Awaken by the sun, he lie there in the small room looking over to his brother. The smallest smile adorned his pale face as he watch the smaller boy look so relaxed. It was rare to see such a thing. It was only a matter of time before the calmness would be ruined.
Still, he took in as much as he could before time ran out. When it did, all hell broke loose. The door slammed open making both boys jump up. The calm atmosphere shredded by the sound. Heavy footsteps made their way towards the two boys. Fear starting to fill them. They knew what was coming next.
The older of the two pushed himself forward. He was ready to take the hit. Never, did he want his brother to be hurt. He braced himself. Luckily, today was one of those days where they were simply ignored. As soon as the door closed and the man was gone the elder of the two sighed in relief and turned to his brother.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine...Gil?"
"What?"
"I had a nightmare again."
"Oh Luddy..." Gil hugged his brother to comfort him. "Do you want to talk about it?" He felt his brother nod.
"It was about mom and dad." Gil stroked his brother's head to ease him. All he could really think of was of their parents. It was an understatement to say that he missed them. It seems like forever ago that waking up everyday wasn't a chore. Only a year has passed. A year full of bruises, cuts, breaks, and so much more. His only purpose for living by this point was his brother. He had to protect him.
There was no way to escape how things were. He was stuck with having to grow up for his brother.
"Let's get ready to go to school. Alright?"
"Okay."
School wasn't the best thing. In fact, he could barely concentrate. There was too much on his mind. Because such of a thing, he was always alone. No one wanted to be near him and he didn't want to be near anyone.
He lived in constant fear of people. It wasn't always that way, but things change with time.
"Gilbert!" He snapped out of thought and found the teacher looking down at him.
"What?"
"I asked you if you had a partner."
"No."
"Okay, then you will be partners with Francis."
"Okay." He looked over to the blond boy standing next to the teacher. He hated partner activities. He felt as if talking was a waste of time. There was already so much to worry about that talking felt meaningless.
"Hello."
"What are we doing? I wasn't paying attention."
"Read the story and talk about it."
"Again?"
"How many times has you done this?"
"Four times in the last few days. It's annoying."
"Want to mess around?"
"I don't think we should."
"We're basically don't with the activity, so there's no reason that we can't." Gilbert stared at Francis for a moment. Many different thoughts flowing through his head.
"You have a point."
The rest of the day was spent with Francis. It was odd to think that someone wanted to talk to him and that he was actually having fun talking. This was actually one of the best he had in a very long time. He was extra happy when, after school, he saw that Ludwig had a good day too.
He dreaded the fact that he would have to go home. At least he made a friend.