Disclaimer: I don't own the characters
The Lonely and The Mental
Chapter One: In the beginning all was good
It was a hot summer day. It was the perfect day to go out and swim in one of the many refreshing lakes that could be found in one of Britain's colonies: Upper Canada. Unfortunately, 10 years old Ivan Braginsky did not have the time to do so for he was working as a gardener for a rather wealthy man.
He and his sisters had moved into this land of 'opportunity' not just because they want to be more financially successful by starting a farm of their own, but also because nobody knew them. Well to be more accurate. It was because nobody knew who Ivan was; nobody knows what he had done. That was the main reason they had moved to this place.
Anyways, when they did arrive they found out that farming the land here would be very difficult. One would need a lot of man power to clear the land of the humungous trees and even out the land to make it more suitable for farming. Ivan was the only man in their small family and even though he was bigger than an average 10 years old he would not be able to clear that forestry piece of land before winter. They wouldn't be able to survive through the winter which is from what Ivan heard was as harsh as the winters in Russia.
Luckily a rich man by the name Arthur Kirkland, after hearing what the predicament their small family was in, Mr. Kirkland had been kind enough to offer for them to stay a small cottage near his house and gave Ivan a job as a gardener. His sister Yakatriena would have taken the job of being a maid but Ivan had refused to take care of his little sister Natalia.
Since that accident his little sister had started to distance herself away from him. Once she had clung to him every chance she got but now she looked at him with fear in her eyes and ran away from him every time he tried to approach her. Even Yakatriena acted cold towards him. Though he only did what he did to save them they now viewed him as a monster. He decided that it was better to give them time away from him and what better reason should he have to spend time away from them other than work?
The cottage was small but at least they had somewhere to stay warm in during the cold months. As there was not much gardening to during winter Mr. Kirkland offered Ivan another job. He was to be the playmate of his son. The man had said that they were roughly the same age and that it would be extremely helpful since his son could not really go out and make friends.
Ivan tried to argue with his broken English that he would not be the best of choice to be a playmate not just because of the fact that he seemed to scare of other children because of the abnormal colour of his eyes but because he could not speak the English language very well. The man had just brushed it off and said
"My son would be more than glad to teach you at least now he would have somebody to talk to". Ivan had no other choice but to accept the offer, after all beggars can't be choosers.
Ivan wiped the sweat off his forehead with the towel on his neck. Today was his first day at work and he was surprisingly enjoying it. He had always loved to warmth summer had to offer and the fact that he could get away from the suffocating silence at home made him really happy. As the boy toiled away in the garden heard the sound the squeaking.
The squeaking got louder and louder and then suddenly halted. The boy looked up and saw that at the top of the stairs that led to the garden, a frail looking kid with blond hair sitting in a wheelchair, but what really caught his attention were the other boy's eyes with the same unnatural colour as his. It wasn't just the colour that was similar... he thought as he examined the boy's eyes. His eyes held same loneliness that Ivan saw whenever he looked upon a mirror.
"Are you my new playma-." The boy didn't finish his question as he stared at Ivan's eyes.
"Y-you- I-I... we have the same colour of eyes..." The boy looked as astonished him.
"D-da..." was all the Russian boy could say.
"What?" the boy tilted his head in confusion. Ivan was going to tell the other boy that that meant yes but was interrupted as Mr. Kirkland came in panting behind his son. Once the man had caught his breath he looked at the boy.
"Now Matthew what did I say about going that fast!" The boy called Matthew looked down to his lap and mumbled.
"To not do it because I could get hurt"
"That's right. You better not do it again young man."
"Yes sir..." and with that the older man turned his gaze Ivan.
"So Ivan, I see that you have started working and quite well." The Englishman looked around his garden and smiled. "You would go quite far lad, if you keep working this hard."
Ivan nodded and tried to exchange morning pleasantries with his employer to the best of his ability but was only able to say good morning. The man just gave him a smile and waved to Ivan to come closer. Ivan was now just a foot away from the boy.
"Ivan I would like to meet my son, Matthew."
Ivan once again looked at the boy and saw a shy smile on his face. Then he noticed something, the boy's eyes where a darker shade of purple than his.
"G-good morning Ivan..." said the blonde boy as he looked down and started to fiddle with the hem of his well tailored shirt.
"Good morning." Was his short reply to the boy.
Ivan didn't know what else to say. Oh he understand most of the stuff these English people were saying but usually his sister was the one who handled speaking to people since she knew more how to speak English than he did and even if he did know how to speak that language he wouldn't know what to say anyways because he just did not like talking to people in general.
Matthew tugged at his father's sleeve and asked.
"Is that all he can say? Oh and he also said 'Da' what does that mean?"
Arthur crouched down beside his son and said.
"Well, Matthew Ivan has just come to Canada from Russia so can't speak our language that well so you would have to teach him. Also he is our new gardener-."
"But I thought he was my new playmate!"
"Matthew it's rude to interrupt." he said, gently scolding his son. The look down his lap again and mumbled an apology.
"Now where was I... Oh yes! He is our new gardener and your new playmate. Well at least during winter or when he doesn't have much work to do in the garden."
Both boys turned to each other and felt that their life would never be the same. Matthew held out his hand to the other boy and Ivan stepped closer to shake it.
A lonely boy stuck in a chair for the rest for his life and lonely boy fear by his family, both had had silence as their companion for some time. One would assume that it would be the start of a beautiful friendship but let me tell you now that there would nothing but betrayal and misery in store for them in this little story.
Tbc.
