Authors Notes: Hello again, a late update I know, and a shorter chapter too. I'm sorry, but this chapter couldn't get much longer for me to write so please excuse me. I'm just glad I slacked off coursework long enough to finish this chapter. My other stories should be updated soon too if I'm lucky. I hope you enjoy it anyway. I also corrected a huge error in my typing which I'm not changing in the previous chapters. You probably won't notice though.
I woke early the next morning, the banging on the front door startling me as I stretched shortly before sitting up on the bed I was laid on the day before. I stared at my right leg shortly, the dried blood plastering my pale skin.
The front door opened to reveal none other than Taro and Elliot creeping inside. I forced a smile as they sighed to themselves and walked inside. I tried to get up out of bed, steadily balancing myself, the sudden gasping and racing feet almost distracting as I focussed on my intentions.
"You shouldn't force yourself into walking." Taro commented, standing directly in front of me.
"But I can stand up. If I'm going to work on the farm I need to get started no matter what," I complained, trying to and succeeding in completely balancing myself on both feet.
"Don't rush yourself. You could cause more injury," Elliot snapped.
"You're right," Taro agreed, soon turning back to look at me. "Hollie, please don't push yourself. You seem to be a hardworking and fighting type but don't go past your limit."
"I won't. I don't set limits, I take what life throws at me and battle it through," I smiled, scrunching my hand into a fist and pulling off a courageous pose. It easily faded, along with my enthusiasm. "I need to."
"Just don't hurt yourself," Taro sternly mumbled.
"I won't. I may be determined but I'm always careful," I grinned, shifting the weight of my feet onto my left leg.
With a small giggle, I momentarily tried walking, which was a struggle, especially when both Taro and Elliot are crowding me, waiting for me to fall. Which I didn't. Glancing between them both, my smile grew wider and wider as I successfully kept my footing on the wooden floor, as my boots sat on the floor.
'What the heck are my boots doing on the floor? I thought I was wearing them.' I questioned myself; my querying look must have been obvious as both men laughed between them.
"Natalie and Felicia came in while you were asleep to make sure you were ok. They found your boots had fallen off and put them on the floor out of the way." Taro explained, a mischievous grin complimenting his wise face.
"You can read my mind?" I teased; smiling again as I tried taking a few more successfully manoeuvred steps.
"No, no. I'd figure out your darkest secrets other wise," Taro teased in reply, winking cheekily.
"I have no dark secrets," I laughed rolling my eyes as Taro looked at me expectantly, obviously not believing me. "Seriously."
"But you obviously have something you don't want to share, that you're locking deep inside your heart," Taro chuckled.
"Yea, yea. Sure, whatever. It's not what you're thinking if it's true though. Let me explain one thing about me, because we just met yesterday. I'm one of those girls who doesn't fall in love, because I'm stubborn and irritating to the point that I'm unbearable," I explained with a slightly sarcastic but also serious tone.
"I can tell," Taro chuckled.
Rolling my eyes once more, I limped my way over to the bed to sit down again. Grabbing my brown boots that sat on the floor at the end of the bed. I put them on, carefully avoiding touching my right leg to avoid as little pain as possible. It took a few minutes but it was done. With a smile I got myself back up on my feet, which hurt slightly as the leather of my boots rubbed against the cut, which seemed to be deeper than I thought.
"Don't walk if it hurts," Elliot interrupted, my trail of thought distracted.
"Sometimes you need to fight through pain and work towards goals even if it means something to deal with in the mean time," I explained.
Leaving both of them speechless, I looked around the room. In the far corner, near the front door, a rucksack sat amongst tools, which must be used for farming. Making my way over to them, enduring the stinging, I grabbed the bag. Inside, two small sacks of seeds, labelled with a picture of turnips sat waiting for attention. Grabbing the tools with the bag, I organised them to fit snugly in the bag. Putting the straps over my shoulders, I stood myself up right, toppling slightly but regaining my balance again.
"Well, I better get started," I smiled; rolling down my jeans on my right leg which I hadn't realised was showing my lower leg that wasn't hidden by my boots. Then adjusting the opposite leg to look tidy.
"Just don't work too hard. If you feel tired, take a break," Elliot commented.
"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," I assured encouragingly.
"I have to agree with Elliot. We don't want you to collapse. Especially not Elliot," Taro sternly commented before chuckling just after he had finished speaking.
"Grandpa," Elliot complained.
All I could do was raise an eyebrow. I should have expected him to say that. Ever since the 'incident', Taro's treated everything differently. Even though I told myself it didn't bother me, my face was burning up like it meant something.
