Winter 1:3
An almighty crash startles Kyron and Abigail. They'd been enjoying lunch, Kyron having relaxed tremendously, and decided to enjoy Abigail's company rather than worry about Alex and Hayley. The farmer had let his guard down at the exact wrong moment.
Kyron's light smile that had sent Abigail's heart fluttering just moments before now drops off his face like a falling stone. He is on his feet in an instant, snatching his own axe from the wall nearby and heading for the door.
"Kyron, don't hurt them!" Abigail calls after him. The farmer has enough control to stop at his beloved's words. He turns to her, not a glimmer of a smile on his face.
"I won't." He says. He throws the door open, ignoring the gust of snowy air that greets him and strides out towards the source of the noise. His features are set like stone, more serious than angry. He sees the damage to his Barn and Alex and Hayley running away from the scene. Kyron's features harden further and he summons the full strength of his voice to call to them youngsters from across the farm.
"Stop right there!"
Hayley slows but doesn't stop and Alex ignores him completely. Kyron is holding his axe directly under the head of the blade, so he tosses the handle partway up, catching it near the end of the handle. Taking very careful aim, he draws his arm back and launches the axe forward. It cartwheels through the air passed Hayley, causing her to scream and Alex to pause momentarily and look around. The axe flies passed his head and slams into the tree trunk next to where he is running, startling him enough that he collapses to the ground. Hayley is by his side in moments, and Kyron, having run full sprint across the farm, joins them a moment after that.
"What the hell were you two doing?" Kyron growls. Alex trembles to his feet, hyperventilating from adrenaline and panic. He points a shuddering arm at the axe buried into the tree trunk.
"You could have bloody killed me!" Alex shouts, "What the hell were you doing throwing that thing at us?!"
"I aimed very carefully to specifically avoid you." Kyron retorts, "And I threw it at you because you ignored me telling you to stop. Now answer my question. Why did you chop a tree down on my property without my permission? Why were you on my property without my invitation? And why, oh why, is there now a hole in the roof of my Barn, a building I've invested a lot of money into?"
"I was only meant to block you out of your Barn!" Alex stammers, "I swear! I didn't mean it to go through the roof of your barn, I didn't want to be that nasty!"
"Well why would you want to pull a stupid pointless prank on me like that anyway, I've done nothing to wrong you!" Kyron snarls back, "You're coming with me, to see the extent of the damage you've done to my property."
Taking them both under the arm, and leaving his axe in the tree trunk, Kyron steers them both back to the Barn, where a now fully dressed Abigail waits for them. For the first time in Kyron's life, he sees Abigail is absolutely terrified.
He frowns, depositing Alex and Hayley onto the ground.
"What's wrong? Other than the hole in our Barn?" he asks Abigail.
She points a trembling finger inside the Barn. Kyron climbs over the debris that was the front door, dragging Alex with him. He sees the source of Abigail's distraught expression.
The tree trunk lays through the middle of the farm, sunlight streaming in from the gash it had carved through the middle of the barn. The floor is littered with many chips of broken wood and stone. Towards the top of the tree however, is a large pool of blood and one of Kyron's cows lies crushed under the weight of the tree. The blood pool is slowly spreading and thickening until it reaches Kyron's boots. The remaining animals are quivering in a corner, too frightened to even cry out. Silence falls in the barn.
"Kyron..."Alex starts.
"Out." Kyron says. He waits for Alex's feeble attempt at a reply and deliberately cuts across him, "Get out, now. Get off my land. We will speak about this later."
Alex retreats immediately, for Kyron's tone had been almost a growl. Hayley follows Alex, murmuring a heartfelt apology to Abigail, who just shakes her head and points to the end of the farm where Hayley and Alex had entered.
Abigail waits in silence for Kyron to say something. He is her lover, and she is content to wait for him in this time of despair and disaster. Eventually, after almost ten minutes of near dead silence, Kyron speaks.
"They will pay for this. Harmless intentions or not, they had no real reason to do this in the first place, and they trespassed on our land. They will work on the farm and raise enough money to repair the Barn and buy a replacement Cow. That should be punishment enough, I think. I did not need this in Winter, of all Seasons, when the animals are my primary source of income. One stupid 'prank' in Alex's eyes has cost me a lot of money today."
Abigail goes to say something, but with his back turned to her, Kyron doesn't realise that he cuts across her when he corrects himself after a moment's silence, "It's cost us a lot of money." he says, turning to her, "I keep forgetting this is your land as much as mine now." a shadow of a smile flashes across his face before disappearing again. Abigail's replying smile is just as fleeting.
"Kyron I'm so sorry about all of this." she says, looking around the wreckage of the barn.
"It's not your fault." Kyron replies, joining Abigail with her observation at the damage.
"This will take all Winter to repair." Kyron mutters, "I've lost half my income this month."
"It'll be okay." Abigail wraps an arm around the farmer and squeezes tightly, "They won't bother us again, I don't think. We'll get through this." she plants a kiss on his cheek and heads back to the house, not being able to stand the sight of the dead cow any longer. Kyron waits a moment, saying a silent goodbye to the loyal, healthy cow he'd lost, and then follows Abigail.
