Chelsea sighed loudly as she sat at her dinner table in her home. She tapped the side of her tea filled mug with her fingers as her eyes scanned the pages of the book she was reading. It had been raining all morning, just as Taro had predicted, and Chelsea was spending her time indoors. She had finished all her chores on her ranch earlier that day, but she decided to wait at home to see if the rain would clear up before she headed into town.
Chelsea didn't really like being trapped indoors. She liked the fresh air and breeze on her face. If it was any other day, she would simply brave out the rain and go about her day as usual. However, the memory of her getting the flu the last time she did that still haunted her, and Chelsea wasn't about to take another sick leave off of work.
So Chelsea settled herself at her small dinner table and decided to finally read the book that Sabrina had lent to her awhile ago. Chelsea didn't really have much time nor need to read, working as a rancher was enough to keep her busy and content, but she couldn't say no to Sabrina when the small and shy girl insisted eagerly that she should read it.
The wizard of Oz. Chelsea had heard of the story before, but couldn't really remember quite what it was about. As she read it, however, she began to like the story more and more, for the young heroin in the story was much like Chelsea herself. She had long brown hair like Chelsea, lived on a farm like Chelsea, and worried if she is where she truly belongs. Just like Chelsea.
For the past couple of weeks, Chelsea had been getting this eternal tugging feeling at the bottom of her gut. A feeling she got whenever she questioned if she was doing the right thing. Whether being a rancher, was the right thing for her. For as long as Chelsea could remember, she had been a wanderer, never really finding that one place where she could truly stay at, a place she could call home.
Much like the girl within the pages, Chelsea had dreamed of going too far off places and having her own adventures. When she decided to settle down on the Sunshine Islands, she had thought that she had finally found her place in the world. Everyone was so friendly and nice, and even though the work was hard, Chelsea found herself enjoying it. But recently she couldn't shake the feeling of purpose, and wondering if this was where she really needed to be.
Chelsea had just gotten to the part where the Good Witch had pointed Dorothy towards the yellow brick road when she heard a rustling at her feet.
Her dog, Hero, had been quietly napping at her feet all morning. Usually, Hero would have stayed outside or in the barn, but unlike the rest her animals; Hero had no roommate to keep him company. Chelsea felt bad for the poor thing, and so every once in awhile, she would take Hero with her to explore the islands or help her out with chores. And since it was a rainy day and she was already spending the morning indoors, Hero was the perfect companion to keep her company.
Hero, who was now wide awake, ran out from under the table and began sniffing the door.
"Hey Hero, is something wrong?" Chelsea asked curiously as she closed her book. Hero continued to sniff the door before he began pawing at it and barking. Chelsea got up from her chair and walked over towards the door.
"Alright, alright, there's no need to bark, silly. I'll let you out." Chelsea said as she opened the door for her dog.
The moment she did so, something small and shiny whizzed by her feet and into her house. Hero made a 180 turn, completely forgetting about going outside, and ran towards the object that was now standing on her table. It took Chelsea a few moments to grasp the situation as she closed the door and looked back at what had just zoomed in.
"Phew! I thought you were never going to open your door! If I was out there any longer, I was sure that I was going to drown in a puddle!"
As Chelsea got closer to the voice, she realized there was a very small person, sprite to be exact, standing on her table.
"Oh, Agete, It's you!" Chelsea said, walking up to the little red sprite. She noticed that he was soaking wet and dripping from pointy ear to toe. She quickly ran over to where she kept the dish towels and handed one to the sprite.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know you were outside, I would have let you. I hope you didn't catch a cold because of me." Chelsea said, apologetically.
"It's fine. We sprites are much sturdier then we look. We don't get things like colds." The little sprite said cheerfully, rubbing himself down on the over sized towel.
Hero was still barking up a storm, more out of curiosity then aggression, before Chelsea knelt down to calm him down.
"Shhh, its ok Hero. He's a friend." She coed, petting the protective dog on the head. She turned her attention back on Agete. "Is there something I can get for you? Tea? Warm milk?" She asked politely.
The little sprite shook his head. "Oh, no, thank you. I didn't come here to stay long. I just came to . . . check on you." Agete said nervously.
"Check on me?" Chelsea asked, seating herself back in her chair. Hero decided that the stranger was of no threat for now, and settled back around his person's feet. "Why are you checking on me?"
"Well, it's more like the Harvest Goddess is checking on you." Agete said, drying the last of himself off before directly looking at Chelsea. "See, she noticed that you hadn't visited her in awhile and so she was worried that something was wrong, so she sent me here to check on things."
