Home and House. Do you know the difference between these two? Of course you do. A house is just a place: A roof over a bed. A home doesn’t need a roof, not even a bed. It just requires your approval.

Your bedroom where you feel safe? Home.

Circle of friends that you love? Home.

A novel that you enjoy? Home.

A room that you had never been before? Not home.

And this simple logic kept Flint’s eyes shut.

He wanted to wake up in his bedroom, get angry at his alarm, get out of his bed, brush his teeth, put on his school uniform, eat a sandwich that Mother had prepared, and leave home saying I hate school.

But fear sealed his eyes: If he opened them, an unfamiliar ceiling would be revealed. Not his bedroom, not his home. Not a place where he belonged.

Creaking noises from opening doors.

The scraping of a chair against the floor.

Voices saying “Is he recovering?”.

He heard it all. He was awake but refused to wake up.

One hour had passed, and then four, and then eight, and then sixteen… An entire day passed by.

He persisted… He didn’t want to open his eyes, not in this world. He was afraid of waking up and not being in the safety of his bedroom, far away from his friends, and locked from his hobbies. But a person can only withstand the needs of the body for so long. Hunger and thirst punished his empty stomach and sore throat, not to mention the state of his bladder. He eventually had to give in.

“Dammit,” the boy muttered.

The unfamiliar ceiling. It stood up there, right above him, laughing at his face. How absurd! That damned grey ceiling dared to laugh!

“Fuck this ceiling!”

Flint tilted his head to the right, that ceiling was too rude. Unfortunately, now he had to deal with that bitch of a window! It was letting the annoying breeze enter the room. Not only that, Mrs. Window had Mr. Curtain protect her! She was hiding behind his red linen textile, too scared to face Flint.

“Fuck you too!”

He couldn’t stand looking at them. He spun his head to the left, hoping to find actual friends. There was a wimpy framed door, a retarded mahogany desk accompanied by an idiotic chair, a fat ass dresser, and finally, a shit for brain lizard, kicked back on a dumb recliner.

“Barama?”

The man in question was sleeping. Flint struggled to raise his torso from the bed. The morning breath tainted his mouth, and lots of rheum resided in his eyes.

“For how long I slept?”

All that booger on his sight annoyed him. He brought his hands to his face, and then rubbed it off.

“Huh?”

He had cleaned the right eye, but the left wasn’t freed from the rheum.

“Where is it?”

His left hand was missing...

“No…”

More than that… All the way up to his elbow had been removed.

“No… No… No… No…”

An empty void took the place of his forearm. As the reality plummeted on his head, a tightening pain latched to his invisible wrist. He could feel the claws of a dreadful beast slowly climbing its way up to his chest, devouring him from the inside.

“No… ah… aah… no… ah…”

Is this his actual body? What happened to it? Sobs and tears escaped his mouth and eyes. He woke up in this unknown room, inside an unknown body. It was strange, all of it.

His distressed laments woke up the lizard. “Hm? Boy!”

Barama leaned over. “Be calm, boy… I know it’s very bad… Just be calm!”

Calm? How could Flint be calm? Discovering a part of him had been removed wrecked him. Who removed his arm? Who is at fault? WHO FUCKED HIM UP? The boy wanted answers, but before that, he longed for his home.

The framed door opened, letting inside a blonde woman.

“Sweetie! You woke up!”

Mamyl’s words didn’t reach out to him. Flint kept himself enclosed in his barren mind.

“Barama, go warn Hyuna that sweetie woke up, she should be at the Kitchen.”

“Aye…” The lizard-man closed the door as he left.

An eerie atmosphere filled the room, and Mamyl stood in the middle of it, tightening her hands together against her white dress. But Flint didn’t pay any attention to the woman. He just kept quiet, fixing an empty look at his missing limb.

She carefully approached the bed and sat on the edge close to Flint. Narrowing her eyes, she asked, “Are you… Okay?”

Flint didn’t answer.

