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Desperate Times	By : Resting-Madness Category: Death Note > AU - Alternate Universe Views: 2414 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I make no profit from this story its simply for fun. I do not own Death Note. Nor do I own any of the places mentioned in this pennyless work of fiction. I'm just having a good time and hoping you all like it too.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
Let the record show that Misa Amane's body was found in a dumpster, behind a Pizzeria on West Street. Though aged, the semen discharged from the three men who raped her to murdered were quickly brought in, prosecuted, and sent to prison for life. Their tattoos were IDd in the video footage playing in the abandoned supermarket.
Her keeper, 46-year-old Anthony Carter registered as Anthony Rester on his medical license, and newly made by a courthouse years ago Identification card, was given a sentencing of 89 years to life for imprisonment, abuse, involuntary manslaughter, abduction, and rape.
-Detective L.
0 0 0
"Oof!" The teen grunts, before he's left a moment to curl up into a ball, holding his aching gut that's just received the fifth and final kick from his tormentor.
He has to hold his tears, he has to keep it together! Gevanni's sorry ass will only get aroused again if he cries. But damn him, he couldn't help but whimper in a panic that another strangling session was about to commence when a shadow loomed beside him.
Gevanni lowers himself down onto the dirty futon, one knee at a time; his hands reaching for the shrunken teen, but rather than strangle his thin purpled throat- the bruise was made by the cold brace having been around it for weeks- he pulls Near into him for a hug.
He kissed the teen tenderly on the temple then on the cheek, before pulling him down onto the filthy bed to lay with him.
Sighing directly into the young man's ear, he then speaks softly. "Do you ever wonder what you'd be doing if you never got in my car?" Looking at Near's quivering lips, he kisses them softly. "I mean... that question must run through your head every day... maybe even every hour." He chuckles. "I think it'd be pretty damned pathetic if you thought about it every minute, though." Elevating himself on his elbow, he adds. "At some point you've gotta be feeling as good as I do."
His hand snakes along the bony pale thigh, resting gently on his genitals where his fingers then drum lightly up and down as if they themselves wanna think over what to do to the barely passable piece of meat beneath them, only to settle for gently stroking it in short jerks at the base.
"Doesn't this feel good?" Gevanni asks. "I know it feels good when you do it to me."
Near really does wanna cry, but he instead settles for cuddling into the man's chest, and pretending that, for just a moment, the embrace around his waist is sincere and that this momentary "cease fire" isn't going to end badly.
Rubbing the teen's stomach, he then pinches his nipple with rolls of the thumb and twists of his index finger.
"You like me, don't you Near?"
Near closed his eyes and tucked himself deeper into the man's warmth. How can he be so warm in such a cold place? Or perhaps he's the one whose cold. "Please... just let me go to sleep." He asks.
Gevanni scoffed. "You didn't exactly answer my question." He then repeats himself. "Do you ever wonder what you'd be doing if you never got in my car?" It's silent. "Answer!" He jerks the teen's member harder than he needs to, alerting him from his sleep.
Detecting no immediate danger, he attempts to fall back asleep when the back of the man's hand comes down across his face.
"Yes! Yes, I wonder!" He shouts over his exhaustion.
Gevanni smiled, it's a sneaky smile like he'd finally found the hiding place of something he's really wanted for a long time without getting caught. "...Don't." He says to male's forced answer. "Because you're a vagrant, and a tramp. Why do you think no one has come looking for you? Because they don't care. The couple who wanted to adopt you didn't care. The home where you came from, they're glad for space... and those street-rats you used to travel with, no longer have to think about you tagging along. Hey, hey, hey.." He says with each light smacking to the face. "In the end, no one cares about you. ...I do, though."
Near's head lulls to the side, trying once again to find sleep.
"I got you a nice place to stay, a nice meal... sometimes... and best of all, I care." He licks his neck and jawline. "I can't bare the thought of you out there, so young and cute with all those damned perverts looking for a good time. I treat you right Near, I brought you home to make an honest man out of you."
"I'm so cold." He couldn't stop himself from saying it.
"See! See how good am to you?!" Rolling over so he's on top of the busted little body of bruises, he shoves in rough and fast. "You've made me all nice and hard, so I can warm you up."
Lids just as heavy as an iron trunk's lid being lifted by a four-year-old, Near just closed his eyes and fell asleep. 'Just let him kill me this time.'
Near's eyes blink slowly open, and he looks around the bedroom that he knows is Gevanni's. He honestly had expected to wake up in the cold and dank place he'd been dreaming about. They were beginning to become a running gag for him, he'd go to sleep and dream of this horrible place, where the pain is unbearable. And for some reason, Gevanni is his tormentor. It's like his mind is telling him that he should be afraid of the man, just as Teddy had said the other day. But it's been a week and Gevanni hasn't done a thing to have him believe he's in any real danger, especially now that his jealousy is out of the picture.
'Why am I in his room though?' He wonders. Noticing that he can feel the covers with no boundary between it, he nods to himself. 'He made love to me... God, it felt like I was drowning, it was slow and good.' Sitting up, he scratches his head. 'Seven? I'd better get ready for work.'
Near took a moment to relieve himself in the bathroom, then he brushed his teeth, and combed his hair with a wide tooth comb. Gevanni once told him that brushing it gives him a little afro and he looks even more like a little lamb, he wasn't sure how to take the comment but since then he's been using the comb. He yawned his way into his bedroom to change into his butler's uniform.
By the time he made it downstairs, and through the hall he was feeling more alert.
"Good morning," Gevanni says when seeing his employee waltz into the kitchen.
"Hi. I thought you'd be at work by now."
"Not until ten. What's for breakfast?" He watches the young employee go to the refrigerator to get some ingredients, with a smile on his face.
Near is so cute when he's on drugs. He looked up the side effects of Ecstacy on the internet and found them to be very... different from what the drug itself does to a person. How "horny pills" can give a person side effects like hallucinations, paranoia, depression, and so on is beyond him. But damn it works! He can do anything with Near, without even having to play it off afterwards!
He had the kid propped up around the tubs edging last night, legs and arms spread to dangle over the rim, and sitting in the tub while standing on his knees he fucked him like there was no tomorrow. The drowsy teen practically drowned from his head dipping under the water, but he coughed so adorably before begging for more.
'And he doesn't remember a thing.' His smile was like a cat on salmon flavored crack, just goofy and pleased. 'Mikami might be a bastard, but he's got good ideas. Amnesia, Ecstacy... I'll never have to lose this one.'
"How 'bout a spinach omelet and french toast?" Near suggests over by the stove. "Although, if you were up first it wouldn't kill you to cook this shit yourself." He mutters afterwards.
At first, he'd gotten mad when the teen had badmouthed him, but irritability is another side effect, so he just ignores it now. It's actually kind of a turn-on... and funny as hell. Near once walked into the living room ranting on about how disgusting it was to wash boxers that are traced with semen tracks, then he adds "And where are they even coming from?!" In which Gevanni replied. "Remember what we did here or there?" Near blushes then goes right back to doing the laundry.
There are bad times, though. He'd once come home to find the house shrouded in smoke from the oven burning something that looked like a roast chicken, while Near was in the living room playing toys like the surrounding cloud was all part of the little green army men's game. He also held onto this one teddy bear religiously for a while; he would whisper to it like he's conspiring with it about something because they would keep casting looks his way.
"That sounds really good. Thank you." Gevanni replies. "Wanna play Wii once breakfast is over?"
"Sure."
"No archery... you've got a longer time to practice, so it's technically cheating when you gloat that you've beaten me."
"Tch. Whiner."
Snickering, Gevanni waits for his breakfast while looking over the newspaper. So many stories are being printed about trafficking busts victims coming clean about what's happened to them, and those who were home owned and sold for trade came clean about who'd previously owned them. So far Mikami's name has been absent. He wondered if it were because Beyond was gone long before the bust, or if the slave was just too damned demented to have his word be valid in incrimination? But whatever the reason, Mikami never said a word of it.
Waiting for the smell of breakfast to start filling the air, he's left to quirk a brow when after five minutes there isn't even a lone sizzle. Getting up, he walks over to the stove to have a look.
"Near," Pushing the black handle in he then spins the dial until it hits the number 5. "didn't you notice that the stove wasn't on?"
"I'm sorry," He says shaking the cloud from his mind. "I forgot what I was doing." He seemed to pause again.
Giving him a verbal nudge, he says. "Omelet and french toast."
"Right... Would you mind scrambled eggs, and a slice of toast instead?"
"I'll make my own coffee; you can fix me whatever you want." Kissing the teen on top of the head, with a certain smile along with it, he moves over to the coffeemaker to put on his Columbian roast.
Shoulders hung low, he sighs heavily. "I just hope that you like it." His voice sounds so lost and small. "I haven't been on my A game later."
