I have returned! I hope I didn't make you guys wait long? School was a complete mess and this was a difficult chapter to write. And I hope it's decent! I was not allowed to rewrite it 560 times, friends are great. But sometimes a pain in the butt. -.- So I hope you enjoy. Important information is also mentioned below. So I'll see you in a minute!
For I'm the one who sees through you,
Of that there is no doubt, ~ The Invisible Half, Part II
The day had gone from good to awful quite quickly. And it was completely my own fault. Because as I was sitting in the garden, I started thinking. I started thinking too much. I realized that there were a few things that defined my childhood. The first thing was my love for hockey. This made it easier for me to socialize.
Second, was the fact that I got held back a year. Out of the blue, Alfred and I were in the same class. And the most important thing was the divorce of our parents. But it wasn't earth shattering. Mom and dad divorced in silence. There was no screaming, there was no fight about who would take me and my brother. It was all done quickly, and they reassured us that we would still be a family. So at the age of six dad took Alfred, and I moved with mom to Canada. Over the next few years I rarely spoke to Alfred. And I only saw dad a few times.
Oddly enough I didn't really struggle with it. Sure sometimes it was difficult. But most of the time I told myself that if the others were happy, I would be happy too. And as dad was touring the States with his band, and mom finally started dating again, I told myself that everything was going to be fine. This didn't stop me from feeling bad though.
My favourite time of the year was Christmas. As everyone would gather together and simply talk. Dad's side of the family was enormous. They came from everywhere, from Hawaii to Alaska and everything in between. Mom's side of the family was smaller, and all resided in the same area in the French speaking part of Canada. But they were nice people nevertheless. And I loved mocking Alfred with the fact that I could speak French with them and he couldn't. I told myself that life was good. I had nothing to complain about.
The last thing that defined my childhood was also the one thing that changed everything. It was Christmas like any other year, I was eleven and Alfred ten. We celebrated Christmas at our house that year. And as we all sat there together at the dinner table, dad walked in holding a plate with drinks. He'd always been an energetic guy. And he'd been grinning the entire night. I'd always been very observing and when I noticed his face getting paler, I started to worry. He looked like he was in pain.
But I didn't say anything. The world seemed to fall into slow-motion as I saw him grab to his chest as he lost balance. Soon enough he collapsed on the floor. The emergency number was called, and I just stood there, I was in shock. When the ambulance arrived they dragged him to the hospital. And in those never ending hours I thought that he was going to die. But he didn't. The doctors explained to us that dad had experienced a heart attack. But they'd managed to save him. I felt relieved, knowing that a man like my father couldn't be taken down by thing like this. And soon enough we all thought he was going to be fine. Just imagine the shock we all went through when we heart he'd died after another heart attack.
We all isolated ourselves. Alfred went quiet and mom often stared mindlessly out of the window. I can't describe the pain to you, the pain of losing someone who forms such a big part of your life. But I had to be strong. I had to be strong for Alfred, for mom.
So I stood straight, and started bottling everything I felt up. Because I hadn't any right to complain, I had hardly known the man. It was Alfred who truly needed help moving on. When he stopped eating all together mom send him to a therapist. And I too did everything I could to help him. And it worked, because at some point he started eating again. He started making jokes, and slowly the smile returned on his face.
Moving on was hard for all of us, but it was the most changeling for Alfred. So when I one day asked him about the old times he stared blankly at me, and it surprised me. He admitted that he couldn't remember. He'd put all those memories away and instead created a perfect image of our dad. The father he believed to be the most righteous person in existence. But instead of telling mom, I kept quiet. I never tried to change his mind. I didn't want to. He'd finally managed to accept it all. So who was I to ruin his happiness? I could also clearly remember how mom and I visited Alfred and Uncle Davie one day. And how they suddenly announced that we would leave home to go to boarding school. Those times had been confusing, chaotic even. But through all of it I had mastered the suppression of my feelings. Yet it often happened that if I was thinking too much, all those feelings got free. And it often leads to a break-down.
'Why are you kicking the grass?' It was a female voice that spoke up. Quickly I looked up. Standing there with a football was a familiar face. The tall girl had a straight nose, glaring eyes and frowning eyebrows. She didn't look cute, nor did she look very friendly. 'Oh, hey Tess, you know… just… kicking…' Slowly she raised her eyebrows, she didn't look very convinced. 'Just kicking the grass?' Tessa repeated my words. I nodded. I suddenly felt like an idiot. But her eyes were filled with concerns. 'What did the grass ever do to you? Did you trip over it again?' The Dutch girl slowly made her way towards me, and I immediately noticed that she'd gotten taller. I snorted. 'Funny, but no I was just thinking about… things…'
I'd been thinking about everything, about dad's dead, the fact that I had officially become a freak. And the worst of all, yet the least important thing: The fact that I didn't need special powers to be invisible. Today had just been proof of that. Oddly enough she didn't need more explanation. She just understood. 'I see, well can I give you one advice then?' She handed me the ball. 'You will get your shoes dirty by kicking dirt. So use this, knock yourself out.'
