Alfred awoke to slivers of light filtering through a hardly shaded window. Sitting up, he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked through the thin, white linens partially blocking the forests scenery outside. After watching two squirrels fight over a walnut in a nearby tree, the boy's stomach began to growl ferociously. He patted it, grinning, and threw the down covers off, slipping onto the cool oak floor. He shivered. Then, as he put his hands around his shoulders, he realized he was still in his old clothes from the other night. He must have fallen asleep without changing. Wait. Alfred looked around, completely panicky, trying to take in his surroundings. Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, he felt his lip begin to quiver and his eyes blur with hot tears. How did it take him this long to realize he wasn't in the orphanage he once called home? An awful, terrible, disgusting home, but home none the less. Tears streamed down his cheeks and he fell to the ground with a pitiful thump. Okay, okay, okay, calm down. Think about some good things...He lifted his hands from his eyes and looked up. The bed's soft, he thought, poking the mattress. And it's...clean, I don't have any roommates, either. Alfred sniffed, beginning to stand up in his new confidence. "I bet there's a lot of good things if I look around," he whispered to himself.
With one hand he wiped the moisture from his face and stared at the white door ahead of him. He glanced through a crack in the doorway before taking his first steps down the long, brightly lit hallway. They're were no pictures on the walls, only the occasional window showing the trees and grass covered in morning dew. Alfred felt like he was in one of those scary stories hes room mates told to give him nightmares. He shook his head and pushed on. In only a few minutes he found a large room with a dark love seat and chair, partnered with their own fashionable lamps. A sitting room? He looked at the small coffee table holding one of the lamps. Walking over to it, he ran a finger over its surface and saw it hadn't a spot of dust. Does someone live here? He thought. His silent question was answered when he head a loud crash in another room, followed by cursing.
Cautiously, Alfred walked into a room that looked like a kitchen. Unlike the sitting room, the kitchen was a mess with pots and pans spread around, ingredients toppled and spilling across the granite counter top. Dumbfounded, he stood in the doorway. His raked the the scene until resting on a young man with his back turned to Alfred. He was cursing quietly, running his hands under the water at the sink without even noticing the small boy watching him. The man stopped, tuning the water off, drying his hands on a towel with a sigh. Alfred stood silent, afraid of the strange and new environment. Taking acknowledgment to the other presence, the man turned around to see the other trembling.
"Oh, um, good morning Alfred. Are you well?" He said softly, a kind smile gracing his lips. Alfred raised eyebrows at how this complete stranger knew his name. But, apparently, there was an answer for that too. "I'm Arthur, you new brother."