It was so much worse.
Before the sun was even out I was wide awake. I got up from the spot on the floor where Mathew was still sleeping and walked to the small opening on the barricaded window. Some people where already moving outside so we had to leave immediately. Hurrying back to Mathew I kneeled down and shook him awake.
"Mattie, c'mon we have to go!" I said in a loud whisper. He sat up with difficulty rubbing his eyes to try to get rid of the drowsiness. "Come on get up!" he didn't say anything but I quickly helped him stand on his feet before moving to look out the window. I held my breath once I caught a glimpse of a man in a uniform holding a very familiar metal serpent in his hands.
The hounds arrived.
"Where are we going" he asked still half asleep behind me. I didn't answer and kept looking out the window until the hounds where running in the opposite direction.
"It doesn't matter but we can't stay here" I said turning around and grabbing his hand. "Ready to run?" He nodded once before we walked to the door. I breathed in slowly before opening the door and bolting out and going straight into the shadows of the city.
With people walking through the streets we couldn't run freely like we could when we escaped, instead we ran though the shadows in short pauses as we had to make sure no one would see us when we stepped into the light. It would take a while to find another place where we could go where no one could find us so all we could do at the moment was run.
Before I could run into the light again, Mathew dug his heels on the ground and pulled me back.
"Gil do you hear that?" he asked and I flinched. It was the same metal sound and bark like laughter I've heard since the day I was born. I tightened my hold on Mathews hand as my eyes searched frantically for the hounds. I couldn't see them but the sound was getting closer and closer as the seconds ticked away.
"Run." I said once I couldn't take it anymore. It didn't matter that there were people that could see us and it didn't matter that we had nowhere to go. All that mattered was that the hounds were getting closer. No matter which way we ran, I could still hear the bark like laughter ringing in my ears. I had walked these streets more times than I could count but I couldn't tell if I was moving away or towards the heart of the city. The metal of the serpents echoed through the streets and alleys but I still couldn't see the hounds.
But one could see us.
I turned and pulled Mathew along before he could fall and ran again. I could hear heavy breathing but I didn't know if it was Mathew's or my own. I didn't turn around but suddenly it wasn't just one hound stepping on our heels. The metal serpents were hissing as they tried to sink their fangs into any part of our body they could reach and the hounds where barking with laughter as they thought of this as a simple game of cat and mouse. A game to see which one of them could catch us first. We kept running and turning and jumping over and over again until I realized what the hounds where doing.
They had guided us to a dead end.
"Alright let's get this over with. It's getting boring." One of the hounds said as the others barked with laughter. I clenched my fist and tried in vain to look for a way out. I felt Mathew flinch before growing stiff and paralyzed. For the first time I turned to look at the hounds but all I saw was….Mathew?
My body went cold. I was staring straight at Mathew but…it wasn't him! I was still clutching his hand! But it was the same blonde, washed-out ashy hair, same sickly skin, same long body….but no bruise colored eyes.
And no scar.
"Mattie! Wow!" the hound barked pushing up the glasses that made his eyes look cold. I could feel Mathew shaking "Wow. Wow. WOW! I cannot believe I'm seeing you again! Well…at least not without a pretty little collar around your neck."
The hound took a step forward and I was quickly In front of Mathew snarling at the fake with the ice cold eyes.
"Aww, you even made a friend! How cute!" another step forward and I was pushing Mathew back. "You two have been really bad boys haven't you? You're not supposed to be out of your cages."
Another step forward; another step back.
"Get the hell away!"
"Eww you're one of those creatures, aren't you?" he sighed dramatically and the other hounds laughed looking a bit too relaxed. "Man the ones like you always give me unnecessary trouble. You make my job way harder than it needs to be."
"You're delusional if you think I'm just handing us over."
Another step forward; another step back.
"Mattie," he said ignoring me "We can either do this the easy way were no one gets hurt…or we can do it the hard way like last time."
In a second, my fist stroke between his eyes breaking his glasses in the process. The other two hounds didn't have time to react as I was dragging Mathew again forcing him to move. I was running one moment and frozen on the spot the next when I felt Mathews hand go limp and leave mine. He was on the ground trying and failing to keep his eyes open as the metal serpent tangled around his leg and sunk its fangs in his thigh.
