Butter Pecan (SasuNaru)

Strawberry Milk

It was my birthday last week. I turned seventeen.

My parents didn't celebrate with me. It's not like they forgot, but that they just didn't make a big deal out of it. I couldn't care less though. The only person I wanted to spend my birthday with was him.

Instead, I spent the whole day in my desolate room. It was dark and lonely. There wasn't even a window in there that I could look out of for comfort. Nothing. All I had for light was the dull yellow bulb attached to my ceiling fan. It flickered every now and then until it went out.

I had a cake with one pitiful candle on top. It was a plain white vanilla cake. I don't know how it tasted because I didn't even bother to eat it. It just stayed on my bedside table the majority of the time, blue wax from the candle melting onto the sugary frosting.

In fact, it's still there; rotting. The stench is foul. Again, though, I don't care. My room has become a pigsty ever since I was brought back to my home last week. The law requires me to stay at home for a bit before resuming school. I'm taking advantage of that and never leaving my room. Not even to go eat. I only stand up from my bed to use the bathroom. And even that is rare since I'm dehydrated. It doesn't help that I'm crying all the time either.

I fainted twice. On both occasions, it was on my way to the bathroom. I would collapse on the floor from the lack of nutrition in my system. But each time, I would wake up in my bed again, as if nothing had happened. I'm not sure if I was dreaming those happenstances, now that I think about it.

Haha. I wish this whole thing was a dream.

Wouldn't it just be absolutely marvelous if I could just wake up from this horrible nightmare? Wake up in the arms of...

Sasuke.

Shit. I wasn't trying to think of him again. Every time I do, I can't stop the endless tears that spout from my eyes. I miss him so much. I want him to be here with me.

Not even. I need him to be here with me.

I curl up in my bed and bury my head underneath my thick orange quilt. My eyes are squeezed shut, yet, tears still manage to force their way through. My whiskered cheeks are sopping wet with salty tears, the sticky mess coating my neck and chin. You'd think that with all the crying I've done, that I would run out of tears to shed eventually. That hasn't happened. It may never stop.

Worthless sounds of sniffling and whimpering are heard underneath my covers. I'm like a broken record. Going through a cycle of complete silence to wretched sobs of despair within minutes.

My mother interrupts my brooding session with a knock on my bedroom door. I don't know why she knocks because there is no lock on my door anymore. It was removed. I'm surprised that there even was a door kept here. It's not like they value my privacy or anything.

She steps in after three minutes without a response, opening the door with an audible creaking noise. Light pours into my dark room and lands upon my quilt. I coil up into a tighter ball, hugging my knees tightly.

I can hear muffled footsteps against the wood floors that slowly approach me and a sinking in my bed from behind my back. My mother must've sat down on the bed. I feel a slight tug on the top of my quilt to pull it down but I quickly grab the fabric and whisk it back on top of me. It's warm underneath here. It reminds me of Sasuke's hugs.

My mother sighs deeply, "Naruto. C'mon. What's the matter with you?"

She knows exactly why I'm in this state.

She pats my back through the quilt soothingly, "You're upset. I know. I understand that much. But... it's not a big deal, honey."

My feelings are irrelevant. You don't have to remind me, Mother.