Alastair Templeton

"The most important thing to remember is to change your ways while you're still young." That was the last thing I heard from the crazy, wound-up bastard. I could never understand how he got that way. Maybe it comes with trying to beat off urges that come as natural as breathing. I didn't see it at first, but over time, one could easily tell that the paranoia was tearing him apart from the inside. His insides were crumbling like a weathered and bombed out villa. The scene though wasn't as majestic and not nearly as sublime as one.

I could never figure what day to day living could have been like for that guy. His life must have been absolute torture. A speck of dirt would enter into the scope of his vision, and he could feel the shivers run up and down his spine. He'd see a plate of rotting food, and panic would hit him hard in the chest. Hyperventilating and beginning to perspire, he'd need a seat to regain his composure. His world was an absolute nightmare, and it was a wonder that he had made it this far.

Maybe his obsession was the product of a simple denial at first. I suppose that is most likely the case, since most big things grow out of some weird small thing that really doesn't resemble the end-product in the least bit. It just never made much sense to me is all. I'd say hello on a daily basis, I was friendly with him all the time. Maybe he didn't like all that, and it made it exponentially worse for him, my co-worker.

Some relationships start off so simply but grow into that of mutual distrust. What thing or person did he have such a relationship with? I didn't have such a relationship with him. I trusted his instinct when it came to matters concerning the job. His expertise was well-known and respected in the field. He knew how to dissect a problem, an issue, a matter of grave seriousness like no other -- a physicist nonpareil. He was at his most calm and relaxed when relied upon. Maybe that was the issue all in itself. The filth, the entropy of it all, maybe it got to him in the worst way as age crept up and over him -- supplanting his outmoded self.

A month before his tragic end, he looked at me with piercing, deeply reflective eyes and bared all. He said, "Get out while you still can and take the kids with you." I had no idea what he could have possibly been talking about. I didn't know if he had family lost to him, or if he just decided to just up and go crazy on us.