So here I was, kicking an old, inflated football, while in the meantime cursing all the anger out of my system. Tessa was sitting on the bench, smoking a cigarette. 'I thought you quit?' A grimace formed on her lips. 'I have. So when Emma asks, you didn't see anything right?' Tessa's sister Emma, the personification of everything cute and girly. Who had forced her older sister to stop her bad habits was of course being lied to. Nothing unusual there.
'Why are you here anyway?' I finally stopped, trying to catch my breath. She stood up, stretching as she blew out smoke like a dragon. 'I couldn't find you anywhere, so I decided to find you. I thought you might've wanted to play a little match.' My face was slowly getting red, I could feel it. 'Well, I just thought that some alone time would be good.' I murmured. She looked amused but just kept standing there. 'So are you feeling better?' I thought about that for a little while. I did feel relieved. Like something heavy had lifted from my shoulders. I smiled and kicked the ball in her direction.
'I do, so what did you say about a match?' She started grinning. 'Ah yes I did mention that didn't I?' Soon enough we were running around. And if you're curious who won: I lost. I lost spectacularly I may add. I'd forgotten how good she was. We were sitting on the ground, and as I was trying to catch my breath, Tessa told my about her time back home. 'I thought you liked going back?' I stated, frowning at the sky. It was probably going to be stormy tonight again. 'I do, I love Haarlem. But we also visit Antwerpen. And you know how I feel about… you know.' She looked so uncomfortable when trying to deal with her emotions. And we looked alike in that matter. She too bottled everything up, but the difference could be found in the way we acted.
Because she had managed to build up walls around her, to secure her safety, a dam she often called it. A very Dutch way to look at it, but it was true. Apparently she started feeling uncomfortable as she quickly switched the subject: 'Just out of curiosity: What happened that made you snap?' My face slowly got red as I remembered what had triggered my enormous self-destructive response.
I wanted to tell her everything. Everything that had happened, all the things that had formed me into the person I was. Those words we're all kept back. But as she stared at me intensely I felt as if she could read my mind. Maybe she is a mind-reader. At least Alfred and I won't be the only ones at the Academy. I laughed at the idea and she noticed my amused look. 'Why are you laughing?' Her face stayed extremely serious, and for odd reasons I thought it was hilarious. And soon enough I broke out in a fit of laughter. She stared at me uncomfortable. 'Am I missing the punch-line to a joke or are you just crazy?' Quickly I forced myself to calm down. 'Sorry it's just that everything is a mess.' She shrugged her shoulders. 'Aren't things always?'
There was one thing that I could tell her. 'You remember Irina?' She looked up with shocked eyes. I'd forgotten that her eyes weren't actually green. In the right light you could see that they were actually light brown. 'Your crush since the beginning of times? Of course I remember here! What happened?' Suddenly she looked excited.
The last couple of years she had tried to set me up with girls, but it was all in vain. Because I was still heartbroken about Irina Chernenko. The sweetest girl on campus, who just happened to have… enormous… breasts. And this caused many to ignore her personality and just focus on… her front. (I feel so uncomfortable, I can only imagine her brother walking in on me right now.)
I'd never really given her looks much thought. I'd been madly in love with her since our first year. As she'd always been nice to me and generally very kind of nature. But when I expressed my undying love for her she thought I wasn't interest in her as a person, but was simply goggling her. Which was of course not true, but guess what? The nice guy doesn't get the girl. Because sure thing, she started dating a douchebag. (Maybe I'm living in a TV drama, I wouldn't be surprised at this point.) I'd given up on her many years ago, yet she still managed to mess me up.
'Well I told myself that since she's been single for the last year that maybe, I finally stand a chance with her. So I asked her to the Festival.' Sometimes I forgot Tessa was a girl. As her eyes got big and she started smiling. (Something she rarely does.) 'I'm so proud of you! You finally did it!' Suddenly her smiled disappeared as she realized something. 'You we're a depressed mess when I got here. Did she say no? What happened?' When she saw my dark expression she leaned back. I let out a deep sight as tried to look like I didn't care.
'She first thought I was Alfred. So she said no, and when I explained I was Matthew she apologized and told me that she and her ex were rethinking their relationship or something.' Tessa looked like she was ready to strangle someone. 'So after that, I decided to just go with some friends. But before I even got the chance to get over my complete failure with Irina, I got approached by girls.' Tessa's eyes lightened up with curiosity. 'Who?' She asked, rolling the football in between her hands. 'First there was Audrey from gym classes. She mistook me for Alfred. Then there was Margot from the Canadian Club, Katy from the Student Council and Leah from the Garden Club. And some others I can't remember…' Tessa slowly shook her head, she was never one to give away pity, but this time she did. And I didn't like it. 'They all mistook you for your brother didn't they?'
It had happened many times over the years, definitely when my hair was still shorter and we had glasses that looked alike. They would often switch us up. Some even mistook us for twins, we obviously weren't but apparently we looked more alike than we would admit. The fact that they all forgot about my existence kinda hurt, but what really did it for me was that they usually weren't that sorry.
