Hush
Beyond sunk into the steaming water, heaving a relaxed sigh. Everything ached. The edges of his eyelids were sore, he was tired, and he had a pounding headache. If he fell asleep in the bath, then so be it. He didn't fear death. He faced it every day.
He sunk lower, holding his breath. Only his eyes were above water now, watching the cloudy water around his pale limbs take on the tint of the swirling plumes of red. The music box he'd wound up to relax twinkled out a soft, haunting melody. Not unlike the glass-like notes one would hear around a Ferris wheel.
He could hear the rain slide down the walls of his apartment. He could hear people screaming next door. When he'd come home, in his red vision he'd seen the New Yorker woman that was currently shrieking at "Donny". Her lifespan was short. She was going to die tonight.
Beyond sighed, blowing bubbles in the crimson water. He raised himself up, feeling lethargic. The music box kept twinkling. Beyond closed his eyes and let his arms drop from the sides of the tub to the linoleum floor. A grin made it's way onto the teenager's face. He hadn't the foggiest idea what was making him so happy. But it felt good to smile.
Amanda hugged her arms around herself, still in shock. The brunette paced around her dimly lit apartment. A slinky Turkish Van trotted to the sitting window and stared out at the rain, mewling.
She cooed to the cat. "What do you think?"
The cat named Monday had no idea what she was talking about. He simply turned his head to watch his frantic owner.
Beyond looked up at the ceiling, then at the clock on the wall that read 2:45 a.m. He began to get sleepy, and so he closed his eyes once again. Tonight had been an interesting night. He heard the sound of a woman being stabbed in the apartment next to him. A woman in the apartment above him was pacing back and forth and her cat was meowing. Beyond didn't mind apartments, but this was only temporary. He'd move back into his warehouse soon enough, as soon as the "infestation" was taken care of. A few cockroaches had been attracted to his strawberry-jam stash and multiplied in the walls.
He didn't care that the water was now scarlet. He didn't care that he'd gotten strange looks from the night-guard when he walked into the building, covered in blood. He'd ignored the night-guard's comment.
"Fucking Goths" He'd murmured, glaring at Beyond's frail frame as he began to scale the steps towards his apartment.
B dipped a washcloth in the bloody water and laid it on his white face.
The rain poured down onto Amanda's car. Her curly brown hair had been pulled back into a ponytail for work. She didn't feel like taking it out. She didn't feel like getting out of the shop. Her car was at her apartment; five blocks away. It wasn't supposed to rain today.
Amanda sighed and switched from her ratty work clothes into what she'd worn here: a two-toned brown striped shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. She regretted not having an umbrella at the shop for instances like this. She'd put on the hoodie she did keep here for cold days and hope that the Hit-N-Run was open.
The young brunette pulled the hood over her head and walked into the downpour.
After being pelted with water for two blocks, she pressed the button on the crosswalk and waited for the busy traffic to pass. She didn't see the dark alleyway behind her, or the men coming out of it.
"Hey baby" One called. He had on a thick sweatshirt with the hood pulled over his eyes. "Kind of rainy to be walking, isn't it?"
The other members of his posse snickered.
Amanda nodded. "Yeah, it wasn't supposed to rain" She didn't wonder why these men were out in the rain themselves, chalking it up to the fact that the alley was covered with overhangs from the buildings it was between.
"Hey you want a ride?" Another, bulkier figure asked.
"No, that's okay"
"C'mon" The first one urged.
Amanda shook her head.
"Hey!" She was suddenly grabbed by the waist and dragged from the road to the alley, screaming and kicking. "Let me..."
The first one grinned and covered Amanda's mouth with his hand. "Shhh" He whispered, pulling Amanda's jacket off and dropping it on the ground.
"Ohhh" The bulkier figure made a sad noise. "Not a blondie. Oh well, she'll do"
Amanda screamed, muffled by the first figure's hand.
"Yo, whats your name?" The final man asked. He was tall and thin, with red hair and a scar on his nose.
The first one drew a knife and put it at Amanda's throat. "Yeah baby, what's your name?"
"Amanda" She choked, beginning to cry as her shirt was lifted up. The bulkier man's hands slid up her stomach and tugged at the edges of her bra.
"This is a problem" He snickered.
The first man laughed.
Amanda screamed again and the first man pressed down on her windpipe with his forearm, stopping her cry in her throat.
She noticed a tall, frail figure walking past. "Help!" She choked. "Help me-e-e"
The figure turned. "Hey" He said in a soft, cold voice. "Let her go" He placed his hands in his jean pockets. Amanda didn't wonder why this young man was wearing only dark jeans and a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up at his elbows. She just wanted him to help her.
"Hey, freak, why don't you just go home and pretend you never saw this happening?" The first man hissed, laughing. "Cause there ain't nothin' you can do"
"Now that wouldn't be very nice" The raven haired man said softly. Amanda stared. He couldn't have been more than nineteen. What the fuck was he doing?
