Hometown - Prologue

Hometown – Prologue

Synopsis: Inspired closely by the Silent Hill series, Hometown follows Susie and Kris as they are forced into a fog-covered world to explore their town’s history and the darkest thoughts of its inhabitants, both past and present.

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	Susie gasped. There it was again. She saw it out of the corner of her eye, but there could be no doubt it was there. She stared at it, and it stared back.

	The dragon gripped her desk, her knuckles turning white. She prepared to sprint out of the classroom the moment it made one errant twitch. That’s what she told herself, at least. In truth, she was cemented to her seat. She was too paralyzed to do anything but watch the strange monstrosity outside the window.

	The lecture her teacher was giving to the class had fallen on her deaf ears. Her mind could only focus on the horror that was staring back at her.

	There was a pale monster hiding in the autumn-coloured woods across the school. Its white, sunken eyes met hers, sending a cold chill down her back.

	It was dead still and not even breathing by the looks of it. Though from the distance between the school and the treeline it was hard for Susie to tell. Even worse, since her desk was in the middle-back area of the class, she had to look over that snake boy to see out the window.

	Aside from what was perhaps an adult monster peeping into a school, it should not have been a strange sight. Hometown was a village full of monsters, after all, and strange creatures were commonplace around here. Despite this reassurance, Susie thought that there was something wrong about it. It looked wrong. She had no idea why she thought this, and that only made her anxiety far worse.

	The tension was making her sick. It was like her stomach was doing backflips while a complete dinner of rancid food sloshed around inside her belly. She wanted to puke, but, thankfully, she had little to eat today.

	It moved. Susie nearly had a stroke. She almost stood up and ran out of the room before she noticed that the pale monster was retreating deeper into the treeline. It disappeared so smoothly that it seemed like the forest was consuming it.

	Susie had a sudden thought, but like a spark it had burnt out before she could grasp it. She did think the monster reminded her of someone she used to know, but on its own, the revelation brought nothing to her but discomfort.

	“Susie?”

	The dragon was pulled from her reverie when she felt a soft pat on her shoulder. She looked forward and saw a soft, warm face looking back at her.

	“The bell rang,” Kris said plainly. “We should get going.”

	Susie took a moment to get her bearings before nodding to her human friend. “Y-Yeah, let’s hurry back to your place.
Kris scanned the scattered expression on her face. Susie tried forcing a smile, but it only made it even more obvious that she was hiding something from him.

	“Is there something wrong?” Kris asked, dividing his attention between Susie and packing his notebooks neatly into his bag.

	“Just thinking of food. Kind of hungry.”

	The human grinned, seemingly satisfied with her answer. “Mom said she’ll bake a pie for us when she gets back.”

	“Aww yiss, fucking pie.” Susie chuckled and a little snort escaped her nose. “I mean, she’s making it for you not me, momma’s boy.”

	Kris frowned. “You always make it sound like—” He paused, worried that his tone was going to offend his friend. “Mom tries, alright? She tries to be nice to you.”

	Susie rolled her eyes and then swept her arm across her desk, feeding all her books into the gluttonous maw of her backpack. “Admit it, Kris. You know she wishes I was someone like Noelle instead. She wants to be sweet, but she’s always staring daggers at me.”

	“I suppose…” Kris murmured, his attention moving over to the large row of windows that deck one side of the classroom’s walls. “I think Jockington was wondering why you were staring at him all class.”

	“Oh, fuck off, I was staring out the window.”

	“You don’t need to be embarrassed about it. I stare at him all the time and wonder how he does stuff without arms, too.”

	“Shut up, dork.”

	The two students laughed together. Susie needed a good chuckle after what she had seen, and Kris was always good at raising her spirits.

	“Come on,” Susie said, getting off her chair and slinging her bag over one shoulder. “Let’s get going.”

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	Susie had made sure Kris bought snacks on their way home. Name-brand chips, sodas, and tooth-rotting candies were tossed into a large pile in the middle of the Dreemurr living room floor. Susie was miffed that she’d have to spend time with Kris downstairs and not in his room, but all the goodies laid out before her like a saccharine buffet pushed those complaints aside.

	Being watched over by Mrs. Dreemurr would be a fair trade for all this free, delicious food, Susie figured. She was also keeping in mind that she wanted to make a good impression on her first sleepover with Kris.

