nonbeta
It's Called 'Love'
Chapter 4
By HamburgerWithTea
By the time I got home, my dad was still awake, but lucky for me, he was too dunk to even stand. I just quickly made it to my room in order to keep him from noticing me, at which I somewhat succeeded. Well, except for him yelling at me, insulting me and calling me names, only to release his anger. But that is the usual.
Right now I was sitting in my room, making sure not to make too much noise as I grabbed my headphones and a towel after I changed into more comfortable cloths. And dry ones.
I turned on my music, trying to shut myself away from the world around me. I always did so if I had to think for a bit, getting my thoughts ordered again. It would usually work pretty well, but today...
My mind kept wandering off to what Alfred had said. How could he have figured me out so soon, even though I didn't want to admit he was right. He seemed to be the only one able to break through my wall, and that's what makes him dangerous.
If he ever were to find out about my home-life, I'm sure he'd try doing something ridiculous, what he called 'heroic', to try and get me away from this life. No matter what I wanted. That's just the kind of guy he is; caring, yes, but also very impulsive and oblivious to other people.
I still like that about him though. I'd have never expected myself to get along with someone like him, but in the end it seemed he was one of my best friends. Maybe because I barely had any friends, but still, I felt safe with him, even though I shouldn't be.
I never really trusted people, even my own brothers, and therefore I was a bit scared of myself trusting someone this easily, but I couldn't keep myself form thinking of Alfred as a nice guy.
Very nice.
For some reason he kept lingering around in my head, always present, always there ready to pop up in my imagination when I had nothing else to do. And even if I did have something else to do.
I felt a small headache coming up after all the thinking and the busy day –teaching Alfred wasn't the easiest to do since the boy had such a shot attention span- and therefore I decided I'd better get some shut-eye.
Without even bothering to take of my headphones, I let myself fall backwards, dropping my head on my pillow. Without too much effort I could feel the sleepiness taking effect on me and soon my mind was wandering off to some far-away dreamland.
I woke up covered in cold sweat. I'd been dreaming quite peacefully, until I suddenly got a nightmare. I couldn't really remember what it was about, but I was pretty sure I wasn't able to fall asleep again tonight.
I looked at my clock, only to notice it was four in the morning. I'd barely slept for three hours.
I usually didn't sleep too well, but today was worse.
Suddenly I heard a sound of something falling and breaking on the floor downstairs, and I could tell it sounded very much like glass.
It couldn't be dad, could it?
My father usually wouldn't be awake at this hour, still sleeping from the alcohol, but maybe this night was different. He'd fallen asleep very early today, compared to an average time, so it wouldn't surprise me if he'd also wake up earlier then.
Deciding I'd better take a look before he'd hurt himself, I stumbled out of bed, downstairs and into the living room.
When I opened the door I could see three man standing in the middle of the room, wearing black clothes and a mast that covered the upper half of they face while they were surrounding a rather lifeless body on the ground. It seemed like the body on the ground belonged to my dad, and the sound of something falling had probably come from the big lamp that usually stood asides the sofa.
The three men were unknown for me.
I tried to make no sound as I stood there, watching at the scene in front of me, but I'd already failed as soon as I walked down the stairs.
As the three men heard a door open they all looked around, facing me.
They seemed to have some 'weapons' with them, such as pocketknives and a small plank of wood. They smiled at me with an evil grin.
I kept staring at them for a bit before one of the men, probably the leader, slowly walked towards me and started talking.
"Seems like your dad drank himself to a land of dreams, boy," he said, still grinning, "So, since he won't be able to receive our message like this, even when we tried to wake him up, we better leave the message to you,"
My mind started working by now. So these guys had a message for my father, right? This could become tricky…
"Well, boy, you see, your father is in dept with us. He'd promised us he'd pay us back by today, but he failed. We're nice, so we give him a little more time, but that will also mean it'll cost a little more,"
I stared at him, only after a few seconds whispering to him, "How much?". I decided I'd better keep this conversation as clear as possible, and get them out of the house as soon as possible.
