This is the unedited version, so please overlook any grammatical mistakes; thank you!
Chapter Two: Stumbling Blindly
Matt grinned; he was buzzing with excitement. He and Mello were going to town today.
Mello walked up; swinging a backpack onto his shoulder, he said, "How long have you been waiting?"
Matt shrugged, "Five minutes, I think."
"Oh, okay; well, what are we standing around for? Let's get out of here!" Mello exclaimed.
And with that, they were on their way to town, and (in their minds), freedom.
The first place they went was the arcade. Matt sighed happily, and ran towards one of the blinking games. Meanwhile, Mello stumbled around blindly.
"Can't see a thing in this darn place!" he mumbled, running into something.
"Hey, kid; you gonna buy a snack or just stand here?" a voice asked.
Mello blinked, and then squinted, trying to see in the dark arcade. The only light came from the games.
"I'll take a chocolate bar," he said with a sinister, yet gleeful, smirk.
Mello slid the cash across the counter as the man shoved the chocolate bar at him.
As soon as the wrapper touched his fingers, it was torn off.
He greedily took a chunk out of the chocolate. He sighed in enjoyment, and squinting again, began to look for Matt. Five aisles, and after much stumbling, cursing, and running into things, he finally found Matt. He was playing Asteroids, of all things.
Mello took another bite of his chocolate bar.
"How long have you been playing this one?" he asked.
Without taking his eyes off the screen, Matt answered, "Ten minutes; I'm on the last level."
Mello nodded; then with an evil grin, asked, "You going to buy any cigarettes while we're out of Watari's sight?"
He saw Matt's hands tense up on the game controls.
"Yeah, probably." the red head replied; attempting to be apathetic, but Mello could hear the slight strain in his friend's voice.
Suddenly, Matt dropped his hands from the controls, and stepped back. The game screen flashed, "Winner!" and, "New High Score!"
"C'mon, let's go." Matt muttered.
When they stepped out of the arcade, they were immediately blinded by the abundance of light; although Matt was somewhat less affected due to his goggles.
Mello took a step, and tripped over his own feet.
"Matt!" he growled.
"Yeah?"
"Never again, will I set foot into an arcade."
"Oh, okay." Matt said; slightly saddened by the hatred tingeing Mello's voice, but it quickly went away when he saw a gas station. He automatically started walking faster; urged on by a craving for cigarettes. Mello began to walk faster too, because gas stations sold chocolate.
Two minutes later, they sprinted out of the store, and sat down on the sidewalk.
Mello bit into the chocolate, as Matt hurriedly lit a cigarette.
Matt sighed, and relaxed; breathing out smoke.
"You really are pathetic." Mello jeered.
"Shut up; you're the one downing chocolate like your starving." Matt snapped, and then took another drag on his cigarette. "Besides, mine's a genuine addiction; you just like chocolate too much."
"Is that so?" Mello snarled. "Well, then why don't we-?"
"If you're going to say 'have a contest to see who can last longest,' the answer is no." Matt interrupted.
"You could've at least let me finish my sentence." Mello mumbled; crestfallen at his apparent predictability.
Matt took another drag on his cigarette; with each drag he felt a little better. He'd woken up this morning with a headache, and a shaky feeling.
"Sorry Mello," Matt said. "I don't feel too well today. I think it's because I had to go three days with a smoke."
"Yeah, yeah," Mello muttered. "Just don't let it happen again…. Snapping at me that is!
I've actually been able to breathe around you without killing my lungs; it was nice."
Matt grinned apologetically, and took another drag.
L sat at his computer; absentmindedly staring at the screen. He couldn't focus; lack of sugar was messing with him.
"I've solved countless cases, endless puzzles, and overcame boundless obstacles; why is giving up sugar so difficult? Granted, sugar those stimulate the same areas of the brain as opiates, but still! Surely, it shouldn't be this hard!" he said, thinking out loud.
Getting up from his pc, he left his room, and started towards the kitchen.
"Maybe there's a piece of bubblegum? That shouldn't be too bad." he said.
Reaching the kitchen, he began a thorough search of the room. It proved to be fruitless; there wasn't a single piece of anything sugary, anywhere, until he went to the pantry.
There, he found a one-pound bag of sugar. Grasped by a strong urge, L stuck a finger in the bag, and then licked the sugar off his finger. After that, hope for him that day was demolished. At first, he kept licking sugar off of one finger, then two, then five, and then finally he got handful of sugar and poured it into his mouth.
Watari entered right as L was getting the last granule from the bag.
"L!" he loudly said; making the young detective jump. "You should be ashamed; a whole bag of raw sugar? Honestly! It's only been three days since you swore off sweets. Really! I expected more of you; especially after Mello came home full of chocolate, and Matt returned reeking of smoke." he sighed. "At least Near did well; he played outside for two hours today!"
Near walked in, and picked up a banana; "I was wearing SPF 90, of course." he said, and then left.
Matt walked in shortly after.
"Watari; I'm sorry. Can I have some Tylenol, or something? I feel terrible," he whispered, looking pained.
"You're in pain because you smoked an entire pack of cigarettes within an hour, today.
The aspirin is in the supply closet; 2nd cabinet, on the right." Watari said.
"Thanks." Matt whispered, and then he went off.
Roger walked in next; "Excuse me, Watari, but I thought you should know that if you need Mello, he is upstairs. I sent him to bed as he has been vomiting all over the house." he reported.
"Thank you, Roger." Watari said; Roger nodded, and walked away. "Now L; seeing as how you are an adult, I shall have to let your conscience punish you. Perhaps, I shall have Near follow you around tomorrow. Matt and Mello, I won't have to worry about for a while. They're so sick they should be bedridden through at least tomorrow."
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