	The living room was well-furnished and comfortable. It wouldn’t be that bad sleeping out here for the night. There were two large chairs that flanked an old box television on one side of the room, and a rather wide couch and a prayer book sitting on an end table on the other side. It was plain, boring even, but having her friend in the room (and a mountain of snacks) was all she needed.

	Kris looked at the pile of food in the middle of the room. Susie and him really went all out on shopping, he thought. It almost looked like it was Halloween again. “Mom said we shouldn’t snack too much. We might lose our appetites.”

	“Then we shouldn’t have bought so much food.” Susie smiled as she picked up a large bag of finger-staining Cheetos and plopped down on the couch.

	“Just save some room for dinner, that’s all,” Kris said as he sat down beside his friend. He pulled out of his pocket a large chocolate bar and nibbled on it slowly, savouring the rich chocotastic taste.

	Susie either ignored or didn’t hear him. “Fuck, this is a nice couch!” She bounced on the cushions for emphasis. “Yeah, I don’t need to pull out the bed, this is good enough to sleep on already!”

	Kris smiled, content that his friend was comfortable with the idea of sleeping downstairs. “I was worried you wouldn’t like it,” he admitted. “I even asked mom to let you sleep in my brother’s old bed, but she gave me a hard no and told me it was unnegotiable.”

	“Pfffft.” Susie looked at Kris as if he had just told her a joke. “Me? Sleeping in your room? Toriel’s probably uncomfortable with the idea of a girl in Asriel’s bed when he’s out of the house, let alone the town delinquent sleeping in the same room as her son.”

	Kris took a large bite out of his chocolate bar and swallowed hard. “I don’t know why she thinks you’ll hurt me.”

	“I…” Susie smirked, holding back a giggle. “I don’t think that’s what she’s worried about, Kris.”

	Susie shook her head. Kris really was a sheltered boy, no wonder his mother wanted to protect him. Though she didn’t pretend that his naïve innocence wasn’t all thanks to her to begin with.

	“Look,” Susie began, “forget about your helicopter mom for second. I saw something totally weird today and I really need to spill the beans.”

	Kris looked at her and grinned. “Is this about Jockington again?”

	“Shut the fuck up about the snake!”

	Kris recoiled a bit and frowned. He began nibbling at his chocolate slowly and looked down, hiding his eyes with his brown hair.

	Susie pinched the area between her nose and forehead. “Sorry, it was only a joke, I shouldn’t have yelled at you for that.”

	“Come on,” Susie continued, extending her cheese-covered hand to Kris. “Friends?”

	The human smiled and grabbed her hand with his, smearing chocolate and cheese dust all over them. “Friends,” he repeated.

	Susie’s smile stretched from ear to ear. She wouldn’t want anyone to see her like this, but she loved these little moments with Kris. He meant so much to her, and she’d do anything to protect that smile.

	“Anywaaaays,” the dragon monster droned on, “like I was saying: I saw this weird monster outside the—”

	The front door of the house rustled open as Mrs. Dreemurr came into the room bearing non-snack-related groceries in both of her hands. She was almost hidden entirely behind a mountain of brown and plastic paper bags that made Susie wonder how she even managed turning the doorknob.

	“I’m home, Kris!” Toriel said with a lilt in her voice. “Oh, and hello to you, too, Susie! Sorry, I’m just used to Kris being the only one home nowadays.”

	“Hi, mom.”
	“Hello, Mrs. Dreemurr.”

	“Why, aren’t we being rather polite today?” Toriel smiled, but her face began showing signs of visible strain. “C-Can you help me with the groceries, Kris?”

	Susie stood up, licking the cheese off her fingers before grabbing a few bags. “No worries, I can help, ma’am.”

	Kris snickered as he watched the scene play out before him. Susie leered back at him after Toriel walked into the kitchen in the room over. “I’m doing this for us,” her expression seemed to say.

	Susie stayed in the kitchen for some time, leaving Kris alone on the couch to gorge on chocolate while she helped Toriel unpack and put away food. She tried to offer some help for tonight’s dinner, but Toriel politely (but firmly) turned her down. This was more than fine for Susie, since she offered to help only to win some points with Toriel, and so she went back into the living room to spend some time with Kris.

	Minutes passed into hours as Toriel’s food slowly simmered in the kitchen. An aroma of meat, potatoes, and apple pie filled the home with such an intoxicating scent that made even the mosaic of snacks laid out in front of them not enough to quench Kris and Susie’s growing appetite.

	“Dude,” Susie started, “your mom’s cooking smells good.”

