Hurts Like Heaven
I know I haven't written/posted anything in a while. I hope you like this! The song this is to is "Hurts Like Heaven" by Coldplay. As always, I recommend you look it up on YouTube or buy it on iTunes because it's an amazing song. This is definitely one of the best things I think I've written so far, so please read and review.
I swipe my hand against the cold metal of the footbridge. Written in graffiti on a bridge in a park 'Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark?' I could see where the "k" trailed off the side of the bridge. I rubbed long, calloused fingers over the little tail I had given it when I fell and happily flashed back to that fateful day.
I remember the day I first met him. I was thirteen and needed some time away from Wammy's, so I ran into the park in Winchester. I had written it on that day, perched on the handrail. As I finished the "k," I started to get off prematurely and my foot slipped, sending me in a plunge down into the icy waters.
It's so cold, it's so cold, it's so cold, it's so cold. That was all I could think. If I could speak underwater, that would be all I could say. I felt my goggles slip off my face as I shivered, paralyzed by the cold. I felt warmth edging towards me, another human had pulled me out of the clear water. I felt my goggles slip back onto my face. I opened my eyes a crack, widening as soon as I saw who it was.
Blonde hair and blue eyes as icy as the water he saved me from. I had heard the stories. People said he had anger issues. People had seen him beat up Near and because of this, he had no friends at Wammy's. But he did save me, so he can't be all bad, right?
"I got your marker, too," Mello said, holding out the Sharpie in his palm, "By the way, I don't think we've met officially yet. I'm Mello."
"I'm Matt," I muttered, grabbing the marker from his hands.
"Your hands are freezing," he pointed out.
He wrapped me in his arms, sharing his warmth with me. He reminded me of the werewolves in Twilight in the sense that he ran warmer than most people. I bet he looked pretty hot with his shirt off- Wait! Did I just think that?
He broke the embrace and grabbed my hand for me to follow. We started down the bridge. I saw where I made my mark.
"Just a sec, Mel, I need to finish this."
I walked down and used the marker to put the question mark on my graffiti.
"'Do you ever get the feeling that you're missing the mark?' Why did you write that?" Mello asked.
"See, I haven't been doing too well on tests lately, so I came out here to do some graffiti. I used to do stuff like this at home. I'd find a way to condense it into a small phrase like 'Perfection is impossible' or 'You'll live on inside me' and write it down on something, so I ran away here temporarily."
"You'll be coming back right? That wasn't an attempt at suicide?"
I smiled and laughed a little. "Don't worry, Mello, I'm not going anywhere."
Back in reality, I crossed the bridge and headed back to my orphanage. I stopped by an old factory. Written up in marker on a factory sign, 'I struggle with the feeling that my life isn't mine'
Mello had written it that same day.
"Why did you write that?" I asked.
"My whole life I've been training to be someone I've never met, a backup, an alternate of sorts. I guess that's part of it, but the other part is fate. It was fate that I met you today, Matt."
It's so cold, it's so cold, it's so cold, it's so cold. I would have died were it not for Mello's warmth.
I opened the gate to Wammy's House. Those events happened years ago, mere months before Mello ran away. For good, this time. He had left me a note on my door.
"Dear Matt,
See the arrow that they shot, trying to tear us apart
Take the fire from my belly and the beat from my heart
Still I won't let go
Still I won't let go.
I'm leaving for good now. I'll miss you.
Love,
Mello"
You.
Ooohooh
I had cried all night. I couldn't distinguish Mello's tear stains from my own. The ink had ran, but it was still legible. That was six years ago. kept this not with me, carrying it around in the pocket of my vest. There was another note in there, too.
"Oh you, use your heart as a weapon
And it hurts like heaven.
I love you."
That would have been my reply.
Streets and bars and a pavement of saints, I had painted them all. Writing in those words over and over. I had smoked more than usual, two packs a day instead of my usual one. Mello was my lover and I knew he'd understand if he saw them.
I knew he never did, but something inside me told me he wasn't gone forever. I knew he'd come back for me. He had to, right?
