Chapter 6 - Mission: Impossible (Pt. 1)
Upon arriving back to London, Arthur promptly went home and shut the rest of the world out. How he did so? He locked all the doors, unplugged the house phones and even the TV, and shut all the blinds in the windows. He really didn't want to deal with anything or anybody that day. He had way too much on his mind. He went into the kitchen and started drinking out of a half-full bottle of rum on the counter. He knew it would be one out of many long nights.
Alfred's flight was about sixteen hours, yet to him, it felt like only two. For a majority of the time he spent on the plane, he was trying to devise a plan to get Arthur to tell him what happened. He felt the need to come up with a plan since simply asking him wasn't going to work. He knew something was up, it was too obvious to ignore. But it bothered him to death that after everything they'd been through, Arthur still couldn't open up to him. He didn't even try! He couldn't believe him. But being the hero he was, Alfred was more than determined to get what he wanted, no matter what. That was the American way of life, after all.
So, when he got back to his house in Washington, DC, Alfred almost immediately called his little brother, Matthew.
The phone rings a couple of times before a sleepy sounding Canadian picks up.
"Hello?"
"Yo, Mattie," responds the American with a sense of urgency in his voice. "Did I wake you?"
"U-Uh, no, what is it? You sound nervous?"
"Nervous? Well, I don't know. But anyway, I need your help."
Sarcastically, the quiet blonde replies, "What's wrong? You didn't blow anything up, did you?"
Irritated, the loud blonde retorts, "No, Mattie! I didn't blow anything up!"
"Does it involve any form of torture?"
"No!"
"Bombs?"
"No!"
"Weapons of mass-"
"No, Matthew! Would you just listen?"
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. What's the problem?"
"It's Arthur."
Again, sarcastically, Matthew says, "Oh no, what did you do?"
"I didn't do anything! Could you please be serious?"
Realizing that it took a lot for Alfred to sound as solemn as he did, Matthew decided to get serious and tried to comfort his big brother.
"Okay, I'm done. What happened to Arthur?"
"That's the problem! Something happened to him and he won't tell me!"
"What?"
"Ever since New Year's, he's been waking up in the middle of the night screaming his head off and plays it off as 'just a bad dream.'"
"Have you tried to talk to him about it?"
"That was the first thing I did! I asked him a million times, even right before I left, but he wouldn't tell me. He wouldn't break! He could be so stubborn sometimes."
"And you're not?"
"Matthew!"
"You know it's true. But anyways, what do you think happened?"
"I think someone hurt him."
"Hurt him?"
"Well, yeah. I mean, just the other night, he woke up screaming stuff like 'Get off!' and 'Stop it!'"
"Now are you sure you weren't-"
"MATTHEW!"
"Okay, okay. Well, it definitely sounds like your theory's right for a change."
"Yeah, I know but I can't figure-wait! What do you mean 'for a change'!"
"Alfred, there's more to that than there is time to explain. But anyways, what do you think I can do?"
"I-don't know. I didn't think that far ahead."
Matthew sighed. "Only you, Al."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Again, it's one of those things that there's more to it than there is time to explain. But back to your situation, since you really don't have a plan, I'll let you figure it out."
"What! You're not helping me!"
"Nope."
"Why not?
"Maybe because it's three in the morning and you keep shouting in my ear!"
"But still, I-"
"No, you don't. Figure it out! And good night!"
"Yeah sure. Later."
Matthew promptly hung up.
"Talk about useless," Alfred sarcastically remarked as he put his cellphone away. He sighed as he walked into his room. "Man, what am I gonna do now! Ugh, this is so stupid!"
For the next couple of hours, he thought of different ways to try to get Arthur to tell him his secret. He even wrote some down.
1. Trick him. That wouldn't work because Arthur already know his tricks. "Bummer," he thought.
2. Bribe him. "Maybe if I don't talk to him for a while, he'll have to tell me everything then!" That wouldn't work because the Briton would enjoy the silence rather than be sad about it. "Damn!"
3. Beg. That was the dumbest plan he came up with so far. It clearly hadn't work before, so it definitely wasn't going to work again.
In the midst of his devious brainstorming, he had an epiphany, so to speak. He thought, "If Alfred Jones can't get the truth out of him, maybe someone else can." With that, he was left with two options.
1. Get other people in on it. Admittedly, he didn't feel comfortable with other people knowing the details of his and Arthur's relationship, but at this point, he didn't have many options left. He figured that if someone that was close to Arthur, excluding himself, were to talk to him, maybe he'd open up. "But I'd be the first one he'd tell something like that to." He then remembered the whole reason why he was devising these schemes in the first place. "Damn, that won't work!"
2. Go undercover. "That would be SO AWESOME!" he inwardly beamed. He figured that if he 'went undercover' to try to 'investigate,' he'd find his answer then. "I have the CIA and the FBI for that." But this was a personal matter. He didn't dare get either agencies involved. He had to get this information on his own. But not as Alfred F. Jones, but as someone else. Someone who was temporarily nameless.
Maybe it's just me, but I feel an apology is in order, at least on my part.
1. I'm sorry it took so long to update. I know, no excuses, but I had a lot going on to where I couldn't update as soon as I could.
2. I'm sorry it took so long to update and that this chapter is so short. Really not cool!
3. I'm sorry it took so long to update and that this chapter is so short and it's not even all that good! All that waiting for nothing. I'm sorry!
Please forgive me!
