"We're here." George told Mary when they got back to the wooden mansion.

Mary said nothing for a while.

She gazed at the wooden house by its corners and timber walls. Her sight glided through the beautiful porch in front of the wood-built home. The flowers once withered during her lone stay, now shone vibrant. Petals seemed to glow in the dimmed orange rays of sunset and while ferns curled up, leaves of other plants shimmered a lovely brown under the gold influence of the sun's goodbye.

The wooden exterior of the mansion remained steady but the fade on the old rectangular blocks were obvious. Moss kissed parts of the wooden walls that were denied love of the sun's rays daily.

Mary still found it hard to believe that she lived alone in the huge house, day and night for almost three years.

Her eyes moved from the house to the one who supported her with his arms. She smiled.

If there was anything she was grateful for, though its perks, it was the sudden existence of the Beckhams in her life.

Her heart received undeniable warmth at that moment and with no thoughts of any kind, her lips landed on George's left cheek followed by a whisper-toned "Thank you."

George's heart beat louder and he felt every form of stress within him escape with the passing wind. He smiled sheepishly but did his best to make out a few words before the cherished moment grew awkward.

"What was that for?" he said, doing his best to keep his cool like he had seen Todd do a thousand times.

"Just my way of saying 'thank you'." Mary said.

"Thank you for what?"

"For everything George. For everything."

Mary's smile remained on her face and her eyes peered into the almost-azure blue of George's eyes. She became lost in admiration of George's dedication to help her regain her past. He was more than just a teenager who complained a lot. He was a hero. He was her hero.

George's smile had disappeared moments ago. His eyes were too busy trying to memorise every portion of beauty on Mary's face. He gazed at her slender neck and every wisp of coal-black hair that slapped her face as a dance to the wind. The green of her eyes glowed in grace and calm only love could describe. She was beautiful.

George reached out for Mary's hair and tucked them behind her ears gently. Mary closed her eyes for a second out of habit and at that moment, George appreciated the lush long eye-lashes that secured her eyes. Her pink lips parted slightly to give off a happy smile. White teeth were seen by enamel tips. Still, they brought cheerfulness to her face.

George took Mary's hands in his and pushed them against his chest. His eyes still fixed on hers. Her hands felt cold. A silent chill roamed about them, while the thunder roared in the distance under a few grey clouds that had begun to take the orange bliss of the sunset off the wooden mansion.

"Mary. I know I'm just a teenager. You might say I'm just a kid and that's okay. I really don't care how you see me. What matters is what I can do for you. What's important is how well I can help you. I may just be a lousy teen, with no power of my own or special abilities. I may not be smart like Todd or strong like my father, but I promise to do every little thing I can to help you. I promise to do the best I can to help you regain your memories and understand your present. I promise to help you discover the truth of my father's connection to you and bring him to justice, if he's deemed guilty. I may not be as perfect as anyone you know but in any way I can, I promise to help you. You can trust me." George said.

The minute the words had left his mouth, he recited them like poetry in his head and dropped Mary's hands, while taking a few steps away from her.

"Shit! What the hell was that?! I sounded like the protagonist in a fucking romance movie! Shit! She's going to think I'm pathetic. Fuck! Control yourself George! What is wrong with you?!" George's thoughts admonished his actions.

While George was caught up in the land of regrets, Mary took his hands in hers and smiled at him. Then in a voice so calm she said "You don't have to be anyone George. You're you and that in every way is perfect."

George paused and the thoughts in his mind grew mute.

Mary was close. Too close.

George stared at her lips. They were pretty.
George moved close to Mary, until he felt her body brush up against his chest. He was taller than her. It was cute. He was moved to wrap his hands around her, but he stood still and kept his eyes fixed one her lips.

He had to stop himself before he did anything stupid, but his mind was numb.

Thoughts spoke but they were not loud enough.

He lowered his neck, she seemed closer than before. Her lips were just a few inches away.

