Matthew's eyes slid open to see a wide gray ceiling. For a moment his mind was fuzzy trying to recall where he was.
The memories of the gun shop and R slipped into place in his brain.
He tilted his head to the side to see if the dead man was still with him. The room looked empty.
His head rolled back to its original position to stare at the ceiling again.
There was a little movement beneath the bottom of his legs.
He lifted his head to look down.
R was sitting at the bottom of the makeshift bed with his back against the wall and Matthew's legs lying on his thighs. He was staring straight ahead as if he was dead.
Which of course he was.
"R?" Matthew whispered, making himself wince as his throat was so dry.
R's head turned to look at Matthew.
"Mmmm-...Mmmaatth-...Mmmmaathu-" he attempted to reply.
The living man smiled pitifully at the dead man.
"You can just call me Matt."
R thought for a moment.
"Mmmm-...," He frowned. "Mmmmatt. Mmmatt... Matt."
Matt grinned.
"There you go." he encouraged as he buttoned up his shirt.
"Matt." R repeated.
The man lifted himself up and sat next to R
He was about to ask R some questions when the lights started to flicker.
"Do you know what time it is?" he asked.
"...Dark." R replied after thinking for a moment.
The lights cut out. They were in complete darkness as there were no windows.
"Could you pass me my bag? It's at the foot of the sleeping bag."
Matt heard R's hand rustling about for the bag.
He soon felt it being placed on his knees.
He whispered his thanks as he opened it and got out the laptop he took from the abandoned house.
He opened it and switched it on; it cast an artificial glow upon their faces.
"This should last us for a couple of hours and it should be light outside by then." He checked the time on the laptop to make sure he was correct. He was.
He looked over to R and noticed his pale skin looked even whiter from the light of the laptop.
His eyes were also deep in concentration like they were when they were trying to read Matt's writing.
Matt opened a blank document so the screen was white and put it on the floor so the glow illuminated the part of the room where they were.
"We've got time to kill, then." he sighed.
He slid and lay back down, staring at the ceiling.
He looked back up at R and patted next to him, inviting him to lie down.
Slowly but surely, R got from under Matt's legs to crawl over and lie next to him.
Matt turned to face R as he stared upwards.
He studied R's features. They were soft yet masculine. If he weren't dead, Matt would consider him to be quite handsome.
Matt shook his head to get rid of those thoughts.
"What's it like... you know, being dead?" he asked quietly.
R made a shrugging motion which looked odd as he was lying down.
"Lonely..." he groaned.
Matt frowned at the utter dejection in R's voice.
"Aren't there others like you?"
"A few... but... still lonely."
He closed his eyes and his face contracted slightly as if he was wincing.
Had Matt upset him?
"Hey," Matt rubbed R's arm. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything." He was unsure if that's what he had done.
"No," R grunted. "Fine. Just... lonely."
"I know how you feel," he whispered, almost to himself as he stared at his hand. "I've been alone for a long time. I guess we're both pretty similar."
He looked up to see R looking at him.
R lifted his hand towards Matt, his fingers outstretched.
Matt moved his own hand towards R's and laced his fingers through the dead man's.
Their hands were locked together until Matt fell asleep again. He could have sworn R's hand felt a little warmer. Possibly because he's been in shelter and warmed up a bit.
But only possibly.