"Lately."
"Lately." He corrects; it deepens his frown to have been corrected.
The coffee is bubbling away in the pot; sizzling sounds and eggy smells have finally found their way into the air. Near seemed to be feeling much better since breakfast made its way to the table in one piece.
"Looks delicious." He takes a bite, with a caution of an under-cooked egg. His least favorite egg is soft and yolky.
Near watched until he was sure the bite had been swallowed, then he starts in on his own meal.
"Near... psst! Psst!"
Glancing over at the entrance of the kitchen, he spots a button-eyes mechanic doll he's named Ace. The orange haired kid is signaling for him to look at him.
"Meet us in Gevanni's office after work." He whispered before disappearing.
Watching him, Gevanni looks over his shoulder seeing, of course, that no one is there. Oh well. He knows he's excited for after work, he's gonna bring home a girl whose Father just died in an accident, and until the Aunt comes for her, he's volunteered to keep the girl out of the system while the Mother goes to Jersey overnight. It'll be one hell of a night if he can slip her a little something. Near's already so... out of it, even if he does put up a fight in the threesome he won't do it for long.
'Sucks that I have to wear a condom, but that's the price with girls.' He thinks.
Getting up from the table, he kisses Near on the lips.
"Oh, you're leaving?" He asks. "I thought you had time?"
"No. I just felt like kissing you." Leaving his plate for the help to clean up, he further explains. "I'm gonna go brush. I'll be down in three minutes to kick your butt." Winking at him, he disappears into the hall.
Blinking, he continues his breakfast, feeling much better now; he must have just been distracted by the dream he'd had last night, his nerves were clouding his mind. Finishing his breakfast he then clears the table of their dishes, slowly washing them in the sink before loading them into the dishwasher. He made sure to wipe down the kitchen as well, he'd of cleaned the kitchen a lot more had Gevanni not said he'd be down in three minutes, but he can start work once the man has left for the day.
He polished the counters and wiped the streak of egg yolk from the stove and any fallen strands of shredded cheese that got away on him. He ran the Swiffer around the kitchen to remove the water that might have gotten away from him from the sink, or when their glasses of orange juice dripped condensation out over the warm glass.
He can hear the man setting up the gaming system in the living room, whistling a tune as he does so. Putting the mop away, he then walks into the hall for the living room.
0 0 0
Near found himself chuckling softly as he cleaned the bedrooms: fluffed the blankets, after changing the sheets and pillowcases, swept the floors, fluffed and refolded the items of clothing in the drawers, and took care of any- not that there were- cobwebs hanging out in the corners.
Gevanni is the worst gamer in the history of gaming. His Mii character was like a broken armed skeleton jiggling its paddle in the water, while Near's Mii moved like a swan. Gevanni had him licked in golf, but he made up for it by beating him in basketball and bicycling. He teased Gevanni that his character was too fat and that it was making him slow, which he received a noogy for. The man couldn't even redeem himself in speed slicing, the poor fool.
Crossing the hall, he's in the bathroom now going straight for the cabinet beneath the sink to gather his supplies of bright orange rubber gloves. Slipping them on, he's got a can of tub cleaner in one hand and a double-sided scrubby sponge in the other, and with these tools he tackles the ring left in the bathtub from his bosses bath yesterday night. The man left a ring thick enough to make it seem like there were two of him in there.
The blue suds turned white when it was ready to be scrubbed through, and Near gave it the old back-in-to-it effort and doesn't stop the process of cleaning until his jaw clenched.
"Mm." He intoned in momentary discomfort.
Removing the glove, he touches his jaw thoughtfully. Had he eaten too hard at breakfast? Did he sleep wrong and injure his jaw? Deciding to fight through it, he slips his hand back into the glove then rinses down the tub with the removable showerhead.
Near sort of spaced out when mopping the bathroom floor, but he got it together once hitting the last corner of the washroom. The hall is swept out and down the stairs, which he takes down one at a time, and hitting the bottom he sweeps it into the dust pan to toss it in the trash in the kitchen.
Passing Gevanni's office, he cast it a suspicious eye but continued on his way to the kitchen. He's really making good time, especially since the house is usually clean anyhow. Rubbing his left thigh, he hefts a sigh of discouragement before ditching his cleaning tools to go lie down on the couch, but instead of hitting the living room he found himself in the office on the more comfortable couch.
"...Dammit." He whispers while easing down onto the couch.
Laying down on his side, he turns himself to face the back of the couch. He felt a frown forming on his mouth over the familiarity of the position. It reminds him of the dream he'd just had; pressed into Gevanni, dry crying, just exhausted and wishing that he were dead.
'Was he right? Have Mello and Matt forgotten about me?'
The names just came out of his mind like a bullet shot to his heart! Mello! Matt! Sitting up, he thinks... or at least he tries to. Who are they? Someone he knows from the streets? Or someone from the orphanage? He did grow up in one, right?
'Dammit. Why hasn't my memory returned yet?' He wonders. 'I need more things to jog it... but what's familiar?' He closes his eyes and searches his cracked memories for Matt or Mello. A face would help him, surely. 'Maybe if I take a walk...?'
"There's no time." Whispers a statuette. "That computer will help everything... I'll tell you how to get on."
"Are you really talking? Or am I hearing things?" He asks.
The room remains silent.
Loretto Hospital. 8:17 pm.
"Hello. I'm here to pick up my brother, Beyond Birthday... I believe he's been committed to this hospital."
Teru Mikami had panicked. It was a slow build. At first, he'd seen the news on television about the bust of the trafficking ring, then he read the statements, the named names in the papers and on the internet... None of which, were Beyond's. Mikami wasn't going to give himself away by asking around the human trading merchants about what happened to the male, in case any of them got deals from the police to be stool-pigeons, but dammit he's gotten curious over the time that's gone by! That and he wasn't paid for selling his prized possession, so if the buyer is using the raid as a free gift card, he's gonna find out about it.
Which is what brought him here, to the hospital. The paper mentioned which one all the victims were taken to, and he only has to be sure that his little pet isn't going to talk then he'll be out the door like he never came.
The woman behind the counter gave him a glance; she looked like the type whose been at work from morning to now, and she's gonna give lip to anyone looking to bother her while she's reading.
But seeing that a rolling of the eyes wasn't going to cover it, she instead says. "What was the name again?"
"Beyond Birthday."
"And your name is?"
"Teru Mikami."
Room number at his disposal, Mikami heads to the elevator; he doesn't see the nurse pressing a button on a borrowed phone the police have given her. He wasn't halfway down the hall when a man in a tracksuit fell into step with him, then another wearing a leisure suit. He wasn't sure if the men were heading to a different room and just chose right then to get up to do so, or if they have family members who share a room with Beyond because they followed him all the way up to the door.
"Teru Mikami, you're coming with us." The tall black man with a mole on his nose in the tracksuit removed his police badge after latching one of his large arms to interlock with Mikami's.
"Excuse me... What is this about?" He tried to struggle, but the other man; white with orange hair and somewhat on the chubby side in the leisure suit, wrapped his other arm around the one closest to him.
"You're under arrest for the imprisonment of Beyond Birthday." Says the chubby man. "You have the right to remain silent, anything that you say can and will be held against you."
Mikami listened to his Miranda Rights while glaring daggers into the hospital room where Beyond flipped him off, combined with a wink and an impish smile. He should have killed that skinny little fucker when he had the chance! But he's gotta be cool, he's gotta play this right. He can get out of these charges.
'Think Teru, think...'
But all he felt... was panic.
0 0 0
Light Yagami had stayed up most of the night thinking about Teru Mikami.
The man is a successful lawyer of twenty-seven years, dealing with abusive homes and custody laws. He's got a perfect record for never losing a case. His personal life is where things get a little suspect. It's just a little too "put together".
He's never gotten a ticket for speeding, reckless driving, et cetera. He's never been arrested for anything illegal- until today. He pays his taxes on time. He finished top marks in college... And there was where the problem rest.
When Light went looking through the man's personal records, he found nothing on his school records beyond his years in law school. Not even so much as a perfect attendance record- if he had one. Which could mean one of two things: that Teru Mikami has no personal information because he's an utter bore, flying under the radar of life until recently, or, like a few of the other abductors, the man's been living under an alias. Which left Light with the task of finding out the man's real name.
"Were you ever homeschooled?" Light asks casually while taking a seat before the man.
They're in the interrogation's office. The suspect is cuffed to a cold metal table in the rectangular room that's holding little more than an uncomfortable atmosphere and two exits.
"No." He'd almost seemed offended by the statement. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"I was just curious, excuse me." He flips open a beige folder, looking over the files. "I have a few questions for you concerning Mr. Birthday, we"
Cutting him off, Mikami retorts. "If you'd calm down, I can explain everything to you." He tries glancing into the exposed contents of the folder across from him. "Whatever you're accusing me of, I'm innocent."
