attn:

3 November 1998
The Lockwood Estate

It was Election Day. The town of Mystic Falls was all buzzing with the news. Richard Lockwood, a member one of the illustrious Founding Families had decided to follow in his family’s footsteps and throw his hat in the ring for the office of Mayor. Richard had everything. He had intelligence, charm, and charisma mastered. He had a beautiful wife named Carol and a six year old son named Tyler.

Tyler was watching the mass of people gathered in their home on this particular night all from his father’s campaign team. They were drinking alcohol and chattering like a bunch of monkeys at the zoo. He was peeking through the rails of the stairs on the second floor watching the people from his vantage point. Tyler knew what they were waiting for tonight. They were waiting for the results of the Mayor’s race. Richard Lockwood was running against Dr. Fell. Any minute, they’d know the answer. To little Tyler it meant that after the last four months of personal appearances by his parents that occasionally included him, things were going to get worse.

Tyler had it ingrained on him for the past year how important their family was. This Mayor’s Race was important to their family. Appearances were everything. Tyler had to be the perfect little boy. He absolutely hated it. He hated putting on a show when the truth was their family was a big huge lie. He was only six and he knew that “Family Values” didn’t mean a damn thing.

His new friends in his first grade class were all different than he was. Matt Donovan didn’t have a Dad. He lived with his mom and his icky big sister Vicky. Elena Gilbert was in his class too. Elena’s dad was Dr. Gilbert and she had a mom and a little brother named Jeremy who was a boogery baby at four years old. Bonnie Bennett didn’t have a Dad either. She had her Grams. Bonnie told Tyler that she had a mom once but she ran away when she was really little. It was really sad even to Tyler. Then his last friend was Caroline Forbes. She had no brothers or sisters just like Tyler. Her mommy and daddy had just gotten a divorce. Her daddy lived with a special friend that was a boy. Caroline lived with her mommy. None of his friends were here. Tyler just was sitting here squatted down in a little scrunchy ball watching the action.

The people underneath him all smelled like liquor and cigarettes. His forehead pressed into the bannister. His natural curls that not been cutoff since he’d been born fell into his eye. Clouded chocolate hues visually scanned the crowd below. All these grownups here bored him even though they were excited. The votes were being counted according to what he heard somebody say.

He was ready for bed trying not to let any of the grownups see him. He was all of six years old now and he just wanted to go play football with Matt Donovan or shoot hoops with his Uncle Mason. Uncle Mason was teaching him how to play basketball. He’d even taught Tyler how to hit a baseball. The last thing his Uncle taught him was how to tie his shoes. These were all things that his Dad should have taught him but didn’t. Richard Lockwood was always too busy. Mason was the younger brother and more of a father figure to Tyler than anyone else. Where was Mason?

A shriek came from behind him and off to his left. It seemed that the six year old had developed a habit of running around naked most of the time. Right now that little ball that had been watching the adults from his perch was doing so completely bare as the day he was born. The maid that was supposed to be watching him, just found him. “Tyler please!”

Tyler uncurled his legs and ran off down the upstairs hallway. The maid went chasing after him with a blanket in her hands to cover him up. He didn’t have any idea that this was wrong. He knew it felt natural and he liked it. Bare feet continued to pad in rapid succession as he made his way through the East Wing of the Estate with the maid still following closely behind.

It usually took about three maids to wrangle up the boy when he’d run around naked like this. Carol Lockwood was horrified by her son’s bouts of nudism and did her best to keep it from being the latest fodder for the high society of Mystic Falls Gossip Circles. One of her trusted friends got her to take Tyler to a child psychologist. The child psychologist told her this was perfectly normal for a boy his age. He was acting out for attention. The doctor assured Carol that Tyler would grow out of it. That was two years ago when he was four. Tyler was still doing it at six. It was proving to be an issue. Carol heard the chaos and excused herself from the party.

Tyler heard his mother calling for him in hissing tones. “Tyler! You come out this instant! Do you hear me?” She had found the guest bedroom where her son was hiding. She opened the door slowly. Seeing her son a disheveled mess made Carol visibly pout. “I told you to stop this nonsense now. You’re a big boy.”

Tyler stood there long enough for the maid to hand him a blanket. Obediently, he wrapped around his body. “I’m sorry Mommy.” She walked up to him and tousled those curls she'd kept from getting cut.

He was a good boy. She did love him, but he was an absolute handful. She was glad Tyler was an only child. “Go on to sleep alright? It’s getting late.” She kissed his cheek. “For me?” she asked. The boy nodded and resigned himself to the fact he would get it tomorrow from his Dad. It was time to brace for it.

Tyler was wrapped in the blanket around his small frame. He passed by his father standing in the staircase. He almost thought his dad was glaring at him with bright red eyes. That was stupid. His Daddy didn’t have red eyes. Tyler took one more look and skittered back into his room shutting the door behind him. His Daddy looked very angry. He was glad he was going to be safe in his room. Maybe if he was lucky, his Daddy would forget all about it. He started to burrow down into his bed and covered up his head .


 

Tyler Lockwood/Cerberus