Cold Sunday

As bright sunshine shone its way into the dark dorm room of Wammy's House, Matt's eyes fluttered open. Drearily, he rubbed his eyes to rid them of any remaining sleepiness, and sat up in his bed. He scanned the room—which was covered in clothes, video games, unfinished homework, chocolate bar wrappers, etc.—and couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. Utterly wrong.

He looked over to Mello's bed, which was empty and unmade. Coming to the quick conclusion that he had simply woken up earlier and was running amok around the House, he shook it off. But when he looked around the room once more, he noticed a few of Mello's key things missing, and he didn't remember him ever coming in last night.

This unnerved the young redhead. He got out of bed and slipped on his goggles and a pair of socks and, without even bothering to get dressed, headed out of his room.

Matt spent a good deal of half an hour searching the large orphanage for his best friend, first checking the mess hall, the library, and detention (just in case). He was starting to become very worried, when he happened upon Near, perched on the windowsill in the sitting room, staring out at the green fields several stories below. Hesitant at first, Matt built up the courage to approach his "enemy", clearing his throat of any fear he might have in his voice.

"Hey Near…Have you by any chance seen Mello around?" he asked as calmly as he could manage. Near didn't so much as move, save his finger twirling around a lock of silvery-white hair. Finally, he spoke.

"Mello's gone," he replied simply. Matt felt his heart sink deep into the pit of his stomach. But this didn't seem right. It couldn't be right.

"What do you mean, 'gone'?" Matt asked after a moment of silence. Near turned to the boy, eyes empty of emotion, finger endlessly twirling that lock of hair.

"He left last night, because L is dead."

Suddenly, Matt felt the room spinning beneath him. Mello? Gone? Why would he leave without saying anything to him? Why would he leave period? He was a damn child! Matt tried desperately to wrap his brain around the situation, and at the same time pushing such a thought from his mind. He felt his knees become weak and, before he allowed himself to fall to the ground, bolted from the room.

Matt ran back to his room and slammed the door, finally allowing his knees to give out and he fell to the floor as he choked back tears. In all his life, there was nothing more Matt cared about in the world than Mello, and for him to leave without so much as saying good-bye broke his heart. What was he to do now? He had already made a terrible habit out of relying on the blond, and now that he was gone…

Matt knew he had to fill the void that Mello left behind. Collecting himself, he managed to stand and find his way to the dresser. He opened his sock drawer and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, which he had stolen from one of the dorm mothers when Mello wanted to get back them for taking away his chocolate. Matt had never smoked, but nonetheless lit the cancer stick and took a long drag, only to have a coughing fit. He continued to choke back tears as he did so. To take everything off his mind for the time being, he sat on the floor in front of the TV and started up his game system.

Mello was a bad habit, and now a large void that needed replacing. And Matt knew of no other way than by chain-smoking and obsessive video game playing.

Fin.