"I'm sure you are... and if you honestly believe that, then tell me about it." He laughs lightly, with a friendly sort of tone. "I know how cops can be, and they're often wrong and full of assumptions. So if you mean to tell me you're innocent, consider me here to listen."
"Thank you." He clears his throat while preparing his lie.
He can do this, he's a master of deception. Look at how long he's lived the lifestyle, who else could get away with it for this long?
"Beyond is my stepbrother, you see, when my parents split up and my Mother got remarried, she found out that my stepfather couldn't give her any children. She wanted a child with him, but they just couldn't make it happen, so they adopted Beyond from Russia." He quieted when Light began writing something down. "What are you writing there?"
"I have to take your statement down; I'm not your lawyer but, police files need these sorts of things, you understand."
"Right." Recomposing himself, he continues. "Well," His hands shrug outward, the cuffs on his wrist jangled with the movement. "as he grew up, my brother sort of had... tendencies."
"What do you mean?"
"He was sort of... off. He would mumble to himself, walk around like he was handicapped, he would often sleep in my room because he said he heard voices." He closes his eyes for a dramatic effect. "But, I cared for him, I felt bad... My parents often spoke about putting him up for adoption again, that Beyond wouldn't understand anyway... I didn't want that- do you know what those places are like?" He's showing empathy for all those who are growing up in foster homes. "I asked them to keep him, to give him a chance to get better... but they refused. I'm older, so when they said 'no' I asked that they let him stay with me. I had a tiny apartment when I went away to college. ...I've been responsible for him since."
"I see." Watching as an officer brings in a box of items, he doesn't speak again until he's gone. "So, this bloody tissue found in your home... your "brother" had a bloody nose, busted lip?"
He eyed the thing with slitted lids. Then his expression misted over as he wondered when the police had searched his home to find the bloody tissue. They couldn't have gotten it today because the blood is completely oxidized.
'Those little shits with the lost cat!' That was the only time anyone other than someone within his circle of friends has been in his home. 'Were they undercover cops? But why would they have been looking for Beyond, he's nobody! ...Then what?'
"Is something the matter? Do you feel sick?" Light asks without a hint or real concern.
"I told you I've been taking care of him, and that he's very different- you have him bed-ridden in the hospital if you spend even a minute with him and you'll notice that he's different."
"So how did the blood get on the tissue?"
"I went out for something to eat, and when I came back he was chewing on a sheetlet of baking foil because he wanted to heat up what was inside."
Placing his hands on the table, fingers folded together, he asks with a certain look. "Why exactly do you want me to believe this?"
"Because it's the truth!" He slams his hand down on the table.
"Then how did Beyond wind up in a human trafficking auction, if he was in your care? You're gonna tell me he wandered away?"
"Yes. If you can believe it."
"No. I can't believe it because it isn't the truth." Sitting back in his seat. "The worst thing you can do right now is a lie, Mr. Mikami... if I were you I'd make up a more believable story than "my brother wandered from the house, and almost wound up as a sex slave"."
"But it IS True!" His back bounced against the back of his seat where he threw himself during his angered huff. Head tilted back, he works an idea out then continues with his lie. "Look, I'd even been beaten up when I tried to get him back!"
Light was sure the man would have crossed his arms over his chest like a guilty teenager, who'd been caught sneaking back in after they've snuck out.
"They're ruthless! Didn't you see it when you made the busts?" He spat the question out. "Stop looking at me like that, I'm telling you the truth!"
"Do you know that there is no record of your birth certificate on file anywhere?" Light responds to the rant.
"My birth certificate..." He thinks about that. Feeling backed into a corner he tries to explain. "I um... I don't know anything about that, it's not my fault that your peoples' computers are slow, or low-grade garbage..."
"Were you aware that when you change your name your original birth records do not go along with it?" Light informs him. "Why the need for the pseudonym?"
"It's not a pseudonym... I got my name legally changed because I was protecting myself within my job."
"Your job?" Light says humorously. "As a legal representative for abusive homes, and custody for children... I don't really think you're under as much pressure as a lawyer of criminal defenses."
"Tch..." Again Light saw that teenager wanting to wall their self up with crossed arms, and a shifty glance. "You've apparently never dealt with a parent who feels they've had their children wrongfully taken away from them."
"No, I haven't. But," Light says. "I'm sure that it'd be best for you to just offer it up, instead of having us look into it. It'll help you appear as innocent as you believe you are."
"I should have known you wouldn't believe me."
The noise level outside of the room really kicked up then, and before they could figure out why, it barged its way into the room.
"Not one more word, Mr. Mikami."
Looking at Light with a curious glance over his age, a tall gentleman, thick enough to have the inside of his pockets showing from the stretching of his pants, with a dark brown crew-cut walked up behind Mikami and introduced himself.
"My name is Syrus Finch, I'll be representing Mr. Mikami as his lawyer, and until I speak with my client, he has nothing more to say."
"Very well." Standing, Light returns the items into the box, then waits for the officer to lift the box for departure, before speaking. "Remember what I've said." He comments then follows the officer out of the room.
...
I was falling deeper and deeper into a black hole. The more drugs pumped into me, the more dumb I became. When I listened to the bear and stopped allowing Gevanni to pour me drinks, I began suffering in a whole new way... My memories were returning. And having to see Gevanni for whom he really was was making me more and more terrified.
What little kindness I got was due to my not knowing, the food, the comfy bed, baths! All those luxuries we normally take advantage of would be stripped from me, right along with the remains of my sanity to hold on for help.
But, I wanted to know. So that Teddy would stop talking to me so that the little statues around the house would stop gasping whenever he walked into a room with me. I wanted to know why I was afraid of him. But my answers didn't come quickly, though, for the most part... I'm glad they somewhat came back to me that evening.
It was a damned shame really. Near had gone out of his way to make this monster of a sandwich, just to wind up wrapping it in plastic wrap and shoving it into the fridge. The lovely slices of green tomato, the chopped lettuce, mayonnaise lightly spread, just so, with just the smallest slather of brown mustard, all complimenting the rich cuts of salami and ham cutlets. Oh, and just a dash of dill dressing were all perfectly placed into a footlong wheat roll.
But, all that prep has gone to waste. You see, it's his jaw again. It hurts way too much to even try for opening his mouth around the circumference of the thing. He'd gone into an almost comatose sleep due to the pain coursing through his numbing limbs and he just wanted to rest it off, but he wound up falling asleep instead.
When he woke up it was to his stomach growling; but when he rolled over, it seemed the pain in his legs had spread because his whole body ached. It wasn't going to stop him, though, and he made it into the kitchen and around it, as he gathered his meal's supplies. That was a couple hours ago.
Now he's left sitting at the island counter, head down to rest against his extended arm that's resting on the counter's top. A part of him wondered just how long he's been sitting like this, the other part was just sitting in white noise... The other part is what heard the low moan.
It was creepy. It sounded akin to a low whine of an infant just making sounds to pass the time; or maybe, someone who's voice hasn't fully awakened from sleep yet... Just a fine "uuuunh." It ran a violent shiver up his spine, hard enough to cause a little wiggle. Clamping his eyes shut, he fought off a knot forming in his stomach over where the sound could have come from, or who it could be from. Is there a neighbor who snuck into the yard and is in pain, and in need of help? Is it some weird animal wandering through? He'd hate to see the animal that makes that sound.
Near folds his arms together and rests his forehead beneath their barrier when a second sound follows it... This sound was like a very hard hiss, it resembled a very human expelling of breath, a sort of "hhhhhh"
'Why are you so afraid? It's the icemaker in the refrigerator.' He tries to convince himself of that. And the gentle trembling of his shoulders is more involuntary movement than fear right now.
It only seemed to disprove what he wanted to believe about not being afraid, when he caught himself peeking between the space made with his armpit and the counter; he wasn't expecting to see anything really, which is why when he's looking eye to eye with something close enough to just be an eye, he jumped out of his skin with a gasp hard enough to remove all oxygen from the room- if it were possible.
Closing his eyes again, he waits for the thing to kill him; or begin speaking; so many things speak to him these days. If he had less sense, he'd of wondered why they never have before... but frankly, he'd like to believe that he's still somewhat mentally credible- even if his emotions are rollercoastering.
Gevanni... he's just got such a creepy vibe about him now, that he'd never noticed before. The man often had tendencies, but they were always minor and easily dispelled like shutting off the computer screen, the voice he uses when making phone calls or when someone calls him, the discreet conversations had. Near doesn't know much about an F.B.I guy's life, but Gevanni's never talked about his job even once. And if television shows are anything to go by, the man should be coming home with all kinds of interesting stories.
