Light wasn't sure of what to do. Run or inspect the sound? He could have shot someone that was hiding among the sacks of strange smelling garbage. Taking a step forward, he swallows cautiously before asking. "Is someone there?" He wonders who would hide in a pile of garbage, but then again not many places in the world are as strange as Silent Hill. The closer Light walks to the stacks, the harder his heart beats in his chest. If he had hit someone, wouldn't they be making sounds of pain? His breathing went from even to stuttered when he was a mere foot away from the pile. Stopping right before the pile of black, Light reaches out a hand, grabbing a bag to slide away. Again he asks. "Is someone in there?" He then adds. "Are you hurt?"
The bag moves forward as he pulls with his one hand while he clutches the gun steady in his other. Like Mello said, the animals behave strangely here and he doesn't want to have his face torn off by some squirrel or have his neck bitten through by a dog. With a grunt of exertion he pulls the bag completely free; two more tumble down off the pile with it falling at his feet.
"Is someone in there." He asks again with a firmer tone.
His hand comes out for another bag; a charcoal colored hand shoots from the very bag he's aiming for and before Light can retract his hand its grabbed at the wrist.
"Aaah!" He cries out. The hand is burning hot! Almost like its on fire and the grip itself possesses the burn, having harnessed it to one spot. Light grunts and struggles within the grasp to free his wrist but its no use, to make it worse whomever is hiding within the garbage wall is pulling him in! 'Think, Light! Think!' Having forgotten about the gun, in his other hand, during the struggle; he aims it at the persons' forearm before firing off three shots into it.
The hand released its grip, the arm recoiling back into the shadows, but now the bags at his feet have sprouted arms with grabbing hands reaching and pawing at his ankles and calves. A startled sound escapes him as he backs away stumbling to his butt on the ground. Scrambling backward, unable to find his footing yet, Light takes aim firing the gun again; this time six shots go off warding off the hands invading touch.
'What the hell are those things?' He gets to his hands and knees before standing to take in the horror that all the bags, hundreds of bags, are now moving and shaking from what's hiding within them. He doesn't have enough ammo for all of them! Turning on his heels he runs towards the shack. "Oof!" A muffled cry shoots from his mouth as he's heavily pushed back by something large and black slamming into his chest. His back smacked against the sacks of trash, his body too weak from impact to move just yet.
Large black wings flap loudly overhead before the thing being flown by them lands atop the shack; its 7' ft. frame shrinks down to a 4'9" when it crouches. In pain, Light winks an eye open to look out ahead of him. Its that same figure from the forest in the outskirts! Its cruel, glowing eyes watch him, an impish smile spread across its face. The creature points a finger out at him, then in a husky voice it says.
"Youuu will diie."
'What the hell is that thing? A shinigami? It can't be, they don't exist.'
"We take the lives of the humans stupid enough to venture here, and we feast on the immortality they give our souls." The creature licks its long blue lips. "Interrupt this and I will eat your soul now."
Mustering up some strength, he takes aim at the beast then fires. Its no good, they only bounce off causing the creature to laugh haughtily; the chains and little attachments on its clothing jingle from the movement. Stunned, Light's attention is brought back to the previous danger from the things living in the bags of trash, as something pokes him in the back between his shoulder blades before the hand could spring free to grab at him. Another two are on his legs, and a third reaches for his neck. Beating at the arm around his neck with the gun, not about to take a shot with something that close to him, Light gets no relief from the strangle hold.
'Dammit!' Moving the arm up just enough he chomps into it feeling the flames inside heat his mouth and burn the tip of his withdrawing tongue.
A deep groan came from the owner of the arm before it removed itself; Light wriggles and writhes against the attack to get away and when he finally pulls free he turns to shoot, but something invisible comes into contact with his jaw knocking him to one knee, before he falls flat on his back after being kicked in the stomach. The menacing laughter from the Shinigami continues as its sharp eyes keep a strong gaze on the assault. Light's arms get pinned at the sides of his head, legs stilled by weight being held on them. The charred creatures in the bag grow more excited, their hands grapple at the dirt to pull themselves forward towards their prey.
'I'm gonna die... I'm gonna die!' Light's eyes widen in horror at the thought of meeting his end in this place, and in this way.