The tugging feeling in her stomach returned as the red sprite finished his explanation. Chelsea didn't mean to make the Harvest Goddess worry about her. The guilt she had been feeling for awhile troubled her to the point where just couldn't face the Harvest Goddess.
Chelsea had doubted herself ever since she first heard of the islands dilemma, and she just couldn't show her face in front of the Goddess that expected her to save the entire island. How could she save the Goddess' home when she didn't even know if this was her own home as well?
"Oh, it must have slipped my mind!" Chelsea said slapping her forehead dramatically. "I've been so busy with this spring's crops that I haven't had time to do much else. But don't worry, when the weather gets better, I'll come and visit the Harvest Goddess as soon as possible! I'll even bring the juiciest strawberry I have as an offering." Chelsea said with a smile.
Chelsea hated lying. Not only was she terrible at it, but she hated the feeling of guilt afterward and she especially hated having to lie to a friend. However, she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't let anyone on the island know how she was feeling, she couldn't bear to burden anyone with her problems, let alone let them know that she doubted herself as the rancher that they all depended on.
Agete didn't seem convinced.
"You sure you're ok? You know you can always ask for some extra help from us sprites, if you need to." He asked with a worried expression.
"Oh yeah. I'm fine, don't worry. You can tell the Harvest Goddess that I'm sorry for troubling her." Chelsea said, waving her hand as if to wave off the matter. "I promise. I'm fine."
Agete saw right through her fake smile, and was about to argue when a high pitched ringing sound filled the air. Hero woke up again and began barking at the familiar noise caused by the phone.
"Oh, excuse me for a moment." Chelsea excused herself, glad to have an excuse to leave the conversation and walked over to the phone.
"Hello?" Chelsea said into the phone in her usual sweet voice.
"Hey Chelsea, its Julia." Came the familiar upbeat voice from the other end.
"Julia! Hi, how are you?" Chelsea asked.
Before Julia could answer a loud bang followed by yelling came from her end of the phone. Chelsea had to hold the phone away from her ear so that her ear drum would burst before continuing to speak with Julia.
"Oh I'm fine, thanks." Julia answered in a meek voice. "But I kinda need your help."
"What's wrong?" Chelsea asked worriedly.
A voice other than Julia's came through the phone.
"If you weren't such a cry baby all the time this wouldn't have happened in the first place!" Said the first voice.
"He already said he was sorry! Why do you have to be such a jerk all the time?" Came a second voice.
Chelsea instantly recognized the two arguing voices as Vaughn's and Denny's, but she didn't have a clue what they were fighting about.
"Does that answer your question?" Julia said, back on the phone.
"How bad is it?" Chelsea asked, looking outside her window to see if the rain had cleared up.
"Like, you should have been here yesterday, bad." Julia answered.
Chelsea sighed. "Ok, I'm on my way. I'll see you soon."
"Thanks Chelsea. You're a real life saver!" Julia hung up the phone.
Chelsea sighed again before looking back at Agete.
"I'm sorry, but I have to go take care of a problem really quick." Chelsea said, walking over to the table and grabbing her familiar red bandanna before putting it on.
"Oh that's ok, I should be on my way back soon anyway. Is it ok if I stay a little longer to dry off?" Agete asks.
Chelsea nodded and tightened her bandanna. "Of course, and if the rain doesn't stop by the time I could back, feel free to use anything as an umbrella so you don't get wet again."
Chelsea walked over to the door and grabbed her rucksack. She slung it on her shoulder and called over her dog.
"Thanks for dropping in, Agete. Say hello to the Goddess for me. Bye!" Chelsea waved before turning Hero. "Come on boy, you and I have some work to do." And with that, Chelsea and Hero were out the door.
The house suddenly became quite, except for the continuing sound of the rain hitting the roof. Agete stood there for a moment before shaking his head. He could tell Chelsea had been hiding something, but he had no idea what, or why.
"The Harvest Goddess isn't going to be pleased with this." The red sprite mumbled to himself.
Just as he was getting ready to leave, Agete noticed that it was still raining outside. Remembering what the rancher had said, he began to look around the room for something he could use to shield himself from the downpour. His eyes drifted around the room until they came to land on a very thin and small book, just a few inches from him. Agete walked over and tried to pick the book up, which he luckily lifted over his head with ease.
"Perfect." Agete said, before reading the title of the book.
"Wizard of Oz, eh? I'm sure Chelsea won't mind if I borrow this."
And just like the rancher and her dog did before, the red sprite left the house and into the rain to report back to the Harvest Goddess. Little did they know that there was a storm coming their way that would change everything.
