"I know you've suffered / but I don't want you to hide"
Like any other day, it was exactly 4.37 pm when the bus left the station. Without even bothering to turn his head in the other direction, Light knew the black haired boy was once again sitting at his regular spot like each time before that. Even those days when the bus was filled with unfamiliar faces and undiscovered identities, the black haired boy was still sitting where he always did – there was no exceptions. Hell, at one point Light had felt so uneasy because of his presence that he had convinced himself that the black haired boy was following him for some unknown reason. Eventually he had come back to his senses after realising he was just another boring human being with his secrets buried so deep nobody would ever find out any of them. Therefore, nobody – not even the creepy black haired boy - had a reason to follow him around.
Without thinking about the strange boy any longer Light leaned against the window and closed his beautiful, whiskey coloured eyes. He could feel the people staring right at him across the bus, but he had learned not to pay any attention to the feeling. He knew everybody felt like other people were staring at them in public places, and he also knew that ninety percent of the time he felt like somebody was watching him was mostly due to tired people just wanting to look at one spot during their ride back home. Nothing more, nothing less and especially nothing personal. They weren't specifically looking at him even though they had their eyes locked on his dead beat face.
After resting his tired eyes for some minutes Light let the curiosity take over his self-control, so he slowly opened his lids as he turned to look at the black haired boy. Like any other day the boy sat there staring right out of the window looking as empty as ever. He was like that every single day. Since there was no explanation for his behaviour, Light liked to think the boy was looking for something, waiting to see something magnificent. Every now and then Light pondered the mysterious boy and tried to find some signs that would let him know at least something about his life or him in general. It never happened. There he was every day – looking out of the window not showing any emotions on his face – but still Light didn't know a single thing about him.
Where was he coming from? Where was he going? Why did he always pick the same place to sit? These were the questions Light wanted to have some answers to if only he'd have the nerve to go and talk to the boy who still remained as a total stranger to him. Besides, even if he had the nerve to go to him, he wasn't sure if it was perfectly appropriate to approach a random person followed by a bunch of bizarre questions coming out of nowhere – doing that would most likely make him look like the creep in the situation.
At 4:53 pm the bus was close to the bus stop where Light usually left off, so he reached for the stop button. Before he could reach the button, he stopped as he heard the clinging sound of the button being pushed. What the hell? Nobody ever left off at the same stop he did – not ever. He turned to look at the black haired boy and saw he was holding his finger on the button while still looking outside of the window with the same empty look on his face. Light was creeped out. Why did the boy push the button? It was almost like he knew Light would get off at that bus stop.
As the bus arrived to the stop Light made his way to the doors placed in the centre of the bus and got off the vehicle like everything was okay and absolutely normal although something felt strange. Before the bus drove off, Light managed to turn around and catch a glimpse of the black haired boy smiling. He was sure it was a slight smile on the boy's face he saw and it made him feel even more convinced that the boy had pushed the button knowingly that he would get off the bus at the next stop.
Due to the peculiar nature of the events, Light couldn't get it out of his mind. He found himself once again considering the fact that the boy might actually be following him around. As he was walking to his apartment all he could think about was the black haired boy, who had shown the first emotion in months by somewhat smiling after Light got off the bus. He knew it hadn't happened accidentally – the boy didn't seem like the type who'd push the stop button unintentionally too early. It just wasn't possible since the boy always watched out of the window. Every single day before that he hadn't made that kind of a mistake probably because he knew exactly at which point of the route the bus was going. He undoubtedly knew what he was doing when he pushed the button. But why? Why the hell would he do that? Was it because he wanted to capture Light's attention? If so, did that mean he had also noticed Light's presence on his daily tour at the bus back home? Did his actions have any real motives or had he pressed the button just for fun?
It didn't take longer than four and a half minutes for Light to get home from the bus stop. As soon as he walked in he threw his coat on the floor before carefully pacing through his apartment. He ran from one room to another checking he was alone in there. Light had never experienced burglars breaking into his apartment, but for some reason he always felt the need to check every room of his place before he could let his soul rest. If he didn't check every corner of the place, he felt uneasy and even a bit paranoid – he thought every tiny sound he heard coming inside his flat was caused by a burglar or a murderer.
