Chapter 2

I stumbled off the boat and onto the island's tiny dock. That had NOT been a fun ride. The animals weren't use to the rocking motion of the ship, so I had to go through 4 hours of hell trying to calm down 6 cows, 7 chickens, and 3 sheep, all flopping around trying to get out of the death trap. One of the chickens had even managed to peck a hole in my hat. Damn chicken.

"Hey, Vaughn!" I barely had enough time to glance up before Julia threw herself at me with a huge grin on her face. "You're here! I've been waiting for you all day! How was the boat- Oh wow, you look awful." She stated, standing back to get a better look at me.

I gave her one of my glares and she instantly changed the topic.

"So mom and I have the shop all set up! You should come by and look at it. We've even got a room set up for you already!"

"Jeez, Julia, I just got here."

"I know, I know. But you can relax when we get there!"

Getting the feeling I wasn't going to win this argument, I let her lead me to the shop, surveying the town as I walked through it. There were a few people scattered about who looked at me as I passed by, but none of them gave me the cold snobby glares I was accustomed to in the city. One of them even smiled, this one girl with chestnut…

Wait, why did she look so familiar…?

That's when it clicked. That chestnut haired girl from my childhood…she looked just like her!

"Vaughn!" Julia yanked my arm, snapping me back to reality. "What's wrong?"

"Um… Nothing. Where's the shop?"

"Right over there." Julia answered, pointing to a rundown looking shack on the other side of the dirt road.

"I hope the inside looks better than the outside…"

"I think it does. Everything's set up, aside from a few crates we haven't unpacked yet."

"Guess that's what I'll be doing all day."

"Yeah, but I'll help you." I pushed my thoughts of the girl aside as Julia unlocked the door and led me in. The floor was swept and the lights were on, and there were a few pictures hanging on the wall. I was actually impressed with how it looked.

"This is the room we set aside for you." She led me around the corner to a little room with only the bare necessities: a bed, a dresser, a lamp. Good enough for me.

"Mom should get here tomorrow. So I guess you can do what you want until then."

I nodded. She turned to leave, but then stopped and turned to face me again.

"On second thought, maybe you should go meet the rancher first. She'll be the main one buying the animals after all."

"She?"

"Yes, she. I'll have you know she's very strong!"

I instantly got an image of a woman with short blonde curls and huge bulging muscles in my head. I flopped down on the bed. "I'll meet her later."

Julia gave me a hard stare. I sighed, standing back up. I suppose I might as well get it over with. And besides, I wanted to try and find that girl again. Julia gave me a smile as I walked past her and headed towards the door.

I glanced around for the girl I saw before as I made my way to the farm, but I couldn't find her. No big deal, it's not like I was gonna talk to her, anyways. So I surveyed the farm land as I approached the rancher's house. "This place is a total dump…" I muttered as I raised a hand to knock on the door, but it swung open before I had a chance to and I found myself staring at a really huge, really muscular torso. I glanced up and let out a gasp of shock. A small head with curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes was staring down at me! Holy crap, the image in my head was right!

"Hey! I've never seen you before!"
My shock increased as the one small blonde head was joined by a larger, balder one with crappy dental care.

"Oh hey! You are new!"

I stared at the figure, mouth agape. The blonde head fell from the torso and I realized it had been a small girl riding on the bigger guy's shoulder. I was tempted to just leave the weirdoes right then and there, but that would be defeating the purpose and I'd have to come back again later, so I forced myself into conversing with them.

"You're not the rancher, are you?"

The big guy laughed and said "Naw, I'm the carpenter on this island. Gannon's the name! An' this here is my daughter Eliza."

"Yup!" the girl chimed in as if to confirm the man's statement. There was no way in hell those two were related.

"We're here to help Chelsea fix up the farm a little."

"Chelsea's the rancher?"

"Yup! Hey, Chelsea! You've got a visitor!"

I heard a loud clunk and a few moments later, you guessed it, that girl I'd been looking for came to the door, which seriously threw me for a loop. Life was determined to make me make a fool of myself on my first day on this island. Well, life, not gonna happen. I looked up at the sky, which had turned a stormy gray color. The first few drops of rain were beginning to fall. I hoped this little intro would be short so I could get back to the shop before it started coming down heavy.

"I've gotta go get some more lumber. I'll be back later to finish yer upgrade." Gannon said as he walked by me, Eliza alongside him. Chelsea nodded slowly.

"Alright…Crap that hurt. " She muttered, rubbing her head and motioning for me to come inside.

"You okay?" I asked as I entered.

"Yeah. Something fell on me, that's all." She swayed a little and pointed towards the back of her house, at a large painting on the floor. It looked pretty heavy.

"You sure you're okay? Don't want you passing out on me."

"I'm fine, I'm fine! I was just trying to do some home improvements, key word there being trying." She smiled and I found that despite my best efforts I felt quite comfortable in her presence. Not exactly thrilled by this discovery, I quickly turned my attention to my surroundings. Her house was pretty empty. All she had was a bed and a table with a large rucksack thrown on top of it.

"So uh…I'm Chelsea." She held out her hand, expecting me to shake it.

"Vaughn." I brushed my hand against hers then crossed my arms. "I'm an animal dealer. I'll be bringing animals to this island from the city every week. I just figured you should know since you're the rancher and all." I couldn't help smirking as I said this because really, she did not look like much of a rancher to me. She gave me a bit of a glare, then smiled.

There was a flash of light from outside her window and seconds later, a loud boom. Chelsea shuddered.

"Man, I hate storms…Do you want to stay for a while? I'd feel bad if I let you walk out in that."

I studied her face for a minute. She had the same features as the girl from my memory, but I couldn't be sure unless I found out more about her. But seriously, how would I do that? Say "oh, I think you're this girl I met over a decade ago who was the first person not to treat me like total crap, and gave me this coin which I now carry around 24/7" ? Truthful…and psychotic. I shook my head.

"No…I should get back. And you should rest your head."

She laughed. "Okay. Just don't get hit by lightning!"

"I'll try not to. See you around, I guess." And with another glance I left, trying to ignore the nagging suspicions slowly taking over my mind.