Sayu, his mother and father... they'll never know what happened to him- worse- they'll come here looking and end up the same way. That can't happen. It won't happen! Knocking the obstruction to the ground he gets to his feet quickly running for the shack. The sound of rustling bags fills the air, and a strange high pitched gargle, like music from a broken jack-in-the-box. Reaching the shack he dashes inside, slamming the door, he places a large plank before it; the board rests on hooks sticking out of the door. Light hoped it was enough to keep them back. That Shinigami on the roof could easily get in, he'd bet. Surely one of Mello's many guns might have some effect on the thing since the handgun didn't even scare it enough to force it to move from where it had perched.
The odd sounds grew louder as the fleet of crawling bags approach the shack. Looking out the window, Light caught a ragged breath seeing the bags slip and rip away from the, once invisible, crowd revealing charred, contorting, things that look a lot like people. But there is no way those blood thirsty things are people.
'Snap out of it and get another gun.' He orders himself. Moving to the small closet in the back of the room, he pulls it open seeing that all the guns are gone! 'Did Mello take them?' He wonders. Utter panic shakes his soul when he hears the wooden door take a pounding from one of the things reaching it, then another and another, all banging and succeeding to cause considerable damage to the door that's groaning and creaking as its bent in. 'It can't end like this... I have to get away.'
The window seemed to be his best option. Sliding it up it gave a hard pop against the top frame, sticking in place. Light knocks the screen out easily with a kick and quickly, he climbs out the window.
..*..*..*..
Head down, eyes fixated on the tiny screen of the PSP, Matt Jeevas, age 20, is in Heaven with his new video game. Doing his usual round of graffiti in the old town got boring and when he went to the convenience store to replenish his favorite pack of cigarettes he found a few dollars left behind by some Light Yagami. Either way the money was enough for him to finally get his hands on the new Outbreak that came out last month. He had been saving up for it since he saw the first commercial 3 months back, but when it comes to making cash its not easy. All the jobs are either heavily taken or someone wants you to do some freaky shit in order to earn a buck. It was weird though, because for some reason, every time he earned close to 60 bucks doing jobs he would wake up one day- always when he's just short a few more dollars, and the money will be missing. He'd borrow from someone but he can never explain to them why their money is missing and yet no product has been produced from Matt's spending it, at which point he would tell the person, if the money is gone technically it wasn't spent so he felt he didn't have to pay them back. Let's just say he owes Mello a lot of money.
Which is how he took up the job of doing nightly announcements in Central; some poor fool always goes out after curfew and they always end up having to be directed to a safe spot to avoid their own madness. Matt has seen a lot of people, seemingly normal people, walk around the town but when night falls they just lose their minds with fright and start acting strangely, almost like they're being attacked by something. He's never once seen this force that's out to get people. Mental cases.
"Shit." He moans; cigarette bobbing up and down between his lips as he speaks to himself. "Damn zombies always manage to get me at this part." He looks up when hearing the loud sound of the garbage truck, waving a hand to the driver. Just as his vision is about to return to his beloved new game he spots movement in a car just across the street from where he's standing. Pausing the, reset, game he looks ahead to be sure he saw what he saw. Yup, someone's there alright. Pressing his back from the brick wall he'd just brought to life with color and picture, he crosses the street to the car.
A leg came up before the owner of it managed to get himself seated upright. He looked like he'd seen a damned ghost, or maybe a hundred ghost with the spooked expression on his face and the fear in his eyes. But then again, with the madness that takes over people from being outside at night, he guessed he couldn't blame him. Unpausing the game he turns it off then leans over to knock on the window of the car. "You need some help?" He asks. The man in the car looked confused and uncertain of what to do. Maybe he didn't hear him. So he asks instead. "You lost?" Still no answer of any kind, causing Matt to mutter. "Are you just an idiot that thinks he's hearing things?"
That earned him a glare from the man before the door to the front of the car is popped open for him. Grinning, he opens the door climbing inside. Shoving his hand out towards the backseat, he says in a non-threatening, cheerful tone. "I'm Matt Jeevas-well- to be fair my name is Mail; I sort of gave myself the name because, you know, I'm a tour guide and sort of a welcoming 'matt'." He waits for the man to laugh but gets nothing aside from.
"Light Yagami."
Hearing the name his mouth drops into a smile. "Thought I recognized you once I got in here, you're the guy I saw on the road before."
"Matt?" He sobers up feeling the threat of yesterday dying away. It was clearly a weird dream, though, how he'd ended up in this car will forever be a mystery to him. "You're the guy from the radio!"
"That's me." Holding up the handheld, he says with a very appreciative tone. "Thanks for the new game."
