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The town I grew up in is called Vanifernum. The founders of this town, centuries ago mixed two words from Latin to name this dry, ominous and scorching land: Vanus, meaning empty and false, and Infernum, meaning 'of hell'. Some say they took inspiration from Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', which held the most famous quote:

Hell is empty, and all the devils are here.

I don't know if they meant 'empty hell' or 'hellish place' when they came up with it. Can't bother to ask them too. They're dead anyway.

Nothing much has changed since I left, not even the Christmas song played every December in a small cafe. The only thing noticeable was the snow that replaced the dry land of Vanifernum. I still can't believe it's been six years already. I try to forget, but this snow reminds me of her. It snowed just like this when she came to town for the second time. She was like 151 Rum aflame on ice...cold but searing enough to burn your skin. A child normally feels ecstatic when he goes home after a long time, especially when it's Christmas. Too bad, everything to me in this town was colored with her memories. I stepped on the brakes when I saw the gates of my house. Mom was a very swanky lady when it came to clothing and interior design but sometimes she went crazy, really crazy. This statement explains why she stuck life-size cutouts of flamingos wearing sunglasses on both sides of our gate on Christmas Eve. God knows what crisis she's brought upon my stepdad and the house since I haven't been home for a long time. Oh, my poor stepdad...

I subconsciously did a facepalm as soon as I rang the doorbell. Doorbell my foot, it sounded like a group of crows in the middle of a subsong. Crossing my fingers and praying this night will go normal, I waited for Mom's voice on the intercom.

"Welcome to Ayven's Aviary ! Sorry but we're closed as it's Christmas Eve. But if you're the guy who wanted to give away your ostrich three days ago, please come back after Christmas."

Krampus please take me with you.

"This little aviary of yours better not be in my room Mom !"

There was a long pause. Of course there would be, I came home without any notice so she must be internally screaming but trying to contain it all outside.

"Art thou who I think thou art ?"

"Yeah Mom it's me."

"Me who ?"

"Me Mom ! Blaine !"

"You little punk ! Did you really think I'd not recognize your voice after six years ?! No phonecalls, no messages, no facetime, and you show up now like some atom bomb in Hirosaki !"

A scared but masculine voice was heard saying, "Umm it's Hiroshima, honey."

Stepdad. Definitely the sweet and terrified stepdad.

"Oh whatever ! I'm not letting him in !"

"But Mom it's freezing out here !"

"How observant of you." She scoffed.

Time to pull the present card.

"Mom I got you Red Beryls."

"Did you just try and bribe me with rubies ? I'm your mother, not your client !"

"Look I'm sorry okay ! I needed some time alone."

"Right. You were so lonely and yet you ended up in the front covers of business magazines. Sure, sonny."

"Why don't you let our son in ? It's really bad." Said the stepdad.

"Don't you dare Elijah !"

So that's his name...

"But it's-it's Christmas !", He tried to reason with her.

"Mom, you have no idea how much courage it took me to come back to Vanifernum. Please."

I heard a sigh and a whisper saying 'Now look what you did.'

"I'm sorry sweetie. I guess I

got too carried away with my

anger. I'm coming for you

myself."

Well, she knew me better then

anyone. She's Mom afterall. I was ready to hug her when the gate opened but I saw a hooded figure heading toward me with speed. It looked like Mom, but why was her face half ripped off and why was

she laughing hysterically while

sprinting toward me with a knife in her hand ?!