After their long and relaxing weekend the Millers had finally returned to their home, a modern two-storey house in the suburbia of Malthorn City.

The lawn in front of the house was lush and green, though a few brown spots showed that it was time to turn the sprinklers on again. A narrow driveway made of big grey concrete slabs led up to the small garage that was integrated into the structure of the entire house. Right next to the garage door the front porch began, designed in a classical southern way with white wooden reilings all around it. Lauren had put up some planters all around the reiling and grew kitchen herbs and pretty flowers in them. The fresh smell of roses, thyme and lavender greeted everyone coming up to their doorstep.

Most of the house itself was made of wood, at least on the outside. White planks covered the entire front, they had been freshly painted last year and were shining in the afternoon sun. The windows on the first and second floor were also white, but they had those big brown doors to them on the outside. In case of bad weather, particularly a storm, they were meant to protect the house and everyone inside. Though David had intended them as protection against more human dangers as well - they could be closed and locked from the inside without actually having to open the windows, hence locking all sorts of evildoers outside. At least he hoped so. He had never tested them.

Angela jumped out of the car, her beloved teddy Snuggles firmly in her arms, and raced the two stairs up to the front porch and the main door. When Lauren had finally turned the key and opened it, her eight-year old daughter rushed right past her and inside. Like a flash she ran up the carpeted stairwell that began a few metres behind the main door. Without any other word the little girl disappeared through the only door to the right in her own room. Lauren shook her head. That was Angela, alright.

She sighed and looked around in her own home. The living room was right behind the door, to the left of the stairwell. Wooden cupboards and glass display cabinets surrounded the centre of the room that consisted of a large sofa with blue cloth cover and two matching comfy chairs around the coffee table. The table was a flat piece of furniture, just lower than the seating of the sofa, with a tabletop made of wood with a glass centre. All of it was arranged so that it could easily face the large TV set sitting by the window next to the main door.

There was one cupboard that was facing away from the rest of the living room, and it was right next to the swing door that led into the kitchen. Lauren kept her good china in this cupboard, and she had strictly prohibited both her husband and her daughter to ever touch the contents of it. She decided to go into the kitchen for a short moment - enjoying the bright and colorful room with the state-of-the-art stove, the large double-door fridge and the washing machine in the background. Like the living room, the centre of the kitchen was the large dinner table with five wooden chairs. They only needed three of them usually, but Angela had friends over for dinner frequently, so the extra chairs couldn't hurt. 

A quick look at the pantry, which was just a small room behind an unsignificant door in the far corner of the kitchen showed Lauren that they would still have enough to eat and drink for the next few days. The shelves in the tiny room were stocked with canned food, juice and all sorts of ingredients for her recipes. A small section of the shelves was dedicated to her recipe books. They had seen much work in the past, but over the years Lauren had gotten so confident in her abilities that she barely had to open them anymore.

David had finally arrived, carrying two large suitcases and a small bag over his shoulder. Without further ado he worked them upstairs and took them through the last door on the left side. Lauren watched him doing this and felt a little guilty, letting him do all the hard work. She followed him.

As she stepped through the door, she felt somewhat different than before. Maybe because the room was different from the rest of the house, too. It was still kept in lighter colors, but more like light brown and beige instead of the happy yellow, green and blue that the first floor was decorated with, and certainly not like the typical girlie-girl pink that Angela's room was covered in. The colors in here were simple, down to earth, maybe even a bit dull. But standing on the soft brown carpet, looking at her husband who breathed heavily in front of the large mirror doors of the built-in wardrobe that reflected his image back, looking also at the large double bed with the black cover sheets and the white pillows, seeing all the family pictures on the wall over the bed showing herself, David, Angela or all three of them... she knew that she had finally come home.

based on "The Demon Hunter"