The holidays were rough. They always had been, or at least it seemed as though they had ever since he had been transferred into Hillworth Academy. Maybe that was the problem. The doom and gloom of the boarding school atmosphere didn't seem to lighten any with the touch of the holidays. What little decoration there was did nothing to fill him with the wide-eyed awe of childhood long past. If anything it only served to remind him that, in most cases, it wasn't even worth the effort.

The only thing that seemed to make this season any different than those prior wasn't even the fact that he had a roommate. No, it was the tiny snow globes now taking up half of one of his shelves and all of one of Lucien's that had him thinking otherwise. The first night they had brought them home he had laughed. The silly little things were so delicate; so girly, He figured the novelty would wear off eventually, that the globes would get tucked in boxes and forgotten or donated in mass to charity thrift shops.

He hadn't expected to find himself actually liking the things. He hadn't expected them to make him feel something about this stupid season. Oh, sure, he had caught Lucien playing with his every now and then, but he had done his best to keep the other boy from catching him in the act of doing the same thing. The last thing he needed was for Lucien to catch him watching the snow fall after shaking the globe or from hearing how often he had played the haunting little tune.

Now, for instance, was one of those times. Lucien had gone out, presumably to spend more time alone and away from him. Not expecting the other boy back for house he had pulled out one of his own snow globes (one of three, actually, thank you very much), turning the tiny silver key to start the song.

It wouldn't be long now before he was alone in this room for good, or at least until Hillworth decided to shove someone else in with him. The only thing his roommate seemed to talk about with excitement was how close to finishing the rest of his classes he was; one step closer to getting out of this hell, to getting away from him.

Lucien was going home for the holidays. Home wasn't quite the apartment alone that he had heard the other boy talk about with great fondness, but it wasn't here. Home wasn't Hillworth. Home was somewhere far away from this. Far away from the trouble. Far away from the delinquents. Far away from him.

Sighing softly, Rik shifted his position on the bed. He reached out towards the snow globe once more, slowly turning the tiny key so that the tune could enchant him once again, amplifying his feeling of loss and longing while comforting him that he wasn't alone in it at the same time.

All in all, he was going to miss Lucien when he was gone... It just wasn't going to be the same... Being all alone again...