And I've finally managed to update. All of a sudden I've been hit by a storm of ideas and will try to keep updating as long as these ideas come to my mind.
Ch. 3
It took forever for me to go to sleep that night. My mind kept on wandering to that girl I had seen, the girl I believed to be Rav's daughter. Something about her seemed so oddly familiar. Whatever it could be it was that little familiar hunch I got when I thought of her that wouldn't allow me to sleep. When my heavy eyelids finally closed for the night I was grateful, until nightmares of my mother's death kept waking me up with me screaming in the middle of the night. It was a very restless night, at one time I woke up and felt so sick I threw up.
The next morning I awoke at my usual 6' a.m. wishing that last night had all been a terrible dream. With the terrible night's sleep I'd gotten I felt I could've not gone to sleep at all and still felt the way I did right now. I ate a small breakfast omelet and went outside to start watering after I had dressed in some overalls. Thirty minutes after I had begun watering Rav came walking down the path with the girl right next to him. My stomach churned and I could feel some color drain out of my face, not that it was very noticeable with my lack of sleep.
"Morning," he greeted cheerfully. I grunted in response, too exhausted to even pry open my chapped lips. I had left the watering can where it was and walked up to him and he looked me up and down while the girl stared dazedly at the eight full crop squares. "You sure you wanna work today?"
"I'm ok," I said and shrugged.
"Doesn't look it, but I can't stop you from working if you really want to. By the way, this is my friend's daughter, Lily. She's going to stay with me and take care of all your animals when you get some," he explained.
"Ok, I'm pretty sure that the egg I put in the incubator two days ago will be hatched by tomorrow so no worries today," I told Lily.
"What about chicken feed? I'll have to go get some as it seems you don't have any," Lily stated bitterly. She was going to be hard to befriend obviously, with that attitude she walked around with. I just grinned at this, I could play at this game real well as I had done it many times to Louis. My fists clenched just at the thought of that bastard and I turned away and walked back to the third square that I had begun watering, taking a last glance at Lily standing there in faded blue jeans and a white T-shirt, her rose-blonde hair tied into a long ponytail and her slim figure slouching casually in the warm spring air. She talked to Rav for awhile then walked off the farm, obviously to go get some supplies.
Rav grabbed the sickle and started to cut grass to make fodder, the more fodder was cut the better for when we made the first harvest and got a cow. I continued to water and when I finished I put some leftovers from breakfast in the dog food bowl for any stray dogs that might get hungry. I hadn't seen that one dog for awhile, and I really hoped that it would come back.
"How much money do you have?" Rav's voice asked me a couple hours into our work. I had been daydreaming while watering the crops and getting the buildings into shape, I was working on the barn now and almost finished.
"Huh?" I said stupidly, looking at him behind me.
"I said how much money do you have?" he responded crisply.
"Total I have about 3,000G, why?" I shrugged.
"Excellent, that'll be enough to buy a cow."
"Ah, I didn't think I was ready for a cow just yet...you think the barn's ready to have one in it again?" I said.
"I should hope so, now if we buy a cow that'll leave us both flat broke, so you'll need to go in the forest and gather some berries, nuts, and herbs to make some small change. I'll be fishing to sell the fish that I catch," explained Rav. I nodded vaguely and he continued. "I have a favor to ask of you though...actually two favors."
"I owe you a lot Rav," I told him honestly. "Go ahead, I'm sure it can be done."
"First off, Lily needs a place to stay, I was wondering if she could stay with you. Ron can't keep the two of us sheltered under his roof no matter how much he wants to."
"That'd be fine."
"Excellent. Now the second favor. I need you to leave this farm after a year. Once next spring comes you have to leave here." He said it so casually, it was almost as if it was asking for a penny or something.
"What!" I yelled. "I can't do that! The villagers are relying on me to help them and you expect me to leave after a year! No way!"
"You have to, or else you'll regret it," he said mysteriously.
"Will I now? Why don't you just explain instead of being Mister Mysterious. Explain yourself clearly why I should leave, and it better be good."
"There's a flower here...in this town. It grows back every few years, it kills off a person every time it blooms. No one knows why either, next year is when it will bloom I believe," Rav stated.
"Who are you?" I asked him. "I know your name isn't Rav, and I know that you know a lot more than you act."
"You're quite correct. But just because you are right about something doesn't mean that I'll tell you what you wish to know. Let me just say, that I'm an answer to the truth, I know what will happen if you stay on this farm for too long, and I know why your mother died." I looked at my shoes at the mention of my mother, unable to bear the pain of losing her just a few days ago.
