Gilbert sat up from his bed, he looked over at his alarm clock. Five fifteen. He still had some time to waste and he probably wasn't going to fall back asleep, knowing him. He lazily threw his legs over the side of the bed, tossing the white sheets back and ran his hand over it so it looked halfway decent. He walked over to the light switch flipping it on, he walked to his closet and threw on a pair jeans and a t-shirt.
"Come on Gilbird."
The small bird chirped and followed him into the hall. He opened the door to the linen closet, and grabbed the broom that sat inside the door. Gilbert removed the single tile from the ceiling, and jumped up to pull down the ladder. He then quickly climbed up, Gilbird following.
He turned, pulling the ladder up and placing the tile back. He walked over to the curtains throwing them open, allowing the cloudy morning light to slowly drift in. Giving Gilbert a bit of warmth that lingered for a bit, he turned a button on the radio. It sat by the window and he turned up the music, then deciding it wasn't worth it, he turned it off. He walked away from the window over to a rocking chair in the corner. By a bunch of boxes he never touched, but he was bored so today he decided to look in the boxes. Gilbert's grandfather told him they belonged to the person who lived there before. He peeled off the old yellowed tape from the top of the box, and peered in the open box. On the very top was a scroll.
"What is this?" He pulled it out of the box. "A map?"
Gilbert held a old yellowed map in his hands, he placed a hand on the end of the roll gently tugging opening it.
The map showed where Gilbert's house, Matthew's house, the road into the town, but on the far side of the lake was a house. Gilbert didn't recall ever seeing this house, he put it off telling himself that it probably got torn down or something. He then put it down on the floor and sorted through the stuff again. He pulled out a small trunk, something a little girl would keep dolls in. Yet it was locked, he sifted through the box, but didn't find the key. Gilbert placed that next to the map. He then pulled out a family picture one person was ripped out, he put it down with the rest of the stuff. He then reached into the bottom of the box, pulling out a necklace with half of a charm. Shrugging, he quickly put it in his pocket and looked at his phone for the time. His grandfather would be waking up soon. Gilbert then left the stuff on the floor, grabbing Gilbird. He started to exit the attic.
Matthew jumped up, his skin was glistening with sweat. His breath was uneven and jagged. He had the dream again, but this time the thing pushed him up to the surface. Teasing him with fresh air, before dragging him down again. As he died he heard the laughter of a girl.
He slowed his breathing the best he could and shakily pulled himself out of bed. Coughing up a bit of water, as he searched under his bed for Kumajiro. Matthew pulled the bear out from under the bed, and held him close to him. Breathing in his scent, the bear smelled of herbs.
"Kuma, why were you under the bed." he asked still a bit shaky "Gilbert wanted to hang out today, and we can't just ditch him."
The bear stared back at Matthew silently. His shiny black bead eyes just looked back at the Canadian. Matthew sighed and changed into his day clothes, before heading down the kitchen.
"Morning Matthew."
"Mornin' Birdie."
Matthew stopped in the door frame of the kitchen. Gilbert was sitting at the table with Matthew's father. He slowly walked to the table, and pulled out his chair, sitting down. His father slid a plate of pancakes over to him along with maple syrup. Matthew slowly took a bite of his pancake.
"Well Matthew, I'm going to work now." Matthew's dad stood up turning to Gilbert. "Whatever you do. Don't get my boy into trouble."
"Yes sir!" Gilbert said standing up placing his hand to his forehead. "You can count on me sir!"
Matthew's father left, rolling his eyes at the albino. Gilbert sat down smiling, as soon as the door shut, he bursted out laughing.
"So Birdie, what do you want to do today?" He asked raising a finger to his eye to wipe away a tear.
"I don't know." He said. "Anything as long as we don't go swimming."
"Since you're new to the place, you want to go exploring?"
"Maybe."
Matthew stood up picking up his plate and he put it in the sink. He gingerly moved aside the cream curtain and looked out side. The lake was covered in a eerie fog, and he could have swore he saw a girl in the water watching him. Matthew quickly shut the drape, and turned around.
"You alright?" Gilbert asked smiling.
"Yeah." Matthew lied. "Ready to go."
"Hell yeah!" He said, grabbing the Canadian's hand. "Come on Birdie."
Gilbert dragged the smaller boy outside, door slamming quickly behind them. The albino slowed down a bit, and turned to Matthew.
"Um Gil..."
"Yes Birdie?" Matthew coughed, and signaled to his hand. "Oh sorry, come on this way,"
Gilbert turned and started walking. Matthew sighed, he felt eyes on him. He started jogging, and finally caught up with Gilbert.
"Oh and by the way, you're kinda cute when you blush." Matthew blushed a deep shade of red. "See?" Gilbert said smiling
The two boys walked through the woods a bit, the fog made it hard to see far away. The blonde looked around, when he heard a noise he jumped. Matthew could feel it watching him, following him with it's eyes not letting him out of it's sight, it was everywhere...Gilbert skipped ahead a bit, leaving Matthew to start walking a little faster to keep up. Gilbert asked him a few times if he was okay, or if he needed to go back. Matthew told his friend he was fine and could continue the tour. Gilbert turned to the shorter boy and nudged him a bit.
