It's a Jungle, Baby

Home Sweet Hell

Two and a half weeks later, the five of us are jammed into a Crew Cab, with our suitcases in the box. Axl is driving, Chelsea is in the front seat, some how I managed to get jammed between Duff and Izzy who are arguing like cats and dogs. I watch out the windshield as my home town gets closer and closer. I grab on to Duff's hand and he looks down from his argument.

"You're really scared aren't you." He says and scowl.

"I'm not scared." I mutter and he laughs.

"My fearless girl." Duff says in my ear then kisses my cheek.

"Never thought you'd be back, right?" Izzy wonders.

"Not in a million years." I admit as we drive through the town.

We pull off to a side street and up to a fairly big house, my childhood home. Nothing has changed, the red steel roof was beaten from winter after winter of abuse. The brown siding is in need of repair like it has been for fifteen years. The mailbox still read 'The Baileys", and was on an angle from when I backed into it when I was fifteen. The garage door still badly dented from my soccer ball. The net still sat beside the garage, with soccer ball shaped wholes gaping in it. The driveway was empty, meaning my mom and prick were at work.

Duff

We get out of the truck and I can see how uncomfortable being here is making Taylor. She holds on to my hand tightly, to the point of the whites of her knuckles were showing. Axl and Taylor look at the house for a while before Axl walks up to the door.

"I hate this place." Taylor mutters as we walk up the pathway.

Axl tries to open the door but it was locked. He looks under the welcome mat for a key but finds nothing. Taylor drops my hand and thinks for a second before running of around the side of the house.

"TJ do you remember where the spare key is?" Axl turns around to look at her but she's gone.

"Where'd she--" He starts but the door opens behind them.

Taylor stands inside the door and everybody just looks at her.

"The latch on my window is still broken." She says simply before ushering everyone inside.

I look around the house, off to my left is like a front room, a hall leads straight a head, and to the right is a big wooden stairway. Crosses littered the walls to the point I felt like I was going to incinerate upon walking through the threshold. I take off my jacket and hold it in my arms before Taylor takes it and hangs it on a hook. Taylor looks like she's trying to keep busy to block out old memories. She grabs my hand again and forces a smile up at me.

"What did you mean when you said the latch was still broken?" I wonder and she smirks.

"The latch to the window in my room, I broke it trying to sneak back into the house when I was thirteen. They never fixed it." Taylor explains.

"I thought your room was on the second floor." Izzy says.

"It is but the oak tree in the backyard, the limb with the tire swing on it, leads right into her room." Axl explains looking around. "Somehow I expected everything to be different."

"Yeah, me to." Taylor says looking around as well. "Nothing's changed." She grips my hand tighter.

We all go into the living room and sit on retro couches. We talk and laugh, I feel better now that Taylor is laughing again. I feel better that I'm hear with her, so he stepdad can't hurt her.

"I wonder if Steven will actually feed Henry." Axl says and everyone laughs.

"I put extra food in his dish before we left." Chelsea remembers.