"Far?"
No reply.
"Far?"
No reply.
"Far?"
No reply.
"Far?"
No reply.
"Far?"
No reply.
"Far?"
"Swan!"
Students laughed and the teacher sighed indignantly, before she gave him a sharp, disproving look as she did Mel.
Mel looked at the kid next to him who had several origami swans sitting on his desk. He was Far and the blonde felt kind of happy knowing he sat next to a friendly kid. The blonde didn't know why the teacher gave him and Far funny looks, but dismissed it and decided to be friendly. He turned to Far and smiled weakly. The younger boy didn't seem to notice as he continued with his origami. "Hippo!" he said as he finished making two origami hippos. He started work on another. Mel watched astonished when he produced a small origami hippo. "Family." Far giggled as he sat the trio of origami hippos in a small marching line, the mama behind the papa and the baby in between.
"Hi." Mel said watching as Far stopped his origami, sucked his tiny fist and stared at him with his large dark eyes that seemed curious as to what Mel would want from him. The blonde decided to start with names even if he'd already knew the kid's name…or alias as the case was. "My name is Mel, what's yours?" The boy tilted his head. Suck, suck, suck. "Um, how long have you been here?" He asked once Far didn't respond.
Suck, suck, suck, pause, suck, suck.
The silver haired boy stood up when the teacher's back was turned. She seemed to have been conversing with somebody who was outside the class and had moments before knocked needing to speak with her. Mel watched as Far moved silently to her desk and pulled open a drawer he didn't see what else he did, but watched silently as he took his seat without anyone noticing that he was just standing and at the teacher's desk.
Suck, suck, suck.
How can he suck his fist like that and not be bothered by those bruises? Mel wondered with distaste as the classroom door closed loudly. Those bruises look so gross.
"Okay, class, now that I know we're all here, I'd like to say-" The teacher spoke softly taking her seat, then cutting herself off to screech in agony. Everyone seemed to jump. Except for Far who smirked evilly. Mel shuddered seeing this cold, cruel smirk play on the younger boy's lips. So much for my friendly kid theory, He thought watching the teacher in terror as she jumped to her feet angrily. The teacher then looked furious.
"Who did this?" she shouted holding up a rusty thumb tack.
Nobody spoke.
All seemed silent.
There was only the sound of Far sucking his fist.
She turned her wrath upon the boy in a second, give or take. "It was you wasn't it? Oh, of course it was you're always doing these awful things! You little devil! You vile imp! Oh! You'll get a good thrashing for this! Rest assured you'll be disciplined good and proper!"
Suck, suck, suck.
She screamed again and stomped from the room.
Mel looked at Far who jumped from his seat. Suddenly all eyes were on him. He walked over to the chalkboard and grabbed a jar of candy, which sat on the teacher's desk and smashed it. All the girls seemed to scream and the boys seemed to wince. Far grabbed a piece of glass and sat it on the desk. Digging in the drawers of the desk again he pulled out some cotton and stuffed it in his ears. He then grabbed the shard of glass and pressed it against the chalkboard. He looked to his peers who stared at him bewildered. He drug the shard down the chalkboard and caused it to make a dreadful screeching sound.
Mel covered his ears with his hands as it hurt to listen to such an awful noise. Once he'd finished carving his name, forcefully into the board he tossed the glass aside, removed the cotton from his ears and grabbed some chalk. He drew a picture of what appeared to be a grotesque monster eating their teacher. Mel's mouth fell open in shock at the audacity. He looked back at his friend who was also gawking. The teacher appeared, as if on cue, and screamed upon seeing the horrible drawing and ruined chalkboard, which had Far's alias carved into it. Rodger was with her. The old man didn't appear so surprised. He looked at Far who sucked on his chalk-covered fist.
Tears were welling up in the teacher's eyes as she erased the horrid picture frantically. "Class dismissed." Rodger said. The kids left the room silently too shocked to make a sound until they were in the hallway. Curious as to what was going to happen, both Mel and Cabal listened in to what was said after the classroom door closed, but was ajar just enough so they could see in without being noticed by either of the adults and hopefully Far, who Mel feared would tattle on them. "I don't know why he hates me so much!" the teacher screeched. The old man looked to the small boy who continued to suck his fist.
