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･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
For awhile, the streets had been strangely quiet after dark. Snow was falling around her, the street lights turned off. Another procausion to make sure people stayed inside. After weeks of unease and something coming to life within district eight, there'd been an order for staying inside after nine in the evening. It was past midnight, but Odette couldn't bear to stay in her home any longer. She drew her dark coat tighter around her, but everything was quiet.
The day had started out terrible, her mother kept insisting she was late for work, even though she hadn't worked in years. She kept asking about her father. She'd been asleep early, only to be woken up with a particurly vile nightmare.
Her destination was a small house with blue walls. Her uncle used to paint them ever year, but since he left, it had been untouched. The blue was fading and chipped, making it look older than it actually was. Everything about it was familiar. She stacked a flower pot on top of the crate beneath Miles' window and jumped. It had been awhile since she had to climb into his room, but the movements were just as familiar as when she was seventeen.
The window easily opened and she pulled herself in. Only when she stood inside the room, she feared Holly might have changed it. Maybe it was an office now. Maybe Miles' bed had been replaced by a plain one for her friends. The moon didn't give enough light to see, but she saw the shape of his large closet and felt the carpet beneath her shoes when she walked towards the light switch.
Relief flowed through her when she saw the colorful bedsheets, everything they'd carved into the wooden bedframe still there. The messy desk with clothes thrown over his homework. The bulky closet with white splatters of paint on the bottom. It was as if he could walk in at any moment. Partially, she expected him to be in the bed. Except she knew he wasn't. knew he never would return.
Standing there, between his things, remembering him, brought the deep sadness back. She thought she could ignore it forever, but it rose so easily she might never have ignored it at all.
Odette opened her coat but didn't take it off. The cool winter air blew inside the room. She was almost certain that if it hadn't, she couldn't stand to be in the room. She walked towards the bed, sitting at the end. She'd spent many nights sitting there. Sometimes on the carpet, sometimes asleep on the small and uncomfortable space when Miles didn't wake up. He'd been her best friend ever since he was born.
She pushed the covers back from the wood. Their names had faded, but the block-y letters and strange drawings were still there. Miles and Odette. It had been before the games. They'd spent the after school hours together, making homework and messing around. She'd been young then, carefree. That had been ripped away from her. From Miles, too. She followed the lines of their names, trying to remember the kids they were. It was only years ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