"What?"
"I found the money you left at the convenience store and decided to take it and, because of you, I got to get my new game. So thanks."
"You stole my money?" Light's thin brow twitched in irritation.
Matt shrugs. "It would have just sat there!" He says in his defense. "Nobody goes to that store anymore; you have to have noticed by now, this place is empty."
"You're here, as well as, a young boy and his family."
"You must mean, Near." Reaching with his index extended he touches the scar on the male's neck. "How'd you get this?"
Light reaches up a hand for his neck, looking just as shocked as the person casting the look at him.
"And what the hell happened to your wrist?" He grabs one turning it around in his grasp. "Looks like you've been burned." Noticing the man's face he adds. "And beaten up. Are you alright?"
Snatching his wrist free, Light looks at the dark hand prints burned into his skin. How can they be there, he was dreaming. He can't even remember getting into this car, so how could the rest of it have been real? Small bits and pieces of what happened last night pass through his blurred memory but nothing is coming in particularly clear. 'Did I do this to myself without knowing it?'
"I can give you a ride to the hospital if you wanna get those treated; you know, an unwatched burn will spread deeper into your skin until it breaks."
Light cocked a brow to that comment.
Holding up his game, he explains. "You ever torch a zombie with a burning bottle of alcohol? One minute they're still coming at you then- poof- they drop off." Seeing the look on the strangers face makes him laugh. No one ever understands a gamer.
"I'll go to the hospital, but can you take me someplace afterwards?" He watches as Matt bends down from the passangers seat to the front to hot-wire the car.
"Sure, where are you heading?" After an affirmed snicker when the engine hums, the gamer sits up scooting over to the driver's side of the car.
"The dump- are you sure that's alright?"
"Like I said, this place has been abandoned- never to be filled with people again."
"Because of the broken streets?" Light doesn't bother with a seatbelt but he adjust his sitting position so that he's no longer laying sideways. "Why not just have them fixed?"
Matt shrugs. "Who cares, they moved everyone to Central, anyway- safer- a lot of gangs come here to deal drugs."
'That explains why they keep the brigde up then. Why would a gang come to sell drugs in a broken town?' Answering his own question he thinks. 'Obviously because there are no cops.'
They sit in silence for a little while until Matt asks. "So what brings you to our lovely resort town of Silent Hill. Is it the famous amusement park? Our wonderful spa, the resort where all your comforting needs are met, the-..."
Cutting the tour guide off, Light says. "I came here looking for someone named, Teru Mikami, he used to live in this town but he moved and now lives in the outskirts."
"Mhm." Matt turns the car on the road out of the town, honking the horn when he sees the bridge coming up.
"Anyway, I haven't even seen Mikami since I got here. I'm starting to think that coming was a huge mistake."
"Nooo, stay. He'll come around, although, you've only got four days- you know that right?"
"Everyone keeps saying thing like that; what the hell is it supposed to mean?"
The car is stilled while waiting for the bridge to go down and let them into Central.
"Its a tourist attraction, tell a guy the date is coming" He waves his hand through the air as if creating the scene before Light's eyes. "the beginning of the eeeend. They love it."
"Well I think its sick."
Matt found that funny as he laughed before pressing the gas to move them forward.
"Its not funny. There's something weird going on in this town, and I've decided that I'm not gonna leave until I can figure it out. A story like this will be huge."
"Yeah, and think of all the cash that will come in when people come around to see if its true." Actually hearing what the man had said, he asks. "What do you mean by weird things? I've never seen anything and I've lived here my whole life. Although, I get high often, so even if I did see something it'd have to be a write-off." He laughs loudly.
Light makes an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. He didn't feel like being messed with after the night he's had. 'That shinigami mentioned something about taking humans souls when they come to this place. Could that be true?' Shaking his head lightly, he says to Matt. "Nevermind, you wouldn't believe me, trust me."
Looking into the rearview mirror at his passanger, Matt shakes his head. "Just one little thing." He makes a gesture with his hand by shrinking his index to his thumb to show the amount of 'little thing' he means.
"Alright... my first day here I thought that I had hit someone with my car but when I went to look at it... " He tries to visualize the thing he'd seen days ago. "I couldn't even make out what it was."
"That bad? You haven't reported it to the police."
"I just wanted to get to the apartment, I didn't think about calling the police, besides, it wasn't my hitting it that killed it."
