The car ride home was quiet, save for the occasional sniffle from his mother. His father, gripping the steering wheel tightly, kept glancing at him through the rearview mirror as if afraid he'd disappear again. Prince sat still, his posture perfect, his expression calm. He was studying everything—the way the city had changed, the technology, the language people used. Time had moved forward, but he had been frozen in that warehouse, devouring knowledge while the world continued without him.
The house was large, too large. A two-story home with a garden, a place meant for a happy family. He stepped inside, taking in the unfamiliar scent of expensive candles, the polished wooden floor, the framed photos of a past he no longer recognized.
"This is your room," his mother said, her voice trembling with hope.
He stepped inside. The walls were painted blue. A desk, a bed, a bookshelf—everything was carefully arranged, untouched for years. There were toys in the corner, things meant for a child who had never grown up here.
Prince walked over to the bookshelf, fingers gliding over the spines of the books. Fairy tales, school textbooks, adventure stories. None of them useful. None of them like the ones he had in his prison.
"I hope you like it," his mother said softly.
He turned, offering a small smile. "It's… perfect."
She beamed, relief washing over her. His father cleared his throat. "We can get you whatever you need. If you want to redecorate or—"
"This is fine," Prince interrupted smoothly.
A long silence stretched between them. They wanted him to be normal. To be the boy they had lost. But he wasn't. He never would be.
That night, as he lay in bed staring at the ceiling, the voice inside him stirred.
"This is weakness."
It was the other him—the cold, calculating voice that had kept him alive.
"They expect you to be normal. Can you keep up the act?"
Prince closed his eyes. He had spent years surviving. Now, he had to learn how to live.
But normal people didn't hear voices in their heads.
And normal people didn't dream of blood.