But now... all those little things seem so suspect, and its making Near's insides turn. Thanks to Teddy's pointing it out, he became aware of the fact that his boss slash lover is always trying to quench his thirst. He's got an odd case of dry mouth, but it's not so serious that he has to have a gallon a day of water, or whatever.
Not to mention, the way he's always got his eyes on any inch of skin he's got showing; he always allows himself into the bathroom when Near's bathing. He's learned to get up at four in the morning to avoid that little nuisance; he would do it later in the day when the man is at work, but he's cleaning the house then, and who wants to clean a tub right after they've gotten out of it? It'd be like reaching for the toilet scrubber and cleaning products every time you have a movement. It's weary making.
'What time is it?' He wondered, while completely forgetting that he was trying to hide beneath the shaded space of his arm's folded wall, from the eyeball that was making those odd sounds a moment ago. Looking across the room at the clock on the stove, he notes to himself.
'9:15...' Sliding from the stool, he exits the kitchen. 'I should take a pain killer, maybe that'll stop my jaw from hurting.'
He's halfway down the hall when his employer walks in... with an unexpected guest. A brow raised, he looked from Gevanni to the young girl, who couldn't be older than 10 or maybe 13 years of age, and back again. A niece maybe? Near's sure the man doesn't have any family, or at least he's never mentioned anyone beyond his deceased wife.
"This is a friend from work." He gestures his free hand to the girl, the other is occupying her shoulder farthest from him.
'He's got that weird expression on again... like he's laughing about something, without really laughing.'
He'd first noticed it when he'd come out of one of his "spells", and the man was explaining something he'd done that caused his cheek to swell from a bruise. Near was only able to believe his own blunders because he had no recollection of doing anything that would cause him to hurt himself, but lately, he's not so sure. Lately, he's been starting to suspect that Gevanni has been hitting him. Like maybe he's got rage issues and he can't stop the abuse. Maybe his wife isn't dead at all, and his violent tendencies have driven her away!
"She'll be staying with us tonight. Her Mother is coming for her in the morning."
Approaching; Near nods to the girl before taking her Fall coat from Gevanni, who'd helped her with removing it. The butler swallowed back a bit of nerve that crept up when seeing how the man had taken her coat from her shoulders, his thumb brushing the side of her neck just so.
"I hope it's not a problem." Gevanni went on saying.
'What's with him? He's almost as giddy as some kid who knows there's a field trip in school tomorrow.' He thinks while putting the coat away in the coat closet. 'Manolo was always like that.'
Near almost dropped the coat when a grinning little boy's face flashed through his mind, as he bounced on the couch in a silent chant for something. But trying to further the flash, only rushed it out of his mind.
"You didn't fix dinner yet, have you?" Gevanni asks on his way to the kitchen.
"No." He answered mechanically, since emotionally, he's still in a stupor.
"I'm gonna fix you a drink, Natalie. Wait here."
'A drink!?' Hurling the closet door shut, Near hurries into the kitchen. "It's my job to do that; and you just got home. You can go freshen up, or something." He meets the man at the refrigerator.
"What's with you?" Gevanni asks, cocking a brow.
Though Near's odd behavior isn't suspicious, this sudden interest in such a meager task is a bit bizarre.
"I would just like to do my job... You can go ahead and tell your guest where she'll be sleeping or something. I can do this."
Figuring he's trying to prove that he hasn't snapped his twig, Gevanni lets him handle it. He can always give it to her another way. A late night cup of cocoa, or something; so exiting the kitchen he takes the young girl upstairs.
Letting out a sigh of relief, he says to himself. "I wish teddy was a little more clear about why I shouldn't take drinks."
The butler pours the girl a glass of apple cider. He would have heated it since it's cold out, but he doesn't know how the girl prefers it. So instead, he hurries it up the stairs to her, to keep the two from loitering.
'There I go being suspicious again.' He berates himself when finding the girl alone in his bedroom, bouncing on the bouncy bed. Gevanni is in his own bedroom with the door closed, changing. 'Maybe this whole thing is making me nervous because I'm younger than Gevanni, so naturally, I just think his being in young company is a little weird. He wouldn't actually do anything weird.'
Walking into the room, he hands Natalie the glass. Her big hazel eyes smile at him as she takes it, and she hurries the drink down.
"Thank you." Cocking her head, her straight brown hair fell out to the side; it's so limp and lifeless that it doesn't even swing in the movement. "Aren't you kind of young to be a butler?" She asked in a high pitch.
"I'm just trying to afford my own place."
"So, are you Mr. Gevanni's son?" She stopped bouncing and scooted over for him to have a seat.
He doesn't take it but does move closer to her. "No. I used to be homeless." He admits.
It's weird speaking to someone other than one of Gevanni's friends, he doesn't even make chitchat at the grocery store- though the clerks do try.
"Wooow. Weren't you scared?"
"I can't really remember it."
"I'd be scared."
"So, Gevanni brought you home from work?" He inquired.
Nodding, she says with a sad frown. "My Dad died, and..."
"Weeell, look at you two getting along." Gevanni interrupts; he nearly scared the wits out of his employee.
Near was surprised to see the man had changed completely into his pajamas and robe, when normally he'd just remove his tie and coat, sometimes his vest.
"Watch out for her." The teddy bear said from a peeking place it has of them within the closet.
"What's for dinner?" He asks Near.
"Fried chicken and baked rice, with mixed vegetables."
"Near's an amazing cook." He says to the girl.
Snickering cutely, she says. "All I can make is ramen, and the microwave is doing that." With a shrug, she pops up from the bed- cup in hand- and follows the man into the hall.
Concern in his eyes, Near heads downstairs as well.
They were playing video games while I cooked. Every now and then Gevanni would come in to get a drink, and every time I would chat him up to be sure he doesn't do something to it. Honestly, I wasn't sure what it was... a sedative? Spit? Alcohol? I wasn't adverse to the world of "date rape drugs" as I was to the world of prostitution.
Basically, I know a lot of dark and horrible things, but where anything that never could have, or would have mattered to me in use... I was mentally just a kid.
"Gevanni, I'll get it!" Near nearly shouted during his returning to the kitchen from a brief bathroom break, and found the man up from the table, and getting the girl some more apple cider.
Crossing the room, he takes the glass pitcher from his boss, to continue pouring the drink. It dawned on him that the man could have spiked the entire drink to prevent him from diverting his plans for the sixth time. So he went to plan B, and knocked the glass from the table and allowed the arm holding the pitcher to shake violently enough that all the juice spilled out all over the floor.
"Near!" Gevanni got up from his seat in an outrage. "Look at this mess! Clean it up!"
"Sorry, sir. I'll clean it up right away."
Retrieving the roll of napkins from the dispenser and a yellow sponge, he cleans up the juice. And with the sponge, he cleans up the finer pieces of glass and with the napkins the juice and the larger pieces of glass.
"Is he ok?" Natalie asked Gevanni. She's seen her mother behave like that, breaking things, knocking things over whenever her father went into a coughing fit.
"He's been having a tricky month, and I think he might need a vacation very VERY soon."
His inflection wasn't missed on Near's part; though he wondered what the vacation was going to be? Kicking him out? Hiring him off to one of his weirder friends? A disembodied sound ran through his mind... the rattling of chains, causing him to swallow over a lump in his throat.
"It'll never happen again, I promise." Rubbing his arm, Near notices that it really is still trembling on its own. He just exaggerated how much when needing to make the mess. "Can I get you something else to drink Miss Natalie?" He asked the girl.
"No, I'm finished. But where's the bathroom?"
"There's one down the hall and one upstairs." Near replies. "You can't miss it."
"Thank you." She smiles politely. "Dinner was really good."
"What's with you?" Gevanni hissed when the girl was out of earshot; giving his butler a shove, he raised a brow as he expected an answer.
"I'm sorry, but my shakes have come back. You don't really think I did this on purpose?" He lied easier than he'd thought he could.
Resolved to believe that, he shakes his head. "No." Touching the male's trembling arm, he sighs. "Maybe I should have Rester look at you again?" Looking over his shoulder, he asks. "Have you been taking your pills?"
"I forgot I had them, no." Looking around the room as if they'd be in plain sight, he asks. "Where'd you put them?"
"In your bedroom. Start taking those; it'll get the edge off."
Nodding, he replies. "Okay."
"Okay." Leaning over, he kisses him on the cheek then tenderly on the lips. "You know I care about you, right?"
For some reason, all his fears and tension just eased away, and he found himself smiling as he nods. "Yes."
"I'm sorry I snapped at you."
"It's okay." He said almost shyly, his eyes dropped to the floor.
"Hey," He whispers against Near's lips since he'd started planting little kisses against them again. "even though we've got a guest, how's about you and I just keep it down while we get a little naughty?"
