Away From Home
Chapter Eight
By Andruindel
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I woke to complete darkness that night. I sat up, looking around nervously. The nightmare I'd just woken from was already fading, but the fear remained. Shadowy figures seemed to leap out at me, and my heart would race, until finally I couldn't stand it any more. I knew at least one task force member would be in the work room, watching me.
Gathering Panda into my arms, I slipped out of bed, and to the door. It was just as dark outside my room, but the eerie glowing light told me that L's computer was on. I stepped carefully down the hall, and emerged into the workroom to see Mogi sitting before the monitor that showed my bedroom. Matsuda watched another monitor that showed several other camera feeds.
Only slightly disturbed by the two men watching my every move, I wandered into the room, and collapsed onto the couch. They didn't talk to me. They didn't ask what I was doing. They didn't inquire why I had wandered into the work room, in a camisole and pajama bottoms, only to collapse on the couch. But their eyes rested on me for a moment. I could feel it.
Not that I cared. I was too half asleep to care.
Within minutes I was asleep again.
--
"How long as Amy been out here?"
"Since at least two o'clock this morning."
"She just came out here and collapsed on the couch."
I had come awake slowly. So slowly, in fact, I wasn't exactly sure when I had come awake, and comprehended the words. As it was, I didn't really care. I turned over on the couch. Or, I would have, had I had enough room. Instead, I tumbled to the floor. It was not quite the way I had wanted to wake up that morning.
At some point during the night, someone had covered me with a blanket. Without pausing to really comprehend that, I grabbed the blanket, and crawled back onto the couch, pulling the blanket over my head. But, having been woken, and rather forcefully at that, it was impossible for me to go back to sleep. For a while I just laid on the couch with my eyes closed, listening to what was going on.
But, nothing interesting was happening, so soon enough, I stood up.
I didn't spare a glance at the men in the room as I pulled the blanket up over my head, and fled to my own room. I was hardly going to let them all see my freaky bed-head. Especially L. L was never, ever, ever going to see me when I my hair was messy.
In a state of half-asleep-ness, I wandered out of my room several minutes later. I was doing my 'random happy dance' which consists of merely moving my shoulders. I couldn't explain why I was doing it. I guess I was happy.
Either way, I knew I could feel someone's eyes on me as I went into the kitchen. I just hoped they weren't L's.
For the rest of the day I lounged around, mostly in my room. There was really nothing better to do, and I was dwelling on the dream I'd had the previous night. I could remember foggy bits and pieces of it, nothing definite. But I knew for sure that it had scared the holy you-know-what out of me.
Only when I meandered out of my room again later in the afternoon did someone bother to ask why I was being so… quiet. For a moment I just frowned at the speaker: Matsuda. No one had ever asked me that question in quite that same context before. I'd been asked why I was so quiet, or why I was being so emo. But no one had ever asked why I was being so quiet, meaning I hadn't done anything insane yet. People were usually used to me being quiet.
It was so weird…
I put my head to one side, still frowning a bit. "What do you mean?" I asked.
Matsuda shook his head. "You haven't insulted anyone, or run around crazily, or even stolen any of L's cake all day! Why are you being so quiet?" He was honestly asking me why I was so quiet. He wasn't asking what was wrong. He wasn't asking why I was being so emo. And he wasn't ignoring the fact that I was being quiet.
I had to laugh. Matsuda looked confused at why I was laughing, but said nothing. "I'm being quiet, because I've been thinking." I replied, still smiling.
"Thinking about what?"
Unknowingly, Matsuda had asked the wrong question. I let my smile fade away, and bit my bottom lip. My eyes went immediately to a point to the left of his head, and I hesitated. "Oh, nothing." I replied, trying to make my voice light. "Just, you know, stuff." I smiled once more, and started toward the window seat.
I had been in a semi-good mood, until the question. Matsuda didn't know what he'd done, of course. He had just asked a simple question. But it was one I did not want to answer. And one that put me thinking again.
Thinking was never a good pass time, in my case.
In this instance, I could only sit in the window seat, gazing down at the world below me. My mind was on nothing specific. Actually, I couldn't even remember what I'd been thinking about by the time I was done thinking it.
I was beginning to feel dizzy and sick from looking down from such a high spot when I heard the sounds that said the others were leaving. I turned around just as Matsuda was standing up. As he looked in my direction, I tilted my head to one side, lifting one eyebrow. He smiled, and I smiled back, dropping my eyes.
"Bye, Amy." Matsuda said, and he lightly ruffled my hair as he passed. I watched as he left, my head tipped to one side, thinking. I didn't even bother trying to fix my hair.
It was silent for all of five minutes. L was simply sitting in his chair, watching me. I was still looking at the door. What exactly I was thinking, I don't even know. All I know is, in a split second, I had decided something.
"Come on, L. We're getting out of here." I jumped to my feet, and before even I could figure out what was going on, I had grabbed L's hand and was pulling him toward the door. My hand was dwarfed by his, but I hardly cared.
I only realized what exactly was going on when L pulled to an abrupt halt. The stop was so sudden that I fell over backwards. Or, I would have, had L not caught me. I fell right into his arms, and, too confused and dazed to really do anything else, I looked up at him, letting my head rest against his shoulder.
"Where are we going, Amy?" L asked me, looking down at me.
I blinked. "I dunno. We're just getting out of here. I'm going insane! Do you realize I haven't been outside for weeks?" I straightened up, fixing my shirt as I glared at L. "I don't care where we go. Just as long as we're not here any more. Besides, I haven't eaten anything that's not junk in forever."
I was sure L was going to refuse. And, surprise surprise, he did.