	Kris rubbed his stomach as it grumbled. “Yeah,” he said plainly. “Say, weren’t you going to tell me something earlier?”

	Susie gave the human a big, toothy grin. “I’ll tell ya’ later. I have a feeling your mom’s going to come in and interrupt us again.”

	“Kids, dinner’s ready!” a loud, feminine voice called out from the kitchen.

	“Wow, I’m impressed,” Kris said, startled.

	You can shower me with your praise later. I’m starved!” Susie exclaimed as she eagerly led Kris into the dining room.

	The two stumbled upon quite the arrangement of food on the table in the other room. Mashed potatoes, corn and other vegies, boatloads of gravy, and one big fat roast. Candles were even lit and… did Toriel even bring out the silverware? Susie was about to ask Kris if they always ate like this, but she bit her tongue.

	Maybe Kris was right, Susie thought, taking a seat beside him on the table like she would in the cafeteria. Maybe his mom really did want to be nice to her.

	“It’s too good to be true,” Susie whispered beneath her breath.

	“What was that, Sus?”

	Susie looked at Kris and smiled, awkwardly. “The food looks good.”

	“Ah.”

	Susie turned her attention to Toriel, who was coming in from the kitchen wearing oven mitts and carrying a steaming-hot pie. “I know I should keep this warm in the oven until dessert,” the goat monster said as she placed the pie tin on a table mat between the two teens, “but Kris always burns the roof of his mouth when I do that.”

	“Mom, come on,” Kris whined.

	“You know I do it because I love you,” Toriel replied, ruffling his shaggy brown hair.

	“C-Come on, you’re making me look like a dork.”

	Susie laughed and reached over to join Toriel in tousling up her son’s hair. “I’m glad I’m not the only one that enjoys a little lighthearted bullying.”

	“You haven’t seen anything yet, Susie,” Toriel said, “Just wait until I bring out the baby pictures.”

	“M-Mom, no!” Kris croaked out. The human looked like he was going to have a meltdown and sink right through his seat.

	Susie smiled. She wanted to say something cheeky about Kris getting babied, hell, getting to see Toriel embarrass him was one of the reasons why she wanted to have a sleepover… but she decided to stay silent. Susie thought it was a bit pathetic, but watching a family being a family made her happy. She wanted to stay there and be a part of it longer, but nature was soon calling her.

	“Excuse me, Kris, Mrs. Dreemurr,” Susie interrupted as she got off her seat. “Just going to use the bathroom. Feel free to eat without me.”

	“Heavens, we’re not going to begin without you, child. You’re our guest for the evening, after all!”

	“Then I’ll be quick,” Susie said, faintly blushing. She liked being called ‘child’.

	“You remember where it is, right?” Kris asked. “It’s the door beside the stairs, right across from the dining room.”

	Susie couldn’t contain the smile that was spreading from ear to ear on her face as she made her way to the bathroom. As she closed and locked the door behind her, she wondered whether it was all an act, and whether Toriel was only doing this for Kris, but it felt good regardless. It was almost like she was her daughter.

	Susie was beaming, even looking at the nice bathroom the Dreemurrs had made her feel warm. Through a small window on the wall opposite from Susie, sunlight was coming in and gently hitting her face. Everything about this house was perfect, she thought.

	Susie pressed her back against the door, letting out a light hum. She’s never felt this good in ages. She enjoyed this moment for a time, resting her head against the solid wooden door, and imagined what it would be like to be in Kris’ family.

	“I suppose that could always be a reality one day,” Susie said to herself. “Susie Dreemurr has a nice ring to it.”

	The monster blushed. “Where did that come from?” she asked the bathroom, perhaps the toilet.

	“I suppose it wouldn’t be that bad. Kris and I…” Her cheeks flushed an even deeper shade of purple. On one hand, she really did like Kris, on the other, she was getting worried that she was only interested in him because of his family’s nice things.

	Enough of that. Susie pushed herself off the door and groped along the wall in search of a light switch. When she felt the small, plastic nub between her fingers, she flipped it on.

	Darkness. Nothing but sheer black enveloped the room as if someone had thrown a thick, heaven blanket over Susie’s head.

	“Uhhh… I never heard of a light bulb that took away light before…”

	Susie took a step forward and slipped when her foot skidded on a wet puddle, almost falling right on her ass had she not grabbed onto the bathroom sink on her way down. She was afraid that she was going to rip the sink straight out of the wall when it creaked like an old wooden floor as it carried her weight, but it held firm. For now.