George was about to move his neck further but a voice from a few feet away brought his lost conscience back to reality.

"What are you two lovelies doing out in the cold?" Alice asked. She stood at the front door of the house.

"Mum!" George screamed, like a child caught stealing.

Mary limped towards Alice with no words but a smile. Alice placed her hands on Mary's cheeks and smiled back.

"Why are you limping child? Were you hurt?" Alice asked Mary while she searched the girl's lower limbs.

Alice's eyes caught the blood soaked cloth wrapped around Mary's calf and gasped in awe.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?! Where did you go?! I thought you stayed back home?! I looked for you in the house! Did you follow the boys on their camping-site search?!" Questions poured out of Alice's mouth.

"I...Well...I was..." Mary stuttered in desperate search for a good excuse.

"I left something behind and she came to give to me. It was essential for the trip...A compass! I left the compass behind! She ran through the forest to meet up with us, which she shouldn't have...but you know Mary, she's got to do right by others like you mom. Well she tripped down a hill and that cut's the awful result of a bad trip." George said in a breath.

Mary stared at George. Confusion had formed an untangled thread work in her brain, but the excuse calmed the shiver in her limbs.

She smiled at George and he smiled back.
Alice noticed the spark in their eyes. She blushed.

She also noticed the dark bump on George's head.

"And I'm assuming you fell down a hill as Mary did or is yours a different tale?" Alice asked.

George began to walk towards the house while he tried to weave a brilliant excuse with every step he took.

He got to the porch and took a glance at Mary.

"Yeah I fell down the same hill. When I saw the cut on her leg, I knew she couldn't get back up without help, so I went after her. I was stupid enough not to take caution as well...so I bumped my head against a tree trunk while I rolled down the hill like a freaking armadillo."

Mary held back laughter.

Alice smiled at her son's stupid excuse.

There was something he kept hidden from her. She was not sure what it was. At that moment curiosity was the last thing on her mind. She was just grateful Mary and George came back safe.

"What about your father and Todd? Where are they?" Alice asked.

Mary and George glanced at each other for a brief moment.

Mary pinched her fingers and bit her lips.
George tugged on the arms of his backpack.
After a while, his eyes brightened and he regained composure.

"They're on their way. I'm sure they've found the perfect camping site by now. Dad told Mary and I to head back home because of our injuries. Well the adventure was cut short but I'd be lying if I said I'm not happy right now." George said.

Alice laughed.

"I knew you'd hate the trip. I tried to talk your father out of it but he seemed really interested in the whole father-son bonding idea."

"Oh! We bonded mom. We bonded so well, I now understand how crazy my father truly is. Beneath all that perfection is a man just a step away from insane."

"Hey! That's your father you're talking about. Be careful of the words you use to describe him! Though I do agree that your father has been off 'normal' for a while now and it's really starting to trouble me."

"It's dad. He'll be fine mom. They'll be back soon."

"You're right. Your father though crazy, is the strongest person I know. Come on. Let's get those wounds cleaned up." Alice said while she held Mary's hand and led her into the house.

George took a look at the vast land of trees that surrounded them.

The grey clouds in the sky had increased in their numbers. No white fluffs could be seen and the sky had become a darker shade of blue. The sun had sunk into clouds completely and a crescent moon peeked through dark clouds. The night drew nigh.

"Please God, keep Todd alive. Keep him safe. Please." George said in a whispered prayer.

George had eaten to his fill and taken a long shower. He felt refreshed.

He walked towards Mary's room but the door was shut. He was sure she was asleep.

He would have knocked, but that would only interrupt Melody's rest as well as Mary's. He decided to retire to his room as well.

George looked downstairs and saw his mother curled up on a sofa in front of the fire place. Worry was inscribed in bold lines all over her face. Fear kept her fist clasped against a cup of hot cocoa.

