on hiatus here, but i will be back eventually

Matthew sat fidgeting in his chair, alternating between staring down the hallway and down at his third cup of coffee, because he couldn’t sit still and for whatever reason kept defaulting to going to the coffee stand across the way, and although it seemed like a good idea at the time he was starting to regret it now because it’s only made it harder to just relax and wait.

And he’d run his phone battery down half an hour ago, too, so he couldn’t distract himself with that. And he’d neglected to bring a book or any other sort of entertainment because he hadn’t thought it would take this long, and he refused to pay for the overpriced crossword books in the airport shops (although he was starting to reconsider that decision). At this point Matthew was pretty sure the only thing he could do to make this any worse would be to get himself kicked out of the airport.

Thankfully though, his battery had lasted long enough to receive the text from Ivan saying he would be landing any minute now, so he “wouldn’t have much longer to wait.”

“‘Any minute now’ my ass,” he muttered, before downing what was left in his cup and rising to go throw it away. On the way back to his seat he caved and stopped in the shop to the left of the coffee stand, buying a puzzle book and a pack of pens. Matthew usually considered himself to be a fairly patient person—after all, he’d grown up with Alfred without ripping his head off. But he’d never had a situation as exciting as this one probably ever in his life, and he’d been waiting for the past year to meet his boyfriend and wasn’t wanting to wait any longer.

While he was sitting there working on his puzzles, his mind started to wander. He’d thought about meeting his boyfriend a thousand times, and now that it was actually happening he wondered how it would go. Who would see the other first? Or would they see each other at the same time? Would it be like in the movies, where they run at each other and one scoops the other up and swings him around? Oh, he hoped so, he’d love to finally know what it feels like to have Ivan’s arms around him.

In the end it was Ivan who noticed him first, because Matthew was too busy with his puzzles and his thoughts to notice Ivan finally coming down the hallway and walking over to him, until he was standing right in front of him and Matthew had to crane his neck up just to see his face. Christ, he hadn’t realized Ivan was this tall.

Wait, holy shit that’s— “Ivan!” he yelled and leapt out of his seat to throw his arms around the other. Ivan laughed and hugged him back, and they stood there holding onto each other for a few moments until they realized they were standing in the middle of a public airport and people were starting to stare.

Matthew reluctantly let go but was delighted when Ivan moved his hands down to grasp his. He then looked up at Ivan—God, he really is a giant—and smiled, swinging their hands. He knew they had to leave the airport, but he didn’t want to let go of Ivan. Unfortunately, Ivan then made that decision for him, as he let go of Matthew a moment later so he could reach down to pick up his bags.

“Do you need any help with those?” he asked, mostly out of courtesy. Ivan could probably lift him over his head, judging by the size of his arms alone. He hadn’t realized how hard it is to tell how big someone is through a computer screen.

“No, I’ll be fine. How do we get out of here?” Ivan said, looking around, and Matthew grabbed his arm softly and started walking toward the exit.

It was a quiet walk to Matthew’s car, mostly because he didn’t know what to talk about, and judging by Ivan’s silence he figured he was in much the same situation. He loved that Ivan was here with him now, but he wasn’t really sure what to do other than just sit and enjoy the other’s presence.

When they got to the car Matthew unlocked it and popped the trunk, and he helped Ivan put his bags in even though he insisted Matthew didn’t have to. Then they got in the car and started the long drive back to Matthew’s house.

After a few minutes on the road Matthew looked over at Ivan, and he looked back and smiled. He could tell it was forced though, and Matthew frowned and looked back at the road.

“Hey, are you alright?”

Ivan chuckled lightly and turned to look out the windshield, and Matthew heard what sounded like him resting his head on the window. “Yes, just tired.”

Of course, Matthew thought. He’s just spent all day on a plane, of course he’s got jet lag.

“When we get home, you can take a nap if you’d like,” Matthew offered, and reached out his hand for Ivan to hold. Ivan thanked him, and after a moment he grabbed Matthew’s outstretched hand and squeezed it.

Another ten or so minutes passed before Matthew glanced over to see Ivan asleep, and the rest of the ride home was spent in silence. Not that he was complaining, Matthew thought Ivan was just as pretty asleep as he was awake, and he knew he needed the rest.

He honestly just found the whole situation kind of amusing. He’s spent the past year waiting to meet his boyfriend in person, imagining all the exciting things they’d get to do now that they’re really together, but instead Ivan’s asleep and they’ll probably end up spending the rest of the day napping together.