"Who would sling a dead body out onto the street?" Matt wonders to himself.
"I did see someone hiding out in the woods, but like I said, I just wanted to get to the apartment."
"Could have been, Mel', he sees all kinds of shit. Gangs don't just sell drugs, you know, its likely that they kill guys and hide the bodies around."
The car is parked. The two get out.
"So have you ever come across anything like that? You said you lived here your whole life."
Leaning his forearms over the hood of the car, he smiles at the man; eyes shaded in the sunlight reflecting off his goggles. "Yeah but I never go out after curfew- well, at least not until I took my sweet paying job as the night announcer. But I remain in the police station until I can go home, its nice and comfy there."
"Exactly! You must have seen me in the monitor because you told me where to find shelter."
"Yeah, but if you were seeing something, I sure as hell didn't. You looked like you were going insane- trying to flip your car maybe. Anyway, people usually calm down when you tell them certain places to go. And the rest of the town doesn't like to talk about it." He shrugs, following Light when the male starts for the building. "But you know who knows a shit load about this town?" Not giving Light a chance to answer, he finishes his thought. "That kid, Near."
"Near?" He walks through the held open door.
"Yeah, but can I ask why its such a big deal to tell the world about this place? What's it to you that a town has weird habits? You don't live here."
"I'm a reporter- well, journalist, and honestly, I think this town will be better off if someone knew about it." He shrugs a hand. "People will come to help repair the broken roads, get mental help for all the paranoid people here in Central and the outskirts, get some outside help to stop the gang activity, and maybe once the old town has been fixed people will move back in."
Brows raised practically to his hairline in bewilderment, Matt laughs. "That's stupid- but then, I can be a bit of a sinic and a dream crusher, so do what you gotta do. Wait here." He heads away to the counter to see about Light getting some treatment. He has no plans for the day so babysitting a stranger isn't exactly taking up his time in anyway. But he likes to have things done quickly.
'So to find out what's going on, I have to talk to Near. How would a young boy know; he did say that he'd moved into Mikami's home after he moved out, which means he would be willing to talk if he knows anything; the rest of this town lives under some unspoken law to keep their mouths shut. But I'll bet they're dying to say something to someone- like that guy at the diner, Matsuda. I know about Beyond, but what about the rest... Hopefully, Near will have answers.'
A nurse: pretty face, black hair in a tight bun, pale skin, and shapely legs, walks into the waiting room. "Light Yagami? Come with me, please."
Standing he follows the woman into a room; behind him he hears Matt say that he'll wait for him in the lobby since he has to give him a ride. Light notes the time, unaware that it was so late in the afternoon. He hoped this went quickly, last thing he wanted was another night outside in this place. He's seen enough horror to last him a lifetime and once he speaks to Near, he'll return to Woodside and wait out Mikami so then he can finally talk to him and take him home.
...
The two men are through with the hospital and are now on their way to the dump. Nurse Kiyomi, he found out her name was, said that she had never seen anything like it; bruises with no pain and yet they're very serious. She placed cream on his wrist wrapping it, and gave him a bandage for around his neck incase it gave him any pain, the cuts and bruises on his face, though, did hurt very much as she cleaned them up; dabbing blood from his mouth and the side of his eye before placing a bandage on them as well. Luckily, none of them were deep enough to need stitches. Light just did not understand how something as minor as a split lip and busted eyebrow could hurt over having a scar on his neck or a burn on his wrist. Its only proof that he is dreaming and possibly the cause of those strange injuries. Its odd, though, because he's never been one to sleep walk or day dream hard enough to accidently fall asleep in it.
The gate to the dump is open; the location he was in only last night looks no different from when he and Mello had arrived. There are no fallen or ripped bags, no shinigami, no invisible man- not that he would see him if there were, but you know what he means. Just the plain old dumpsite.
'I wonder if Mello is inside?' He spots L's car just off to the right. Turning his gaze back forward he watches the cabin door open as a very ticked off looking Mello stroles over to it.
He thought that Matt was going to run the male down, driving in with no sign of stopping until Mello's legs were a hair away from the bumper of the car. Impishly smirking, he says to Light. "Remember, we parked in front of the angry stump."
Light would have been amused if he weren't so concerned about the bruise on said stumps eye. Getting out of the car, he closes the door. "Mello, what happened to you?" He expected to hear the man say something along the lines of what he'd been through but what he didn't expect to hear was...
"What do you think happened to me? One minute you're standing there shooting at crap then you fucking turn on me with it."
