Fic 2: Shock
CRASH! BAM! BOOM!
Or whatever sound thunder makes. I don't care. It was a stormy night. Got it? Good. Moving on.
I was walking through the familiar hallways of this huge place some call home. I call it prison. But that's just my opinion. I'm not even allowed to leave the gates without supervision for Pete's sake!
I was walking back from the pantry with an arm full of chocolate bars. The only time I can do this is at night, or else Roger, the man that looks after this so call orphanage, will give me hell for raiding the cupboards again.
I passed by a stranded window.
FLASH.
Lightening.
I stood, gazing out the window at the spot where the light had appeared.
My heart beating, slightly anxious, waiting for the following sound to come.
CRA-CHE!
I flinched at the sudden volume of the thunder.
The storm was close.
I'm not afraid of the force of nature, it's just it startles me. Sudden flashes. Sudden crackles of sound from the flashes. And there's nothing you can do about it. Nature has a mind of its own. And no one can change it.
The sudden sound of distant footsteps jolt me back into realization.
Roger must be monitoring the halls to check if anyone was out of their rooms.
'Crap…' I thought. 'If he catches me again, I'll have permanent detention!' I started walking, faster than before, towards the door on the end. Convenient how my room had to be so far away when I was about to get fried again by Roger.
I walked past the rooms of some of my friends. On the left, I heard the loud snores of my best friend. The third place: Matt. I walked close by the door to his room, and the snoring got louder. I considered going in there and kicking him to make the guy shut up. But when Matt is forced to wake up, you can practically hear him from outside the huge orphanage. Roger would most definitely be tipped off that I'm not in my cell—I mean, room.
I shook my head, continuing to walk back to my room.
As I walked down the hall, savoring these few somewhat free moments, I listen to the sleep sounds of the other children that inhabited the other surrounding rooms.
But…
As I walked past a room that I had expected the least sounds to be coming from, strangely, I heard faint noises. Like whimpers…
It couldn't be…
I pressed my ear against the wood of the door.
More sounds of whimpering traveled across the room and through to the other side of the door.
It was the same voice that I knew all too well.
The voice of my least favourite person in this whole orphanage.
Near.
But... this didn't seem like the normal, emotionless kid that had beaten me in all mental tests. What was causing him to finally break?
I didn't see the flash. That stray window I had passed was well around the corner of the other hallway. So it sort of startled me when I heard a sudden growl of thunder.
But what startled me even more wasn't the sound of outside this building.
It was the sound of inside this one room. I had heard Near yelp at the sudden noise.
This surprised me so much that I staggered back a bit.
'Was Near really afraid of thunderstorms? Was the force of nature really the cause for this meltdown?' I tried to think of ways this could make sense. Why was this affecting the snow white child so much, when nothing else seemed to break his shell?
I kneeled down to the ground to see underneath the wooden door.
There was a faint light in his room from a lamp on the night stand.
What I saw now had shocked me even more than the sound that escaped the young boy's pale lips.
Near was on the ground, in the fetal position. His small arms hugging his knees to his chest. Never had I seen the number one of Wammy's House so… weak… and fragile.
I heard the sound of footsteps getting closer, but I didn't move.
I didn't think I could anyways. I was too shocked.
Another flash of lightening passed. The white haired boy sucked in his breath, awaiting the sound to follow.
The low rumble meant that the storm was getting farther away, yet Near still stayed curled up on the floor.
He was shaking.
Did this happen during every thunder storm? My room is right next to his, yet I've never heard him like this before…
He lay there for another couple minutes, then, very slowly, he pulled himself up onto his bed.
As he got off the ground, I saw his face. I hadn't seen it because he had his face hidden before.
His eyes were red and puffy. Near was crying.
I stood up quietly and walked into my room. Just in time, too. I heard Roger's footsteps pass by my room within a minute.
I put down the bars of chocolate I had taken and lay on my bed.
Putting my hands behind my head, I thought about what I had just seen.
Will I ever compete against that kid again without feeling sympathy?
Before, I had thought that I really hated Near. He always beat me at everything.
Ha. Now maybe I won't have the heart to beat his little face into the ground.
I lay on my bed, eye lids getting heavier.
"…Poor kid…" I said, then fell asleep.