Looking out her bedroom window, a girl, around five, spies on her next-door neighbour, he'd just moved in a week ago, and the girl's curiosity drew her attention to him the moment the moving van drove up to the house formerly occupied by Mr. Ginny.
The new neighbour's Mr. Whiskers, aptly named by the girl because of his beard that looked more like whiskers than a beard.
He's in his fifties, a little overweight with a small potbelly, couldn't tell since he's sometimes hunched over, wears an office outfit most of the time, and balding on top with a combover.
Didn't seem much, he's aloof as can be.
Unlike Mr. Ginny, he didn't seem inclined talking to anyone, whereas Mr. Ginny always took time out of his day talking to the girl and her parents.
He hardly talked to anybody since he moved in, small talks at best, if that, but he tensed like crazy whenever he saw Mr. O'Connor
Mr. O'Connor worked as a local doctor, he lived with his wife a few houses down from the girl and her family.
The moment Mr. Whiskers heard that Mr. O'Connor's a doctor, he became fidgety, flighty, and never liked going out if Mr. O'Connor outside.
Don't know why, the girl's mother thinks he's just afraid of doctors, it happens.
During the summer break, the girl didn't have much to do but look outside the window, there's not many kids in her neighbourhood, and those there are, weren't in her age group.
Her friends all lived elsewhere, but most went to camps, visiting family overseas, the sort, while the girl had to entertain herself by looking out her bedroom window.
Sometimes the family maid comes by checking up on her, bringing her drinks, before going on, and cleaning up the house, while her parents were elsewhere, working their long hour jobs.
A single child, the girl incessantly talked to the maid, cook, butler, just because they're the only ones in the house that she could talk to, with her parents nowhere in sight, it's all she has until her parents came home.
The people working in the house gave her time of their days just answering questions and keeping her out of trouble while doing their duties.
With permission from her parents, sometimes the maid brought the girl along when she went out to buy things for dinner, and the maid treated the girl with snacks like ice cream for helping her load the buggy and unload it into the maid's car.
They went shopping last night and the girl got some ice cream from the local creamery like always and she finished it an hour ago.
Now, the cook's making them dinner while the girl looked out the bedroom window, overlooking Mr. Whisker's house, separated by a tall woven metal fence.
Overcast, but a cold breeze, wafted through, making the trees dance, and the girl watched as she sees Mr. Whisker looking in the mirror of the upstairs bathroom.
She ducked when he turned his head towards the opened bathroom window, only rising her head when she felt that he'd turn around, and when she raised her head, she sees him looking at himself in the mirror once again.
He leaned forward on the sink and opened his mouth.
Tiny spiny ugly teeth!
Opening his mouth his long pink tongue stuck out as he looked at it.
It looked like he's gussying up, but the more the girl looked, she felt scared as he slowly turned his head slowly, scratching his back with his free hand.
The shirt moved and for a brief moment, the girl sees that there's something on Mr. Whisker's back. It looked like a black fin bulging in the centre.
When Mr. Whiskers moves, the bulging fin moves, too, expanding outward as the girl sees it fully protruding from his back.
Striking a pose, Mr. Whiskers looked at himself in the mirror and the girl couldn't watch any longer because she heard a French woman calling her.
"Nina, dinner's ready!" Nina heard her maid and she instinctively ducked under the window, hurrying away from it, going back to her plush queen-sized bed.
Jumping on the pink puffy bed, Nina grabbed her book, opened it to a page, and acted like she's reading it until Anna poked her head in through the door way, telling her that dinner's ready.
"Okay, Anna!" Nina closed her book again, pushing herself off the bed, joining Anna as she led her to the dining room where there's plates of food waiting for her.
A soup, salad, pork chops, not a conventional meal for some children, Nina wasn't fond of pork chops, but she didn't want to complain, risking her parents dismissing people from their home.
She didn't want them getting into trouble on her account trying to get her food her parents haven't approved, yet.
Nina ate her dinner, readied for bed, and asked Anna to read her a story.
Anna read her "Cinderella" and bid her a good night, closing the window curtains, checking the locks, turning on her night light, before heading out of Nina's bedroom, closing the door behind her.
In her bed, Nina tried to sleep, but her natural curiosity drew her to crawling out of bed, going over to her window yet again.
