Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of its characters. I only own this story.

By the way: the words in italics are Mello's thoughts.

Mello sat up abruptly in his bed, sweat beads trickling down the sides of his face. He had just woken up from a nightmare, no doubt caused by the mountain-load of chocolate he consumed at dinner. Rubbing his eyes, Mello turned to look at the clock sitting on the nightstand: 3:21 am. He sighed: this was the second time tonight that he has woken up because of nightmares.

Mello shivered. Though it was spring, the nights were still relatively cold. Mello lay back down and pulled the blankets up to his chin. He closed his eyes, for sleep to take over, only to peel them back open.

He thought he heard a noise. It was faint and he barely heard it over Matt's snoring, but he was practically sure that it happened. It sounded like a door being shut. Who could be up at this hour? Mello slipped out of the covers and put some socks on: when sneaking around at night, he found it best to have socks on rather than his noisy boots.

Mello tiptoed across the room, careful not to wake up Matt (though with how heavily Matt was sleeping, Mello highly doubted that he would wake up). Before opening the door, Mello pressed his ear against it to listen for movement. He heard soft footsteps walk slowly down the hall. When he was sure that the person left, Mello opened the door. He cursed under his breath as the door creaked a bit. Once the door was opened wide enough, Mello slipped through and quickly closed the door again, this time making no sound.

He hurried down the hall quickly so as to catch up to the other person. Because Mello was more accustomed to making his presence noticed to all those around him, walking quietly was not his strong suit. He ended up hobbling down the hall, feeling grateful that no one could see how ridiculous he looked.

Upon reaching the end of the hall, he pressed himself against the left-side wall and peeked around the corner: no one. He looked to the right only to be disappointed, yet again there was no one. Where had the person gone?

Mello straightened up. He felt dismayed. His nighttime adventure ended so quickly. He felt a grumble coming from his stomach. He was hungry. Mello decided that he would go to the kitchen to get a bar of chocolate before returning to bed. First however, he wanted to get a sweater from his room—he found the halls of the orphanage to be surprisingly cold.

Mello emerged from his room wearing a black sweater. Mello felt cool wearing it because he felt like a secret agent. Though he was alone, Mello blushed from embarrassment. He was a mature teenage boy and yet he wanted to act like a secret agent, on a mission to retrieve a chocolate bar from the kitchen. Oh, why the hell not? He was alone wasn't he? Besides, Near plays with dolls, puzzles, and building blocks, so why couldn't Mello let loose and have some fun? Mello thought that it wasn't like he was sinking down to Near's level; Mello was simply role-playing this one time as opposed to Near who plays with his little 'action figures' 24/7.

With his mind made up, Mello slunk down the hallway in the direction of the kitchen. He checked for any signs of movement behind the corner, and when he felt satisfied that no one was there, he did a summersault around the corner and hugged the opposite wall. He suddenly stood up and sprinted lightly (on his toes) down the corridor. On reaching the end of the corridor, he squatted. He looked back behind him to make sure he was alone, and then he went into the stairwell.

He sat on the rail and launched himself forward. Not a smart move. It turned out that his boxers (his pajamas) were slippery enough already and when he reached the end of the rail, he flew off and hit his head against the wall. Damn! That hurt. Deciding that wasn't the best mode of transportation, Mello climbed down the rest of stairs.

When he made it to the first landing, Mello exited the stairwell and raced across the dark entrance hall with as much stealth as he could manage. After passing the receptionist's desk, he made a right turn.

Yes! I made it! Mello ran across the hall, through the cafeteria (its many empty tables make the whole scenario a little creepy), into the kitchen. He practically danced across the floor to the pantry. His heart pounded fast in his chest, a grin grew on his face, and full of excitement, Mello burst into the pantry and turned on the lights.

Mello stopped dead in his tracks. Fuck. Someone was waiting for him in the pantry.