A large circle-shaped wall clock above the fireplace read '8'o clock'. It had been two hours since George and Mary got back home.

If an hour more should pass by, George had to follow the strange instructions provided by his father earlier that day.

Curiosity had always been a close friend to George and ransacking his father's secret stash was 'a dream come true'. Still, at that minute he wished he would not have to go into his father's room.

With a hand towel on his head and partially wet pyjamas, George grew tired of waiting and decided to take a little nap.

He began to walk towards his room, when the door of another room beckoned at the curiosity in him. His parent's bedroom.

"Well, another hour might pass by sooner than I think. Better safe than sorry." George succumbed to his inquisitiveness.

He turned on the light and left the door open, so he could hear footsteps if anyone approached.

George walked towards his father's reading table and placed his hands under a fur-cushioned chair, behind the table. He found an opening just like his father had described. He reached into the opening and felt a soft little bag.

"The pouch! It's here! It's really here!" George chanted in excitement.

George tried to reach in and grab the pouch when he lost balance.

While trying to keep himself steady without making a sound, his elbow hit one of the short rectangular wooden planes on the floor.

Something was wrong.

The spot his elbow landed on sounded different.

To be sure, George knocked the other parts of the floor, but the area under the fur-cushioned chair gave off a suspicious bang when hit. It was hollow.

George began to open the drawers in his father's reading table in search of a sharp object. Something he could use to get the rectangular blocks off the floor.

He found a knife and with precision dug into the spaces between the polished wooden patterns on the floor.

He took out the wooden blocks one by one until he found something strange beneath the pretty polished floor.

A grey case, the size of a shoe box sat in a square shaped hole. It had no locks and no fancy designs. It was just a plain grey tin box. It seemed old, but clean. There was no trace of dust on it.

"It's been touched recently." George soliloquized.

He took a rather heavy lid off the box and found papers in it. Files and pictures, old and new were scattered in the box.

George shuffled the papers and pictures with dissatisfaction.

"Junk." He said with disappointment in his voice.

After a few more minutes of scanning and scheming for the unknown, George's attention was drawn to an old photograph.

He took a closer look at the photograph and his lips made a smile at a familiar face.

In the photograph, a younger version of his mother smiled at the camera. She wore a loose white dress with red leaf prints. The dress kissed her ankles. She looked like a run-way model before the implants, orthognathic procedures and rhinoplasty. Her lips were thin and pretty. Her blonde hair was made into a perfect ponytail. She looked completely different now, but he could tell. The pretty lady in the picture was Alice before going under the knife.

"She had always been perfect. I wonder why she had to change. She didn't need surgery."

George took a closer look at his mother. Her stomach seemed big. She was pregnant.
"That's probably me." He smiled.

His heart skipped a beat, when he saw someone close to his mother.

Alice held a scrawny child by the hands. The little boy looked like a child between the ages of five and six years old.

"That isn't me and that definitely isn't Todd." George pondered on the familiarity in the picture. Something was wrong.

The child was blonde and cute. His eyes shone a perfect green. The child had a familiar spark in his eyes.

"Where have I seen this face before? No! Wait a... It can't be! What the fuck?!" George's words rode with the confusion that engulfed him.

His memory recalled an identity similar to the face of the child in the picture.

"The blonde girl in that picture... I'm sure of it. She was the tomboy who stood beside Mary in that photograph. A coincidence? No way. The resemblance is too cunning...What the fuck is going on?!"

In that minute of fearful assumptions, George heard footsteps climb up the stairs. He had been so caught up in the photograph, he lost track of time.

He heard a familiar voice.

"We're fine honey. Todd and I just had to search for..."

It was his father.

Richard had gotten home.

An hour had not gone by. A few minutes was left. George was not supposed to be in the room.

George placed the photograph in the pocket of his pyjamas and closed the box in a hurry.

"Shit! Shit!! Shit!!" He muttered as he tried to put everything the way they were before he discovered the grey box.