IN SEARCH OF ANSWERS
To some people, this was the definition of a beautiful morning. The scent of a misty forest was emerging in Greenwood Lake, now that the sun was shining in through a wall of pine trees.
It was a slightly cold September morning and through a fog-covered window in a lake house, you could see a young man rubbing his hands together next to a fireplace. Yes, to some people this was the definition of a beautiful morning, but not everyone could see this beauty.
To his neighbours — the Addams family — it didn’t matter at all. It’s not that they didn’t want to see it; it’s just that they were preoccupied with other things. They did not hear the birds singing soft tunes in the trees surrounding the lake. Nor did they see the droplets of water finding their way down the windows from the morning sun hitting the fog. No, on this beautiful morning the Addams had one thing in mind; call the lawyer.
You see, the lake house wasn’t theirs. Yes, they lived in the same forest, but their house was much smaller and placed further away from the lake. The Addams family had lived there for many generations and from what they had perceived as a promise from their recently deceased neighbour, they would have the right to buy the lake house when he passed away. Of course, this was more than twenty years ago over a bottle of rum next to the lake, and it was never a promise, merely just a drunk man that forgot to set things straight when needed.
The previous house owner was a kind, but mysterious man called Hans Freeman. No one knew much about him, except that he had a daughter Annie, who moved to the city to get married more than twenty years ago.
After a brief marriage, she got divorced and all she was left with was a beautiful little boy named Sunny; the boy who inherited the lake house one month ago.
Back at the Addams’ residence, this lovely morning was anything but. You could see Mr Addams sitting in the kitchen next to Mrs Addams. His thick moustache was nervously jumping up and down to the beat of five stressful fingers drumming on the kitchen table.
His wife was talking to the lawyer on the phone. Desperately doing her best to convince him that he will be carrying out God’s will if he can just get them that house.
Their two children: Teddy and Gump, were looking in through the kitchen door, with eyes shifting between horror and shock. They didn’t know whether to look angry or sad at this point.
“Mrs Addams, unless you have any proof regarding your right to purchase the house after the death of Mr Freeman, we simply don’t have a case.” The lawyer said.
“Listen, Mr Brown,” she replied with a furious, high-pitched voice.
“As God is my witness, Mr Freeman has promised my husband that we can buy the house when he is dead, and you can rest assured we will live in that house!”
Mrs Addams hung up the phone in a rage. It looked like her eyes were going to explode. Their youngest son, five-year-old Teddy started crying again like he always did when things got difficult.
“Aren’t we going to move to the lake house after all Mother?” He asked with tears in his eyes.
“Just stay calm Teddy, devil’s at work, devil’s at work.” She said, as one of her go-to responses when things didn’t go her way, looking as if she would benefit from an exorcism.
In the meanwhile, things were going great at the lake house.
“What a beautiful morning!” Sunny thought to himself as he laid the final piece of wood in the fireplace, preparing himself for another treasure hunt in his new home. The sense of joy and happiness for suddenly having a place like this was almost too much to handle.
He had finally moved in yesterday, and this was his first night spent in the house. Even though he slept like a rock, he was still feeling a little shaken from meeting the Addams family the day before. All that talk about being pure people of God, and doing God’s will was a bit strange to him.
Although his mother had mentioned that the family who wanted to buy the lake house was a bit odd, he was still a little shocked. It was difficult letting go of such an unpleasant experience, but soon an overwhelming excitement of exploring the house took his main focus.
It was a big, beautiful house made out of wood, placed next to an enormous lake in the middle of the forest. There was no one else living within a mile’s radius, except the Addams family.
It had two floors and a basement. In many ways, it could remind you of a little castle paradise often found in movies of magic and wonder. It was surrounded by the calm of nature and was just as peaceful on the inside as on the outside. It had a garage with two beautiful cars, a big beautiful outside area and a boat with a boat dock so close to the house you could throw a stone into the lake.
