QUIET

5

A quite of nearly 2 days was finaly broken by an eruption of desperate gasping and choking. Alfred's eyes snapped open as his whole body seared with burning pain and his lungs hurt the most. He gasped and gagged and scratched at his throat tears welling in his eyes. He leaned out of the tub, collapsing onto the cold hard tile bellow.

Everything HURT with an intensity Alfred had never exerienced before. He coughed and chocked and writhed in the agony until. Then, just as quickly as it came, the searing pain ebbed away to a dull throbbing. Alfred clutched his knees to his chest and covered his mouth to hold in sobs...

This was getting bad... he knew he needed to stop but he just couldn't. this was the first time he had awoken to so much pain, he didn't know what that meant but it clearly wasn't good. Alfred was able to move faster than normal and the fogginess in his mind cleared up quicker than usual. Alfred didn't know what was happening but he used his early abilities to clean up the bathroom since, in all the ruckus, he'd spilt alot of bloody water on the floor.

When Alfred was done he took in a deep shakey breath and stood. Light filtered through the small bathroom window, he decided he needed a break from the cramped space so he grabbed his jacket and walked out.

He started walking along the long winding road that lead to his house. It was a hot, sunny day but thankfully a breeze was blowing through. Alfred tilted his head up towards the light and closed his eyes, basking in the warmth for a moment.

As Alfred walked, he thought. He thought about what he was doing wrong and why it turned out this way. He realized that isolating himself in the middle of nowhere probably supported his bad decisions as no one was around to help him. In fact, Alfred realized a part of the pain that made him want to escape his life so much was that lonliness.

Loneliness... that was a theme in Alfreds life. Either by his own dumb choice or his abandonment issues. You won't give anyone the chance to abandon you if you abandon them first. But now Alfred realized how much he craved the attention of others, some real human interaction that he had starved himself of for so long.

He moved into the little Kansas house around 134 years ago. Before then he lived jumping around from bustling city to bustling city. Blending into the crowded sidewalks like just another mortal. Like he hadn't first hand seen all the miserable problems of his nation that most would consider a "thing of the past".

It didn't bother Alfred to much, he figured that like the other nations he to would be able to just pick up and move on. Dismiss things as the cruelty of humanity. But, that didn't turn out to be the case. Instead Alfred carried a bit of that horror in his mind at all times and, in an attempt to wash it away, he drowned himself in sugary beverages and high cholestral.

As aforementioned, Alfred has a real tug-o-war battle with his food intake. Going from a normal 3 meals a day to 5, then 7, and then 10 with a cheesecake before bed. Then all the way down to 0.

Alfred died for his first time (since the wars) from starvation. It was then that Alfred realized how peaceful death truly was so he did it more, and did so purposefully. But, by his third death his dangling body was found by a maid at the hotel who screamed and called an ambulance. Alfred had to do a lot to keep that incident from getting out.

He then realized that if he wanted to keep using this method as stress relief then he would have to go somewhere he couldn't be found out. Now here he was, in the middle of no where with a house that might be just as broken as him.

As Alfred walked he randomly froze. His muscles seized up and he fell to the ground shaking violently and coughing. This lasted about 5 minutes and when it was over Alfred went home and slept assuming that seizure was caused by lack of sleep.