“I am sorry… That was a silly question… “

And the dead silence prevailed... If she couldn’t reach out to him with words, she would find another way. Out of sympathy, the beautiful woman extended her hands towards him and shared the warmth from her palms with his shoulders. She looked him in the eyes and leaned forward. Her body embraced the boy, entangling him between her arms. Mamyl kept him tightly close, letting the strawberry fragrance from her hair soften his aching heart.

Tears of sorrow slid down from his face, ending up over her white dress.

*****

Hyuna entered the room carrying a ceramic bowl. “I brought the porridge.”

Sitting by the edge of the bed, Mamyl lifted her hands. “Good, leave it to me.”

The sweet aroma from the porridge made Flint’s nostril itch. He had forgotten about his hunger and thirst amidst his grief. The pain from his empty stomach now mixed with his afflicted chest.

The blonde woman took a spoonful from the bowl and offered it to him. “Here sweetie, you must be starving.” She wore a worried smile.

The boy still hadn’t recovered from the loss. He felt anger but didn’t know where to direct it. It was unfair what happened to him, and someone had to compensate… But who? Was it Barama? No… If not for him, Flint would be dead already. Was it Mamyl? No… That wouldn’t make any sense. Was it Hyuna? He hated her, but she wasn’t responsible either. Was it Melidia? Maybe… She brought Flint over to this world after all…

The truth hurt: Flint already knew the answer, and he hated it. When something goes wrong, you can always gain some relief by blaming it on someone else, making the person in question feel guilty. But the one at fault, in this case, was that monster from the forest. How could Flint go against that thing and say: Ey! You fucking owe me! You better pay for the damage you have done and regret your actions for all your life!

He couldn’t, of course, and it burdened him. The boy had to accept and swallow down his new reality by himself. No one to point fingers, he felt like a lone island.

“Sweetie, don’t you want to eat?”

Flint just slowly shook his head. His pettiness combined with foulness, they didn’t allow him to accept an act of kindness.

Mamyl dropped her smile. “If… If you don’t eat… It has been a week.”

An entire week? Those words got him by surprise. He betted it had been just a few hours, one day at most.

“Vela would come every night and use her magic to keep you alive…” She paused and put the spoon back on the bowl. “She is incredible… Using a single finger snap to keep you hydrated.”

Vela, The Mysterious Witch. Thanking her later would be embarrassing, Flint presumed.

“But she told me it wouldn’t work with food… So Sweetie, please, you have to eat…”

She took another spoonful and raised it over his mouth. Her eyes begged the boy to accept the offering. He gave up and let his chin drop, together with his tears.

Mamyl sighed in relief and fed him. The sweet mixture from the porridge blended with the salt of his crying, it painfully slid down his sore throat. She kept spoon feeding him for five minutes, while Hyuna stood by the desk looking at the two.

“What happened to my arm?” Flint finally spoke. His words carried an unpleasant weight with the stench of his morning breath.

The blonde woman didn’t know how she should answer. “We had to... amputate it, unfortunately.”

He frowned. “I know, I am asking why.”

“Vela told us… It got infected.” She breathed in. “I swear we tried everything we could–”

The boy put his chin closer to his chest. “Wasn’t there a spell for infections? Masla.”

“Yes, you’re right… But your body refused any kind of healing magic.”

He raised his head and looked Mamyl in the eyes. “Then it’s my fault?” He frowned.

“No! No! I’m not saying that!” She put the bowl aside. “It is just…”

“Whatever...”

Flint released his body, letting it fall back on the bed. Thud! His nape hit the headboard.

“Dammit,” he hissed.

“Ah! Sweetie! Are you alright?”

He turned to the right. “I’m fine, leave me alone!”

Unfortunately, breaking through the walls that enclosed his heart proved to be a challenge. Mamyl backed away from him. Forcing her affection while he was bitter would do no good.

“Alright sweetie, I will… If you need anything, you know you can ask me.”

