yay! chapter 2 is finally up and ready to go, so at the end please don't forget to review!
Ch. 2
I hadn't gotten much work done that day Mom died. Only one section of eight crops had been completed and I sighed with disappointment. My hoe's handling end was stuck into the ground as I leaned on it and looked at my work. Behind me was the door to my new house, I had already been in it and to be honest it was disgusting. I wasn't one for complaining but this was terrible how poorly the farm's condition was. The buildings looked as if they would fall down if you touched them. That's what started my new task the next day.
I had gone to Woody, the seventy-six year old carpenter, and asked if I could borrow a ladder. He let me, knowing it was for the farm, since Louis had blabbed to everyone about Lyla dying and my taking over the farm. It was fortunate he didn't give them the reason she died, or anything else but her dying. I had bawled like a baby...silently...when she died...smiling.
With the ladder, I went back to the farm and got some cloths and started scrubbing away sixteen years of filth from the house. Some people might've said it was pointless, and I guess they were right but I really wanted the farm to look nice again and I had nothing better to do. The roof of the house took hours of cleaning, bringing noon on quicker than I had thought. I climbed down the ladder and decided to go to the Ronald's Supermarket for some bread and honey for a couple days.
"Good luck on the farm," Ronald said to me as he began to bag my merchandise. "And I'm terribly sorry about your mother, she had so much to live for too. Now at her death we're getting a newcomer to Flowerbud Village...Lyla's funeral will be on Sunday. I've tried to contact Jack too, no such luck, I thought for sure he'd be in the nearest city or village. I'm sorry Daism, I'm talking too much, it's just been hectic times now." He handed me the bag and I grabbed it from him with a nod and walked to the door. "Before you leave," he stated suddenly and I came to an abrupt halt. "I want you to come over say around 4 o' clock and meet this newcomer with me, that is if you don't mind."
"I'll come." It was all I said and needed to say before I walked out the door. The walk to the farm was so much different than to the Flower Shop but it somehow felt so right. I opened the door to my small house and put the bag on the table before walking outside to complete my work for the day. The crops were well watered and I made sure of that and the house's roof didn't look as if it'd collapse at any given moment. I decided to cut down some grass for fodder in my silo just in case I might get a cow one day...or, if I played my cards right, a horse. Horses had fascinated me since my childhood and every time I went to Brownie Farm I watched the horses with awed fascination. The gray horse had always been my favorite one and I had befriended it so it came to me whenever I went over there. I had called that horse Mickey Mouse and he was my best friend in this whole village believe it or not.
At 4 o' clock I stopped working and went over to the supermarket to see Ronald waiting for me outside by his garden. "Afternoon Daism, fancy meeting you here," he grinned. I smiled and nodded and walked over. "The man supposed to come over here, it's what he said and I trust he'll be able to find his way over here too."
"Does this man have a name by any chance?" I asked crisply.
"He never gave me his name, just the fact that he was coming here, which is rather surprising but I'm sure he just wanted to let us know ahead of time," he shrugged. I looked out of the corner of my eyes, seeing a figure emerging from Walnut Forest. Ronald didn't seem to be paying attention and just looked to the clouded sky. "I still can't believe that she died though, she was always smiling and now she finally just...broke."
"What's past is past and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing gold can stay, that's the way life is so you just have to move on," I muttered dryly.
"Nothing gold can stay?" questioned Ronald.
"It's a poem I once found at the manor. It was a really beautiful poem, I'll tell you another time though." Just as I finished my sentence a man, around the age of 40, walked up and grinned at Ronald.
"You must be the man I wrote to," he grinned. "Name's Rav." He shook hands with Ronald, firmly enough so it seemed more like he was in his late 20's instead of early 40's. "And who might you be boy?"
"This is Daism. Took over Harvest Farm since his mother died on him just yesterday," Ronald answered.
"I'm terribly sorry to hear about your mother Daism, was she a nice woman?" Rav frowned.
"She was incredibly wonderful, best woman anyone would ever see in this town," I answered.
"You took over the farm, is it hard work?" Now I was beginning to get irritated, all these questions focused around my personal life...why did this man...Rav...need to know?
