I walked home with Baby and I could tell that she was a little upset that I didn't introduce her to Eric, but I think she understood what was going through my head at the time. As soon as I got in the house I told my parents that tomorrow I was gonna walk around town with a new friend. "You made a new friend already!" said my mom with the biggest smile on her face. "Yeah, his name is Eric and his mom works at the museum, so is it alright for me to walk around with him at around 12?" I asked them. "Sure" said mom "No!" said dad. Dad would always be protective of his little (and only) girl, Alecia. "But daddy I really wanna go and this is my first friend here. You don't want me to go to school all alone with NO friends and confused as to where everything is. Do you?" I said with my signature confused kitten look. "Well, I have to meet this kid, Aaron was it? Before I let you go off with him in a strange new area." He said. "Thanks dad and his name is Eric by the way. It would be awkward if you got his name wrong while talking to him." I said with a smile on my face.

After talking to them I ran upstairs to change into my pajamas. I got out of the bathroom, changed, and saw Baby sitting in the middle of the hallway. I looked up and saw that she was directly underneath the attic. That's when I got this overwhelming feeling of being pulled. I didn't know what I was doing until I was looking inside the attic. It was at that moment that I knew that I just had to see what was under that sheet. It took me a while to find it because it was dark, but I found it. Sitting propped up against the wall, frozen. It was like a static charge was running through my body as I got closer to the sheet. My fingers just touched it when I noticed a chest right next to me. That got me wondering about what was inside, but for some reason I couldn't go to the chest. My hand had a mind of its own at this point and was going straight for that sheet. Before I new it I had the sheet in my hand.

Finally I had it. I pulled the sheet back and found my self looking at a picture. It was hand painted and had good, yet creepy, detail. The picture was that of a girl. She looked pretty young, maybe my age. She looked so familiar to me. And that's when it hit me; it was like I was looking into a mirror because she looked just like ME. She had blue eyes and light brown shoulder length hair. It was weird. But the one thing that made it creepy was her neck. We had the same birthmark on our necks. I had to know who she was so I turned the painting over and saw her name. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing, my eyes were watering, and my mind just stopped. Her name, her name. I had to get out of that attic so I just bolted down the stairs and into my room where I fell onto my bed and hid under my blanket with Baby close to me. I couldn't believe it. Her name….her name. Behind that picture was just the beginning of the adventure I was going to be pulled into. It effected Eric, his mother, a new friend that I was going to make at school that coming Monday, and worst of all me. The name of the girl in the painting was Alice.

"It's a perfect name for you. It means Noble kind. And since you don't seem so thrilled about your name it's the Greek form of Alice" Eric's words kept going through my head. Alice, Alecia, Alice, Alecia. I just couldn't believe it. Not only did we look alike, but our names had the same forms and meanings. The chances of that happening were 1 in a million. Baby could sense that I was stressed so she snuggled closer to me so I could be more comfortable. I guess it worked because after that I fell asleep. My dream this time was almost the same as last time at the beach. I was in the same dress. Navy blue with white lace. Only this time I wasn't holding that flower. I was in the backyard looking at the house when that guy with no face came up to me again. He had a voice this time and talked to me. "Proper place for you, sitting amongst the flowers." He said and without any control I heard myself say "Of course you would say that to me. But they are only empty words that you came up with to try and sweep me off my feet." He responded hesitantly to that remark "Words are just words. They don't need meaning, they just need to be put in the appropriate order for you to use." At that point I didn't care if it was a dream or not, but that got me upset. "Words have meanings to them, definitions, and they shouldn't be taken lightly or mistakenly." I calmly raged at him. "If that is what you think then you should stop. You are close to, that, age and your father and I are in an agreement that you would be with me unless you find someone else. And it is quiet obvious that you are not going to find someone else." He told me. "We will see about that." I said while getting up and walking back into the house.

I woke up with a cold sweat. That dream was more detailed than the last one. Mom walked into my room to see if I was awake or not. "Alecia why don't you get ready for your little tour today with…..Eric" she said with that cheshir cat smile on her face. I can't believe I forgot about the walk with Eric. "Taking a shower!" I yelled as I got out of bed and into the bathroom. I turned on the water and got my clothes for the day. It took me some time to pick out the perfect outfit. A blue frilled skirt. And a white tee shirt, with a black, printed butterfly in the front. For accessories I had a fake gold necklace and blue large plastic bracelets. Also I had to wear my black head band with this outfit. I got in the shower, got clean, and brushed my teeth. Then I out on my outfit and went downstairs for some toast. "You look nice." Said mom as I went into the kitchen "Thanks mom." I said with a smile on my face.

