Alfred lifted himself from the hard lumpy bed he slept on, he groaned from the ache in his bones and body and slid off the bed.

His bare feet hit the cold ground he winced and trudged toward the closed door sighing in relief when found it unlocked. He opened the door and cautiously looked around listening closely for any sign of the dangerous man.

Instead, he was greeted with the sound of soft coughing. "Mattie..." He whispered to himself and hurriedly ran to the room across from his, he pulled the door open and was hit in the face with a strong stench of cigars, he himself coughed and pinched his nose.

He rushed to his brother's side and carefully helped him off the bed being careful not to hurt him fearing that he would end up touching one of his many bruises under his clothes. "Come on Mattie let's get out of here." He said and pulled his brother out of the room. Matthew tripped over his feet as he followed his brother out his chest felt tight. "S-stop! What about..him?" Matthew asked fearfully.

Alfred frowned. "He's gone." He assured his frightened brother and led him to the living room where the air was clean and breathable. "Take deep breaths, Mattie." He instructed in a calming tone. Matthew followed his brother's orders and took deep breaths, clearing his lungs of the nasty smoke.

Alfred frowned, his brother was really pale and had dark bags under his eyes. "You okay Mattie?" he asked and rested his hand against his sallow cheek. Matthew leaned against his brother's touch letting out a shaky sigh of relief and comfort. His skin was hot. Alfred led Matthew to the couch and helped him on. "Here you can sleep here, or now, don't worry I'll take care of you. You'll be safe." He reassured as he sat beside his brother.

Matthew nodded not having any energy to protest, he rested his head on Alfred's lap and slowly drifted off to sleep. Alfred let out the breath he was holding in and wiped the sweat off his temple, he was internally freaking out. His brother was surely sick possibly due to food poisoning or second-hand smoking, their father rarely smoked outside, he mostly went to the farthest room to smoke.

And the room was near Alfred and Matthew's room, the smoke was thick enough to choke them in their sleep it was horrid, no matter how much cleaning both boys did they could never scrub off or wash out the nasty smell from the sheets of the back room. Alfred most of the time cleaned the foul smelling room on his own, Matthew would always get a coughing fit from the smoke.

And just imaging him entering the room made Alfred shiver, it was a horrible thing to think about. Matthew coughed and curled into a ball holding his stomach as if he were in pain, Alfred jumped at the sudden outburst and hurriedly helped his brother sit up he was too worried to say anything, so instead, he patted his brother's back and helped him regain his breath.

Matthew whined and sat against a pillow resting his head on Alfred's shoulder. "My chest hurts Alfred." He mumbled in a tired voice. "...I'm sorry." Alfred apologized. "I really am sorry Matthew, you're sick because of me.." He looked anywhere to avoid his brother's gaze. "I failed you, I failed everyone." He squeezed his eyes shut his eyes were starting to sting with incoming tears, but he refused to cry.

He refused to give up.

Matthew tugged at Alfred's arm. "Don't say that!" he demanded with a frown. "How many times do I have to say that none of this is your fault." He asked, Alfred, opened his eyes and looked at his brother with a small smile. "You tell me that a lot." He answered. Matthew nodded. "So start listening to what I say." He demanded once again.

Alfred struggled to bring on a real smile for his brother. "Okay, okay." He sighed. "I'll listen to you, but you have to listen to me too okay? Cause then it won't be fair." He explained and Matthew nodded in agreement. "Okay deal." He smiled and hugged Alfred. "Yay, now I want you to give me a kiss on my cheek!" he pleaded with a small giggle.

Alfred laughed and rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir." He answered and pulled his brother away from the loving and safe embrace. "Don't blame me if you get slobber all over your face." He warned jokingly. "Any kiss you give me will be okay for me," Matthew responded happily, Alfred flinched suddenly remembering where he was.

His smile nearly faltered but he kept it on for his brother's sake, he leaned forward and placed a kiss on his brother's warm cheek and then quickly pulled away with a small blush. "There....n-now you have to give me a hug again." He stammered. Matthew smiled. "I was gonna give you one anyway no matter what you said." He admitted and hugged Alfred tight. "..since you're the only one I have now." He mumbled.

Alfred returned the tight hug. "Yeah, you're the only one here that keeps me happy. Thank you, Mattie." He buried his face in Matthew's shoulder and sighed in relief. "But don't worry about being alone okay? And don't you ever forget about dad and papa, we're going to go back to them." He promised, Matthew perked up.

He looked at Alfred with wide hopeful eyes. "Really? How do you know?" he asked curiously, Alfred immediately began to doubt himself, but he was not going to spend another night locked in a dirty smelly room without his brother with him. It was unbearable. He gathered his thoughts. "Okay, this might sound crazy but..." He paused.

He rethought his explanation, he bit his lip for a good minute until he finally decided to just gather his courage. "I have a plan, a plan that'll get us out of here and back to dad and papa." He explained to his eager brother. Matthew frowned. "But what if he finds us again? He knows were papa and daddy lives." He stated glumly.

Alfred shook his head. "He won't be able to get us." He answered and carefully grabbed Matthew's hand. Matthew and Alfred both wore oversized sweaters that their 'father' got them to wear if they were ever to go out, which was probably never. At first, Alfred was confused as to why he gave them the larger clothing in the middle of spring, but when he saw how scared he looked while talking to a person that visited it clicked.

Alfred gently lifted Matthew's long sleeve all the way up to his elbow showing a dark purplish bluish bruise on his sickly pale skin. "If we go to people and tell them what he did and show them that he hurt us they'll take us back to dad and papa." He explained and pulled down the long sleeve not wanting to look at the painful bruises on his brother's skin.

