"Hey, girl! Are ya really going to Sunshine Islands?" The captain of the small boat asked a young woman standing near a large black dog and she was looking out to sea. After no responce the captain continued, "Are you going to answer me, girl?" He was replied with silence.
A few more moments of silence past and the captain gave up trying to talk to the girl. He jumped when she finally spoke.
"Chelsea." she said quietly as she reached down and scratched her dogs head.
"Huh?"
"My name's not girl." Her voice a little louder this time.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot, even though your name's on the ticket." He laughed to himself slightly.
Everything fell silent again for the rest on the ride. It made the captain uncomfortable, but atleast she wasn't looking at him with her almost dead eyes. Even her dog scared him, it looked like it was staring right into your soul, and it was jet black with red eyes. The captain sighed then looked ahead, the islands were in sight, he could finally be rid of her and her dog from hell. He docked the boat and as soon as she and her dog left he wasted no time to leave himself.
A few moments later she passed through the town and stopped at the bridge to what everyone called farm island.
She looked down at her dog before speaking, "Looks like we start our new life here, Twila." A little happiness shown in her eyes and the dog barked it's reply.
A set of footsteps approached from behind, "So, you're the new farmer." The happiness faded from her eyes at the sound of the voice.
Chelsea turned around to see a small, bald, old man with a large walking stick. He nearly jumped back when he saw her expression.
"My name is Taro, and I'm the one who advertised the place for a farmer." He paused and thought for a moment, "You look new to the farming business, do you need any help?"
"No." She turned and walked across the bridge, leaving Taro to stare after her.
As soon as Chelsea entered the farm she found some tools in the house and set to work on clearing the neglected feilds while Twila scouted the area incase any wild animals were sticking around.
She had just cleared enough room for the first lot of crops when she heard Twilas barking from the back of the farm. Standing she looked over in the direction the barking was coming from and spotted a very old looking barn. Chelsea walked over to the barn and through the open door. Twila was barking at a sickly looking calf that was huddled in the corner, it must have either escaped from the animal shop or it's parents were left behind by the last farmer and died.
"Twila, stop. You're scaring her." She sighed, "Keep her here and I'll be right back." Walking out of the farm and heading to the animal shop she put on her blank expression and empty eyes.
Inside the shop a woman stood behind the counter and when Chelsea entered the shop she smiled, "Welcome! You must be the farmer that arrived today. My name's Mirabelle, what may I do for you."
"Animal medicine and fodder."
"My, are you stocking up? You've only just arrived today." Mirabelle said as she took a bottle from underneath the desk. She waited for the farmer to reply but she got none and continued, "You don't talk much, do you. Anyway I'll send someone over with the fodder."
Chelsea nodded a thanks and picked up the bottle leaving the money. Before Mirabelle could say anything else she left and headed straight to the barn.
Inside the barn the calf was still huddled in the corner and Twila didn't take her eyes off it. Chelsea approached the animal slowly from the front and held up her hands in a non-threatening gesture.
"Shh, I won't hurt you. Don't be scared." She smiled softly as she got closer to the calf, "See? I want to help." Chelsea held out a hand infront of the calves head and the animal sniffed it. She knelt down at its flank and took out the bottle of medicine and a syringe, "This will sting, I won't lie to you." After treating the calf it settled down and Chelsea sat stroking its head.
Twila let out a low growl then a warning bark. Chelsea stood and faced whatever upset the dog, all emotion fading. A tall man wearing a cowboy's outfit stood in the doorway with a bag of fodder slung over his shoulder. Twila started barking again and Chelsea raised a hand to silence her.
"Mirabelle told me to bring this." He walked forwards and emptied the bag into a trough. His movements were followed by both Twila's and Chelsea's gaze.
Just before he left Chelsea asked, "How long?"
"Long enough." He walked to the door and was about to walk out but stopped, "The name's Vaughn." With that he gripped the end of his hat, covering his eyes and left.
A/N: Ok I know, this chapter is kinda rushed compared to what I can do but this is temporary for the moment as I will try to improve quality, and length, later, just wanted to see what people thought of this idea.