To Matt

[Alfred Jones]

A young blonde man frowned as he stared at the address written hastily on his hands. It had taken awhile to find what had happened to his brother, since the case had been buried and forgotten as just a simple murder. It had taken even longer for him to swallow his pride and ask his friend for a couple more bucks for a gift. It has used up the small savings he also had from working at the construction site a few weeks ago, but he wanted it to be on time for the persons birthday.

It was a nervous experience to be in the highlands at around 2 am, but he figured it was better now than to go in the day time where he might be seen...It had been so long since he'd last seen his brother, and really he was thinking it was better if the other thought he was dead. Despite this, he did feel bad about not telling the smaller twin where he had gone for about twelve years...Fiddling with the good sized box, he stared at it for a moment then, thanking the fact that there was no fences for this rather nice looking house, he stepped up to the porch silently. If it rained the gift would be safe, at least.

Gently he sat it down where the door wouldn't hit it when swung open. It was bright colored, with white wrapping with a nice looking design on it with a red bow. The short card was inside of the box so it wouldn't fly away. What the box contained was a large, soft white bear that actually kind of smelled like maple syrup weirdly enough. He didn't know why, perhaps it was just a gimick to make the bear more appealing...The card, a simple piece of paper, merely said "Happy Birthday, Matt." Which was probably odd enough, seeing as no one really called him by the shorter version of his name, except, well. Him. Glancing up at the windows, the figure just tugged his hood on over his head, then turned, jogging off quickly.

It was late, and he wasn't going to take the tram with the amount of money he had, so he just started the long walk. Not that he minded, he'd made this trip many times. It also helped that he was in the midst of battling some insomnia, so he didn't need to stop to sleep, despite how long the journey was.

He just hoped that Matt would like the gift, and not see it as some...Creepy stalker present.

[goldfiiish]

(I am terrible person. I am so sorry, I didn't see this before right now. I'm really sorry.)

Matthew sighed deeply, pushing himself out of bed. He stayed up until 12 watching the clock until his birthday and once it was, he didn't know why he bothered. It made him feel depressed that he had no one to spend the day with. So, once it was truly his birthday, he ended up drinking maple syrup, just because he could. He took the old picture of his family he found months ago and placed it in front of him. He looked at it as he made himself sick with the thick liquid.

It had been so many years since he had actually spent a birthday with someone, he didn't feel like spending it looking at a wall. Looking at that photograph was probably worse though. Matthew glanced over at the clock. 2 am... Maybe he could cook himself a cake. If he was just going to spend the day by himself, he might as well not even bother with the day time.

Matthew went back up to his room to grab a sweater. When he glanced out his window, he saw someone walking up to his porch. He pressed his forehead against the window, waiting for whoever it was to walk off. Maybe they didn't mean to go to his house and wanted someone else's. But who visited anyone at two am? When the figure walked off his porch without knocking, Matthew almost felt relief. They glanced up at the window and tugged a hood over their head before walking off. Still, he got a glimpse of their face...

He shook his head, deciding what he thought he saw was probably nothing. He was looking at the picture for too long. He went back down to his front door before swinging it open. There was a neatly wrapped box sitting on his porch. He stared at it, thinking it might blow up. When it didn't, he walked cautiously up to it. "Hello?" He called out, unsure of whether he wanted a reply. When none came, he opened the box slowly, revealing a stuffed bear. It smelled sweet, like maple syrup. He dropped the box out of his hands and pushed it away with his feet. "Who left this here?" He yelled out again.

Looking back inside the box, he saw a little note. He reached down for it and read the inside. 'Happy Birthday, Matt.' Matt? No one called him Matt. No one alive at least. This made no sense. Sitting down on his porch steps, Matthew stared at it. Who left this for him? He got up, this was something he didn't want to just let lie. Matthew ran off from his house in search of whoever that person was.

[Alfred Jones]

( Loool I was incredibly close to having the mod take this down because you took so long. )

If Alfred had noticed any light in the house, he would have abandoned the venture to a later date. Unfortunately for Matthew, he really was just pretty far ahead at this moment because of his jogging, so he didn't even hear the yelling. Even more unfortunate, when the other boy started running, the sounds practically echoed in the silent part of town, and of course because he didn't know what it is, Alfred did the logical thing...He ran.

It was probably a good thing that Alfred was in such good shape, he easily got away from the sound of the running and ended up heading down to the train station without incident before he started off quickly into no mans land. There was no way he'd be caught, the thought crossed his mind that that might be Matt, but...Well, he wasn't ready to meet him again either. No, this was for the best in his opinion.

Of course, because of how quickly he had taken off, that now left the poor twin alone on his birthday...Again. At night. In the cold.

[goldfiiish]

(I'm sorry OTL. It's not like I didn't want to do it, I just wasn't paying attention for it. I promise I won't take that long again.)

Matthew chased after the stranger, but eventually he realized he just needed to give up. There was no way he was going to catch up, and part of him didn't really want to. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know who that person was. He went home with a sigh, dragging his feet the whole way back. It was late, and he was cold and lonely, there shouldn't be a reason for him to be out of his house anyway.

He moved the box back into his house using his feet. Once he got back inside, he took the bear out and fell onto his couch. He held the bear close, sniffing the maple smell. "At least I'm not all alone this birthday, right?" He swallowed a lump in his throat as empty silence followed his question. He wondered if he would ever have a birthday where someone would reply back.

Terrible birthday beginning? Yes. Worst one ever? Not even close.