'No wonder you're upset.' Tessa pushed the ball away, and slowly it rolled over the grass. 'I'm not upset, I'm fine really.' She gave me a unamused look. 'Of course you are, and I quit smoking.' As if to make a point she searched for her lighter. 'No need to be sarcastic.' She shrugged as she tried to get her lighter to work. 'Says the person who acts passive aggressive to his brother.' Suddenly music was filling the silence. Tessa quickly grabbed her mobile phone. I couldn't help but smile slyly as I heard a Dutch children song. 'Why did you give Emma that song again?' I asked, hiding my smile behind my hand. She rolled her eyes as she stared at the screen. 'She loved this song growing up, so shut up.' With these words she picked up the phone. She and her sister stared talking in their own languages.
Tessa's face went from mildly interested to suddenly very annoyed. She quickly said something and she said goodbye. She dropped her phone in annoyance. 'Seemed like you and Emma had a great conversation again. What happened?' She stood up and grabbed the ball and started walking away. 'Hey wait up! What did she say?' She ignored me and stared calling someone. This time she talked English. 'Hey, I was wondering if you know where Antonio is?' Although she sounded very calm, something in her eyes looked sinister. When she dropped Antonio's name I understood what was going on. Whenever Antonio even breathed Tessa would get angry at him. They weren't on the best terms, but it had been worse in the past.
But since he often hang out with Emma, Tessa completely went into mama bear mode. Despite that I was taller, Tessa was a fast walker. And as I tried to keep up with her there were many things that I wanted to say, but I kept it all back. As we reached the school I had to take a little sprint to keep up. She quickly walked through the maze of hallways, knowing precisely where she needed to go.
'Wait up! You're going to-' When I turned the next corner she was gone. I started running, hoping to find her. But she was nowhere in sight. Slowly my hands dragged over my face as I groaned. 'I can't believe I lost her!' I quickly turned the next corner in the hope to see her. Instead there were two people decorating. It was obviously for tonight's festival. The girl looked pretty normal. She had a strong build, dark skin and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. The boy next to her was also dark skinned, and he his hair was trimmed neatly. If I remembered correctly they were last year students.
At first I just wanted to keep searching for Tessa, but suddenly I noticed something odd. The way the girl was however decorating shocked me. She moved her hands along a group of balloons. Giving them a different colour every time she touched them. They went from green, to pink, and in the end she settled for gold and blue. She clapped her hands, and instantly all decorations turned the same colour. The boy didn't even look up.
At this point my mouth was hanging open. I completely forgot about Tessa. How did she do that? Apparently they had finally noticed my presence as the girl smiled and waved at me. 'Hey there, can I help you?' I slowly walked closer, afraid and for good reasons. 'H-how did you…?' I gestured at the balloons. Maybe I was just seeing things. Maybe I'd finally gone mental. A little voice whispered in the back of my mind, the one that was always afraid. The girl's friendly smile faded a bit. And the boy suddenly stood beside her. Both looked at me cautious. 'Are you here to help with the decorations?' The boy asked, his dark eyes tried to figure me out. And sudden I wished I could just disappear right there. I shook my head, I kept staring at the balloons. 'You… you just changed the colours…'
And for I second I thought she would either all deny it, or call me crazy. Because the questions ran through my head in a manner that was definitely not healthy. The boy and the girl looked at each other in silence. And for a second I was afraid they would get rid of me. Maybe this was a secret, something I wasn't allowed to see. But instead of pulling a knife, or suddenly tackling me to the ground, she gave me a friendly smile.
'Don't worry about it. You know what you saw. Just don't think about it too much and you'll be fine.' The boy nodded too and added: 'Sorry if we startled you. But it's all going to be fine.' After that they both said some other odd things. Things I didn't understand, and in the end the boy put his hand on my head, and the next moment I just stood there confused. 'Hey what's up Mattie-nator?' An arm was slung around my shoulder. Alfred stood beside me, 'I've been looking for you everywhere dude. I couldn't find you. What are you doing here?' There were so many things I tried to say, but in the end the only words to leave me were short. 'I was looking for Tessa.' It seemed like a logical answer. It was the correct answer right? Alfred was talking, but I was completely spacing out.
I looked around confused. What was I doing here? Am I forgetting something important? And suddenly my head snapped, and my eyes focused on the balloons. 'Alfred there is something important…' I got pulled out of my thought process by a quiet cough. We both turned around, Lien was standing there. Her amber eyes big, her fingers nervously playing with her black ponytail. 'I'm sorry I didn't mean to bother you. I'll just talk to you later.'
She tried to walk away but Alfred quickly made his way towards her. 'No no, it doesn't matter. What's up?' He gave her one of his dashing smiles, and her entire face slowly turned red. 'I've been looking for you Alfred.' She admitted. Alfred simply looked at her with a dumb expression, and for a second I wished I could just hit him in the face. They'd also apparently forgotten I was there. As she was suddenly confessing her undying love for him or whatever. It was then that I realized I'd turned invisible because of my sudden stress. Alfred listened to her with mild interest, his concentration was not the best, and I was surprised to see how concentrated he looked. Like he really wanted to understand was she was trying to get across. 'So would you like to go with me tonight?' She finally said, her voice high with anticipation and fear.
