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3.
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Matthew decides to meet Alfred at his work place when it comes close to the end of his shift. Alfred doesn't mind; today is no that busy and the café is empty enough that he can even take his last break while sitting at his brother's table.
"So I thought we should make a list of things that we know," Matthew says and pulls out a spiral notebook from the backpack he's brought. "Which isn't really much-"
"No shit."
"Way to keep positive."
"I try."
"But yeah, anyway-"
"Well…."
Again, Alfred interrupts, but he also trails off. He isn't quite sure what he can say. He hadn't been pessimistic in agreeing to not knowing much. It is the truth.
"The little dolls I picked up," he says. "I'm pretty sure they have something to do with it. That seems pretty obvious."
Matthew jots his words down. He pauses for a brief moment and taps the point of his pen against the paper.
"Do you think that maybe you should just get rid of the dolls?" he asks. "Don't you think that would stop everything?"
"See, I thought about that, but honestly? I dunno. 'Cos like when you get down to it this is a classic horror movie scenario. And what happens when things are just tossed aside like that would help anything?"
"What?"
Alfred slams his hand on the table. "Shit gets worse! The only way to stop the mystery is to solve the mystery."
"And this mystery is the missing people?"
"I guess. I mean, the kid we know for sure is a missing person. The other dude, I don't have idea who he was."
"Same with the girl. But hey, she did say something about finding someone though. Or wanting to find someone-"
"The kid!"
Matthew waves away Alfred's enthusiastic reply. "Nah, couldn't be the kid. She was dressed totally retro not just like, ten years ago vintage. Do you remember the pictures dad showed us of mom's Woodstock phase?"
"So she was a hippie?"
"Well…. yeah I guess so."
"So who could she be looking for?"
Matthew shrugs. "Who's the next doll that went missing?"
"You think?"
"Maybe? There may be a chance we'll find out when we go looking."
"True that." Alfred pauses their conversation to check his watch. "Alright I'm back on the clock. I got like a half hour left then we can go. You cool with waiting for me? You want anything to eat or anything?"
"I'm good. I'm just gonna write stuff down and probably give up somewhere to study."
"You're such a nerd," Alfred teases but Matthew only laughs as he's left alone at the table.
'When Alfred does get off from his shift, he changes from his work clothes in the bathroom and from there, they both head on to the library. It's the first time Alfred's set foot in the city library honestly. Without reason to do so, it's unsurprising, but Matthew appears to be familiar. Apparently he's spent some time here despite having access to the library on campus.
Naturally, he follows Matthew around as they look for what could be city archives holding newspapers or micro film, anything that may help them in their search for the people that have been showing themselves. In the end, Alfred elects to have the librarian help them, and after a few minutes of waiting in line are directed to a basement where everything is that they need.
Both brothers find themselves huddled over one of the large leather bound books filled with pages and pages of yellowed newspaper. Looking through them all, they had found those belonging to the mid-90's and it takes both of them keeping a sharp eye to isolate the actual year they're looking for.
They do find it, and what they find Matthew records as Alfred reads out every bit of information he can find.
His name is Raivis Galante, and he has been missing since the 15th of June in 1995 at age 15. The article he reads describes him as a quiet, hard-working student, one that mostly kept to himself and was liked well enough by his class. He had gone missing overnight from his home, no signs of forced entry on any of the doors or windows. There had been speculation of him leaving the house on his own, and as the articles begin to lessen and lessen, the more it seem as if the neighborhood began to believe that what had come to happen.
"So they just quit looking for him?" Alfred asks and is honestly a little disturbed with the result.
"It's not unusual," Matthew says while writing all of this down. "C'mon, how many missing kids are there every year? How many actually are found? And alive at that?"
He's not wrong, but it still leaves a sour taste in Alfred's mouth. They exhaust what they've found on Raivis, what comes next is the ghost that showed himself to Alfred the night after.
"He said something weird though," he tells Matthew. "Like, okay so Raivis was crying about his parents, and the girl you said was looking for someone, but he wasn't talking about any of that."
"What did he say?"
"I don't really remember. Something about someone else though. Like someone was watching, or something like that. I dunno, I was just thinking about calling you as soon as possible."
Matthew gives him a steady stare and quickly asks for him to describe the man. Alfred does so, as well as the clothes he had been wearing as that really is the only clue they have to finding out when it was he went missing. For all they search though, they find nothing in the newspapers. The library only keeps so many and in the end they're destined for cramming themselves together to view the microfilm.
Matthew takes control in the speed they search, leaving Alfred to warn him if they pass by important information.
"Wait!" Alfred shouts. "Right there, go back!"
Matthew does and Alfred taps the screen.
"There he is, that's him!"
The date is marked April 23rd 1983, and on the bottom half of the front page is a small portrait of the man Alfred had seen. His name is Eduard von Bock, a 21 year-old college student who had gone missing from campus, the very same one Matthew now attends. He had been well known in his major as one that would lead through the revolution of technological advancements, and his disappearance did not go by unnoticed.
