Insanity Chapter Three

Insanity

Chapter Three

~How We All Met? – Part Three~

Alister Strider

Alister sat in his room waiting for the counselors to open the doors. His long red hair fell well past his waist. He hadn’t cut his hair since he got to the Ward for troubled cops because he wasn’t allowed to handle sharp objects. So he emptied his entire gun on a murder suspect, he was a little trigger happy but that didn’t mean they had to lock him up in a mental health ward.

He looked around his white room. The room was padded and the only piece of furniture was his bed. There was a knock on the door and eventually the door opened. Finally, the counselors opened the doors. Alister smiled and walked out of the room.

“Ello, Gary! Hiya, Leo, what are you two going to do today? ‘Ey, Neal, are Sam an’ Vinni continuing that game of checkers? It’s been goin’ on day three, right?” Alister called as he passed the rows of rooms toward the recreation center.

His voice had an Australian accent. Not a surprise because he lived there all his life and that was where he was convicted as insane. He was moved to some island after he tried to kill himself repeatedly. He didn’t mind it so much, he was an Other also, and he was born that way.

He sat on a couch that overlooked the entire recreation center. He liked watching and he rarely ever joined in any of the fun. But everyone knew him and would sometimes come over to talk to him. He liked to talk.

Alister was watching the checkers game when one of the counselors stopped by to talk to him.

“Hello, Alister,” she said, “I have some good news.”

“Unless you’re about to say ‘at I can get out of here or ‘at I’ve earned an extra Jello cup then I highly doubt it can be good news,” he said with a smile on his face.

The counselor smiled, “Sorry but no, you’re Uncle Ernie is here for a visit.”

“Uncle Ernie?” Alister looked perplexed; then he smiled.

He had received a letter a few weeks ago, the first one in years. It only had two words on it: Uncle Ernie.

His smile widened, “Oh, yeah, Uncle Ernie. Glad he could pay me a visit,” Alister said.

The counselor nodded, “I’ll let him in.”

Alister waited there patiently. He felt like his old self again; staking out a building or interrogating a suspect. He smiled at memories.

Soon a tall man walked in behind the counselor. His black coat followed him like a shadow. Alister smiled as the stranger pulled up a chair in front of him. The stranger sat down and waited for the counselor to leave. The room was quiet as the wanted to watch what was going on.

“It’s okay, folks, just my Uncle Ernie,” Aliaster looked at his ward mates, “You remember my Uncle Ernie, right ‘yall?

They all understood and went back to what they were doing. Alister looked back at his guest. He took in his appearance: his hair, his height, his build, his features, everything he used to do as a police officer. Then he took notice of his posture. It wasn’t welcoming but it wasn’t hostile. It was more of a posture one would have when they had an opportunity for you.

Alister smiled, “You don’t look like an Ernie. Shall we start with your real name?”

“Fang,” he said, getting to business quickly, “I don’t have all the time in the world so let’s get started. I’m with the Tower and I need a team.”

“All well and good, but,” Alister waved his hand around, “If you ‘aven’t noticed, I’m stuck in a psyche ward.”

“Yes, I have and I’m here to break you out,” Fang sat back in his chair, “That is if you accept my offer.”

Aliaster smiled, “Well, then, do I ‘ave a choice. Don’t get me wrong, the guys ‘ere are great but compared to going outside I’d give ‘em up in a minute.”

Fang sighed, “You remind me of someone.”

“The Undertaker? I get that a lot. Yeah, he’s my Uncle twice removed on my mother’s side. He visits every now and again,” Alister seemed to be enjoying this, “So how do you plan to get me out of ‘ere?”

Fang reached into his pocked and pulled out a playing card: ace of diamonds. Alister smiled. The card was slightly thicker than the average card.

“I like diamonds, they look like speedin’ bullets,” he muttered as he took the card.

“Is everyone on your family insane?” Fang stood and prepared to head out.

“Mostly,” Alister said.

Fang sighed, “Get to the door in exactly three hours, twenty-seven minutes, and fifty-nine seconds,” he said referring to the only door connecting the recreation center with the lobby, “We’re expecting you at eighteen hundred hours.”

He left Alister to sit on the couch. For most of the time he fiddled with his key to escape. Eventually he stood up and walked to the door. One of the counselors just left the door was just closing. He charged for the door and through the counselor offices. They tired to contain him but he weaved in and out of their grasp as he ran to the door at the end of the hall.

In the lobby, the security guards were on him instantly. He was an ex-cop so the security guards were not a big problem. After defeating two or thee he ran for the door. He took the card, kissed it in a sign for good luck and dropped it behind him. The room instantly filled with smoke and Alister ran out of the building.

Fang and the others stood there waiting by a black convertible. Alister jumped into the backseat with Shadow who looked annoyed.

“Are you sure this is a good idea, Fang? I’m not doubting you or anything it’s just that we broke him out of a psyche ward,” Shadow stated.

“He’s just as sane as you are,” Fang replied as he drove the car off the lot.

As the car drove through the city Aliaster laughed much like his Uncle. The feel of the wind was nothing like he had felt in a while.

“Anyone ‘ave a knife?” he asked after a while.

