May 25, 2008
8:00am
A black van pulls up to a very grim looking building surrounded by tall wire fences. The weather is warm, but the sky is dark only reflecting the feelings of gloom that settle at the bottom of Zachary Addy's stomach as he his escorted across the street.
A tall woman woman with thin lips holds his wrists so he won't get away. Although it's hardly likely he'd get very far. And where would he go? The woman's grasp tightens and young Zack winces in pain as she grips closer to his previously -and severely- burned hands.
I guess I deserve this. Zack thinks to himself as the woman slips a card through a slot and the big gates open up to the two of them. But no matter how many times he went over it in his head, he could trace his logic back to something, reasonable. To him at the time, it seems that there was, at some point, a bit of reasoning. It was so clear! His own thoughts are interrupted when the woman that was escorting him asks him his name.
"I told you in the car." Zack whispers. The woman shoots him a glare and goes through a thick manilla folder. They are in the building now. The walls are white and everyone in the room is staring.
"Zachary Uriah Addy." the woman says.
"Doctor." He mumbles.
"Excuse me?"
"Dr. Zachary Uriah Addy." he says a little louder. The people behind him begin to whisper. He rolls his eyes. Not at the people, that he already knows are talking about him, but at the woman with the folder who cared so little of him that she didn't bother to learn his name the first time. Needless to say, he decided not to waste his time learning her name which is something he would've been able to do with his high IQ and Photographic memory.
The woman begins to talk with a short skinny man at the front desk in the middle of the room. Not casually, of course, but discussing Zack's own various "problems" as the woman called it. They speak in low voices, careful to keep their private exchange from Zack and curious eavesdroppers.
There is a couch in the back of the room and Zack goes to sit. It had been a long week. From burning his own hands to, having his friends and coworkers find that he was the secret apprentice of a serial cannibal and responsible for the death of a lobbyist. He tries not to think of it to much.
Working as a forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian was like home to him. All his friends worked there and he was more than content with his life. They worked to solve murders by studying bones, the dirt and bugs around the body, and what there life was like before the victim's death. Dr. Jack Hodgins was his best friend who worked as an entomologist and Zack did pretty much whatever Hodgins told him. Whether it was good or bad. And to be frank, it was more of one than the other. He wasn't stupid though, he had two doctorates. Angela Monetenegro was the pretty forensic artist who was extremely talented. She could construct a face just by looking at the skull and tissue markers. Not to mention she was an expert in computer technology. Dr. Camille Saroyan was the forensic pathologist who knew how to run things. Zack made sure to never cross her path and always admired her personality. Even if she was always the one to say "No" to his and Hodgins various experiments. Then there was Dr. Temperance Brennan whom Zack worked for as her assistant before he got his doctorate. No doubt she was pretty, and very intelligent. She always got things, that no one else would get, however her social ineptness was at the same level as Zack's and they were easily labeled as nerds. And Agent Seeley Booth. Zack was sure Booth knew everything he didn't and always looked up to him even though Booth was often cold on their relationship. He loved them. He loved them all.
Suddenly his eyes begin to sting. He tries not to blink so a tear won't fall. But he's too weak for that kind of thing.
"Are you crying?" A young girl is seated next to him as she tilts her head. He hadn't noticed her sit down, being all lost in his memories. Zack tries not to answer. If he does, he would have to explain himself and that would lead to a conversation, which would lead to the girl talking back which would lead to some sort of a relationship and any relationship, big or small, Zack desperately wants to avoid. He doesn't want to get hurt again. "Well? Are you?"
Zack sniffles and tries not to come up with a sensible excuse, but ends up giving up on keeping his feelings from the world and uttering, "What a stupid question to ask. Seeing as you can plainly see tears in my eyes."
"Oh," the girl seems somewhat offended. "You coulda just had allergies or someth'n"
Zack tries to keep his composure. He doesn't want to make a scene. The girl presses on.
"What's your name?" she asks.
Trying not to make eye contact, Zack replies, "Dr. Zachary Addy." the girl gasps.
"A doctor eh? What are you doin in here for?" she asks. Zack shakes his head. "Come on! Tell me! What'd ya do? Did you kill a patient? Take some funny medicine? Screw a nurse?" Zack turns to face the girl. She has dirty blond hair and green eyes.
"How old are you?" Zack asks mainly wondering what kind of imagination she has.
"Fifteen, but don't tell that fat kid, Lenney, over there, I've convinced him I'm forty." she thrusts her hand in Zack's face. "I'm Lilac." she says. Zack ignores her invitation to shake her hand. "Don't you want to ask why I'm here?"
No, Zack thinks in his head.
"My mom, she don't trust me, she thinks I need to be 'watched' I was but in a rehab for girls last summer for cutting and an eating disorder. The adults turned there backs for two seconds and I was already on the ground pull'n at this girls hair. See that man right over there in the corner? Ya, that's Ben. He's been asked to 'watch' me. Asked by my mama who sent me here. My mama's a bitch." Lilac states. Zack doesn't like the way Ben glares at the two of them or how Lilac puts "watch" in finger quotations. Everything about Lilac makes him uneasy. Without a reason, he gets up and walks toward the woman who escorted him in.
"Are you ready Mr. Addy?" she asks him.
"Dr. Addy." Zack corrects. The woman doesn't acknowledge it. Instead she turns around and holds up her arms theatrically.
"Welcome to your new home."
