Game of Reality

CHAPTER SIX

Word count : 2137.

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(POV Matty)

First, there was the hospital. After that were interviews with officers. And finally, Matty's mom was allowed to come get him. He hugged her harder than he ever had in his life before. He cried for the whole car ride home. And after that, when they arrived at their apartment, the first thing he did was get into bed.

And then he stayed there for a whole week.

He would get up, sometimes, to use the bathroom. His mom would bring him food, tell him to get up, take a shower, maybe watch a movie with her. Most of the time, though, he simply lay there. His mom couldn't afford to take time off work, with all the medical and judicial bills coming up now. The apartment was quiet, and lonely, and cold, because they couldn't turn the heat too high up. Matty didn't really feel like doing anything. He remembered, when he was in the "game", all he thought about was going home, playing video games, eating his mom's pasta. Now that he was home, the only thing he really, really wanted was for his mom to come home so he could ask her to close the curtains. He wasn't in the mood for sunlight.

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(POV Nathan)

A week later

Nate groaned as his comforter was pulled forcefully and unexpectedly from over him. He flipped over onto his side and squinted up at Ravi as he threw the blackout curtains open.

"What the hell!" Nathan exclaimed grumpily.

"Sun's up, Nate."

"So?"

"So, you've been moping for a week, it's time to -" Nathan cut him off.

"I'm not moping," he spat the word out scornfully, "my brother, the only family I had left, just died, I'm allowed to -"

"You are but that doesn't mean -"

"You've been sleeping on my couch for a week, how is that not moping?" He shouted.

"Fine, then, not moping. How about hiding instead?"

"Hiding? I've been hiding?" Nathan was incredulous. "How long has it been since you called your mother?"

"I told you, I promised Jason -" Nate flinched " - to take care of you so living here is better than forcing you to move into my apartment and I had to move my stuff out of there and into here and I had to work and I've been busy and-" Ravi was grasping at straws and he knew it, but he kept it up as long as he could before he trailed off, a bit pathetically, like he had expected someone to cut him off before he ran out of words to speak. He looked devastated.

There was a pause.

"My brother is dead," he said calmly, "So whatever promises you made him, you don't have to keep. I'll be fine on my own."

"Yeah? How're you gonna pay the rent?"

"I'll get a job."

"What about school?"

"I don't need -"

"So now you don't need school? Is that what Jason would -"

"He. Is. Dead!" Nate bit out angrily. "What he would have wanted doesn't matter anymore!"

"Regardless, you're sixteen, you need someone to take care of you and I-"

"And you're nineteen, you're barely older than me, how could you ever take care -"

"Jason was nineteen too, and he didn't just fine with you."

"For the last time, he is dead!" Nathan yelled.