Graffiti chapter 15: Nightmare by blackdragonflower
Lyrics found in this chapter are centered and italicized.
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Stumbling through wet alleys desperate. Autumn bites at the tips of his ears and his nose turning them a soft pink. He wants to, no, needs to find her. They told him to stay put. In reply, he gave them the finger and ran off. He knew she was out here, somewhere, and he wouldn't rest till he found her.
Just when he was about to give up, just as he passed an alley he stopped and backtracked. There laying underneath a coat, one so familiar to him there was no way to mistake it, lay a body, the body of his mother. The child sprinted over as fast as he could and fell to his knees beside her. His sharp blue eyes filled to the brim with salty tears. With gentle fingertips he touched his mother's cheek and wiped the hair from her face. Her once pretty sapphire orbs were closed forever from him. The smile he cherished was gone. His mother was gone.
Upon further investigation of her status he found her stark naked underneath his father's coat. The father who had been dead for about six years, six long years. Her face was covered in dried blood and bruises, but despite that to him, she still looked beautiful. There is no way to describe how beautiful a mother looks to her child. To a child, their mother is happiness, and the prettiest thing in the world. And here, his joy was taken away. The last tie to family destroyed, the breath snatched from her young lungs. It wasn't her time to die, and yet here she lay.
The tears finally spilled, one lonesome renegade tear first, then an army to follow it. The child's heart broke into shards too small to put together, to repair. Memories flooded him taking away his breath leaving him winded. He cried for her, his loss, her pain. Her body was covered in bruises and cuts, dried blood, and disgusting traces of her being violated. Anger gnawed at the child growing, festering. Revenge whispered into his ear promising things like a venomous vendetta and the scarlet blood of whoever did this. The child covered his mother back up with the winter coat. He whispered prayers and took the woman's hand. Upon softly opening it he found red beads strung to a crucifix. His father's necklace, one of his mother's favorite possessions. There was nothing left for him. He felt a hand on his shoulder, but didn't move. If it was the enemy he hoped they would end it, if not, he would continue on.
"C'mon kid. You don't need to see this."
"It's too late... She's dead... Raped... battered... Destroyed..." His shoulders shook as he clenched his mother's hand tighter. "They're both... gone..." A tear rolled down his face. On the horizon the sun set red, so crimson scarlet it was like her blood had been spilled and painted the sky.
The hand on the boy's shoulder turned skeletal, the fingers digging into the boy causing him to cry out. Suddenly he was in a room, everything white except the shadows that surrounded him. His head snapped from side to side in anxiety and fear looking for escape. Sharp pain sliced through his flesh and he screams. Similar blows came from nowhere and blood splattered across the white walls. He falls to his knees red lines and gashes rising from underneath his flesh. Dark malevolent laughter screeches in his ears. He squeezes his eyes shut tight putting his hands to his ears praying it will all stop. When he opens his eyelids stormy eyes stare him down. A knife glitters. Red beads fall to the floor clattering. His body shakes in terror but he is paralyzed unable to move. The knife tip touches his forehead and painfully cuts a cross there before cold metal meets the neck and-
Mello awoke with a start, his body trembling. His breathing was labored. He took in his surroundings, finally noticing Matt's head resting against his shoulder. The blonde touched his forehead and sighed in relief finding no blood there. This was the seventh time since Matt had gotten to Wammy's that Mello had this exact dream. '1998...I was almost nine years old when I found her like that...' Mello noticed the girl that had caught Matt's attention earlier was still awake. She was staring off somewhere, her headphones off and he could hear the music playing,
In this world you tried,
Not leaving me alone behind.
There's no other way,
I pray to the gods let him stay.
The memories ease the pain inside,
Now I know why...
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent moments imagine you'd be here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers silent tears.
The blonde listened to the gothic Lolita dressed girl begin to sing softly to the song. Her voice wasn't really what one would call a singer's voice but it was true to the feeling of the music. It wasn't how well she was singing it that mattered, but how she sang it, with her heart. The song ended and she glanced over her dark eyes meeting his. She mouthed hello then turned away. The chocolate loving boy noticed Roger asleep in the corner seat and Seraph sat a few seats to his and Matt's right. Her eyes were open but Mello knew she wasn't awake. Her jaw was slightly more relaxed and her mouth parted a little. Her chest rose and collapsed with each soft silent breath. Roger was a different matter. His glasses were crooked and he was snoring. Mello cocked a smirk upon his preteenage lips. Carefully he slid from under Matt -making sure the redhead was placed carefully on the chair so as to not be disturbed- and crept over to Roger's side. Just as he was about to pick the old man's pocket Seraph scolded him.
"Mello don't you dare." The blonde cringed. He straightened up and turned to face the woman who blended so well with the starch walls. The only difference was she was a bit more comforting despite the fact she was like a grown up Near and didn't talk much. Mello questioned often in his mind why she didn't bother him as much as Near did, but in the end always narrowed it down that it must be the competition of Wammy's that made Mello hate the albino nine year old boy so much. "Snitching his pocket? Why?"
"I need money for the vending machine."
