To Be Beautiful

My feet seemed to move on their own, onward perpetually passed the similar scenery.
It was as if I was stuck in a modern day Flinstone Cartoon, really. Everything the same, and yet somehow I manged to pick apart my old house as it stood in all it's glory, somehow different from the rest.

Making it somehow less appealing, the Robin Egg blue had faded to a bittersweet shade of gray.
Even though I was only sixteen, I felt as if the house and I were old friends. "Hmm. . ."
The curious sound left my mouth in one simple exhale of Carbon Dioxide and I found myself marveling at the neatly trimmed lawn, the off-white front door, and the sight of tall, verdant foliage peeking out from behind the familiar building.

Without rationalizing the consequences of approaching this place, I found my feet inching towards the door that now undoubtedly belonged to someone else.

Soon enough, I had my finger to the doorbell.

A cheesy electronic tune that was probably supposed to resembled the chiming of bells, brought clarity back to my brain.

"Shit!" I exclaimed, scattering from the porch and diving behind a well-kept Toyota Truck, conveniently parked in the house's respective driveway.

Why had I done such a stupid thing? After all, common sense and years of "Stranger Danger!" assemblies in school should have taught me better than to go knocking at some random citizen's house.

Even if the house used to belong to me. . .

Assuming that my previous attachment to the house was the sole cause for my actions, I watched intently from behind the truck as the door finally swung open, revealing a rather attractive brunette.

"Hello - what the fuck?" He greeted, all joy evaporating from his tone once he he'd discovered that no visitor(to his knowledge) was there.

His eyes darted around the surrounding area, looking for a culprit. Feeling oddly guilty, I pressed myself closer to the truck, praying that the car alarm wouldn't go off as I did so.

"Man, is anyone even young enough in this stupid neighborhood to be playing Ding Dong Ditch?" The attractive brunette male inquired with a scoff.

Thankfully, and somewhat disappointingly, this was the last I heard of his masculine voice before he slammed the front door shut with a flourish.

After shaking off my "Oh-my-God-I-Just-Saw-A-Hot-Guy!" daze, I hesitantly stepped out from my make-shift hiding spot.

"Jesus, that was close. . ." I murmured in relief. It probably would have been much more embarrassing on my part if the unknown guy had caught sight of me creeping behind his truck, rather than ringing his doorbell.

"Uhm - hello? Why were you just stalking my b - wait, Eleanor?"

The sound of such a familiar voice, rather than the question itself, had me whirling around in place faster than I could blink.

Before me stood the spitting image of my late Great Aunt.

Only, this beautiful strawberry blond in particular I was not inclined to have missed.

"Tatum. . ." I greeted somewhat uncomfortably as her huge doe eyes narrowed considerably.

"Nice to see you again, bitch."