The Kid

Syl had to jiggle the old key in the lock a moment before the front door to the old beach house finally opened. As she stepped in, she gave out a long sigh of relief, and relished the oddly foreign sensation caused by knowing rest and relaxation were at hand. No politics. No tours. No shows. No crowds. No social hierarchy. No false friends. Just her, the sand, the sea, her friend's beach house and...

Her little girl burst in through the door, laughing as a black and white beagle chased her down the hall.

“Faith! Charlie! You're trailing sand into the house!” She tried to sound stern, but her tone betrayed her good mood. She felt too good to play disciplinarian today. Smiling, she sighed another contented sigh and walked down the front hall to find a broom closet, passing by the trail of sand that led into the living room. She could hear her daughter's voice through the doorway.

“Hi! I'm Faith! Who are you?”

The smile dropped from Syl's face and she back-pedalled to the living room. “Faith? Who are you talking to, love?”

“Oh, just him,” the girl replied naively, not at all finding anything odd with the situation. She nodded towards the couch as she sat on the floor beside the coffee table, playfully hugging the family dog.

A boy about 12 or 13 years old slouched back on the couch with his shoes kicked up on the coffee table. His angry expression told Syl he was definitely not in a good mood.

Her sigh this time as she approached the couch wasn't out of relief or contentment.

“Excuse me? Hi.” When he didn't respond, she tapped him on the shoulder. When he looked up, she noticed he was wearing the earbuds to an MP3 player and motioned him to take them off. He complied reluctantly.

She also noticed he wasn't looking all the way up at her.

“Hi, I'm up here, young man. If you're gonna have the balls to ogle someone, you should at least have the decency to be discrete about it until they give you permission.”

When his attention was finally on her face, she continued calmly. “Now I don't mean to be rude, but I'm quite certain this house doesn't belong to you, so you might wanna get your feet off that table. Also this house was supposed to be empty when I got here, so I'd like to know, who are you and what are you doing here?”