And at the streets are rising and you'd rather sing
'Don't let them take control
No, we won't let them take control'
Back in reality, I made my way up to my bedroom and, as the sun fell away, I went to bed.
"Mattie! Mattie! Wake up, you asshole!"
My eyes barely eased open. Even without the orange tint of my goggles I recognized the face, although it looked much older than I remembered it to be and a burn scar ran down the left side of his face.
"Mello!" I half screamed with joy, launching myself at him.
"Mattie! I promised myself that if I survived the explosion I'd come back and get you so I could tell you... that I love you."
I brought myself deeper into his embrace. "Mello, I love you, too."
"Mattie, pack an overnight bag. We're going away from here."
I pushed myself off him got up to get my DS, its charger, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter, and the bag where I kept all my clothes.
The two of us started to leave when I stopped him in his tracks. "Mello, what were you saying about an explosion?"
"After I left Wammy's, I started working for the mafia. I ended up blowing up the hideout and earned myself this," Mello explained, pointing to his scar, "The entire time I lay there stating Death in the eye, all I could think about, the only thing I missed from my life, was you. I was lucky to escape with my life, but I figured you wouldn't like me for it."
I smiled, lightly grazing his burned cheek with my finger tips. "If anything, it makes me like you more."
We continued down the hallway, navigating our way in the dark with minimal slips and stumbles. I tripped over my own two feet and need to hold onto his arm for support as I got up slowly, trying not to make too much noise.
My blonde best friend glanced down at me and smiled.
"Nervous?" he asked.
"Yes, I feel a little bit nervous," I muttered only loud enough that he and the floorboards can hear me.
Mello looked over at me, blue eyes shining in the gloomy moonlight pouring in from the windows. He looked ghostly, like the boy I loved was a specter. "We'll be fine."
"Yes, I feel nervous and I cannot relax," I whispered, stumbling and grabbing his arm again.
We snuck down the hallway to the stairs and own the door bathed in iridescent silver moonlight. Once we wove ourselves through the gate, we caught our breath outside.
Without warning, Mello grabbed me like he did after saving my life the first day we met, his warmth filling me with courage.
"Let's live together, Matt. I have a place in Los Angeles, not far from the SPK Headquarters."
His hands pull me closer as I bring myself into his chest.
"Mello, I'd love to," I muttered silently.
Our embrace was interrupted by an alarm. A few security guards start to come out from inside the orphanedge.
"How come they're out to get us?" Mello half screamed, half whispered with eyes like table plates.
"I think they think that you kidnapped me," I explain quickly.
"How come they're out when they don't know the facts?"
I didn't respond and just grabbed his muscular arm and run into the woods separating Wammy's from Winchester.
We finally caught our breath in an alleyway. I looked to the left, something sprawled out before my eyes.
It was a wall and, like any other alley, was drenched in graffiti. The latest layer was neon orange and the moonlight hit it perfectly so it seemed to illuminate and glow eerily. The words were "You use your heart as a weapon and it hurts like heaven."
Mello's face lit up. "You did this, didn't you?"
I nodded slowly, "Yeah. It was for you, you know?"
Mello smiled like a Chieshire cat. "Well then, let's complete the story."
My blonde best friend took out a can of spray paint and in navy blue painted over my words "M + M" and drew a heart around it. So on concrete canvas and a glow in the dark,
Concrete canvas, I will make you a mark.
Armed with the spray can soul. I am down with the spray can soul.
I stood there staring in wonder at Mello's grafitti. He knew I had written that for him. I wondered how, thinking so deeply about it that I didn't notice Mello's lips gently pressing against my own.
I leaned into the kiss, enjoying every second of it.
"You
Ooohooh..." I attempted words, but nothing could describe Mello's actions.
"I know what you're trying to say," Mello winked at me.
"When you Use your heart as a weapon It hurts like heaven," I muttered.
Mello put his head on my shoulder and nuzzled my neck. "I won't let anything happen to you."
I smiled. Knowing Mello, that was a lie.
Like it? Love it? Hate it? Please review! I need to know! It took me longer than I thought originally, but it came out good, yes? No? Please review!