From my experiences Lien was a very nice girl, she was very calm and prideful. Yet she'd managed to get swooned by someone like Alfred. Someone who couldn't ever understand that Maple flower wasn't a real flower. I wondered how blunt Alfred was going to be about it this time… 'I'm sorry Lien. I really am, but I don't think we should retry this. Even if I wanted to, I can't go with you to the Festival.'
She looked up, her strong and collective behaviour had suddenly returned. And she looked intimidating, despite being small. Alfred scratched his arms, he opened his mouth to say something. But then closed it and dropped his arms. 'I'm already going with someone else.' I wasn't very surprised by that. It was logical for him to quickly say yes to someone, as to avoid others girls harassing him all day. 'I understand. But with who are you going then?' She looked down in defeat, but was obviously trying to keep the conversation going. Alfred entire face lit up, and it surprised me a bit. I'd never seen him so happy before. And I wondered what type of girl made him look like that. 'I'm going with Arthur!' Lien dropped her bag, and I almost tripped. 'I'm sorry I think I heard you wrong, did you just say Ariana?'
Alfred shook his head. 'No I mean Arthur. You know Arthur Kirkland? So I'm sorry, but I really can't go with you. I already made a promise.' She looked like thunder had hit her. I didn't blame her that she wanted to leave the scene as soon as possible. She walked back quickly. Stuttered that she had to get going, and waved him goodbye with shocked eyes as she ran away. Alfred didn't seem to find it strange. 'Hey can I ask you something?' Alfred turned around startled. 'Shit I forgot you were here, what's up?' His eyes drifted around hoping the find the source of my voice. In the end he settled for the window, which was completely wrong. 'You do know that you gave off the wrong idea, right?' His big and happy eyes slowly blinked. 'Don't be stupid bro, Lien is a smart girl.' I shook my head, I really wanted him to understand the point. 'I mean, maybe you should have given her more context. Because by tonight everyone will have the wrong idea, you know…'
I thought he got it. As his eyes got wider with realization. But then he said: 'Oh you mean like, they'll think I made it up to avoid her or something?' The few rays of sunshine that managed to lighten up the hallway made my face warm up. 'You know what? I don't care anymore. I'm not going to involve myself in your stupid teenage dramas again. We have more important things to discuss.' I looked at the balloons again. I knew there was something important I wanted to speak with him about… 'Bro that's cool. But I can't really see you. Calm down a bit.' I looked up, Alfred was right. I was still… invisible. 'I'm fine Al, really.' I couldn't turn back though, no matter how hard I tried. 'You've been under too much stress lately. You should lie down. Try to forget.' Those last words really hit a sour spot.
He was probably just worried about me. But the last couple of days, it seemed that everyone wanted me to forget. Alfred wanted me to forget the power thing. Tessa wanted me to forget the past too. People forgot me, I forgot things, things I couldn't remember for some reason. And my head hurt. 'I can't do this anymore Al. I wanna go home.' He suddenly looked so small. Like a small kid who knew he couldn't do anything.
'Matthew, we are home.' When I didn't react he looked around confused. 'Are you still here?' He accidently walked into me. 'Oops sorry, are you okay?' He put his hand on what he assumed was my shoulder. (Which it wasn't. It was my arm.) He quickly pulled it back when it disappeared. 'Looks like your powers are only getting stronger, we need to find a way to keep them under control.' His hand appeared again, his voice which was usually loud became softer now. 'I don't know what's going on with you, but you need to promise me to be careful. Don't do rash things.'
I didn't say anything, nor did he as we just looked at each other. (Well… he tried.) I wished Alfred would just get angry with me. Tell me to man up and grow some. But instead he seemed to understand my fears. Instead he didn't blame me from breaking down. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. There were no tears, but it was power of habit that made me do it. 'I honestly don't know how we are going to keep this a secret.' Alfred admitted. His face was getting paler now. 'Toris will find out one way or another, and Gilbert isn't stupid either.' He started stretching. He looked more tired than I'd first realized. 'It's going to be okay. We'll figure something out Al, we always do.' Alfred hadn't needed a big brother figure in his life. He had dad, and the man was all he had ever needed.
Alfred always pushed me away whenever he felt weak and needed support. He didn't want me to think of him as my little brother. He didn't realize that I already had this image of him. 'Maybe I should tie myself up every night.' He looked up, he didn't look pale anymore. All worry, sadness and fear had disappeared. It was weird, I didn't feel stressed anymore. I actually felt better than usually.
Apparently I'd appeared again, because he laughed at my facial reaction. 'Don't do that, Toris will think you're weird.' He laughed as he started making up excuses as to why he would do such thing. 'And then I'll say that at midnight I turn into a zombie, and that tying myself up will save him!' I slowly shook my head. 'Sure, but how are you going to get free in the morning?' He looked at me surprised. 'How should I know? Maybe-' I didn't hear the rest of his sentence.
As I could see someone walk up to us. It was already getting late, the sun was standing lower. And the closer the boy came. The more I recognized him. It was a very angry looking Arthur. Alfred however didn't seem to notice at all. He was caught up completely in his own story.
'Alfred…'
'It would be awesome if Toris would…'
'Alfred!'
'And then maybe we can do like a test to see if…'
'You know what. I'm leaving. It was nice knowing you.'
