The Challenger
Chapter Six: Tears of The Past
Matt walked through the quiet halls of Wammy's he was suppose to be in Math class but as he had put it to Mello "Like hell am I sitting through a double period of that!"
He walked back up to his room where he would spend the afternoon playing his Nitendo Ds. He walked past Shadows room turning his head slightly to look at the door.
He kept walking then stopped and did a double take. The door was open a crack. If Shadow was ditching class then he could hang with her until classes would be finished for the day.
He walked over to the door and pushed it open some more. "Hey Shadow you in here?" he called out, her room was empty.
Matt sighed, "I guess she mustn't have closed her door properly this morning". He gave the room one more quick sweep, but something caught his eye.
Matt walked into the room and up to Shadow's bed. He reached out at something that was reflecting the sun.
His hand reached out and grabbed a black ipod. "So she had a spare," he smiled to himself and put it on her bedside table.
However when he lifted it from her bed several of the sheets fell down to the floor. "Crap!," shouted Matt he got down on his hands and knees to pick them up.
As he gathered up the sheets he noticed a cardboard box underneath bed. He pulled it out and opened it. He moved the cloth in the box aside to revile a photo album.
Matt's eyes widened "why would she have this?" wondered Matt. He opened the photo album up to the first page.
The page had the words 'Family Album' written in silver letters along the top of the page. Further down the page was a photograph.
There were four people in the photo two adults and two children. Matt could tell it was taken outside. There were trees behind the figures in the picture and sunrays spilled down on them, illuminating their faces.
The two adults were male and female. The woman had light blonde hair, which was curly. Her eyes were dark almost black but they had a kind and gentle look to them.
The man had black hair however it was dead straight not a curl to it. His eyes stood out the most they were an icy blue.
Matt's eyes wandered down to the bottom of the photograph. Two children stood there, both had pale white hair.
It was curly like the woman's hair. One of the children was a boy the other a girl. Both of their eyes were the same blue colour as the mans.
Matt immediately knew who the people in the picture were. It was Shadow. Shadow and Near. And Shadow and Near's parents.
"What do you think you're doing?!" yelled a voice from behind Matt. He dropped the photo album and shot up, turning on his heel.
Shadow stood at the door to her room, her school bag in hand. Matt guessed classes had finished for today.
"Ahhh," Matt replied his mouth going dry. "Matt what the hell are you doing in my freaking room!" yelled Shadow.
Matt held his hands out in front of him, "Shadow I swear I-," "How'd you get in, what were you doing looking through my stuff?" Shadow walked into the room slamming the door behind her.
She bent down and picked up the photo album. It had fallen open to a random page when Matt had dropped it. She looked at the page her eyes stopped on a picture toward the bottom of the page.
Two kids both smiling looking up at the camera. Both of them had white hair, both of them had light blue eyes.
The girl wore a white singlet-like shirt, it was lose and hung down to her hips. She wore denim short-shorts and white sneakers.
The boy was dressed in a white singlet and light blue denim jeans. There was a soccer ball placed between the two and both of them had their hands on it.
The girl gripped boy's hand tightly. Shadow looked away from the photo and back up the page. The photo above the one of the two children was of the man and the woman.
The man was hugging the woman, their faces pressed together. Shadow slammed the album shut and looked back at Matt.
"You shouldn't have come in my room let alone looked through my things," Matt looked down. "This photo album in case you haven't already figured it out, which I doubt you haven't is off my family".
Shadow looked down at the album and paused. "Near and I are the kids and the adults are our mother and father.
I only have it for two more days then Roger is taking it back so I hope you got a good look cause you won't be seeing it any more after today," she said angrily.
"Shadow it was an accident I didn't mean to look honestly and besides what's so bad about it. You…you and Near look so happy," added Matt quietly.
Shadow looked at him her grip tightened around the album. "You don't understand. No one here understands. I hate Near! I will never forgive him for what he has done.
Because of Near my parents, my family is dead! It was all his fault! If he hadn't have been so damm smart then maybe they would still be alive!" She was shouting now and tears were swelling up in her eyes.
"What do you mean, Near killed you're family?" asked Matt he reached out to her but she pulled away. She looked him straight in the eye as she said "It was ages ago when we were still kids. Near is a genius always has been.
He was only five and I was four Near had just started pre-school and his teachers told my parents that he was a child genius.
They suggested moving him into first grade even though he would be two years younger then all the other kids. My parents moved him into first grade and soon he could read and write. He solved puzzles and found solutions to difficult problems.
His teachers were amazed. My mother was so proud of him. She got him anything he wanted. Near had never been very social I know you know him as the loner who sits in the corner but in primary school all the kids wanted to be his friend.
He was so smart and he had plenty of toys. When it was finale time for me to start pre-school everyone was expecting me to be the same but I was the complete opposite.
While Near had been top of his class, I was always coming last to my peers. I didn't get the work I found it boring and no fun. All I wanted to do was play and mess around.
My teachers would constantly yell at me. There was this one teacher who I loved to piss off. All the other kids always were scared of her, and alike Near I was popular too.
But not from my brains but my guts. One day I set off the schools alarms and the teachers panicked thinking someone had broken in.
