Chapter 12: Ashes
After a prolonged bath time in the dim lit room, which contained no windows and a lot of dust, Hood finally decided that maybe now would be a good time to get up and out.
She wasn't sure of how long she'd stayed in there for, at least an hour, or more, she'd guess.
The water was tinted with a rusty brown after it soaked the most of the blood that caked her back clean off. On top of that, it was beginning to get cold.
The blonde grudgingly dragged herself out of her relaxed state and opened her eyes.
Her pupils narrowed to adjust to the light exposure, causing her vision to go blank for a few seconds before dim orange light coated every object in the room easily.
Hood had grown a distaste for the such dim lighting that happened to be in every room in the orphanage. It gave off quite an eerie effect, because it was only the majority of the room which was lit, the corners and far walls were faded into pools of darkness, which could be hiding anything.
Bugs... Spiders... People...
Anything.
The blonde gripped the sides of the tub and hauled herself into a standing position. The water coating her body slid and splashed back into the hollow of the bath, making loud splosh noises.
She stepped out carefully, trying to be careful not to slip over on the water she splashed on the cold tiles. The cold air began to raise the hairs on her body and make her grow goose bumps. Hood shivered slightly, and lifted her other leg out. She stayed still for a couple of seconds before reaching back in the tub to pull the plug out.
The terrible mixture of blood and water began to drown into the drain, erupting loud gurgling, even choking sounds. They were horrible, and even caused the girl to cringe and grind her teeth together.
She turned, and placed on the rim of the bathtub next to hers was a fresh folded towel and new clothes. She picked the towel up and wrapped it around her wet body, before it registered in her mind, that she had not put them there.
The towel was white and soft... It felt new under her fingers and dried her upon touch.
The clothes were sitting neatly besides where she found the towel.
"How did these get in here?" She whispered harshly, and quickly turned her head to the narrow entrance to see if anybody was there.
No one.
She looked around the room with a sharp gaze, but found nothing.
Carefully, she picked each item of clothing up with her thumb and forefinger.
A pair of dark blue jeans which she recognised as her own. Underwear was hidden under them and then a black hoody.
"I don't own this..." She muttered curiously and picked the material up.
The jacket was at least three times her size and covering the whole back, was a red Chinese dragon that curved into two S's put together.
Hood didn't know how anybody would have been able to sneak in here and put in some new clothes and towel without her notice, especially on the tub next to hers. She ruled out Xanthus, because she knew she wouldn't come back, but obviously someone did, and it just dug deeper into the mystery. Narrowing her eyes, she decided to make it her mission to find out who had been following her, and nothing was going to stop her until she found out who this orphan was.
She snatched the clothes off the edge of the tub in her arms and stormed out of the room and through the narrow entrance. Finding herself in the bathroom, she was confronted by her appearance in the three extra large mirrors that nearly reached the ceiling.
Underneath her eyes were dark pink bags caused from the lack of sleep these past few days and her eyes were bloodshot. Her hair was stringy and looked like it needed a good wash and all together, she looked ill from the lack of colour her face held.
Remembering the throbbing of her back wounds, she turned it to the mirror to see the damage Backup had caused her.
She couldn't see much, taking on the fact that her head couldn't turn 360 degrees, but what she could see shocked her as her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped.
Carved in thick, ugly cuts on her back was the rough, old English 'B'.
She whimpered a bit out of shock, but continued to stare at it, knowing it was going to scar.
"This can't be real." She whispered. "He's marked me as his."
And there was no doubt that he hadn't.
Quickly, before any other orphan could come in and see it, she pulled on her jeans and the mysterious hoody that served more as a mid thigh length dress on her. She went on a search around the floors of the bathroom for her blood stained clothes that she had discarded on the ground a long time ago, but seemingly couldn't find them.
Xanthus wouldn't have taken them... Would she? She might have as revenge for making her piss herself... But... No. For some reason, Hood doubted it.
She swore under her breath. She needed to find them. What if another orphan found them? They'd tell Roger, and Roger would confront her. If he confronted her, he'd interrogate her. She didn't want that. She hated being asked questions.
Hood left the bathroom just as Kay had walked in. The brunette glanced at her, then averted her gaze by looking at the ground. She walked into one of the toilet cubicles quickly and slammed the door.
.-.-.
Using a rough sponge, Beyond scrubbed himself under the scalding hot water of the shower. His hands and arms were covered in blood, while his face had a few splatters. His body smelt of copper and turps, and he needed it to leave now.
He didn't care that he felt like his skin was going to peel off at the bone or anything, he just continued scrubbing off the blood that had stained his pale skin. Moreover, he was worried about his face then his hands, but he had to be sure. He even scrubbed under his fingernails, washed his hair, behind his ears and even in between his toes.
After an hour, he deemed himself clean enough to turn the taps off, but he needed to clean the floor of any blood that may not have washed down the drain, or if the shower cubicle caught the scent he had carried in the humid steam.
He reached over and pulled off a white towel from the hook on the door and rubbed at his thick black hair until it was damp, then dried his body. He pulled on his jeans and a thin black tee shirt.
He tied his hair back using the tie around his wrist and grabbed the spare sponge, which he hadn't touched the whole hour he showered. He dampened it under the shower head and scrubbed at the old white tiles on the floor and on the walls. He washed the sponge under the shower head again and then began wiping down the pipes and then the shower knobs.
Next to where he kept his clothes was a plastic bag which he had brought with him. He threw both of the sponges plus the towel in there. He pulled out his hair tie and dumped it on top of the towel. He tied the bag up by the handles and slowly opened up the door. He poked his head out to see that no one was in the bathroom.
