The Keeper by Rustler (PG)

[rileyc.livejournal.com]

Well, after messing up on the previous rec, it's probably a good thing this is my last day. :/

Fandom: Oz
Pairing: none
Author on LJ: rustler
Author Website: Rustler's Oz Fic
Why this must be read: This one actually has nothing to do with B/K, the figure at the center of it all is in fact Tim McManus, and this is one of the most unique and intriguing glimpses into his mind that I've seen. Read it and see and I bet you'll agree.



Now he did wipe at the sweat gathering on his face, smearing his hand across his mouth and chin before reaching into the drawer to run his fingers across the beads' smoothly polished surface. It was a ritual he had performed several times already, whenever he had a spare moment, since he'd stashed them there that morning. First, he counted out the three thirty-three bead sections, which were separated by marker beads carved from a deeper-toned wood. And when he reached the end of the strand, he traced his index finger along the larger oblong bead from which the modest tassel made of frayed cord emerged.

When he'd spotted the beads lying on the examiner's cart among the things that had been removed from Said's body before the autopsy, mostly hidden under the tattered folds of a bloodstained chambray shirt, he knew at once that they were the necessary item. There was something about the beads that seemed so emblematic of Said -- the way they gleamed softly under the harsh fluorescent lights, beautiful in their low-lustre simplicity. And when the lab tech who was there cleaning up turned her back for a moment, he'd reached out and snatched them off the cart, stuffing them in one swift motion deep into the right well pocket of his corduroy trousers. Nobody knew better than McManus the laxity of procedural follow through at Oz. Nobody would notice the beads were missing. Nobody would care.

But he cared.



One note: it was written for a Halloween challenge, but that aspect is wonderfully subtle, and packs all the more wallop for that.

Find the rest of it here:

The Keeper