That finally caught his attention. But I was already leaving. He watched me in confusion. And as I turned at the corner I head Arthur say:
'ALFRED FUCKING JONES. WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?'
'Oh hey Art?'
'WHY DOES THE ENTIRE SCHOOL THINK YOU AND I ARE DATING?'
Some confused words were mumbled. But Arthur decided he wasn't done yet. 'WHAT THE DID YOU TELL LIEN. HOW STUPID HOW IGNORANT ARE YOU TO-' I heard Alfred ask confused questions in between the yelling. And I decided to walk faster. This would probably end in a fight that I didn't want to be part of…
So, let me tell you something about the Summer Festival. In the beginning it was just a little party to celebrate the beginning of a new school year. But it soon escalated in an enormous event. In the beginning everyone could go. But soon they figured that the Festival would be too "age inappropriate" for underclassmen. I guess they didn't want to deal with drunken kids in the hospital. Soon enough there was an alcohol policy with so many holes in it that the teachers didn't even try to check students anymore.
We had all done some pretty dumb stuff before. But there was this one time that I would never forget. Arthur had become so wasted once that he started undressing on the street. You heard that right. Boring, uptight and very responsible Arthur got drunk. I guess everyone has a wild side. We had to quickly take him with us. But he kept screaming that his destiny was to fight the dark unicorns and free the world, or something among those lines…
My friends are weird, get used to it.
Anyway! Over the years the school started cooking up an evil plan in the hope to discourage drinking. The Festival would be held extremely early in the year, in the hope that students wouldn't be able to even think about arranging their own beverages. Because they would be too focused on dating, clothing and so forth. Sadly the school had forgotten that not everyone was a teenage girl. And the plan had turned out to be a disappointment.
And thus it became evening. And soon the entire school looked like the perfect party place. And it was a surprisingly nice evening too. The sky wasn't clouded, and it wasn't as cold as most of us had expected. Soon enough music was hurting my ear drums, people were smoking. And the few teachers who kept watch seemed to prefer having fun too. Alfred was hitting the dance floor while making friends with everyone.
And I was just kinda standing there, I felt misplaced. 'Hey Matthew why are you looking so down?' Gilbert suddenly stood next to me with two beers. I smiled but it didn't help. 'I've problems loosing up. Even your brother seems to be better at these situations.' I nodded at Ludwig, who was drinking a beer and screaming as the German football team missed their chance at scoring. (They shouldn't have brought the television outside.) We had to scream to understand each other. And while Gilbert nodded in understanding, I felt like he hadn't heard a word of what I'd just said.
'Alright! Let's just drink a beer and relax. Tomorrow school starts, and we have to make sure we're too sick to actually go.' He grinned as he gave me on of the bottles. I decided to just gulp it up, he was probably right. I just had to loosen up a bit. Soon enough I actually found Tessa. She was talking with Antonio's brother. Whom I suspected to be her secret crush. Apparently she had kicked Antonio in the nuts. And the two were obviously keeping distance between them. She bickered shortly with Gilbert before taking his beer challenge. And soon enough they were gone. And I was alone again. I spotted Alfred, he had dragged Arthur to the dance floor. He had apparently not had enough yet, as he looked around awkward.
Alfred didn't seem to mind it all one bit. Some people were really ruling the dance floor. But neither Alfred nor Arthur was one of them. Some I knew by name, others looked like they were youth from the nearby village. They'd probably sneaked in. Elizabeta was screaming angrily at Ludwig, when the German football team finally scored. And Gilbert was laughing, I could already imagine him being hit by Elizabeta. She was known for hitting people with any object she was holding in that moment. It was Roderich who calmed her down.
Soon enough I found Kiku. He was talking with the Italian Vargas brothers. The oldest Lovino, looked very displeased and was constantly being bothered by Francis and Antonio. The younger brother Feliciano was experiencing an enormous shock when it turned out that Kiku wasn't drinking juice. 'Kiku we aren't adults yet! We aren't allowed to drink yet!' His big light brown eyes looked horrified and the small Japanese. Kiku looked unfazed. 'Kiku how old are you anyway?'
He didn't answer me, and it disturbed me even more. Toris was talking with Natalya, but when her brother Ivan Braginsky (the scariest Russian you'll ever, ever meet) decided to show up, Toris had to make a run for it. Irina was talking with her ex, who would probably at the end of the night be her boyfriend again. I let out a sight, I didn't want to watch those two. It would only make me feel depressed.
I almost tripped over a boy who was sleeping on the ground. I recognized him as the Greek who loved cats, and would often speak words of wisdom. He sure was out. I would run into classmates. And while I had pleasant talks with most, some had been drinking so much that they would often not talk about much in particularly. Examples:
Example number 1: Conversation with Feliks Łukasiewicz
Me: Are you alright?
Feliks: I can't believe it!
Me: What are you talking about?
Feliks: Jestem nieśmiała zostawiaj mnie!
Me: I'm sorry Feliks… but I can't speak Polish…
Example number 2: Conversation with Tino Väinämöinen
Tino: I'm so happy to see you!
Me: Yeah, it's good to see you too.
