❣ His Glistening Gray Eyes ❣ //amoneki//

❣ Sharing Rooms With Monsters ❣

Walter scratches his beard, chuckling slightly. My gaze is deadly but he's not intimidated at all. "I'm old Amon, but I'm not blind. In fact, I notice many things others do not." He's watching through the fence now, and I follow his gaze to see he's looking at Eyepatch. Eyepatch is looking at nothing but the sky.

"Unfortunately, I know very little about that ghoul. He's mysterious, abnormal, but he shows little malice to me. What he seems most of all is…" He pauses, searching for the right word. "Pained. So utterly, utterly pained."

As I watch Eyepatch I remember that I have gotten that impression as well. His eyes seem haunted, like he's seen and endured things he shouldn't. I wonder how old this ghoul is.

I say, "A lot of the ghouls don't get along with him. A lot of humans too." The first day Eyepatch arrived at Quinx Penitentiary is likely the most memorable day of my imprisonment thus far. The guards had trouble finding a cellmate for him, either because they wanted to killEyepatch, or get his help escaping from the prison altogether. Many of the guards mistreat him too. I hate Eyepatch, but...something about everything he's been through just isn't right. It doesn't sit well with me.

Walter is still watching Eyepatch as he nods. "Because in their eyes he's too different. He doesn't fit in with the ghouls, yet he doesn't fit in with humans. He has nowhere he belongs...he's alone..."

I let it sink in. What has Eyepatch been enduring all this time? That very first time I met him, a time that feels like centuries ago, he had been talking to me about change. How both humans and ghouls should get along, how we shouldn't fight each other. Is that what had sparked my curiosity in him? Has my despair for Mado-san's death blinded me so completely that I couldn't see Eyepatch was different? That maybe others were different?

I have much to think on, but I need to do it on my own. I stand. "Thank you for your time Walter."

I can hear the smile in his voice. "You're quite welcome, Amon."

...

That evening I thought a lot about Walter's words. It was disconcerting how astute he was, but I think he's right. I am curious about Eyepatch. I want to know his story. But, just knowing I want to know more about him makes me…angry. Why must my self-fulfillment be completed by a ghoul? Why do I have to care about a ghoul?

In the middle of my musings three short dings ring through the intercom, signaling a meal. The guard Crowe leads me and several other inmates to the cafeteria. I miss my light banter with Besch during this time.

Because when I got back from the courtyard today I discovered Besch wasn't in our cell. Then a guard informed me he was taken to the clinic, and would probably be hospitalized tomorrow. It sounds like Besch is in bad trouble.

I don't pray, but I silently hope Besch is alright. We weren't friends, but he was a good cellmate. The door opens and I'm led into the cafeteria.

There are 2 instances ghouls and humans are put together: the showers and the cafeteria. I resent it entirely, and it makes no sense (why eat fake human food when real food is in the seat next to you?). Regardless, I endure. I'll endure just like always.

And when I get out of here I'll make sure the CCG does something about this.

I walk to the right side of the spacious room. Human food and ghoul food are side-by-side, and I get in line and take my human dish. I look at the contents. Every day the human food is different, but the quality remains…painfully the same.

Several inmates are already at the tables eating their food, and I go to a random table, sitting without even looking up from my tray. My musings are still so distracting. When I first met Eyepatch he let me live. He had disarmed me, then declared he didn't want to be a killer. He told me to run.