The Cursed Russian Doll

Strange beings

"Hey, Mattie bro!" Alfred cried out.

Opening the front door to the adequate dull suburban home. Eyeing the living room impatiently, the teenager dropped his school bag in the middle of the hallway, with a loud thud he leapt up the stairs. Old laminated wood creaked under the pressure as the teen sprinted wildly. There were three rooms altogether upstairs, Alfred stopped mid flight and stared at the desolate hallway.

The echo of creaking wood still ringing in his ears. Soft padded feet continued up the steps into the first room. It was his parent's room, the house was colonial, so the walls were painted a crisp creme, a poster bed was decorated in Victorian outdated swirls, the air was still of any movement and all Alfred could do was freeze awkwardly while darting his eyes around the room for movement. At these times Alfred wished he did not live in such an old house, it moaned queerly at midnight when no a single soul was conscious, he wanted desperately to move out of the ancient building.

But alas he could not, seeing the unbreakable contact between his father, Arthur and the timeworn dwelling. Still, Alfred swore by the Bible that it was haunted. Arthur had once told a story of how his grandfather had drawn a circle, on the wooden floor, in the living room with chalk then had muttered a spell to call out any ethereal beings to view. That was apparently when unscrupulous events started to take place. All those tales Arthur had told Alfred now started to swarm his mind. Plaguing his thoughts with fear induced deductions.

"Mattie, man this ain't cool." Alfred swallowed roughly, his tongue thick, his breathing ragged and deep. Approaching the other door, linking his parent's room to his brother's room he latched onto the cool handle and turned it painstakingly slowly. The lock on the door clicked, but Alfred had yet to open it. A whisper sliced the thick silence.

"Al?" Alfred spun on heels and yelled shrilly. His brother stood like an otherworldly being. He was a few centimeters shorter than Alfred himself, but this shortfall was made up in his serene personality while Alfred was skittish, with a pale lithe figure, opposite to Alfred who was more muscular and tan, Matthew's lips compressed into an unimpressed line, surreal iridescent midnight blue orbs were studying his brother with ruthless scrutiny.

"Mattie, bro you freaked me out, man. How did you do that!?" Alfred allowed his lips to stretch to the limit with an ecstatic grin. Matthew, being the more calm one between the two, glided gracefully across the room, moving effortlessly to his brother, with a delicate twitch of his lips he nodded a greeting. Loosely shoulder length curled, hair was pinned up in a messy high pony, some of the golden blonde hair, with brandy balayage highlights, had escaped framing his face in a strangely attractive way.

"How are you so silent?" Matthew lifted his shoulders in a lazy shrug and turned to leave.

"Woah wait, bro!" Alfred grabbed roughly onto Matthew's slimmer figure, his ahoge bouncing excitedly on his head, and proceeded to drag the reluctant boy to the front door.

"Gil is standing outside with the rest of the gang, he wants to talk, you know it's your birthday and all." Alfred, oblivious to the stiffening of Matthew's muscles, continues down the stairs and dragged the limp boy to the front door. Without consulting he propped up his brother onto his two shaking feet.

"Gil, my main man, I brought Mattie down, where is Ludwig? I need his math notes!" Alfred promptly left his brother with a brash Gilbert. The taller boy leant against the door with a cocky smile, a row of pearly whites showing to glint in the light, while his vivid crimson eyes watched Matthew's more docile frame look around in confusion.

"Hey there little birdie." The boy almost cooed, to Matthew's irritation. Matthew actually liked Gilbert no matter how many times the man handled him like fragile glass. It annoyed him to the limit that he was being treated like butterfly, meant be conserved and protected for her beauty. Matthew was strong.

"Salut, Gilbert." Matthew smiled politely. Gilbert looked around nervously and pulled back from leaning against the door frame, switching his weight from his toes to his heels repeatedly.

"I was wondering, you know, what you want for your B-day..." He voice lowered in volume as he continued to speak, "Cause you know what kind of awesome friend would I be if I didn't get you a gift." Matthew carried on studying Gilbert's unusual actions. Taking pity the boy shook his head.

"You don't have to do anything. Father and Papa have already planned something special." Matthew wanted to add 'you didn't get anything for my brothers birthday, why me?' but he conserved his thoughts. Gilbert frantically disagreed, his voice jumping up a notch.

"No way, you have done so much for me...and I owe you." Matthew, albeit reluctantly, and nodded. When Gilbert was younger he was teased periodically. Many boys and girls did not understand the concept of albino's and were terrified of Gilbert. But after Matthew had transferred into the class they became quick friends. But one day it got worse and one bully had gotten physical with Matthew for associating with Gilbert. Running to the scene the albino had not held back and proceeded to punch the bully violently. After much struggle, Ludwig managed to pry his brother off the bully. That was when Alfred and Gilbert met.

They just clicked and it makes sense, seeing their personality meant they could agree on many things. But then Gilbert started to mingle with Alfred and his friends, Matthew was left behind like always. Still the boy felt indebt to Matthew, as if Matthew was the gateway to his happiness.

"I guess you could get me a history book, wait," Matthew recalled something, retreating into the house Matthew emerged again with a pen and paper.

"Recently I took interest in the Soviet Union, there is a book I saw in the bookstore down the street," Gilbert's face turned sour, "It isn't haunted." Writing wrote quickly with a flick of his wrist.

"That's what I want." Matthew pushed the folded piece of paper into Gilbert's keen hands. The albino grinned with anticipation.

"Ja, I won't let you down birdie."