@fogheaded said : “God- okay, I’m sick of dancing around this with other people. Everyone says I shouldn’t forget you because it would hurt you. Last time I checked, you hated me. Thought I was just- just a waste of space and energy. Am I wrong?”
WHAT IS MARTIN? MIST, OR MEMORY, OR NOTHING AT ALL? jon used to know. he’d been unimpressed at his colleague, unwanting of his kindness, cruel, even. but he’d known martin. known his steadiness, and except in some moment of deception, in a way, needed it. but something is different now, and it isn’t just the knowing : it’s where his knowing runs out. its in the empty spaces he sees in martin that didn’t used to be there.
he who stands in front of him is not the martin jon remembers, and he is not the one he used to see. jon stares and stares, and sees martin, but something is never right. he cannot look away, but never learns anything. it’s not the thing that has stolen sasha, it’s not a different form in front of him. it’s something inside.
it’s as unclear as staring head - long into heavy mist. jon’s eyes are not the problem. it’s a more fundamental sight : it’s the pieces of him that are becoming that have detected this newness. he knows that he doesn’t know something, and the paradox of it makes his head ache as it had when he’d wandered within the distortion, or felt paranoia crawling as a cold sweat down his bony back. he needed martin. in a strange way, that he cannot understand, that is new to him, he’d needed him ---- and it doesn’t feel good, when martin thinks he hates him. had he been so cruel, or is his ignorance withholding something crucial? does his anchor moor him, or does he grip him as they sink, drowning, toward the ocean floor?
“ of course . . . martin, of course you’re wrong. ” jon uncertainty wavers in his voice, and he clears his throat, and a tape recorder is running in his pocket, unbeknowst to him. “ you’re not a good assistant but you’re not a waste, you’re not worthless. not to me. ” he’s never been one to convey emotion, but there’s a tension in his throat that he cannot ignore.
“ after what’s happened . . . you’re important to me. i want to be better ---- i know i wasn’t always good. but i want you to want to remember me. we need each other. you, and i, and everyone else. i can’t do this alone. ”