He came out and climbed onto the sink. He reached up to the ceiling and pushed up a wooden board before throwing the plastic bag inside. He jumped down and tried to fix his appearance in the mirror a bit.
First, he began to play with his hair. He ran his fingers through it, trying to work the knots out and neaten it. After he spent fifteen minutes on it, he styled it the way he usually had it, which was fairly similar to the way L had it. He did this by teasing it and fluffing it, which all together took nearly an hour to get every strand and lock perfect.
Next was his makeup. All he needed was white foundation and black eye shadow and eye liner. He kept them in his front two pockets so he didn't have to travel to his room and back just to get them.
He dug his hand in his left pocket and pulled out a round, flat cylinder shaped container. He twisted the lid and pulled it off, pulling the pad out and smearing the off white makeup all over his face and neck, not that it made a big difference to his skin tone at all.
Next was to work around his blood red eyes. In his right pocket was charcoal eyeliner and eye shadow. He grabbed the eye pencil first, and traced around the edges of his eyes thickly.
Now was the eye shadow. He wiped it thickly under the eyeliner and on his eyelids. As he put the makeup back in his pockets... He knew he was a copy of L. He hated it. He hated L... He even hated himself...
He clenched his teeth and gritted his palms until the skin on his knuckles pulled white.
Growling at himself in the mirror, he spat at his appearance and left.
.-.-.
Crowded in the middle of the dorms hallway was Alternative, Zero, Xanthus, L and Roger.
The room smelt of turps and fire. The smell was so strong, it was even beginning to make Hood feel sick.
She made her way over, pushing past the orphans to see what all the commotion was about.
Her guess what that somebody had set the floorboards on fire, seeing how the ones she was walking by were blackened.
The orphans moved for her so she could see what they were looking at.
Ashes.
Ashes of what?
The orphans were murmuring amongst themselves, but Hood didn't bother to listen.
L was crouching besides the ashes, poking at them with the end of a pencil.
"It seems that these ashes are those of clothing..." He stated.
"L, only a real talent could have figured that out." Roger praised.
"I think anybody could." L replied.
"Oh, I don't know, L!"
"Yes, there's clothing tags. They wouldn't have burnt easily, according to the material they are made out of. Instead, they'd melt, but they are definitely tags."
"... Oh." Roger muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "Who do think would have done it?"
"Well, what about the two orphans that aren't here right now? Kay and Backup." L began. "I'm going to rule out K, because she has no track record here, and it would be highly unusual for her to burn clothes according to her personality type. I think she'd shred them to pieces. My suspect is Backup because everyone knows he has a hobby of playing with things that aren't toys."
The other three orphans suddenly began to clap at L's conclusion and cheering him on.
Hood edged to the back of the group quietly.
L stood up from his crouch and left down the hallway, followed by Roger, Xanthus and Zero.
A was just about to follow until he saw Hood standing by herself, being careful not to lean on the wall so her wounds wouldn't begin to hurt again.
"Crowds aren't your thing, huh?" He guessed.
"Not really." She replied.
"Fair enough. I don't really like them either. I don't think L does either." He muttered.
"I don't think he likes a lot of things."
"No. I don't think so either..."
"Last time we spoke... Why did you tell me to be careful?" Hood asked calmly.
A looked back at the girls bedroom door, before turning back to her. He made a weak smile at her, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Don't worry, its silly."
Hood stayed silent, but continued to stare at him until she got the answer she wanted.
Somehow it worked on him.
"Ok. Fine, but you're going to call me crazy... I think that there is a... a friend living in your room..."
"... A friend?"
A sighed. "Look, its stupid."
"Tell me."
"A... A ghost, ok?"
"..."
"You think I'm crazy, don't you." He deadpanned.
"No, not at all." Hood replied, cutting down on the sarcasm, trying not to sound too rude.
He rolled his eyes. "Alright, whatever. Just be careful... I'm going to go." He said. "Bye."
"Bye."
And he disappeared down the hallway, leaving Hood standing by herself.
"A ghost?" She repeated. "If there's a ghost living in my room, then my name is Dandy..." She muttered, and began to walk towards the stairs.
"Hood!" Somebody called out from behind her.
The blonde turned and saw Kay standing on the other end of the hallway. She waved her over and obligingly, she followed her command.
"Yes, K?" She answered, standing before the older girl.
K's eyes trailed to the ground. "Look... I want to apologise about before..."
"..."
"I'm really sorry... I hope we can be friends..."
"..." The first thought that came to Hoods mind was 'NO!'
"Well... I know you won't forgive me... afterall, I nearly killed you... Well, I thought that maybe we could play a game... Y'know, like truth or dare... Or something..." She offered.
"... No."
Partly confused, Kay lifted her head from the ground and looked into Hood's eyes, who seemed quite serious about her answer.
"What?"
"I said no. I don't like you, so why would I want to play truth or dare with you." She snapped.
"Please, just one game."
"No."
"I won't ever bother you again if you do!"
"You sound pathetic."
"... Just one game. Its all I'm asking, and it'd make me feel at peace if you do."
Hood rolled her eyes. Kay really wasn't going to give up, was she? "Alright, fine. One game."
WOO! My GOD! How long has it been since I've updated? AGES! I'M SO DAMN SORRY! D':
I just wasn't in the mood for writing, or anything! Everything that came out of my brain was crap and the first draft of this chapter was the worst!
Well, I updated and will be (hopefully) doing it regularly! My golly I hope I didn't lose any readers!
I love you guys! Come back!
Anyway... I'm still hoping for 5 reviews!