第１６話

"Run"

"It's such a shame..."

"Yes, and it happened so fast..."

Mello opened his eyes as he heard the voices outside in the hallway. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the sudden brightness.

Sunlight...?

" SCHEIßE!" he jumped up in bed, and roughly shook awake the boy beside him. "Matt!" he hissed. "Get up!"

"Hm..?" The other boy rolled over and opened his eyes, laying still for a minute until finally realizing where he was. "SHIT!" He jumped up in a fashion identical to Mello. "We fell asleep!"

"Obviously!" Mello hissed. "Now be quiet! My parents are talking right down the hall."

As if on que, the voices grew louder, as the footsteps of his parents came closer to the door.

"Scheiße! Scheiße!" Mello's eyes darted around the room. "In the bathroom!" he whispered, shoving Matt out of the bed. "Go!"

The door to the bathroom closed just as the bedroom door opened.

Mello's parents walked in the room, looking slightly uneasy.

"Good morning," Mello said, trying to control his breathing and act natural. He prayed they wouldn't discover Matt's clothes in the bed.

"Um, Mihael... there's something you should know..." his mother began.

"What?"

"It's...about Mail's parents..." she said uneasily.

Mello could feel his face pale. "Wh-what about them? Did they get out of jail already?"

"...no." His parents exchanged a glance. "Mihael...they...they're dead," his mother answered softly.

Mello's heart skipped a beat. "They...what?" he gasped, his head starting to swim.

"I'm sorry," his mother said. "It happened very quick."

Mello opened his mouth, but no words came out.

His mother gave a sigh. "I'm really sorry..." she reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder, but he angrily shrugged it off.

"Just leave me alone," he said.

A pained look crossed his mother's face, but she finally stood up and left the room with his father.

As soon as his parents' footsteps faded down the hallway, Mello jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, flinging the door open. "Matt, I --!"

But Matt was already staring, pale-faced, at Mello, his eyes wide and filled with tears. Mello immediately realized that Matt had managed to understand the German conversation.

"Oh, Matt..." he said. "I-I'm so sorry..."

Matt seemed to stay frozen in shock for a few minutes. He seemed as speechless as Mello.

Wordlessly, Mello walked over and took the other boy in his arms just as Matt collapsed into a fit of sobs. He wrapped his arms around Mello and buried his face in his chest, shaking.

"I'm sorry," Mello whispered. "I'm sorry..." He tightened his hold around Matt and held him close. "I'm so sorry..."

That night, Matt didn't show up. Mello figured it was only to be expected after what had happened, but it still worried him sick not knowing where the other boy was. He was unable to sleep that night, therefore he was exhausted the next day at school – where Matt didn't show up, either. Having no idea where the other boy was, Mello was forced to wait until he came back – which wasn't until a week later.

"Matt!" Mello immediately stopped the other boy in his tracks as they went outside to walk home. "You're back at school."

"Yeah," Matt turned and smiled slightly.

"I'm glad. I was really worried about you when you didn't show up for so long."

The two of them walked over to the sidewalk and stood to talk, while everyone else filed past them going their separate ways.

"Sorry if I worried you – I had to sort some things out. But everything's okay now." He gave his usual bright, cheery smile. "What about you?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. About the same. Much better now that you're here." Mello smiled. "Are you coming over tonight?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I am!" Matt replied.

"Alright. I'll see --" He stopped in mid-sentence, his expression turning to sudden horror as he stared past Matt, at someone walking up to the school.

"Na?" Matt noticed his expression and turned to look in the same direction, his own face turning a pale ghostly color as he saw what Mello was looking at.

Neither of the boys had time to walk away from each other, before Mello's parents had approached the entrance of the school, standing right in front of them. "Mihael!" His father said angrily. "What do you think you're doing?"

Mello blushed and looked down at the floor. "N-nothing."

His father looked at Matt, and the other boy practically shrunk with fear.

Why were his parents at the school? Mello looked around for any sort of answer, but could find no explanation for their sudden appearance. Unless...

He took a deep breath. "I can explain about the report card."

Glaring down at him, his father brandished the paper angrily. "Damn right you're going to explain! There is NO excuse for this! Then again, hanging around with," -he shot a glance at Matt- "people like this, I suppose it's to be expected," he said disapprovingly.

"It isn't his fault!" Mello said. "It's my grades, he has nothing to do with it!" Though the truth was, he had stopped caring so much about his grades since he and Matt had been together.

"Nonetheless, I believe I plainly told you that you aren't to consort with him! Did I not?" His father questioned.

"Y-yes, yes..."

His father raised a hand to hit him, but his mother gently laid a hand on his shoulder, and he seemed to calm down. Taking a deep, angry breath, Mello's father grabbed his arm. "We're leaving. We'll talk to your teachers about this later."

As they walked away, Mello's father turned back to Matt. "Don't you come near my son again."

That night, Matt didn't show up again.

Mello wasn't really surprised; after his dad's death glare towards the other boy, he expected Matt would never talk to him again.

Sleep escaped him again that night, his thoughts too full to drift off. He kept thinking of Matt, and where he was, and if he was alright. Mello still didn't know where the other boy was living; Matt never had told him. This thought worried him as much as it irritated him that Matt had some part of his life that Mello wasn't at liberty to know.

His parents had been so furious about the grades on his report card, that Mello had been confined to his room until furthur notice; he wasn't even allowed to go to school, mostly since Matt was there. He had the small inkling that his parents were searching for another school, but he never voiced his concerns to them. He stayed in his room, sulking, wondering if the best solution would be to just run away with Matt the next time he saw him.

But it wasn't like they had anywhere to run to.

第１６話 －　終

Footnotes:

'Schleiße' (Shit)

I'm sorry to say, but this story only has 3 more chapters to go. Please leave plenty of reviews for me, ne!