"What?"
"You almost shot me you asshole! Then you elbowed me while shrieking like a lunatic!" He whips out a gun aiming it at the older man only to be held back by his friend. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now."
"Whoooa there, Mel'." He tries to calm him down. "You wouldn't wanna do something stupid like that."
"I almost shot you? Where the hell did you even go last night?" Its Light's turn to be angry now. How could Mello accuse him of nearly shooting him when he'd flat out disappeared?
"What?"
"I turned around and you were just gone. The next thing I know I'm being attacked by garbage monsters." He heard himself say it wishing that he hadn't the moment the words left his mouth.
Both Mello and Matt stilled at the words for a moment, then hunched over in a fit of laughter.
"Garbage monsters!" Matt repeats. "Did they stink? Did one..." His words are cut off by laughter. "did one have a tomato in its ear?"
Mello laughed but not as hard as Matt, in fact, he seemed to exchange an odd look with Light over the matter.
'He knows something.' Thinks the male. As a reporter he sees a lot of expressions and the one Mello is sporting is a look better described as an understading being covered by a want not to believe.
"Doesn't matter anyway." The garbage man ends up saying. Holding out the gun that Light had dropped last night, he hands it back to the male. "Keep it, you may need it. Just make sure you know who you're shooting at next time."
"I will."
Watching the exchange, Matt rolls his eyes, whipping out his handheld to get back to his game. He'd done his part, and since his fun in the old town is over with he may as well hang out with Mello for the day.
"Where are you headed now?" Asks the blond.
"Old town, I have to ask Near something." He looks over at L's car once again, glad that its still in working condition. L would kill him if his car ended up like the rental. He really should get another one and soon. "Where are the car rental places around here?" He asks, to them, what seems out of the blue.
"Central." Mello replies. "Matt, take him there."
Having heard his name, sort of, it came in more as 'Att' since he was half in, half out of the conversation. "Wha-..? Why me? You're not doing anything."
"I'm not babysitting the new guy all day. Besides, a tour guide can't bitch when he finally gets some work." Shoving the gamer on the back, he adds. "Now go."
"Alright, alright." Saving his game once again, he stuffs it into one of the large pockets on his hoody, zipping it up once its inside. "Come on."
"Thanks." Heading towards L's car, he climbs inside starting the engine; waiting for Matt to leave first so he can follow. He spots the two having a brief discussion before the brunet, whose hair could look red in the right lighting, gives the blond a kiss on the lips before walking to his car. Mello cast him a bitter glance before turning around to head back into the shack. Oddly enough, the act made him ache for L's nearness rather than Mikami's. The man is beyond strange, but his presence is really comforting. Maybe it isn't so much Mikami he misses but the feeling of having someone other than himself to be around. He can be a bit of a tightwad, workaholic, and very anti-social most days. Besides, He hasn't seen Mikami since the man had left him 3 years ago, and then to leave him hanging at the bar, although, there's a chance that he had missed him but- dammit, why would Mikami see him sleeping in his home, leave, then ask that he meet him somewhere? It seemed that Mikami was playing games with him, that he really doesn't wanna see him, and that Light came at all is nothing more than a big joke. He can't cat-and-mouse forever, though. He has to get back to Japan and out of this crazy town.
...
By the time they got to the rental dealership it was three o'clock. Light chose a larger car like L's in order to feel safer when driving around. Though, if he needed to run something down speed might be a handycap in a car like this but at least the force will be felt. The trouble now is getting the other car back to the apartment without wasting daylight. If he hurries he can get it there.
"Matt, will you stay here and wait for me? I have to drop this car off."
"Why not just call the guy who owns it. He can take a bus to get here."
Light hadn't thought of that. Do you have a cell? I left mine at the apartment."
Matt digs in his pocket for the phone handing it to the journalist.
"Thank you." He's about to press the number when he realized. "I don't know L's number." He says to himself.
"How do you not know the number to a guy whose car you borrowed?" Matt takes his phone back. "What's the name, I'll call the operator."
"Lawliet Elliot."
Waiting for Matt to hand him the phone, he looks around the area; his journalistic eyes catching everything they can see. Mental pictures of locations being taken. Everyone here seems so at peace its almost fake. Like you could only dream about a place like this, but the moment you talk to someone they're suddenly sent into panic mode over something. Did Beyond really instill all this? One man killing so many people, it must have been terrifying, sure, but he's dead. To still be this freaked out is insane.
