Chapter 2: The Dream

Matt's eyes flew open as he sat up so quickly it made his head spin Sweat clung to his bare chest and plastered his bangs to his forehead. Matt's breathing came uneven and ragged and tore at his parched throat. His heart threatened to burst through his ribcage and flop to the ground beside him.

But there was no ground immediately beside him; and the "ground" felt oddly soft.

Matt's eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness that seemed to press into him. He began to make out the shapes of a TV on a table a few feet ahead directly in front of him. And he was in a twin size bed.

That's right, me and Mello checked into this shithole of a hotel last night. Matt tried to slow his breathing but his heart continued to beat frantically in his chest. We're in the hotel room. Mello's still alive. Matt looked over at the other bed positioned four feet away to his left. It was empty.

Matt's breathing picked up speed again as his mind jumped to the worst. Mello was dead. It hadn't just been a dream. Matt rushed to get out of bed but the sheet had wrapped itself around his legs, preventing him from getting very far. He fell to the floor with a crash and immediately tried to remove his legs from the sheet's grasp, but it was relentless. The bathroom door clicked open. Matt stopped moving.

Mello stepped out, wearing only a pair of black boxers and holding one of the small glasses the hotel had provided in his left hand. Despite the poor lighting, his scar was clearly visible running down from the left side of his face to his shoulder. He brought the glass halfway up to his mouth before noticing his friend lying on the ground, tangled in a sheet.

"What the fuck are you doing." Mello's tone came flat, making it sound more like a statement than a question.

Matt stared, mouth agape, at his friend whom, moments before, he had been certain was dead. He never recalled being so happy to see Mello before in his life.

"Alright, fine, don't answer. I'm going back to sleep," Mello said as he resumed raising the glass to his lips. He drank its entire contents as he walked back to his bed. He sat down on the bed and placed the glass on the small night stand to his right. He laid down, facing the wall, and tossed the covers over himself.

"No." Matt was surprised to hear his voice. He had been certain that he hadn't said anything, but there was his voice, clearly telling Mello "no" for whatever reason.

"Whadya mean 'no'," Mello mumbled into the blanket, clearly getting annoyed. Matt realized he was still on the floor being held captive by the sheet. No longer in a panic and already recovering some from his shock, Matt worked to release his legs. Finally overcoming the sheet, he threw it from himself. It failed to go more than a foot.

"No what, Matt? I'm getting tired of this. Either answer the damn question or let me go to sleep." Matt hesitated. He said the only thing that came to mind.

"You're alive." As soon as the words left his lips, Matt knew they sounded stupid. Mello sat up in bed, at this point very agitated. The covers tumbled down, gathering at his waist.

"Yes, Matt, I'm alive. What gave you that idea, the fact that you saw me walk across the room or the fact that I'm talking to you RIGHT NOW?" Matt flinched. "No, okay, you know what? It's fine, it's completely fine. We can stay up all night and be dead tired tomorrow and get ourselves killed. Then I actually would be dead. Now can you please explain to me why we are both wide awake at," Mello looked at the digital clock on the nightstand, "Three o'clock?"

"I had a dream…"

"You had a dream?" Mello said without letting Matt finish, "This is all because of a dream? You're going to be twenty Matt, you need to get over your fucking nightmares!" By this point, Matt had fully recovered from his shock and was progressively getting more and more angry at Mello. "And what are you still doing on the floor?" Mello finished. With only his ragged Nintendo logo sleep pants over his legs now, Matt got up off the floor and sat on the edge of the bed a little surprised himself that he had stayed down there so long.

"It wasn't just a dream, it was today," Matt started. He could make out Mello's confused expression through the darkness. "We went through with the plan and you died. We have to come up with something else. This won't work."

"Matt, it was just a stupid dream, it doesn't mean anything."

"I told you, it wasn't just a dream. It was too real. It was like I was there watching as you died." A hint of sadness reached Matt's voice. He tried to hide it and was pretty sure that Mello hadn't noticed. Mello hesitated.

"What about you… did you see if you died?" Matt looked at Mello in surprise. What did it matter if he died? The important thing was to make sure Mello didn't die.

"You know that little TV I installed in the dashboard so that you could check the news to see what they were broadcasting before you continued with the plan? In my dream, when you turned on the news they showed my car. It had bullet holes all over the side of it… and there was blood all over the ground… the newscaster said that a man was shot down…" Matt couldn't be sure in such poor lighting but it looked like Mello was sad. Maybe it's just my imagination Matt thought Mello never shows any emotions that make him look weak, sadness one of them. At least... not anymore. They were both silent for a minute. When Mello spoke, he did so with such confidence that Matt was sure that he must have been mistaken about Mello being sad.

"Well, we're both awake anyway. We'll think of a new plan, we'll both live, and I'll beat Near to finding out where that asshole he calls X-Kira is hiding the real notebook."

Leave it to Mello to be so overly sure of himself Matt thought. "So what's your brilliant plan then?" Matt's tone practically dripped sarcasm. Mello thought for a minute. "So?"

"So, here's what we're gonna do."

• • •

Five and a half hours later Matt and Mello stood outside in the hotel parking lot. Mello mounted his motorcycle and put on his helmet.

"You're sure this is going to work?" Matt said, glancing in Mello's direction.

"Of course." Mello's tone, once again, was cocky. "How could it not work?"

"Well, for one, we could both end up dead."

"We're not going to die. Just trust me, okay?" Trust me. Hadn't the last time Mello told Matt to trust him been when he left Wammy's?

If anything, you saying 'Trust me' makes me worry more, Mello Matt thought, but all he said to Mello was "Sure."

"Okay. Well, I'll see you soon then." Mello's voice suddenly lacked its confidence.

"Yeah, see you soon." Mello started the motorcycle and sped off without looking back. Matt raised his hand to wave even though he knew Mello wouldn't see him. Matt watched his friend drive away until his leather clad figure was no longer in sight. Matt sighed. This is going to either be a really long day or a really short day. He sincerely hoped it would be the first of the two. He lowered his goggles from their perch atop his head and positioned them over his eyes.

Matt walked to the driver's side door of the red car and slid in. He took a cigarette out and placed it between his lips. Matt flicked the lighter on and watched the flame for a moment before lighting the cigarette. He inhaled deeply and started the ignition.