I didn't run. Why couldn't I run? I could run now and never be in a cage again! I could be free again! But I couldn't run.
"You never learn do you, bro?" said the hound once he caught up with the other two. He wasted no time before sending the serpent to my arm and pulling me down to the ground.
The last thing I heard was the mad barking of the hounds.
oooooOOOOOooooo
It's cold.
The first thing that crossed my mind was that it was cold where I was. I tried opening my eyes but I couldn't …or at least I thought I couldn't until I realized they were already open an staring at a small blue light surrounded by grinning figures that never came closer.
I was in the pit.
Mathew was already awake and was hugging his knees to his chest trying to make himself small.
"Mattie?" I said as quietly as I could against the deafening silence of the pit. He jumped back and held himself up with his hands before sitting up straight and crossing his legs.
"We shouldn't have left…" he cried, tears staining his eyes red "we wouldn't be here if we hadn't left! We would have gone to auction without a problem, sold to a stupid pure and we could have just blamed them for leaving Lovino behind! It would have been their fault and not mine! He would have hated them and not me!"
Mathew was shaking as quiet voice somehow filled the entire room like a scream. He was pulling at his hair and looking at the floor in rage. "He hates me! The one time in my life I try to be selfish and it ends with him yelling and hitting me! I never get to selfish! I'm always putting others before myself and I'm sick of it! No one cares about what I want! Everyone gets to be selfish except me! Lovino always gets to be selfish and demand things from me! Alfred gets to be selfish and choose his job over me! And you-"
He stopped. I didn't move or say anything; I just sat still until he talked again.
"You didn't run…" he whispered. Neither of us said anything else. Mathew pressed his back against the wall and I hesitantly sat next to him.
"What happened?...here in the pit, I mean" I asked when he didn't say anything anymore.
"Lovino asked what had happened…and when I tried to apologize he started yelling and hitting me…the keepers took him away."
"Do you want to talk about the other thing?" I asked knowing he understood what I was talking about.
"He's my brother" he said simply and I waited for him to continue. "Mother was a toy...i only knew because of the spike on her ear but she never talked about it. She died when we were seven and we were left alone. It's a scary world out there for kids….so when the hounds found us and realized Alfred could work with them…he handed me over to them in a heartbeat. I tried running of course but…"
He didn't have to say it. We both knew what happened after that.
"Why didn't you run?"
"I don't know…" I answer honestly "I couldn't…I couldn't leave you."
"Please don't leave me…please let me be selfish for once."
"Okay."
Before he could move, I rested my head on his shoulder. It took a few seconds but he relaxed a bit and pressed his cheek to the top of my head. It was embarrassing to admit but despite everything that was happening, I felt safe. It was stupid, my body was being stupid. I hated it. I wouldn't be stuck down here if I had kept going. I wouldn't be locked up if I had just kept running….but I wouldn't have him I had.
oooooOOOOOooooo
We don't know how long we stayed in the pit or how many times we were awake or not, but they didn't let us out until the day of the auction. Unlike the other freaks, Mathew and I had our hands chained behind our back, our ankles connected by a short chain and we were being pulled by the neck by two different keepers. We walked into the room where the artist where waiting and once again they removed all chains and stripped us off our clothes. "Be careful with those two, love" said one of the keepers as he walked away.
The artist looked scared for a moment before she got to work. I was dressed in a similar outfit as the one from the freak show only this time I was mostly covered in red. The stupid pants that strangled my legs were red but the cloth wrapped around my ankles was black this time. I had that same cloth wrapped around my wrists and my torso was covered in red symbols like the ones before. Red. Not black. I guess they didn't want to deal with the pures complaining about my pain later on. The only black paint I got was below my eyes. Red and black making my eyes look worse than they already were.
I couldn't find Mathew but one we were being taken to the cages i saw him being thrown in the one opposite to mine.
Even with the other three freaks in the cage with me…I felt completely alone.
SUP PEOPLE DUCKLING HERE QUACK! and yea sorry for the depressing chapter but WE GET TO SEE ALFRED! SO THAT'S GOOD! RIGTH?...no…..ok… sorry ANYWAYS I don't have much to say for this chapter so I'll see you guys next time! DUCKLING OUT QUACK!