Matthew nodded understanding his brother's plan. "Okay, when do we leave though? I really want to leave..." He said in a quiet tone. "We will, soon," Alfred reassured quickly. Matthew nodded without saying anything else. "Look, maybe we can sneak out from the windows, " Alfred suggested. "We can't," Matthew responded. "He has locks on them." He looked down with slumped shoulders. "Then we'll just have to use the front door." Alfred protested.

Matthew sighed. "Also a lock outside this house is a literal prison." He muttered, Alfred was a bit discouraged. He thought for a long while and jumped up when he got an idea. "I got it!" he exclaimed, Matthew, flinched. "What is it?" he asked cautiously. "As soon as he arrives we'll make a run for it." He stated excitedly. "We'll have to run fast, and we can't stop." He stated.

Matthew whined. "Alfred I can't run that fast, and everything hurts when I move..." He fidgeted before speaking again. "Maybe...maybe you can leave m-" Alfred quickly cut him off. "No!" he yelled angrily. "I'm not leaving you here Mattie no matter what!" he shouted.

Matthew flinched and quickly nodded. "Okay, I'm sorry." He apologized, Alfred looked so pained. He held Matthew's hand and refused to let him go. "I'm not going to leave you..." He mumbled. "Never." He stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Matthew nodded again and hugged Alfred knowing that he really needed it. "Okay Alfie, I'll stay with you. I promise." He reassured.

Alfred stayed silent trying to gather his thoughts and set back the negative feelings. "Alright, I believe you, Mattie." He pulled away from the embrace and hopped off the couch pulling his brother along with him. "We can think of something else, and come up with another plan." He suggested.

Matthew nodded. "What about..." He trailed off and looked around. "Oh!" he tugged at Alfred's hand. "We can call daddy remember!" he smiled. "He gave you his number didn't he?" he asked. Alfred gasped and squeezed his brother's hand excitedly. "Mattie you're so smart!" he shouted and dug through his pockets searching for the paper Arthur had given him before he left.

He took out the crumpled paper from his pocket and internally cheered. "Let's go to the kitchen, that's where the phone is." He said. "Yeah okay." Matthew eagerly nodded. Both boys rushed to the kitchen searching for the phone. "Where would he put it.." Alfred mumbled and looked around. "Mattie look over at those cabinets." Alfred pointed over to the cabinets near the sink.

Matthew nodded and reluctantly let go of Alfred's hand. "Be careful don't hurt yourself, Alfie." He pleaded. "I won't," Alfred reassured before heading to the cabinets near the fridge. Both boys searched through many cabinets, and the more they searched the more eager they grew. Alfred lit up when he found a beat up flip phone in one of the cabinets he grabbed it and opened it extremely happy to see that it turned on. "I found it!" he exclaimed happily.

Matthew immediately stopped searching and ran to his brother with a small smile. "I'm glad, can we call daddy now?" he asked anxiously. "Yes, of course." Alfred smiled and dialed the number on the phone with trembling hand, and as soon as he was about to push the call button the front door open. Alfred flinched and immediately returned the phone to the cabinet it was in, he grasped onto Matthew's hand. "It's okay." He whispered to him. "We will call him tomorrow first thing in the morning." He promised.

Their father trudged into the kitchen and leaned against the table. "...so what's going on here?" he asked gruffly. "We just finished cleaning," Alfred answered quickly. "Oh? Is that so?" the man looked over at Matthew who flinched as soon as he made eye contact. "Y-yes..." He stammered fearfully and lowered his gaze.

Their father chuckled and shook his head. "What terrible liars." He stated and trudged toward them, Alfred immediately pushed his brother behind him. "We're not lying." He stated in a firm tone. The man laughed. "Okay then." He sighed. "Well it doesn't matter now, it's time to pack your bags boys." Alfred instantly froze. "W-what for?" he asked anxiously.

The man smirked. "What? You really didn't think you were staying here did you?" he faked a shocked expression. "Oh no no no." He shook his head. "We're moving away from this place, maybe somewhere farther." He mumbled to himself. Matthew whimpered. "Oh well, I guess we'll go wherever the wind takes us." He shrugged.

Both boys just stared at him too shocked to move, the man suddenly groaned after a few minutes and stomped toward Alfred taking hold of his arm, he pulled at it harshly. "Stop! That hurts!" he shouted, Matthew instinctively pulled his brother out of the painful grasp. "Don't hurt him!" he shouted at his father.

Alfred flinched and pushed his brother away from the dangerous man. "Please..." He looked up at his father who glared at Matthew. "He didn't mean it, please don't hurt him. He's sick..." He anxiously pleaded for his brother's safety.

The man took a breath and once again grabbed Alfred's arm. "Pack up." He demanded as he dragged both boys to their rooms. "Now." He let go of Alfred's hand and left. Alfred rubbed his arm. "That'll leave a bruise.." He muttered dully and then looked back at Matthew who trembled. "Alfred I want papa and daddy, we can't move! Alfred, we can't!" he shouted anxiously.

Alfred felt his heart throb in pain, he was so close to calling his actual father.

So close.

And just like that all their hope slipped away. "I don't want to go either Matthew." He mumbled under his breath. "But we'll get a moment, I just know it." He reassured. And for the first time Alfred was tempted to give up and just let things go as they may, but remembering both his loving father's and seeing the bruises on his brother kept him determined.

He was going to escape one way or another, and he would surely succeed.

For his family, for his brother. Anything seemed possible.