Raven looked over the front seat and stared at Shadow. Shadow glared at Alister with careful eyes.

“Why do you need one?” Shadow asked.

“You’ll see,” Aliaster laughed with happiness.

Shadow pulled a knife from his sleeve and handed it to Alister. He had another dagger in his other hand in case Alister tried anything he didn’t like.

Alister took the dagger and smiled, “I never really liked long ‘air. I think it’s ‘bout time I forgot about the ward.”

He pulled his long hair back and took the knife and cut it. The knife was sharp enough and cut clean through. Alister laughed hysterically as his red strands of hair fell lightly on the road behind him.

***

Pawn Shop

“Up next is Arisa,” the Undertaker said, “Arisa Bolverchi.”

Fang raised an eyebrow, “That’s a mouth full. Is she Russian?”

“By birth but she was raised in the United States,” Undertaker read the file, “When her parents died in a house fire the Tower brought her over here in places her in an Orphanage for us Others.”

“How old is she?” Fang asked.

“Twelve,” Undertaker said casually.

“Twelve?” Fang looked cynically at Undertaker, “What is a twelve year old doing applying for a job at the Tower.”

The Undertaker shrugged, “She came in one day saying that she wanted to apply so that when she was old enough she could get out of the orphanage right away. I let her but I didn’t send in the application. I didn’t even fill in her age yet. I was thinking about sending it in on her seventeenth birthday. That’s the earliest you can apply then at eighteen you either get accepted or not.”

Fang looked at the file. She seemed to have potential, maybe she was worth investing in.

“We’ll see,” he said and continued to flip through her file.

***

Arisa Bolverchi

All the children lined up in the hallway to great the visitor that had stopped by. A little girl dug into her pocket and pulled out an old lighter. She would turn the flame on then blow in out over and over again. The head adult in the orphanage was introducing the man to the children. He looked disinterested for the most part.

Arisa had long white hair and here eyes were gold. She looked like a smaller version of the man who had come for a visit. Arisa shifted uncomfortably in her pink dress. She hated dressed but since it was the only thing the orphanage bought the girls than she had to improvise by borrowing one on the boy’s shorts. Arisa tugged and pulled at the dress as if that alone would make it longer.

Arisa lost track of time when the head mistress grabbed her lighter away from her.

“You know what the rules say! Arisa, you can’t have that in here!” the woman shouted, “Don’t you know what happened to your parents?! They died in a fire! Is that why you like it so much? Are you trying to find out how fire works?”

She calmed down for the guest, “This is Arisa Bolverchi. She is quite the trouble maker.”

Arisa rolled her eyes.

“Are you a trouble maker?” Fang asked.

Arisa looked up at him. He was, of course, much taller than she was and it hurt her neck a little to crane up that high. She didn’t say anything however.

“She’s weird,” one of the kids said, “she has no powers.”

“Is that true?” Fang asked.

Again, no answer.

“If you will step this way, sir,” the woman said.

Fang didn’t move. He reached in to his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Slowly, and at the intense protest of the woman, he pulled one out and held it out to the girl, white side toward her.

“Seems like I forgot my lighter,” he said, “Would you mind?”

Arisa looked at the cigarette then to the woman. The woman had finally shut up and waited for the right moment to say something again. She was waiting for Arisa to fail. That wasn’t going to happen today. She lifted up her fist and flicked her thumb up creating a small flame. Everyone in the hallway gasped. She lit the cigarette then shook out her hand to get rid of the flame.

Fang looked at the lit cigarette, “Pity I don’t smoke,” he said and crushed the burning death stick in his hand, “Looks like she had powers to me.”

“But, but, how?” the woman stuttered, “She wasn’t born with powers! Her parents were both normal humans!”

“Well, apparently she got it in here genes some how but it wasn’t a major part in her DNA. But enough of a part that when she died in the fire it activated and now she had powers. Why else would the Tower send her here?” Fang asked in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, “Isn’t that right, Arisa?”

“Yes,” she said.

“Let’s go,” he said and started walking out of the building.

Arisa followed obediently.

“You can’t just take her!” the woman yelled.

“She is under employment by the Tower. If you have a problem with that you can complain to them,” Fang didn’t even turn around to look at her again.

He turned the corner and exited the building. Arisa squinted as she walked outside. She saw a black convertible with three people inside. In the front passenger seat was a man in black. His red eyes glanced at her. In the back seats there was a girl in a purple cloak and a man with red hair.

“Get in,” Fang said as he walked around the car.

“Well, ‘ello there,” the red haired man offered his hand.

Arisa grabbed in and he pulled her over the car door and into the middle seat. As the car started Arisa could see a crowd of people looking out of the windows of the orphanage including the bossy woman. Arisa stuck out her tongue at all of them. It was her dream to get out of that place. When the car started moving she sat properly in between the boy and the girl.

“Can I get some new clothes?” she asked Fang, he was obviously in charge.

“I agree,” Alister said, “those clothes you ‘ave on now wouldn’t scare the lice off an ol’ dog.”

“What is it with you and your horrible sayings?” Shadow turned in his seat to ask, he looked to Raven for an agreement.

“No comment,” she said quietly.