Alive - October 13th
“Shh, Matt, get down!” Mello grabbed his friend’s arm, pulling both of them down to crouch behind a sofa as soft footsteps crossed the doorway and proceeded down the hall. After waiting for them to turn the corner, Mello grabbed Matt’s arm and dragged him across the room, out the door, and in the opposite direction that their pursuer had gone. They were engaged in a precarious game of cat and mouse - a frantic flight from a clever hunter - a desperate struggle to survive-
-also known as “Hide and Seek”.
Of course, Wammy’s House didn’t play entirely ordinary Hide and Seek. A number of extra rules provided the opportunity for countless alliances and betrayals - in particular, one that allowed sixty seconds after being captured to track down another player in exchange for freedom. Otherwise, L (who was almost silent in bare feet and therefore extremely good at sneaking up unexpectedly) would take the children he’d found down to the kitchen, where Watari was waiting with hot chocolate and riddles to solve in exchange for a chance to return to the game. When they were young, Matt and Mello had enjoyed being caught and carried downstairs in fits of giggles, but now, Mello was determined that they were going to go unfound.
“This way,” he instructed quietly, leading Matt towards the back door and the darkness of the grounds.
“We’re going outside?” Matt asked uncertainly. “Isn’t that off-limits?”
“Come on, Matt. L’s the one who always says that you win by figuring out the rules and then using them to your advantage.”
“So we’re going to cheat at Hide and Seek.”
“We’re not going to cheat,” Mello scoffed. “We’ll go back inside soon. We’re just going to pay Fee and her pals back for that dirty trick they played on you earlier with the perfume.”
“How?” Matt asked, beginning to be interested.
“While she was busy teasing you,” Mello explained, “I dropped my cell phone into her purse. She has so much crap in there she’ll never notice. And if we go over near the greenhouse, we’ll be able to see most of the traffic in the corridors on this side of the house through the windows and call it when L’s in the same area as them.”
“You’ll have a better view from the edge of the lake,” Near murmured. “And you’re less likely to be seen there.”
Mello spun around. “Since when were you with us?” he demanded. Near shrugged innocently, and the blond boy rolled his eyes.
“Well, you’d better come with us. We don’t want you tattling on where we are if L catches you. C’mon, let’s get into the trees so we can’t be seen.” Hurriedly, the three boys made their way across the damp lawn and towards the lake.
“It’s cold out here,” Near murmured as they reached the safety of the trees. Mello sighed.
“Why’d you follow us, then?”
Once again, Near shrugged. “Are we just going to wait here until we see them?”
“You bet we are.” Determinedly, Mello selected a spot on a rock by the lake’s edge from which he could see the windows of the upstairs corridors. The night breeze blowing across the lake was rather cold, and the yellow light within the House looked rather inviting, but he wasn’t going to give up. Matt settled on the rock next to him, and Near perched on a smaller one, lifting a finger to twirl into his hair.
“There are easier ways to get revenge,” he pointed out.
Mello didn’t reply, but Matt looked partially swayed.
“We could probably see where they were if we hid somewhere inside,” the redhead pointed out. “It’s cold. And besides, it’s creepy out here at night. What if monsters-”
“Matt, this isn’t Silent Hill. There are no monsters.”
“Now I know what it is you’ve been playing in secret late at night,” Near mused quietly. Mello glared at him.
“You already knew damn well what we were playing, Mister Computer Hacker.”
Near shrugged. “Aren’t you the one sitting outside in the middle of the night to prove that revenge is worth putting effort into?”
Mello didn’t deign to respond. Instead, he remarked, “I heard that the lake is haunted.”
“Haunted?” Matt demanded, wide-eyed. Near raised a pale eyebrow.
“Yeah,” Mello said. “Years ago, a kid drowned himself in it, and because they never pulled out the body, his ghost is supposed to be still here.”
“That’s not true.” Matt sounded slightly unsure of himself.
“It is,” Mello replied. “He was one of the first kids studying here, but it was too much stress, so on Halloween night he came down to the lake and drowned himself. His body’s still down there. And if you stand on the shore and say his name with your fingers crossed, then on the thirty-first, he comes to get you.”
“Don’t say it,” Matt whimpered. Mello smiled daringly.