Kissing him back, he says in the same whisper. "Yeah."
I hate to say it, but it was amazing. I was having things done to me that caused me to scream; because, in truth, he wanted her to hear us. He never had any intention of us keeping it down. Maybe he thought she'd hear us and come spying o that she'd wanna join in, or maybe get a solo with him... but little did he know that when I brought her cookies and milk, I slipped her a sleeping pill. Natalie never heard a second of it. And the next day, her Mother came over and took her home.
I'd saved that girl a horrible memory because I wanted to be polite, I heard her crying in the bathroom over her deceased father when I'd passed the bathroom. I thought she'd be up all night, and needed a break. The sleeping pills are harmless, and I take them myself. I'm just glad that she went home without knowing about the monster across the hall.
"What if we release a statement about him and his picture?" Light asks the detective; L passed by him with a steaming cup of coffee, to drop off like it was a drive-by.
He raised the offering to his lips, taking a quick sip from its heat to bite through the Fall chill in the police station. It's been a cold November, and they haven't gotten anywhere with Mikami; he's a tight-lipped somebody, that was for sure.
"His parents are bound to see it; assuming they're alive." He shrugged.
"That's our best bet." L says from a perch on a chair in the corner of the room; he's got his mug balanced on his knee while he dumps creamers and packets of sugar into his coffee. "Hopefully they'll be so disgusted with him that they'll give him up right away, instead of looking to help him because they don't want to believe in his perversions."
And they've seen it before; parents of bombers; parents of school shooters; a rapist, you name it. No matter what the event, it could never be their child.
"I'll get our liaison on it this afternoon." L comments.
Teru Mikami's face and wrong doings were broadcast for all the world to see and judge. Mikami's parents were outraged, though thankfully not in his defense. They always believed that he would slip up again after the first juvenile arrest; but after he'd changed his name, they'd lost track of him. But seeing his face brought them out of their comfortable home in Miami, Florida, and into the city of Chicago, Illinois to help the police convict Taro Kagami.
Kagami was trialed and convicted, going to prison on charges of imprisonment, lying under oath, abuse sexually, physically, and mentally, drugging someone without their knowledge, abduction; though Beyond Birthday is a man now, he was also charged with raping and molesting a minor, participating in human trading, and basic human neglect; seeing that his captive was nearly starved to death, Taro Kagami faced 90 years to life in prison.
Also, let the record show that one week in prison; due to fear of another sexual assault from his cellmate, Taro Kagami low-hung himself in his cell with his shirt by tying it to his bed frame and letting his weight drop from the offered height. His rapist has a daughter that he writes to every week; and has zero tolerance for anyone who would violate young girls, now or ever or in any way shape or form.
The guards looked the other way during Kagami's rape and did little more than alert the man's parents when he'd passed away.
He did not give up Near's whereabouts before his suicide if he'd known them; so we took another approach.
- Detective L
"I think getting help from the cops was a bad idea," Mello speaks his thoughts.
He and Matt have been walking the city looking for Johns for days now, and so far things were turning up empty. Literally.
"There isn't a John in sight, hasn't been for weeks."
"Is it any wonder? They're all afraid of being arrested because of the bust last month." Matt replied. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he tucks his face back into the neck of his hoodie. It's freezing out! But November is like that. "And I don't care for the dirty looks the other street walkers are giving us either."
They all know why business is slow, and they've been more than verbal and physical about their disapproval of the couple, who're helping the police take away their business. They even got robbed of what little they had, by a woman who's trying to feed her baby. Though her knife skills were pathetic, they forked over the twenty bucks they had on them. The two were even jumped by a few guys one time, but those twinks didn't know who they were messing with. Pity for a starving child is one thing, but taking a beating from some assholes who can't cope just isn't going to happen.
They returned the card to L, and basically attempted to return to their old lives; they can figure this thing out for themselves; not to mention, that thing with Near's abductor shook him too much; he needed to reintroduce him to their world of street life, not the one their missing friend has been brought into.
But the Johns Mello wanted to question over for their hesitance involving Near didn't turn up anywhere, and he was sure that one guy with blond hair knew something. That's when it hit him!
"Matt, how good do you think your computer skills are?"
"Umm, non-existant.." He shrugs.
"Well look for some, because you and me are gonna hit the library." The smart grin on his face reached clean up to his scarred earlobe over his brilliant idea.
And before Matt could say 'Boo!' he is fingers and eyes deep in scouring social networking sites for Anthony Carter's name. Mello's plan was to find out what the man does with his spare time, whom he hangs out with. Maybe a picture of him with some friends will bring Near's captor to the frontlines. And it wasn't an easy task either.
Matt didn't exactly know what it was he was looking for, let alone how to look for it. But typing the man's name into the search engine did pull up information about his arrest for the abduction and death of a Misa Amane.
"He went under an alias," Matt says. "Should I check it?"
"Check everything," Mello instructs from behind the seat.
"You know, our computer skills are about the same. You could pull up a chair and help me out."
"I'm looking it all over while you're looking. Two eyes on one thing; you always see something different."
"Tch. Right." He rolls his eyes. "...Where better to find a face then something called Facebook."
Clicking on the link, the two cock a brow when nothing but the man's alias and face pop up before them.
"Guess the odds of him 'Friending' us are slim." Came Matt's sarcastic snip. "What about one of his other friends, I wonder?" He asks himself in a thoughtful sort of lyric. "Jeez, this place is on lockdown. I can't even see the friend list."
"What about that guy Mikami?" Mello asks.
"Spell his name." He types it in as his lover replies. "Well, he's an open book."
Rummaging through the photos, it doesn't take long to find pictures with Anthony and a few other faces, who are unfortunately strangers.
"Gross. Beyond is in this one." Matt comments with a pointing of his finger to the photo, in case Mello doesn't see it. "...He looks so happy." He further explained his comment. "Do you think he was drugged?"
"Definitely, look how dilated his pupils are."
Snorting, Matt says to himself. "I'll bet that trip to Cancun was fun."
The underlying words weren't missed on Mello's ears, nor the sarcasm. "These two guys seem the most consistent... And we know, Anthony."
That bastard made a big mistake when he wanted his name moaned. Not to mention he gave them his last name when wanting to be addressed as, Dr. Carter.
"Holy shit!" Matt exclaimed; he looked like he'd just won the lottery, he even bounced up out of his seat. "That's the guy! That's the shithead who beat me up!"
"Gentlemen?" The female clerk; glasses raised to see the accused, as she says in a stern tone. "Keep it down."
The pair shot the woman a frosty glance, and she seemed to be willing to keep to herself from that point on; Mello's scar does that to people.
Attention now on Matt, the scarred intimidator asks. "Are you sure?"
"Positive. Those green eyes, the hair... this is the guy."
Clapping Matt on the back, he cheers. "All we need to do now is find his house, and we can get Near! And show this fucker what a bad life is about." He stabs the screen where Gevanni's picture is with his index finger.
Shooting from the seat, Matt is already on his way out of the building. "Stupid us for being across town with no cab fare."
"The cops'll pay it," Sticking his fingers into his mouth, he whistles loudly for a cab; then throws his hand into the air.
"God..." Mello paced in contemplation. "Who'd of thought it was that empty house?! Near is there, or was... but why wasn't he in the house? Do you think he was dumping his body?"
"I hope not."
"Maybe he was selling him, like that guy Beyond."
"Think positive, Mail." He pulls open the door of the cab. "Don't jinx our win."
His shrug was missed, and he opened the door of the cab. "Don't jinx our win."
His shrug was missed, and he climbed into the cab after Mello.
0 0 0
"Stephen Loud was arrested with Taro Kagami, for the same rape crime." Light reports to L.
He's been digging into the man's past since his arrest, and so far his life has been paired with one certain player. Stephen Loud. Problem with that is that up to a certain point the man seemed to stop existing. Which means that he as well is now living under an alias, and their job is to figure out which.
"L!" Two voices sound through the station's main room. "L! L!"
Hearing the commotion; Light rolls his eyes before addressing L. "Those two are more trouble than they're worth."
L only smiled at the comment; patting Light on the shoulder as he exits the room to address the two. "Yes, what is it?"
"We think we found him! This guy whose house we broke into, nobody was there..."
"But I saw the name on the photo.." Matt cuts in. "And it was the same name as the mail in the house we broke into."
L merely cocked his head in the general direction of the speaker, getting the gist-of-the-gist he's being given.
"And Matt recognized the man from the photo as his attacker."
"Stephen Loud?"
"Who?" They ask together.
Shaking his head, he waves them over to the exit. "Stephen Loud, he may be going by an alias like Teru Mikami." He shows them a photo that Light brings out to him.
