Thanks, everyone, for the reviews! I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't expect them to come out as fast, or be as long, as this one. I was really hit by the muse and just couldn't stop. Enjoy!
"Come on, Gilbert!" Matthew yelled while grabbing his boyfriend's hand.
"Whoa, Mattie, slow down. What's your hurry?"
"What's my hurry?" Matthew practically screamed, "After ten years, I've finally done it. I'm finally getting Alfred out of that hospital!"
Those ten years Matthew obsessively spent trying to free his twin brother. The first year of Alfred's absence Matthew clung to Tony and would only speak to his mother when begging her to get Alfred out of the mental hospital. She refused to yield. So Matthew tried another tactic. He began to rebel and skip classes. He was into drugs by the time he was fifteen and partied heavily. That was how he met Gilbert.
Matthew took another swig of alcohol and looked around the room for Ramon, his Cuban friend and ride. The Cuban was no where to be found. He was probably passed out or fucking that Mexican chick. It really didn't matter. Either way he was walking home tonight, which was alright by him because he would be out later and make his mother worry more. Then, maybe, she would give in.
"Hello, cutie, I've seen you around a few times," Matthew glanced up to see an albino boy grinning at him, "What's a cute boy like you doing at all of these parties?"
"What's it to you?" Matthew mumbled, a little perturbed at the attention the albino boy was giving him. People usually ignored him at these parties, which was how Matthew liked it. He just wanted to get high or drunk and then go home.
"The awesome me was just curious. You're just so adorable and alone, so I figured I would come over and talk to you. So, cutie, what's your name?"
"Matthew Williams," Matthew whispered.
"Well, hello, Mattie, my name is Gilbert Beilschmidt, but I also answer to 'awesome.'"
Matthew glanced at the boy again. He was two or three years older than Matthew and looked like a hooligan. Matthew smiled, perfect.
"Do you mind giving me a ride home, Mr. Awesome, my ride is currently MIA."
The two had begun dating after that, which really freaked his mother out, but did not cause her to ask for Alfred's release. It didn't matter now because Matthew got legal custody of Alfred from his mother and was now removing Alfred like he promised all those years ago.
The hospital looked old. It was made of reddish-orange bricks and was covered on ivy. A white sign above the portal read Doctor Corcoran's Hospital for the Mentally Ill. Matthew didn't like it, especially because the cast-iron gated back yard seemed ominously untouched as if they never allowed their patients outside. Alfred had loved nature and reveled in spending time outdoors.
Matthew knocked on the door and a nurse with a sour face opened it.
"Um, hello, I'm Matthew Williams and this is Gilbert Beilschmidt I'm here to pick p my brother, Alfred Jones," Matthew said quietly. The nurse pursed her lips and gestured for them to follow her. The corridor was white and sterilized, just what you would expect from a mental hospital. All of the doors were closed and Matthew did not see a single other person. The nurse opened a door near the end of the hall, and Matthew and Gilbert stepped through it.
Sitting behind a desk was a man that haunted Matthew's memories. It was that doctor who took Alfred away. Matthew inched closer to Gilbert and grabbed his hand in a death grip.
"Mr. Williams, I understand that you wish to remove your brother, Alfred Jones, from this facility. I must warn you that your brother is severely mentally ill and advise you from taking him," Doctor Corcoran said warmly. After ten years, he still creeped Matthew out.
"You and I both know that there's nothing wrong with Alfred. And even if there was, I would still prefer that he lived with me instead of in this prison," Matthew hissed. Ten years of anger and frustration were showing on the normally passive blonde.
"Very well," Doctor Corcoran sighed, "Mrs. Pollitz, please take Mr. Williams and this other gentlemen to pick up Alfred."
The sour looking nurse appeared again and led them to another unassuming door off the sterile white hallway with the letter 'E' painted above it in black. This room was full of life. Ten male patients, all around Matthew's age, were strewn about the room engaged in various activities and none of them seemed to notice Matthew or Gilbert. There were two brunettes sitting on the couch directly in front of Matthew engrossed with a bag of plastic tomatoes. Four other patients sat in front of a TV that was playing 101 Dalmatians. A really girly looking blonde was sucking another brunette's face on an armchair to one side of the room.
What really caught Matthew's attention, however, was a pair of blondes sitting on a loveseat in the far corner. One of the blondes had his head turned to the side and was talking animatedly to nothing. The other blonde, oh, the other blonde, was lying against the first blonde's back. His eyes were closed and in his hands he hugged something familiar. It was Kumajiro, Matthew's old polar bear, and that boy, it was Alfred! After ten years, Matthew was finally seeing his brother again.
