The Beginning of the Day
Prologue
Short, labored breaths filled the open air as worry stained emerald eyes darted around the forest foliage surrounding them.
"Alfred!" the voice mirrored the anxious emeralds as they scanned further into the growing darkness.
All around the searcher only silence rested—dead silence. It chilled his core more than the hiding sun and the heart beating out of his own chest. A shiver of fear ripped through his body, running up and down his spine. He had to do something. He had to find his baby brother. Alfred was alone in the woods and it was getting dark. It had been a bitter autumn that year, so he knew the moment the sun was no longer in the sky it would seem like winter. Dark, cold, and alone: those were the only three words that he could describe Alfred with at the moment and it quite literally pushed him over the edge.
It had started off as a normal enough day, with him watching his younger siblings with his stepbrother, Francis, in their spacious backyard. The numerous kids zigzagged about in the fenced in "wilderness," enjoying all the colors of fall with every excited sprint and cry. Although all the kids played together, they had split off into their normal groups. The younger kids, Peter and Charlotte, played in a pile of leaves with Estelle. The three sets of twins had broken off from each other due to their dramatically different energy levels. Lovino, the elder of the oldest set of twins, had the older of the youngest set, Jett, on his heels, begging him to play ball with him. Lovino merely hissed something in Italian and motioned for Jett to bug his younger brother, Charles, who was quietly playing with Lovino's younger twin, Feliciano, and the older twin of the middle set, Matthew, on the sidewalk. When Jett persisted, he was finally aided by Alfred, the younger twin of Matthew, as he flew out of the bushes with a bright red blanket meant to be a cape tied around his shoulders. Alfred's sky blue eyes shined with mischief as he claimed that Jett would have far more fun with Charles, while boring Lovino was playing with him. Jett protested, but the golden-haired child's charisma quickly won him over. Little did he know then that the moment Jett joined Charles this event was set in motion.
"Arthur! Have you found him yet?" cried a voice, which he recognized to be Francis, breaking the silence and his recollection.
Arthur shuddered and hissed, "If I had we would be home!"
Francis sighed in response. Usually his brother's snappy remarks would cause a fight to break out, but neither could afford the leisure at the moment.
"Have our parents come home?" Arthur asked at last, his voice a shaky whisper.
Francis nodded, "Father has driven off to the far side just in case while Allistor split the older siblings into groups and are scouring as we speak—I was assigned to you, by the way. Mother is at home with the rest of us. Everyone is sick with worry. Lovino thinks it is his fault even, since he was the one who agreed to the idea."
Arthur nodded slowly. As soon as Lovino came home at dusk saying that he had lost Alfred he had started to comb the woods immediately himself. No one was supposed to have gone into to woodlands because of the animals and its sheer size, but especially not kids as young as Alfred, who was only six. Arthur cursed under his breath. His little brother was usually obedient as long as he was being watched, but as soon as the observer's back was turned his impulses drowned out anything that resembled the rules. He and Francis had both known, meaning this was their fault. No, Francis was a lazy idiot: this was his fault.
"It is not our fault, Arthur." Francis spoke, reading his companion's face.
"You are right for once, it is all mine." he whispered, hugging himself before shaking it off, "But that does not matter now; we have to find him!"
Francis managed a hopeful grin as they both raced forward, calling out for the lost child. The grass crunched beneath their feet as the wind was picking up. Arthur hazarded a glance at the sun and his heart sank. It was nearly gone. His cries got louder and more frantic, any calmness he had pieced together from Francis's presence and words completely shattered. Francis was placed further on edge, matching his stepbrother.
"Come on, Francis, hurry up!" screamed Arthur, pulling ahead in desperation.
"Oh, Alfred, where have you gone…" sighed Francis, imagining the child in his natural environment, sunlight, as the sun finally dipped below the horizon.