After finally escaping the hellohole that is that agency, I retreated back to the parking area. With the Black car key in my hand, I pointed it to the second thing in my life that hasn’t let me down. My sleek two seater sports car that had those retractable sunroofs I was always envious with as a kid.

I lifted the car door up and slid into my seat, taking a large whiff of the glorious….

“What the fuck is this smell?!” I shouted, getting back out from the car.

Smelled like piss and… well it also smelled like fucking shit.

I looked around at the sleek beauty of my car and found nothing smearing on it. Checking the tires, there was nothing sticking on the ground and nothing poking out that said ‘I am shit.’

Shaking my head, I stuck my head into the passenger side and got a Heavy whiff of the smell that has been haunting my car. Pinching my nose, I moved the seat back and saw that the car floor had a different shade of grey staining it.

God fucking dammit. The kid pissed inside my beauty?!

I brought my face close to the seat and smelled the lingering scent of human shit. What kind of person leaks and shits in another person’s car? I could care less if it was a damn kid. He is going to the Death Realm!

I swear to god, reminds me of that one kid I have back at home.

My shoulders dropped and my face relaxed upon thinking of just getting home. There were two things in my life that brought me glimpses of joy. One is this car, and the other is…

***

“Lewis, you’re back pretty early?” a squeaky but not squeakier than that one girl, yelled out from inside the place as the apartment door slammed shut behind me.

Coming out from the corner was a shortie who barely stood at chest level. He looked at me underneath round glasses where his black ruffled hair overhangs on.

I smiled a bit inside and shuffled forward, feeling the relaxation of a buddhist monk. Aside from bringing me joy, that small nerdy face always seemed to calm my nerves. No matter how many years have passed. It’s been like this for ten of them and It’s not stopping soon.

I glanced at my square watch and looked back up, walking forward while smiling.

“Early? Casey, It’s three in the morning. I mean, if we are going without context then, mm yeah, I guess this is hella early.” I said, patting the curly hair of the adorable little kid.

“Lewis, stop that.” he groaned, shaking my hand off. “I just started highschool, I’m not a kid anymore,” he said with his kid-like voice.

“Haha! Sure, sure. I’ll believe that, sir.” I mocked, patting his head once more when brushing past him.

Walking past my favorite chair, I ran my hand across the armrest before walking into the bedroom. The faded green walls and the dreading atmosphere that just shouted death was staring me right in the face.

A smile took over me and I threw my briefcase on top of my desk beside the bed. I redid my actions I did in the car and closed my eyes, taking a sweet sniff of the only thing this could be compared to.

Home sweet fucking home.

“Lewis, come out when you’re ready. Dinner is set up.” the boy yelled from the living room.

I stretched my arms in the air and undressed by tossing my clothes onto the ground.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Happy dancing my way into the bathroom, I scanned my body in the mirror. Long scars scattered across my body with a few stitches here and there on my future six pack. I turned around and saw that the scars on my side and back were now less than on my chest and arms. Should this be an achievement?

Fucking demons.

Taking a quick shower under cold water, I threw on a blue shirt and joggers before walking back into my spacious living room.

Well, I use spacious lightly. The kitchen and living area were all connected as one room. I walked forward and gripped the head of the chair that looked out into the balcony beside the couch. The night completely took over.

Who knows what is happening out there….

I clawed deeper into the chair.

“Lewis, you okay?” Casey asked from behind me.

I turned around to see the boy with two cups of noodles set out on the table.

“It’s nothing. Nothing at all. Hey, shouldn’t you be asleep?”

“I usually stay up this late doing homework. I don’t have the textbooks so I wait for pictures from a friend and he’s usually late so I don’t start my papers until it’s already dark.”

I clicked my tongue. I would buy the kid the textbooks but he refused to take the money. I tried searching through his papers to find out what subjects he’s working on but there were so many different versions of textbooks that it confused the hell out of me.

Like why even have multiple versions of the same book? Who decided on that shit? Just make one book and print out multiples with different covers, Jesus Christ.

Pulling out the creaking wooden chair given to me by some old lady as I passed her yard, I peeled back the cover of the noodles. However, to my displeasure, the steam steam from the hot water was nowhere to be found.

“I wasn’t even in there for that long, how did it cool down so quickly? Is this a defect? Should we report this?”

Casey looked at me with a stare equaled to an untouched canvas. The blankest of sheets, if I broke a pen and it squirted in his general vicinity, then it would be the first thing to catch your eye.

“You were in there for a good twenty minutes, Lewis.” he said, making a bold face lie.

I mean, isn’t twenty minutes a bit much? I swear I went in and out after shaking the hell out of that shampoo bottle.

“You’re making that face again.” he said

“What face?”

“The face you make when you don’t believe something. The right corner of your mouth tilts up like this while your nostrils flare so wide I can see your nose hairs.” he demonstrated, bringing his fingers to pull his nose.

“Like this, like this.”

I burst out laughing, slapping my thigh and spilling a bit of the hot water when I tapped the table.

“Casey, you can make for a fine detective one day.”

“Detective? Why would I want to do that? I want to follow in your footsteps and become an accountant!”

Ah, mhm. It’s best that he doesn’t know just how dangerous my world really is.

“Cough, anyways. I really don’t think I-”

“I could hear you sing in the shower.”

I looked at the brazen kid.

“Eat your food. Let’s just eat.”

I brought the chopsticks on my side into the delectable noodles and pinched a hefty bunch. Why chopsticks you may ask? Well because they are super fun to use, what other reason do you need?

As I brought the clump of mouth watering noodles to my opened mouth, I could feel my leg vibrate with the intensity of a three point zero earthquake. I sighed and snapped the chopsticks in my hand accidentally, the noodles dropping onto the table along with the other half of the sticks.

I reached down despondently into my pockets to pull out my communications device to see it flashing yellow.

“Demon sighted.” Flashed on the screen with a pop up of gps directions.

I hung my head low as I rested my elbow on the table with the device in hand.

“Work again?” the kid said without a hint of emotion in his voice. Like he was already used to this.

Which he probably is.

“You know how it is. The higher ups at the firm won’t let me catch a break. Haha. I’ll be back before you head to school alright?” I lied straightly, briskly walking into the room to grab my cane and briefcase.

“Lock the door and uhh you can have noodles, sleep before the sun’s up kid. See ya.” I waved my hand through the door as I closed it.

I’m not oblivious. The kid is fucking sad and I know but…. Charlie is out there somewhere as well.