Lily came running up just then, cradling bags of chicken feed in her arms. "Got them J...Rav," she said. Rav smiled at her then cast a glance at me. "Daism!" I looked up at her. "C'mon, I'm gonna go gather some fruits from the forest and you're gonna come with me." Grudgingly I started to leave the farm, Lily staying to talk to Rav for a moment then running to catch up to me.
I grabbed a rucksack and threw it over my left shoulder and let it land near my right thigh. Lily seemed full of energy as she picked some Very Berries and tossed them to me where I put them in rucksack. She grabbed herbs and flowers and more Very Berries along with blueberries.
"Shame we have to sell them all don't ya think? They all looked so ripe and good," she grinned.
"I suppose, but we really have to get money anywhere we can," I told her.
"That's what Rav said, c'mon, now that we're done gathering these I'll show you a really pretty place where the sun is so beautiful when it sets. We'll sell our gatherings tomorrow, most places are at closing time now." I looked at the sun and predicted around 5 o'clock. Ronald's Supermarket didn't close for another hour, we still had time to go there. Without thought I turned around and made a run for it, Lily looking behind her and seeing me running she shrugged and continued walking.
I made a total of 200G from all our gatherings, or the ones I sold at least. Food was still needed in my house so I had kept three blueberries, five herbs, two medical herbs, and ten very berries. Instead of looking for Lily I went back to my old home and grabbed some stuff that had been left in the fridge, a dozen fresh eggs, four small milks, and a couple stalks of corn.
When I came back to the farmhouse I walked in and Lily was sitting on my bed, her belongings at the foot of the bed. "About time," she greeted. "What's for dinner?"
"Probably omelets," I said dryly.
"How 'bout some cream of corn soup?" she suggested.
"Precisely how do you predict to make that?" I asked stubbornly.
"With those stalks of corn hanging out of your rucksack and that milk. We can have omelets for breakfast but I'm not in the mood for having them for dinner." I nodded and handed the two stalks of corn and two small milks. We both went into the kitchen and she began cooking, the smell of soup drifting out of the pot. My mouth watered at the smell of it, and I remembered when mom had always made it.
Lily finished within a matter of minutes and she grabbed some bowls from the cupboard and poured soup for both of us. We ate silently, wolfing down the piping hot food without a second thought and not even noticing the heat. I slouched in my chair after finishing and closed my eyes drowsily.
"Lily," I said.
"Hmm?"
"Do you know of any mysterious flower that blooms every few years and then kills someone?"
"Never heard of anything like that, why do you ask?"
"Rav told me about it earlier."
"Rav says a lot of weird stuff, but you really should trust him, he knows a lot despite his inexperience in stuff. He can get hunches that you never want to doubt," Lily explained.
"I see...say, by any chance do you happen to know what his real name is?" I asked her anxiously.
"Yes, but he prefers Rav, I know that he doesn't want you to know his name so don't even try. So have we managed to gather everything up? Good, now let's go back, tomorrow's a big day, you'll be getting your first cow."
Lily's Pov
I hated Rav for what he did, I was now living with this farmer: Daism. It was unexpected and not what I had wanted or even thought of as possible. In a way I didn't mind living with Daism; the only thing I minded was how Rav hadn't even asked me. Whenever I found him alone he would really get what he deserved...a good yelling at.
Daism actually was a really good chef and I couldn't help but nearly drool over the meal he made for dinner. All I got as a response for the look on my face was a cheerful laugh that didn't sound like him at all. Daism seemed more of the type for being cold, antisocial, and mysterious. Mysterious...oh how I loved that kind of personality the best.
After we cleaned up the small mess Daism got out a small cot and I helped him bring it up to the attic. The attic was small and dusty but it was decent enough. There was a small window, plenty of room to navigate despite the size, and an oaken chest of drawers where I could put my clothing. Of course all of this would have to wait until once I cleaned it up tomorrow when I found the time.
"I'm sorry it couldn't have been a nicer room, Lily," he muttered.
"It's alright," I told him simply. "With a little spring cleaning this'll be as good as new." His light gray eyes met my bright green ones and I felt my heart sink, shivers go up my spine, and my stomach flip all at once. He nodded to me then went back downstairs, I watched him all the way. So handsome, I thought. I was surprised at my feelings towards him, usually I hated all men around my age, they were always so perverted and dumb.
For two hours I lay in my new bed, staring at the dark ceiling and thinking. I thought about how one day in soon future that flower that Daism had mentioned would bloom. Rav knew about it too, it was just a wonder he came here when it was overdue. There was no explanation coming from him either, no matter how much I asked him he always remained silent then walked away. He could always easily frustrate me and that was one of the things I got frustrated with.
