Alfred might appear a little OOC but, seriously, trust me. Just give it a few chapters!
I wanted to write another mystery fic but instead it turned into a horror fic and I just decided to go with it. Anyway, I'll explain why Alfred might appear 'whimpy' at the end of this chapter.
Until then, ENJOY!
I woke up to a grey sky like any other usual day. Ever since Mattie had been placed in the asylum everything had seemed grey, banal and sad. I missed my twin, he was my last family, the one to keep me grounded, my best friend and so many more things that would take much too long to enumerate.
About two years ago, I had done something completely horrible resulting in Mattie's entry to the asylum. I was up to one of my usual plans seeking adventure or merely excitement no matter how dangerous the activity, but Mattie tried to stop me as he usually did to keep me from getting hurt. My brother was always very worrisome and thought everything I perceived as perfectly safe perfectly dangerous, naturally, I'd try to reassure him and get him to stand back a little just in case something did happen. This time was different; he insisted on it being much too dangerous and came up after me.
We were in a junkyard; I was on top of a large mountain of junk reaching for the hook of a large construction machine that I thought much heavier than me. My goal was to exercise a little but more specifically climb onto the machinery and look at the world from that height.
Mattie was about halfway up when I finally managed to grab the hook and begin pulling myself up. He was yelling at me, telling me to come down before I hurt myself, that if I fell there was nothing to cushion my fall, but I didn't listen to him when I should.
I managed to pull myself on the arm of the machine and wobbly stand on the very edge gazing at the world. Seeing as I could only see a few mountains of garbage and the setting sun in the horizon, the world was shown to me as trash.
"Trash Mattie! That's all there is to the world!" I told him as he finally managed to reach the top, "It's never going to get better for us. The world is too mean."
"Alfred get down!" He insisted demandingly.
I ignored him as I ignored the sudden shift resonating through the broken machine, "What are we supposed to do, do you think?" I asked my voice seemingly booming through the world, "How are orphans meant to live in a world filled with trash!"
"Alfred! It's dangerous get down!"
"The answer is simple, we need to clean it!" I practically yelled, "We need to clean it because no one else will! By cleaning it we'll save it and everyone will thank us! We'll be rich, heroes and we'll never have to search through trash for food ever again!"
"Alfred!"
I paused before looking at Mattie for what might as well have been the last time, "It'll be wonderful! I promise!"
This time the machine shifted drastically almost making me fall off. While I managed to keep my balance, the machine continued to tilt forward threatening to crush all beneath it. Mattie was beneath it.
"Mattie move!" I yelled anxiously.
However, it was far too late, in a swift motion propelling me off, the machine collapsed onto the pile of garbage crushing Mattie. Luckily, for us, there was a man still on duty in the junkyard who immediately called an ambulance and came to help. He told me that he wasn't going to tell the police that I was trespassing since I had obviously learned my lesson and wasn't going to do it again but that if Mattie didn't make it, it would be on my head.
Mattie was shipped over to the hospital immediately in the intensive care unit; I stayed awake in the hospital for two days since they wouldn't let me see him. On the dawn of the second day, the hours of missed sleep were having their effect and I was dozing off. Just as I was about to succumb to inevitable sleep, a nurse came to see me to guide me to my brother.
We used the elevator to reach the floor on which my brother was situated but what surprised me the most was that it was a restricted area. The nurse inserted a key to unlock the button and pressed it guiding us to the thirteenth floor. Once the doors had opened, screams of insanity were exposed to me, as were mumbles from the lost. I didn't like this floor, or this place, it scared me and I wondered why they had brought Mattie to this floor.
"Room 13?" I asked a small smile forming, "That's a little ironic."
It was only made evident to me years later that the nurse had tried to force a smile on her face but truly pitied me for I didn't understand the meaning of what was going on.
I was let into the room where I found Mattie with a bandage around him head staring blankly outside the window.
"Here he is," The nurse said softly as if not to bother my brother, she grabbed my arm and leaned into my ear to whisper, "He doesn't remember a thing."
I freed my arm and gave her an incredulous look, "That's stupid; I bet he's just scared." I laughed, "Isn't that right Mattie? It's okay now, your big bro is here to protect you and take you home!"
Mattie hadn't moved an inch, not even at the sound of his name. I was confused and refused to believe the truth that was thrown into my face. I looked from my brother to the nurse who could only express the sadness she felt for me through body features.
"He's probably tired, you guys spent two days working on fixing him," I shrugged off and walked to Mattie's bedside. "You wanna rest bro?"
I was right next to him and yet, no twitch, no acknowledgement, no nothing.
"He's probably mad at me," I decided slowly reaching to touch him, "I'm sorry Mattie I won't ever—"
With a swift movement Mattie slapped my arm away and pushed me, "Don't touch me! I don't have any money okay!"
I had been so shocked he caused me to fall on the floor. Mattie glared at me for a few more seconds before calming down, sitting straight and staring outside the window again.
The nurse moved over to pick me up and brought me out of the room to explain.
"You seemed a little dense so I wanted you to see for yourself what had happened," she began softly as she bent down slightly to my level. "I don't know what you boys were up to or how this happened but the crash of the machine cause your brother's skull to crack and a small fragment of bone to stab into the part of the brain where the memory is contained."
She gave me a minute to take in everything and try to decipher what she meant on my own. When I nodded, she continued.
"Your brother was supposed to die but, by some miracle performed by our doctors, he still lives," she explained gazing into the room where my brother still absentmindedly gazed out the window, "Your brother has lost his memory, as I said before, and the doctors think it to be permanent. However, miracles do occur but area very, very rare. If you share a tight bond with your brother, he may remember you eventually but don't count on it."
