The baying of the cattle echoed through the house unusually. The sheep and cows seemed to have been much more vocal today than other days for reasons unknown to their owners and caretakers.
The sun was just beginning to set as a small girl ran through the field, clutching her newest find gently in her hands, with her old, worn stuffed bunny rabbit hanging helplessly in the fold of her right arm. Her long, vibrant crimson hair flapped and blew behind her in a way that was so unorganised but yet seemed to have been written and planned in stone years ago. Her emerald green eyes sparkled with excitement and suspense as she took a little peek at what she hid in her small, tan hands the whole way through. With every glance she took, her smile widened and her eagerness pushed her to go just a little faster than before.
Out of breath and sweating lightly, she finally made it to the back door of her farm home. She knocked lightly before sliding the door open and stepping into the small dining room. She skipped into the family room in search of her stepmother but to no avail.
Her eyebrows furrowed in thought as she walked from room to room in search of the blond haired woman. She peaked into her hands once again and whispered to her new friend. "Don't worry, I just want to show you to Mama, then I'll let you get back home. Just hang in there."
A few moments passed as she wandered around their farm house in search of her mother of only one year.
"Mama?" she called out as she stepped through the front door which lead into the garden that sat before her house, the last place her mother could possibly be if she was home.
"What is it, Ceri?" her mother called back uninterested, as she tended to the vegetables that she had grown since she married the Military Chief, Celc Beata, just a year ago.
Quietly, Ceri approached her mother and tapped on her shoulder with her left elbow, being careful not to release what she held in her hand and to not knock Mr. Rini around needlessly.
"Look what I found. Isn't it pretty?" She asked, creating a small hole in the cup of her hands to allow her mother to take a look.
With a short, feigned glance, her mother went straight back to her gardening. "That's nice sweetheart."
Ceri took a moment, glancing once again at the gentle animal in her hand. She paused before asking, "Where's papa?"
"Your father is probably guarding the main gate right now. You probably won't see him until later on tonight," she responded. A silent moment came between them before her mother stretched her arms over her head and let out a large sigh.
"Could you check up on the sheep, they've been whining all day and no matter what I did, they just wouldn't calm down."
The smile on Ceri's face slowly disappeared, hurt that her mother didn't take the same interest as she did. She opened the cup of her hand and allowed the colorful monarch butterfly to flutter from her grasp. She watched after it wistfully as it glided and fluttered with the light wind, presumably heading home to whatever family it might have.
"Hurry home," she whispered quietly, her left hand reaching up to cradle Rini carefully.
"What was that?" Her mother asking, looking over her shoulder.
"Nothing Mama," Ceri replied, forcing her lost smile to return. "I'll be going now," she added, heading to the gate that sat on the side of their home.
"Don't forget to wash up for dinner!" Her mother called after her.
"Yes, mama," she replied quietly, taking a last glance at the backside of her mother before heading off towards the sheep pen.
She always knew that her stepmother feigned whatever affection she had for her. Granted, she was more than thankful to even have a mother, but she wished, that just for a moment, God or whatever magical force would bring her biological mother back to life. It was a hole in her heart that she was more than aware was missing, and no sort of replacement could ever fill it.
She walked into the pen, among the handful of fluffy white balls of fur that scuttled around helplessly. She knelt down to the level of a small lamb before and pet it's fluffy head and cheeks oh-so softly.
"It's okay. Everything is going to be alright," She cooed, trying to subdue the frantic lamb.
After a few moments of attempting to calm every sheep and lamb in the den to no avail, she cradled Rini and said a silent goodbye to the small animals before slipping out the den's door and back towards the back door of her home.
"They sure were acting strange, weren't they, Rini?" she asked the small stuffed animal, rubbing her nose against it's pale pink one, "I hope everything is alright," she added in a whisper as she ran upstairs to get ready for dinner and bed.
But for some reason, her heart and mind wouldn't accept that everything could possibly be alright. Something, just something was messing with Ceri and whatever instinct she had developed in her short twelve years of life.
It's both a wonder and a miracle as to how she forced herself to sleep that night. Especially with the loud crashes and vibrations that reached her home from off in the distance that seemed to become louder and much closer with every passing second.
AN: Thank you so very much for taking the time to read my story. :) If you enjoyed it, please do tell me by reviewing/favoriting/following, it would mean the world to me. 3 If you didn't enjoy it for whatever reason, do tell me! I won't improve unless you guys tell me what I need to fix/improve on.
Thank you so much, again. :)