Chapter Seven: Denchers
The first thing I noticed was that his teeth were perfectly straight and pearly white. This was Matt, a young man from Yokosuka who was half Japanese and half American. He was a new addition to our group and was apparently a meth addict at one point.
His teeth were false.
Right off the bat, he and Mello became good friends for whatever reason. But I didn't see much of him, really…
It was a rare occasion that we were allowed anything that even resembled free time. We were all normally kept busy with various things, but today there was some emergency with one of the other patients and apparently it was taking the attention of all the workers at the center.
Not that I cared.
Of course, this also meant that L/Ryuuzaki/whatever his name was that day, had time to do as he pleased. And of course, "as he pleased," meant bothering me.
I had been sitting outside in the courtyard, minding my own business, when I heard him shuffle up behind me. Despite the fact that we all were supposed to wear slippers provided by the center, L insisted on parading around barefoot.
"Do you prefer being alone all the time?"
Yet another stupid question.
I glanced over my shoulder at him and shrugged carelessly. "What does it matter to you?"
L wasn't even looking at me. His coal-black eyes were turned upward toward the sky, though really, it didn't seem like he was looking at anything in particular. It was as if he was some sort of being from another planet. Even if I had wanted to, I had no idea how to relate to someone like him.
"If you want to get through this, you should probably make friends." His voice was as flat as a board.
"How is that going to help, exactly?" I asked, getting up from the bench I'd been sitting on. I turned to face him, but he still wasn't looking at me.
He sighed rather wistfully. "Yagami-kun, can I ask you a personal question?" Upon saying this, he met my gaze with a blank one of his own.
The way he looked at me made me feel a little awkward. It was a sort of stare that could make a person feel totally invisible.
"Go ahead." By this point, I was beyond caring.
"If you're here, you must obviously want to get better, but you aren't even trying," L said. He paused, giving me an inquiring look.
"Why is that, exactly?"
Of all the questions he could've asked me, that was not exactly what I had been expecting. L tended to talk about stupid, meaningless things. He never seemed to care about anything beyond what color the ceiling tiles in the bathroom were, yet here he was, asking me a question I didn't even know the real answer to.
"I was forced to come here," I replied after a moment. It was the truth, wasn't it?
"Hm…"
Judging by the sound of that, L clearly didn't buy it. "But even if you were forced, you were still given some sort of option. Even I had a choice," he said. "I think there's a lot about yourself that you don't even know, Yagami-kun. You're still trying to figure yourself out, and now that you're here, you can't do it."
I had been about to tell him he was wrong, but he cut me off.
"You need to get out of here. This place will suck you dry, leaving you nothing but a shell of your former self. All I'm saying is that if you don't TRY to get better, you'll be here for years, and when you do get out, all you'll want to do is come back."
It was the first time L actually sounded enthusiastic about something. I wasn't sure why, but I felt like he was right.
I would wind up like him.
Author's Note: Okay, short chapter, yeah. But I needed a short chapter to get the ball rolling again. It's been a seriously long time since I touched this. A lot has happened since the last update. Car accidents, moving overseas, etc, etc. Anyway, I really appreciate your patience, and now that I'm writing again after a very, very long absence, I would like to apologize for keeping you all waiting for so long. And to those who are still reading it, I freaking love you. I know this chapter isn't on par with the previous ones, but I'll be back to my old self in no time. I promise. 3