After making sure he was alone in his apartment, Light turned on the television. Even though he wasn't that into watching television, he always watched the news just to know what was happening around the world. What fascinated him the most was the sad, violent or otherwise cruel news – you could even say he didn't care about the happy news at all. In his opinion it was stupid to waste time on telling news with optimistic nature. He knew nobody used the media to read a piece of news from somebody else's happiness, fortune or good life in general. It was bullshit and Light knew it.
He was that kind of a person who always wanted to know the bloody details of every murder case he heard of in the news, he had to know why once again there had been a suicide bombing somewhere in the world and who was responsible of it. He was craving to get his daily dose of evilness just to maintain his basic 'fuck-this-shit' attitude towards the whole wide world.
Most of the people would say there was something seriously wrong with Light, but in reality he was just one of those people who had seen the real world and survived the great big shock of realisation that the world in reality was rotten. Most of the people couldn't handle the cold hard truth about the world so somehow he understood their great will to keep nasty things out of their sight. At the same time Light knew being positive wasn't going to help anything or anyone in the long run so he constantly had to remind himself of the fact that the world was ruined so he wouldn't develop optimistic feelings towards the world or the human kind just so he wouldn't fall down after being let down by the things he believed in. That was undoubtedly unnecessary.
Light heard his phone ringing.
"What do you want?" he picked up the phone feeling a bit annoyed. He got up from the sofa, but left his television on so he could hear the news broadcasts while talking to the phone.
"We were just thinking about asking you to come with us to the city today," the voice replied.
"What for?"
"… Another body has been discovered at the local abandoned pool. The police keeps quiet about the details of the alleged murder since the incident is still under investigation…" the distinct voice of a female tv-reporter caught Light's attention.
"Jesus, another one?" Light sighed to himself after hearing the shocking news. Lately the town had gone through a bit of a rough patch since at least seven bodies had been discovered during the past five weeks. There was definitely a serial killer on the loose even though the media didn't want to label it like that. Light knew the media and the police had decided to keep the serial killer info out of the public just to make sure the people wouldn't panic and go totally insane knowing, that the police had no idea who was behind the killings.
"Wh… are you watching news again? I'm trying to have a conversation here with you, fucking act like you're listening," Mello hissed.
"Of course I'm watching the news, it is your own god damned fault for calling me at this hour. If you don't want me to hang up you'd better get to the point already."
"Right, we were wondering if you'd like to join us at our usual spot around ten tonight," Mello explained quickly hoping that Light was listening to him instead of focusing on the news like he usually did.
"With you?" Light asked wanting to know who else would be coming to their usual spot.
"Misa and Matt."
"Since Misa is coming, I assume you're trying to lure me to get drunk with you, am I right?"
"Is it that obvious?"
"Yeah, it is."
"Are you coming?"
"Sure, see you at ten."
Meanwhile few blocks away from Light's apartment the black haired boy was sitting in his own living room staring at the diary in front of him. He carefully picked it up and opened the first page.
"18th of May, 2015
Dear diary, I saw him again. I think he might be the person I've been looking for. There is something about his peacefulness that doesn't seem right. We all have secrets. Secrets we want to bury with us. But how does he manage to look so damn carefree all the time? I think it's because he has a secret that big he's forced to act as cool as possible – there's just too much to lose.
-L"
"19th of May, 2015
Dear diary, it wasn't until this morning when it occurred to me my theory could be a bit flawed. Freezer. Where can he possibly find a freezer that big that can hold a whole human body? The coroner said that the tissue of the victims were severely damaged and due to this fact it's sure their cause of death is hypothermia. He must kill them in a freezer. I need to find a way to get to his apartment and look for a big freezer. If I find a big freezer he has easy access to, I'll be even more sure he's the killer.
-L"
"20th of May, 2015
Dear diary, I need to approach him.
-L"
Exactly at ten in the evening Light arrived to the bar where he used to spend a lot of time with his friends. The place served cheap beer throughout the week and since they were all bunch of alcoholics, the place was just perfect for them. He straightened his white blouse and made sure his hair wasn't out of place just to achieve the 'I have my shit together' kind of a look.