"It's hard, but worth it if I can help this town, it's been tough going for us all so it's best that there's a farmer now," I explained. "Anything else?" I asked a little testily for my own good. He obviously noticed my irritation in my voice and decided to change the subject.
"Beautiful town it is Ronald."
"Sure is Rav," Ronald smiled proudly. "So are you here on vacation or looking for a fresh start or what?"
"My reasons are my own, but since I here that this boy, Daism, is working on a farm was wondering if I could help him around, no charge for now," Rav told him.
"I'm sure Daism would be delighted to have you help him on the farm, right Daism?" Ronald stated.
"Sure, it'd get more produce going and we need all the produce we can get right now," I shrugged.
"Excellent," Rav grinned. "So when do you want me to start working?"
"Show up tomorrow whenever and we can start planting more crops. Where will you stay though?" I asked, unable to hide my curiosity.
"I've got it all worked out so don't worry," he said smoothly. Every expression he put on his face made me feel uncomfortable, everything about him in fact from his chestnut-brown hair tied in a ponytail down his back partly to his average muscular frame. "I'll come around say, 7 a.m., that sound good?"
"Alright, whatever, don't expect any pay or nothin' like that," I mumbled.
"Don't worry, I don't care 'bout pay or anything like that," smiled Rav. "So I'll see you then, farewell."
"So what about her...?" Ronald whispered to Rav as I began to leave. I didn't hear the rest of Ronald's question or Rav's answer, not that I cared or anything like that, I was just wondering why of all times this guy, Rav, had decided to come to Flowerbud Village, and of all things why did he want to help me on the farm?
Gloomily I walked back to my farm and was greeted by a bark of a wild dog. My eyes snapped all the way open and I looked up from the dirt road. He was a fit, strong, and handsome light-brown dog with pointy ears and a blue cloth tied around his neck. I kneeled down and whistled gently, careful not to make any sudden moves that might frighten him. I had always had a weak spot for animals, cats in particular but dogs just as much. "C'mere boy," I whistled. The dog backed away carefully but I still kneeled down with my hand slightly outstretched. All I got in response to staying was a fierce snarl and a glance at his sharp fangs. "Damn," I muttered to myself. "You're a fine old boy, be perfect as a farm dog." Slowly I rose, deciding it better not to get involved with a dog if he didn't like the way I was approaching him. I shrugged began to head towards my house, exhausted after the day's rough work.
The dog came up to me and licked my left hand as I began to take hold of the doorknob and I stopped and looked at him. "What?" I asked. It was strange, to be fair, I always could talk more around animals rather than humans. Maybe it was the fact that they couldn't understand what I was saying and it didn't matter, other than humans who could understand what I was saying, language wise but not understand what I was actually trying to mean. It always came out wrong anyways, that's why I never bothered with talking around people much.
I held out my hand and he sniffed it cautiously, and then started licking it. "You're an odd one," I smiled. "How would you like a home?" It was almost as if he could understand me, to an extent. Either that or the dog had wanted to call this place home from the start. "I'll get you a dog house as soon as I get some money, don't worry, until then I'm not sure what to tell ya other than at least it's spring."
I stretched onto my bed after a full dinner, somewhat disgusted with the cold food but somewhat satisfied. It had been a pretty tiring day, cleaning up the farm and tomorrow I had plans on having Rav help me fill up all seven remaining sections. My mind wandered carelessly and for once in my whole entire life I was able to find a dreamless, careless sleep. This was the first time since I had been little that I had been able to have the feeling of no worry and I was unable to stay awake, no matter how much I may have wanted to.
My eyes opened to a blurred vision and I blinked them, clearing up my vision and stretching as I rose out of bed. I stretched and yawned, remembering all that had happened yesterday vaguely and I remembered about Rav coming to help in about an hour. When I opened the door the sun wasn't the only thing that greeted me with warmth and I gave a vague smile as I heard my new companion barking at me. He sat at my feet and I reached out to pet him, giving him a few pats on the head and wondering what I give to him for food.