"Yeah!" Mello shouts.
"That's the guy!" Matt says through Mello's reply. "His name is Stephen Gevanni."
"We'd better hurry then... there's no telling what will happen if the man finds out about his best friends' death."
The four made way for the door. L was about to begin giving orders when a door down the hall opened.
"Detective!?" A woman called out; she's extending herself into the hall from the Communications room, where 9-1-1 calls are received and dealt out to the appropriate sources.
Looking away from the exhausted pair, to the woman, he asks. "Yes?"
"There's a young man on the phone... it could be a crank; he sounds confused. But he says his name is Near, and that he's in trouble."
The room grew very heavy and dark, almost as dark as the night falling outside over a part of the world untouched by man, or the glow of the moon.
I didn't know what was going on in the real world. But for me, I was in the middle of the hard truth, I was seeing the monster and the truth that went with him. And while everyone gathered evidence, and made preparations to come and get me... I went into battle with a body made of paper.
1 hour earlier.
Near is sitting on the couch in the living room, resting, and practically breathless as he chugs hot tea from the piping hot, dark blue porcelain mug in his hands. He's even got the heater turned up on 80! But he can't shake the chill in his bones. Coughing, he waits until the gagging spell has passed before pouring more hot liquid down his throat. Why had he picked chamomile? Isn't he already pretty "out of it"? Why make it worse?
But lately, sleep seems to be an almost window for him. It holds his thoughts in place, whereas when he tries to think of things on his own they're muddled, foggy, and out of order.
"Near, come in here!"
He groaned in response. He's tired and in pain; why does the house have to talk to him when he's feeling at his worst? He didn't hear a word all day while he was cleaning, and mentally clear; it wasn't until after that he took that pill for his migraine. Now, he just can't shake the voices. That's not all. 4 days ago a pounding and tapping began to sound from beyond the basement door. He's only ever looked at it; too afraid to know what lurks in the darkness behind that closed door.
"Stoooooop!" He hoped he'd actually shouted at the voices calling to him from Gevanni's office. Lately, he couldn't believe any of his actions or words; they always seemed to be delusions.
For a moment all sounds ceased, but the moment he let out a sigh, they began again. One after the other. He even heard the elephant from the photo chiming in Come on! Come on!
"Fine!"
Slamming his hands down onto the arm of the couch; where he'd been pressing his forehead to before having another drink of his tea, Near storms out of the living room and into the man's office.
"What's the big deal?!" He shouts.
"Turn on the computer."
Obeying, he moved slowly over to the desk and takes a seat in the comfortable chair.
Turning on the monitor, he looks at the Locked screen. He smiled at the photo above the little box you type the password into. He remembers when the photo was taken, the two of them were shopping for clothes online, and he just flipped on the webcam, then told him to smile.
"You have to focus! Type these numbers in."
And the bride in the photo fed him the numbers to the computer, which allowed him access to it. "What do I do now?" He asked in confusion.
"There's some video that you need to see, please watch it."
"Video?"
Rolling the mouse's arrow around on the screen, he clicked open the documents screen searching for something that says: Video. He's never used the computer in this way, so he isn't really sure if he's doing it right; or if he knows how to find it. But he opened anything he could until finally, he came across a screen filled with little folders that have numbers beneath them. Blinking in a wonder of them; the first folder at the top is double clicked, bringing the screen up and the contents on it to life.
"This is Near... like Cher because he doesn't have any last name." Gevanni snickers from behind the lens of the camera. "Say 'hi' to the camera hot stuff."
Near's eyes widen right along with his past self's in the video; current Near's from disbelief, and past Near's from fear. There's no way this is real! He can't really be seeing this...
The teen, bound at the wrist, ankles, and beneath his knees; mouth taped silent, shakes his head in a manic panic over the fear washing over him about where it will go from there.
Lips parted and pulse racing; Near swallows over a lump in his throat, when hearing the whiff of clothing hit the floor in the video. He closed the screen; sickened; ready to bolt from the video and into his bedroom where the footage could turn into a lie from his troubled mind. Is that what this is? And he's actually not looking at anything at all?
"No, Near! Watch them! Watch them all if you have to, but see what this man has done to you. See what he is!"
The elephant cried out, its trunk flying in the air to better expose its mouth beneath it.
And he obeyed. He clicked on video after video; seeing unspeakable acts being done to him. Gevanni, always insulting him; beating him; raping him; molesting him; forcing him to perform sexual acts on him... it's all been recorded.
By video twenty; which the man vocally titled: The Executioner, Near had seen enough. His breathing hard with fear and rage... blinding, heating rage; he closed off the still moving video footage, playing the sight of himself tied up and blindfolded, ball-gagged, and against a support beam in the basement, facing the pillar; before the nude Gevanni, who's holding a dildo handled flail, could come up behind him for a lashing and more.
It all played out to him. Like his personal footage that has been stored away in his mind, like a torment of his past that he hoped to put behind him. The abduction... He was so stupid and trusting; the beatings... He'd been so in and out of it; the drugging... God, he had a headache just today and popped a pill for it; and more importantly, how it had happened... He fell, and he forgot.
'...No...'
His body shivered and staggered hands grip the receiver of the phone that sat on the desk beside the monitor; his trembling hands tapped the three most important buttons in the world 9-1-1. He could hardly breathe; barely speak when the operator came on over the receiver.
"M.. my name is N... Near." And damn his newly buzzed brain has got his actual voice stuttering through the haze; along with that exhaustion inducing cup of tea. "An..nn..nnd I.. I've b-.. abducted."
"Near, where are you? Do you know the address?" The operator asks in a calm voice, but he can tell that she's getting excited by the elevation of her voice.
"Near he's here! Run!" Called the bride in the photo on the desk.
"Near? Near?!" Called the woman over the dropped phone receiver.
He's home early! He can't be here! Not when he's going to tell the cops where he is! Not when he's going to be rescued... Frantically, his eyes search the room.
"Near, use me! Throw me at him!" A statuette called from the bookshelf.
He's dusted the little woman so many times, but he's never once noticed the bucket hat on her head. Army ready, she looked. Grabbing her up, he walked into the hall. The house became a flurry of sounds ranging from murmurs, to moans, bangs and slaps mixed with taunting insults from his captor. It was like all the horrors of the home movies are randomly placed moving GIFs in the houses backdrop; and he is the tragic hero, escaping to be the victor and savior of the memories.
Gevanni was whistling a tune as he removed his coat, stuffing it into the closet after it met with a clothes hanger. He smiled at Near's approach. "Hey, I thought we'd do some steak tonight."
"Fire!" Cried the clutched statuette.
Near took aim for the man, and hurled the figure at his head!
"What the fu-.." He dodged the attack by leaping out of the way; his shoulder popped into the closet door, slamming it shut.
Near jumped like he'd been shot at when hearing that bang, but his stagger was caught by the wall beside him. And helping himself to it, he grabs another dust collector- this one a decorative egg.
"Have you lost your mind?!" Gevanni shouted when the egg and another came flying at him. "Near snap out of it!" He moved in slowly, arms spread like he's trying to wrangle an escaped pig.
'Stop being confused... Gevanni is not the enemy.' His hazy brain spoke; he set down a lamp and looked at the mess with shame and sadness. 'Why does this keep happening?' He wondered through the cloud in his mind.
His deep grays spot an image in the corner of the room of himself. He's screaming for Gevanni to stop, while he cowers there, naked and bleeding. And it was like a second wind that has the present male, grabbing the lamp back up to knock the shade from it; Gevanni had latched onto his upper arm like a vice ready to shake some sense into him- or rather back out of him. But Near took control of the moment, and stabbed him with the lamp against his chest; it was hard enough to break the bulb! From there he made sure the monster caught the broken end against the cheek.
Gevanni hollered in pain as the exposed broken glass cut him, and a quick jolt of electricity shocked his face well enough to burn it a bit.
Released, Near bolted.
He has to stay focused. He has to be quick; Gevanni is faster than he is, but only because he's physically stronger. He isn't hurting through the smog of short-term memory due to drugs. And you can bet that Gevanni isn't weakened by fear of his loose captive.
Near traipsed up the stairs, clutching the banister to assist his speed. Swaying on his heels at the top; he sees them again! Ghosts of his abused self, littering the stairs and the hallway, moaning and bending like a contortionist, crying, laughing from a place of full-blown hysterics; but all of them reaching for him with pleas in their frightened eyes for a savior from their humiliation and pain. All the painful and needlessly forced sexual positions brought upon him blocked his way through the hall.
"It's not real," Teddy whispered from his room. "Stop slowing yourself down."
The images seemed to vanish, and he stopped picking his way through them; you'd believe that he was going to step on someone for real at the pace he'd been going. But with the images gone, the teen dashed to Gevanni's room and reaching in to turn the lock on the knob, he then pulled the door to slam shut. But rather than be inside of it, he hurried to his bedroom and closed the door only somewhat.
