'Freak'

'Demon'

'Insane'

These words swirled around in Gilbert's head, repeating over and over. The words seemed to get louder and louder, chanting in an endless loop.

'You don't belong here, you red-eyed creep'

It wasn't his fault that he'd been born like this. Not his fault that his skin and hair were ivory, and his eyes were red as fresh blood, that his teeth were points, that he looked like a monster in a storybook. No, the fault fell to his mother, that's what Grandpa Beilschmidt said.

"Your mother was a curse upon this family, she is the reason you are this way. Your father was a perfectly healthy man, as you would've been, had anyone else birthed you. The only thing that horrid woman ever did right was giving your father full custody of you. She was your father's undoing, you know. After she left, he just gave up. That is why," Grandpa said, answering Gilbert's question of why they never went to see his mother's grave, but always visited his father's.

Gilbert cursed his mother for the hundredth time. All he'd ever wanted was to be normal,

He wanted to go out with the other teens. He wanted people to stop running away, he wanted them to stop screaming when they saw his eyes. It was because of her that he wasn't.

A loud thud brought Gilbert out of his thoughts and back into the real world.

"What is going on out there?" He shouted, peeking his head out his bedroom door. Gilbert was met with the sight of his younger half-brother, Ludwig, pinned underneath Aldo, the family's large doberman.

"Help me, don't just stand there," Ludwig shouted as a drop of drool fell from the dog's mouth and landed squarely upon Lud's nose. Gilbert let out a surprised laugh, attracting the attention of the dog. It bound over to him, tackling the young man to the floor. After managing to calm the doggish beast into submission, both brothers were equally covered in slobber.

The brothers sat slumped on the floor, wheezing. Aldo sat nearby, chewing viciously at what looked to be a child's bird feeder made of a pinecone and peanut butter. Soft glares were continuously sent to the absolute menace of a dog.

Their exasperated calm was broken like a dropped glass by the click of the lock at the door. A very small and frail looking man entered, and while he appeared to be mere seconds from keeling over, his personality took over the whole of the room as he let out a booming 'Hello!'

The boys greeted their grandfather with the utmost propriety. That properness soon being discarded as the elderly man pulled the siblings into a somehow rough and friendly hug. Adlo prancing over to join in on this excitement.

"Well boys, who wants to help an old man with dinner?" Grandpa bellowed. Ludwig responding with an affirmative nod, while Gilbert was shooed away for his tendency to start fires.

'Who?'

'Nobody'

'Invisible'

These empty phrases taunted Matthew, laughing at him with mockery dripping in their tone.

'Is that Al?'

'No, that's just some nobody'

He wished to be seen, in any possible way. He just wanted someone to confirm that he wasn't the ghost of his twin's shadow. Matthew would have even thanked someone for being cruel to him, because that'd mean they had noticed him.

The quiet teen's musings were brought to a halt by the almost violent opening of his closet-like bedroom's door opening. The strong and proud silhouette of Alfred stood in the doorframe.

"Heya Matilda! Your rodent is whining at me and I dunno how to fix it, man. I mean I tried to feed it a Hot Pocket and it bit me!" Alfred continued to ramble at Matt, before being cut off in the middle of describing just how much hatred the 'beast' had for him.

"Al… Kuku isn't a rodent, he's a Chow. You know that. And can you just let him up here? He's probably just sick of having to fight with your devil cat for food."

"Hey! Rexy isn't a devil! She's a perfect baby who's never done anything wrong!" Alfred defended, but his argument fell on deaf ears. His cat had left 'surprises' in all of Matthew's shoes.

The soft voiced boy shooed his polar opposite out of the room, and called for his loyal companion. Gentle footsteps marked the entry of the small dog. It strutted over to it's owner's bed and made itself comfortable upon his food-giver's pile of pillows.

Matt let out a huff of frustration, "Why does Al have to be so, so… so him!" He flopped down onto the bed, and was met with a paw to the face by the miniature beardog.

AN: I'm back! Hopefully I'll upload more within a week or two. Comments and criticisms are greatly appreciated!