Chapter 4:

Misunderstandings

As always, for ThreeBooksInTheFire

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I snapped my phone closed, severing the connection. Oh, I was so dead.

The time was displayed on the front screen, flashing the time up at me. 3 hours until I needed to get my ass in the room.

Or, three hours to play the best game of hide-and-seek ever!

That is, I thought ruefully, if I can hide long enough.

So, for about 5 or so minutes, I wandered down a seemingly endless stream of specialty shops that were all the same until I found a small coffee place shoved in between larger buildings that almost seemed to be threatening to consume it. One of those cute-sy kinds that you see in cheap chick-flicks or throwaway airplane romance novels or whatever. God, the picturesque-ness of it almost made me nauseous. It was the kind of place that I wouldn't be caught dead in.

That made it perfect.

That also, unfortunately, meant I had to go inside. I took a deep breath, like one would when they were about to scrape dog-crap off their shoe. Here goes nothing.

It was cute, I suppose. A few plants hung from the ceiling, dripping green tendrils. Tables, made for groups of two or three, were scattered about, far enough away from each other to keep conversations private. The plates and dishes a waiter was scooping up were playfully and tastefully clashing in patterns. Get me out of here.

The urge to leave, and go anywhere – even to the room and interrogation – was almost overwhelming now. I surveyed the room, quickly picking out a spot where I could see the entire café, but I could only be seen from a few spots. Perfect.

I sat, rubbing my hands anxiously on my thighs. Everything was too, too – something. I couldn't put my finger on it. A waiter – the one I saw when I came in – walked by me. His arms were laden with dirty dishes. He held up one finger, smiling at me. He would be back in a moment.

I smiled shakily back. I needed something hot and I needed to get some liquid in me now, I realized. Being on a godforsaken plane for an ungodly amount of time does that to ya. The man came back, a not-so-fake smile plastered on his lips, whipping his hands on his little apron before pulling out his little notebook and little pen. "What can I get you today, miss?"

Does he sound so sincere to all the patrons? I wondered while I forced a halfway smile onto my face. "A hot chocolate would be really, really nice right now," I said almost pathetically. Okay, I might have picked up the chocolate loving from Mello. The near pleading was most certainly from my brother.

Ha ha. Hear that, Matt?

He smiled, looking out the window to his right. "I'll bet. Especially with that weather outside. It wasn't supposed to rain this week," he stopped himself, seeing that he was rambling on. He jotted down the order. "I'll be right back with that drink, miss." He spared one last look at me before turning the order into the kitchen and taking an order from a wet couple that had just walked in.

I looked down at myself. Why is everyone looking at me like that today? I wondered. I was only wearing black cargos, a white tank, and a large jacket over that. My cap still held most of my auburn hair in it. My banged-up locket hung from around my neck. He couldn't possibly have seen my crutch behind me and he didn't see me when I came in. I couldn't be weird looking, could I? No, there were certainly far odder specimens in this city. The way people were looking at me, you'd think that I were indecent or something. I shook it off.

Weird people in this city.

The waiter came back just then, my mug steaming on a platter. I almost whimpered when my fingers closed around the warmth of the container. Okay, maybe I did.

Don't judge me. It's another habit I picked up from Matt… Probably.

I started to gulp the liquid before the man had a chance to warn me. The taste was to die for.

Oh, but the tongue burn, however, was a completely different matter.

"AH! AH!" I panted. "Ow! Owowow!" I think I sounded rather like a dog in pain.

I could feel the other patrons scattered about stare at me and I heard their laughter. I sent a nasty glare in their general directions through more hanging vines. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up.

Okay, enough of this. I set the drink back on the table and searched for my wallet in my many, many pockets. Key-card, gum wrapper, gum wrapper, lint, used gum, ew… Ah. There.

The waiter-man was still watching me worriedly as I pulled out a twenty for a five-dollar drink. I just had to get out of there. I slapped down the money and muttered something about how he could keep the change. I rushed out the door without another word.

After my escape, I wandered around the city for while after that. Nothing much to tell, really. I just sort of went from street to street, feeling the light drizzling rain on my face. I didn't know what I was looking for until I found it.

***

The entire group was on a dull blade's edge. They had been searching since they'd left the room, even with Summer's assurances. So far, nothing.

"Damn it!" Matt cursed under his breath. "We've checked everywhere. She couldn't have just up and vanished." He studied the map before him as a host of unpleasant scenarios came to the foreground of his mind. He snapped the map in front of him, forcing them away.

Mello looked over at his friend. "She's a big girl, Matt," he reminded. "And shut up. You're muttering to yourself like a psycho."