"Alfred," Matthew called softly, "Wake up, Alfie, it's me, Matthew, your brother." Alfred's eyes blinked opened and turned to stare at Matthew. Instead of the happiness Matthew expected to see in those eyes, all that was there was confusion.
"Ma-Matthew?" Alfred asked dumbly.
"Yeah, you know, Matthew, your twin brother?" Matthew's heart was beginning to sink. Why didn't Alfred remember him?
Alfred turned to the blonde who was still conversing with air. "Arthur, do you see him? Is there really a man who looks like me standing in front of us?"
Arthur turned towards Matthew, and then nodded. Alfred's eyes finally, finally lit up with the joy and recognition Matthew had been hoping for. Alfred launched himself at his brother and brought them both to the floor with his tackle hug, all the while saying, "I knew you were real, I just knew it."
By this time, all of the room's attention was focused on the two brothers. "Hey, Alfred, who's, like, that?" asked the effeminate blonde who had apparently halted his make-out session.
"This is my twin brother, Matthew," Alfred announced proudly like a kindergartener showing off. Matthew noticed how most of the patients seemed a little upset at the words 'twin brother,' especially the smaller of the two brunettes that were playing with the plastic tomatoes. Matthew shrugged it off, thinking that maybe Alfred had talked about Matthew one too many times. He recalled that Alfred had a habit of talking a topic to death.
"But, Mattie," Alfred asked hesitantly, a thought just occurring to him, "Why are you here? And who is that other man with you?"
"This is my-" he hesitated, unsure of Alfred's thoughts on homosexuality. It wasn't a major topic of serious conversation to two twelve-year-old boys, "-my really good friend, Gilbert. And we've come to take you home, just like I promised."
Alfred's eyes widened slightly with fear, "Home? With Mother? I can't! Mother hates me because I'm a bad boy, really bad, I can't, she will-"
"Shh," Matthew said softly, cutting off Alfred's panicked rant, "We're not going home to Mother. I have my own house now, and you're going to live with me."
"Really?" Alfred asked. At Matthew's nod, Alfred excitedly shouted, "Guess what, guys, I'm leaving! My brother's taking me home, outside!"
"Congratulations, mon ami," said a blonde who sat neat the TV.
"The outside will be fun, da?" said a silver headed man next to the French blonde.
"You are so lucky," the taller brunette with the tomatoes said while the smaller one glanced between the two twins with a queer look in his eyes.
The other patients began gathering around, giving him their congratulations and telling him they'd miss him. All except one. The green-eyed blonde who had originally been sitting with Alfred stood in to the side with his eyes downcast. Eventually, the others noticed him and backed away so he and Alfred had a clear view of one another.
"I guess you're leaving."
"Artie-"
"I'm glad you're leaving. It's a good thing you're getting out of this bloody place, but-" Arthur began crying. Alfred immediately ran towards Arthur and embraced him in a gentle hug.
"Don't cry, don't cry," Alfred soothed, "I'll always love you. And you still have the rest of the group. Oh, and the faeries," the two shared a small laugh at that, "And I promise we'll see each other again. This isn't goodbye forever, not like-" the two began crying in each other's arms, and the others in the group seemed teary-eyed as well.
"Come on, Alfred, we better get going," Matthew said after the nurse gave a little cough. Alfred turned to Matthew with a bright smile on his face, a complete 180 from the crying mess he was two seconds ago. He gave Arthur a quick kiss, then grabbed Matthew's hand, practically pulling him out the door. The three of them followed the nurse down the hallway and to the exit.
Matthew smiled happily. He finally got his brother back. But something seemed wrong. His brother was odder than he remembered, almost…crazy. Most of the time, he talked and acted like a child, and he swung between moods faster than a pregnant teenager. But the thing that really made Matthew worry was how Alfred didn't recognize Matthew at first and how he needed Arthur to tell him that Matthew was really there. These worries plagued Matthew as Gilbert drove the three of them away from that horrible mental hospital that stole away his brother for a decade.
~o~o~o~
"So you're just letting him take Alfred?" Mrs. Pollitz asked.
"I have to. He is legally responsible for Alfred, and if I refused, there would be an investigation into our facility. We both know that we don't want that," Doctor Corcoran explained.
"But what if he talks? He's a liability to us now."
"Calm yourself, Miranda; I have a few ideas on how to deal with this…problem. We have nothing to worry about."