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Reason Twelve
"Cold Feet"
O never really understood why; she just accepted it for the sake of not wasting her time. However, the more she paid attention to it, the more irked she ended up being. Why? Why doesn't the man wear anything on his feet? Sure, he wasn't foolish enough to go outside without some sort of footwear, but he doesn't even wear socks! What if rocks had managed to get inside his shoes? So many questions were floating through her head as she laid in her bed. L was still here, still sorting through the things she bought for him. Her eyes flickered to his bare feet. They weren't as unkempt as she'd thought they'd be. The nails weren't nine inches long and he didn't have any calluses of any sort. They were actually...kind of cute. The curly-haired woman stopped staring before she started to develop a fetish for the man's feet. She grabbed a bag from the pile at her feet and pulled out a pair of panda slippers, presenting them to the detective.
"Wear them for me, please?" O asked. L just stared at her, which made her throw the slippers aside and reach for another bag. The next thing she held out was panda socks. "These?"
"I find most footwear uncomfortable," he simply told her, going to throw away an empty box that used to hold graham crackers.
"What's the story on that, anyway?"
"Would you like to guess?"
"I thought you'd never ask."
O jumped out of her bed, then went to her closet. She rummaged through it for a while until she found a large, leather-bound book that was the size of an encyclopedia. It bore the title "O's Theory of Weird: The L Edition" on its cover and she lugged it back on her bed. There were many bookmarks lodged between the pages, identifying certain topics from "Oral Fixation" to "Sock Puppets." The author of the lengthy book turned to the latter. Under the "Sock Puppets" tab, there was a story dedicated to why L has an aversion to wearing things on his feet. It read as followed:
Once upon a time, there was a strange child named L. His caretaker, Watari, noticed he had trouble socializing with others, so he made some sock puppets. The nameless playthings were given to the quiet child and he played with them as often as he could. He even slept with them. The boy realized that he hadn't named the creatures, deciding to name them Near and Mello. Then one day, out of the blue, the sock puppets were gone. L began to panic for the first time in his life. Where were Near and Mello? Where were his first and only friends? The child left the safety of his room to visit the backyard, where most kids his age went out to play games and have fun. He saw a crowd of children gathered in a half circle around an older girl, who was taller and lankier than he.
Her name was Wesley and she was known to bully every child she came across. She was a messy-haired girl who never cut anything that grew, which included her hair and nails. L heard her high-pitched chortle and could tell that whatever she had been doing was nothing good. Swallowing his fear, he approached the crowd, who seemed so entranced by whatever was causing the wicked Wesley joy. She was wiggling her big feet animatedly, speaking in whimsical voices. Once he saw what was on her feet, the child's heart broke in two.
She was wearing Near and Mello, whom were pierced through with yellow, overgrown nails.
As their mutilation continued, L clutched his head in pain. He could hear their screams, begging to be released from their torture. It was then that the child never wanted to wear socks again, for fear that he'll hear tiny, bloodcurdling screams once more.
"The end," O finalized, appearing to proud of her writing skills. "How was that?"
"Watari will be here shortly to burn that, O."
"Yeah, I figured that you wouldn't take a joke."
13: The story on how O met L. Appropriate that it's chapter thirteen, huh? Hope you enjoyed!
