Little 6 year old Tom Riddle, angry at his fellow orphans runs away. The sky is grey with rain clouds and it is chilly outside, a dreary fall day. He runs to a lake where he sees a man old enough to work but not be well educated, skipping rocks with his eyes closed. He was humming a strange song as he threw each rock to the water.

"Oi kid, could you toss me that rock you are standing next to?" the man asked Tom

"Why don't you come get it yourself?" He angrily retorted

The man had a surprised look on his face and then shrugged.

"You just looked like you needed to throw something, that's all."

The man walked over to Tom and picked the rock from the ground. He looked at Tom and held the rock out to him.

"My record is 26 skips before the rock sinks. See if you can beat that." He smiled at Tom

Tom accepted the challenge and tossed the rock into the water. It hit the water with force, but immediately sunk.

"You must be really mad if it sank that quickly. Why are you so mad?"

"Why do you care?"

"Answer my question first."

"I hate the world. I hate it so, so much."

"Hm. Well if you hate the world, change it. No point in sitting around being sour to strangers who hope you can beat their personal records." He paused and looked at the sky. "And for why I care, there is no particular reason. Just hoped to make the world a little better, one bothered human at a time."

"Hm." Tom crossed his arms and looked at the place where his rock sank in the water. When he turned to look at the stranger again, he was gone. He was alone.

Later, he convinced himself that the man was just someone he imagined. He wasn't real. But Tom took his advice to heart, and he wanted to change the world.