When they finally pulled into Matthew’s driveway, he got Ivan’s bags out of the trunk of his car and brought them to his room before he went to wake Ivan.

“Hey, big guy,” Ivan snorted at the name, and Matthew stifled a laugh in return. “how about we go lay down in bed? It’ll be way more comfortable than sleeping in a car.” Ivan nodded, and he followed Matthew into the house and then to his bedroom, where he saw his bags by the door.

“You brought my stuff inside?” He asked as they laid down in Matthew’s bed, and he hummed in confirmation.

“Yeah, I thought you’d want to just come in and go back to sleep.”

Ivan nodded, and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend as he moved over to lay next to him. “Thank you.”

Matthew hummed again and curled up in Ivan’s arms as they finally got settled. He was starting to feel tired as well, and figured the coffee was starting to wear off.

“The yellow looks nice.” Matthew stopped painting and turned around to see his husband standing in the doorway. He smiled and held his hand out, beckoning Ivan closer, and he set the paint roller down so he could hug him when he was close enough.

“I told you it would,” Matthew said, resting his head on Ivan’s shoulder and holding softly onto his shirt. They stood there holding each other for a moment, and Ivan started swaying them softly and buried his face in Matthew’s hair. They’d both been busy the past few days with decorating their new house and he wanted a moment to be with his husband without them having to do anything.

Matthew smiled softly to himself turned his head to the side. “And you know what else would look nice?” he asked, and chuckled when he heard Ivan sigh. “Those pretty grey bed sheets we saw at IKEA that you wouldn’t let me get.” Ivan only squeezed him in response, and once Matthew realized Ivan wasn’t going to say anything, he lifted his head up and gave him a lighthearted frown.

“We have perfectly fine sheets here Dorogoy, there’s no need to buy new ones.” Ivan smiled and kissed his frown softly before turning to look at the wall Matthew had been painting. He’d started on it that morning while Ivan had been unpacking in the kitchen, and now at a quarter to noon he was halfway through the second wall.

“I thought you’d be done by now, you’re only painting a single room,” Ivan teased, and Matthew huffed and turned to face the wall to hide his smile.

“Painting takes time, you know this, you helped me paint the kitchen.”

Ivan responded by putting his hand over Matthew’s face and kissing the side of his head, and Matthew laughed and turned his face so he could kiss Ivan back.

When he pulled back, he looked up at Ivan, and leaned his head back to rest on his shoulder again. “I love you,” he murmured after a moment of silence.

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“Papa, how much longer are we gonna be here?” Ivan looked down at his daughter, who had slowed down from walking with Alfred so she could be next to him.

“I thought you wanted to be out here to look for bugs?” he said, turning to look back at his husband a little ways in front of him. They’d come out as a family to go hiking, partly because Anastasia wanted to look for some bugs to bring home and partly because they were all feeling pretty cooped up in the house. Annie had just started kindergarten, so they’d all been too busy to go out lately.

“Yeah, but I’m tired. And besides, I already have some.” She held up her little plastic container for emphasis. “Can we go soon?” She started kicking at the rocks on the ground, and reached over for Ivan’s hand to steady herself.

“I’m not sure Nyusha, you should let Daddy know you’re ready to leave,” he said, and watched as she ran to catch up with Alfred again. Alfred looked down at her as she approached and Ivan could hear Annie talking to him. Alfred looked back at Ivan for a moment before looking back down to say something to their daughter, and then they both stopped walking.

Ivan caught up to them after a minute, not bothering to walk any faster than he already was. When he finally reached the other two Alfred rolled his eyes playfully before greeting him. “Took you long enough. You can’t run anymore or something?”

“Papa’s legs don’t work anymore, ‘cause he’s old!” Annie laughed, and Alfred laughed too when Ivan frowned.

“I’m not old, I just didn’t feel like walking faster. It’s not my fault you two walk so fast,” Ivan said. Alfred scoffed but didn’t respond, changing the subject instead.

“So, Annie says she wants to go home now. You alright with that?” Ivan nodded, and Alfred continued. “Alright. We could turn back here, but I think a little ways that way—” he pointed in the direction they’d been walking— “is a split in the trail that leads back to the parking lot, it might be quicker. You two alright trying that way?”

The other two nodded again and they started off walking, with Alfred making a big show of walking much slower than he was before so that Ivan wouldn’t fall behind this time. Instead of siding with him again though Annie called him old too, which caused him to fake-pout and Ivan to chuckle at him.

