A Castle of Opportunity - FREE

The castle was on Sunderland Drive, in a part of Indiana where the houses were a bit far apart, and the local school was even farther. It was two miles from my house to the schools. The elementary and the middle school are combined, and the high school is across the street. I walked the two miles back and forth to and from school every week day since the age of 6. It was a relatively safe area, and I had always felt comfortable, even when passing the big mansion, located about halfway to the school. As kids we always called it, “The Castle” because it was a gothic style house with turrets and all. It had grey shingles and big windows, some of them stained glass, including the little window on the door. It wasn’t uncommon for old houses like that to still be around out here, but it was the only one in our town. It’s three stories tall, and that’s much bigger than anything any of us kids had growing up. It’s large yard was surrounded by a big iron fence and the grass and bushes were always a little overgrown, but it was still nice. There was a fountain in the side yard, big and circular, but it was never on. When I was little, I wanted so badly to make a wish there, but I never got close enough. Since I was a child, I had always been borderline obsessed with The Castle. I started drawing it at a young age, and over the years I perfected it. During an art project, I actually sat across the street trying to paint it. I spent hours there, but barely saw anyone. The owner was supposed to be beautiful, but a lot of girls thought he was creepy, living there alone and never coming out. I hadn’t ever seen him. There was an occasional man or woman who would come in, spend an hour or two and leave. They were always the same people. I started to think he was some kind of drug dealer, but it really didn’t make sense. I stayed in my home town my entire life. Obsessions came and went, but I always walked a little slower when walking by The Castle.