Hey everyone~ Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately. I went through a rough patch with mild medical issues and school but the worst of it is behind me now. I intend to be updating one of my ongoing stories in the very near future! A couple if I can manage it.
Tapping
The air was crisp, wafting out in great puffs as Alfred breathed. It reminded him of the days when he had pretended to smoke using twigs on cold autumn mornings before he'd started with actual cigarettes. Pretending to be a dragon was more fun but that was something he still did.
All of the lights were off at the house and his keys jingled overly loud as he tugged them from his pocket. Once the door was open he paused, listening. The house was quiet. Mattie and dad had probably already gone to bed. He locked the door behind him, kicking his shoes off and wincing as one hit the wall with a thump. The house seemed to hold its breath along with Alfred. When Arthur didn't come down to yell at him for coming home so late Alfred relaxed.
A clicking sound made him pause until a golden Labrador came padding into the room. Quiet as always, particularly strange for a dog. Everyone said it made him useless but Alfred still loved him. The dog whined softly, wagging his tail. Alfred grinned and walked forward to pet his head. "Hey Charles. You're such a good boy, not giving daddy away! Come on, let's go to bed."
Making his way up to his room with Charles walking close behind, Alfred didn't even bother undressing as he collapsed into bed. Charles settled at the bottom of the bed, keeping his feet warm. Instead of falling straight asleep he found himself tossing and turning. Frustrated, he stared up at the ceiling, winding the two tangled chains he wore around his neck. Their heavy pendents felt weighty on his chest. This sucked, there was no reason he shouldn't be able to sleep.
Alfred turned towards the wall, blinking at it for a moment. He reached over and started to tap a rhythm against it. Shave and a haircut. Chances were Matthew was already asleep and wouldn't complete it. There was a pause of silence. As he'd figured. He'd just started to turn over when there was a faint tap tap: Two bits.
So Matthew was up! Alfred smiled and started to tap something new. It was a game they'd started when they had first gotten their own rooms. Lonely without each other's company but not willing to admit it, they'd started to tap back and forth to one another at night. They had even learned Morse code but these days their 'banter' generally consisted of trying to outdo one another with complicated patterns they tapped out. Sometimes it was repeat games, sometimes they had to finish what the first one started, at other times they just had to top the other. It was something they still hadn't grown out of even though it happened less frequently as they got older.
As the time crawled into almost an hour and their tapping became more and more intricate, Alfred found himself growing sleepy. He tapped out one final tune then let his hand fall away. Matthew tapped back and the room fell silent. Alfred was just about to fall asleep when the tapping came again. He frowned softly, tugging his covers up. A pause of silence usually sufficed as telling the other they were done playing.
Alfred ignored his brother and closed his eyes again. The tapping continued. Eyes opening to glare at the wall, Alfred grunted and tapped three times. They were slow, loud, and spaced out. That was their definitive way to let the other know they were done. It had been for a long time, almost since they first began. It should have stopped the tapping. It didn't.
Charles lifted his head, whining softly then letting out a soft huff and lowering his head again. Alfred could have gotten up to tell his brother that it was seriously time to stop but he was lazy and warm and overly irritated. Struggling with his jean pocket, Alfred tugged his cellphone out and dialed 'Mapleface'. It went directly to voice mail. Snorting in annoyance, Alfred dialed 'Dad' instead.
The phone rang a few times and then a peevish voice answered, "Do you even know what bloody time it is young man? If you're not dying in an alleyway somewhere I'll kill you myself!"
"Dad," Alfred immediately began to whine. "Matthew won't stop tapping on the wall and I'm trying to sleep. Make him stop!"
"Do you think you're being cute? Funny? Well you're not! Matthew isn't even here. You really thought that would work on me? Even if he was I'd expect you to take care of it yourself. You're not a child for God's sake! Now go to bed!"
Arthur hung up abruptly. Alfred was frozen in place, cellphone pressed to his ear. His teeth clenched together so hard it sent a dull ache through the left side of his jaw. A single sentence replayed itself again and again in his mind.
Matthew isn't even here.
Eyes wide, Alfred dared not turn his gaze anywhere but straight up at the ceiling. And all night long until the pre-dawn hours there was a faint tap tap tap against the wall.
