions. Maybe he'd lost someone as well, or maybe whatever was wrong with half his face distanced him from people in the way his own condition did. Whatever it was, it helped save time- Leonard was sure he spent a lot of time explaining himself to people.

[unheroed]

Glad that Leonard didn't bother to show him how the picture had turned out, Harvey resumed his previous position against the wall and glanced over the field. A system. Well, there was probably no other way to get by; chances were that Leonard wrote down everything little thing, too.

Having a reason to live was something Harvey could definitely relate to, even if all it boiled down to was revenge at this point. He didn't mind. He wasn't entirely sure what he'd do once everyone responsible had paid for their crimes, but he got the feeling he'd be busy for a while. Especially with this place slowing him down.

He glanced over at Leonard, his one visible eye narrowed. "So what's your reason? I guess right now all you're focused on is getting out of here, right?" But what happened after that? How did someone like Leonard function in the normal world? While Harvey's accident and injury had changed his life, at least he could still manage for the most part. It was difficult to eat and the pain never really went away, but his thoughts were in order and that was the most important thing.

[otnemememento]

"Getting out of here would be ideal," he said. He knew that truthfully, he belonged somewhere like this, somewhere like Sammy Jankis had ended up; however, he wasn't willing to accept that as good enough, as the end-all answer. Doctors and nurses and everyone could think he couldn't manage for all he cared. He could make the system work. It had to work. And he'd find a way out of here with or without their approval.

He had no need to look through his notes or examine his tattoos to know what he had to do, what he lived for. It was scarred into his mind, a new layer burned when he saw the face of his wife before him, struggling for her last breaths. "I'm going to find the bastard who did this, the guy who destroyed everything I had: my wife, my memory, my ability to live. I'm going to find him and kill him."

[unheroed]

In the end that was what everyone was after, wasn't it? Harvey hadn't met anyone who wanted to stay here, obviously. He was annoyed by the fact that even with so many people working at it (and while most of the patients here were idiots, there were enough sharp people to make a difference), nothing had come of it so far. The facts were sobering, but Harvey had never been the sort to give in no matter the odds.

When Leonard first started talking about finding the person who had landed him with his condition and murdered his wife, Harvey had figured he'd end it all by saying that he planned to get the guy convicted. That was, after all, what normal people would have done. It was human nature to want justice after having something so terrible done to you, but then those last words came through loud and clear: I'm going to find him and kill him.

The words could have easily come out of Harvey's mouth (with the caveat that he gave them a fifty-percent chance of living, anyway), and he was genuinely shocked to have found someone who shared so much in common with him. Almost seemed planned, and he'd been getting that feeling more and more lately.

At this point, Harvey couldn't keep his thoughts to himself. He looked away, staring at the opposite wall across the field. "Looks like we're a matched pair, then." It could easily stay his secret if Leonard forgot.

[otnemememento]

Leonard eyed the nurses, who seemed to be mostly ignoring the two men along the wall, despite their grim conversation. They probably don't put too much thought into it, he assured himself. I know I wouldn't. It's easier to write it off as insane ramblings. If only they knew.

He turned his head toward Dent, curious. "What do you mean by that?"

[unheroed]

It had been cryptic, and Harvey knew that, but it wasn't like the words were easy to get out. Normally he wouldn't have told anyone who didn't already know, but Leonard had been through almost the exact same thing. He at least had some idea of what it was like, especially with that revenge apparently burning up in him.

"She wasn't my wife, but I lost someone very close to me." Rachel had even said she'd wanted to get married, but that had been in those last moments where she'd probably just wanted to say something that would last, that would stick in his memory. He couldn't know for sure how things would have turned out if she'd lived, which made the whole thing painful rather than relieving.

"No, I didn't lose her," he corrected himself. "She was taken from me." Harvey still didn't make any attempt at eye contact. Not now.

[otnemememento]

Leonard gave a solemn nod. It was a strange connection to feel with someone in an asylum, a brotherhood bonded through loss, forged in the fires of unbridled rage, the desire for justice- for brutal revenge- always dangling overhead and out of reach. He idly took the pen he'd just put in his pocket, adding to the back of Dent's photo: HE UNDERSTANDS YOU- HE HAS ALSO LOST SOMEONE.

"Did he do that to your face, too?" Leonard asked, his curiosity itching as he inferred some key points from Dent's words. If that was the case, then Dent was right- they really were two of a kind, both wronged men with lives were ruined physically, mentally, and emotionally in one fell swoop.

[unheroed]

Harvey's shoulders stiffened when he saw that Leonard was scribbling something down, but in the end it wasn't worth worrying about. So long as the guy didn't start giving out that information to anyone who asked, it should be fine. And really, he doubted that he could be together enough to scheme like that, especially when it wouldn't benefit him in any way.

The words were already out. If he really wanted to get that secret back, he'd just have to steal the photo.

Leonard's question was expected after Harvey had already revealed so much, and he nodded in response. "Getting rigged to a barrel of gasoline will do that to you," he forced out bitterly.