"Here you go."
Taking the phone he holds it to his ear. "L?"
"Light?" He can almost hear the smile in the man's bored tone. "How did you get my number, I'm not listed."
"Operator. Listen, I have something to do in the old town so I'm giving your car back."
"You no longer need it?"
"I got another rental. I can't drive yours back to you without losing daylight, so will you come get it? I'm in Central at a rental dealership called..." He looks around for the name. "Cree-motors."
"As if I have a choice." The man is silent a moment. "You owe me a dinner, though."
"What?"
"You're in Central, right?" L takes in a breath before speaking the next one. "That's a way out of my way. I think you owe me a nice dinner as payment."
A slight laugh escapes the male's mouth. "You won't let up on it until I say, alright."
A smirk spreads across Matt's eavesdropping face.
"No." Flat answer.
"Alright, I'll take you out for a nice dinner. I have to go now, bye."
"Take care."
Rolling his honey colored eyes, Light says. "Stop looking at me like that, he's just a friend."
"Oh sure. I'll bet this Mikami won't see it that way." He starts for his car.
"Its the truth."
"Hey, I'm not judging you- stinging more flowers just gets you more honey." He shrugs. "Although, with guys like Mello you hit the hive." He laughs before getting into his car.
Climbing into his new rental, Light starts the car following after Matt. 'Mikami...' He lets out a frustrated sigh. 'You're not going to become just some flower.' He thinks using the stoned gamer's reference. 'We'll be reunited and get out of here together. I can't see leaving without you.'
The two arrive in the old town sooner than planned; unfortunately, Near was not at home.
"Its cool, Light. We can wait it out in one of the houses for him." Waving him over, Matt crosses the street to a home just one down from Near's. Kneeling, he picks the lock easily; giving Light a thumbs up at his own handy work before going inside.
"I won't even ask if this is alright," He drops his exhausted weight down on a couch. "I didn't realize how tired I was until now, or how hungry."
"I can make you something. You like cheese burgers?" He opens the fridge to look through it. "No beef, how 'bout some shrimp pasta?"
"How old is that stuff anyway?" He has to ask. If this town has been abandoned he doubted anything in it is edible.
"I got it yesterday." Replies Matt. "Chicken bites and veggies?" He's naming off options that range from chicken pasta, to some form of chicken nuggets, to chicken parmasan- either way, chicken seems to be set in stone as the main dish.
"You got it?" Light hears. "You stayed here overnight? Why did you pick the lock on the door then?"
"I was faking- had you fooled, though."
Light's brow twitched again. Between the death glare and strange personality that is L and Matt both men could bring any solid person to their knees with exhaustion of too much of them. 'Mello must be a saint to actually love the guy.' Although, seeing Mello's all around paranoid behavior, he can't really give him too much credit. Not that this place isn't making him feel like a complete basket case most of the time.
"I'll eat whatever." He turns in the seat a bit to look out the window and wait for Near's return. He hoped the kid wouldn't be gone for long. He didn't dare cross the streets at night, like Mello said, this place isn't exactly Heaven when the sun goes down.
Matt begun to hum as he prepared their meal; a cigarette hanging from his lips. Light didn't even notice that the male had taken it out until the light scent caught up to his nose only to be erased by the entoxicating scent of chicken with some kind of herb.
"That smells really good."
"Thanks." He turns the chicken with a pair of tongs. "You may not know it to look at me but, I don't burn food."
Light snickers at that. Nevermind, "I'm a master chef" or "great in the kitchen", simply "I don't burn food" and the kid is good. Removing the curtain across the window, the journalist asks. "How long have you known Mello?"
"Uuuh, about a year and half."
"That's all?"
"Match-made, right? You'd think we grew up together, but naah. Mel' doesn't even live in this town. He lives in the next city over. He stays at the dump until the end of the week then he goes home. Hn. Guy comes back perfectly normal but around the end of the week he starts to get paranoid." He shrugs. He removes the nicotine fix blowing out a cloud.
Mello wasn't smoking cigarette's he was smoking something a lot stronger. Could the smoke have made him confused. He knows that stoners often hallusinate- Matt even said so- maybe he dreamt up the whole thing and had actually been attacking Mello as the man had said?
'I could have killed him... I really shouldn't have a gun with me if I'm that easily influenced.' Thinks the male.
"Done. Hope you don't mind cig' ash." He holds up the pan.