I fell asleep without even knowing it. The screech of Daism's alarm was what woke me. It rang throughout the house for a full ten seconds before dead silence was welcomed. I was really groggy this morning and it took me a couple minutes before I decided to get up. In the dark I shuffled through my bag for some clothing. Apparently I had chosen loose-fitting clothes, the kind I preferred. The shirt was a beautiful indigo color and the pants were tan.
Daism and I ate in silence that morning. Occasionally I cast glances at him, looking at his short, ruffled chestnut brown hair and admiring his all black style today. It looked good on him but I didn't have too much to notice how good, I didn't want to be seen gawping at him like a little highschool girl.
"Ok," Daism said when we had cleaned up. He definitely wasn't a morning person, that was pretty obvious.
"Watering first then we can get a cow," I answered. We walked outside and found Rav already watering the crops in the third square. Daism picked up the extra can and helped Rav finish up the task. I grabbed the sickle in the toolshed nearby and began cutting grass so the cow that we would buy would have plenty of fodder to eat.
Daism's Pov
"Go ahead and go with Lily to get," Rav said to me as we began watering the last sixteen crops.
"It can wait, besides we're almost done watering so it won't be too long," I protested.
"That's why, you should go and get a cow now so you can pick out which one you like best, it may take awhile," he argued back. Our gray eyes locked and we held a gaze for what seemed like the longest time ever, both of us wouldn't back down...our stubbornness wouldn't allow it.
"Come on you two! Stop arguing like that. Daism just let Rav finish watering, it won't kill him to do it himself and it won't kill you to let him do it while you get a cow," Lily called to us, stopping the argument. I listened to her, we both did but for different reasons I assumed. The reason I listened was because I loved her at the moment. Whatever Rav's reason was it sure did help not waste a lot of time. He began watering again and I ran up to Lily and we walked silently to Brownie Farm.
"Do you think there's any chance I could get a horse?" I asked casually. Lily just shook her head, honestly unsure of what to answer. I decided it best to have no conversation, Lily wasn't in the mood for any. In fact she hardly ever liked talking, one of the things that made me fall for her.
"We want a cow!" Lily told the 42 year old owner of Brownie Farm, Bob.
"What kind?" Bob grunted.
"Let us look at them and we'll decide which one we want. Of course we want the variety that costs 2500G only," Lily told him with a little aggressiveness in her tone.
"Follow me." He led us out of the store and through a fence to a barn. Inside were at least twenty stalls, fifteen already occupied by cows. "It's sunny today, so the horses are out there," Bob explained when he saw my puzzled expression at the five empty stalls. "Here you are, the five cows you can choose from. Come get me when you've decided." With that he left quickly, leaving Lily and I to look at the cows.
Lily didn't even glance at the first one before she said it wouldn't do. The second one she looked over carefully, eyeing the light brown pelt on it and checking to see if it was old enough to give milk. "This one is on the list of possibilities," she told me after a couple minutes. I nodded and started looking at the other cows. There was one a dark brown color, one a pure white, and another one that was just your regular cow. The regular cow I liked, she was rather young but old enough to give milk and friendly.
"Lily, I think that this cow would do rather nicely," I said to her.
"No, she won't work. Definitely not," Lily replied before even looking at the cow I had suggested. "Now, which cow do you want...the dark brown cow or the light brown cow?"
"What's it matter?" I asked sourly.
"The quality milk you get that's what. That's why I don't want you getting a regular cow, the milk you get from them doesn't sell for as much as milk from these two cows do," Lily answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I see," I muttered. "Fine, if it has to be from those two choices I choose the light brown one."
"Excellent choice, now you have your money right? Good! You'll make it back in no time with this cow and her milk." Lily seemed to be glowing with happiness at my choice and she ran off to get Bob.
"That cow, eh?" he grunted as Lily pointed it out. "That'll be 2500G as you know, pay it up now and I'll have her sent to your farm by the morning." I handed over the money and Lily and I walked away, satisfied that we had gotten a cow at such a fair price.
"Now you're farm will be really successful, with both a cow and a chick that'll one day lay eggs," Lily said.
"What's with you today, you're really not yourself, with talking so much," I told her carefully.
"I'm just happy that one day this farm will rise once again."
"I guess. You think Rav will be happy?"
"Rav is never happy, he's a complete ass...just like your father," Lily grumbled.
"What!" I practically yelled. "You knew my father?"
"I knew him..." Lily began. She was quiet for a moment before finally crying out, "Oh Daism! Don't you realize, Rav is Jack! Rav is your father!" Tears were forming at the corners of her eyes and I didn't have a chance to speak before another voice seemed to come from out of nowhere.
"Yes..he is don't you know?" the mysterious but recognizable voice said. I turned around and my eyes widened horrifically at what I saw.
Ha! Cliffhanger, I love 'em so much. Now you know you want to click that review button and tell me what you think.
