As I hear the running footsteps outside my door, I brace myself for the onslaught. I can't let my guard down around him. Quickly, I lie down on the couch, thinking that it might deflect him away from me.
The door bursts open," ARTHUR!" he yells," Guess what I found!"
"Nice to see you Alfred," I say with mock happiness as I stand up," so glad you could come. Oh, don't bother knocking."
He stares at me for a few seconds with a puzzled expression. I sigh," What'd you find?"
"A way out!" He says happily.
It doesn't register completely in my head," A…. what?"
"A way out! You know, from the Underworld!" his eager eyes bore into me.
"I don't have time for your jokes," I say.
He takes on a pained expression," Why would I joke about something like this? It's only the way back up there!" he points to the ceiling.
"Alfred, listen to me for a second. We," I motion to the two of us," are dead. Completely. Forever. Irreversible. They told us when we got here that the only place to go is up further than life."
He stares at me," You make it sound like you don't wanna be alive again."
"Maybe I don't."
His jaw drops," You can't be serious. You can't be! Everyone down here dreams of being alive!"
"We can't sleep."
"You know what I mean! Why in the world would you want to stay down here, where the only thing to do is wait." He pulls open the curtains to my apartment. Outside, the dull, bleak replica of New York City is quiet. Not even a breeze is allowed out there. "It's Hell."
"Look, maybe you still have some of that youthful optimism, but I know that this is where I need to be." I tell him.
"Youthful?" he says, obviously confused.
"Well, you never did ask! I died in the 1950s! Now I don't care about the 'way out' or whatever it is you found, but I don't care!" I don't know why I snapped. I guess it's just that in the two years since his death, Alfred never once asked about me. And yet I know all about him.
"You… really… well, I'm sorry but, now you can live again!"
"You really don't get it! I've accepted that I'm never going back! Everyone else I knew is already dead and gone, probably in some far forsaken corner of this place! I don't want to go back without them!"
"Maybe you like living in a place where the aches and pains never go away!" Alfred yanks his shirt off, revealing the bullet wound across his heart. The one that will never heal. "I'm stuck like this for the rest of eternity! How do you think I feel!"
"All you have to do is wait." I say, feeling like the Eye of the Storm. "All you have to do is wait until you understand your sins and-"
"And then you get to ascend into Heaven, where all will be well and blah, blah blah!" he says in a baby voice. "That'll take forever! Maybe you can wait, but I just want to be free again!"
"Can't you see that it won't be real? Why can't you see that there is no way out! You're stuck here, I'm stuck here and we both will be for a very long time!"
His face pales, and I get the feeling that this is the first time that he's thought about it. "Well fine! I'm sorry I wanted to get out of here with –"He cuts off abruptly and runs back out the door. I finally let the tears out. They don't stop for a long time.
I'm sitting on the bluff on the outskirts of the faux New York. I come here a lot just to think. I found it right after I died and it just feels… safe. I sigh. I wish I could take back some of what I said to him. He just doesn't get it, what I've been through.
Suddenly, I'm tackled by someone from behind. I toss my attacker off of my and whirl around, expecting to see Ivan, or maybe Gilbert. But I relax when I see the small kid with the sailor's outfit standing behind me.
"Peter, you can't sneak up on me like that!" I say exasperatedly.
"But I had too! Otherwise you would have left!" He protests. His short blond hair sticks out awkwardly from under his hat. Peter's an orphan of the Underworld. Either he died apart from his parents, or they already moved on and went to Heaven. I don't know which, but I kind of look after him. When I can find him….
"What do you want?"
"You don't have to be a meany about it…" Peter whines," I didn't hit you that hard. I just wanted to know why you yelled at Auntie." Don't ask me why, but he calls Alfred "Auntie"
"It's… complicated." I say," He just did something stupid. As usual."
"But he just wanted you to be happy!" Peter says as he climbs onto my lap.
"How do you know all this?" I ask him suspiciously.
"I listened through the walls!" he says cheerfully. I stare at him for a few seconds in silence. He turns around and hugs me," I didn't mean to! It just happened. You were really loud."
"I'm not mad at you, I'm just-"I start to respond, but Peter shoves a lollypop into my face.
"Here you go," He says," to feel better." The lollypop is covered in lint and has a bite taken out of it.
"I'll save it for later," I say, taking the lollypop and putting it in my pocket. Peter smiles really big.
"So why were you mad at Auntie when he likes you?" Peter says.
"What!" Peter doesn't like me!" I protest.
"Yeah he does. Cause one time when Francis was teaching me how to get da ladies, we were at a bar and Alfred was drinking beer and he said that he likes you!"
"It wasn't beer, it was…. Happy water," I say quickly, making a mental note to kill Francis. "And I'm sure you misheard him."
"Nopes, he likes you. That's why he wants to leave with you!" Peter says cheerfully.
"He… he can't like me! We're just friends!" I protest, trying to explain things to an eight year old.
"He wuvs you very much. He just wants to be together…" Peter says," And you two'll leave here and go live happily ever after!" Peter lets out a squeal. "Oops! I forgot about my date with Wy! Bye Arthur!" He jumps down off the rock and runs off. How does that kid know all this stuff!
My thoughts on the downwards spiral that is Peter is interrupted when Alfred steps out from behind a rock. "Do… do you really not like me that much?" he says loudly.
"Arthur! How the heck did you get here!"
"I followed you… duh. Answer the question! Why do you hate me!"
"I love you, idiot!" I blurt out and the silence that follows is deafening.
"You… like me?" Alfred says, stunned.
"Always have." I say, looking away to hide the blush staining my cheeks.
"Um… wow, that's… awesome!" Alfred yells as he jumps forwards and hugs me, pressing my body into his. I tense up at first, but quickly relax into the warmth.
"So why wouldn't you come with me?" he asks quizzically.
"It's… complicated. I just didn't want to … well, you know, die again!" I say.
"Dying isn't that bad. Heck, all I felt was a stinging, then I woke up here."
"Well I fell in front of a train. I felt every bit of it." I say sharply.
Alfred is shocked," Why didn't you tell me this!"
"I didn't think I had to," I say, a little embarrassed by his reaction.
"Well, it doesn't matter now," Alfred says.
"Why not?"
"I decided that I didn't want to leave without you, so I told Feli and Ludwig about it and then while they were leaving, Feli did something and the entire tunnel was blocked off and-" but he's cut off by me throwing my arms around him and kissing him. It's a nice kiss, possible the best kiss I've ever had.
When we break it, Alfred asks," Why now?"
"You gave up a second chance for me," I say and I kiss him again," I can't believe you'd do that, you moron." As we break the second kiss, there's a flash of light and when it fades, a golden staircase has appeared, leading up into the sky.
"Is that what I think it is?" Alfred asks.
"Gate of Heaven," I say," I take it we're allowed to ascend now."
Alfred laughs," Well duh." I glare at him and he stifles the laugh, with limited success. After he gains control of himself, he makes an exaggerated bow," Heaven awaits, my beloved." I laugh and I take his extended hand as we walk up the stairs.