IV.

Walter felt so alone…

It was an unusual thing for him to be feeling outside of St. Claire's, especially now since his son was back in his life and he had a few new friends.

But it started to dawn on him how un-accepting people were of his quirks. It first hit him after his meeting with Dashell Kim. Walter's anger and frustration at his friend's loss of sanity caused Walter to go crazy again himself, and he was forced to the spend the night in his old cell as a result.

After Walter was freed, it was discovered that Dashell was sane in his own way. That's when Walter began to understand how Peter felt about having to cope with living with an insane man everyday.

Walter wanted to change after that experience…but change would never really come. A tiger can never change his stripes…not even the old and unstable ones.

But his old friend from the mental institution still hounded him…still haunted him…and still vowed to ruined Walter's life no matter what he did. Heck, Walter didn't have to even see him to know he was making his life torture. Because now, Peter was keeping a watchful eye on him…making sure he didn't go crazy again infront of others like he did to that assistant.

He swore she was never there. He swore he was alone when he came to see him. But by all accounts, she had been there to witness the terrifying encounter Walter had with his demons. If she hadn't call Peter to come back to the lab, Walter would've killed himself right then and there in the lab that night. A part of him was quite grateful for that, he supposed, though he still insisted on seeing no woman in the lab despite the fact that she was five feet away from when the whole incident occurred.

So now Walter sat alone on the park bench wondering if he really was going to hurt someone else again. He watched the Harvard students around the lake, infront of, and behind him, as they went about their studies. So many bright minds here. He could never waste such brilliant minds intentionally. But his other self was insistent that was and would always be the case.

He knew that he shouldn't be out here right now. Peter would surely find out, when gets done with his shower, that Walter snuck out of the apartment for his own personal alone time...maybe indulge himself in a hungarian sausage if God were willing.

Despite his elder age and his "condition" Walter was still insistent on being treated as a normal citizen with the goddamn given right to go out into the world by himself once in a while and not have to think about work or science, though like every hard-working Joe, his work was still part of his life.

The wind shifted and Walter sniffed a familiar aroma…

…it smelled of meat…but he couldn't recall…

…but then it hit him.

Walter's nose compelled the rest of his body to rise up from his seat and follow the aroma of sausage in the air. 'Ah yes,' he thought smiling. 'Old Billy must still be selling those sausages off his cart somewhere nearby'. Walter would often be at the sausage cart everyday for lunch back in the early days of his lab work on the Harvard campus.

He depended on his memories and his nose to lead him to where the old sausage cart was stationed and then he turned a corner at a kiosk. Yes! This was the location where it had always been for so many years.

His eyes became wide hoping for a chance to spend $2.15 on an old fashioned Hungarian sausage-in-a-bun and ramble on with Old Billy about his current science work, like in the good ol' days…

…but the cart and the sausage cart man were not there…

Nope…it happened to be a familiar looking woman who was standing there with a barbecue grill cooking a sausage.

"Ha! It worked!" Astrid cried.

"What do you mean?" asked Walter disappointingly.

"Peter told us you disappeared so we thought this time around, we would lure you out with food."

Walter felt so hurt…nay insulted…that his own family and friends would deceive him in such a cruel manner. "Well it worked apparently," he said.

Astrid stuck a fork into the grilling sausage and waved it in the direction. "Oh come on, Walter. Have some sausage while I call Peter."

"I don't want it," Walter pouted turning his head away from her.

"Oh I think you do," said Astrid. Sadly it was true. Walter wanted to take a bite into that sausage more than anything, but he couldn't help but feel offended by Astrid's offering.

"Miss, I know I may be what you call a sucker for certain delectables, but don't think you can bribe me so that my son can put me down again for trying to maintain my own independence!"

Astrid was shocked by Walter's words as he stormed away to sit on the bench by the grill. She cautiously joined him.

"Hey…I'm sorry," Astrid said. "It's just that…we were all worried about you after what happened in the lab."

