Meeting Edward

It was late in the afternoon as the dog lay miserably at the doormat. He moved his white shaggy head upwards looking towards the door and whined. He wanted to be outside. His owner had been busy all day and had not taken him out for his daily walk yet. And so he let out another whine.

'Yes I know Einny. Almost finished now.' called the man who appeared to be engrossed with something at his desk.

He had said that earlier, and Einny had not understood him then either. Placing his head back down on his paws, the dog let out a long sigh.

Then something sparked his interest as his ears pricked towards a sound coming from the other side of the door. It was footsteps. Standing up quickly Einny started to bark in excitement.

'Einny please, I need quiet.' said the man from the desk.

But then at that moment there came knocking from the door which made the dog bark even louder. Sighing the man forced himself away from his desk and moved towards the door and opened it while moving Einny out of the way as he tried to force his way through the door to meet the guest.

'Oh hi Marty.' said the man stepping aside as the dog went to the younger man's feet.

'Hi Doc.' smiled Marty as he petted Einny, 'don't mind if I drop by?'

'No, no,' said Doc wearily, 'I needed a break from this darn experiment anyways.'

'What you been inventing?' asked Marty, as the two stepped inside the untidy room.

'Oh just been trying to get that mind reading device to work again. I just can't get it right...' he replied collasping on the old sofa.

'Ah that's heavy.' sympathized Marty.

'Yes extremely.' agreed Doc sighing, 'so Marty what brings you here on a Saturday afternoon?'

'Oh well,' he began, 'I have this history assignment on US immigration. We are meant to research our immediate family and friend's family history origins. I figured since your family originated from Germany that maybe I could write about yours? I already started my families Irish heritage.'

'Well I don't mind you writing about my family history, I have some records you could look at.' said Doc getting up and walking towards a bookshelf. 'I have a book somewhere.'

'Great,' Marty said appreciatively, 'do you have any relatives I could contact? I need more than one source.'

'I see,' he stopped looking at the book shelf and turned to face his young friend, 'I'm afraid that won't be possible.'

'Why not?'

'I am the last of the Brown family. I have no brothers or sisters, and all other relatives died years ago. I was the youngest in the family.'

'Oh right,' said Marty unsure what to say, 'so... there's no one else?'

'Well,' said Doc slowly, 'there is one. I have a cousin Vincent, but I haven't talked to him in years. He was an inventor like myself.'

'Great,' replied Marty, 'I could get in contact with him.'

'I'd would prefer that you didn't.' said Doc firmly, 'He is an insufferable man. He always criticized my work.'

'You don't have to talk to him,' insisted Marty, 'just tell me where he lives and I could go see him myself.'

'Fine,' sighed Doc, 'but don't tell him that you know me. Just say that you're researching the residents of Hill Valley.'

'OK.' nodded Marty wondering why his friend didn't like his own cousin so much, especially when Vincent was his own living relative.

Moving towards him Doc handed Marty a piece of paper, 'This is his address. No doubt you will know it very well.'

Not quite understanding what he meant by that Marty took the paper and said his goodbyes to Doc and petted Einny again before going out the door.

Looking at the address it was clear that wherever Vincent lived, it was going to be on the out skirts of Hill Valley. And so seizing his skateboard Marty started making his way towards his destination.

The sun was starting to set after a half hour of skating, but finally Marty arrived at the gate entrance of Vincent's property. Looking upwards towards the house he couldn't help but gasp, for the house was a mansion, and not just any mansion but the famous 'haunted' mansion that everyone at school talked about.

He wondered why Doc had never mentioned his cousin lived at this famous place before. Looking at it closely through the gates he could see the mansion on top on the hill had a grand Gothic design. It also appeared quite worn too; it was impossible to think anyone could live there.

Well there was no point standing there any longer. Taking a deep breath Marty pulled the gates and they creaked open; he saw the dark tree covered path winding ahead towards the mansion and so started to make his way forwards.

