The young boy twisted and turned in his bed, a look of pure agony upon his usually placid face. Beneath his eyelids and into his dreams he watched their faces from the back seat of a car.
His mother, holding on tightly to the hand of his father as she smiled at him from the passenger seat of the car, his father, driving with his only free hand, his little brother, staring out the window as they passed by trees, villages, and windmills, and his little sister, giggling in her car seat at some unknown amusement.
His father squeezed his mother's hand, she patted him comfortingly before turning back to her children, a cigarette placed precariously between her fingers, and then the car began to spin.
Mello watched as the cigarette fell from between his mother's fingers, her blonde hair flying out of its ponytail as she desperately tried to grab hold of the steering wheel and steady the car.
Mello could hear the cries of his terrified little sister as his brother continued to watch the world outside the car spin. Then, the car crashed into something and all went black.
In the dark he could smell the fire burning, could hear the screams of his mother, could feel the heat emanating from the flames before he forced his eyes open, only to witness the carnage before him.
His father was passed out on the steering wheel, blood leaking from a gash on his head, his little sister slept peacefully on her car seat, his little brother sat quietly in his seat, intoxicated by the flames, and his mother kicked and screamed in agony as the flames engulfed her skin, synched her hair till nothing was left, and made her gag on her own throat until she couldn't but barely breathe.
Mello could smell her flesh burning in the cramped car, her once beautiful blue eyes met with his but she was in too much pain to think about the welfare of her children, unable to look at his mother's dying body any longer, he pushed his brother away from the fire and kicked the door open.
The fire moved towards the door like a moth to a light, nearly engulfing their only escape route in their grasp. Mello turned towards his brother, "I'm going to jump out, when I do throw Leia to me, then jump out yourself."
His brother nodded, still trying desperately to grab the flames, as Mello jumped out of the car, "throw her to me!"
He held his arms open but neither his little sister nor his little brother came, "Wilhelm!" But, there was no reply. Mello took a few steps towards the car but, as he did, the entire thing exploded, sending a wave of heat over him as he was thrust away from the car, away from his family, before all went black.
Mello jumped up from his bed, his body covered in a cold sweat as he worked to regain his breath. His body shook, unable to hold the images he had just seen, just relived, he reached for the garbage can and wretched up the previous night's diner.
He pulled his knees close to his body, willing it to stop but it would not. He sat there for what felt like hours trying to forget the smell of burning flesh, the look on his mother's once beautiful face and the sound of their screams as their bodies burned until nothing was left. Silent tears leaked out of his eyes, but he pushed them away and climbed out of bed.
His eyes moved over to his roommate, still sleeping peacefully in his bed. The clock on the nightstand between the two beds read 2:33 A.M., without another moment's hesitation he climbed into the bed with his roommate and wrapped his arms around Matt's back so that his hands could feel the beating of his heart, "Mello. . . ?"
"Don't get any ideas, Matt! I just couldn't sleep. . ." But the red head knew from the moment Mello got into the bed that there was more to it than that, the blonde's hands still shook on his chest. The redhead didn't say anything, he would never risk hurting Mello's pride, and instead he simple held onto the shaking hands and said, "Goodnight, Mello."
"Goodnight, Matt."