White light, naked bulb, the old soft bedsheets. Baby blue walls, oh, he knew those colours, he knew them very well. They were the same colour as his eyes. Simeon woke up this morning wishing he hadn't. Out there, through the window, the sky was blue. The young boy sat up in his bed, and leaned his forehead on the glass, his fingers wandering on the glass as if he was playing the piano. Out there, upon the streets, the sun was shining. Somewhere he couldn't reach.

Opening his ears in the dull silence, he could hear the phone ringing downstairs. Ring. Ring. Nobody answered, of course nobody answered. What was it to be said anyway? The phone often rang, just for its noise to be shattered in the void.

But this time, this was different. This time, he could actually hear something. The person had left a message. Besides, it wasn't the actual sweet voice of the headteacher, nor was it the headmistress motherlike speech. No, it was something else, something new, something that somehow made him feel more guilty and sad than the two women sorry words.
"Hiya, hum, I guess", muttered a young, harsh male voice in the phone, so near, so far away. Through his closed door, Simeon could only catch glimpses of what the boy had to say.  "long time absent........... asked the teacher.......worried......hang up someday?"

Simeon's heart skipped a bit. Did he really heard what he just thought he heard? He shut his lips, not even daring to breathe, focused on the phone's voicemail.

"................call me..........bye!"

The light shone warmer on the baby blue walls. Sitting in his bed, head leaning on the window glass, Simeon watched as the sun brightened the horizon, not so cold, not so far. The young boy sighed softly, and his face tore itself in the closest to a smile he had made for a very long time. The tiny, hopeful ghost of a smirk.