As he finally stepped inside of the bar, he could already see his friends sitting around their usual table. He tried to catch their attention by waving at them, but the two of them were in the middle of a very intensive conversation so neither of them paid attention to him.
"Fucking bastards," Light laughed as he walked to the counter to get himself a beer.
While waiting for the bartender to give him the drink he ordered, Light decided to look around to see if he knew anyone else who was in there that night. At first nothing unusual caught his attention, but quite soon he spotted a familiar face sitting in the corner table of the place. It was him again – the black haired boy from the bus. As soon as he noticed the boy, Light turned to look to another direction so he could avoid the boy from seeing him. What the hell was he doing in that place? Light had never seen him there before, so the possibility of him being there by a coincidence was off the table. He was there to stalk him. Must've been – there was no other explanation.
"Anything else you want?" the bartender asked.
"No thank you, I'm fine," Light muttered back to the barista as he took his beer and walked straight to his friends.
"Light! Where the fuck have you been? We've been sitting here for twenty minutes at least," Mello asked sarcastically when he saw Light approaching their table.
"Haha, very funny."
"Oh he's only joking, we arrived here five minutes before you did," Misa laughed and playfully punched Mello's arm.
Light smiled faintly.
"So, what have you two been up to? It seemed like you two were in a middle of a very heated conversation before," Light asked out of pure curiosity.
"You know the usual shit – Misa is too stupid to understand anything."
"Hey! That wasn't a nice thing to say," Misa replied quickly.
"I have to agree though, you can be rather stupid from time to time. Not all the time but you know, sometimes," Light joined the conversation.
"I'll take that as a compliment, thank you very much."
"So?" Light asked.
"What?"
"What were you talking about?"
"Oh, right! I completely ignored your question. Misa said she can't believe the killer is a local citizen," Mello answered the question.
"Wh… What killer?"
"You know, the freezer killer. But I mean, he must be a local – there's no way he could kill in this way if he wasn't a local. He knows damn well what he is doing. He hides the bodies in places that only the locals know about."
"The freezer killer? He already has a name?" Light asked as if he didn't have any idea of what his friends were talking about. Of course he knew about it – it was all he had been thinking about lately. A serial killer on the loose in their own home town. Shit like that only happened in movies.
"Of course he does! He's taking us down one by one. The victims don't seem to have any connection, which means… Any one of us could be his next victim," Mello stated as if it had been obvious.
"I totally didn't say I don't think he can be a local, I just don't want to believe it's true. I've lived in this city for my whole life and during those 23 years we haven't seen anything like this. This city is too pure to have sick people like that living among us," Misa corrected Mello.
"Well you guys surely are as cheerful as ever," Light rolled his eyes as he took a swing of his beer.
"What's your opinion on the freezer killer?" Misa asked while tying her hair.
"My what? Should I have an opinion on the killer? I don't think it's that common to think about shit like this – I'm just letting the police handle their job," Light acted like he had zero interest to the subject.
"Pfft, give me a break Light. Do you really think the police is going to solve this? It's been five weeks since the first body appeared and the police is already in deep shit. They don't have any clues besides the fact that the victims were killed in a freezer," Mello specified loudly.
"Shut up, somebody could hear you," Light whispered.
"So what? What if someone hears?"
"I don't think you should be publically announcing information you got by sneaking into your father's working room and going through his top secret police files. You could be in deep shit if somebody found out you're leaking information. It could seriously harm the investigation," Light kept on talking in a calm town. He knew Mello was a bit ignorant when it came to this kind of stuff so naturally he felt like he was responsible of trying to keep his mouth shut.
"Please, nobody is going to hear what I'm saying – the nearest table is fifteen meters from here. I have nothing to be afraid of… unless… you're the freezer killer," he replied and stared at his friend in a way that would give the creeps to anyone.
"Stop it, it's not funny," Light whispered as he looked to the direction where the black haired boy was sitting. He was still certain the boy was there to stalk him and that is why he didn't want to draw any excessive attention towards himself.
"I'm only joking! Seriously Light, what's up your ass today?"