'It's probably just embarrassment. Yea, embarrassment,' I thought to myself.
"Come on Elliot. We better leave Hollie to get on with work. We've kept her long enough," Taro commented.
The two of them left as I did. I closed the door, not expecting a key to clatter the heel of my boots. Picking it up, I tested it on the front door of the house, which luckily locked and unlocked the front door. Putting the rusted key in my jeans front pocket, I bid Elliot and Taro good-bye, and set out to explore the large field I saw the day before.
Everywhere, weeds, stones and branches scattered the massive field, amongst large boulders and stumps.
'This will be harder than I thought,' I groaned to myself.
I cleared a reasonable sized square of the field with only some difficulty. Taking the bag off my shoulders, I opened the zip and took out the hoe. Ploughing the ground, I could easily feel my back aching.
'Well Mum always said that the summer holidays came from kids staying home all summer to help with the harvest. Now I know how they felt all those years ago,' I thought to myself with a grateful grin. 'Well… that's what she said.'
An hour or two must have passed, the sun was shining brighter and brighter as time went on. By that time, I had planted the turnip seeds in the tilled soil and watered them with the green watering can that I had earlier packed in my bag. I wasn't ready to do much more work, so I decided it was time to explore the island.
Clutching the bag straps that hung over my shoulder, I left the farm, a smile on my face. I need to be positive, so I will be. I took a few steps along the dusty path; the one thing different about my surroundings was the building that wasn't boarded up.
"Elliot and his family must be living there," I told myself.
"Right we are!" A girls voice replied.
"Natalie. Don't scare me like that," I snapped, jumping slightly.
"Sorry. I just saw you walking by and thought I'd say hello," Natalie smiled. "Is your leg feeling better?"
"Still stings once in a while, but I feel a lot better than before. Thank you," I replied sincerely with a smile.
"Glad to hear it. Elliot was worrying about you lots last night. He doesn't get attached to people easily, or that quickly," Natalie giggled.
"I'm sure you're misjudging him. I mean, he's probably just worrying because he only met me yesterday like the rest of your family did," I replied, rolling my eyes when Natalie didn't notice.
"Well, we'll see. You're probably right, but I still think he's a little bit shocked by you. He did say he thinks you're pretty," Natalie grinned, a look of mischief in her eyes.
"Uhh… that doesn't necessarily mean anything. He could just be saying that to be nice," I protested, crossing my arms over my chest.
"But if he was saying to be nice he'd say it to your face," Natalie continued to grin.
"Ah well. We'll definitely have to wait and see," I sighed.
"Lets go explore. This island must have something to do," Natalie excused.
With a nod, Natalie and I set off following the street down to the beach where I had washed ashore. What we didn't expect was a man with a child standing on the beach.
"Oh hello," The man greeted, the small boy smiling as he set eyes on us.
"Hey," Natalie happily replied with a smile. "Oh! I'll go get my family."
Natalie ran off, leaving me to shyly stand waiting for her to return. In the meantime before Natalie came back, the two introduced themselves, the man being called Chen and the child, his son, called Charlie. In return I introduced myself, which was embarrassing because I've never been used to meeting new people like this. It was moments after I had finished introducing myself that Natalie returned with Elliot, with Felicia and Taro not far behind him.
"Sorry about that," Natalie apologised with a smile. "I'm Natalie and this is my family."
"Nice to meet you," Chen and Charlie both replied in sync.
They each bid a warm greeting and exchanged introductions. Taro took the liberty of explaining my newly assigned job for me, obviously taking into consideration that I felt far too shy to speak.
"Charlie and I intend to set up our market here. We wanted to escape the city and live a quieter life," Chen explained.
"That sounds understandable," I commented, breaking my silence.
Another awkward silence filled the air, causing me to realise how painful my leg really felt. It was a few minutes later that Taro offered to show Chen and his son to a building to set up the market. Leaving me alone on the beach, I waited before I made my own way back to the farm.
I stood on the bare soil of the somewhat dead field. Nothing was growing apart from the useless weeds that made it less than a pretty sight to look at. I couldn't help but feel slightly vulnerable. With a sudden kick in the stomach, (no not pregnancy) I shook the feeling and took off my bag and dumped it on the floor. Fair enough I had planted turnips in the soil, but a doubt was covering me like a cloud, I couldn't help but think they wouldn't grow.
"Things will be hard… but I have to try," I told myself, biting my lip as my arrogance and sceptical mind took over making dread the worst again. "Mum and Dad would want me to work hard."