When lunch came around I was soo excited. I put on my blue flats and went to the beach. There was Eric waiting for me in the same spot as yesterday. "Hey Alecia, you ready to go?" he asked "Yeah, but first my dad wants to meet you before we go anywhere." I said leading him to my house. "That's cool I understand." He said and that's when I noticed his eyes. They were grey. "Hey weren't your eyes blue?" I asked him. "Oh yeah, well ya see I have astigmatism so I wear contacts instead of my glasses. I figured that having them in only one color would be boring so I got as many colors as I could. Even red for special occasions." He explained to me. "Oh that's pretty cool. So what color are your eyes really?" I asked him "Well I could tell you that, but I think that it would be more fun if we made it a game." He said "Think about it, guess Eric's eyes. Sounds like fun and it would be a challenge because I change these things every day." He said pointing to his eye contacts.

"How about I get a guess a day?" I said "Sure. And if you win you can get a prize." He said grinning, giving me a chance to see his teeth. They were nice. "What kind of prize?" I said "We'll see." He said as we got to the house. I showed him to the den where my dad thought it would be a good idea to polish the silverware. "Uh hi Mr. Alecia`s dad." Said Eric with a smile on his face. "Hello Aaron." Said my dad "Um its Eric." Said Eric. "That's what I said." Stated my dad. Oh no dad was doing that father thing. "So, you're taking my only daughter on a….tour…of the town." Said dad. "Yes sir." said Eric. Wow he is gooood. "Are you planning on taking her any other places besides the crowded ones?" said dad while carefully polishing a butcher knife. "Uh no sir. I wouldn't even dream of it without your full consent." Said Eric, while eyeing the knife in my dad's hands. "That's a good answer Aaron." Said dad "Um sorry sir but its Eric." Eric said. "As if I care about that." Dad said while putting down the knife. "OK you can go now, and Alecia call me at around 1:30 telling me where you are." Dad said. "Oh and Aaron, don't even think about making any moves on her because little Alecia here can take you down." Dad told him while getting up. "Ok sir. Thank you." Said Eric as we left the room.

"I'm sorry about my dad, he's really protective of me seeing as I`m his only child. And a girl." I said while leading him into the living room. "That's alright I completely understand. He's your dad so of course he's gonna be overprotective of you." Said Eric. "Well hello you two." Mom said as we entered the living room. "Eric, this is my mom. Mom this is Eric." I said mentioning to Eric. "So this is Eric." Mom said to me "Hello nice to meet you Mrs. Alecia`s mom." Said Eric with his charming smile. "Charming." Said mom. Huh I guess she read my mind on that one. "Mom, Eric and I are going to walk around so he can show me the town." I said to her while leading Eric to the door. "Wait, wait. Here you go sweetie be good." Said mom while handing me a twenty dollar bill. "Bye mom." I said while heading out with Eric.

"She seems nice, but I think your dad wants to kill me in my sleep." Eric said while looking back at the house. "Yeah, well my dad really is nice. You just have to spend some more time together before he snaps and tries to hurt you." I said. "Why do I feel like that's not a joke." Said Eric "Oh come on, lets get going." I said steering him away from the house. "Ok so why don't we head down town to the cafés. We can get some lunch if you want." He said. "Why not. I am a little hungry." I said. He brought me to this place called "Seaside". It was a small café with white paint and large windows. "This place is great. You've got to try the burgers there awesome." Eric said while leading me into the café. "Eric! How's it goin?" said some guy behind the counter. "Hey Paul. This is Alecia, she's new here and has never tried one of your burgers wanna help her out there?" said Eric pointing at me. "Sure thing Eric. So, what's your name and where'd ya come from?" asked Paul. "Well, my names Alecia, like Eric said, and I'm from California." I told him. "California? Well good luck here. Unlike California, we got winter weather. It can get pretty bad too." Paul said. "I'll be alright." I said. Eric took me to a table that had a window looking out to the shopping district. "This place is pretty cool." I said "Well it should be, everyone comes here after school and during lunch." Said Eric.

The burgers came to our table and they were great. I was definitely coming here again. "Good, right?" Eric asked "Yeah. So what are we going to do next?" I asked eagerly. "Well why not walk around and check out the stores." He suggested. "Good idea. Lets go." I said standing up. "OK. See ya Paul." Eric shouted "Bye Eric, hey bring your girlfriend back here sometime okay?" yelled Paul to Eric. "Heh heh, sorry about the whole 'girlfriend' thing." Said Eric "That's alright I know he was joking about that. He probably said that to make you blush. And it looks like it worked." I said. He was gorgeous when he blushed. "Yeah maybe so let's check out the stores. I know you're probably used to big fashion designers and the latest fashions on sale, but the stuff here is pretty good." Eric said to me "That's alright Eric. I don't really care and I never really liked all those high and mighty fashion stores anyway." I told him. "Hey you are pretty cool." He said "What, I wasn't cool before?" I asked "Oh you were, but remember I met you while you were sleeping on the beach and almost getting sunburn." He says matter-of-factly. "Oh so sleeping on the beach isn't cool? Wow Eric." I said with a smile. He just laughed and said "You are totally different from all the other girls here. And I like that." He said "Why thank you Aaron." I said trying to impersonate my dad. "Funny. Did your dad do that on purpose, or does he really not know my name?" he asked me "Well. Yeah he doesn't like you." I told him. He just shook his head and gave a chuckle.