Matt grit his teeth. He had his goggles on his forehead again, like he did only when he was really worried or really pissed. Or any combination there of. Usually, Summer was involved in those instances.

He looked to the others to distract himself and mused, the world's five greatest detectives can't find one girl in one city. He saw Mello dividing his attention between listening to the others and cleaning under his nails with a blade. Near was twirling his hair in thought, looking through different windows on the laptop he refused to lend to Matt since his own crashed from Summer's virus. Watari, of course, was driving up front. L was murmuring things to himself, looking through some tattered notebooks…Summer's old diaries? Matt ignored it. Let Summer be angry if she liked.

Matt sighed for the umpteenth time, wishing suddenly and strongly for a cigarette. He had been trying to give up, as a coming home present for Summer, but his resolve had kind of dissolved. Besides, he knew that his sister wouldn't mind so much if he'd just cut back to one or two a day. Or he would, as she liked to put it, die of cancer at the age of thirty. He smiled slightly again, almost unnoticeably. She's such a pain in the ass, he thought to himself, but you've just gotta love her for it. And what else are sisters for?

Matt stared out the window again, looking at the water beneath the bridge and shifted in his seat. If there was one thing he hated other than Summer's antics, it was bridges. And airplanes. And subways. Matt muttered to himself, "How in the hell can she like bridges?"

L snapped his head up to look at Matt, then looked at the pedestrians walking on each edge of the bridge. Matt sat up too, looking out the darkened windows. Of course. Summer always did love to look down at the rivers under bridges, leaning so far over that Matt would tease her she would fall over one day. Of course, he did so at a distance of ten paces from the edge. Yes, she has to be here.

Matt looked at the few people that littered the bridge. A couple had their heads put together as they were swinging linked arms. A young mother and father held their young child up to look below them. An elderly married pair was nearly run down by a group of cyclists. A shirtless man who looked to be twice the age of Watari jogged down one side. Matt inwardly shuddered and decided to give his eyes a thorough scrubbing. A few stragglers were scattered about, most of them getting on or off the bridge. There was one that Matt almost overlooked.

A girl. A girl that looked almost nothing like him.

Except for that one look she'd give you when she was really pissed off.

***

I sat on the uneven stones of the half-wall, staring down at the water below me. It was a dull gray, a reflection of the clouds above me. I never was good with judging distances, but the water had to be about, what, 20 feet down? I ran calculations through my mind as I moved to sit differently, straddling the wall now. Ah. Better.

Now, I thought, if an object falling towards the ground accelerates at 9m/s/s, then I would hit the water… hmmm. Hard. Really, really hard. I gulped, shifting again. I didn't have to be L with his percentages to know that my chances wouldn't be good if I hit the water.

I looked down again, shifting…

***

"There! Watari, over there!" Matt pointed at Summer, straddling the wall, staring down at the water intently. She swung her other leg over the wall…

Watari hadn't fully stopped when it struck Matt: his sister was going to kill herself. How could she even think…

That was when time seemed to race forward but not go by fast enough as the logic cortex of his mind had only one thought. Summer was going to off herself. His sister was going to commit suicide. No. No.

Everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion at the same time. Watari swerved to a stop and the four others leapt out of the vehicle. Matt raced toward his sister, but uncountable years of chain-smoking kept him from breathing well. L was ahead of him within a second. Matt had time to think in some part of his mind, for a guy that eats candy all the time, he's fast.

Summer began to sway to and fro on the wall, a look of sheer concentration making her blind and deaf to the world around her. She had the barest hint of a smile…

She didn't even know that they were there until Summer found herself tackled and pinned to the ground.

***

I pulled my other leg over the wall and started to sway on it in thought. The water was so beautiful I wanted to touch it.

For the barest second, I thought about jumping. Just jumping and letting the world go on without me.

But what about Matt? I couldn't just leave him. I couldn't leave any of them. I smiled the slightest smile sadly. Life is never simple, but death is.

I closed my eyes and sighed softly. I was ready to go back now. Maybe I could survive through telling them what happened.

I had just opened my eyes when I felt an impact and within a second, I was on the ground, held down by something strong.

I couldn't comprehend where I was for a good three seconds. That's a scary long time for me. All my thoughts were scattered in every direction, and not in a good way. I was scared. I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe, I anything. All I knew was that I felt like the back of my head had been hit with a very angry semi driver's truck.

Then, I think I blacked out.

AN: if you haven't picked up on it yet, I update once a week. If I get a little inspiration, maybe from nice people in nice PM's, I might update twice. See ya next week!