"Is that the reason why Mattie thinks I want his money?" I asked my eyes permanently locked on my beloved brother.
"Partially," she admitted. There was a moment of silence where the nurse was trying to build up the nerve to tell me the next part of Mattie's situation. She needed me to encourage her to tell me before resuming, "the brain is a complex organ, just like the eyes, the way information is stocked has yet to be revealed clearly. The doctors believe that the part of bone that stabbed into your brother's brain may have affected his sanity."
"I…I don't get it…" I mumbled worriedly finally looking at the nurse.
"The boy you once knew as your brother is not sitting in that room." She finally said motioning the room we were just in moments ago.
The memory fogs up at that point. I remember telling her that she was exaggerating, that Mattie was still the same and running into the room to prove it to her. I grabbed Mattie's arm and he threw a fit and started screaming like all the other patients on the floor, even after I released him. Soon after a bunch of doctors flooded the room to restrain Mattie and force him to sleep with some liquid in a needle.
Later that day, after the nurse talked to me calmly again to get me to understand that things could always kept better if I kept believing they would and simply cheering me up, I asked to take Mattie home with me. I was told that he was not yet in a condition to leave the hospital and was then asked my age. When I admitted I was only sixteen but turning seventeen soon, she regretfully told me that I wasn't old enough to bring my brother home with me.
I begged, I cried, I screamed, I yelled, I promised, I did everything I thought of that could give me a chance to bring my brother home with me. More doctors came to see me and try to control me but I wouldn't allow it. Finally, they had to throw me out of the hospital for causing too much of a scene but that kind nurse wouldn't leave me before I knew what was to happen to Mattie.
"We're going to transfer him into the asylum where he will be taken care of by professionals." She informed kindly, "it's located just outside of town since the folks in here feel uncomfortable at the idea of people considered insane and potentially dangerous living amongst them."
She explained that there was a shuttle that came from the hotel and went to the asylum I could take to visit Mattie everyday since it was free of cost. Afterwards she wished me safety and left to go home as I left to do the same.
Everyday, I visited Mattie and refused to feel discouraged when he didn't remember me or freaked out because he thought I was a baddie. Eventually, he remembered me and didn't fear me, but being me was the only thing he remembered. No memories of us had ever returned to his memory but I was glad that at least I had returned to him.
I got off the broken bed I had gotten and cleaned difficultly from the same junkyard where the incident had taken place, it was very close to home but that time I had made sure to be safe. I stripped from my torn pyjama bottom since I couldn't find a top to go with it and put on some decent clothes I made sure to clean every day.
I went to the bathroom and noticed the amount of spiders on the ceiling had grown considerably and that I would have to kill them all when I'd come back home. I leaned my head over the broken sink and opened the faucet. The only water I had access to was cold and clean but I used it to my advantage in every way that I could. I soaked my hair with it and grabbed my pyjama bottom to dry up. I then put the pyjama bottom into the sink and filled it up with water to let it soak away all the gunk that had accumulated, when I'd get home I'd use the remaining soap bar to clean it properly and leave it to dry.
Quickly, I returned to my room, minding the hole in the floor, and searched the petty drawer for the hairbrush. I returned to the bathroom and stared into the glass fragment to fix my hair decently.
When I finished, I threw the hairbrush aside and carefully made my way down the rotten staircase, I reckoned that I would need to find a way to replace them soon. I put my shoes on and exited the house without eating a thing. I turned back to face the filth I called home and felt desolated. Life as a homeless person was hard but I was blessed to find a shelter that I didn't take for granted, no matter the crummy state.
Since I couldn't afford public transportation at the moment, I simply walked to the hospital which took about an hour and a half and got on the shuttle to the asylum. The driver greeted me and I sat in the front for a decent conversation with someone besides the receptionist and my brother.
"How's your brother doing?" He asked with a thick jersey accent.
"Just fine, his situation hasn't progressed much but I'm keeping hope!" I replied with forced enthusiasm.
"Oh! Before I forget," The driver bent to the left side of his seat to pick up something and extended it to me, "Happy 19 birthday, Alfred."
I was astonished that he remembered for I did not. "Thank you…" I stuttered surprised. I opened the bag where laid the gift only to find a wad of money, "O-oh wow…thank you so much…but I can't accept this…"
"Don't be so modest," the driver insisted, "I know how hard life is to you, this is the least I can do. Besides, this isn't coming from my pocket, no, my ex owed me some cash and I figured I'd give a fraction to you."
"Wow…How much did she owe you?" I asked dumbfound.
"Let's just say she's a greedy bitch."
The subject soon changed as the bus began to move since all the ones who were waiting for the shuttle seemed to be on board. We talked about a little more merry things to brighten up the mood and, although everyone on board was rather gloomy, hearing us talk and joke made some of them snicker and brighten their day.
Twenty minutes later, just on schedule, the large, tall gates of the asylum were seen and silence dominated the shuttle. They slowly opened with a sickening creak that I had never gotten used to. Every time it felt as if I was travelling through the gates of hell and I was positive I wasn't the only one to feel that way.
Thick greenery cut the view of the asylum itself for a few more minutes but not much could contain the view of those depressing, grey, prison like walls.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the asylum." The driver announced.
So for those who didn't click on the reason Alfred is acting so out of it and un...well America-like and stuff is cuz he feels so guilty and horrible about the thing that the only thing he can think about is what he did to his bro.
Anyway, the old America we all know and love will come back eventually but, until then, SEE YOU NEXT CHAPTER!
