A/N: I have decided to agree with you all and make Matthew's POV into a separate story :)

This will have a different playlist from the original, and I will post the URL as soon as a song comes up in the fic.

Matthew pulled the yellow Post-It note off the fridge silently and stared at it. Out, was all it said.

Out, they'd gone again. How out of their lives he felt, how much they just wished that he'd be out of theirs. How they wished he'd never been in theirs.

How he wished they'd be in his.

Biting back the soft sigh that he'd eventually learned never did any good, he restuck the Post-It on the fridge. It had been haphazardly shoved against the thick refrigerator door by his father's thumb, judging by the handwriting. But now Matthew straightened it, and gently pressed the top edge to seal it against the plastic-like material.

He padded in his socks back down the dim hallway. Everywhere he looked there was clutter; clutter, clutter, and more of it. So he didn't look. His eyes stayed downcast until he reached the third, the last, door to the left, the door that seemed a shadow in itself.

The small room that appeared was by far different from whatever lay outside of it. A singular mattress with the sheets settled neatly over it took up approximately a third of the available floor space, a trunk a few feet away against the opposite wall next to a tidy stack of school books that his wand rested atop. Matthew grabbed his Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6 from the previous school year and rifled through it as he sat down on the low mattress. He'd already finished all the summer assignments, along with having read through his school books more than once.

He set down the book again beside him. The boredom had, as usual, been intense this summer. It wasn't like he had anyone to write to, or any one to even talk to for that matter. School work had been the only thing to entertain him; but that had been finished by the end of the second week.

Matthew rose from the mattress and re-exited the tiny bedroom, making for his parents' bedroom. He stepped around the large bed, entered the bathroom, and stood in front of the large mirror over the counter.

A skinny boy of seventeen-and-a-half stared back at him, pale blue eyes emotionless in the dim lighting. His sandy brown hair was slightly shaggy at the ends where it rested below his collarbone. He leaned closer, taking in the light freckles dusting over his nose that he'd inherited from his father, and the pale skin and delicate features from his mother. His brow furrowed and he let out the sigh that had been wanting to come out since he'd read the note they'd left.

Slender fingers reached out and picked up a hair bow off the counter, then tied his hair back at the nape. The long fringe at the front still hung loose over his face. He sighed again; it would have to do for now.

He exited the bathroom without the air of procrastination he'd had before, walking quickly to his bedroom again and hastily fitting his pathetic belongings into the large trunk. A steadily-held wand floated the trunk from the room and out onto the front walk underneath the bright streetlamps glowing in the dark. Before leaving, he made a short trip back to his parents' bedroom. They'd never miss the amount enough to cover a whole school year he took from their alcohol stash.

He doubted whether they'd even notice the small fraction was gone.

Matthew hurried back to the front walk, stuffing the money into his pocket and forgoing the long sentimental last look that most would give their place of residence in the same situation. The trunk floated along in front of him as he walked down the dark street, unknowingly leaving the tiny neighborhood for the last time.

x

I will not have internet access until the 19th or 20th of this month (September 08) so a new chapter will be posted then.

Please review if you like or have any questions. :)