Pretty soon though it ended up with just Alfred and Ivan walking, as they watched their daughter run ahead to look for more bugs in some bushes on the side of the path. She recently had decided she wanted to keep some bugs as pets, even though both her parents had offered to get something they could all enjoy, like a dog. She insisted on her bugs though, and would often go looking around outside for more to keep because she would always let them go shortly after bringing them inside so they wouldn’t die.

When they finally reached the split in the path (they had to stop several times for Annie to search the grass), she beelined for a bush covered in little berries. “Hey Daddy, what are these?”

Before Alfred could say anything though Ivan interrupted. “Nyusha, you shouldn’t mess with those. We don’t know what those are, they could make you sick,” Ivan said, as he and Alfred walked over to get a closer look.

“Nonsense! They look fine,” Alfred stated, as Ivan brought Annie over to the path leading to the parking lot.

“Alfred, I really don’t think that’s a good idea. Just because they look fine it doesn’t mean they are,” Ivan tried. He was speaking more to Annie than to Alfred because she was still eyeing the berries, but decided he might need to talk some sense into his husband as well when Alfred waved him off and picked a few berries off the bush.

“Dude, it’s fine. I was a boy scout, I know which berries are okay.” Ivan started to protest but Alfred popped the berries in his mouth anyway.

Annie let go of Ivan and walked over to grab Alfred, a look of concern on her face. “Daddy, you’re gonna get sick. You shouldn’t eat those.”

Alfred smiled down at her and pet her hair for a moment. “Baby, it’s gonna be fine, y’all’ll see.” Alfred didn’t try to stop her from grabbing his hand though, and she walked him back over to where Ivan was.

“Can we go home now?” she asked. She sounded more bored than anything else despite what had occurred seconds earlier, and Alfred chuckled while they started walking back. This time though she stayed with her parents the whole time, holding Alfred’s hand until he got to the driver’s seat when they finally got to the car.

