“Hi mum,I’ll be there soon,” Sean said as he answered his mother’s call. 

The wind blew through Sean’s hair as he headed up to the family’s summer estate. The estate was located at the highest part of Lake Clayton overlooking the entire town, it was only right that it was located there after all the Von Campers practically built that town, they owned it even. There was only one route in and out of the estate and permission needed to be given for the master himself. The only other option was a 500 ft drop into the ocean. The mansion was set up as a trap for unwelcome guests and a prison for those with debts to pay. 

The last time Sean was here, he was sixteen. Before then his family would spend every summer at the beach-side mansion, aunts, uncles, cousins. It was a grand affair, they would throw summer balls inviting other grand families as well. It was the one thing he looked forward to as a child until he turned eleven. Everything changed, they stopped visiting their summer home, his mother became distant, and his father spent most of his time anywhere but with the family. 

On Sean’s sixteenth birthday, he and his friends Brian, Steven and Michael, had the brilliant idea to steal the gardener’s van and drive up to the Lake Clayton estate. They snuck in and crept around the mansion when they were caught by the groundskeeper who called his father. The four boys were sent back home to face the wrath of Sean Clyde Von Camper III. The other three were sent home to be punished by their families while Sean was left to face his father.

“You little bastard,” his father growled, “I give you simple orders and all you do is fuck around with your stupid little friends.” His father grabbed a bat and hurled at him. His mother was pacing outside the door when she heard a crash and peaked through, “Is everything okay?” she spoke softly. 

“Get the hell out!”

She whimpered and shut the door. 

“I’m sending you abroad, your mother has shielded you for too long,” he looked away from Sean as he took a sip of his scotch. 

“You need to learn to be a man, a man worthy of the family name” 

Sean glared at his father. He wasn’t sure if it was his teenage rebellion or genuine anger and hate he had for his father but he knew he had to remain silent during his father’s rant.

“Get the fuck out! Don’t even pack a bag just get into the damn car!” he yelled.

Sean shook, turned away and walked out of his father’s office. 

His mother was outside with tears in her eyes. She looked at him and said, “ Everything is going to be okay, I’ll come visit you often,” as she slipped him a folded clip stacked with hundreds. 

There was something in that house he wasn't supposed to and he knew for sure that he saw it, which was why he had to go.

His mother visited as often as she could. But as the years went on the visits slowed down, his mother slowed down and her flask filled up. Her beautiful blue eyes dimmed, she grew paler and her wrinkles deepened.

Eight years went by slowly as his father refused to give him permission to come home. He stayed abroad, studied, became a man and plotted his return as his father's successor.