The house was filled with all sorts of wonderful treasures, well-furnished and pretty much as cosy as it gets. It had two living rooms. A beautiful living area on the second floor was overlooking a large sky-high living room on the first floor. There was a dinner table, a sofa area with a big TV, a pool table and a piano. In the corner, next to a big worktable stood a huge whiteboard for drawing out strategies and plans.
Besides the house, Sunny inherited a large sum of money that would last for the rest of his life if he spent it wisely. Still, his mother kept stressing about education and a job, so that he would be fit for life, and had something meaningful to do. He knew exactly what she meant, but for now, he felt a calling somewhere else.
Through his mother’s great love and care, he learned a great deal about kindness and respect towards others and himself. He has always been armed with a positive attitude, a smile on his face, and two powerful-looking blue eyes.
In essence, living with his mother in the city had been a blessing for Sunny until about a year ago. Since his mother worked in the city hospital, and Sunny was going to school, it just made more sense for them to live there. Together they had lived in two different houses throughout his life, both times with a garden, where he used to play with his friends. He had lived what he considered a good life.
He had always had such an easy time overcoming life’s problems. That was until a year ago when he and his first girlfriend broke up. They had been together for almost three years, but for some reason, it didn’t work out. The world became depressing and was never quite the same after that. Big questions of why and how began to emerge, questions that needed to be answered.
Whilst exploring the lake house that morning, Sunny entered states of amazement beyond what he had ever experienced. Room after room was filled with things he had never seen before. The house even had a library with some sort of an office and its own little reading corner. In the basement, he found a big workshop full of tools and unfinished projects. There was a large balcony covering each side of the house, and a hammock hanging on every corner.
“What an incredible place my grandfather had built!” Sunny thought to himself, whilst smiling in amazement and gratitude for being the new owner of the house.
For many years, Sunny’s mother had been saying that he would one day inherit the house when his grandfather passed away. Of course, he had also been told the story of the neighbours that wanted the lake house so badly.
When giving it some thought, Sunny realised that he is now the new owner of the house, and it was totally up to him whether or not the house is for sale. However, selling the house was out of the question. He preferred that they would rather find another place to live in if they weren’t happy with their own house.
As he had explored the house for a few hours, with great enthusiasm, he gathered some treasures and placed them on the office table in the living room. He found musical instruments, a couple of interesting knives, a bow with arrows, a large amethyst crystal — which he didn’t even know what it was —, several boxes of incense sticks with all sorts of wonderful smells, a small box of cards that read something about subconscious resonance, and a small, but heavy beige safe.
Clearly, he didn’t know his grandfather as well as he thought he did. Sunny had never really had much contact with his grandfather, except for a few Christmas dinners many years ago when he was younger. He would never have believed all the things he found in the house, and new items kept appearing for every minute that went by, and for every drawer opened.
He soon realized that the treasure hunt had kept him too busy to think about the Addams family; knowing how strange they were, they would probably show up today also, demanding to buy the house or sign some agreement. It would probably be best to put up an electric fence at this point, or maybe even call the police. After all, he had made up his mind to live in the house himself.
Not long after sitting with that uncomfortable thought, he could hear children laughing outside the house.
“Oh no… here they are. The whole family dressed much nicer than yesterday.” He could sense something was going on. They were all smiling so suspiciously.
The children had styled their hair with gel, and the father looked very tense in the way he was forcing a straight posture.
Any second now they will be knocking on the door, and I will have to deal with them. His pulse was rising. “Knock, knock, knock…!”
He wasn’t sure if he should pretend like he was asleep, or maybe not even at home, but sooner or later they will have to accept the bad news. It will probably work out just fine, but it is definitely going to be a strange experience.
He opened the door and laid his eyes on what looked like a typical family portrait. The only difference was that the mother held what seemed to be a homemade chocolate cake and their smiles looked like those of a guilty person in a police interrogation.
“We are so sorry about the way we came across yesterday!” The mother said with a forced smile before she continued: “We have baked you a cake, please forgive us.”
