Matt watched one table of patients with a particularly curious eye. Near, his roommate before Mello, sat there, with the twins L and B, and another boy named Light. Matt knew Near showed signs of what the doctors called "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" amongst other things, but L and B were a mystery to him.
Light, Matt knew from a very awkward conversation, was schizophrenic and suffering from delusions and Multiple-Personality Disorder. As far as Matt knew, the boy thought his name was Kira.
They sat around, half-eating their food, half playing with the lumpy porridge. Only B seemed happy to be eating it. He spooned great globs of it into his mouth, letting it trickle out at the corners of his sneering lips. It gave Matt the creeps.
L, on the other hand, seemed to be trying to talk to Light, while Near sat quietly, eyes downcast. Matt knew that Near didn't talk much, if at all. It had made sharing a room with him all the more awkward. Of course, at that time Near didn't do anything except huddle in a corner. He had ignored the bed completely and Matt, too shy to protest, had just left him there.
Shaken out of his reverie by movement, Matt noticed L coming towards him. Matt stiffened, trying to decide where the best place to hide was, but L was already upon him. Reaching out a skeletal hand and taking a seat (if what he did could be called sitting) opposite Matt, he smiled at the boy, but it was a smile that sent shivers up Matt's spine.
"Hello, Matt." They didn't need introductions. The two were in the same therapy group, they saw each other every day.
"…L…"
"How are we this morning?" L asked, his voice a deep baritone.
"…Tired…" And sore, and scared, Matt thought to himself.
"I couldn't help but notice you watching us." Matt's heart hammered in his chest. He didn't want any trouble…
"Sorry, sorry…! I was just…It was…" L cut him off with a wave of his arm.
"Relax, I'm not mad." He was calculated Matt with wide owl-like eyes. "I wonder, would you care to join us?" Matt shook his head hard, backing away into the wall.
"No, I…um, I…I gotta go," he mumbled, pushing past L, and heading back to his room, the only place where he felt somewhat safe.
Mello skidded to a stop, his body aching. He ducked behind the familiar brick alley that lead to the club. Leaning against the cool wall, he caught his breathe in gasps, clutching at a stitch in his side. A shiver passed through him. That was to close, he thought angrily, slamming a fist into the wall and ignoring the pain that rose up his hand.
Mello sighed and headed further into the alleyway. The club gleamed like a beacon in the night and Mello followed it like a moth to the flame. Stepping inside, Mello took a seat in the back. He figured he'd be safe here, at least for the time being. He never expected the (rather attractive) dark-haired boy at the bar to sit down beside him.
With a smile that could melt ice, the boy, not much older than Mello's seventeen years, held out his hand. "Hey," he purred, "I'm Zak."
AN: Yes, Zak is a Death Note character. He's part of the mafia. His real name is Zakk Irius. But I shall make him my own. :)