Chapter 6

Author's notes: So why shouldn't Arthur answer the door while Ivan's away? Care to find out?

Arthur: To be honest, no, I don't.

Me: Oh hush, of course you do. *pats his back*

Arthur: No, I don't.

Ivan: Then listen to me for once and don't go to the door.

Arthur: NEVER! I do what I want!

Me and Ivan: *facepalm*

Arthur's POV

My neck was killing me the next morning. At least this time when I woke up, I was actually in bed. Unfortunately, I had once again fallen asleep with my face in a small pool of my own blood. 'I don't know how much more of this I can take. If this keeps happening, I have a feeling I won't be waking up in the morning.' I went downstairsto find a note on the table.

Mr. Kirkland,

I will be out for the day, again. Don't leave the house, or answer the door, and ESPECIALLY don't set up anymore traps. I can assure you they will not work. Fail to listen, and I will not fail to get you and that knife more acquainted. Just don't act like yourself for the day, please?

"How many times is he going to tell me not to answer the door? I'm not a complete dunce," I growled as I crumpled up the note. At least I wasn't planning on doing anything important today. After throwing away the note, I went upstairs and took a shower to clean off the blood. It stung when I tried to clean the wound, but I knew it had to be done.

After drying off, I got my clothes on, carefully placed a bandage over the wound, and went to my room. "I can't stand having to see that mark every day," I said as I pulled an old scarf out of the closet. It was nothing fancy, just plain, white cotton, but it was enough to hide my neck. I probably looked like an idiot wearing a scarf in the house in the middle of summer, but there was no one around, so it was fine. And then someone knocked on the door.

'He told me not to answer the door. I told him I wouldn't answer the door. I won't answer the door.' I had to keep repeating that to myself as I went to the window. It was my neighbor, Felix. He had a longer Italian name, but everyone just called him Felix. We never really talked much, so I didn't know much about him. "What the hell," I muttered as I snuck downstairs to the door. "Hello," I asked from behind the door.

"Ciao, Arthur! Can I come in?"

I had to think about it for a minute before opening up the door. "Alright," I said as he walked through the door.

"Grazie. This is a nice house." He started rushing around, looking at everything in the house.

"So what did you need, Felix?"

"Oh yeah," he said as he pulled a note from his pocket, "someone left you a note, but they accidentally sent it to my house." He smiled widely as he passed me the note.

"Alright, thank you."

"No problem, now I need to hurry home before the pasta starts to burn! Arrivederci," he yelled as he ran back home.

As soon as he left, I quickly locked the door. 'Another letter? I bet it was a test Ivan had to see if I'd answer the door.' I opened the letter and read it.

Found you.

Was this someone's sick idea of a joke? I didn't throw it away like Ivan's notes. The writing was different, and I wanted to examine it further, or ask him when he came back. "I can just say it was slipped through the mail slot while I was in the shower." I took the note to my room, so that if someone else came to the door, I wouldn't be tempted to answer it.

There was someone sitting on my bed, facing away from me. "Who are you?" He slowly turned towards me. He had long, dirty-blonde hair and amethyst colored eyes behind large glasses. "Why does everybody ask me that," he whispered. "My name is Matthew. Matthew Williams." He smiled and reached out his hand to shake mine. 'He seems rather nice.' I shook his hand and smiled, "Nice to meet you Matthew, but what are you doing in my house?" His sweet and innocent smile melted into a menacing grin. "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes. I wou.."

I wasn't even able to finish my sentence before a sharp pain hit the back of my head and I fell to the ground. I remember seeing another person walk out from behind me. Matthew knelt in front in front of me as my vision dimmed. "Goodnight, Arthur."

Ivan's POV

When I returned to Arthur's house, it was too quiet. "Mr. Kirkland, come out," I called. "You'd better not be trying to attack me again. I'm not afraid to use my knife on you." I went up to his bedroom, almost expecting another face full of garlic powder. When I entered the room, I noticed three things were wrong. The first was that he wasn't in his bed. The second was the small pipe lying on the floor. The third was the two notes and a white, cotton scarf lying next to the pipe. I walked over to the notes and picked them up. The one that was in worse condition only said "Found you." That must've been meant for Arthur. But the second one was meant for me.

Holding out on us again, Ivan? You know where to meet us, unless…you know…we can keep him? Which would totally rock! Meet us there by midnight tomorrow, or else.

The symbol at the bottom of the note told me exactly who had sent the note. 'How did they find me?' A shiver ran up my spine as memories of them flashed through my mind. I thought I escaped from them years ago. Remembering the terrible things they had done to me was enough to bring tears to my eyes.

I fell to my knees, the note completely crumpled in one hand, my face in the other. 'I told him not to answer the door, didn't I?' I looked down at the scarf and the pipe. I let go of the note and picked up the scarf. It was soft, a little torn up, but still in good condition. I put it on, then picked up the pipe. "I guess there's just no running from the past."