I hit a key, and another eight views popped up. Nothing out of the norm coming up here either. I was well aware that my obsession with the security of the farmhouse was bordering on unhealthy. I could hear the shrink my uncle had forced me to see in my head. “It’s understandable to have safety concerns. Just don’t let them dictate your life.”

I’d tried to go on like normal for a while. I’d applied to college. I’d even attended for two years. But nothing would ever be normal again. The press had hounded me, so eager for the inside scoop of what had happened during the week the Lockwood family was lost at sea. They were desperate for an account from the sole survivor.

And everyone around me had been eager to make a buck. A Coast Guard official had snuck photos of my bruised and battered body and of my sister’s dead one. Tabloids had splashed them across their covers. America’s Favorite Family Destroyed.

Classmates at the new school I’d been forced to attend when I moved in with my uncle cashed in, as well. Most of what they’d given the news outlets had been out and out lies. That I was doing drugs. That I’d knifed a teacher. Each tale had gotten more and more ridiculous.

I’d thought college would be a fresh start. And for a while, it was. I’d chosen a small school in the northeast. I’d met a girl. And for the first time, life had felt worth living again. But that had all come crashing down, too.

After that, I’d only wanted to disappear. I’d gotten pretty good at it, too. I grew a beard. Paid for everything in cash. I bought a new car and drove all over the country. I’d stay in a place for a few months, sometimes longer, but never more than a year. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was subconsciously making my way back to Anchor. Slowly but surely heading west.

By the time Sheriff Raines had gotten in touch with me about the farmhouse, I was ready to be home. And Anchor would always be more of a home than the modern monstrosity of a house in Marin. The farmhouse on Anchor had been the heart and soul of our family. Restoring it meant bringing my family back to life in the only way I could.