Home is Where the Heart is

Joshua had an average life. One uneventful and, to be completely honest, a little sad. Of course, that was until he had met Jess. Jess had several defining traits about her, but one of the most important to Joshua was her beauty. Like the shining grace of the gods, she rained down her liveliness and superiority over him. It was a wonderful thing.

Joshua had come home from work one day to find Jess in his house. The woman sat on his couch and simply waited for him there. He was possibly the luckiest person in the world, having her loveliness be the first thing he was greeted upon walking in. She sat him down, and wanted to tell him something. Joshua, entranced by her looks, simply accepted her request, thinking nothing of the worrying phrasing.

He sat down, slowly, and pressed his hand to her hand.

She told him of how much she loved him. Never letting him go. Never to stop loving him. Ever.

He was entranced by her every word, until that last one.

Ever.

He suddenly thought, no, this wasn’t right. Something was deeply wrong here.

His apartment walls started peeling off, as he looked around in horror. The paint turned to wood and stone. The floor, from carpet into rotting woods. Nightmares began to unfold around him, eyes in jars, dentures laying upon the shelves. Teeth contained in containers, little horrors enveloping him.

And the most terrifying part is, that when he looked back at the woman he had sworn his life to, all he saw was a literal witch. In every sense of the word.

An old woman with sagging cheeks, mold over her clothes (looking to be Native American in origin), warts and moles covered her face like the most terrifying part of a German fairy tale. Nothing like the beauty he was lured to believe existed.

The woman in front of him frowned. Then she smiled.

“How do you like my humble abode?”, she said, her voice raspy and ugly.

You will never escape, a voice said in his head, she takes the heart and steals the soul.

Joshua ran to the door. Upon opening it, he saw nothing but the deep void of space. Nothing but the deep blackness that ran in all directions.

He turned around and saw the witch. The witch laughed a horrible cackle, like thousands of bugs spinning their appendages. She reached out, touched a hand to his chest, and pulled.

His breath stuck in his throat, his pain racked with pain, he could not move.

His heart, pulled out of him.

The last thing he heard was the witch, cackling before saying a wonderful saying turned malicious.

“Home is where the heart is!”