Light sighed and leaned towards Misa.
"I think I'm going crazy," he sighed.
"What do you mean?" Misa asked.
"There's this one boy sitting right there," Light pointed his finger.
"Oh my god don't fucking look, it looks suspicious if you stare at him all of a sudden!" he said as his both friends turned to look to the direction he was pointing at.
"Well if you don't want us to look, maybe you shouldn't be pointing your fucking finger like that," Misa exhaled.
Light rolled his eyes once again.
"Anyway, I think he's following me."
"What makes you think that?" Mello questioned.
"I see him everywhere. He takes the same bus with me every single day. He walks around the neighbourhood where I'm living at. He's standing behind me on the line at the grocery store. He's fucking everywhere," Light explained shortly and tried to stay hidden from the stranger's eyes.
"Okay calm down Mr. Paranoid. Has it ever even occurred to you that he might actually live close to you? Maybe he's a student just like you? That would explain this whole mess. He takes the same bus with you because he lives around there. He goes to the grocery store around the same time you do because your schedules are kind of in a sync since you're both students. And hey, it's not weird to see a person at a bar on a Friday night. Maybe he came here to have a drink just for the hell of it," Mello tried to rationalize the situation to Light.
"No you don't get it, he's clearly stalking me. Today when we were at the bus, he pressed the stop button for me. He just fucking pressed it and when I got off of the bus I could see a smirk on his face. I think it was his way of telling 'hello there, I'm stalking you. Beware. I'm coming for you' or something," Light gave more details of the occasion.
"Maybe he has a crush on you," Misa suggested.
"That is also a possibility. He could have a crush on you. Not the cute kind of a crush. A creepy kind of a 'I will follow you everywhere until you notice me' kind of a crush," Mello joined the idea.
"Okay now you give me a break. He doesn't look that type of a guy who'd be crushing over me. Fucking look at him – he looks like a bloodthirsty killer raccoon," Light claimed as he once again pointed to his direction.
"Is it okay to look now or…?" Misa asked.
"Yes."
"Okay kind of true, he looks a bit creepy. But on the other hand… the messy black hair and the striped shirt makes him look cute and harmless," Misa pondered.
"Maybe you should go to him and ask if there's a problem. Since when have you been such a pussy like that?" Mello pushed it.
"I'm not going to go to him and ask wh…" Light was about to respond as he saw the black haired boy get up and walk outside with a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"I'm totally going to fuck him up, this is my chance," he changed his mind and followed the boy before his friends had any time to respond.
Light could feel his heartbeat racing faster as he moved closer to the door. Every step he took made his body shake a little bit more. He could hear the blood rushing in his ears the minute he stepped out of the bar and approached the mysterious boy.
"Can I bum one?" he asked after getting his shit sort of together. He didn't want his voice to sound shaky nor did he want the other one to notice he was actually nervous as hell. If the boy really was there to observe him, he didn't want to show any weaknesses to him.
The black haired boy pulled a full pack of smokes out of his pocket and offered a cigarette to Light. After this he leaned against the wall and acted like Light wasn't standing right beside him.
"Exactly who the fuck are you?" Light asked as he lit his cigarette.
The black haired boy slowly turned to look at him with the familiar smirk on his face.
"Just another boy alone at the bar," he gave a witty response.
"Hilarious."
The boy chuckled silently.
"How come I see you everywhere? Are you stalking me?" Light asked another question even though the boy hadn't responded to his previous question in a way Light wanted him to.
"Look, I'm here to have a drink. Why do you think I'm stalking you?"
"Well are you?"
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Why, should I?"
"Is this an interrogation?" Light asked.
"Do you have something to hide?"
Light didn't know how to reply.
"L Lawliet, nice to meet you… Light," he answered to Light's first question before walking calmly back inside to the bar.
"Now how to fuck would you know my name if you aren't stalking me?" Light yelled, but the boy had already disappeared.
A/N: I know I should be writing flawlessly at all times, but for some reason it's difficult for me to get the first chapter look like its good and well put together haha. Anyway this was kind of my excuse for this shitty piece of text but I swear I'll do better from now on.
