Henry Stickmin OneShots

The Lost Story Of Clairence & Claira

{Trigger Warning: This short story describes scenes of gore, a house fire, and loss. I'm not sure if there's too much detail or not enough, but I may as well add this note just in case. So I guess, enjoy!}

"Seriously though. Harriot?! You could've gone with any name or even made one up and the two of you chose 'Harriot'?!"
"Oh for Pete's sake. Not this again. I told you a thousand times, Harriot was the name of Hubert's father! Ye know the one that passed away before you ever knew him? That's that." Claira huffed while making dinner.
Her brother, Clairence was visiting to help around the house while Hubert was deployed overseas. Unfortunately, his visits tend to break out into these fights about Hubert or the baby. Mostly Hubert.
"Honestly, Clairence. If you want to be useful, please take care of the laundry. While I finish up this-" all of a sudden Mrs.Galeforce nearly faints if it wasn't for Clairence catching her.
"You've been working too much, sis. You can't keep doing this to yourself." He helped her to the dinner table to rest.
"I can handle myself. It's just hard to get enough sleep with Harriot's nightmares. I got a meeting with a doctor about it."
"Nightmares hu? Poor kid. Too bad Hubert's not here to share the night shift." he muttered to himself.
"Don't start this again, Stickmin. Just!" she sighs heavily. At that moment, the distressed wails of an infant were heard from up stares. "Can you take care of Harriot, please? I need to finish up here."
"Ok. You sure you'll be alright?"
"I'll be fine. Now maybe you can get that boy to sleep faster than I have."
Clairence heads upstairs and creeks open the nursery door. He stares for a moment at the crying baby before picking him up. "A'ight l'il tyke. Everything's ok. Uncle Clairence got you."
Baby Harriot began to calm his cries.
The uncle looked into the child's eyes staring at him with familiar garnet-red eyes. "Why'd your genes have to take on his appearance? I mean- If your 'dad' dies overseas... Ugh." Harriot was about to start crying again. "ok, ok. Shhhh. Let's go for a ride m'kay?"

Clairence fitted Harriot into an infant carrier on his chest, then got on his moped after leaving a note beside the napping sister in the kitchen.
Harriot enjoyed the ride around town, slowly falling back to sleep.
The uncle decided to continue driving for nearly an hour after the baby closed his eyes to make sure he was out before heading back.
Meanwhile, back at the Galeforce residence, Claira had slipped to the floor while the pot was boiling over. Unbeknownst to anyone, a gas leak was filling the house with toxins until...
BOOM!!!
The kitchen bursts into flames and engulfs the house in a matter of seconds. The neighborhood scrambled to their phones after seeing the embers.

When Clairence returned, firefighters were already on the scene; shouting commands over the roaring blaze. He stared in disbelief as he processed the horrifying view. "Claira... Claira!" He took off the baby holder and handed it to a policeman on crowd control before running into the flaming house.
"Hey! Stop that guy!"
Clairence could hardly breathe through the thick black smoke. Coughing, he took his sleeve to filter as much as he could as he screamed his sister's name. "CLAIRA! CLAIRA! CAN YOU HEAR ME? WHERE ARE YOU?! CLAIRA!" He made his way to what was once a kitchen and found her blistering burnt body on the ground. He tried so hard to pick her up if it wasn't for his noodle arms.
"Hey, you! Get out of here!" says a firefighter rushing in with a second.
"We got a body! Let's move" the second firefighter commanded, picking up the twin woman.
"Come on, man." the first firefighter picked up Clairence while he struggles.
"Hey! Let me go! I don't need to-"
"Shut up." the firefighter interrupts the twin male. "You got to be an idiot to just run in like that."

Outside the house, Harriot cried in the policeman's arms. Once the twins were removed from the inferno they went straight to an ambulance. Claira was terribly wounded and the doctors were unsure if she was still alive. Getting her breathing going, an IV, and finding her pulse. The ambulance rushed her to the nearest hospital with the slightest sign of life.
Clairence sat on the curb, wrapped in a trauma blanket and getting chewed out by the fireman that picked him up. The policeman brought Harriot back to Clairence.
"See man you even got a kid to worry about! You need to take care of yourself!" the fireman finished his rant.
"He's not mine. He's my sister's child. I was helping her take care of him and I took him on a ride to sleep. He's... Wait, my sister, Claira. Is she ok?" he seemed to have snapped out of some kind of trance.
"She's been rushed to the hospital with severe burns. They'll do their best to save her. How are you feeling though? Any pain?" the cop asks.
Clairence shakes his head slightly while rocking Harriot. "N-no. No, I don't think so."
"Ok. You were here before the fire started yeah? Would you mind coming down to the station for some questions?" the cop gets a nod from the man.
"Could I get a drive to the hospital after?"
"We'll see what he can do." They head to the station and spend the next 2 hours going over the incident report.

It wasn't long after that Clairence found out his sister passed away in transport and he took Harriot home with him. In despair, he continued to care for Harriot among the rest of his orphanage. Hired extra help to keep the kids cared for when he withdraws.
"He did this. Hubert should have been here. It should have been him. He was supposed to protect her and he's not even here!" His office was a mess from the outbursts.
He looked out at the children playing in the backyard. A few of them surrounded Harriot and play with him. Harriot was laughing and smiling. Without notice of his mother being gone from this world.
"I'm never gonna see my sister again... You're never gonna see your mother again." He slurred soberly through his raspy throat. "You're father will never see you again, either." He stomped towards his box computer pulling up official adoption papers.

"'Mother: Claira Galeforce -deceased. Father: Hubert Galeforce -military(MIA). Childe[children]: Harriot Galeforce Age:14 months  New Name:Henry Stickmin."'

Clairence put the finishing touches on the paperwork 3 days before Hubert returns to a charred crater of what used to be his home. "Henry... That's a better name. He's all I have left of her. I can't let him turn out like Hubert. I'll keep Henry away from him. If it's the last thing I do."

The End Of The Begining.