A Massachusetts homeowner was happy to return home from a long vacation. They enjoyed the summer and decided it was a good time to come home and start getting ready to get into a routine again. Right when they were approaching their house, they could see that the tree they share with one of their neighbors had a huge gash that, of course, wasn't there when they left.
They were desperate: they had read all of the stories about other people returning home from vacation and finding gardens, trees, or homes destroyed. And they were upset that it was them, this time. Immediately, they knew that someone did this, not only because of the position the gash was located, but because it was a small neighborhood.
The tree is located 2.5ft from the curb of the street, and their home is 5 feet away from it. They had security cameras, but when they checked, they realized that they didn't show the vandal or what really happened there.
After giving some extra thought, the homeowner realized that maybe their neighbor was the one who injured the tree. According to what they said, the neighbor complained about the tree and how it blocked the view and things like that, so it's more than likely that it was him. But they don't have any proof that confirms this, so it's really a difficult situation.
Something important to talk about in these kinds of stories is how people return home from vacation and have to be paranoid about something bad happening. As the OP states in the story, they were reading things like this and weren't shocked when they understood it was their time. People should be more respectful of others' property, but not only that… this is a tree, a living being, and being respectful of nature is also important. We hope that those responsible for the damage can pay for their actions and help restore the tree.