Matthew loves playing pranks. Ever since we were younger, the neighbors would wake up in the morning to find everything on their porch turned upside down, or everything would move a little to the right, and they were never sure if it was just them or the potted dahlias were moving themselves. I remember, one time, when I found a really old doll, clearing out the attic, and Mattie decided to scare the town with it. The week after I had found the doll, weird things were happening around town. The Beilschmidts' bunnies' gate opened itself, Roderich's piano started playing when no one was there, the Vargas' rosaries went missing, reappearing in their prayer room, and Arthur's beloved fairy statue was found on its side. The one thing that linked all these events, besides the unusualness of the incidents, were the little dolls, all styled off the one I had found. The dolls were creepy enough, but what really got the town's folk up and buzzing was that the dolls would disappear about five minutes after they discovered the scene. It'd be there one second, and as soon as they turned around, it was whisked away to who knows where. Unfortunately, the Vargas brothers frighten very easily, and it took the Beilschmidt brothers an hour to calm them down.

If you haven't figure, the entire town suffered Matthew's wrath, myself included. The only reason why Matthew stopped pulling pranks on me was because I nearly beat him to death for pretending to be dead after I accidently dropped an armload of the Kirkland's concrete garden gnomes on him when he just popped up out of nowhere and scared me. Luckily, the gnomes remained in one piece, but I can't say the same for my brother. I can say for sure that he'll never forget how his nose broke. It's weird. With Matt's innocent air about him, no one ever suspects him of scaring the town half to death. 'd almost say they blame me, but they haven't outright said it yet, so for the time being I'll let it slide.

…. While I say the entire town had experienced being on the victim side of a prank, there's one person who hadn't. Ivan Braginski, the Russia whose family moved to America in 1850esque, hoping to avoid the political skirmishes that were bound to happen soon in their motherland. His sisters were easily approachable. The ever so beautiful Natalya was fun to be around, as long as you posed no threat to her in any way, shape, or form. Sure, she's a little kooky, but I think it'd be better not to talk about that too much. Katyusha, his older sister, is a really nice lady. She's invited me over for tea and coffee several times, and she makes the most delicious food, no matter what it is. More often than not, Me, Mattie, and Katy, as I call her sometimes, are always going over to each other's house. That's why we have such a good relationship with the Braginskis. Unfortunately, because of this close bond we have with the family, Matthew finally realized that he had never pulled the wool over Ivan. We were over at Katyusha's again for tea, and she had just left to go fetch the cookies she made earlier in the week when Mattie's face froze in astonishment. I followed his gaze in curiosity of what had got him so worked up, and traced the path until my eyes ended up on the figure of the only man of the house. He didn't appear to look out of the ordinary, so my curiosity swelling, I asked Matt what's up.

Upon hearing my question, Matthew's awkwardly stoic face regained expression as he resumed drinking his tea, and replied,

"Amelia, do you know that there is only one person in this entire town that I haven't pranked yet?"

I swallowed when his words reached my brain and struck a familiar chord in me. I already knew where this was going and I have to get it out of his head now.

"What are you talking about, Matt? I'm pretty sure that you got everyone." Maybe I could trick him into thinking that he was delusional or something like that.

Matt gave me this look that said he knew what I was trying to do, and shook his head.

"Amelia, if that were the case, why do I not remember what I did to him? He's officially my next target, and you can't change that."

Matthew left with that, going to assist Katyusha who was taking a while with the cookies she and I made earlier. I sighed quietly to myself when I saw his figure retreat through the kitchen doorway, and thought, Maybe Mattie will be okay. I mean, Ivan's only scary. I can't say that he'll hurt him… I started fiddling with the tea cup in front on me, debating whether I should go help out in the kitchen when the seat across from me was occupied by fear itself. Ivan leaned forward and rested his chin on his folded fingers, and smiling politely, asked me, "So how are you faring this fine day, comrade?" Despite the pleasantness he was portraying, there was an ice to everything the man did, so unsurprisingly, the coldness lingered in the air, being dispelled only by my warm breath as I replied fondly, not one bit fazed,

"Quite well. May I inquire about your wellbeing today, Mr. Braginski?"

Ivan's purple eyes almost sparkled when I didn't shake in fear at his greeting, and proceeded to start up a conversation with me. Matthew and Katyusha returned to the unusual scene of the two of us socializing, and he got up to leave so that we may "enjoy our tea in peace" but his sister insisted he stay. So Ivan joined us for tea, and I couldn't have been more exhausted when I got home than spending five plus hours , having various conversations with Ivan, the topics ranging from the weather to favorite foods(and how well Katyusha cooked. When we started this topic, Katyusha got red and asked us to not over exaggerate her abilities) to politics. When I retired for the night, I had no clue what I had just gotten myself into.