Gevanni was lingering downstairs; either recovering from the jolted cheek or retrieving a weapon. Whatever he was doing he took enough time getting up the stairs for Near to hide away. Peeking through the crack he'd left in the door, he spied a glint of house light playing against the knife in the man's hand.
The angered homeowner kicked the door to his bedroom open, ready to attack the frightened teen, but he sees that the room is empty. Near then pushed his door shut; having no lock on it, he could only hope speed was on his side as he positioned himself on the other side of the dresser. He grabbed the piece of furniture, ready to flip it over once the door burst open. He hoped it would work like he wanted.
He took only a moments startle from the kicked open door before using every ounce of strength his frail body could muster, to flip the long dresser over. This was it... the end. It had to be, why else was luck so thoroughly on his side? How may you wonder? By the proof of the dresser landing directly on top of his attacker's foot, after it landed on the floor once kicking the door open. He knew he could count on Gevanni's bravado to kick the door open; it wouldn't have worked had he simply turned the knob and walked in.
But once that dresser hit his captor's foot; Near tore up the underside of the dresser, to begin his assault against the pinned monster. Gevanni's teeth are bared in pain due to the shock waves coursing through his body from his crushed foot, and the further weight added to it from Near standing on it after his scale.
Fist balled, the captive swung away; a left hook, a right hook; both seemingly effective in Near's mind, but in truth... it did little more than turning the man's head.
Swearing in bitterness; Near hopped from the dresser and made for a lamp on the bedside table. Gevanni slid his foot from beneath the dresser; his anger reached its boiling point. He doesn't care what spell the boy is under when he gets his hands on him he's going to break every bone in his body, then remove the busted limbs!
He wasn't far over the blockade before the lamp came flying at his head! He ducked in time for the large piece of furniture to go smashing into the wall in the hallway behind him.
"Hn. You miss-"
But his words are cut short from Near bashing him in the face with something far stronger than his fist. The snow globe that hit the floor when he flipped the bureau. He used it over and over again, back and forth; but he left himself too open with his broad swings, and because of that he received a nasty cut to the arm a few inches from his armpit.
He cried out in pain, dropping the globe to the floor so he could nurse his wound; he's then knocked to the floor!
On top of him, pinning him down; Gevanni has Nearby the neck bashing the back of his head into the floor while he throttles him. He's too mad to speak, so he sort of barks swears at him using a thump to the head as emphasis for his words. Near wasn't sure what was hurting him the most, the pops to the head or the strangling.
Teddy shoved the snow globe within Near's reach, and with it took a good swing to Gevanni's jaw. The monster went staggering backwards in blind pain, spitting molars in his departure.
Near didn't give himself much recovery time, before he forced his body up from the floor; leaping into the air with help from the upper doorframe to assist his positioning, and he lands crotch first into the monster's face; his thighs wailing the man's head between them, and he brings Gevanni down into a bridge over the fallen dresser with his body's weight assisting in dropping him.
It was a wonder there wasn't a sickening snap of the man's neck following that fall because his head fell all the way back and to the floor with Near's weight directly on top of his chin. But, he managed to twist himself to avoid serious damage.
That mental clutter is awash in the hall again, distracting Near from having a next move planned. He cried out when the knife in Gevanni's grasp catches him against the side of his ankle, but he moved before it could slice any further to the back against the vein.
He fell to the floor with a weight in his body as heavy as the atmosphere; the false headache medicine and tea are bringing him down big time. Gevanni righted himself and slid from the room before managing to get up to a stand. He smirked in disgusted delight over watching Near slithering through the hall towards the stairs, and figuring he'd take his time in dragging him off to his end, he flicks the knife back and forth; not a care in the world that he's knicking up the lovely walls.
Near got to his feet, and swayed; his hand quickly latched onto the banister to keep him upright. He can't afford another fall, not after the last one. Even if he were to lose his memory again, it wouldn't make a difference; Gevanni would end his life indefinitely after this little stunt. Shooting a glance over his shoulder to locate the man, he spies his Street Fighter action figures, Ken and Ryu, launching spinning kicks and fireballs at the man.
Though their efforts were great, the pair didn't accomplish much; and they wound up tacked to the wall by the knife's point after the man has swatted them aside with his arm.
Near turned face-on and cocked his head with curiosity. 'Why are Ken and Ryu attacking Gevanni? Is the whole house against him? What's he done?'
"Gevanni..." He began in a voice scared and confused.
The blow to the face was a huge wake-up call; luckily when he went tilting backwards, the man had already knelt down and grabbed him by the ankle to stop him from toppling down the stairs. But he didn't do it out of pity, or ha! love. He did it for the sheer pleasure of dragging the teen down himself.
Near snagged a grab of the banister and held on tight; Gevanni starts down the stairs with the child's ankle still in hand so his body is towed along. The captive is righted by the drag, so instead of laying upside down, he's right side up while his buttocks, back, and head bump along the stairs as he's pulled down them.
He latched onto a rung again, but that only resulted in his getting his leg jerked violently to loosen him. Why'd he have to punch him so hard? He actually took an unconscious nap for 30 seconds, a sort of microsleep to be exact.
And it was in that sleep that his hand released the banister, and he was lifted over the man's shoulder and moved into the kitchen. He woke up to the sound of his own grunt when his head popped onto the island counter top.
A panicked sound came from his dry, dry throat; and his hands went on automatic to start scratching and swiping at his captor. Gevanni is unbuckling his pants with one hand, the other is gripping Near's hair hard enough to cause a bleed at the scalp. The blood red is staining his naturally white hair like a bottle of dye has been mopped up with it.
The teen can feel the cool counter top, meaning his captor had tugged his pants away while he was momentarily asleep.
Gevanni sneered at him and retrieved his knife that he left for ignored on the counter top. "Are you proud of yourself?!" He gestured to his swollen and burnt face with the edge of the knife. "You knocked my fucking teeth out!"
Delirious, Near laughed a bit. "What? Y... you n... never heard that." He swallows over a dry lump before continuing. "You never heard the one about the dentist with..." He coughs then, and has to catch his breath before ending the comment. "with only one skill before?"
His laughter sent the man's remaining teeth on edge. "You were always so good to look at, especially when bruised. And soooo fucking good in the sack..." He shoved in hard and fast, delighting in the teen's outcry. "But, I have NEEEVER liked that mouth of yours!"
Setting the knife down again; his hips melodically buck in and out of the male's hole. The fingers digging into his hips, slide up the sides of his body beneath his work-shirt and vest until he's got the little fucker by the cheeks with both hands; squeezing to cause the boy's lips to purse out. His breathing hard with rage, and over exerted adrenaline, not to mention the pain from his damaged teeth and gums; but he was not going to let that stop his assault.
"Maybe I should remove them from that foul little mouth of yours, huh!?" He shakes the male's head back and forth.
Near's eyes widened when he saw the man's open mouth coming in over his pursed lips; hand slapping the counter in seek of something- anything that can help him! He latches onto the knife.
It was in slow motion, one minute Gevanni was kissing him and he kissed him back, enjoying the man fucking him deeply and lovingly; the fog of tea and drugs in his system causing him to believe that this is a passionate romp.
'It feels so good.' He thinks in the haze.
Then the man's teeth clamped down cannibally over the corner of his captive's bottom lip; producing from Near a scream that he didn't know his tightened throat could even make. But before he could have his lip completely torn off, he brought the knife up and into the man's throat.
Gevanni couldn't believe it! He couldn't believe the pain. He couldn't believe the situation. There is just no way! No way! He backed away from Near; pulled free from their connection in his retreat.
Near rolled over to curl in on himself; his hand touching the bit of his bottom lip that's been removed from its base just an inch in. He slipped from the counter and onto the floor with dead weight. But hearing Gevanni sputter and cough, he knew it wasn't over.
Crawling over to the fallen body, he removed the knife, that its holder had been pathetically trying to do on his own, in one quick yank!
"Kyaaaa!" The monster bellowed in pain.
And Near raised the knife into the air, and drove it down... over, and over again into the man's neck. He delighted in the knife's point announcing tings! when it began to strike floor molding.
He could have stabbed him for hours, like a machine that's been programmed to do nothing but stab this man. But blood trickling from his mouth, exhaustion, dehydration, and fear just dropped Near like a sack. He lay against his former captor, calming himself the best he could, but he was done. Done being here. Done knowing the man's existence, even after. And just DONE.
With a struggle, he pushes himself up from the floor then began to walk... His lids are sticking like they've got glue on the rim, but he's managing to pull them back open before they dry together, his eyes are rolling around in his head like he's been possessed.
