Boys Don't Cry

Macintosh

Sure, L had been using an Apple II, recently aquiring a little something with Windows 3.11, for years.

And, let' s face it, it was outdated and the library had "better" computers.

But Mail loved his Apple Macintosh.

It was his, on a lone desk in a near-empty classroom as to keep it somewhat hidden from other students. It was outdated: nearly ten years old. The display was basic at best and required knowing a decent amount of code to use to potential, but Mail did and loved every minute. He nearly fried his eyes on it every day, when he and Mihael weren't playing or having lessons.

The next Christmas, he recieved a Nintendo Gaming System with a box of game cartriges.

He was Matt then, and in the same room as before, beat highscores until he was on the verge of carpal tunnel.

Gifts like those weren't commonplace, but as a sucessor to L, it was beneficial to allow growth of practical talent such as computer skills.

He became obsessed with computer technologies, and they began to indulge him. Soon, it was his strongest suit. He wasn't the smartest, the most level-headed, or the most clever, but he had something useful.

They wanted to drop him from the program, but he was adept at his tasks. And, Mello seemed very attached to his best friend. They let the boys have each other.

Matt didn't care much about his duty as a sucessor, he did what he saw fit.

He got along with L when they met.

But, something was always missing: it's that nothing was truly missing. Nothing like a family, or a childhood, nothing important had flown except fot his parents. And, he dealt so well with it. It was suspected something was wrong, but could never be proven.

He did have a particularly bad habit of smoking, buying cigarettes from the janitorial staff during their breaks. He was asked to stpo, to put it out when Ruvie or another authority would pass, and he complied calmly.

I suppose it would be up to the observer to make this asumption, whether or not there was cause for alarm. Mello made it obvious, Matt kept quiet. There was nothing to point to Matt's pain, or his lack of it. But, he was happy, that's what we want, isn't it?

[This narrator is in the story... Dare you to guess it!]