Once everyone was seated, Alfred leaned over a bit to look at Annie in the rear view mirror. “Alright gang, are we going straight home or do we want to grab something to eat on the way?”

~~~~~~~~~~

When they got home they all sat down to eat, and then Annie went off to play while her parents cleaned up and went to chill on the couch. They spent the rest of their evening relaxing after the afternoon outside, and by the time they were putting Annie to bed Alfred was starting to think he shouldn’t have eaten those berries.

He was starting to feel nauseous, the kind of nauseous where you always felt one sudden movement away from gagging and he thought he might actually throw up. He made it to bed without incident though, and he was able to fall asleep, just to wake up in the early morning having to run to the bathroom in hopes of not puking in the bed.

“Alfred?” Ivan called from the bedroom. “Alfred, are you alright?” He got up and followed after Alfred into the bathroom, and found him gagging into the toilet. “Oh, Fredya,” Ivan said softly while kneeling down next to his husband, “Are you alright?”

After a moment Alfred turned to face him and smiled weakly. “’m fine dude, just think my stomach didn’t like the burgers we had for dinner all that much.” They both knew he was lying but neither said anything. Instead Ivan moved to rub circles into his back as he started heaving again, and let Alfred lean against him when he got a moment to breathe.

Eventually Alfred stopped, and Ivan helped him back into bed and brought him a trashcan and a glass of water and then got back into bed as well. Alfred was out pretty quick, but he had a hard time staying asleep and by the time morning rolled around and Annie could be heard moving around in the kitchen he felt like he hadn’t slept at all.

He heard what sounded like something dropping from outside their bedroom and started getting up to go look, but the moment he sat up he felt nauseous again so instead he turned to wake Ivan up.

“Hey, babe, can you go check on the girlie?” Ivan cracked an eye open and looked up at him. “I’m still not feeling too great but I heard a noise and I want to make sure she’s okay.”

Ivan rolled over so he could sit up and they both got out of bed, one going back to the bathroom and the other to the kitchen.

When he left the bedroom Ivan saw there was cereal scattered on the kitchen floor in a pile, with his daughter sitting in the middle of it trying to scoop it back into the box. “Nyusha, are you alright?”

Annie nodded but didn’t look up at him, instead focusing on trying to clean up the mess. “Why don’t you try sweeping it up?”

Annie looked up then. “I did, but the broom was too heavy and it wasn’t working.” Ivan nodded and grabbed the broom himself. “Okay, well why don’t you let me clean this up and you go bring Daddy some water?”

“Why?” she asked, standing up and moving away from the cereal so Ivan could sweep.

“He’s not feeling too well right now,” he said, and Annie frowned.

“Was it the berries?”

Ivan chuckled softly. “Probably, that’s what I’m thinking it is. He’ll be alright though, you don’t need to worry.”

She nodded. “So Daddy wants water?”

Ivan grabbed the dustpan and knelt down to finish cleaning the mess, and looked up at Annie. “Probably. I think it would be a good idea to bring him some crackers too, just in case.”

“Alright! Where are the crackers?”

Ivan went to grab a cup out of the cupboard. “They’re in the pantry, but I can get them. Can you fill this up?”

Annie nodded again and went to fill the cup in the sink while Ivan went digging around in the pantry.

When they got to the bedroom they found the bed was still empty, so Ivan let Annie wait on the bed while he went to check on his husband who he could hear retching in the bathroom again.

“Daddy, you shouldn’t have eaten those berries!” Annie called from the bedroom, and she could hear Alfred laugh briefly in response.

A few minutes later she could hear the sink running, and then Ivan was helping Alfred back into bed. After he was seated and comfortable Annie crawled over to him and placed the crackers in his lap. “I brought you crackers, Papa said you would want them.”

Alfred glanced over to Ivan briefly who was standing next to the bed, before he looked back at Annie and smiled. “Thank you sweetheart, that’s very nice of y’all.”

She pointed out the glass of water next to him as well, and then moved to sit beside him and leant on his shoulder while Ivan walked around to sit on the bed as well. They sat in silence for a while, Annie playing with Alfred’s hand, until Annie got bored and started talking again.

“You know Daddy, you really shouldn’t have eaten those berries.”

Alfred turned his head to look at her, but she was staring down at their hands. “You know, I think you’re right.”

She nodded sagely and continued. “We said it was a bad idea. If you’d listened to us you wouldn’t have gotten sick.” She looked up at Alfred then, her face completely serious. “You should listen to other people more often.”

Alfred looked up behind her to Ivan who was smiling and trying not to laugh, and scowled at him playfully.

“Well baby, I’ll make sure to listen to your advice more often,” Alfred said, looking back down at his daughter. “Right now though, I’d like to take a nap.”

He turned to set what was left of the crackers over on the nightstand next to him and then laid back, Annie laying down too and curling up half on top of him.

“You tired too?” She nodded slowly and he pulled her close and dragged the sheets over them both. They laid there for a bit, and while Alfred was still awake and staring at the ceiling he was sure Annie had already fallen asleep.

Eventually Ivan spoke up. “How are you feeling?”

Alfred looked over at Ivan, who was already looking back at him. “Better than last night, but still pretty nauseous. I think I’ll be okay though.” He was silent for a moment. “You know, I could have sworn they were okay to eat, I remember learning about berries that looked exactly like that.” He paused. “Although now that I think about it, maybe we were talked to about them because they’re something we’re not supposed to eat.”

Ivan rolled his eyes but smiled at his husband. “Maybe you shouldn’t eat random berries anymore?”

Alfred groaned. “Jesus dude, I was already lectured by our daughter. You don’t need to too.”

Alfred was smiling though so Ivan didn’t say anything back, and they both sat in silence for a moment when Annie shifted. “Maybe you should just try and sleep this off?” Ivan suggested.

“What do you think I’ve been trying to do?” Alfred closed his eyes though and didn’t say anything after that, and shortly after he heard Ivan settling down next to him.

~~~~~~~~~~

Eventually Alfred managed to drift off, because the next thing he knew he was opening his eyes to a dark room with no one else in it. He sat there for a while, the only light coming from the evening sky outside, listening to what was probably the TV in the living room while he stared out the window across the room.

At some point he decided to drag himself out of bed, and when he didn’t immediately feel like he had to rush to the bathroom again he took that as a good sign. When he left the bedroom, he saw Ivan sitting on the couch and Annie behind him at the kitchen table painting.

“Hey Fredya, how are you feeling?” Ivan asked, motioning for Alfred to join him on the couch.

“A lot better, definitely. Still kinda tired though,” he said, curling into his husband’s side and laying his head on Ivan’s shoulder.

After a moment he heard a chair drag behind them, and then a few seconds later Annie came into view around the edge of the couch.

She went to sit next to him on the couch, and leaned into him. “Daddy?” she said, and when Alfred hummed in response she continued. “Are you gonna throw up again?”

Alfred laughed and turned to pull her close. “No, I don’t think so. Or at least I hope not,” he replied.

Annie nodded, and after a moment she spoke up again. “Good. Now, you shouldn’t eat strange berries anymore.”

