Chapter 1: Wammy's
Click. Click. Click.
The laptop screen lit the room as I mindlessly flicked through webpages, hoping for something to catch my interest. Google, YouTube, Email - nothing seemed to take my mind off of the matter at hand.
With a defeated sigh, I closed the laptop and paced over to a large bay window on the opposite end of the room. Someone had left a note reading, "Please do not open window"plastered on one of the panes. I climbed onto the windowsill and rested my head against the glass. Who'd want to open the window in this weather? Thunder could be heard in all directions, lightning threateningly cracked the sky, and the mix of rain and wind guaranteed a thorough soaking to anyone who dared to step outside. I don't really think Wammy's needed to worry about me opening their precious windows any time soon.
My eyelids started to droop in preparation to nod off, but snapped back open at the sound of a quick rapping at my door. I jumped out of the windowsill and rushed over to answer. Had they decided this quickly? Would I be accepted? I struggled a bit with the key, and opened the door to a short, freckled lady with a clean-cut bob and a gleaming smile.
Okay, so she wasn't Roger - whom I was expecting - but her friendly expression indicated good news. I greeted her politely and welcomed her in.
"Well, hello!" She said, bearing a slight western accent. Her enthusiasm reminded me of my 2nd grade camp counselor. "I'm Alura. Roger told me that we had a new applicant, and assigned me to welcome you. If you do get in to Wammy's, I'm going to be your personal guide, teacher, and friend. But right now, I'm just here to alert you about dinner."
"Oh, um, hi Alura." I said, slightly taken aback by her exuberance. "My name is Ch-"
"Nope, nope, nope!" She cried, cutting off my sentence. She raised a dramatic finger to her lips in a shushing motion. "Roger and I already know your name. And we are the only two - besides you, of course - who are supposed to know it. Depending on your results tomorrow, you may receive your own alias so that I can address you a bit more formally, but until then..." The shushing finger returned to her lips once more.
"Oh... okay. I understand." I nodded, still a bit put off by her theatrics. I frowned a bit upon realizing that Alura had no greater clue as to whether or not I was accepted into Wammy's than I did, but figured that waiting on a night's rest would probably be better for my nerves than knowing tonight. "So... you said something about being my guide, right? What exactly does that mean?"
"Well, I'm sure from what little you've seen of this place, you've been able to gather that Wammy's isn't an average school, yes?" I looked around at the 'guest room' I was given while my application was reviewed. It resembled that of a five-star hotel's master suite; sleek hardwood floors, giant bay window, spacious and functional interior design - someone really knew how to decorate. I nodded in agreement.
"Well, it's not just our prestige that makes us different," Alura said, noticing my glances around the room. "It's our system. In order to train you all to become the next L, we need to work with your individual needs. So, each child is assigned a mentor to do just that. Every few days or so, you do group work with others of your level to work on collaborative thinking, and the rest of the time, you'll be learning with me."
Alura beamed again at the end of her explanation, and I returned an uneasy grin. I knew that I wasn't the smartest kid around - in fact, in school I had to struggle just to keep a C+ average. As nice as she seemed, I was afraid this was as close as we were going to get. This school was too good for your average idiot.
We made our way down beautiful stone corridors, whilst Alura babbled on about the ways of the institution. She talked about how teenage applicants were quite unusual, and how glad she was that she wouldn't have to teach me about the wonders of womanhood. On our way to the dining hall, Alura paused to show me "Wammy's Board of Excellence". After a thorough testing each month, she explained, Wammy's comes up with a list of their top 50 students. To me, it seemed more like a good source of humiliation for those who didn't make the list than it did as inspiration.
At the top of the list, there was a small boy with white hair who looked as though he didn't give a flying fuck to be Wammy's most valued. The word 'Near' was scrawled next to his picture. Below him, a masculine-looking blonde girl, apparently named 'Mello' smirked into the camera. After a cute redhead named Matt, a blonde girl named Yula, and a a blue-haired Tom, the list went off into just names. I suppose the following 95 students weren't important enough to have pictures. I eyed down the rest of the list and wondered where I would fit in... assuming I actually got into the school.
Alura pried me away from the board and led me towards the smell of gourmet cooking. We passed a large door, bursting with the sound of children's voices, and settled in a quiet nook by the kitchen. There were two plates already filled with slices of turkey, asparagus, and nicely-displayed kiwi.
"For obvious reasons, I can't allow you to meet any of the successors until you get accepted, but that doesn't mean you have to starve!" Said Alura, ushering me to sit.
Our dinner mainly consisted of Alura's upbeat personality shining through bits of meaningless conversation, with the appropriate nods and acknowledging grunts from my end. Meanwhile, I couldn't keep my mind from wandering to the events that led me to this moment. I thought about my life only a month ago, and wondered if I would ever go back to it... or if I wanted to go back to it. Who knew, maybe I'd be going back to it tomorrow. Maybe Roger would come by my room with the same, remorseful look that I'm sure he'd given many applicants, and would give the same mirror-rehearsed speech: "Missus Larainey, as wonderful as you seem, we regret to inform you that..." and then go on with his boring, Roger life. Or maybe he wouldn't even do that; maybe he'd just throw me out on the road and let me panhandle my way through life. I tried to clear my head of such thoughts.
After my stomach was full and Alura had run dry of topics, she kindly escorted me back to my room (though I assume it was more of a precaution than a formality. Can't have me opening the precious Wammy windows, can we?).
"Hey, don't worry too much about getting into Wammy's," She said when we arrived. Her expression turned uncharacteristically solemn as she looked me in the eye. "Being successor material doesn't necessarily mean that you have to know the square root of pi by heart, ya know."
Good, I thought. Because otherwise, I'd be out of here before I even stepped foot in the door.
"Most people took me for an airhead when I was your age, but look at me now - a mentor at Wammy's. I won't give you a typical, unoriginal speech on believing in yourself, but... well, you know the ordeal. Even if you don't get accepted, there's tons of other options for you. Just don't be a Debbie Downer, okay?"
I smiled inwardly at Alura's lingo, suddenly envisioning her as a kindergarten teacher in her time before Wammy's. It seemed like a position that would suit her well.
"Sure thing," I nodded, somewhat thankful for the cliched-ness of her reassurance. "Goodnight, Alura."
She fared me goodnight, and I closed the door behind her. I gave one final glance around my temporary room and flicked off the light before climbing into bed. With the sounds of the rumbling thunder, cracking lightning, and falling rain, I fell quickly into slumber.
A/N: Hello, all! Thanks for reading my story so far; I'll do my best to post at least one chapter a week, which should be fairly possible considering that I have no life. Reviews and messages are much appreciated so that I can improve. I'll attempt to bribe you by saying that I will respond to any and all reviews/messages via start-of-chapter shout outs :)
This chapter was more of a prologue than anything. I promise that all will be revealed about our protagonist within due time. Next chapter includes our favorite chocoholic, so please be sure to check that out once it gets posted. I just got 3 new video games, however, so I may be distracted for a while... Also, anyone know of good horror animes? I just finished Shiki and it was one of my favorites. But now I'm in that 'what do I do with my life now that this anime is over' state, so some recommendations would be helpful. I digress.
Anyway, This is my first story on so constructive criticism is welcome! Average chapters will be this length (about 1600 words) or longer. I hope you all enjoy my story.
Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note, only my original characters. I do, however, own an awesome cat named Oliver.