"Here ya go boy," I said to him as I put in some leftovers from last night which the dog ate excitedly. I shook my head sadly at seeing the poor progress I had made yesterday with my crops so I watered them and checked out the chicken coop to see how the egg was doing. It looked as though it would hatch in a couple days so I walked back outside and grabbed my hoe and dug into the soil fiercely. I lost track of time and was surprised to hear Rav calling to me from the road. I wiped off any muck that might have been on my face and walked over to him, hoping that I had somewhat I decent appearance. Rav was grinning at me when he saw me standing there in a white T-shirt and faded blue jeans torn on one of the knees.
"I see you've already begun, perhaps I should come earlier?" he suggested mildly.
"If it pleases you then feel free, I don't care," I muttered coldly. "To let you know what's going on I've decided to fill the remaining seven sections of the farm and then try and get some fodder in the silo if possible."
"Sounds like a very busy day ahead of us, but I'm sure we can handle it. What shall I do? I know you don't have two hoes so do you want me to plant, water, or cut grass?" Rav asked.
"You'll plant crops in the parts I've already tilled, I've plenty of seeds in the house so pick whatever you fancy and water them too," I explained. Without another word I went back to tilling and Rav went into the house and came out with a large amount of seed bags in bundled in his arms. He planted the same crops in the same section and I was impressed at how efficiently he did it.
It was late in the afternoon when we finished but it was worth it and I smiled proudly at the hard hours we had put into this. Two sections were filled with potatoes, two with tomatoes, two with corn, and two with breadfruit. "We'll have this place up in no time and the village will be able to have plentiful crops again," Rav smiled. "Er...if you don't mind I have to leave now, important matter that I have to tend to. I'll see you tomorrow, we'll see about cutting down some grass for fodder and getting a cow possibly." I nodded and let him leave, whatever business he had to attend to was to him alone, yet I couldn't help but wonder...what was it? So I decided to follow him..I didn't trust this guy, this Rav. Even if he was helping me there was something strange and untrustworthy about him.
I grabbed my fishing pole and went at a trot to catch up with him but slowed to a walk a good twenty feet behind him. He didn't seem to notice me following him all the way into Walnut Forest and he didn't seem to notice me when we got to the lake where I cast my line into the water casually. I looked at him casually but he didn't even seem to notice that I was there, in fact he started to talk, to himself in fact, as if nobody could hear him. His eyes were gazing into nowhere in particular, they even seemed a tad glazed if I didn't know any better. "Mysteries are impossible to solve," he whispered to the sky. My ears perked up curiously, this man was interesting indeed. "Flowerbuds are beautiful but they die out, just like everything else but some things stay, some flowerbuds are different and never wilt." I didn't say anything and I went back to my fishing, my heart taken out of it completely as I got lost in thought at the deepness in Rav's statement.
"Still talking about that are you?" asked a feminine voice that was unfamiliar to me. Startled I turned around and my eyes widened at the sight. Another complete stranger, a little younger than me, standing there talking to Rav. She had long, silky rose-blonde hair that fell a few inches past her shoulders that had strands falling loosely onto her face. I had never met anyone so beautiful before, she took my breath away and my heart seemed to stop and my stomach flipped when her green eyes saw me. She turned her head coldly and walked up to Rav, her long, dark brown skirt trailing behind her. That outfit on her was perfect for the warm day, a long, dark brown skirt, a short sleeve dark orange jacket over a white tanktop. Somehow it just seemed to match the spring evening perfectly and before I knew it I was staring off into space, thinking of how beautiful she was and how beautiful nature was with her. It was strangely odd, to think of those completely different things at once but my mind thinks...to put it simply it thinks very oddly.
By the time I had gotten home I realized that, that girl was most likely Rav's daughter. When I was walking home I had thought about it, and it did make sense, a lot of sense. Where would they live though? I asked myself a hundred times it seemed. My restless mind kept me awake for hours once again, and I was happy inside, this was what I was used to and it was good to be back to normal, cold, distant, mysterious...that's the way I liked it.
ok, so there ya go, i'll try and get chapter 3 up as soon as possible and until then don't forget to review!
