Lost Cause » Void Stiles

01; mercy for the devil

"I'm part of the bird, that's not in the sky. I can swim in the ocean, yet still remain dry. What am I?"

"I don't care." Malia deadpanned, growing tired of the psychopath's riddles.

Lita hadn't stopped with them since she'd gotten word of Eichen's latest death, a thirty-seven year old man by the name of Edison Hendricks. He was a schizophrenic patient, who'd hung himself from the stairwell with a set of ripped bedsheets; and although it wasn't the first suicide Lita had been there for, it was by far the most interesting. According to the gossips, he'd been repeating the aforementioned riddle just seconds before sealing his fate.

"The answer is the bird's shadow." Lita smiled, her eyes narrowing slightly at the bright morning sun as she followed Malia outside. "It isn't in the sky, but if you look closely enough on a day like today, you can see the shadow beneath, or even on top of the water if it's murky enough."

"I still don't care."

"Well, how about this one?" She raised a brow, continuing on with another riddle. "What can run but never walks, has a mouth but never talks, has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps?"

Malia didn't answer, instead turning to face her with a look of annoyance. A faint growl sounded from the back of the blonde's throat, leading Lita to laugh in response. It wasn't the first time Malia had growled at her, and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. The girl had a tendency to display some animalistic traits, but it never bothered Lita much; at least Malia wasn't one of the many delusional Jesus freaks roaming the halls. She still had yet to wrap her head around the concept of someone being genuinely convinced they were Jesus Christ.

"A river." Lita answered her own riddle, speeding up her pace in order to keep up with Malia.

The blonde halted seconds later, stopping in her tracks at the edge of the porch, causing Lita to nearly topple over into a bush. Once she managed to regain her balance, Lita instantly wore her signature homicidal glare as she turned to face her roommate, seeing just who'd caused her to stop.

And then; she saw him.

The same boy she'd seen last night in the hall, the one that Malia had been trying to avoid, and the one who'd instantly caught Lita's eye by being the most attractive lunatic on the property, was rapidly advancing towards them. She wasn't aware of his exact case of psychosis, but if he was at Eichen, he had to be some degree of insane. Nonetheless, Lita wasn't there to judge him; after all, she gutted a dog at age ten & repeatedly stabbed her brother at fourteen. Her level of craziness was ranked right up next to Barrow; and he was the freaking shrapnel bomber.

He reached them in a matter of seconds, taking a quick glance at Lita before his sights set on the blonde beside her. "Malia? Hey, it's Stiles."

Malia stared back at Stiles blankly, with the same look she'd been giving Lita all morning due to her repetition of riddles.

"She doesn't want to talk to you." Lita deadpanned, crossing her arms tightly over her chest. For whatever reason, Malia was making it more than clear that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with the insanely attractive (pun intended) boy who'd rescued her from the woods; and if it meant Lita could be the one to distract him while Malia ran off, then Lita was sure as hell going to respect her wishes.

"Yeah, well- wait, aren't you that girl from the news?" Stiles furrowed his brows, recalling the various newspapers & television segments a few years back, revolving around a fifteen year old that looked eerily similar to Lita. He vaguely remembered his father speaking of the incident on a phone call to the state police department.

"The one who killed her brother?" Lita questioned rhetorically, although she still received a nod in response. She hummed quietly, tapping a finger on her lip for a moment before responding. "That depends. Did I look hot in my mugshot?"