I entered the classroom, ready for another repetitive day. I knew that this lesson would grant me no challenge, as none of the classes ever did. I held first place, and nothing changed that. I had no competitors, and I found it quite lonely at the top. I was used to it, though. Never would I meet someone who understood me. Never would there be anyone who's brain could rival my own.
The teacher walked in just in time, and told the class the day's plans. There were many groans when the teacher finished explaining what we would be doing today. I, however, offered no sounds of complaints or any signs of distress.
The students were issued tests, and we set to work. I had no difficulty answering any of the questions, and I easily turned mine in first. I waited until finally, others began finishing. The teacher put an assignment on the board and told the class to hush down, for there was others still taking the test. Time continued to stretch as the class went on.
Suddenly, there was the bell. Class had finished, and those who didn't finish, rushed as if their lives depended on it. I left the room, making my way down through the hall and back to my bedroom.
I dropped my toy robot and stood up as soon as I heard the loud sound that was the fire alarm going off. I could hear commotion coming from down the hall in the where I presumed was the kitchen located beside my room. I continued on, forgetting my robot as I looked to see what was going on. Entering the kitchen, a panicked scene unfolded before my eyes.
There were chefs panicking and desperately trying to put out a growing fire. The head chef was smart enough to call the fire department while the others just flailed around uselessly. Through the commotion one spotted me and yelled at me.
"Don't just stand there! Get out of here!" He screamed. I nodded and headed away from the chaotic mess behind me and to the safety of the outdoors. It wasn't long before professionals equipped to handle the raging flames arrived and rushed inside.
A little later the fire was taken care of and we were allowed back inside to survey the damage. On the way there, we passed the toy robot I had dropped. It had been crushed under the frenzied stampede when everyone had rushed out of the building. No one noticed that I stopped for a moment. I looked back up and again, and followed the crowd back to where the disaster had gotten a hold of.
Half of the kitchen was unscathed while the other end was completely destroyed. As if the fire had a brain and was angry if didn't get that other half of the kitchen, it attacked my room instead. The fire ruined that space along with all of my possessions.
"Uh-oh! Where is Near going to sleep?" Linda exclaimed, discovering the immediate problem that resulted from the previous incident. She came forward through the crowd that had developed around the charred vicinity.
"There's an empty room right next to mine." replied Matt, who was a little less interested in the aftermath of the fire than everyone else, preferring to stare down at his DS screen. Out of all the students at Wammy's, he was the one I related the most to. The two of us never spent time with our fellow geniuses, choosing to enjoy our own solitudes. However, Matt did have a more amicable personality than I did, so I supposed he could make friends, if he really wanted to. But just as the way I preferred puzzles, Matt valued his video games above spending time with anyone else.
"But that room's haunted!" An insignificant boy exclaimed, referring to the room Matt had just mentioned.
"Yeah, I heard somebody died in there!" Another one chimed in.
"I'll bet the phantom won't even bother Near. He looks so much like a ghost it won't even know the difference." Yet another said, with a taunting edge to his voice.
"Well I heard it was a candy thief!"
"A candy thief? That sounds like some childish monster, like the boogie man or something."
"But its true! I-!"
"That's enough." Roger said, silencing the boys and ending their ridiculous conversation. The old man turned to face me.
"You have either the option to take that empty room, which I assure you is not haunted, or you may share a room with someone else. Take your pick." He offered. As previously stated, I was not one for socialization. I would rather not share my living space. My choice was easily made and without much thought. I was also too logical to believe in silly superstitions such as ghosts, anyways.
"I would prefer to continue living in a room by myself, thank you."
"Alright. Matt, since you live right next to it, show Near to his new room." Roger ordered. Matt obediently nodded and beckoned for me to follow him. I complied and walked over to him, before he began leading the way. As we walked down the hall the could hear Roger yelling at the other orphans to mind their own businesses and leave the area of the recent fire at once.
Matt and I walked in silence, neither one of us wanting conversation. Matt was content to focus on his game while his feet told him where to go, having memorized the route.
"We're here." Matt said a little while later finally breaking the would have been silence, if it hadn't been for the sound effects and theme music coming from his portable gaming system. "There's your room." Matt said awkwardly, pointing out my new residence. I nodded and walked inside, leaving Matt to go into his own room. I might have heard a timid "Uhh... Well I'll see you later....I guess." but I wasn't paying much attention. For once I was a bit distracted.
The room before me looked as if it hadn't been touched in ages. It certainly had not been cleaned since who ever last lived in there left. The bed was unmade and candy wrappers littered the floor. I now understood the candy thief rumors. I briefly wondered if this had been L's old room, because he was the only person he knew with such an extreme sweet tooth. I figured that Watari would have cleaned up after him, though. Plus the room seemed a little too dark for L's tastes. But if L had secretly been staying in here, it would explain why people thought it was haunted. They could have simply heard L moving around in there at night and childishly assumed that it was a ghost. Yes, that's what I concluded.
But something wasn't right. The closet wasn't filled with baggy white shirts and over-sized jeans like I had expected it to be. Instead it held very tight all black clothing. The articles were all much to small for L to ever manage to squeeze into. I could not imagine him wearing such dark apparel. I rethought my conclusion and decided that the former occupant of this room had a sweet tooth like L did, but was someone else. It explained why he or she dressed differently from him. As for the possible noises that the orphans might have been hearing, perhaps due to this room being abandoned for so long, it began making creaky noises, just as old haunted houses did when left alone for extended periods of time. Happy to have solved this little mystery, I wanted to play with my favorite transformer, before remembering that Optimus Prime had been burned in the fire. The only toy that wasn't turned into ashes, was that robot that had been smashed into pieces. Despite this, I was not going to be discouraged.
Looking around the room for something to do, my eyes fell on a drawer inside of the nightstand beside my new bed. I walked over to it and opened it, revealing uneaten chocolate bars that filled it to the brim. I figured that they must have been incredibly old, but oddly enough, the expiration date said they were far from becoming non-editable. I guessed that someone must have used this room as a cache. Whoever this person was, he or she clearly had a huge chocolate obsession. I deemed the chocolate bars as good building blocks, and set to work.
When it got late, a fortress was complete, and I wanted to go to bed. I laid down and snuggled under the covers. The bed was really warm and comfortable. It was much better than my old one. Because there had been fewer orphans in the past, they must have gotten better treatment. I suddenly became very interested in the past orphans, and was planning on asking Roger about them the next morning.