"The usual," the man continued, "Ten thousand, English pound, buy the end of the month,"
I stared at him as if he were mad. Ten thousand? I'd never be able to get that amount together! What had my father even done to be in dept with them so bad? Were it drugs? It'd be really bad if it were, since then he –and therefore I- were in deep trouble.
"Next month, okay?" the guy said as a reminder, still grinning.
I nodded very little, it was barely noticeable, but it seemed like the man understood as he now walked off and gave a quick nod to his companions and as fast and silent as they came in, they also left, leaving me standing for a little more while thinking it all through.
This meant trouble, big trouble.
I was sure I wouldn't ever be able to make it by the end of the month, not even if I asked all my bothers and saved up as much as possible. And I couldn't let anyone notice either, I just couldn't. Not after all the effort I'd put into keeping it all a secret and working this out by myself.
If I could work all other things out by myself, this could work too, it had to.
I quickly remembered my dad as I saw him lying on the ground, motionless.
I walked towards him and turned him around, only to see he got a still-not-fully-swollen bruise on his cheek. Asides from that he seemed fine and he'd probably slept through all of it. Damn alcohol.
I put him back on the sofa with a bit of effort and then started to clean up the shattered lamp, still thinking of all kinds of things as thoughts were flashing through my mind.
This can't be real right? This only happens in films, right? Really dad, what did you get us into this time…
The rest of the night was restless for me, I kept thinking about solutions, but in the end, when the sun had already risen fully, I still didn't have a plan.
By now my dad started to wake up, and since I'd already taken a shower and ate my breakfast, I decided it was better for me to go out for a bit and walk around. I better don't tell him, he'd only be more worries and might even beat the shit out of me.
As I walked out of the door, my messenger bag packed with some books I borrowed from the library, a sketchbook with pencils and some food for the rest of the day, I once again thought of Alfred.
I don't know why but it felt like I wanted to see him, really bad.
I wasn't planning on telling him anything, no I better keep him from knowing this all, but for some reason his presence always made me think more positive.
But then again, how can I be sure that I keep my mouth shut? More then once I already had been telling him things I'd normally not tell people, and I had to most definitely keep him out of this.
It was bad enough it all happened to me, and it was pretty dangerous I could tell, but there was no reason for the oblivious git to get involved with it all.
Even without me doubting myself, I still wandered off towards the boy's house. I couldn't help it, it just happened.
I never really have been to the boy's house before, but he told me where he lived, and I remembered.
After a walk from about half an hour –yes the city was big and we lived pretty far away from each other- I stopped by a house with a nice-looking, baby-blue door and cream-coloured wooden panels on the side. The house seemed really peaceful and bright, as if nothing bad could ever happen around here.
I looked at it with amazement for a while, until I heard someone call my name.
"Hey, Artie!" I could hear form above my head. I looked up only to see bright blue eyes look at me from one of the windows.
It was Alfred, and he immediately made me feel happier…
/Author's Note/
Soooooooooo this was written ON HOLIDAY people (maybe that's why it's a small chapter?) XD though I didn't force myself, I was just feeling like it.
Wohoooooo omg poor Artie is in trouble! Lol I don't know where I got the idea from but it just wrote itself xD
Aww but he chose the his hero to kinda save him… only if he wont be so stubborn and just tell him already XD
But I still have too much fun having Artie being stubborn…
Soooooo you guys mind if there's parts written where Artie gets beaten up pretty bad? Since I can understand if some of you guys don't want to read it, but well, it's partly what fits witht eh plotline, right? But tell me if you like or dislike, since I can also just include it but put a warning up from where the part starts and then also where it ends, so you guys can skip it easily? Tell me :P
And omg I got some awesome idea im not gonna spoil you guys! XD hahah so mean
Okay so uuhm I don't know if I am gonna upload other chapters within this holiday, or even other fanfictions and all, so whatever, but just watch your inbox xD
So far I'm enjoying my holiday, and I've been visiting a lot of nice places. I'm really lucky to be here :D
Have a nice day, and really people, reviews are like tea. I LOVE THEM FOREVER.
Byeeee 3
I do not own Hetalia or the characters, those belong to their rightful (awesome) creator, Hidekaz Himaruya!
(07/09/11)
