~Prolouge~

My name is Ludwig Beilderschmitt. I was five years old when my brother started acting... Strangely. He was fourteen at the time, and was always lively and cheery. We would wrestle around, play football, and watch television.

My family moved here from Germany when my brother was seven. I wasn't born yet, not even thought of at the time. My father found work and met an American woman to be his bride.

My mother died this year. She had beautiful golden hair and bright blue eyes like my father. My brother, Gilbert, looked like his mother though. He had some kind of DNA mix-up when he was born, and his hair is white. His skin has almost no pigment at all, and his eyes... His eyes sort of scared me. Well, my brother's eyes were red. He was albino.

Being albino has lost my brother many friends. He only has two close friends since most other people avoid him. Despite this, Gilbert has always found a way to make light of things.

"Maybe I can be a vampire this Halloween, huh lil' Bruder? I'm pale an' my eyes are red."

"But you're not scary Bruder.."

"Oh? Well... You haven't seen my fangs! Roooaaaar!"

These kinds of memories make me smile. I haven't seen my brother smile in a long time. Not since he left...

So, like I was saying, it was late September and school had only been in for about a week or so. One day, I was sitting on the couch watching some television when I noticed my brother's bus pull up to the curb. I grinned widely and tottered outside, dashing to the curb to meet him. It took awhile for him to come out, and I heard people snickering as he walked past him.

"FAGGOT!" someone screamed.

Then I saw my brother.

He swayed weakly out of the bus and stepped onto the curb. His nose was bloodied and the whole area around one of his eyes was black and blue.

I gasped and he just stared at me while the bus pulled away. His eyes seemed dull and he limped past me through the small field to our house. I followed worriedly,"Bruder? Bruder? Bruder what happened? Bruder?"

"Would you shut it?" he snapped at me, red eyes wide and teary.

I closed my mouth. My brother never snapped at me like that... Not even when he was angry or sad.

Gilbert swung open the screen door and limped upstairs.

"Gilbert..." called my father who was reading the paper in a separate downstairs room,"Get your homework finished."

My brother said nothing and retreated to his room. We didn't talk the rest of the night until dinner. He came downstairs in a hooded sweatshirt. The most unusual thing I remember was his hair. It wasn't slicked back like usual. My brother hair chin length hair he liked to smooth back, and I, even though mine was fairly short, copied off of him and slicked mine back well as I could.

It was flopped over his eyes and he shuffled to the dinner table, sitting down slowly. I pushed around my potatoes, all was silent.

"Gilbert. Do not wear your hood at the dinner table." my father scolded.

Gilbert muttered something and leaned farther over his plate, hunching his shoulders protectively.

"Don't make me tell you twice young man." Father huffed, raising his voice.

Gilbert threw back his hood violently and craned his neck down, so his hair hung far over his ruby colored eyes.

We sat there in tense, awkward silence before I broke it. "Daddy? What's a faggot?" my little five-year old brain picking up on every word I didn't know the meaning to.

My father, the strict man he is almost choked on his steak. "Where did you hear that word?" he gasped, glaring at me. He suddenly turned to Gil,"What are you filling this child's mind with? I know you've been acting strangely. Are you hanging out with that Francis boy again?" My father fumed and my heart dropped, realizing what I had done.

"NO DAD!" his head shot up, revealing his swelling black eye. "I'm not doing ANYTHING right, am I?" he shouted and stood from the table, knocking his water to the floor in the process and running back up to his room.

My father and I sat there in shock, the shattering glass did not faze us as we watched the boy we used to know stomp up the stairs.

"Bruder...?" I whispered, very slowly pushing open the door to Gil's room with an eerie creak.

"What?" a muffled voice muttered after a long pause.

I stepped fully into my brother's room, my childish body feeling small in my grown-up big brother's room. He had maroon colored walls with at least fifty posters of his favorite bands. His clothes, which pretty much consisted of things he had bought at Hot-Topic were strewn around the floor. Gilbert was always like this though, he listened to metal and hard rock. He wore dark clothing and liked dark things. Then again, when you were around him you weren't afraid of the darkness. He was just sunshine.

I walked slowly over to his side, his face was down in the pillow and he hadn't bothered to out on any pajamas. "Bruder..." he mumbled, my voice very small,"What happened?"

It wasn't till the teenager sat up did the young boy notice his eyes were redder than usual. Had he been crying? "It's not something you need to know about lil' bro..."

"But I care!" I wailed, my bright blue eyes staring helplessly up into his red ones.

He sighed, giving his head a shake and running a few fingers through his head,"Ludwig... Please. I just, I need to be alone, okay?" his voice trembling slightly as he looked away, trying to hold in tears. He swallowed thickly,"I'll tell you when you're older. What happened okay? It's not for you."

I pouted, little did my little five-year old mind know he would never tell me. I knew older meant never, especially if this continued, which it did. Since that day it had been a downward spiral into my brothers life and how he broke down.