"This is the cemetery, no ones buried here anymore." he said sitting on one of the tombstones. "But who would want to buried here anyway?"
The gravestones were covered in a thin layer of moss. There was a weeping angel doubled over a gravestone, way at the far end of the cemetery hidden amongst the fog. There wasn't any headstones close to it, which probably was an unnecessary observation. Gilbert signaled for them to move on, they headed farther down. The path led out of the cemetery, farther into the forest. They came to a rope tied to a tree that hung over the water.
"This is the best swimming spot." Gilbert said pointing to the water. "The water is fairly deep so it's great."
Matthew swallowed, making a mental checklist. Rule number one, don't use the rope swing. Gilbert motioned for him to come along, as they walked farther down the path. As they continued on, Matthew looked into the woods he could see a board leaning against a tree.
"Gilbert." He whispered tugging on the boy's sleeve. "What's that over there?"
"I don't know." he said looking at the scene. "Let's check it out!"
Gilbert started heading in that direction.
"Gil please!" Matthew said, standing in front of the albino.
"Come on Birdie, don't be scared." he said, grabbing the boy's hand. He started dragging him to the ruins. "It's not that scary."
They walked up to the pile of rubble. There was a half of a house. The edges were charred and black wood littered the scene.
"Come on." Gilbert said, still dragging Matthew behind him.
They walked into what was left of the front door into the roofless ruins. The upstairs and it's contents were laying strewn across the floor, rotting. Something shiny swung back in forth, hanging from one of the floor beams. Gilbert dropped Matthew's hand, Matthew took the chance to slowly make his way across the floor. He reached up and slipped whatever it was off the beam. He looked at it, it started to feel hot to the point where the Canadian dropped it. Gilbert walked over to him.
"What happened." He said picking up the necklace, and trying to look at the Canadian's hand.
"Um y-yeah, perfectly fine!" Matthew said, yanking his hand away from the albino.
Gilbert held out the necklace. Then pulled the necklace he had in his pocket into view. He held the two together, together they made a maple leaf.
"We need to go to my house now."
"Why?" Matthew questioned.
"Because, this is weird."
Gilbert pulled Matthew up the ladder, the radio was still quietly playing music in the background. Gilbert dragged the shorter boy over to the pile of stuff on the floor. Sitting down, Gilbert sifted through the pile till he found the map and opened it. He quickly placed what he could on the edges, to keep it from rolling shut. He slammed his hand on the spot where the unmarked house was.
"GILBERT SHUT UP!" awkward silence...
"Sorry Opa!" Gilbert said. "Maybe that was a little loud."
"Okay, now what do you want to show me?" Matthew asked.
"See here?" he said pointing. "We're here, we were there, I found this necklace here, that one was there."
"So?"
"Nothing I just thought it was weird." Gilbert said laughing.
"Gilbert Beilschmidt, I hate you!"
"Yeah, Ich lieb dich auch Birdie." He said laughing again, holding back Matthew. Who was trying to attack him for making him come to his house.
They sat there for awhile. Matthew silently pulled Kumajiro out of his front pocket. He held him up to his chest, burying his nose in the polar bears soft fur.
"Who is this?" Gilbert asked. "We really didn't get to introduce ourselves yesterday."
"This is Kumajiro." Said Matthew holding him up. "I always forget his name so I call him Kuma."
"That's cute." Gilbert said smirking. "I'm bored, lets do something."
"Like what?" Matthew asked.
"You wanna go into town?" he asked. "I have an extra bike."
"I guess." the Canadian said. "But we have to be back before dark!"
Matthew remembered his dreams always seem to take place when it's dark and foggy, he shivered.
Gilbert hopped onto his bike and led the way, with Matthew following close behind. They rode about three miles before reaching the town. It was pretty much deserted, there were a few people shopping, and some kids at the playground. Gilbert stopped at the library, hopping off his bike. Matthew did the same, the two of them walked into the building. They walked up the stairs and into the area where the library books were.
"I'm gonna go find a book." Gilbert said, winking and raising his eyebrows a bit. "I'll be over there."
Matthew blushed a bit. "Okay, I'll be over there."
The two went their separate ways. Gilbert to the adult books and Matthew to the normal books. Matthew ran his hands over the books, looking for a book of his interest. Being curious, he picked up a book on sexual orientation. Matthew was one of those people who really didn't know if they were straight or not. He read through it, at the end was a survey he mentally checked off the boxes. He qualified for a lot, except anything to do with animals, ew.
'What am I?'
Author's note: THAT WAS A LONG CHAPTER. Anyway thank you for reading even though this was slightly confusing. BTW I made the preview pic don't use without permission.
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