A.N. At the beginning of chapters from now on I will be putting a single song, or a small list of songs that I listened to while writing this. This isn't because they fit with the story, but because I think they're great songs! So here are todays!

All That I Am - Parachute

She Is Love - Parachute

TiK ToK - Ke$ha

She's Killing Me - A Rocket to the Moon

Here's the story! Enjoy!

When we had finished with the mayor Kevin ran, dragging me by the arm, across a stone bridge and along a rough beaten path. We passed a white picket fence, and I wondered absently if Kevin lived in luxury for a farmer. When we had made it up a very tiring hill- for me, not for Kevin- it only took a quick glance to see that the opposite was true.

"What happened to your house!?!" I cried, horified. "And your barn!" My eyes widened. "And your coop!" Kevin grimaced at my obvious distaste, and started whining.

"This is how the mayor gave it to me! Can you believe it? He just gave me a run down, drafty house!" He yelled. He took a deep breath to keep going, but I quickly cut him off.

"So, you're saying that you haven't done anything to have your buildings fixed in the two years you've been living here?" Silence. "Kevin," I said, trying to control the anger in my voice. "I have half a mind to go find someone else to live with." Kevin opened his mouth, but I held up a hand to silence him. "Someone unaccustomed to this could get seriously sick!" Kevin had the sense to look ashamed.

"Well, I have been been chopping a lot of lumber recently," he mumbled, motioning to a woodpile taller than my head. My eyes widened considerably when I saw the pile of stone perched precariously beside the wood.

"And I suppose you've been collecting plenty of stone, as well." I gulped, and Kevin's face transformed into a smirk. "So what's the problem then?" I asked. Kevin's mood instantly became stormy once again.

"I don't have enough money to pay Dale to upgrade my house, and for some reason he refuses to just do minor repairs. I nodded, looking past all the necessary repairs to the size of the house.

"Kev," I asked, "how much room is there going to be for moving around once to factor in a bed for me?" Kevin blanched.

"Oh." I nodded.

"'Oh' is right." I sighed deeply, trying to mentally calculate how long it would take to make enough money. I quickly gave up, not having any clue what resources Kevin had available or even if he was utilizing them. After two years however, shouldn't he have had enough money saved up? I asked him and he turned defensive.

"I have been treating Maya well, you know." My expression softened, understanding immediately what he meant. Kevin had been spending much of his profits to treat Maya to meals and gifts. It was actually a surprise to me, but a nice one. It was a very mature thing for my brother to be doing.

"Woah!" he exclaimed as I unexpectedly threw my arms around him. "What was that for sis?" he asked as I pulled away. I just smiled, shaking my head slowly.

"What can I do to help?" I asked, half fearful, half excited. Kevin's eyebrows drew together as he considered my question.

"Well, I guess you can't really help me with planting for a while," he glanced at my wrist subconsciously, "but I could use help with my animals, and maybe you could run errands when I need more seed or fertilizer or something?" He said the last part like a question. I nodded, relieved at the seemingly easy tasks Kevin had appointed me. Kevin laughed a little, looking a bit amused at my obvious relief, and I immediately began to worry again.

"No laughing," I pouted, pointing at his plants which were in a state between dead and comatose.

"Son of a..." Kevin threw a sheepish glance in my direction. "Biscuit," he amended. I smiled and then asked,

"Do you need me to do anything?" Kevin nodded and jerked his head to indicate the barn and coop.

"Here." He dropped a brush, a very large pair of scissors, and a cylinder with a tube on the end in my arms.

"Wha..."

"Milker, shears, and brush," he explained, motioning to each object in turn. I nodded, still feeling as though my mind was spinning on an axis.

"And how do I use the milker?" I asked, swinging it in circles by the rubber tube. Kevin looked amused at my antics, and just shook his head before he responded.