"What would they have in common?" Matthew asks.
"What d'you mean?"
"I mean, what do these two have in common that would have them both involved in the same situation?"
"Um, the dolls. I'm pretty sure we went over this."
"Yes, I know the dolls, but how? How did they get them Alfred? Eduard von Bock disappears from his college dorm room in 1983 that is twelve years before Raivis Galante goes missing from his bedroom in 1995. How did he get the dolls?"
Alfred can't answer that. He just doesn't know.
"In any case, we should find out where they come from," Matthew says and continues to scan back through the years after finishing his notes.
"I'll take over now," Alfred says, and their positions reverse. "Was the girl you say dressed like more 70's or more 60's?"
"I don't know much about the time period to be honest."
"C'mon Mr. Music Major, think about when the hippie shit was big. When would that have been?"
"Definitely before disco hit. 60's."
"Alright then, flashback to the 60's."
Just in case though, Alfred did keep a steady pace that could have both of them notice a missing person's article. There had been a few but none of them being the girl they were looking for. When they do find her, they're surprised to see that she's not alone.
There are two pictures, side by side, one of the girl Matthew recognizes smiling at the camera and another young man with a slight pomp style to his hair staring at the camera with a slight frown. They can only see his white collared shirt and suspenders in the picture.
"July 28th 1965, 17 year-old Elizabeth Hedervary reported missing after spending the night with friends in a local commune," Matthew reads. "Family is frantically searching for their daughter and believe that her disappearance is tied with that of 17 year-old Gilbert Beilschmidt, gone missing just one month prior."
Both twins go quiet. Both simply stare at the screen.
"So that's who she was looking for then," Matthew says.
"Has to be."
"So he's gonna be next?"
"Yeah… most likely."
They do go back one month previous, and like before, Matthew writes down everything relevant to Gilbert Beilschmidt. Though after doing this, they both realize that they're at a loss of what to do now. Neither one of them had really taken a good look at the dolls in Alfred's apartment. In any case, though it hasn't seemed like so much time has passed, they've been trapped in the library's basement for hours already. They both decide to call it a day.
Matthew invites Alfred to his place. He turns down the invitation, he needs to look at the dolls himself after all.
"I might even try checking out the internet by myself or something," Alfred says. "See what all the hub's about that's got you plugged in 24/7."
"Keep talking, I'll make you walk home."
Alfred's only reply is to laugh, but he drops the subject and they both clean up their mess and head out. When Matthew does drop him off at home, he asks Alfred if he wants the notebook to write things down in. That he takes, and with a final goodbye heads for his apartment.
Just like before, the moment Alfred walks into his apartment the temperature is cold enough for him to feel as if he's just walked into a freezer. But he does know what to expect, so with that at least he's not as nervous or apprehensive about the whole thing. Still… it does take him some time to build up the courage to actually step inside.
He looks towards his living room, expecting the next ghost to show himself there, but finds nothing. He closes the door behind him and drops his backpack to the floor. He turns towards the door to his bedroom and jumps. Standing there is Gilbert Beilschmidt in his collared shirt, suspenders, and rolled slacks. He stands with his arms crossed across his chest and sad eyes pointed at him.
"I don't know if you've seen her yet," he says and his voice is small. "But if you haven't, tell her I'm sorry. Tell her I am so sorry."
Any kind of fear just melts away from him. Instead, a pang of sadness overwhelms him, and Alfred feels even more inclined to help.
"I.. I already saw her," Alfred stutters out. "Elizabeth. I already saw her. She's already gone."
Heartbreak. That's the only way he can describe the look that over takes the teen in front of him.
"Right, yeah," he says. "Figures."
"What's happening?" Alfred rushes out to ask. "What happened to both of you?"
All of a sudden it's as if a sense of true urgency over takes him. Gilbert throws his arms down to his sides and stares Alfred down.
"He picks and chooses ya know," he tells him. "It didn't have to be me. They weren't even mine!"
"Who picks and chooses?" Alfred asks. "Who are you talking about? What's happening?"
Gilbert opens his mouth to reply, but he's unable to say anything. Right in front of him, Gilbert is dragged from the back of his shirt by an unseen force. He's taken into Alfred's bedroom and the door slams shut behind him. Alfred chases after him immediately. He struggles with the doorknob and he even slams his body against the door. But when he does make it into his room, there's no one there.
Alfred slams his hand against the doorframe, totally pissed.
"Fucking…. Fuck!" he shouts and storms back to his living room.
He picks up the notebook and writes down everything that has just happened. As he does he can feel the hair on his arm stand on end. He doesn't deny feeling as if there is something watching him, but whether or not it's all of those who he's already seen or those he has yet to see (or even the cause of all of their misery) he doesn't allow himself to recognize. It'll throw him off, and right now he can't have that.
When he finishes writing, he brings the notebook with him as well as the little wooden dolls that started all this over to his often neglected desk and sits in front of his own computer.
He needs to do a little more research of his own.
xxx
-i've actually had this completed for months but i lost the notebook it was written in for months
-soo...
