#20 Doorknob
Mello scowled into the darkness as the soft sounds from across the tiny bedroom woke him.
He was going to destroy this roommate, just like he did the last two. Maybe then Roger would get the message and let this little genius have his own room.
After the last kid started sleeping during classes because Mello managed to make him too afraid of the dark to sleep at night he thought he might have his own room at last. But nooo, Roger had to keep pushing it and had stuck the newbie in with Mello. None of the old-timer kids would share with him now.
Mello listened to the sound of his roommate breathing and thought on what he knew about the kid.
Red hair, bright green eyes, a pair of thick glasses covering them, seemed to own nothing but striped shirts. Oh, he had one of those stupid virtual pets that bleeped and squeaked every five minutes.
Had, because Mello had flushed the thing about two hours ago when it woke him up demanding food. If the newbie had seen Mello do it he hadn't stirred.
He was pretty sure the kid was awake now. His breathing was uneven, shuddering.
Mello grinned wickedly into the darkness of the room and hissed, "Are you asleep?"
A voice heavy with accent replied, "No."
Mello had to fight to suppress his urge to laugh, this one was going to be easy to break, half the work was already done, something was scaring this kid already, probably the dark.
"Why not?" Mello whispered back. "You're not scared are you?" he purred, intending on following that question with a vile hiss of 'You should be'.
But his roommate squeaked out, "Yes. I keep thinking my papa's going to come get me."
That threw Mello. This was an orphanage; the kids here had no parents, right?
The child in the bed across from his continued, "I know that nice old man said he's in jail and he can't get me anymore but he doesn't know what my papa can do when he's angry…"
Mello was intrigued now. Without thinking he questioned, "What can he do?"
For a moment all was quiet in the room.
"Last time he broke my arm… it went all the way around. And he cut my head. I had sixteen stitches. Oh, and once he knocked out two of my teeth and I threw up blood for a week. And one time he…"
The casual manner the child across from him used to describe one horrific injury after another made Mello shudder. It was as though this kid assumed every home was like that.
Eventually the descriptions of injuries stopped, and the soft voice with heavy accent continued, "I keep thinking he's just down the hall… coming closer, taking it really slow so no-one wakes up…and he'll grab me and shake me and this time he won't stop."
And with that suggestion Mello's active little brain conjured up his own monster sneaking down the hall, a human monster with big hands ready for strangling little boys in their beds.
He swallowed. "Shut up, you're being stupid, there's nothing out there-"
They both heard the creak on the floorboards outside their bedroom door.
And Mello bolted across the little bedroom like a streak of blonde lightning, diving beneath the covers of the newbie's bed and clinging to the slightly younger boy.
The two of them watched in terrified, rapt silence as the doorknob turned slowly.
"Mello! What is the meaning of this?!"
It was Roger. And in one hand was a plastic bag containing that irritating, bleeping pet. Stupid thing was still making clicking noises and flickering.
"Matt, if you like, you can have another room, and Mello, this is the last straw, I've had enough of this misbehaviour, genius or not, you're out of Wammy's house-"
Before Mello could shriek his protests, Matt lifted his head, "No!" he smiled innocently. "We both flushed it… we thought it'd be funny, but it was mostly my idea, sorry Mr. Roger."
Like magic the old man ceased his raving. He muttered something about hating children and assigned them both to cleaning duty the next morning, but that was all.
As soon as the door clicked shut and the doorknob turned again, the two friends started to laugh.