• Chapter Nine

    eL/L

    Otaku dropped her bike in Hattie’s garage, and the back door was open before she made it there. eL stood in the doorway, ready to grab her bicycle and leave.

    “Hey, Kaitlyn!” Hattie called out to Otaku (Me: wheew!!! Glad we got that out of the way!!). Otaku attempted to smile, but anxiety overcame her pale features, and she merely grimaced, less than a ghost of her usual bright grin. Nevertheless, they climbed on their bikes and headed out towards the meeting room that had previously been booked for the Death Note fan party. Otaku seemed scared, gripping the handle bars of her bike intensely, her knuckles white. And, she wasn’t exactly doing justice to her bottom lip, either, digging her teeth into the flesh, though apparently numb to any pain as her teeth ripped deep enough to draw blood, a startling crimson. She practically ignored El’s attempts at seeing what was wrong with her, answering with high-pitched grunts and mumbles. El shrugged and gave up. Wasn’t her problem. Normally, Hattie was more sensitive to her friend’s pain, but today was turning out awful. Her brother and her parents were getting on her last nerve.

    “Don’t take your family for granted,” A voice in her head sang solemnly. “You could lose them,” ‘Yeah, right,’ Hattie answered the voice sarcastically. ‘Because by the time I come back they’re just going to vanish,’ “Don’t take you family for granted…” Suddenly the voice faded out, and an eerie chill ran down Hattie’s spine. Only then did she realize she hadn’t been the one thinking those thoughts.

    * * *

    El had TRIED to help Otaku, but Otaku obviously wasn’t cooperating. And that was fine with Hattie, who was perfectly okay with sitting and silence and stewing. The bike ride seemed longer than usual, maybe because Otaku wasn’t bouncing around, ranting about L and laughing so hard she nearly fell off her bike when El said ‘nani’ in a low voice. Yup, that was definitely a change.

    The parking lot was deserted. Hattie could almost see a dead, dry tumbleweed plant come rolling lazily over the black top, like in those cheesy old western cowboy movies, or a lone cricket sing in the background, illuminating the ghostliness of the lonely lot. Hattie glanced over at her friend. Otaku looked crushed, glistening tears welling up at the corners of her eyes. She struggled to blink away the tears that betrayed disappointment.

    “I knew it…” she whispered, so Hattie had to strain to hear her. “He’s… dead…” eL sucked in a breath. This was unexpected. She wrapped her arms around her friend’s sagging shoulders, as if holding her up so she wouldn’t drop and shatter into a million pieces.

    “No, Otaku, no…” she cooed into her friend’s ear. “No, of course not…” “It was in the book. Book Seven. He was killed,” Otaku’s voice broke on ‘killed’, and she let out a shaking breath, letting Hattie now support her. Hattie didn’t respond. Suddenly, muffled thumps broke the silence, getting closer. Footsteps, Hattie realized. Simultaneously, both girls’ heads snapped up, searching for the source of the sound. They weren’t far at all, now. Maybe a few feet, on the other side of a building. Both girls’ held their breaths, though they didn’t know they were. Just a couple steps from turning the corner. Otaku sucked in a breath, shocked, after seeing who stepped out from behind wall.

    L didn’t even have to see her before he felt her, a crying girl running at him, flinging her arms around his neck. Otaku knocked the breath right out of his chest as she held him tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks. Only Hattie acknowledged the existence of Light and Misa, at least, somewhat.

    “You’re alive!!! YAY!!!! I can’t even believe it!!! In the book, I read that you were killed, and so I didn’t know what to expect, and I started crying, and I thought you were dead because of the book, and I was so worried, I could hardly sleep last night!!! It’s probably a good thing my parents were gone tonight or they would have called the cops ‘cause I was screaming so loud, then I left the house in the middle of the night AND I forgot my shoes!!! Now that I think about it, it was kinda funny, but I was crying really hard, and I-“ Otaku continued ranting at lightening speed to a shocked L. His mouth hung slightly open, his eyes wide, one eyebrow rose in surprise. He blinked a coupled times in utter shock, until eL broke in.

    “And I really, really, really hoped that I could see you again, because, you know, my gaia profile is LITERALLY covered in pictures of you from the manga, and there’s this site called deadxendxless that I found and-“OTAKU!!!!!” Hattie bellowed, cupping her hands around her mouth, and screaming at the top of her lungs. Otaku jumped at least a foot in the air and whipped around, also screaming at the top of her lungs, but, even without her hands cupped, she was much louder than eL. “WHAT THE CRAP?!” she screamed. “YOU’RE SCARING L!!!!” eL responded, still as loud as possible, even though the girls were less than a foot away from each other. “YOU’RE INSANE!!!! OF COURSE I’M NOT!!!!” Otaku screamed right back. L wasn’t exactly sure what they were doing, but they weren’t yelling at each other in anger. Were they just playing? Either way, this was obviously common. L, still staring in shock, let the girls continue until Otaku stopped to rub her throat and complain that it was raw and begin to laugh. eL, also staring and looking skeptical of Otaku’s mental health, joined her in giggles. L pulled the death note book from his pocket, pinching it at the tips of two fingers, and held it in front of both girl’s faces. The screaming and laughing stopped.

    Otaku’s eyes slitted, and she seemed to glare the book down, as though it were the source of all of her problems. Hattie blinked in surprise, then let her eyes adjust to the cover of the book directly in front of her eyes. “I think we’d best get to work,” L said quietly. Otaku blinked.

    “Work? What kind work?” Otaku asked, somewhat hoarse, clasping her hands just under her chin like always and smiling brightly. L turned towards the tall building, still holding the book at arms width. “I think, maybe, if we study everything in this book, everything about the future, we could find clues about how to get back,” Otaku’s eyes widened. “No!!!” she exclaimed. “You can’t go back there, you’ll die!!” Otaku looked so worried, so concerned. It brought a small smile to L’s lips. It felt good that someone cared about him. Hattie placed a hand on Otaku’s shoulder. She turned in surprise. Then, speaking with a voice that wasn’t really her own, but at the same time obviously was, said; “Honey, the future can be changed. It isn’t set in stone until it happens. You can prevent most things if you know what you are preventing and how to go about doing it. So don’t worry. L hasn’t died YET, and no one’s saying he will,” she said in a calming voice. Then she blinked and shook her head as though she had suddenly regained herself.

    “While we’re talking about this, why didn’t you guys tell me about this whole ‘dying’ scenario? It might be nice to be filled in once in a while!” Light cut in sarcastically. Otaku and eL turned slowly to him, eyes burning. “This can’t be good for Light’s physical heath,” L thought nonchalantly. Both girls voices combined when they spoke now, crying in unison; “Shut UP, Light!!”. Then, with eerie twin-actions that only best friends could do, they both hauled off and slapped him on either side of his face. L stifled a laugh, smothering his mouth with his hand. Light staggered backwards, and it was clear to see, even though Otaku had used all of her strength, eL had created a darker red patch over his face. eL laughed loudly. “And to think, on a normal basis, I’m a pacifist!!” “Oh, how pacific!!! Can I not TALK here?!?!” Light protested. Otaku glanced over. “Do you want me to get Hattie to hit you again?” she threatened playfully. “I CAN’T talk around here!! I really, really, can’t!!” Light cried angrily. Otaku tossed back her head and laughed harder.