mirrortouch | 01 | 🕐

[ It's not something that really ever becomes routine, it doesn't matter how often he wakes up someplace strange and uncharted. The voice on the line sounds about as scattered as he feels. ]

My name is Will Graham, it's- [ He's pulling back his sleeve to look for a watch that's not there. ] I don't have the time. I don't- I don't have the time.

[ Hang on, don't get too lost. ]

It's not clear to me exactly where I am, but- [ a dry laugh ] you probably already knew that. This isn't even my phone. But you probably knew that too.

[ He's missing details. He's missing plenty. His voice trails off for a short while before he can get his bearings enough to speak again, and even then it's almost unconsciously. ] I don't know. I don't know.

[ It's as if the fact that he has no idea sparks him back into the present. His voice grows more composed, if somewhat cracked. ] So if you're hearing this, if anyone is hearing this - [ is anyone hearing this? ] - any singular indication will be key.

[ Another beat. ]

I feel as though I've strayed a long, long way from home.

[ The air goes dead, and then so does the line. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That implies we have much humanity left. Very generous of you.

[ It's not sarcastic. ]

You think of yourself as beyond the possibility of it? Beyond the possibility of a graduation?

Not at all. We have 'reformed' before. Stayed sane and balanced for years. But only for years. Eventually, eventually-- something goes wrong, and we swing back to what we were.

It's not that we can't reform. It's that it doesn't stick.

Which means you simply can't graduate. Look at you, so volatile and yet so relaxed now.

What happens when it doesn't stick here? What will you do?

We wait to die.

[ Which is a fairly good sum up of their holding pattern on the barge. ]

And is that all you're reduced to? An agent of fair and balanced justice until you inevitably perish?

It's not a bad retirement.

Better than I would have got at home - the barge is better then the asylum, in some ways.

Asylums don't have pool tables.

[ He'll give him that much. ]

Nor are the doors open; free range to roam. I can't question the point at which you've arrived in that sense.

It merely sounds like resignation.

Be here over a year. Resignation is something you'll get very familiar with.

Resignation and futility, walking hand in hand with a lie. [ He supposes that makes up the most of the ship.

He wonders, briefly, just how much resignation it is that may have found itself leaching into Hannibal Lecter. How much hope that leaves him holding out for. ]

I've been here nearly two months now, and there's already a distinct tinge of - foreboding in the air.

You'll get used to that, too. It's a thing that lingers, especially among the inmate population. Especially when things go to hell.

01 | 🕐 | audio

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