Surprise Johan!

The afternoon air smelt cool, light, and damp. The sky was full of large grey rain clouds that allowed only a few rays of light through. Houses with mostly empty driveways lined the sides of the street.

Johan walked up the steps to his house's front door. As he reached for the knob, he froze. He paused as his instincts screamed to him that something was wrong. Ignoring this, he turned the knob and pushed open the door.

In front of him, his father lay on the floor motionless with his brown hair matted with sweat against his forehead, eyes wide open, glazed and lifeless and a growing pool of dark crimson blood inching its way in every direction.

His mother stood looking down with her eyes wide, lips pressed tightly together and straight blond hair casting a shadow on her face. Johan stared unable to comprehend what he was seeing. His mother's gaze locked with his.

"A man … he stabbed us," whispered his mother clutching her neck. "He ran to the backyard."

Johan felt weak and held onto the wall for support as he redirected his gaze to his father.

Johan's mind went blank. Minutes seemed to go by in an instant. A deafening buzz in Johan's head muffled out all sound and the world seemed to grey. He snapped out of his trance when his mother toppled to the floor. He wobbled over to her fallen body. He bent down to examine her and realized with shock that her throat was slashed and blood was pouring out of it. Johan tried to use his hands to stop her blood from leaving.

"Mom …," stammered Johan as tears started to stream down his face. "Wake up mom … I'll call the doctors and everything will be alright."

A thud from behind him, shook Johan from his stupor.

Looking at the house entrance, Johan saw an armed police officer standing with his eyes open in surprise. The officer grabbed his gun and began talking but Johan could not make out the words. Johan looked down at his blood covered hands grasping at his mother's neck trying to stop the bleeding.

His mother started to convulse.

Johan glanced at the police officer and saw him yelled words into a walkie talkie.

An old lady walked up behind the officer and an expression of shock appeared on her face. Her finger rose and she screamed clearly, "MURDERER!!!!!!!!"

Johan had no trouble understanding her.

The old lady grabbed the gun from the officer and fired a shot at Johan, missing his face by inches. The officer stared at the old woman in shock.

Johan's body reacted on its own and he made a run for the back door. An officer kicked the back door open just as he got to it. Johan pushed the surprised police officer out of his way. The officer stumbled backwards.

Another officer came into sight from behind the other officer, she stood yelling urgently into her phone. Johan pushed her out of the way, hopped the fence and kept running.

He didn't look back.

-- Ø --

Hours had passed and Johan wandered through the streets in a shocked stupor. The initial shock incurred by the events was lifting and he was regaining his ability to think coherently.

Rain showered down drenching Johan. He had been running for what felt like hours.

Night had fallen making the cold that the storm brought colder. The only light the night had to offer came from flickering street lamps. They brought a slight feeling of comfort Johan whenever he passed under them. Johan had wondered his way out of the sub-burbs into the shopping district of the city. Gloomy closed stores cast an unusual shadows on the street.

"Dead... my parents... why," muttered Johan as he shivered. "Stabbed … what am I going to do?"

His tears had long stopped flowing and he was left with a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach. Johan glanced around examining his surroundings.

The streets were empty except for an old homeless man sitting on a street corner rocking back and forth.

Johan felt hunger gnaw at his belly.

"You know where I can get some food for free? I don't have money." Johan asked the homeless man from across the street.

Without saying as much as a word, the old man pointed a crooked wrinkly finger towards a run down building. There was a large dusty sign hanging next to the door, the words read "soup kitchen".

Johan looked back across the street to thank the man.

However, the old man had disappeared.

Dismissing the old man, Johan made his way across the street towards the kitchen entrance.

"Hoonnkk!"

Johan instinctively lunged forwards dodging a speeding car by inches. He hit the sidewalk hard, landing on his shoulder and the water from a puddle the car drove through splashed him. Slowly he got up, his arms and shoulders stung painfully.

"Watch where you're walking," screamed the driver out of the window as he drove away.

Johan got up, and made his way slowly to the soup kitchen's entrance. He hesitated for only a moment before he pushed open the door and stepped in.

"Hello? Anyone there? Hello?" His voice echoed throughout the soup kitchen.

When no one answered Johan decided to go in.

Johan's stomach rumbled loudly and he sighed exhausted.

The day had taken a lot out of him. He leaned against the door and took in the dimly lit room which was boxed off by high walls of peeling brown paint. Long worn down grey plastic picnic tables lined the room like a high school cafeteria. The room smelled of stale moldy bread. In search of the kitchen, hoping to find some food, he looked to his right and saw two rooms with both of their doors ajar.

Cautiously, he made his way to the closest door, pushed it open, and saw a small shabby desk in an empty room. He turned around and headed into the next room. Behind this door, he found what he was looking for.

It was a small worn down kitchen. However, there was no food to be seen. Johan sighed heavily and said, "Completely empty"

Not even a crumb was on the kitchen's barren tables and the fridge and cupboards were chained shut with pad locks. He turned to leave and yelped as he felt something brush his leg. Looking down, what he saw surprised him. A puppy no bigger than a soccer ball sat in front of him wagging it's tail, while its tongue lolled crazily. It's fur was a deep metallic gold and it's eyes glowed bright silver. He felt as if the puppies eyes would swallow him whole, but then it blinked and the feeling disappeared. He wondered if his mind was playing tricks on him.

The puppy was so cute it made Johan temporarily forget his problems.

"Hey little guy. How'd you get here?" Johan asked the puppy softly as he offered it his hand to smell. "Are you alone like me?"

The puppy whimpered softly and cuddled Johan's hand. Its innocence and friendliness made Johan relax and forget all his problems.

"You are a cute little fellow, aren't you?," said Johan petting the puppy. "maybe we can be best friends."

The puppy cocked its head to the side and looked at Johan's face inquisitevly.

"Did I say something to catch your attention?," asked Johan smiling.

Out of nowhere, the puppy jumped up snatching Johan's glasses off of his face and began to run.

"Hey!," yelled Johan surprised trying to grab his glasses back.

The puppy was too quick, and it evaded his grasp.

Johan jumped up and ran after the dog. To Johan's horror, the door to the kitchen Johan entered through had been left ajar and the puppy squeezed through the door exiting the room with his glasses in it's mouth.

"Now where are you gonna go?," yelled Johan as he threw the door open. "Gimme back my glasses you pup! I thought we were friends!"

Johan froze as he realized that the entrance from the street to the food shelter was wide open. The puppy ran straight to the entrance and stopped, staring back at Johan.

"Good boy," said Johan slowly approaching the puppy as to not startle it. "Give me back my glasses now."

Johan could have sworn he saw the puppy smirk stick out its tongue and reach back and pat its bum while wiggling it, as if it was mocking him.

This is ridiculous, thought Johan. Puppies don't mock people.

Then the puppy let out a loud unruly fart as Johan began to get close to it.

"Wha!?," yelped Johan jumping back surprised.

The puppy jumped up and took off in a sprint onto the streets with a mischievous glint in its eyes.

"Gosh Darnit!," yelled Johan as he raced after the puppy. "You are mocking me!"