She's careful, crawling on all fours, reaching the window, and slowly peaked over the window sill, looking over at Mr. Whisker's house.
The lights turned off, the window curtains drawn, he'd gone to bed, so she thinks.
About to turn in, Nina prepared sneaking back to her bed, when she saw sight of something moving from the back door of Mr. Whisker's place.
It's big, bulky, and moved awkwardly.
Hobbling, the bulky shadow moved through the backyard towards the back, where it went through the gate leading out into the wooded area behind their homes.
Nina waited for the bulky figure's return, but her eyes grew heavy, and she heard Anna stirring outside her door.
Creeping back to her bed, Nina curled up in a ball, hiding under her comforter, and when morning finally came, with Anna waking Nina up, she overheard the butler in the hallway talking to someone else working in the house that a shepherd gone missing.
His flock remained untouched, but he was nowhere to be found, he was last seen herding his sheep through the summer grass near the woods.
"Wolf, maybe?" Nina heard Jonas, the butler, suggest that the shepherd ran into a wolf that took him instead of the sheep.
She didn't get a chance listening to them more, Anna prodded her to ready for the day, much to do indeed, and she's thrusted into her structured life once more.
Showered and readied, Nina gets tutored during the morning hours, music lessons in the afternoon, with lunch in between, and doing gymnastics in the backyard.
Since summer break started, her parents didn't want her slowing down, wanted her to stay on track, with hopes she gets into a prestigious school.
If Nina's allowed to speak her mind, she'd say it's all bollocks, anyhow.
She wanted to go to public school, be normal, not have to worry about curfews, deciding what spoon to use for dessert.
Unfortunately, until she's of age, she's stuck with this life, but planned on getting out of it by then.
Oh yes, Nina's got her own plans, not the plans that her parents picked out for her.
Wouldn't think it looking at a five-year-old, but looks can be deceiving, Nina's sharper than most people give her credit.
Tired of her coddled life, Nina wanted to do more, get mud on herself, a few bruises, scraps, something normal.
She's aware that most think she's just another child with a silver spoon in her mouth, but honestly, she hates it more than others do.
No hate towards Anna and people that work for her parents, they have their orders, not fair labeling them, when they have no say in what her parents decide.
Going through the day, Nina's excited when it finally ended with her enjoying her quiet time in the bedroom.
She couldn't do much stuff outside on her own, the people working for her parents worried about her getting hurt, and what her parents would've said if they found out.
Nina didn't blame them not wanting her playing outside those hours, she knows her parents, her mother easily hyperventilates if she gets so much as a bloody nose from dry sinuses.
Looking out the window, as she does, she sees Mr. Whiskers taking out the rubbish.
He went over to the cans and lifted one of the lids up, tossing a bag in, and as he did, he noticed it ripped at the top.
Nina couldn't hear him, but she thinks he cursed, before he gone back inside the house for something.
He left the lid off the can and Nina peered over the window sill, she didn't see anything initially, until a breeze gone through, and she sees the bag fluttering.
There's tufts of grey hair and Nina swore seeing an eye peering out, causing her to immediately duck, and rush to her bed.
She jumped on her bed, pulling the comforter over her head, her heart racing as she hid under the comforter for a while.
When she finally found a shred of bravery, Nina managed to pull the comforter off her, and she tried thinking of her options.
Telling Anna, no, couldn't do that, she would've told her parents.
Can't tell Jonas or anyone in the house, really.
Nina didn't know what to do and she panicked internally before she got an idea.
Don't ask why this old thing's still in the house, her father's forgetful about what's not in front of him, but Nina managed to push herself out of bed, and sneak into her father's study, where she snuck out a small but old book.
It's been in the family for years, a hand me down from her great grandfather, Pappy Ortega.
Nina poked through it more than once, but it was filled with words she didn't understand.
Flipping through it, Nina stops when she finds there's a phone number written on a page and a passage that Pappy Ortega met someone when he was much younger that helped him.
He carried the number around in case he ever needed it, again.
Never knew what he meant, but her father never broached the subject, never cared much about family history or the ghost stories Grand Pappy talked about what he experienced when he was younger.
With the number, Nina snuck to her bedroom phone, and began dialing the number.
She didn't expect anything but a message about it being disconnected as this book's older than her and her father.
To her amazement, someone picked up, and nervous, Nina asks, "Are you the Doctor?"