The first man snickered, walking up to the teen who'd begun to slink into the alleyway.
"I don't see what's so funny" The raven commented.
"Hey, freak, I don't know if you can see with those red contacts in, but you ain't stand a chance against us." The redhead smirked.
"Oh I see. You think you can just fuck this poor girl, kill her, and drop her body?" B murmured.
The group nodded, muttering tones of agreement.
"I'm afraid that's not going to happen, you know. First of all" Beyond sucked in a breath. He didn't do this, it was wrong. "That guy is gonna die in three days" B pointed to the bulky man.
"What the hell are you talking about? I'm perfectly healthy" He said, raising his arms and tilting his wrists to point to himself. "But, chuknow. You're gonna die"
Beyond stared as the man walked towards him, wielding tiny knives.
B didn't even flinch when a knife cut across his shoulder. He tilted his head and looked at the wound, it had begun to trickle blood, diluted with rain.
"You know that hurt" Beyond said.
The woman he'd come over here to save began to scream again.
"Do something!"
B's face changed into a smirk. "Oh, I will" And with that, he took the butcher knife from his pocket and slashed it across the man's throat. He began to choke on his own blood, windpipe opened. B tilted his head, grimacing. That was just inhumane.
The teenager walked up and pressed the half-dead man against the walls of the alley and pressed the blade against his chest, driving it deep into the soft flesh and organ with one motion from his wrist.
"Three days is up" B shrugged, wiping blood splatter from his face. Big knives like this were messy, they flicked blood everywhere.
Beyond was now a murderer. He'd killed a man before the end of his lifespan as determined by the numeral symbols that no longer flickered above the corpse's head. And he liked it.
The teen grinned. The redhead ran up to him, own knife brandished, and right into the point of the knife that went through his stomach,. B pressed the handle towards the right of his body. The knife began to cut jaggedly through the side of his body, catching on a rib. B sighed and pulled the knife down and over, thus eliminating the rib problem.
The first man, the one who had planned this, who had grabbed the brunette, stared wide-eyed. B didn't want to kill him, seeing as he'd die of shock in a few seconds. And he did. His heart stopped, his eyes widened, and he crashed to the ground.
Amanda screamed and stood up, staring at the kid.
"Go home" He whispered in a harsh voice, hardly noticeable behind the sounds of the rain. "Now"
Amanda didn't need to be told twice.
Beyond sighed, draining the water from the tub and standing up. The frail teenager looked at the cut on his shoulder. That would need to be cleaned.
He walked over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the small bit of peroxide he had. Saturating a cotton ball with the disinfectant, he ran it across the wound and watched it foam up. That knife had been disgustingly filthy.
Disregarding clothes, Beyond went to his bedroom. It wasn't much, really. The floor was wood, his laptop was hooked into the wall with an assortment of high-tech speakers and web-cameras and microphones plugged into it. There was a television with a VHS, DVD and Blue-Ray player sitting on the floor. His mattress was also on the floor, covered in a simple white sheet. The bedroom served the purpose of both living area and sleeping quarters. The apartment itself was made for the bedroom to be a tiny section of closed-in apartment. Beyond hadn't been satisfied with the size. And he didn't need a separate living room anyway.
The windows were covered from top-to-bottom in black cloth. B didn't like light. It annoyed him. When he needed the apartment lit, he'd use the dozens of black and red candles he had. He hardly ever turned the ceiling lights on. In fact, the bedroom light didn't even have a bulb in it.
Besides the sparse decoration, there was something else odd about his bedroom. His walls were covered in newspaper clippings about the killer known as "Kira" and the detective known as "L".
B checked the latest obituaries on his laptop and went to sleep.
Amanda was still shaken by the encounter last night. Her workers noticed.
"Mandy, you okay?" Jared, a gay punk who was skilled in frosting cookies for special orders, questioned. "You seem freaked out, honey"
"No, no. I'm okay"
"Too much coffee?" Jared teased, grinning and running a hand through his fluffy blue hair.
"Ha, yeah" Amanda smiled, a bit less nervous.
And then it happened. She didn't see it at first. She heard the door open, she heard the bakery hush for a moment.
"Do you make cupcakes with strawberry jam filling?" Said a soft, cool voice.
Amanda looked up. Red eyes, raven hair, pale skin. He was wearing a tight black tank top and baggy black jeans. There was even the cut on his shoulder.
The boy didn't seem to recognize her. Of course, it was dark and rainy.
"Uh..yeah actually. Jared" Amanda called to her friend. "Jam cupcakes, strawberry"
"How many?"
"Three, please" He said, smiling. He had the oddest smile.
Jared returned with the boy's order in a brown bag. "Here you go!" He smiled and returned to his work.
"Thank you" Amanda whispered.
The kid looked up. "I'm sorry?"
Amanda smiled. "Nothing"
A/N: Looong one shot. Six pages. rolls eyes Well I liked it. TOOK THREE DAYS TO WRITE. Jebus. Please leave a review! Work this hard deserves it, yes?