Prologue
At some point in the 1950's…
A man stared at his newly purchased home and he had to admit was proud of the hard work he had put on it. From building the picket fence from scratch, to the off-white color of the outside façade and the blue of the trim, not to mention the daisies he had planted in the front yard, even though they were a little girly.
He laughed at that thought.
One day that wouldn't matter because the house was to serve a great purpose. The man wanted, more than anything in the world, a family. A wife to love and children who would run around the house and maybe play in the swing he planned to make for the elm in the backyard.
He was happy with his new house. It was located on the outskirts of a small town named Forks. After years working at Seattle's Children Hospital, taking care of other families, specifically after their children, he finally figured out he wanted one of his own but with the exhaustive hours and the constant demand he couldn't, especially if he wanted his own family to be a priority.
So he researched small towns, applied for a job at the recently founded Fork's Community Hospital and even though he had inherited a lot of money from his parents, he bought this simple house just because he fell in love with it.
It had two stories and an attic, a balcony on the master bedroom that looked out to the front yard, two other bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen and a living room, and of course a garage. Overall the house was pretty much nothing to any passersby and when he'd bought it was a mess, the roof leaked, the plumbing sucked, there was no front yard (at least not according to his standards), and a million others things were wrong. After investing some money and a lot of work, the house was now perfect (according to his standards).
It was dusk and the man had just arrived from a shift at the hospital, content because he could tell that the workload there was already so much simpler than what it had been in Seattle but still fulfilling, so after checking his mailbox, he went inside to make himself some dinner.
Sitting at the kitchen table eating, he pondered about making his perfect house a home. He knew that the only way to do that was by finding the love of his life. Although he hadn't exactly searched for love, because he had been busy with med school and then the hospital, ever since he was a little boy he hoped for it. Growing up watching the love his parents had for each other was something that struck him always. It wasn't uncommon for people to marry due to arrangements, but his parents married for love.
He had few girlfriends over the course of his teenage years and even fewer in college, you couldn't call them girlfriends really; they were companions. He had shared the bed of only a two of them and now regretted that decision completely.
He finished eating, cleared the dishes and went upstairs, forgetting to lock the back door. He took a quick shower and then sat in his bed to continue reading a random book he had picked out.
Another man sat in his cheap car and watched the perfect house from across the street. At 10 pm the lights to the master bedroom went out. The man got out of his car at 1 am and went straight for the front door. It would not open, even though he knew that many people on this street wouldn't remember to lock their doors as it was supposedly a save neighborhood. Afraid to wake the owner up by breaking a down he tried the back door. Success. He walked inside, drew his gun and turned on a flashlight, and headed for the stairs because the save must be on the second story and probably in the room where the owner was.
The man did keep most of his precious possessions in the save, some money, and his passport. It was located behind a portrait of a fruit bowl, which looked out of place for a bedroom. There was but one thing that he decided should be kept in a much more secret place, under a loose floorboard that was under the bedside table.
The man woke with a start and the last thing he heard was the sound of a gunshot.
The thief ran out as quickly as he could with everything the owner had in the save. The only thing left was below the floorboards. And that was the end of Edward Masen's life, his hopes of love, and his dreams for this house. No one should live in it ever again.