Demon Lovers (Pinhead And Chatterer)

Chapter 3

Julia climbs the stairs, her face charged with suppressed feeling. She's sick of Larry; his enthusiasm depressed her, his compromises anger her. What's between them is stale, like his daughter Kirsty. Grace wasn't that bad, she stayed out of Julia's way and it suited her just fine. when Grace was around, all she was was Frank's eyes.

Larry steps into the kitchen, Grace following close behind him. He turns on the light and they see old plates, piled with rotten food and fungal. Flies and maggots covered the plates and kitchen counters.
Grace notices that the back door was slightly open.
She walks across the room, stepping on dead flies and maggots and bugs that crunch loudly underneath her new rock boots.
She opens the door and takes a step outside, the cold air nips at her skin. Her eyes scan the small garden. It was surprisingly bright with flowers. The grass was overgrown that needed to be cut.
She catches movement, a homeless man sat at the bottom of the garden, staring at her with a small smirk on his face. She had seen him all her life. Just after the near death experience, he just popped out of nowhere. While she stayed in hospital, he stayed outside all year round watching her. If she changed rooms, he move close to the same location. Grace thought it was weird at first, it frightened her. But now, she liked him close. He spoke to her once, telling her that the angels were watching, waiting for her soul to return to them. He told her that they sent him to watch over her while they couldn't. Was she creeped out. No. So now when she see's him, they politely nod to each other.
"I'll let you clean the kitchen." Larry tells her as she closes the back door.
Grace lights a cigarette and inhales. She passes the pack to Larry who happily accept a smoke. She laughs. "Fine. But you can by me a pack of menthol cigarettes."
"I buy you a deck. I hate bugs." He shivers in discussed.
"I know, and so does Julia. I have it cleaned up in no time." She tells him.
"LARRY! GRACE!" We hear Julia shout from up the stairs.
"Speak of the devil..." Grace jokes.
"Grace!" Larry warns playfully.
"LARRY!"

They rush out of the kitchen, cigarette in mouth and climb the stairs.
"Where are you?" Larry calls, as we reach the top of the stairs.
"In here." Julia replies out of sight.
Grace gulps. She slowly follows Larry into the largest bedroom. Julia is standing in the middle of the room.
"Squatters?" Julia asks.
"Looks like it." Larry replies.
Grace squeezes her eyes tightly shut. Her heart beating rapidly in her chest. She wanted to be sick.
Larry steps passed Julia and throws back the blankets. wood-lice scurry away. He goes to the suitcase, and starts looking through it.
Grace knows who things these belonged too, she didn't want to say it. Why didn't the old lady throw away his things. Oh, yeah. She couldn't open this door. Lying bitch. Was this the haunted room that the neighbours talked about?
Besides cloths, there's slot else that speaks of its owner: bric-a-brac picked up in a life time of adventure; handful of bullets; fragments of an erotic statue; coins and notes from different countries. Amount the other stuff, some photographs. Larry looked at them.
Grace peeked over his shoulders, it was him. One picture a good looking man in his late thirties, in bed with a naked Chinese girl. another with a small child, no older than nine holding his hand. the child had a smile on her face, the man never.
"Frank." Larry confirmed.
Julia and Grace flinched at his name.
"He's here?" Julia asked.
"No." Grace finally said.
Larry and Julia both looked at her. "How do you know that?" Julia asked.
"Those are the same things he came with when you went to look after your mother. The money is old, the bed is the same." She explained.
Julia frowned. "Why leave them here?"
"He traveled light, brought cloths while he was in different countries to fit in....."
The phone rings from somewhere downstairs cutting Grace off.
"I need to leave. I think I'm going to be sick, I be outside."
Grace rushed downstairs. She opened the front door with a bang and heaved into the closest bush. Her eyes watered but tears ran down her cheeks. no he can't come back. He's not here.
A tissue was held in front of her face. She lifted her head expected to see Larry or Julia follow but it was the homeless man. Grace gently took it.
"He can't hurt you. He's in his own hell, suffering in pain." He said.
Grace frowned. "Who are you?" She asked.
He smirked. "You can call me a friend if you wish."
"Do you have a name?"
"I have many."
"Tell me one of them."
Can I have a cigarette. I haven't had one since coming to earth."
Grace tilted her head in confusion and curiously. He was strange, but she liked strange.
"I can't...I have a message from the hellpriest..."
"Who?"
"He be here soon. You will see him from this day forth, they will be here for the princess."
Grace's bottom lip wobbled. "What are you talking about? I don't understand."
"You will in time..." He whispers and brushes his fingers on her cheek to wipe away the tears.
Grace watches him walk away, down the garden path. He stops and looks up at the house and nods his head. He turns back and slowly walks away.
Grace been curious and freaked out rushes and takes a look. She stares in the attic window and see's nothing. She turns around in anger to tell him off but her eyes widen when thousands of birds fly just above her head. She ducks down quickly as they nearly fly into her face. She watches them fly away as thick clouds appear in the sky. The wind picks up, whipping her hair into her face, blowing out her cigarette.
She rushes to the car and quickly gets in behind the wheel.
Out of breath and paranoid, Grace rubs her face with her hands in frustration.
"Come on, Grace. He's just trying to scare me. Halloween is around the corner." She mumbles to herself.
Many things were going round in her head. Was her father back? She hoped not. What was that homeless man going on about. It scared her. She wiped her tears away and lit another cigarette.
Grace's head hit the car seat with a thud.
"Pull it together." She thought.
She opened her eyes and saw Larry exiting the house with a huge smile on his face. He might as well skipped to the car. Julia looks somewhat happy.
Grace's eyes looked to the attic window. The attic, her bedroom. She shivered. Her eyes noticed something blurry, a pale face and black eyes looking down at her.
"Welcome home, dear...." A voice said in her head.