As Marty approached he noticed the garden was full of topiary, feeling a sense of unease he carefully treaded around the garden, taking it all in. He could hear a snipping sound in the distance, a crow flew directly above his head as the sky appeared to be turning grey to match the castle's exterior. Marty appeared to be getting closer to the snipping sound, he paused and strained to listen. Afraid of what he might discover he stalled for a bit and loitered around the garden, amazed at the artwork that stood in front of him. He wondered if he should go inside, he let out a sigh.

'What would Doc do?' he said out loud. 'Come on Marty you can do this.' He whispered.

Marty had heard so many stories about this place, it was famous in Hill Valley. He wondered if any of the stories he had heard were true, stories such as a man with scissors for hands living in the castle, and stories such as a broken hearted outcast losing the love of his life. Either way the castle wasn't exactly a friendly looking place with a positive atmosphere, quite the contrary. Marty wondered what this inventor cousin of Doc's would be like, he imagined he would be just as determined and ambitious as Doc is, however Marty thought it was impossible to be more ambitious than Doc. He laughed as he imagined the inventor sporting the same mad scientist hair style.

'Nothing to be scared of, nothing to be scared of, nothing to be….'

As Marty turned the corner towards the snipping sound he saw something that appeared to be straight from a fairytale for the scene that appeared in front of him was of a man sporting a mad scientist looking hairstyle with the saddest expression worn on his face that Marty had never seen on another human being before. He wore what appeared to be a black suit except there was no jacket and no skin was exposed except the man's pale face, so pale that it had a purple tinge to it. The man was carving with some sort of weird contraption attached to his arms, he was carving a giant sculpture of a couple out of a hedge. The man was so busy carving that he did not notice Marty. Marty stayed completely silent for he had never witnessed such a scene. Was he dreaming? For a second Marty thought he had travelled into the future. Marty squinted.

'But how could it be? What are those scissors?', He whispered.
'Is this the inventor? He looks too young, maybe the inventor has a son!'

Marty knew he had to approach the man who looked as though he was in his early twenties and ask him about the inventor. Marty was apprehensive, here he was standing in the grounds of the most notorious house in Hill Valley facing a man with a weird contraption attached to his arms with wild looking hair and a sad expression that looked as though it was permanently stuck on his face. Marty's heart raced as he took a few steps forward.

'Hey! Hey!', he called rather sheepishly.

The man stopped what he was doing, looked up at Marty then looked back at his sculpture and carried on with his art as if Marty was invisible and the man was hearing voices.

'I don't mean to bother you but you wouldn't happen to know an inventor who lives here would you?' He yelled to the man from a distance.

'Jesus is this guy deaf or what?', he said under his breath.

The man simply blinked without even acknowledging Marty.

'Hey heeey goddamit!

The man finally stopped what he was doing, Marty wondered why the man seemed so unsociable and unwilling to help, who had upset him? The man put down his arms but didn't drop the scissor device he seemed to be wearing, Marty thought this was odd and hoped he wasn't going to attack him. Marty moved very carefully towards the man. As Marty stood directly in front of him the man finally spoke.

'Can I help you?' the man spoke very softly and quietly.

'Man those things are cool!' said Marty almost grabbing the man's arm.
'Please don't touch me', said the man and he immediately jumped back.

'I'm sorry I'm sorry it's just that those things are awesome man, what are they? Are those your hands or what? Anyway sorry to bother you so I'll cut to the chase, do you happen to know the inventor who lives here?'

'There is no inventor', he said in hushed tones.

'Whaddaya mean there's no inventor? Look, look' Marty put his hands up.
'I'm Marty. I live at the bottom of Hill Valley. You might have seen me skating around. This doc sent me here because I have school report to do on family history and this guy doc who's like my best friend sent me here so I could ask him some questions, nothing too personal but it would be real good you know for my research if I could possibly just speak to him for a little while, maybe hang out, you're welcome to join us on one condition - you let me use those cool things…'

'No no inventor….just me', the man said sadly and looked at the ground.

The man simply stared at Marty, Marty could feel his huge brown eyes literally staring into his soul. Marty got the impression that the man was being very protective of this inventor.

'Okay this is heavy', Marty said quietly.

'Anyway enough about me, what's your name man?'

The man paused and seemed reluctant to tell Marty his name. He stayed silent for a further five seconds before saying…

'My Name is Edward.'