The blonde woman left, closing the door. However, Hyuna was still inside the room. She stared at the boy with her expressionless face. He thought she would read the mood and leave as well. But the plastic doll just stood there, by the desk, doing nothing but gazing at him with her emerald eyes.

Ten minutes passed, and a tightening pressure in his bowels reminded him of one his needs. He had to go to the toilet. Number one and number two were almost bursting out of the valve. Flint threw his legs to the left, letting them touch the wooden floor. His muscles felt rusty, leaving the bed proved to be harder than he anticipated.

“What’re you doing?” Hyuna asked, still standing by the desk.

“Toilet.”

“You can’t, not in your state.”

He lifted his torso. “Then help me go there, dammit.”

The red-haired maiden approached him and crouched. She extended her arm under his bed, trying to grab something. She pulled a wooden bucket with a sheet of paper inside and dropped it in front of him.

“Here you go.” Hyuna walked back to the desk.

“No!” He jutted his chin. “Let me go to the toilet!”

“It’s too far from this room. You barely stand on your own, let alone walk all the distance…”

He couldn’t go against her logic, a sigh of defeat escaped through his nose. The boy got out of the bed and slowly let himself fall to the floor. He would use the bucket, but a bit of privacy was a requirement.

“So… Can I use it then?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Then… Well… Can you like… Let me alone?”

“Don’t mind me.”

Hyuna didn’t seem to comprehend the situation.

Flint raised his voice. “I need to be alone.”

“You can imagine I am invisible.”

He punched the floor. “You will see something unsightly.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But I mind you watching me.”

She closed her eyes. “I will not watch.”

“It doesn’t work like that!” He gritted his teeth.

“It does, you just have to not mind me.”

A single vein exploded in his forehead. “Just leave the damn room for a minute!” Just by shouting out loud, he already felt tired. At least, the ginger maid finally got out of the room, closing the door behind her.

“What’s wrong with her?”

After conquering victory, Flint lowered his pants and… I don’t need to detail this part, do I?

“Yes, you do,” the little girl said.

No!

“Come on! What’s the problem?!”

It is kind of redundant… If I say he just started doing his business you would understand regardless.

“You’re just being lazy!”

I am not!

“Lately you have been telling only cringe sad stuff!”

And?

“I asked for a light-hearted story! Are you defective?”

What? It’s not my fault if that monster decided to appear.

“You could have saved him!”

Well, I could have saved him, but I could have been revealed as well. His life is not worth it, the old man agrees with me.

“What’s the big deal if he discovers you?”

You wouldn’t understand now, you’re too young.

“You sound like Uncle. Ugh! I’m too young to do this, to do that…”

Can we go back to the story?

“Fine, but you better not go skipping details.”

Why do you want me to detail this part?

“I am curious how boys do it. Uncle said I am too young to know any of that.”

Alright…

He lowered his pants and underwear. The bucket was small, so he did the number one first, and then sat on the bucket to execute number two–

“That wasn’t detailed!”

What do you expect? Your uncle filtered some words from me.

“Does that mean you can’t say them?”

I can but if I say any of them, BOOM! I explode!

“That wouldn’t be nice…”

No, it wouldn’t, let me resume the story…

As the boy pressured his bowels, the idea that Hyuna stood outside of the door forced his… onion ring to clench–

“Onion ring? I thought he ate porridge, where did the onion ring come from?”

Don’t interrupt me.

He was too uncomfortable to let it go and took a lot of time to settle his problem. Before he could finish wiping, Hyuna opened the door and entered the room. She stopped at the desk and looked at Flint in the eyes.

He covered his crotch with the paper sheet. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I left the room for a minute.”

His cheeks flushed. “You think you’re funny?”

“No.”

“Leave the fucking room!” The veins in his neck protruded out.

Hyuna left the room again.

“Just come back when I say so!”

After wiping, Flint let out a sigh of relief. But what should he do with the bucket filled with waste?

