A Knack Is Being Good At Something

Chris had a knack for trouble. If it was there to be found, he'd find it. His parents called him adventurous. His friend's parents called him a troublemaker.

It wasn't really Chris's fault. Things just worked out that way. Because his knack wasn't really for getting into trouble. It was for getting into things. Locked things.

Ever since he was young, he could get into anything. His parents said he'd started opening doors as soon as he could reach the handles. One of his earliest memories was wishing a door open and then immediately finding it open. What he knew, and they didn't, was that he hadn't opened the door. It had opened itself.

By the time he was six, he had come to realize that he could open locked doors if he wished hard enough. By age 10, he could open every lock in his house, including the gun safe, which he didn't know the combination to.

That set his course in life. If he wanted something, he could get it. If he was curious or worried, he could open a lock and take a peek without anybody being the wiser. Sometimes he found incredible things, like the time he discovered the motor bike his dad had bought them for Christmas that was hiding in the barn. It had taken everything in him to not ride it early and spoil the surprise. Sometimes he found not-so-pleasant things, like the time he opened the door to his parent's room and found his older sister Kayla naked with her boyfriend. He still wished he could erase that image from his mind. She didn't notice, which was the only reason why he wasn't a dead man.

But once he turned thirteen, he started to push his boundaries a little. He would open the candy machine or soda vending machines at the convenience store. They all had locks, which meant he could open them. He started breaking into some of the old abandoned farms nearby and exploring them. it wasn't really breaking in, he figured, since nobody lived there.

He went with his two best friends, Adam and Rob. They'd hide from their parents for a few hours, eating the candy and drinking the sodas while they swapped stories and complained about their families or their small town. They promised to leave once the chance came.

They'd all pack up and go to California together to hit some waves and find some hot girls. Not that they knew what it was like to hit waves. Or how to find hot girls.