His day had started like any other, wake up at five AM, despite this being three hours before when he had to leave, he would brush his teeth and take a shower, never taking more than ten minutes for the entire event, because water was expensive.

After his shower, Benjamin would walk down the stairs, always tripping over the bottom step and lightly bumping his head on the floor, before he would walk to the kitchen and make himself some breakfast, scrambled eggs, burnt toast, and orange juice, every morning.

By the time he was finished with breakfast, it would be seven, at which point he would go back upstairs and change from his robe to his work clothes, which consisted of a rather smart looking white shirt, blue jacket, and matching blue pants.

What was different about this morning, what set it apart from all the other weekday mornings that Benjamin went about, was that on this morning, just as he was putting on his tie, the doorbell rang.

Now this, in and of itself, was an unusual occurrence for Benjamin, unless of course he had a package, in which case it was sometimes expected. But Benjamin had not ordered anything within the last four weeks, and he really doubted that his pet goldfish would be ordering anything.

Nonetheless, he sent a calculating look to his goldfish as he passed the fishbowl on the way to the door, just barely missing tripping over a rather unfortunately placed footrest because of this.

When Benjamin answered the door, he didn't know what he expected, a dripping wet fourteen-year-old was not one of them. Funny thing was... It hadn't been raining.

She held a red and black backpack in her right hand; this was dry. Benjamin’s first thought was that she might have stolen it after whatever it was that got her that wet. He dismissed this almost immediately, he needed to stop watching so many crime shows, not every teenager was a thief.

The soaking wet girl, sopping hair that might have been a dusty red, looked up at him and seemed to appraise him, looks or attitude or whatever it was she was looking for, before speaking.

“May I come in?” She asked sweetly, her voice dripping honey in a way that even Benjamin could tell was fake. Still… He couldn’t in good conscience turn her away.

With a sigh, Benjamin moved to the side and allowed the teenager, who was wearing the strangest looking trench coat, into his house.

She took the invitation with a smile that seemed to border on smug, and a bounce in her step that made Benjamin think of a puppy that had been given too many treats and was offered yet another.

“Thank you sir, and may I say, beautiful house,” The girl said as she took off her trench coat, revealing a black tank top with a skull printed on it.

Benjamin grabbed her trench coat as she absently set it behind her, giving her a disdainful look before hanging it up on a hook he’d set up on a wall specifically for that purpose.

When he turned back to look at her, she was walking into the living room, looking around in a way that made Benjamin think she’d been there before, he pushed this thought aside, he’d owned that house for twelve years.

So he followed the teenager into the living room, watching as she looked around and absently mumbled to herself.

This, the girl moving through the house and Benjamin following her, continued on for about thirteen minutes before Benjamin got annoyed to the point where he, loudly, cleared his throat.

This broke whatever spell the girl had been under, and she turned to him with a lazy grin.

“Listen, I’ve been patient, but I don’t see what about my house is so interesting, or why I’m being so patient with someone who hasn’t even had the courtesy to tell me their name.” Benjamin crossed his arms, raising his eyebrows.

Benjamin was a real stickler for rules and manners and the like; it had to due with the way he was raised. But that’s a long story and shouldn’t be breached at the moment. We’ll just say that he enforced the rules, whether they be his own or those created by someone else, to the letter. And if you think his rule enforcing is tough then you don’t want to see how he is with manners.

His tough façade didn’t faze the girl, she only chuckled before walking over to him, this allowed Benjamin to see that most of the water that had been on her had dried, leaving only a little on her hair and most of it on his floor.

“My name’s Anna.” The girl, now know as Anna, took his hand and shook it enthusiastically. “And I’m sorry about being so rude, but I was just seeing how similar the house was to what I saw, sometimes I can’t even trust my own mind to tell me the truth.”

Anna dropped his hand and went back to looking around. “But, I’m glad to say, it turns out that my good ol’ brain was telling me the truth this time, everything’s where it should be.”

She sighed happily while Benjamin slowly took a step back, maybe if he planned it carefully he could call 911 and report this crazy person before said crazy person decided to stab him.

Anna turned and looked at him, Benjamin froze with one foot in the air, quickly losing his balance and being forced to set his foot back down.

Anna laughed quietly before walking back over.

“I must be freaking you out, huh?” Benjamin just looked at her, too petrified, or mesmerized if you want to call it that, to nod.

Anna laughed and grabbed his wrist.

“C’Mon, Benjamin. You make me some of that burnt toast you seem to enjoy so much and I’ll explain what’s going on. You have any jam?”

“Uh, no. I ran out last night.” Benjamin stuttered out before a light bulb went off above his head. This light bulb promptly exploded and gave anything else on that imaginary plane of existence severe burns, but more about Santa Clause and the Easter bunny later. “And how do you know my name?”

Anna only laughed.