I'm Not Okay [UsUk]

Little Peace

A person can only take so much before they break. To some people, it might be days, weeks or months of heavy tension taking over their lives. To others, it could be years.
And to Alfred Jones, it was four years of constant shouting, yelling, restrictions, orders, insults, abuse and shame for simply existing - and even if he thought he would last, there was a day when his mind and body reached the absolute limits. Nothing felt alright ever since.

Saturday, November 25th

What started off as a perfectly normal, casual and somewhat well-functioning day for the young American, turned out to be the worst day in his life, at least what he could recall from the past, and he didn't expect it to happen whatsoever.

Even though, with a slight bit of logic and listening to his brother, Alfred should have stayed alert that it could happen.

"Good morning", he greeted Matthew as he tiredly got up from bed, spotting the younger already busy with work at his desk. The smell of morning hot chocolate and tea lingered in the room, reaching him in no more or less than three seconds. He couldn't help but immediately take a sip from the cup which stood right next to his untouched pile of math problems, sighing at the pleasant, warm feeling which the drink quickly caused.

"Up already? I expected you to be out by noon", Matthew teased a little bit, spinning his chair around to face his sleepy brother who obviously looked drained. In fact, he was. Last night, he spent about three hours working on a History project about the Founding fathers of the United States, and he got to do it since only Arthur and him applied - but the teacher chose the 'only American in class' to present the lesson next time. Alfred was happy about it, and devoted all his time to work on it.

"I barely slept anyway. Too much on my mind." He replied quickly before heading to the bathroom for his morning routine.

Today, which Alfred didn't know yet, their father was not at home.

Right before he left, which was at about 7 AM, Matthew was in the kitchen which made him the only one present to hear the man's message. All he understood was 'I'm going for a meeting, I should be back somewhere around midnight'. A bit suspicious, since both boys had no idea what their father did for a living since they moved to London. In New York, he was an engineer. Now, his profession remained a mystery. When they asked about it, he wouldn't reply. So they just... Stopped asking.

"Oh, by the way, dad is out until midnight", Matthew informed his brother when the other came back into the room. "Got any plans?"

"In fact yes, I do." Alfred felt himself brighten up a little when he heard the news, a part of his mind already planning how to spend an anger-free saturday. "And I think you know what it is."

The younger American smirked, rolling his eyes with a knowing expression on his face. "Let me guess. You want to ask Arthur to come over?"

"Bingo."

"Alright, alright, just be careful. Just because dad said midnight doesn't mean that he can't be back earlier. Remember what happened last Saturday when we weren't careful enough. I don't want you to get hurt or anything."

Alfred waved his hand in dismiss, showing very little care towards the statement. "Yeah, we'll be fine." He said, stretching the last syllable to emphasize that, for the most part, he was confident that this would turn out well. "But first, I want to enjoy a stress-free Saturday morning with a nice cup of chocolate and the wonder which we call the internet." And with those words, he picked up his phone with one hand, sitting by the desk with the cup in the other, as if he didn't have a single care in the world.

Little did he realize, the day wouldn't end in such a peaceful manner.

- - -

Arthur was spending a pleasant morning with his brothers in the room, casually ignoring the living shit out of Connor, Dylan and Liam and typing away e-mails on his laptop. In the background, he could hear the three of the younger brothers fight, laugh and attempt to sing, which brought a very enthusiastic, but positive atmosphere to the room. Everyone was energetic, happy and absolutely careless.