Seraph rolled her deep blue eyes and pulled her wallet from her back pocket. She handed her little blonde friend four dollars. "Do me a favor. Get me something sweet."
"Yeah. Okay." Mello gave a fleeting look to Matt. What if the redhead woke up before he got back and began to freak out?
"I'll watch him. Don't worry." The adult smiled. Mello nodded and scampered off. The hospital was still brightly lit, once you got out of the waiting room. The chocolate addict looked around but was having no luck finding a vending machine. So, he got in the way of someone.
"Excuse me can you tell me where a vending machine is?"
"I believe there's one down this hall take a left, and then a right, then another left and you'll find the elevator. Go up a floor and turn the first corner and there should be one there."
"Thanks." The nurse rolled her eyes and walked off muttering about how her job didn't pay enough for the long late hours she worked. Following her instructions Mello soon found the machine. Inserting a dollar Mello smirked punching in the combination D4. A Hershey bar dropped down and his change clattered against the metal. 'Hmm... something sweet... What would Seraph like?'
And the answer soon jumped out at him, Skittles.
Mello laughed at the thought. Seraph with all her white -minus the black vest- and rainbow colored, original flavored Skittles. What a funny combination. Inserting more money he pressed B7. The corkscrew twisted and the bag fell, more change clanged down. Mello grabbed the change and the candy and grinned when he saw a soda machine. He glanced around as if he was doing something naughty and didn't want to be caught. The preteen crept over to the machine his eyes aglow. Mello was not allowed to have soda. Why? It's quite simple. Mello plus soda equals child who can not sit still for his life, because of this Mello finds the need to cause trouble. Basically it throws things around him into chaos and destruction. Because of the many things he'd done at Wammy's while he'd been allowed to have soda Roger had quickly decided to keep it out of Mello's hands and had banned the child from the sugary substance. But now, Roger was asleep and didn't have to know.
The blonde grinned. It had been four months since he'd last been able to sneak a soda. He just couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. He scanned the choices but went straight for his favorite. He pressed the button feeling very smug and very happy. He could almost taste the carbonated fizz on his tongue. He snatched the bottle of Coca-Cola from the machine. Just as he was about to head back to the waiting room he stopped. 'Matt might be up... and he may be thirsty...' The blonde inserted the last of the money -despite there being about a dime, nickel, and quarter left in change in his pocket- and punched the button for Mountain Dew. The machine gurgled then spit out the soda. Mello grabbed it his arms now quite full of sugary goodness.
But how did he get back to the waiting room?
Mello cussed. This was not what he needed at the moment. The blonde groaned and began walking down the halls. 'God... What a f-ing nightmare. Whoever built this crazy place this way should be shot.' It probably didn't help Mello didn't feel like asking for directions again, so he was getting himself more lost by the moment. Finally a doctor pulled him over.
"Son where are you going?"
"I'm looking for the waiting room." Mello growled moodily.
"Ha! You're definitely in the wrong part of the hospital. Let me get Joannie to help you out. I have to get back to my new patient Nathan."
"Wait." Mello stopped the doctor. "Is your patient Nathan Jeevas?"
"Yes... he is... Are you..."
"Yes. I'm waiting for him. My friend... his brother is really worried. Do you have anything I could tell him?"
"...That's classified."
"Screw classification. His little brother Mail is worried sick and you can't give me something, anything at all to make him feel better?!" Mello wove a brilliant lie that entangled the doctor in a web of guilt.
"Ah... alright... Just this one now son... Your friend's brother Nathan should pull through. He'll have some memory problems though."
"Memory... problems?"
"Yes, well, you see he was hit mighty hard on the head."
'Yes... yes... tell me something I don't know you loon.'
"And you see, it's given him some memory dysfunctions. He'll remember who you are, but he won't."
"Basically he'll know he knows us but he won't know why?" Mello's eyes narrowed at the doctor.
"Precisely son, but don't you worry. It'll be short term and his memory should come back between about... I say two weeks to a month. But tell your friend he's healing mighty fine and we're fixin him up right. Now you stay here while I get Joannie to help you get back to the waiting room."
'Two weeks to a month is short term? Fucking doctor... If Stripes doesn't pull through I'll make sure you personally go through eight different levels of hell...' A bright looking woman with bouncy blonde hair and rich blue eyes walked up to him. "Doctor sent me over here... You were looking for the waiting room?"
"Uh... yeah." Mello muttered his eyes staring at the floor from the corner of his sockets.
"Alright then. Come this way." Mello kept in step behind the nurse, Joannie, many thoughts rushing through his head. Should he tell Matt about Stripes's memory problem or should he pretend he'd never met the doctor? The blonde cussed in his mind. This was all too damn stressful for an eleven year old.
'What a fucking nightmare.'
Disclaimers! Tsuki, Erin, and Bazzle once again belong to the my friend xxdemonchild though we co-own Bazzle-kins Haha. The song on Erin's headphones is Memories by Within Temptation. It's a good song in my opinion. You should check it out. Heh... I find it on Naruto music videos on Youtube all the time! But you can just find the original music video there too.
Mello's past is sad no? Hehe... This story involves a lot of math... trying to figure out when all this stuff happened, how old everyone was in relation. Phew! '