The place went into lockdown and the police were called, but in the end I was to blame. The teachers were furious especial the one I like annoying.
She and another teacher were giving me a lecture when she turned and faced me and said to me 'why can't you be more like you're brother?'
At first I didn't get it but then I realized, like my parents they favored Near over me. After that day I was never the same again every time I was at home and saw him sitting there, I…I just got so mad.
One day I couldn't control myself and I…I don't know what happened I made up some dumb excuse to go off at Near and ended up hitting him. I was only 5 or 6 but I had managed to do some damage.
My parents made me do therapy and counseling. The counselor suggested I start a sport to fuel my anger into.
My mother then signed me up for dancing lessons. It wasn't a contact sport so other kids were safe but it was hard. I did it three to four times a week, for four or five hours at a time.
My muscles hurt and I always came home exhausted, but it helped. My anger toward Near died down and along with my therapy and counseling I learnt to just ignore him.
However the dancing didn't help my grades. I was doing so bad in school they were talking about holding me back a year.
My counselor suggested sending me to a different school to Near. Not a privet academy or anything just an ordinary public school.
They did so and slowly my grades improved. I felt excepted there I had plenty of good friends who didn't judge me on how smart I was or compare me with my brother.
Life was good. Near was like a ghost at home he didn't matter to me. I got really good at dancing, mainly ballet and soon I went six days a week.
I competed by state and I finale felt that I was getting somewhere in life. My grades were in the middle and I was convinced I needed to improve them.
I studied extra hard every night especially on the night I didn't have dancing. However it still wasn't enough. While I had become talented at dancing and my grades were gradually improving.
Near too had become exceptionally intelligent. Someone requested a meeting with my parents to speak about Near's future.
They had to fly over to Japan to attend the meeting but it really wasn't a problem. Our father ran a big company and had plenty of money. Our mother was a fashion designer and her designs were quiet famous in most of France and Italy.
So they flew to Japan for three days. They were planning to arrive home on the third day but got side tracked and rescheduled their flight for the next day.
On that day my mother and father boarded the flight suppose to bring them home". Shadow paused her eyes looked back at the photo album in her hands.
"But it never did". A small tear escaped her eye and slid down her cheek.
"The plane malfunctioned and crashed somewhere in the ocean between Italy and United States. Although they were in water my parents didn't drown. The malfunction lead to a major spill of engine fuel and the crash not only spilt it all through the ocean but set it alight too".
Shadow gritted her teeth and her grip once again tightened around the photo album. "My parents burnt to death, alive. They had nowhere to go stuck in the middle of nowhere with hungry sharks all around.
Their cloths drenched in oil and fuel. And it was all because of that stupid meeting they had to attend for Near!" Shadow shouted the last part tears falling from her eyes.
Matt put one arm around her shoulders and she dropped the photo album and wrapped her arms around him.
"It was all his fault! Because he is so damm smart, because his future was more important then anything else.
You know I had a major state competition on that weekend too. But no Near's future was more important then my competition, more important then my future".
She was now crying hard her face pressed against Matt's chest. Matt rested his head on top of hers and said "You know my parents died too.
They didn't go out as bad as yours but they sure had it rough with me. They were both killed by a car accident. Funny thing is they weren't even in the other car. The two cars collided and one veered off into a crowd of bystanders.
Most were seriously injured but mine were killed on impact. They weren't rich like yours, as a matter of fact they were struggling financially and when I came along I guess I made things even worse.
They might have not been able to give me much and they were always working trying to make ends meet. But they always said to me 'never judge a person by how much they have, but by how much they are'.
I guess that's what I have lived my believing, and I tell you something Shadow. You're parents may have played favorites with you and Near but if you look closely Near may be smarter and has more, but you defiantly are more. After all Mello has pretty much liked you since he first met you".
"What do you mean?" she asked she had now stopped crying. "He said that you were different like you weren't afraid to show people what you were truly like, also because no matter how intimidating Mello was you didn't care and you stood him up each time you two had an argument".
Shadow smiled at Matt. "Geeze Matt sounds like you should be taking notes". Shadow tightened her grip around Matt's body.
"Before you notice i will be Mello's best friend". Matt's face went blank "hey," he said, "the 'best friend' position is taken". The two stood their smiling at each other, Shadow placed her head back against his chest and said
"Thank you Mat, you truly are a great friend".
* * *
Yay! A little of Matt/Shadow bonding. So yes that is the story of Shadow's parents, that's why she hates Near cause she blames his meeting for their death. But remember that's only one side of the story Near hates her two and he might have a completely different version to Shadows. You'll just have to wait and see. So yes the photo album came into play!! It's got a major role in the story just remember that. And we got to meet another one of Shadows ipods yay! Keep reviewing I love hearing your feedback also thanks guys no one has flamed my story! So I was kinda surprised cause I thought someone would be like 'you're story sucks!' but no one has so yay! Anyways I have updating every three or four days and its cause I m currently on break from school, so yeah when I go back my updates will be a little more spacious just thought I should let you know. So anyways Umm I hope u likey that chapter I will be sure to update ASAP ok then bye now.