He stood on his property, looking at the signatures on his large oak tree. Victoria and Amber. It was many years later since those girls came on to his property. He was 16 in 2006 when he saw Victoria look around his property as if she was in heaven. She was unlike anything he had ever seen before, young and vibrant, and full of life. The first time she appeared, she was with a large group of children, all crazy in their own right. He only knew her name from the shouts he heard from her friends.
He was home alone since his parents both abandoned him. No one in the little town knew about him, except for his neighbor and old family friend, Albert. He lived in a condemned home. He was a little psychotic, he knew that, but who wouldn't be when left alone at age 14. He did earn a living working for Albert on many projects. He even learned how to drive since Albert offered to help him. For the most part, there was no one else for him to talk to. When he saw those random kids lark around the property, he wanted to run outside to greet them, but he knew it would not be safe for anyone to know he was a loner.
He already had to hide from officials visiting the condemned place when they were deciding whether or not to remodel it for new buyers. Yet, he found out that the ratty home was not worth being sold to other people. He never did understand why the house was not being torn down. He did guess that Albert had something to do with that.
Now he was 25, living on his own, but with more money to his name. At 16, Albert took him in, finally, and forced him back to school. He did have to stay longer than anticipated since he was out of school for more than two years. Once he graduated, he got a crazy scholarship to Harvard because of how hard he worked to bring himself up. Well, he also thought it was because they loved a sob story of a “brainiac” proving his greatness. He succeeded in college, but he did not have great social skills. In high school, he stayed to himself, making him a mystery. In college, however, he was a freak for trying. Girls were attracted to his mysterious vibes and handsome looks, yet they were still scared by him. He had beautiful blue eyes, tan skin, and was around 6 feet tall. Yet, that was never good enough for him.
In 2015, back at his home, Albert went to check up on him, as always. He was around 75 years old now with gray hair on one-half of his head, but bald on the front top. He was a small guy, but Albert was his best friend.
"You remember the Cleary house behind you, son? The one where Vicky Cleary lived?" Albert asked with mild curiosity.
"Yea, what about it?" the man asked.
"Well, she died recently, such a tragedy actually. Well, she has a granddaughter living there now. Victoria Hamilton I believe."
Victoria.... The named rung in the young man's head.
"I heard she was a nice young lady, one day you should go over and talk to her. Well drive your car over there, you wouldn't want to scare her. Well, I got to go. It was nice seeing you, my boy."
As he watched Albert walk away, he sat down and began to think of the girl he saw years ago. Was she pretty, well of course she was. He remembered her innocent looks. Her wavy brown hair moving gracefully in the breeze. Sadly, he couldn't see other features she had through his window. He really wanted to see her eyes. He was going crazy as no human should. He had to go see her. He knew Albert told him to drive and knock on her door, like a normal person. But he was not normal. He walked in the woods as Victoria did years ago. If she could stumble on his property, he could do the same on hers.
Once he got to her back yard, he saw her, tanning on her clean white porch. She was beautiful, but he still could not see her eyes. He noticed her look over to him, but with a frightened look. Maybe Albert was right... He went to walk to her, but she stumbled into her home, leaving her IPod on the porch. She tried to look as if she was not scared, but he knew she was. That made him go crazy. He ran up to follow her, he didn't want her to be scared. He moved his way to the back door and knocked a few times. Nothing. He knocked more. Nothing. He knew she was there so he tried to open the door. It was locked, as he thought. He was going to leave, but he saw her run up her stairs through a side window. I would run too.
He was going to walk away until he noticed something in a crack of the home. A KEY! He knew it was wrong, he knew it was strange. Yet, he blamed his lack of parenting for him taking advantage of the key. He opened the door and walked into the home. He tried to be as quiet as he could as he walked up the stairs. There were 5 rooms up there, so he knew it would not be hard to find her. He went to every room, looked in every closet, but nothing. The last room at the end of the hallway was the grandmother’s old room, he could tell by the smell. He looked around, under the bed and even in the closet. Nothing. She must have used her hid-and-seek skills for this movement. What's the use? He began to walk away but then remembered. He had a special hideout in his home, in a closet to be exact. He looked in the closet and noticed a small door knob. He opened slowly and saw Victoria, crying. He caused her pain. She looked up with anger in her eyes.
He then softly told her, “Hello Victoria, I have been excited to meet you for forever... I am Peter Forman from the house with the pond full of swans..."
