No Safe Haven

King Street

Bishop locked his door and looked down the steps which led to the exit, only to find King standing there, waiting for him. Over the course of the last hour, which Bishop had spent preparing for his day, he could feel King on the edge of his consciousness. Every time he turned a corner, Bishop expected King to be just around it. 

Now, here he was, face to face with his very own Mr. Hyde...  

The Ziggy Stardust to my David Bowie. The Neo to my Thomas Anderson. The- 

"The Tyler Durden to your Cornelius? No, that's not right... Jack? Was that his name? Something about Jack's colon... Man, Fight Club was a long time ago..." King looked down in thought for a quick second before shaking his head.  

"It doesn't matter, Bishop. Come on, we have things to do." King locked his gaze on Bishop once more and gestured to the front door. 

"Let's get something straight, King," Bishop said as he began down the stairs. "I run everything from here on out, so we have things to do when I say we have things to do..." 

He opened the door to the street and exited onto the sidewalk, King close behind him.  

"Don't make me slap you with your own hand again, Bishop. You're in charge because I allow you to be in charge. The way I see it, you want revenge against these guys as bad as the rest of us, so we'll do it together. The second you stop playing ball, I swear... I'll put you in the closet." 

"What the hell is that?" Bishop asked as a pedestrian walked by. 

The stranger gave Bishop an extra-wide berth, as well as a strange look. In a moment of clarity, Bishop realized no one could see King, so it appeared as if he was talking to himself. 

He was sure he must look crazy, but this was the third time King had mentioned some thing or place called 'The Closet', and Bishop still had no idea what it really was.  

"You know that place in the back of your mind where you lock away things you don't want to deal with? Things like bad memories or feelings for someone else - we've taken to calling it The Closet. We keep the problematic 'Alters' in there. We let them out when we need them, then put them back when they're done - otherwise they muck things up." 

"And they just go willingly?" Bishop asked as yet another passerby gave him a cautious look.  

"For the most part. Most of us realize our roles and remember that our past actions put us in this situation, so we do what we're told and then fade away until we're needed again. When one of them doesn't go back peacefully we... pool our resources - a singular Alter can't resist the combined influence of the group." 

"So why aren't you just fading away and letting me go about my day?" Bishop asked. 

A mother walking in the opposite direction neared Bishop, a worried expression on her face as she gripped her child's hand a bit tighter as she approached. She shifted the child to the other hand, positioning herself between Bishop and her child as they passed by. 

He needed to find something which would allow him to talk to King without drawing any unwanted attention. 

There was an electronics store just down the street, so he headed in that direction. After just a few steps, Bishop asked himself how he knew about the store. He had never been there - he'd never even set foot on this block. 

"Sure you have, Bishop! You've walked this street dozens upon dozens of times, just not as you." 

As Bishop continued down the street, he turned his head to find King had kept pace with him by traipsing along in the gutter.