Chapter 2

Hours passed in a nearly medicated blur, and Matt felt like he was floating, his mind and thoughts embedded in cotton. Numbness spread out across his body, leaving him feeling unreal and almost ghost like. Was there a physical world? Did it really matter if there was? Life without physical being seemed attractive, because it meant he could float here in this nothingness forever and he wouldn't need to ever worry about anything again. No signing papers for mysterious old men who he never saw. No more acting like a parent and telling Ryuk to stop teasing Matsuda. No more listening to the girls play their stupid games. No more strangers waiting outside the house. No more open kitchen doors leading to dark basements…

No more Near.

But why no more Near? That thought had occurred to him, and came with confusion. He couldn't understand that thought. Wasn't Near just a white haired child who lived with them? Why would his mind be so quick to dismiss him as a bad thing? Why was it that when he thought of the door in the kitchen he felt sick, cold and alone.

Even in the nothingness Matt could feel himself frowning, unable to comprehend. There was something there, embedded in the cotton that filled his mind, just out of his reach and hiding from sight. There was some reason why he didn't like that basement room. Some reason why he didn't like Near and why he always froze when the boy appeared in the room. But he couldn't reach it. He couldn't see it. He could barely tell it was there.

Matt tried to move, feeling his body struggle against the thick air around him. No, he wanted to know what that was. He wanted to know why he was so scared, why Near was such a horrible person. After all if Near was so horrible why would he even stay in this place? Couldn't he leave if he wanted to? Matt frowned more and reached with all his might, forcing himself to struggle to that point, trying to reach what he knew was there and just out of sight…

Matt landed with a thump on the floor in his room, sheets and a quilt spilling off the bed on top of him. For a moment the sudden shock of the physical world sent his mind and his stomach spinning, but he recovered before he was forced to race for the bathroom and his stomach remembered that yes, its job was to process the food there, not reject it. After recovering, Matt just groaned and rolled back on the blankets, staring up at the ceiling as he waited for his head and side to stop throbbing.

A soft knock echoed on his door and he briefly remembered hearing it while he was sleeping, maybe in a dream? But he couldn't remember what he'd been dreaming about. In fact, he couldn't remember ever remembering a dream, ever in his life.

"Matt?" It was Sayu, he recognized her voice.

"Just a second." Matt sat up and untangled himself, looking down at himself. He didn't remember putting on jeans last night to sleep in… hadn't he been wearing his other ones? The torn ones? He didn't see them on the floor now and he couldn't even remember what he'd done last afternoon after the groceries.

"What time is it?" Matt ran his hand through his hair in an attempt to wake up and glanced at the clock, groaning as he found it was a couple hours past midnight. Far far too early to be awake. Sighing he opened his door to find Sayu standing there in a long nightgown that made her look at least ten years younger, especially with it's pastel pink color.

"Matt, there's someone throwing rocks at the windows. I heard it in my room, then he went to another window. He's not breaking anything but.. well, he hit Ryuk's window." The girl gave a helpless shrug and Matt resisted the urge to smile. Ryuk was not the person to wake up in the middle of the night.

"Go back to bed, Sayu, I'll take care of it. " Stepping past her he walked down to the end of the hall where Ryuk's room was.

"… don't you have any respect for people? Don't throw frickin rocks at my window you leather freak!" Matt could hear Ryuk's voice through the door and when he opened it, he wasn't surprised to find Ryuk standing at his own door way in a large t-shirt for some band, a pile of pencils and pennies that he was obviously throwing at whoever was down in the yard below. Matt didn't resist the smile this time and walked over to Ryuk, looking over his shoulder to the yard.

Standing below them, in the large back yard of the house, was the same blond boy he'd seen that day during the groceries run. He was still wearing the same leather pants and a red jacket with a fur lining on the hood. It looked far too hot for the weather, but it seemed to fit him. His sunglasses were gone thanks to the lack of sun, and in his gloved hand he held a few small pebbles that he'd obviously been throwing at the window. As soon as the boy saw Matt he smirked and dropped the pebbles.

"You, you're the one I wanted to talk to. That jerk of a boy wouldn't listen, he just kept throwing things back at me. "

"You're the one who hit my window and woke me up first, asshole!" Ryuk yelled back.

"Least I can aim. You haven't hit me once."

Ryuk growled and turned back to find something heavier to throw. Matt closed the window before he got a chance.

"Go to bed, Ryuk, I'll go talk to him."

"Go teach him how to be a decent human being, I'm going to bed." Ryuk walked back to his bed, muttering the whole way. Matt just shrugged and closed his door behind him, not able to stop smirking. It wasn't often anymore that someone got a rise out of Ryuk. It was a nice change to see.

Matt walked down the stairs in the large house and unlocked the front door, stepping out into the night air. For a moment he felt cold and realized he'd forgotten his shirt, but then he shrugged it off, finding the blond standing in front of him on the grass, smoking a cigarette. Now that he was in front of him, Matt was able to see more details.

The boy was tall, a little taller then Matt, but much thinner to the point that he was just on the edge of healthy and living. Somehow with his thin figure he was still able to find leather clothing that clung to his body tighter then paint and the only thing that looked too large for him were the combat boots with many belts and ties, looking like they'd fall off at anytime. Matt wondered how someone actually walked in boots like that, but apparently this boy managed it.

"You wanted something?"

The boy didn't answer for a second, making sure that Matt noticed he was looking him over, then he smirked. "You've got quite a lively roommate. Much more entertaining then that mousey boy from earlier today."

Matt frowned as he noted that the boy avoided the question he'd asked. He ignored the boy's comment and tried another question. "Who are you?"

The boy shrugged. "Just a kid from down the block. I was curious about this place. From all the stuff I've heard there's a couple of you living in here with no parents, adults, guardians, whatever. Just curious."

"At 3 am?" This was ridiculous.

"I'm Mello."

Matt blinked at the name. "Matt. Couldn't you pick a better time to be curious?"

"Naw, didn't want people to get curious about me. Besides, I'm not the type to draw attention to this place, just in case."

Matt supposed that made sense, in a weird way. "Well, I don't know how I can exactly answer your questions. We just live here. If you want to know anything in particular, you're better off talking with Near." Matt motioned for Mello to follow him into the house.

"Naw, that's ok. To tell you the truth, I was curious about the house, but I'm not anymore."

"You're… not?" Matt could barely stop from rolling his eyes and leaving. What was going on with this boy? What the hell?!

"Nope, now I'm just curious about you. Matt."

To that, Matt could do nothing but blink. "Me?" That didn't make any sense. This boy, this Mello, wasn't making any sense at all. He couldn't think of any human who would willingly act so strange like this. And besides, he, himself, was hardly anything to be curious about. He was just normal. Right?

Matt blinked again, opening his mouth to make a comment to Mello. But instead he found the boy already walking away, having lit up another cigarette and already to the sidewalk beyond the entry gate. Matt quickly stepped off the front steps and ran up to the gate, stepping out with one foot, but not quiet leaving.

"Wait a second!"

Mello turned around and smirked. "You're right, it is late. I don't know what I was really thinking. But I'll see you around Matt, pretty easy since now I know where to find you." Then he turned and disappeared down the street.

Matt just stood there for the longest time watching the sidewalk even after he was long out of sight. And when he finally returned back to the house and his bed, he closed his eyes to see Mello smirking at him in his mind. And that, oddly enough, made him smirk too.