2009-10-20: The Side Door

Starring:

Merrick_V4icon.pngUsutu_V4icon.png

Date: October 20, 2009

Summary:

Usutu drops another cryptic warning, and sends a young man looking for Matt Parkman.


"The Side Door"

NYU Indoor Pool

The day is young…perhaps a little too young for some people. It is 5am, and Merrick is at the NYU pool working out. In fact, he has been there for the last hour doing laps all alone. The cool water surround his body, as the only sound that echos through the pool is the splash of his hands, and his own thoughts. The thoughts of his parents and the aniversary of their death being today.

A auspicous day for a surprise visitor. Even with the way sound carries inside the room with the pool, thanks to the way it's built and the water, there's nothing except those splashes. The acustics should be able to carry footsteps, but there's almost nothing until a loud tap of wood against the slick floor can be heard.

A dark skinned man stands in a t-shirt for Hard Rock Cafe New York, and a pair of orange pants. Tall, with a even taller walking stick, he looks down into the water and waits for the young swimmer to spot him. The stick heavily knocks against the tiles again, sound resonating through the water.

Tap. Tap. Tap. It's beat echoing through his thoughts. Merrick blinks behind his goggles as he finally relizes that someone is in the pool hall with him. His hand touching the edge when this thought crosses his mind he stops his swim. He pulls off his goggles and says with his British accent, "Bill that you?" He looks around his eyes falling on the dark skinned man.

As he cocks his head to the side, "'allo."

"Hello," the man says, in a different accent of his own. African, nearly South African by the sound of it, with some touches of near British, but not quite. It's thicker in certain parts, thinner in others. Botswana isn't South Africa, but has many ties to it. "You should leave through the side door. It will be safe."

The young man blinks again through his goggles, as he pulls them off now. His long wet hair matting down against his cheeks, Merrick says with a confused look, "Excuse me mate?" He looks around and sees not another soul in sight and the dawn is beginning to break.

"Ummmm sir…if your looking for Bill. He usually does not get here until 6am. I only have a keycode to get in because I am one of the Captains. If you want to leave a message I can tell him." Merrick begins to get out of the pool and shakes out his long hair while walking to his towel.

"Not looking for Bill," the man says, though her has something resembling a smile as he shifts to lean on the tall walking stick. He glances toward the side doors, the pass codes that should have kept him out seeming to have been no match for him. Or perhaps for the others. "Using the front door to leave will be dangerous today. Avoiding your fate today will allow you to make a choice about what to do with your destiny." The words are odd, cryptic, but somehow sincere.

As he is drying himself off, Merrick looks over at the man and listens to his words. He looks over at the front door and blinks. He looks back at the man and back at the doors, "Well I guess I can humor your mate while I get dressed. Why should I avoid the doors?" Merrick leans down for his athletic pants and begins to slide his legs through it. His eyes watching the cryptic man curiously and a bit…cautiously.

"Because of what you can do, who you are." The man says, not looking to be worried by the possibility of being thought of as a fool or a crazy man. Likely something he's used to, and he's seen the look more times the last few weeks than he can really explain. "There are people who know what you do, and they will close you away when you have done nothing wrong. Like you are a fugitive."

As his body tenses at the man's words, Merrick looks at the man and the front doors again. When people start throwing the words around, "What you can do" it makes him nervous because he has heard someone say this before to him in Europe. She revealed what she could do to him. Merrick's eyes narrow ever so slightly as he moves to sit down on the bench.

"The fact I can swim? Do a flip? Handle a double major without killing anyone?" asks the young man while he begins to put on his shoes.

"I have painted you doing things that are not taught in this school. Things that most people can not do," Usutu says plainly, looking steadily at the young man and not shifting from where he stands. "If you want these men to choose your destiny, then go out as you usually do. If you want to help others… then you should go out the side door, and contact a man named Parkman. Matt Parkman. He can help you— and you can help him."

When Usutu confirms it, Merrick is up and he is moving away from the man. "Why would you help me then? If you know what I can do then…" The young man seems panicked but he looks at the front doors, and he looks at the side door. "And who is this Parkman. Why should I trust him…or you." He looks at his athletic coat and he confirms it as the coat floats to his hand with the zip forward. The metal in the zip acting as the support to Merrick's hand.

"Because I am like you. They try to catch me too, but they do not succeed," the older man says, glancing toward the main doors and looking for a time. A clock above them gets a glance too, before he watches the floating coat and smiles. "Parkman is also like you. Trust is the same as faith. You must come upon it on your own. It is your quest, your chance to move toward something. If you do not take the steps, something will come along to make you do what is necessary." A hand reaches into a pocket of his pants, pulling out a folded over napkin from McDonalds and he finally moves, tapping the walking stick as he approaches the bench, so he can put it down. "Parkman is trying to save people like you from those who would lock them away. He would help you, if you go out the front door."

"You're a seer like the one I met in Europe who knew what I can do." He hmmms and still seems very wary of the man. "So if I find this Parkman he will have all the answers and what do I…" He blinks when he hears the mans words and says, "Now you want me to go out the front door. I am confused." He cocks his head to the side, "And if I can find this Matt Parkman in this huge city. He is gonna wanna know who I learned of him. Who do I tell him sent me? That is if I go."

"If you go out the front door and got captured, he would help you. You will help him if you go out the side door." Bending down, the napkin gets laid on the end of the bench, showing some writing on it, like done with a dark crayon, of all things. "Parkman will not be able to answer all your questions— only you can do that. But he can answer some. You can find him if you follow the instructions on this napkin. Tell him Usutu gave it to you."

"I only see what I paint," Usutu explains, beginning to move away toward one of the side exits, with his staff tapping. His voice carries clear, echoing off the walls even as he walks away. "You do not wear your name on your shirt."

As the man departs the side door, Merrick is going to make his way towards the side door as well. He looks at the front door and the side door. He waits before he himself exits the side door behind the man slowly, his eyes looking over his shoulder behind him.

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