The Prince of Home

A Chapter by Curtis_Squirtis

Bryan attempts to find a new way home, on his way, sees things that will haunt him forever.

The Prince of Home

“You’re a nasty little f****r, ain’t ya? Looks like they got away, problem is, you’re blocking my route home. Take a look at what I’ve got, a nice little toy for you to play with”

The Demon writhes within the walls of the building, urging itself through to no avail. Bryan reaches to his belt, pulls out a flare, lights a match and holds it towards the flare. Bryan’s whispered monologue continues.

“Let’s see here, hold out at arm’s length. Now it’s too far for me to see. Skip! Point flare directly upwards, done. Light fuse. This is easy.”

Bryan holds the match to the fuse and a bright blue light flashes from the tube and soars skyward. The ignition forced a hissing sound from the tube, making the Demon twist around and see the light. The shimmer allowed Bryan to see its grotesque form, the tough skin on its body scarred and torn from previous encounters. Its long legs tuck into its body and push upward, allowing itself to heighten and stand just over 13 feet tall. The creature snaps at the air with its stubby jaw as it attempts to gnaw at the flare.

“Dude, you’re not even close. F**k me, you’re dumb, how are we struggling with you lot?”

The light allowed Bryan to see the door of the building, crumbled, seemingly inaccessible, other than the window leading to the living room. Smashing the window would be the only option but this would certainly alert the Demon.

“Long way around it is, think, think, think. I reckon I could climb the wall around the back of Home. Not like I have any other options with this smug f**k blocking my way.”

Bryan bolted to the left, keeping low and vaulting over the garden walls keeping as much cover as possible. Crouched at a corner house garden, Bryan peered over the garden fence to a crossroads, seeing nothing of danger in the other 3 directions. Bryan vaults over the wall, crosses the road and proceeds down the adjoining street, counting the houses as he passes.

“Number 7, Number 9, Number 11 and, Bingo! 13, I wonder if anyone’s in.”

Bryan slowly opens the gate, approaches the door and tries the handle. The handle turns, the door clicks and creaks gently open. Bryan produces a knife from his right shoe and enters the house. The door opens into a large lounge room, a dusty, red leather couch sat in front of a glass coffee table, opposite, a matching red chair. The furniture all pointed to a large television. Behind the red chair, an open door leading to a kitchen. As Bryan approaches the door, a faint beep could be heard from upstairs.

“Well, that’s f*****g creepy.”

The beep is inconsistent, no pattern, no rhyme or reason. Bryan’s curiosity had been piqued, he turned on his heel and headed to the stairway, situated behind the red couch. As he ascended the stairs, the beep got louder. At the top of the stairs were four door ways. The doorway ahead led to a bathroom, next door to the right, a child’s bedroom. The beeping was coming from the next doorway, behind a door marked “Keep out”. The next door led to another child’s bedroom.

As Bryans hand reached towards the door, he became nervous, his heart began racing. The door creaked as it opened and the smell of death permeated the air, making Bryan gag. He cautiously entered the room to witness a scene that made his skin crawl as he shed a tear. The bloodied body of a Labrador lay twisted on the floor, some of the skin stripped from the bone with teeth marks over what remained. Five puppies lay Littered around the dog, newly born, having barely had the chance to live. The mother whimpered as Bryan entered.

“You’re still alive, s**t, f**k, you poor thing. What happened to you?”

Bryan’s hands hovered near the creature, afraid to touch is broken body but desperately trying to find a way to help. He could see this had only been recent and was done by a human.

“I don’t care how desperate you are, whoever did this to you is f*****g sick. If I ever find who did this to you, they won’t have a slow death, I promise you, you beautiful girl. I’m sorry this happened to you but I’m not sorry about what I’m about to do next.”

Bryan gripped the handle of his knife tightly, pointing the sharp tip at the dog’s skulls and quickly pressed in. A stomach churning squelch echoes along with a muffled yelp. Bryan’s head falls back, sobbing uncontrollably. He stifles a scream as he withdraws the knife from the dog and throws it across the room. He breaks down, his head dropping into his cupped hands as tears trickled down his cheeks. The beep happens again. Bryan’s head lifts from his hands and slowly tilts to the right. He stands and approaches the sound to find another puppy. It looked to be just under a year old, cowering under a cupboard. Bryan reached its hand under the cupboard and lifted the puppy towards his chest, holding it close.

“Hey, little guy. You are gorgeous. I’m so sorry about whatever has happened here. I’m going to give you a home, it’s all I

have but it’s yours. Not often we see your kind anymore, it’s probably the most amazing thing that’s happened for a long time. That includes that time I had sex with that girl from The Scraphouse, Rip head I think she called herself. Stupid name right? It’s a place like mine about an hour’s walk away. Nice people but not the smartest.”

Bryan turns to the bodies that lay across the floor and buries his new found friend into his chest.

“Come on then, let’s get going.”

Bryan proceeded back downstairs, through the kitchen and out the back garden, the puppy resting quietly, burrowed into his chest. The pair scaled the back wall. As they were perched atop, Bryan looked back at the upstairs window where the mother and her babies lay, his puffy red eyes still dripping with tears.

“I’m sorry girl, I couldn’t save you but hopefully I can save this one.”

Bryan hopped over the other side of the wall into another back garden and proceeded through the house and over another wall that stood across an alleyway, landing in front of the gate to Home. As he looked up, Bryan noticed Lewis signalling to open the gate. The gate opened and Bryan was greeted by his friend.

“It’s good to have you back Home, bro! What the f**k is that?”

Lewis gestured towards the puppy, quietly resting in Bryan’s arms.

“This is my new friend, uh, well I haven’t named him. Let me check”

Bryan lifted the dog in the air and observed his genitals.

“Yup, it’s a dude. How about Fido or Rover?”

“A little obvious”

“Okay. How about Nero or Prince?”

“Prince, I like it. The Prince of Home.”

“Prince it is. Lock everything up out here, I’ll go see the new guy. What’s his name?”

“I’m not sure, Jade took him in, check in with her”

The pair separate, Lewis returns up the stairs as Bryan approaches the door to home and enters to find Carl sitting on a chair.

“Hey, welcome to Home. I’m Bryan, What’s your name?”

“It’s Carl”

Carl’s words came out shakily, clearly uncomfortable at Bryan’s presence. Bryan pulls his mask down, unveiling his face. A bearded man, standing about 6 foot tall, dull, brown eyes, a thick nose sitting in the middle of his face. His voice, despite being low volume, boomed and filled the room.

“Well, Carl, it’s a damn pleasure to meet you. The circumstances could be better but we’ll get along just fine. This is Prince, don't be rude, say hi.”

Carl cautiously waves at Prince

“Now, I’m going to get changed then I’ll give you the grand tour, back in a mo!”

Bryan enters the cupboard like room that when opened revealed Jade, stood only in her underwear, torn denim jeans halfway up her legs. The light allowed Carl to see directly inside revealing the room to be a kitchen, behind Jade was a boarded window used to prevent light escaping. Carl pulled tightened the gap between his legs and looked away from Jade.

“What the f**k are you doing, get out Bryan!”

Jade squealed as her head jerked up to see him stood at the door.

“I’ve seen it all before, chill out”

Jade’s beautiful face turned into a frightening scowl as she slammed the door in Bryan’s face. Bryan slowly turned to face Carl, his face gurning, showing his regret.

“Whoops, I’ll pay for that later. Oh well, let’s go with the tour now then, shall we! Follow me.”

The pair move towards the door to enter the house.

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