Tino: I can't wait for Christmas I'll be very busy again!
Me: Really have you gotten a job or something?
Tino: I do! But it's a secret… but if you're good this year I won't pass your house!
Me: … I have no idea what you're talking about.
Example number 3: Conversation with Magnus Densen
Me: Hey so how are you doing?
Magnus: I NEVER NOTICED YOU HAD THE SAME GLASSES AS HAPPY OTTER.
Me: It's good to see you too. How was it back in Denmark?
He continued talking about my magical powers, and for a while his friends and I amused us. But when he started mentioning the invisibility cloak I felt my nerves getting pulled. And I left. When I ran unto a group of girls they all started hugging me. But they either thought I was Alfred, or they just wanted to hug someone.
I didn't like it when people got extremely drunk. I thought it was unnecessary. Sure a little bit drinking for fun, that's great. But sometimes I got worried about some of my friends. And I decided that this was a good time to check on Alfred. But soon I got distracted when I got pulled into a Conga Line. The music wasn't even half that bad. For years the Chinese boy Yao Wang had been the DJ. And he'd been awful. But nowadays a young boy from Hong Kong did the music. And it had become increasingly better. At some point I managed to get swayed into dancing with some girl I hardly knew. And when I finally spotted Alfred again I saw that he was getting in a fight with Ivan again. Mister Vadas immediately noticed and dragged both boys to the side.
(This is the reason I've got to keep a close eye on him.) Alfred protested loudly, but Arthur simply walked towards me and slowly shook his head. 'Your brother is stupid.' He stated, taking another sip from the plastic cup he was holding. I knew he never really meant it. But it was just Arthur opening line. Arthur's entire face was red, and he looked like he was far away. As he kept telling the sky to stop tickling him. 'Ah well, you're friends with him anyways.'
I amused myself a bit with the idea that most girls probably had the wrong idea about their relationship by now. Arthur let out a deep sight, 'I wanna play some guitar. But Al is gone so it can't.' I looked around. 'There are probably others who play instruments. I heard Gilbert plays the flute pretty well. And Roderich plays both the violin and the piano.' Arthur rolled with his eyes as he exclaimed that classical music was boring.
I decided not the mention his entire collection of classical music from through the centuries. Let's go inside it looks like it's gonna rain.' The sky was darkening once again. And it was getting colder too. After some pulling I finally managed to drag him inside. He kept talking about his time as a pirate. Which I decided was probably very exciting. Because I didn't feel like listening. Inside the male common room we found a group of people sitting on the ground while playing a drinking game.
Another group was playing spin the bottle, and I decided to drop Arthur with Francis. 'Don't worry Mathieu I'll take good care of our friend!' Francis stated as he dodged Arthur's fist. 'Thank you Francis. Have you seen Alfred by any chance?' He shook his head, and soon enough I was on a quest of finding my brother. I wanted to make sure he wasn't in trouble. I ran into Michelle Mancham along the way.
The girl came from an African island and she was really nice and cheerful. And she insisted on helping me find Alfred. We had the tendency to threat Michelle as our little sister. And we would probably only stop doing that once she stopped wearing ribbons in her ponytails. 'Are you sure? He might be in trouble.' I decided that warning her was fair. But she didn't seem to mind my warning at all. 'My friends are playing the drinking game anyway. But since I'm playing water girl I'm bored. So let's go!' She waved at her friends. One was a girl was long dark hair, and the other was a tall boy with dark eyes. They looked oddly familiar, but I didn't pay attention to it. We managed our way through the boy dorms with ease. 'Where is everyone?' She shrugged her shoulders as she looked around curiously. 'Probably at the girl dorms, it's bigger.'
As we looked around I noticed that Michelle looked a bit pale. 'Hey are you alright?' She smiled and waved away my concerns. 'Sure, just a bit tired.' We stood still at Alfred's room. And just when I wanted to knock the door opened. Alfred almost walked over me. 'Bro there you are!' He caught me into a tight hug and pulled Michelle into it too. Despite her protest.
'Al, I've been looking for you.' I managed to pull myself away. 'Did you get in trouble with Ivan and mister Vadas?' He laughed as he started walking to the stairs. 'What? No way! We totally managed to escape. We're gonna play some poker down stairs. Care to join?' He held up a deck of cards. I didn't even know he had those. 'Sure. As long as it's just normal poker I'm in. Michelle do you want to come too?' She agreed to play and when we returned downstairs Francis was trying to kiss Arthur. 'No way I'm gonna kiss your ugly face!' The Englishman protested. Francis let out a sight as people started cheering him on. 'It's part of the game! You spun it, so now we have to kiss. Just a little tiny kiss, it's not going to kill you!' The two kept bickering while the others cheered them on. 'Just one tiny kiss, don't be a game breaker Art!'
It was Elizabeta who was lying on the ground, wriggling her eyebrows at the two fighting Europeans. Ludwig had a relaxed smile on his face. He had obviously had way too much. 'Rules are the rules. You have to kiss or you are both not allowed any further interaction in this game.' The German accent only made him sound more like an officer instead of a teenager. Arthur huffed, his entire face slowly got red. 'I would honestly be fine with kissing anyone here. As long as it isn't the frog!'