"Far what were you thinking when you did all this?" Rodger asked rather calmly, yet appeared annoyed.
"Monsters." The boy said before he continued to suck his fist, but sucked at a much slower rate. He stopped once more. "Monsters." He repeated smiling.
He truly seemed pleased with himself. The teacher was furious with the boy who didn't seem the least bit guilty or worried about getting thrashed as the teacher had earlier said he would. He actually appeared…happy, which was odd for him, as he always seemed to wear a fake smile or pretend to be happy. But he actually seemed to be really happy.
"You're the monster!" she snapped at him before turning to the old man with a pleading look. "Rodger, I demand you give this…this…this abomination to another orphanage! He's no good! He can't speak! He's trouble! He's probably stupid! No wonder his parents abandoned him here! Oh, please just get rid of the little brute! It'll do us all a bunch of good it would!"
"Now, Annabel, you know why we can't do that." He said looking to Far with a soft smile. "No matter how much we would like to see a terrible child leave. Besides, we owe it to his parents, don't you think?" Mel could tell by Rodger's tone of voice that he wouldn't have really wanted to get rid of Far, no matter how bad the kid was.
"No!" she exclaimed angrily. "We don't owe them anything! Just get rid of this wicked fiend! Now! He's a bad influence and will cause the others to follow after him! Get rid of him! Now while we still have a chance!"
"Annabel, as I've said before we can't get rid of Far, at least not yet."
"Why not?" the teacher whined.
"Because," Rodger said quietly, "he needs a chance to prove himself, yes, he's a tad bit rambunctious, but he's only a child, you know. Whammy once told me that you must be patient with them, or else they'll never change or grow into proper adults. It took a lot of time after his death for me to realize that the old chap was right. And I was very reluctant to realize the chap was indeed right."
"Humph, well, Whammy had never met this evil little creature."
Far looked to Rodger innocently. Mel thought that it was hard to believe it was that kid who moments ago drew an appalling picture and ruined the chalk boar and broke the glass jar that had candy in it and…and…. It was just easier to believe it'd been a nightmare than to believe it had been Far. He looked so sweet, so innocent. Mel tossed those thoughts aside as Rodger spoke once more.
"True, but he did meet Mello." The old man said too softly for the two eavesdroppers to hear. Annabel the teacher barely heard him, but nodded.
"Yeah, he did meet that kid, speaking of which, how did he turn out?"
"I'd say he turned out to be a fine adult," the old man sighed, "not one I'd like to associate with, but he's not that bad of a fellow."
Silence.
"Goose!" Far exclaimed showing off his origami goose, which he'd been making while the two adults spoke. Rodger smiled softly. "Yes, that's a nice goose, Far."
"Hippo!" he giggled as he showed off his trio of hippos. The old man gave him a sympathetic glance then turned back to Annabel who growled angrily. Far smiled sweetly at her but she turned away too furious to allow herself to melt for Far's cute act.
It was evident to her that this boy was a lost cause and she wouldn't allow herself to think differently. Not again, not ever again, would she melt for some monster's act.
Once again there was silence.
"I can't do anything with him!" the teacher suddenly exclaimed. "He doesn't cooperate. He refuses to speak with any of the other children or me for that matter! All he seems to do is play and…and…this!" she pointed at the chalkboard to emphasis her point on her 'this' statement. Rodger nodded understandingly. "He'll behave tomorrow, Annabel, I promise you, because if he doesn't he knows I'll tell L."
Far seemed to cringe.
Both adults smiled pleased and dismissed the boy who gathered all his origami and headed for the door, sulkily. Mel and Cabal jumped away from the door and raced down the hall hoping they weren't spotted. They made it to their room, meanwhile Far headed for the Common Room feeling really livid. How dare those two boys watch, as he was humiliated! How could the old man know what would strike his nerve?
L had, before, given him a lecture and he could safely say he hated it. His mentor was cruel, but kind. And his lectures were never kind. Always cold, bitter, angry and let one knows when L wants complete obedience. He attacked ones faults and weaknesses slowly tearing down one's self esteem and self-worth, then builds it back up in the end with a sneer and sigh. Far needed to let off some steam and the Common Room was totally empty, save for the toys, which were strewn everywhere, some in piles even.
Time to play. He thought as he entered.