“Yup, got that,” Alfred said as he started to rub her arm, and that seemed to satisfy her because she didn't say anything back.

Eventually it was time for bed, and while Ivan cleaned up what Annie was doing at the table Alfred ushered Annie upstairs to get ready for bed. After brushing her teeth, putting on some pajamas, and saying goodnight to each one of her bugs, she went to lay down in bed, and Alfred tucked her in.

“Hey Daddy?” she said as he was standing up.

“Yeah, baby?” Alfred turned off the lamp next to her bed, but stayed standing where he was.

“I love you, and I hope you feel better.”

Alfred smiled and bent back down to kiss her forehead. “I love you too sweetheart. So much.”

Annie smiled back, and then Alfred stood back up and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Is she in bed?” He heard Ivan ask from downstairs, and he nodded when he got to the stairs and Ivan could see him.

“Yeah. I think I’m gonna go back to bed too, if that’s alright.”

Ivan smiled softly and made his way over to Alfred. “Of course Dorogoy. I want you to take care of yourself.”

Alfred hugged Ivan and rested his head on his shoulder again, nuzzling into his neck. “God, Vanya, I love you.”

Ivan just moved to brush his hand through Alfred’s hair, and they stood there like that for a few minutes until Alfred pulled away. “Okay, I’m really gonna go to bed now. You gonna be joining me?”

Ivan nodded. “In a moment, I want to finish cleaning up here.”

Alfred smiled in acknowledgement, and then went to go get ready to sleep. By the time he was laying down in bed, Ivan was just walking into the bedroom himself. Alfred laid there waiting for him and listening to him move around, and when Ivan finally joined him in bed he scooted over so he would be closer to him.

“Hey, Vanya?”

“Hmm?” Ivan hummed in response, rolling on his side to look at Alfred.

Alfred just stared at Ivan for a moment before speaking. “I really fuckin’ love you, man. I love you so much.”

He laughed. “I love you too, Fredya.” He pulled Alfred close so he could kiss him softly, then they just laid there in bed together, holding each other as they fell asleep.

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End notes! There are a lot of them.

First, huge thank you to my friend Kate from Discord, who helped me with the names Ivan uses. She’s Russian, and she taught me a little bit about Russian nicknames, which I will now impart to you all (if something is somehow wrong here though I am absolutely welcome to being corrected!):

Different Russian nicknames have different vibes. The reason Fredya is used here is because is has a specific sort of lovey-dovey tone, while Fredka (I mean, in reality it would also actually be Fred’ka, because of the palatalized D) is used more for friends that you might call “bro” or “dude”. That’s also why Ivan isn’t using it all the time, because in Kate’s words “fred’ka for getting stuff and fredya for going 👉👈“. Diminutives are usually used for asking for stuff and things like that.

Things aren’t exactly the same like that for kids though (she never said why, but apparently Russian also doesn’t have pet names like “honey” and “baby” for children like we do) which is why Ivan calls Annie Nyusha all the time. It’s a Russian nickname for Anastasia.

Also Nyusha’s name is apparently a kind of reference to something in Russian! Which makes it kind of a punny/silly nickname (or at least that’s what Kate said). It’s a reference to a Russian multifilm series.

Kate also talked about the word Dorogoy. It means something like dear, and Dorogoy (or Dorogoj) is male while Dorogoya (or Dorogoja) is female. That’s more common than Ljubimyj/Ljubimaja (technically you could spell those with Ys instead of Js, but the pronounciation is slightly different), which means loved one. In case anyone’s curious, in Russian those would be written as Любимый/любимая (Ljubimyj/Ljubimaja); дорогой/дорогая (Dorogoy/Dorogoya).

Please don’t be like Alfred and Ivan here, if you or anyone else eats unknown berries (although that’s a really stupid idea, please don’t do that) call poison control or something. Especially if you start to feel sick.

I know absolutely nothing about Boy Scouts! I never was one and honestly I couldn’t be bothered to try and learn about them for the one time they’re mentioned here, so if that’s wrong I’m sorry.

He'd briefly wondered if Alfred was out looking for him, if he'd gotten lost just as Matthew had. But he knew Alfred better than that. After the fight they'd had, the one that caused Matthew to storm out of the house and get lost here in the first place (and without his phone or a flashlight), Alfred was probably sitting at home and completely ignoring any thought of him. Matthew wouldn't be surprised if Alfred didn't feel worried about his disappearance until well into the morning.