This caught Elizabeta's interest. 'Anyone you say? Anyone we suggest?' Arthur nodded frantically. 'Name someone I'll do it.' I felt like this was the set-up to some very messed up joke. Gilbert shook his head, he looked very relaxed but evil was written all over his face. 'It's not fair that we bend the rules for Arthur. So if we do change them, we have to give him extra punishment.'
Francis wore the same evil expression by now. 'What do you suggest?' Michelle, Alfred and I had sat down in silence, and it unnerved me how silent Alfred had become. He was watching the drama develop with interest. Suddenly Elizabeta's eyes widened. 'I've got it!' She pointed at Arthur dramatically. 'You either kiss Alfred or Matthew. And not just small peck on the lips. But a real kiss!' Slowly my face became red. Sure I was tipsy, but I was definitely not drunk. And there was no way I was ever going to let myself be kissed by Arthur. Not even if he was the last person on earth. Arthur in the meantime was protesting angrily. He was calling her sadistic. Which Elizabeta was in many ways. I looked at Alfred, he too looked uncomfortable. 'Guys this is all fun and all, but I'm not gonna let myself be kissed.' I stated. But of course nobody heard.
But when Alfred spoke up everyone of course paid attention. 'Guys I'm not gonna be part of your weird game. I just got here. I brought the cards with me too.' He held up the deck of cards. People started protesting calling both of us game breakers. Antonio was smiling idly, he was sitting beside Tessa's sister Emma. 'Let's not be mean guys. Matthew and Alfred didn't ask for this. Let's be nice, the evening is still young!'
It was Tessa who muttered something under her breath that sounded like a curse word. But it could have also been the Italian Lovino. Who was known for his wide range of curses. After a lot of bickering Arthur agreed to the conditions. 'Fine whatever, let's just get this over with.' He said grumpily. At this point I was just praying that he wouldn't choose me. Not even in a different dimension was I going to give my first kiss to another guy. And maybe that had been written all over my face, as Arthur quickly kissed Alfred's cheek. Immediately the group started protesting. 'That wasn't a kiss!' Feliciano stated. He was having way too much fun with this game. Arthur was really starting to get snappy now. 'Just shut up. Be happy that I did what you asked. Now shut up, I want to play poker.'
He took the cards from Alfred's hand and started opening the box. Alfred still looked a bit stunned. I bet he'd never been kissed by a guy before. And although I wanted to feel bad for him, I really couldn't. As he was probably too drunk to care. Arthur was looking at the cards in confusion. 'Why do you have Tarot cards?' The cards looked weird. They had all kinds of weird names like: Seven of Swords and Death.
The cards had weird pictures on them too. Some looked quite disturbing. Francis whistled low as he took the cards that said The Lovers. 'I didn't know you were into freaky stuff like this. It seems like you and Arthur do have something in common.' Alfred looked at the cards confused. 'Oops, looks like I took the wrong ones with me. But we can use these anyway, right?' Arthur shook his head annoyed. 'You can't play poker with Tarot cards Al. Where did you get these anyway?'
I was wondering the same thing. In the meantime the cards were handed to everyone. I was holding a card named The Hanged Man. And as the name suggested it showed a man that was hanging from a wooden construction. His foot was hooked into a rope, and he didn't seem very comfortable. We all had a good laugh when Natalya gave the card The Devil a good look. Antonio happily showed Tessa that they had matching cards. 'I've got The Sun you've the Moon. Now we only have to search for the stars and the planets!'
It was Arthur who told Antonio there was no card called the planets. And after that Antonio remembered that Tessa was very pissed and he left her alone quickly. We all made fun of the fact that Elizabeta and Ivan were married. Elizabeta could see the humour in it all. As she hold up the card called The Empress. 'Ah well, I've always wanted to marry young, and Ivan isn't bad looking.' She winked at the Russian who seemed very unmoved by it all.
Arthur was talking about the history of Tarot cards with some other member from the Magic Club. (Basically they read Harry Potter and play Dungeon & Dragons all day.) We'd all forgotten that we were going to play poker. And instead we were making fun of the pictures. Feliciano looked sad when his brother noted that the card The Fool was pretty accurate for his personality. But soon stated with a happy smile that Death was very fitting for Lovino as well. Everyone started laughing and Alfred asked the angry Italian if he wanted some ice for that burn. Feliciano hadn't even noticed the impact of his words and looked around confused.
Alfred (the superhero lover that he is) of course decided that Justice was the one and only card for him. 'Because justice conquers all!' He started posing as Superman while quickly trying to make himself a cape with the help of his sweater. I pulled him down, 'you mean love Alfred, it's love conquers all.' He didn't seem to care.
Soon enough the cards weren't amusing anymore, and instead we were playing truth or dare. If there's someone listening to this recording, let me give you one advice: Never play a game of truth or dare with drunken people. You think it's fun? Think again. 'Alright Kiku, truth or dare?' Alfred eyes shined in mischief as the Japanese men choose dare. Choosing truth was awful, as they would ask the most embarrassing things.
