And When That Light Goes Out AOT

4

The look that he shot me the moment we made eye contact could have brought down an army. Much to my dismay, it terrified me so much that I couldn't look away. The man that stood before me was short but the intensity in his eyes made me feel like an ant in comparison. His hair was black and parted down the middle with the underside shaved (I wondered how far up?) and it stood out against his pale skin. His shirt was the same color as his hair, a black crew-neck long-sleeved t-shirt that clung to his thin frame. His sweatpants, which were unsurprisingly also black, hung low on his waist because they didn't have a string to keep them tight and fit rather close to his legs. I noticed a thin band of uncovered skin that resulted from his sweatpants hanging just a bit too low, and when I realized that I was staring, I reluctantly looked back up at his eyes.

We stood in silence for far too long, his eyes narrowed and cutting while mine were wide and filled with trepidation. I finally filled the silence by stammering, "I-I'm your new roommate, Eren."

He continued to stare at me in silence, and just as I opened my mouth to repeat myself, he sighed heavily. "You're an idiot. You realize that Petra already said that, right? I didn't assume you were the fucking cleaning lady."

My cheeks burned and I clenched my fists with indignation. "Well excuse me-" He shot me another look that shut me up almost immediately. "Ah, I mean... Could you show me around? I literally just got in and I really don't have any idea where anything is."

"I would assume that you would prefer to leave the room when your ass isn't hanging out, Eren."

My cheeks burned again but I didn't even bother trying to counter his comment. Suddenly everything that Petra had said to me made perfect sense. But really, Petra? He wasn't a bad person? Good people, in my experience, generally greeted people with something other than "You're an idiot." Levi was a Grade A asshole and quite frankly, he seemed to revel in this fact. Without another word to him, I took a seat in the bed that looked the cleanest, under the assumption that it hadn't been used and was therefore mine.

Nope.

"Oi, fucking brat, get your filthy ass off my bed," he growled and I swear he channeled the essence of Satan within his voice. I stood up as quickly as I had sat and tripped into the other bed, biting my lip in the process. "You're a real mess. What are you even in here for?"

My eyes watered and I tasted blood. Fantastic. "Is that a normal question to ask someone who was just admitted?"

"Are you going to answer it?"

I sighed heavily and fell back on the bed. "Jumped off a bridge a couple days ago. Is that the kind of answer you were looking for?" I peered over at him expecting to see some form of surprise or disgust on his face. Instead, I was presented with the most disinterested expression I had ever seen. He responded with a noncommittal shrug and fell back into his bed. We both stared at the ceiling in silence; I knew that there was no way that I would try to initiate conversation again.

Much to my surprise, he was the one that broke the silence. "The ward wakes up at 7:30 every morning. Medication is distributed up to four times a day: 9 AM, noon, 4 PM, and 8 PM. Noon medications are given in addition to lunch. Breakfast is at 8 AM every day. Group is at 9:30 and you'll learn about that when we go. It's mandatory. They check your vitals throughout the day. Dinner is at 5 PM. You'll have personal therapy sessions at some point in the day, and they have recreational bullshit for us to do too. Lights out is at 11 every night. I warn you, sleep and I aren't well acquainted. You'll learn to deal with it." I felt his eyes on my face and I closed my eyes in a fruitless attempt to ignore it. "There's a lot about this place that I can't explain to you, you're going to have to experience it yourself. It'll take a little while for you to get used to it; most newbies take a week to get fully situated with everything. When I can walk you around without worrying about you flashing everyone in the ward, I'll introduce you to everyone."