It was late at night, or morning technically. That awkward part of the day when most are asleep and those who are awake want to call it night but it's actually morning now. Whatever the time of day it was dark out and nearly everyone in Whammy's was fast asleep. Near was finally setting his toys aside and crawling into bed to try to catch an hour or two of sleep. His eyes had barely shut when he hear the door creaking open and the soft sound of bare feet on the wood floor.
"Near?" a feminine voice called timidly from halfway across the room.
He could have just pretended to be asleep, she would have left then. Instead he said, "close the door Odele, before you wake someone else up."
The girl did as she was told and then made her way over to Near's bed. She leaned gingerly on the bed frame and watched with wide owlish eyes as Near turned on the little lamp by his bed. Odele squinted her blue eyes slightly, trying to get her short brown hair to protect her unadjusted eyes from the sudden brightness. She wore a simple black T-shirt and gray-black checkered pajama pants that stood out against the paleness of Near's clothing and Near himself for that matter.
"It was cute when you would wake me up and stay here when we where little," Near began scolding her, "but now we are thirteen, and if you continue to come spend the night here when I have no other room mates the others will begin to suspect you and me of doing indecent acts together."
Odele's cheeks turned slightly pink at how sophisticated and casual Near sounded as he talked about such things. "I know," she said meekly, scuffing her foot against the ground. "I don't do it that often anymore." She had the most pitiful and troubled look in her eyes as she said this that even Near felt a slight twinge in his chest.
He sighed, a bit of annoyance coming through it, and said, "alright, what's wrong?"
"Bells," she whispered gently, looking to see if Near would react.
"Bells? What bells?" Near was puzzled, and that wasn't something that happened very often.
"Oh," her shoulders sagged as if a sudden burden had been added to her conscious, "so you don't hear them. I guess I really am crazy." Odele tried to smile, but she look almost ready to cry.
"So you heard, bells?" He inquired further.
"Hearing," she corrected. "I've been hearing them all day and even now. Like church bells, or wedding bells maybe. Could even be funeral bells."
Near strained his ears but could not for the life of him hear any bells. He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I don't hear any bells."
She sighed, "It's alright. It's not your fault, I'm just worried that..."
"That?"
"That L has something to do with this. I hope he's alright." Her deep oceans of eyes turned toward the window, watching as rain began to fall, hitting the pane with gentle rhythmic thumping.
"Has he written you recently?" Near felt guilty that he didn't remember.
The detective had been writing to Odele for sometime. It had also been clear for sometime she would not be his successors. Despite the fact that she was brilliant she was also broken. She was much to emotionally unstable and refused to take the antidepressants and who knows what else the orphanage tried to give her. L seemed to feel guilty that, just like A, BB, and some other less important successors, another bright young child had fall victim to the pressure of trying to be an equal or greater person than L himself. L had been trying to set these cases right by being an almost father like figure for Odele. Over the years of writing and occasionally meeting L also seemed to have developed genuine older brother like feelings for her.
"No, it's been a while. I should be getting another letter from him by tomorrow." She bit her lip, which had begun to quiver. "I'm worried about him."
That seemed silly. It was L, the world's greatest detective, he could take care of himself. But Near didn't point this out. Instead he just sighed and gave in. "How about you just sleep here tonight." Odele looked so fragile and upset that even he could not just turn her away.
"Thanks," a soft smile tugging at her lips.
Near moved over and Odele laid down beside him, pulling an extra blanket over from a vacant bed so they each had their own blanket. He turned out the light once again, hoping he might get a moment of sleep this time. Sleep didn't come as soon as he hoped though, due to Odele dosing off before him and snuggling up against his chest in her sleep. She murmured of bells in her sleep, and Near stroked her hair gently, twirling his own hair with his other hand. Finally he fell asleep too, still feeling awkward about the physical contact with another human.
Odele however would spend the next night there too, he eyes still teary from the news of L's death. Just when Near would grow accustom to her warmth against his chest, she moved officially to another bed in the room.
However for as long as they both remained at the orphanage neither would hesitate to go to the other when they couldn't sleep.
I've been writing a lot of one shots lately, even though I haven't put a lot of them up. I feel like I don't have the time or attention span to write anything else. :( But these are fun to write, I hope there an OK read too. :/