"I'm sorry, Amy." He said, shaking his head. "I can't risk going outside."
I hung my head in disappointment. Say hello to another few weeks of confinement, Amy.
But, L went on. "However, I could… see if any of the others are willing to take you out for a few hours…" He said slowly. His eyes were downcast, as usual, a sure sign of a quickly working mind.
"Really?!" I asked, narrowing my eyes mistrustfully at him.
"Yes," L sighed, and he turned back to his computer, shoving his hands deep into his pockets. "I'll make some calls…"
"Thank you, Ryuuzaki-san!" I cried. I would have hugged him, but I was too excited to think of it. Instead, I ran for my room. If I was going out, I wanted to make sure I looked presentable. I let down my hair and brushed it out before pulling it back again. Then I looked at my reflection. I looked fine, I guessed. My clothes were clean, my hair was brushed. With a shrug, I deduced that I was not going to look any better.
"Ryuuzaki-san!" I called as I went back to the work room. I looked around, but he was not present. Confused, I stood just inside the work room, my hands on my hips. And then I heard a noise from the kitchen. L was probably eating another slice of cake. That would be… I did a quick calculation on my fingers. Five slices of cake, in just one day!
I hesitated, and then I went to peer into the kitchen. I only let my head show around the door-way, and, just as I had expected, there stood L, cutting himself a rather large slice of cake. Feeling suddenly shy, which I was used to, actually, I said nothing. Instead, I just watched him.
Finally, he turned and noticed me. "Oh, Amy-chan." He said. "Everything is set. Your escort will be here in a matter of minutes."
I smiled. "Thank you, Ryuuzaki." I said quietly. He gave me the smallest shadow of a smile as he passed. I wasn't even sure if I'd really seen it, or imagined it. I followed him back into the work room, and sat down on the edge of the couch, jiggling my leg nervously. I was fervently hoping that it was Matsuda who was taking me out.
Several minutes later, the door opened. I stood up slowly, anxiously awaiting my fate. And…
"Hello, Amy."
Aizawa stepped into the room.
I swallowed. I'd never really liked Aizawa, and here I'd doomed myself to at least an hour in his company, alone. What was I going to do now?! I couldn't just say I'd changed my mind.
"Hello," I replied, forcing a smile.
"Come on then," He said. "My family's waiting in the car."
I let out an unconscious sigh of relief. I wasn't going to be alone with him after all. I was a bit nervous about meeting his family, but it was better than sitting there with just him, in complete silence.
"Bye, Ryuuzaki." I said, glancing once over my shoulder. L didn't react, so I turned back to face forward, and focused my eyes on the floor. I followed Aizawa into the elevator, where I took up my usual position, smashed into a corner, trying to be as small as possible.
Aizawa was looking around idly, until his eyes fell on me and rested there. "Are you okay?" He asked.
"No…" I whispered. "Not really." My eyes were on the floor, and I was focusing on keeping my breathing even.
"What's wrong?"
"I don't like elevators." I replied sharply.
Aizawa looked away. "Why didn't you say so?"
"Because I didn't want to walk down all those stairs."
We said no more until we'd gotten out of the hotel. By that time I'd relaxed some-what, and I was looking around, happy to finally, finally, be out of the hotel room. Even if it was with Aizawa.
His car was nothing special, but at least it was comfortable. And his wife and daughter were both really nice. As soon as I'd been introduced to them, I felt right at home. I was actually really used to socializing with anyone, no matter what their age was. Back home I'd often hung out with my little sister and her friends. But I'd also had friends of all ages, and most adults didn't intimidate me. That's not to say some didn't…
His daughter was absolutely adorable. We talked through the whole car ride, and then we sat together at the restaurant, giggling together. Aizawa kept sending glances in my direction, as though he wasn't sure what to think about how I was interacting with his daughter. His wife obviously didn't know what to think of me either. Aizawa had introduced me as a friend of Matsuda's.
That brought one question that his wife must have been asking to mind: Why was it Aizawa who was taking me out, and not Matsuda? She was obviously too polite to voice any of her questions, though, and she spoke politely to me for the main part of the evening.
But the company was nothing compared to what I ate. For as long as two weeks I'd been craving one thing: Meat. I ordered a steak, with a baked potato on the side. And it was delicious. For the majority of the meal I was silent, focusing entirely on my food. I only spoke when someone addressed me, and then only briefly. I was too intent on my meal to care about anything else.
However, half-way through the meal, Aizawa's phone rang. He excused himself, and left the table.
Minutes later, he rushed back. "We have to go. Watari's waiting. " He said. Then, turning to his wife, "I'll be late tonight. Drive safe."
I immediately protested. "But I'm not done!"
"We have to go." He grabbed my arm just above the elbow and made me get up. Giving my food one last longing look, I followed. What choice did I have? His grip was tight on my arm, but despite my struggles, I couldn't get loose.
"What's going on?" I asked as we got into the car.
Aizawa didn't answer.
I was worried that something had happened. But since I wasn't getting answers, there was no point asking questions. I stared out the window silently, wondering what was going on, for the rest of the ride.
--
Well... Here's yet another chapter. I got some Aizawa-ness in there this time. o.o; Weird, huh? I don't even like Aizawa. But... I figured I might as well. Hehe.. Anyway, this is chapter eight, as you've already probably figured out. And... I'm really just rambling right now. Andy's kinda half-asleep, from staying up until 2:00 in the morning last night. Me and some friends watched Finding Nemo... It was odd. Anyway, thank you for reading this chapter. And thanks for putting up with my random ramblings. Don't forget to review!