The maid opened the door but stopped halfway through. Letting her ginger head past the gap, she asked, “Can I enter?”

“No!”

“I’m responsible for you. I need to keep you under my watch “

“I don’t care!”

Hyuna stepped inside the room and approached him. “Give me the bucket. I will take it to the toilet.”

“No need, I will take it there myself.”

“But you can’t walk there.”

His silenced confirmed she was right.

She extended her arm. “Give me the bucket.”

“Tsk, okay…”

Said and done, Hyuna grabbed the bucket and left the room. Flint finally had some time for himself, at least until the ginger plastic doll didn’t return. He got back in his bed and comfortably set his head on the pillow.

“Ah… Peace at last–”

Slam! The door was forcefully opened, letting an unknown woman wearing a dirty coverall enter. “Heya!” she said.

Flint winced at the abrupt noise. “Who the fuck–”

“Hi there, pal!” She widened her mouth to a large grin.

Flint didn’t respond, he looked at the idiot who just barged into his room without permission.

“I said hi there…” She paused to breathe. “PAL!”

Quite an odd person, but her personality wasn’t the only strange thing. Floppy animal ears hanged on the sides of her brown bobbed hair, the tip of her nose was pink, and there was a long and fluffy tail coming out of her rear. Her image resembled a dog.

“I didn’t expect you to be so shy!” Her tail wagged furiously.

Nothing came out of his mouth. He kept staring at the weirdo before him. Maybe if he ignored for long enough, she would eventually leave.

“Heya! I am talking to you!”

“…”

“I get!! This is a staring contest! Why didn’t you say so?”

The woman stared at him, widening her sapphire eyes. The boy sealed his mouth, and after a few seconds, he blinked.

The dog-woman wagged her tail faster. “You blinked! I win!”

But the boy kept staring at her, ignoring the rules of the game.

“Why… Why didn’t you stop playing? Admit defeat!” She continued the game, keeping her eyes open.

He blinked again.

“You are cheating! Stop playing! You lost twice already!” Her eyes were getting sore.

Flint blinked yet again.

She gave up. “Ah! It’s not fair… You keep cheating…” The tail stopped wagging.

“Get the fuck out!” A response finally came from the boy.

“No! I stay!”

“Out, NOW!” He had just left a coma and was burdening his throat already.

The dog-woman crossed her arms. “Wait for what I have to show you! You’ll like it.”

He didn’t respond with words, he scowled at her making a Leave or you will regret it face.

Much for his relief, the eccentric woman stepped out of the room… Then, not three seconds later, she barged inside again, carrying a cylindrical object wrapped in cloth.

“I told you to leave.”

“Bet you’re wondering what this is in my arms?” Her tail started to wag again.

He wanted to throttle the woman. “I’m wondering why I’m surrounded by idiots.”

“Wait until you check this puppy out! You’ll even apologize to me…”

She violently unrolled the object in her arms, letting the cylindrical artifact fly and hit Flint on the chest.

“What’s your problem?” he asked.

The dog-woman pointed at the object dropped in his lap.

“Don’t tell me this is a–”

“Yeah! That’s right!” She puffed out her chest. “A mechanical arm! I built this prototype just for you!”

Flint touched and studied the object. Polished steel. Its plates perfectly mirrored the muscles of an actual arm. He was no mechanic, but that piece of work felt solid and authentic. He started to smile for the first time ever since he woke up. That moment reminded him the first time he got a computer… But his grin immediately dropped.

“It’s… too big,” he muttered.

“What?” Her tail stopped.

“The size, it doesn’t match the size of my arm at all.”

She scratched her nape. “Well… A few centimeters wouldn’t… make a difference…”

“No… But it’s almost twice the size of my arm.” He looked at her with hollow eyes.

“Uh…” Her furry skin started to sweat.

Flint sighed in disappointment. How could that moron project such a device without measuring him beforehand? Their awkward silence prevailed in the air, as they accidentally began another staring contest.