Walter cringed when Astrid said the last part of that sentence. But she took a deep breath and said "I think I was more worried for you than Peter…scared…more like terrified. I was really worried that you were going to hurt yourself so please understand why I had to call Peter."

She gave him a comforting pat on the shoulder. Deep down Walter wanted to throw that arm off of him and maybe rip it apart and use it as part of a robotic experiment he used to work on to see if muscles could still operate without the use of nerves.

Suddenly it hits him what a disturbing thought it was and shook the thought out of his mind.

"So," said Walter a bit worried. "…you were there? You saw everything?"

"Well, I saw you attacking the invisible air infront of you with a surgical knife."

Walter sighed. "I could've sworn I was alone with HIM in the lab…but I suppose that was mind deteriorating away, wasn't it? It does that sometimes."

"Who's HIM?"

Walter hesitated for a moment. "I suppose it doesn't matter if no one believes what I said happened in there, does it?" he said bitterly.

"You know what, Walter," said Astrid. "I believe you, and I'm not being told to say that or am saying it out of any pity. I really believe that you saw what you saw…and if I wasn't there…then, I wasn't there."

"But you were…in reality's case."

"Yes…but Walter, we've known each other for quite a while…even though you tend to forget who I am but, I know that you've been through a lot. I can imagine that's it possible for someone whose been as alone as you have to see things that no one else sees…or to think in ways that no one could ever think of. You have a different way of approaching the world Walter, and if bad things happen because of it, I don't think you should be beating yourself over it. You can't help being different, but I know how awful it must feel for you for not be normal. I should know cause I feel that way sometimes and…Are you crying, Walter?"

"Huh?" Walter didn't realize his eyes were watering badly until it was too late. "Oh…of course not, my dear. It's just my tear ducts lacking proper hydration. More often than not, tears can be produced without the need for emotional triggers if there is a lack of moisture to abstain the eyeballs from dreadful crusting."

"I guess so," Astrid said as she went back to the grill. She put a couple of sausages on buns and gave one to Walter. "Come on, Walter. Enjoy your sausage."

"But my son…"

"Peter can worry about you for a little while longer," Astrid smirked. "Besides, this maybe the last time you get to enjoy something outside of the lab away from him for a very long time. Might as well enjoy it before he grounds you for life."

Walter nodded in agreement and the two of them sat there on the park bench quietly indulging in their sausages and took in the sun setting before them.

For the first time, Walter developed a sane thought…one of his few first. How foolish it was for him to assume that the old sausage cart man would still be alive when he clearly recalled a memorial to the deceased sausage vendor had been erected near his lab years before Walter himself got shipped off to St. Claire's.

Unknown to the woman next to him, Walter pushed his brain to think…He wanted to get it right this time before opening his mouth again (and possibly making an ass of himself infront of her).

'...Ah…Ast…Astreme?…Astrend?…Astred?…Astrid?…Adrenaline?...'

Had his stomach not been satisfied with the fulfillment of Hungarian sausage at that moment, Walter would have been feeling miserable.

Only one friend now…only one friend who still had faith in him…who still loyally followed him…

...the only one who would believe (and had even accepted) that she was invisible to him while a devilish doppleganger of himself wasn't...

...the only one who still trusted him…and he still can't conjure up her face or her name for it to be truly appreciated.

Because Walter appreciated the woman more than anything in his distorted world at the moment.

It didn't occur to Walter, when he placed his hand on her thigh, that it would be misconstrued as somewhat perverted.

However, Astrid didn't even flinch. She smiled shyly to herself knowing it was Walter's own little unusual way of saying, 'thank you for anything...and everything'.


Pardon the shortness. I should have this thing completed before the hiatus ends at 9pm Eastern tomorrow or I might lose my end and keep this story going on and on and on...but I think I want to gets to my epilogue already!

But still can you believe it? Less than 24 hrs? OMYFGOD#?$"P%(^!