"Fit the larger part over the udder while pinching off the tube. When it's on and there's a bucket underneath you let the tube go. The built up pressure provides enough suction to milk the cow. Repeat until you've done the entire udder." I nodded and turned to go. I was at the door of the barn when Kevin yelled, "And make sure to direct the milk or it will go all over!" I nodded, then took a step into the dark building. The first thing that hit me was the stench. There was excrement all over the floor, and the milk buckets were dirty and strewn about. Wrinkling my nose, I decided that the single cow and sheep, both scrawny, that were in this barn could wait. I dropped the tools Kevin had given me on a rickety shelf, almost dropping the milker through a hole in the rotten wood. Shaking my head, I set about finding a shovel. There were three or four pushed into an adjacent corner, and I grabbed one, only to have the blade fall off. Three shovels later I finally found one that was relatively intact, and went about cleaning up. I had to fight down nausea as the flies swarmed around the piles of crap I was lifting. I made a pile by the door, figuring Kevin could use it for fertilizer for a while.

When I had finally finished, the pile was enormous, and I had an equally big knot beneath my shoulder blades. Shrugging my shoulders to relieve some of the tension I tossed some relatively fresh straw around, then approached the cow. Making small talk with the animal probably made me look like a crazy, but it felt right. I brushed her carefully, taking my time. When I was done she made an appreciative 'moo.' I have to stop imagining things, I chastised, shaking my head. I moved onto the sheep, whose wool was much more tangled than I would have expected. When I had finished, she too thanked me with a 'baa.' Weird. I went over to my shelf and dropped off the brush, replacing it with a milker. I went over to the cow and milked her. When I had finished she seemed to be happier. Nearly skipping at the animals' positive reactions to me, I switched out the milker for the shears and went back to the sheep. I clipped all around until I had all her wool bundled in a ball. I was expecting a happy response, but got an angry snort from the naked animal. I childishly stuck my tongue out at it and went to set the ball of wool near my bucket of milk to free my hands. I soon found the food storage, and gulped, noticing how it was nearly empty. Splitting the remaining food I placed half before the cow and half before the sheep. Another negative response.

"Don't you look at me like that," I chastised them. "It's Kevin's fault there's not enough food today. I'll be sure to get more by tomorrow!" I grabbed my tools and the products, then stumbled out into the light, bending dangerously under the weight. My casted wrist wasn't exactly making things easier. Just before everything went crashing down the wool and milk were snatched from me. I could hear Kevin laughing nervously, and watched as he dropped the wool into a box, and brought the milk into the house. I followed and took in the sparse furniture while Kevin put the milk in the fridge.

"I need to get you a rucksack to carry tools in," mused Kevin, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Took you long enough to take care of the animals, too." I huffed, even though he was clearly joking.

"If you must know, I cleaned the barn, and the food is all gone now." Kevin's expression was a strange mix of shocked and worried.

"Thanks," he said absently, nervously chewing on his lip. I could see the numbers in his mind, and they weren't adding up very well.

"You can afford food for them, can't you?" I asked, very worried at this point. Kevin nodded, but I could see the doubt in his eyes. I dug around in my pocket and exclaimed, "This should be enough to pay for my room and board while I'm here." I was holding most of my money out, but Kevin didn't need to know that. He nodded shamefully.

"Thanks, sis," he whispered, reaching out to hug me. I melted into his familiar arms and suddenly felt like crying. I hadn't realized until now just how much I missed my brother. My only problem now was, 'How am I going to have enough money when I started my own farm?'

A.N. Well, what do you think so far? Please send me a review and tell me. From now on I will be acknowledging my reviewers and maybe even sending them a message back. Even if you just favorite my story it puts me on Cloud 9! I cannot begin to express how much reviews mean to me, and I really take them to heart. If you make a suggestion, it will be seriously considered, and maybe incorporated into the story if it fits!

Thanks to 'Normal-looking Freak' for being my one and only reviewer so far! In response to your review, I promise I really won't give this story up. Thanks so much for your support, and I will give you more story to read! :)

One more thing- I won't be updating every day or every few days like clockwork from now on, because winter break is ending Monday. *cries* I will try to update at least once or twice a week, however. That may get difficult with midterms coming up, but I'll try! Thanks everyone, and if I haven't made it clear yet...

PLEASE REVIEW! :)