Prologue:
Mello, Near and Matt are in the common room alone one day.
Mello and Matt are off to the side talking with Mello send glares at Near every now and then while Near works on his puzzle on the floor.
"Say Mello did you hear about the rumors that the forest by the orphanage's grounds is haunted?" Matt asks his blonde haired genius friend.
Mello looks to Matt half interested. "Oh? Is that so?"
Matt nods pulling out a D.S. "Apparently the spirit becomes murderous if you are out there at night especially when you're alone. They say if someone can stay in the forest for a whole night is the bravest person as everyone who has tried didn't last maybe close to half way because it's too scary." He starts playing on his D.S. tapping the buttons quickly as he plays his game.
Mello raises his eye brow interested now. "Is that so?" He smirks and looks to Near a devious plan forming in his mind. He usually isn't too interested in rumors like a haunted forest but the rest caught his interest. "Matt. We are going to be going into the forest tonight." Mello tells Matt still with a smirk on his face.
Matt looks up from his D.S. with slightly wide eyes. "A-Are you certain? It sounds really scary there!"
"Positive and Near is coming along." Mello tells Matt and heads towards Matt. "And you're not chickening out Matt!" He calls back over his shoulder at the red head.
Matt doesn't even notice the game over on his screen as he shivers at the thought of entering the forest he's heard so many stories about.
Mello stops beside Near still smirking at the younger.
Near looks up at Mello twirling his hair like he normally does. "Is there something I can help you with?" He asks without sounding rude.
"Yes. You, me and Matt are going into the haunted forest tonight. As a group and whoever is stays in there the longest is not only the bravest but the winner. Maybe we should have consequences." He looks a little thoughtful. "The losers need to have some sort of thing like a punishment."
Near watches Mello's face still twirling his hair. "You should know that it's just the over imagination of some not as smart kids but I'll play your little game. After all nothing exciting has happened for a while. I'd like some excitement." He agrees.
Matt gaps at the two still not believing that they are really going to do this and that he is actually going to be a part of it as Mello won't let him back out. "I regret telling him about the story." He mumbles to himself as he checks his D.S. growling seeing the game over. "Damn it Mario!" He reboots his game playing it once again.
"How about the consequence of not being the last one in the forest is to go up to the third floor of this place." Near offers as an idea. "Since you like rumors so much I'm sure you're familiar with the off limits third floor said to be haunted by a ghost that kills whoever goes up there. Then it was closed off when two boys went up there and disappeared never to be seen again. I highly doubt the rumors are true plus those two were old enough to leave the orphanage and had been talking about leaving a lot. It is possible they left and no one knew or noticed. So how about it?"
Mello looks into Nears eyes. "Well I was thinking that the two losers had to do whatever the winner wanted but Matt practically does that anyways so it wouldn't be a punishment. So the losers will have to go up to the third floor. We'll meet out back half an hour after curfew. We shall be allowed a camera that will be with each of us so we have proof and a flashlight if wanted. See you there Near. The cameras cannot be tampered with or you're automatically a loser and you have to cross dress the next day as punishment for a tampered with camera." He smirks.
"Sounds good to me." Near nods. "I'll see you two there." He goes back to his puzzle.
Mello goes back towards Matt with a smirk on his face. "I'm going to have the satisfaction of having Near scared and winning the bravery competition." He says not really caring if Matt was paying attention.
"Do we really have to do this?" Matt whines still keeping his eyes on his game.
"Yes and remember there's no way to weasel your way out of this including the consequences of losing." Mello looks to Matt and sees the gamer is playing his D.S. as expected. He leaves the common room excited about that night.
Matt glances to Near for a second taking his eyes off of his game to look at the pale boy. "Why did you have to agree?" He says loud enough for Near to hear.
"As I said, I agreed for something exciting to have happen. Plus the haunting rumors are most likely just over imaginative kids." Near responds.
Matt whines again. "And I'm going to be dragged into this." He leaves the room with that.
Near looks out the window to the field with the dense woods behind the field. He knows that isn't the forest they'll be going into as it is deemed safe for the orphans to go into by the adults but instead it's going to be one just a little past the orphanages grounds. "This will be interesting for sure." He mummers to himself.
But Mello, Matt and Near had no idea how truly terrifying, scarring and dangerous their adventure was going to be. Little did they know that they had just gotten themselves into something that could very well kill them, no idea at all.