He doesn't get far when his body spazzes and convulses like he's being riddled with bullets from a submachine gun before he just fell... for good. He felt nothing. He saw nothing. But he heard a loud bang.
From there... there was a bright light; a head of blond hair. 'Dr. Rester?' He wondered before heavy lids stick shut once again. Opening them again, he saw red and took it in with more confusion than he's already wracked with. But when seeing a head of black, his first thought was Gevanni, and he began to writhe and scream.
It's been nearly a month, but one afternoon in November... Near woke up. He doesn't say anything, just looks about the hospital room, taking in everything. But mainly, the two downcast heads laying on his bed.
Frowning; he reaches out a hand, touching Mello's hair tenderly. 'Mello.'
And it all came back to him of how much of a fool he'd been, just to avoid something he doesn't know... Care. Sincerity. Love. Eyes watered over, he just let it all out and cried.
I was in the hospital recovering through the month of November; I had a really good Thanksgiving with my friends there, and we watched tacky holiday movies that were too soon for Christmas: Jingle All the Way and Christmas with the Kranks. We caught up and laughed at how bad the food was... like we were so posh.
And all the while I waited for them to say that they hate me, or that they missed me... that they found me. But it never came. We just remained in our own sort of finality of peace.
I've spent a month in lock-up beneath the Chicago precinct once I was released from the hospital, and now I speak before you today...
Present day. February 2nd.
"Near... though arrested for going beyond self-defense when saving yourself from your captive, frankly..." The detective took a long drink from his perfectly dressed cup of coffee. "I believe it was drugged exhaustion that fueled your rampage in the death of Stephen Loud. And the judge will deem you 'not guilty' with my word of assessment and no court hearing."
"...You can do that?"
"I am a licensed psychologist... yes, I can."
He played with his fingers together, thinking over those words. "But, I knew what I was doing when I killed him, and I had every intention of inflicting harm to him post-mortem."
"I don't see it that way. You barely remember the events of what happened to you as a whole." He stands from his seat, hand extended. "You were under the influence, there was no crime committed; you've defended yourself when your life was in danger."
Looking at the hand, he takes it carefully into his own to participate in a handshake. "But L.."
"You're free to go." A smile spread across his face. "And thank you."
"For what?" He released the detectives, drink-warmed, hand.
"I asked that once you've gotten your life together, that you give me an interesting story. I believe you've held up your end of the deal. ...You, and your friends are free to go."
By the time Near began his walk to the exit; ignoring the officer trying to hand him his washed butler's uniform. He doesn't want anything to do with what came along with that house, he found himself reflecting on what L said.
"You're free to go."
Free. Free.
Passing through the hall, he stopped by the other interrogation room where he spots Beyond seated in a chair looking like a kicked dog, head down and a frown on his face. When he opened the door, the man looked up and smiled at him. His smile made him look younger than Near, it was small and sweet.
"Hey jail bird, do they know you're out of your cage?" He asks in that raspy voice of his.
Entering the room, he takes a seat beside the male, then gets up and throws a hug around him. Beyond made the oddest laugh, before releasing his hold.
"Careful hot stuff, someone might be looking."
Near rolled his eyes and sat back down in his seat; his hands still holding Beyond's. "When are you gonna give it up? The crazy act I mean."
"If it gets me by..." He said very plainly and nonchalant. There was a sad resolve in his eyes, though. "I uh... hear they're going to put me away."
Near nods. "It's for the best... sane as you are, you're still too off to function in normal society."
"Hn. Society is a little too off for me; men dressing as women; people having families for a sexual harem on-call, when the kids are old enough to warp but not enough to tell; and people who don't understand the meaning of 'No' or 'Don't'... Fast food chains!" He shakes his head. "I'll take my chances in the nuthouse."
"Yeah..." He doesn't even know what he's going to do with himself now, really. He's suffered six months in that basement, and just as many believing a lie upstairs.
"Will it..." Beyond's index finger stabs into the O he's made with his other hand. "be much of the same?"
"Yes. I'm afraid so."
For the smallest second, there seemed to be fear in the man's eyes. But it dissolved quickly, and he went back to looking pensive. "Oh well, different faces this time. Aha," Came a dry laugh. "I can even make a game of it, and accuse the one I see the most of liking me." He wriggles his brows playfully.
Near could only humor him with a smile. He couldn't lie, though. A Sanitarium tends to house people just as sick as their captors, only you've been ignorantly offered to them.
"Goodbye, Beyond."
"Later kid."
Near snorts, as he stands. "Kid. I'm that much younger than you."
"In age maybe... but in suffering, we're light-years apart." He caressed a lock of hair behind the teen's ear.
Near truly understood the comparison, and he wouldn't blame the guy if he'd offed himself night one. By the time he left the station, and traveled down the stairs; he was ready to hear the insults and take the beating.
He made it down to the street, his eyes held on the ground as he could not meet his friend's unfriendly gazes. He betrayed them because he cared about them. They have every right to berate him, to hurt him, to abandon him as he had done to them. But none came. Instead, the two just watched him walk until he hit the street.
"So, Near" Came Mello's voice. "what's it gonna be?"
He bit back the manic joy in his voice that he's being spoken to at all, as he turned around to face their approach. "What do you mean?"
It was Matt who'd chimed in then, saying. "You are staying with us, right? For good this time?" He winked at the male.
"You mean, you're not mad at me?" He couldn't help taking a step back when the pair hit the end of the stairs.
"Fuck yeah, we're mad at you- don't be dumb." Mello snatched the male around his neck, playfully driving his knuckles into his hair. "But we're too happy to have you back more than that."
Laughing, Matt's smacking the male's bottom playfully, while Mello spins him around and around messing up his hair.
Chuckling, he pulls free and fixes his hair. He's still finding it a bit hard to look at them. But it would pass.
"So," Mello asks again. "What are we doing?"
"...You guys... if you don't mind... I'd like to go find a John- in the next town over."
The two raised their brows.
"...I know you think I'm insane, but Gevanni isn't the only one out there like that, and honestly... they all need to be taught a lesson. But I can't do it alone... I don't ever want to be alone like that, ever again. But I do want one thing... Justice."
Smiling at the boy's declaration of revenge to all, he smiles. "Okay kid... whatever you wanna do." Slipping an arm around his shoulders, he waits for Matt to do the same.
"My feet hurt already." He groaned with a shrug. Slipping his arm around Near's shoulders as well.
Chuckling, Near adds. "We could always sell drugs."
"Now there's an idea!" Matt cheered.
The three of them head off to the next town. Oh, the vicious cycle...
THE END?
I suppose I should give a happy ending, saying something like "L got us all jobs somewhere and paid for a small flat for us" but that wouldn't be realistic. In truth, it didn't end well.
Turns out I had a lucid moment of my life before I lost my memory when Anthony Rester gave me a check up, and I said to him... "300 to fuck me." and he did. Because of him, I contracted AIDS; I won't make it to the age of 24 without treatment. And because of all the druggings, I now have a permanent tremble in my right arm and leg. I also have an involuntary shrug. And sometimes I talk to no one thinking I'm talking to someone. It's okay, though, since I've mostly been selling firearms.
Matt died when I was 19. A car trying to change lanes jumped the curb when the wheel stuck, and Matt got hit. He was fine all day until he fell asleep, he went into a coma... and without treatment, he died from organ failure. We didn't want him to just be another corpse, so we left him outside of the hospital; with a note attached, where at least he'll be put in the morgue. Our hoping was that he has some family somewhere who will recognize Mail Jeeves.
Mello and I were lovers for a time; we started selling drugs for faster money to get us a place, but he was gunned down when he walked into the territory of a rival gang, who expanded without giving the word to any of the other gangs. Mello wasn't even selling, he was just crossing the street to buy a candy bar.
I saw L a few dozen times, Light too. I never spoke to him, but I would tell L about what I'm doing, and he would give me meals while we talked.
My fear of being alone was off the charts, and I wound up robbing a store with one of the unloaded guns I should have sold. It landed me in jail like I wanted, and that's where I met up with Beyond Birthday again; turns out he murdered the first person to stick their hand where it didn't belong... They only wanted to do up the buckles on the straight jacket that ran between his legs. But that was enough.
He and I became lovers, and we looked out for each other- we even shared a cell. We had walls, we had rules, and we had food and each other. Life was mostly safe and good enough.
Nate River died in prison of the AIDS virus. Age 24.
But that all sounds a bit warped, doesn't it? Perhaps we'll go with this... Near and his friends sold firearms, acquiring enough money for bus fair, and a small cheap apartment in another state. They now reside in Connecticut; working in the kitchen of a Zaxby's washing dishes. But that's really just a cosmetic need to make someone feel better when they're dealing with desperate times. - L
END.
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Desperate Times