But picking dare was ten times worse. 'I dare you too…' Some people gave suggestions that sounded terrible. 'Let him hold ice and salt in his hand!' (Warning that hurts a lot!) Someone else protested that Kiku should eat a spoon with cinnamon (which is super dangerous don't try this at home). And in the end Alfred settled for something only he could have picked.
'I dare you too stuff your mouth with marshmallows!' Kiku's face went from calm to horrified when it turned out that the marshmallows were bright pink. But as apparently his honour was on the line, he started stuffing his mouth with the sticky stuff. Something that I realized was actually quite dangerous, what if he choked? My stress level started rising, and when I noticed my fingers disappearing I quickly put them in my pockets.
Soon enough Kiku couldn't put any more in his mouth, and his entire face became red. Feliciano stared cheering. 'You're a hero Kiku!' Kiku tried to say something, but failed horribly. 'Dude does someone have a napkin for him or something?' We all shook ours heads. But then I noticed Miss Kirkland walking outside the building. 'I'll be right back, it think I known someone who has one.' I quickly put down my drink, stuffed the Tarot card in my pocket as I mistook it for my phone, and made my way outside.
Miss Kirkland was a strict woman, but she was also kind to those who worked hard. And I respected her immensely. But it wouldn't have surprised me if she was grumpy. 'Miss Kirkland!' The English teacher looked up, she had just put out a smoke. 'How can I help you?' She was indeed not in the best spirits. 'Do you have a napkin miss?' Her face got more irritated with the seconds. 'Don't tell me someone has been puking?'
I quickly shook my head and explained Kiku had stuffed his mouth with marshmallows, but she didn't seem to care much. 'Here you go. Now go make sure your friend is okay.' With these words she left to check out the chaos at the girl dorms. For a second I wanted to walk back inside, but instead I found myself standing still. It was raining very softly, thunder was lighting up the sky. Some people had gone outside to check it out.
I saw a few of the younger kids leave the forest. They probably didn't want to get hit by lightning. 'Hey are you coming inside or not?' Michelle was apparently sent to search for me. She looked cold in her blue dress. I handed her my sweater, 'I'm fine but you look cold.' She took the sweater gratefully. 'Sorry I got distracted for a bit. Is Kiku still hanging in there?' She laughed. 'We're helping him out, someone found a towel, and he's now trying to remove them.'
She was quiet for a moment as she looked at the sky. 'Well with the emphasis on trying. It looks quite ridicules.' We stood completely still now as Michelle spaced out. 'Hey, are you alright?' Her eyes quickly looked around, but I felt like she didn't really see anything. Her face became pale, and soon enough I realised she was going to black out. Carefully I took her shoulders. 'Easy there, maybe you should quit for the night, you look-' she grabbed me at the collar. Her eyes big with fear. Her body was shaking and I couldn't help but to feel worried. 'Matthew we need to-' Someone in the back started pointing at the sky. And my attention was drawn to it automatically.
It looked like a falling star was going across the sky. And any other moment I would have thought that was pretty cool. Wasn't it that Michelle was crying in the background. It was then that I noticed lightning hitting the object. And it caught fire. Slowly the realization dawned that it wasn't a falling star. As the flying object split into smaller objects I noticed that the object wasn't going to ignore us. It was like time decided to go in slow motion again. Michelle's hand that was draining the blood for my arm.
The loud music from the dance floor. The sound of cheering students as they celebrated the last days of summer. It all ended right in that moment as I felt the earth shake, and saw the forest catching fire. It all ended with a bang when I saw a piece of the airplane crash into the girl dorms. I turned around to the boy dorms, in the hope to warn someone, anyone really. The silence got broken by another explosion. One so loud that my ears hurt. And my body was pulled back by the shock.
And right there, in front of my eyes everything just quit existing all together. The roof of the boy dorm collapsed, and I felt a pair of arms pull me back as I started screaming. My mind was only focused on thing and one thing only: My friends. My friends were still in there.
*Insert dramatic music* So that was it! I hope you don't hate me for the ending. O.o In the next chapter Alfred will have a lot to say. ;)
1. Tessa Dijkstra = Nyotalia Netherlands
2. I really love Neddie, but I've wanted to write him as a girl SINCE FOREVER. I hope she won't disappoint! ;D
3. Michelle Mancham = Seychelles, I LOVE HER!
4. The boy and the girl mentioned are Cameroon and the unnamed African country from the Seychelles strip.
5. Irina Chernenko = Ukraine and what Feliks is saying in Polish isn't very important.
6. Emma Dijkstra = Belgium.
7. Spain's (Antonio's) brother is Portugal.
8. Yes Finland is Santa. IT'S HIS DESTINY.
9. Magnus Densen = Denmark ;)
10. YES Happy Otter is Harry Potter. But Denmark is just a bit weird. ;)
So I hope you enjoyed! Shit's finally going down! I've been rewriting this one WAY TOO MUCH. And I just didn't want to wait any longer! BTW I DO HOPE that the characters don't act too OOC. But hey they're humans right? (My lame excuses...) So if you (dis)liked it, leave a comment and tell me how to make this better! I can only improve by receiving structured criticism.
Have a wonderful day, and as we say in Dutch: Zie je later! (See you later!)