	Susie got up and sniffed her hand. “Ugh, what’s this?” she said, rubbing her fingers together. There was a smeared, metallic-smelling substance all over the hand that had touched the sink. Even more alarming, the sink felt… corroded?

	Susie touched the once-smooth porcelain with her fingers. Everything that she prodded crumbled and cracked. “Is this… the Dark World?” Susie thought, feeling her heartbeat rising in her chest. “I mean, this couldn’t be Kris’ bathroom anymore, right?”

	Before she could collect her bearings, Susie suddenly felt an object in her pocket, as if someone had walked by and slipped something inside her jacket without her noticing. “Wh-Wha?” the monster stuttered, reaching inside her pocket and pulling out a small, folded piece of paper. She opened and tried reading whatever was on the paper, but she might as well have been looking at nothing since the room was so dark.

	Susie squinted, looking at the paper harder, then looking around the room. She began to make out shapes – the sink, she already knew where that was, but she could now see the toilet and the shower.

	“Oh God…” Susie muttered, a cold chill running down her spine.

	There was a silhouette behind the shower curtains. It was hard for her to make out any details, but its “body” leaned against the plastic and formed a deep recess that was clearly humanoid. Susie noted that its legs dangled lifelessly in the air. Perhaps a rope attached to the shower bar kept it suspended.

	It was like time had stopped when she saw this… thing, but it all came rushing back to normal the moment her nose picked up a foul odor that reeked of death, a smell so unpleasant Susie wondered how she didn’t notice it until now.

	“No, no, no…” Susie almost fell backwards again as her feet tripped over themselves. Yeah, fuck THIS, I’m out of here!”

	The shower curtains twitched, and the body began to writhe. Then there was a loud SNAP followed by a THUD as the creature landed in the tub.

	“Fuck! Shit!” Susie swore, turning around to wrestle with the doorknob. She twisted and turned the brass fitting, but the door stayed closed. “What the fuck? This piece of shit!” Her brain tried telling her body to unlock the door first, but her hands only gripped the doorknob even harder, crushing it and leaving visible dents in the shape of her palm.

	Susie could hear movement coming from the shower, causing her to whimper. She turned her head slightly, and from the corner of her eye she saw the silhouette rising and pressing its weight against the plastic curtains again. This time it’d fall on her side of the room and not in the tub. She had no idea what it would do to her, but she did not intend on staying to find out.

	Susie banged her fists against the door. “Kris! KRIS!” she shouted, but nobody came.

	She has never been this scared before, all she could think about was running away but there was no escape. Even her beating heart felt like it was trying to burst out of her chest and find someplace to hide. She didn’t care if this was some elaborate prank, she just wanted OUT. She could kick that human’s ass later if this was all a sick joke. She wanted to be back at the table, with all that food, with Toriel, with Kris. Anywhere but HERE.

	“Kris, c-come on!” she whined, bashing her weight against the door and furiously clawing at the wood, leaving long streaks across its surface. She could hear the creature behind her stepping out of the shower, the slapping sound of its feet hitting the wet tiles echoing in Susie’s ear.

	‘Oh God, this is it, this is it. I’m going to fucking die. This isn’t fair, why isn’t there someone around to help me?’

	Susie’s mind was going into overdrive. Every primal instinct in her body was telling her “DANGER” but it made no difference. All the adrenaline flooding her system was made impotent by the sheer terror surging through her.

	Tears were dribbling down her cheeks now as she smashed her body against the door again. ‘Kris better fucking treat me nice after this if this is a prank,’ she thought, though she knew it was only denial. She slammed her body against the door again. And again. And again.

	She didn’t want to look behind her. She knew that if she did it’d be there, face-to-face with her, and then it’d be over. It was all or nothing now. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and then rushed straight into the door without a care for her body.

	The door ripped free of its hinges, splinters scattering everywhere. Susie could pay for the damages later, she only wanted to run the moment the door fell flat on the other side of the room.

	But the door never stopped falling. Susie tumbled forever through the darkness, eventually sliding off the door and falling freely on her own with nothing but abyss on all sides. She started to scream, and she screamed so loud and often that her lungs gave out.

	‘Not this shit again!’ she thought, tumbling over in circles as she tried to claw at something, anything, but it was all in vain.

	And then, before her mind could even process that she had stopped falling, there was nothingness.

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