Near stared at the blank puzzle trying to see the logic behind it. He turned and flipped the pieces. Nothing. Near groaned in frustration. Nothing worked right here, he thought. Everything was wrong and no one stopped to help the little white haired kid. There was nothing more that Near wanted to do than scream at the stupid puzzle and fling it across the room. but then roger would get mad and all the kids would start whispering. Wasn't enough that they were all so much smarter than him? The humiliation of that was enough. it was so bad that he had taken to hiding in the puzzle room just to get away from the other children. He felt pathetic. Of course he wasn't the only kid outcast to the puzzle room. Ali was sitting in a armchair over the other side of the room just staring into space. Near snorted, it was okay, Ali was even dumber than him so she would never see through his unemotional mask. Near stood planning to leave the stupid puzzle just sitting there on the floor bust just as he turned towards the door to leave someone spoke.
"You really shouldn't just leave it there, someone could trip" Ali said softly
Near couldn't stop a smirk leaking onto his face. What did Ali know anyway?
He could feel the excitement of the other children, somehow it didn't touch him. Near felt detached, unanchored. As if one slight slip might send him spiralling off into outer space. Although the other children were eagerly scampering around the huge Christmas tree situated in the middle of the massive common room near didn't feel like joining them. There were 4 presents under the tree for each child. 2 were donated from the public, crappy toys that were very likely to break. The other two presents were from Wammy. These were always exciting. The children all got 2 of wammy's gifts at Christmas because it was impossible to keep track of every kid's birthday. This was Near's first year at wammy's house. A fact he deeply resented.
He watched the kids from a safe corner at the back of the room. he didn't notice the little 5 year old girl sneaking up on him.
"Hi" Ali whispered as if she was afraid of rejection. She had 8, not 4 Christmas gifts cradled in her hands.
Near glared at her. She seemed unfazed as she sat down next to him on the soft carpet. There was a long pause.
"Why arn't you joining in Near?" she asked
"Because they don't want me to" Near hissed at her. He shot a look over at Mello and his friends to emphasize his point. "leave me alone!"
"fine"
she stood and gathered her presents in her arms and waltzed to the other side of the room to her own lonely corner. She began picking the wrapping paper off her gifts, one tiny tear at a time. Near felt a twinge of regret. He had forgotten she was just as much an outcast as he was.