When Matthew had first realized he was lost, the only thing he could think to do would be to call his brother's name. He wasn't sure how close he was to his house, but maybe someone would hear him and come to his aid. In hindsight, that was probably what had gotten him into his current situation.

-----

"Alfred!" Matthew had his hands cupped around his mouth, yelling into the night and praying someone was around to hear. The sun had gone down a while ago and now he couldn't see ten feet in front of himself, so he was just wandering aimlessly without any idea on how to get out.

He was about to yell again when he heard what he thought was a second set of footsteps behind him. They were faint and in time with his, and Matthew figured he was just imagining things. Regardless, he looked behind himself. It couldn't hurt, considering he was alone in the dark in the middle of a forest.

Expectedly, there was nothing behind him. Matthew laughed at himself and how ridiculous this situation was becoming, and then turned around and began walking again. The footsteps started up again, although this time they were slightly offset from his own. Matthew glanced behind himself again, and saw that there was still nothing there. He stopped for a moment and looked around the area. Maybe someone had heard him yelling, and had decided to mess with him instead of helping him?

"I know you're there," he said, staring at the trees. No response. "You're not gonna scare me." He listened for rustling, breathing, anything, but all he got was the soft breeze blowing at the treetops.

"Look, I got myself a bit lost. Any chance you know the way out of here?" He paused, waiting for a response. When none came, he added "I'm willing to compensate you. I'm really lost and I have a brother at home who's probably worried sick, and I don't have my phone or anything on me so I can't contact him."

Again, Matthew was met with nothing but silence. He sighed but waited a moment longer, before turning around and continuing on. The footsteps started up again almost immediately, and now they were a bit louder than they were before. He ignored them this time, opting to focus instead on trying to find a way out.

Eventually Matthew had gotten used to the footsteps behind him. It was soothing in a way, knowing there was someone with him, even if he had no idea who that person was. He figured the person was tall though, because the footsteps were slower than his and yet never got further away. If anything, they seemed to slowly be growing closer. Part of him was unsettled by this, but at the same time the closer this person is, the harder it'll be for them to hide again when Matthew turns to catch them again.

Then Matthew started to pick up on the breathing. He wasn't sure what he was hearing at first, because it was long and labored and definitely not the way a human would breathe. But then he realized what it was, and his blood ran cold. If that really was breathing, then whatever was behind him couldn't be human.

The thought had him breaking out into a run, trying to put distance between himself and the thing. Matthew was horrified when he heard the thing start running as well. He willed himself to go faster, scared of what would happen if this thing caught him.

-----

Matthew started weaving between the trees and then ducked behind a bush, hoping he'd thrown the thing off his trail long enough for him to catch his breath. He was never very athletic, and even with the adrenaline coursing through him he knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up all night. He had to be going in circles or something, there was no way the forest was this big.

He heard a twig snap nearby and stopped breathing. <i>God, I'm going to die, aren't I?</i> Matthew brought his hands to cover his mouth and tried to breathe slowly. He hadn't recovered from his running before and was getting lightheaded.

He stayed like that for a while, hands covering his mouth and eyes wide open, scanning the area around him. Occasionally he'd hear the thing come back close to him and he'd freeze again, praying to whatever gods existed that it didn't find him.

Eventually he felt well enough to start running again, and waited until he heard the thing come back again. He was going to listen for the direction it goes off in, and then sprint in the opposite direction of that. Maybe, if he was lucky, he'd be far enough ahead that the thing would give up on him, or he'd get out before it caught him.

After a few moments he heard the thing get worryingly close to his bush, and then veer off toward the right. Matthew braced himself, trying to steady his breaths as much as possible, and when he thought he was in the clear he took off. At first he didn't hear anything behind him, and thought he'd really done it. Instead of stopping though, he pushed himself to go faster, to put as much distance between that thing and him as possible.

And then he saw a faint light in front of him, and with it the edge of the forest. If Matthew wasn't panting from all the running he was sure he would be crying at this point. As he got closer, he saw that the light was coming through the windows of an all too familiar house.

"Alfred!" Matthew yelled. He broke through the tree line and darted for the porch. "Alfred!" he yelled again. He didn't see any movement inside, maybe he was asleep? He tried the door, and when he found it was locked he started banging on it.

"Alfred, God, please let me in! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Matthew turned around, scanning the trees. He was home, but he was locked outside, and that thing was still out there somewhere.

He ran down the steps and to the windows, and saw that the living room was empty, but the lights were still on. He yelled Alfred's name again and started banging on the windows, hoping Alfred was in the house somewhere.