As soon as the mother took a deep breath, the father proceeded: “You see, it’s just that your grandfather has promised us this house, and it would be so sad for all of us if you take this away from us now that we have been so patient for so long. I just hope you aren’t planning on making this more difficult than it has to be.”
“Go get us some plates while I put the cake on the dinner table. Let’s talk!” The mother said, just as her husband started losing his smile.
Sunny couldn’t think of anything to say. The only thing going through his mind was a memory of what it felt like when he got punched in the face by a bully in sixth grade.
Having this type of visit in the middle of his house exploration was the last thing he wanted. Especially now that he was about to take a good look at the library, which he has been so “eager” to look at. Well, he was never much of a reader; however, putting some trust in his grandfather’s ideas seemed like a solid choice at this point. After all, he had built an incredible house filled with all sorts of wonders.
“What now?” Sunny asked himself. The Addams family has been waiting for him to step out of the doorway, so they can come inside and finally have that talk. At that moment, he decided to just shut and lock the door, but for some unknown reason, his body moved to the side, letting the whole family stumble into his living room.
“This is not exactly how I remember it.” Mrs Addams said while putting the cake on the dinner table before she continued: “We haven’t been inside for about twenty years, but I already feel at home… Yes, this really is our dream house, right kids!?”
The children started fiddling around with the treasures Sunny had placed on the table next to the piano. They were laughing and shouting in excitement. The guitar strings were about to burst as the youngest one was feeling at home.
The older one, around eight years old, was actively determined to load the bow with an arrow. After a few failed attempts, he finally succeeded; Unloading and sending the arrow straight through a window in the living room.
At this point, Sunny didn’t know whether to faint, cry or go into a rage. He closed his eyes and smacked his forehead hard and loudly with both hands. Even though he was trying his best, he was not able to say anything, not even a word.
The intruders were loud and nosy, behaving as if the house was theirs. Sunny was at a complete loss for words, frozen, wondering why he couldn’t deal with this type of situation a little better.
Mrs Addams looked at Sunny with a silly smile, raising one eyebrow above the other. “You simply don’t have any other choice than forgiving my little boy; luckily it’s just a window.”
She found her way into the kitchen, while the father took a seat by the dinner table, scanning the place in excitement like he had great plans in mind. The children kept running in circles around the table, laughing louder and louder.
“We would be very happy if you could sell that big chandelier with the house.” Mr Addams said before Mrs Addams shouted from the kitchen: “That’s a part of the house, silly; it’s coming with the house!”
“Out, out, out!!!” Sunny was doing his very best to get these types of words out of his mouth, but to his shocking discovery, he was having problems swallowing a large pileup of saliva, and he couldn’t help but start crying.
“Never have I experienced such lack of control.” Sunny thought to himself, feeling weak and embarrassed.
“These wild animals have pushed their way into my home and behaved in unacceptable ways.” At this point, he was feeling like a helpless child with no sense of empowerment. It’s time for them to leave, right “NOW”!
Just as he discovered four people in the world with the strongest determination to represent rudeness and disrespect, they started leaving.
Sunny’s thoughts started running: “I never thought this would end. It was a living nightmare, but most shocking of all was my incapability to put my foot down. How could I be so weak and helpless?”
It was only five o’clock in the afternoon, but the levels of tiredness he felt exceeded every level of shame, embarrassment and frustration.
“I need to sleep.” Sunny decided, before lying down on the sofa next to the broken window.
Overwhelmed, sad and distressed, Sunny soon discovered an idea, a beautiful idea; He was going to learn from today’s experience. He would never treat someone the way he had been treated today, and no one should ever be treated like that.
“What would a strong person have to know to handle a situation like this, or not make it happen at all?”
Sunny fell asleep after exploring new thoughts in new areas of life, wondering about great questions that would hopefully lead to great answers. When he woke up later that evening, it was already dark outside. The moon was looking in from behind his shoulder, shining through a broken window. Indeed, he could see the moon and a long blanket of stars much better now. All things considered, he felt good and rested.