“Don’t worry,” he assured his friend. “I’m not scared.” He got to his feet and stood facing the lake, lifting both hands to cross his fingers. “His name-”
“Don’t!” Matt pleaded.
“-was A.”
There was silence. Then, a moment later, they heard a faint splash, followed by a soft moan.
Before Mello even had time to think, he and Matt were clinging to each other, terrified. Even Near looked shaken, but he pointed a thin finger a little ways along the shore to a thicker patch of trees.
“It didn’t come from the lake,” he murmured. “It came from the well.”
“What if the kid’s coming out of it?” Matt wailed quietly. “Like in-”
“Shh!” Mello hissed furiously. After the prank with Matt’s computer, Near didn’t need to know that it was equally easy to scare them with televisions and phones. “It was probably just an animal or something. C’mon, let’s go look.” He grabbed onto Matt’s hand - only to give comfort, he told himself - and led the way, trying to look more confident than he felt. The three gathered around the old well, stepped past the crumbling stones that had fallen from the edges, and glanced down, hearts pounding.
A little girl with wide eyes and straggly wet hair was looking back up at them.
Matt and Mello gave a collective scream of terror, and, dragging Near with them, made a mad dash away. Halfway across the lawn, though, they stopped, gasping for breath, all shaking.
“That wasn’t the girl from the movie,” Matt said, panting. “It was Kat.”
“I know,” Mello said. He took a deep breath. “We have to get help; she must’ve fallen or something. Matt, go get L. Near, find Watari. I’ll…” he swallowed. “I’ll go back and tell her they’re coming.”
Matt nodded and disappeared in the direction of the House, already shouting for help as he flew through the door, and Near headed for the staircase that led towards the kitchen. Nervously, Mello returned to the edge of the well and peered over.
“Kat?” he called. The seven-year-old in question looked back up at him from the damp depths, arms wrapped around herself against the cold.
“Help,” she begged, tears threatening her voice.
“Matt and Near went to get help,” Mello promised. “They’ll be back soon. How did you get down there?”
“I don’t remember,” the girl sniffled helplessly.
“Are you sure? Were you trying to hide?”
Kat hiccoughed and rubbed at her eyes. “I don’t know,” she wailed softly. “Mello, help me, please!”
“L’s coming,” Mello promised frantically. “And so is Watari. They’ll be here soon, I promise.” He looked up towards the House and felt a surge of relief as he saw the elderly gentleman striding across the lawn with a rope and a blanket and L coming down the stairs with a lantern.
Mello’s two friends rejoined him, and Watari lost no time in lowering what Mello now saw was a kind of sling down into the darkness while L held the lantern above the opening.
“Climb into this,” Watari instructed gently, “and hold on tight. I’ll pull you out.” A moment later, he was lifting the rope hand over hand, and it wasn’t long before the frightened little girl emerged from the well and was bundled into another blanket in his arms.
“I called the infirmary on the way down,” L said quietly. “You can bring her straight there; I’ll take care of these three.” Watari nodded and disappeared, and Mello, Matt, and Near clustered worriedly around their mentor.
“What happened?” Mello demanded.
“I was hoping you might know,” L admitted, letting small hands claim each of his own and crouching down to allow Near to climb onto his back. “Was she with you when she fell down?” He straightened up again and began walking back towards the house.
Mello shook his head. “No, we just found her.”
“Will she be all right?” Matt asked nervously.
“She should be,” L replied gently. “It’s very lucky that you three found her and came to get help so quickly. You did a very good job.”
Mello smiled. Together, the four made their way back up to the house - first to Near’s room, because he was already dozing off latched onto L’s back, and then to the infirmary. When they arrived, Kat was in a bed at the far end of the room, wrapped in blankets and sipping at a mug of cocoa, and Watari was standing by the door, looking worried. He drew L aside immediately, and Mello and Matt followed, curious and nervous.
“I just got a call from the chief of police,” Watari reported in a low voice. “The bell’s been returned.”
L frowned faintly in thought. “And?”
“The clapper’s still missing. In its place is another piece of paper, with the words ‘Ding, dong, bell.’”
L’s face darkened.
“Isn’t that the start of another nursery rhyme?” Matt ventured hesitantly. “One about-”
“Yes,” L said grimly. “It is, Matt. One about a cat down a well.”
(next chapter)