Fallen from the Stars

Chapter 3

So... I kinda lied about when I would update... ya I don't really know why it took me so long, but it's here if anyone wants to read it. Sorry! I have no excuses > m < Oh well

Chapter 3

The chilled wind nipped against Tomari's bare face as she walked from the porch to the garage separated from the rest of the house. She regretted her decision to wear shorts but felt the opposite towards the buttercup-yellow scarf around her neck. It may have been summer, but at 4 o’clock in the morning, even the sun didn’t feel like waking up.

Fighting off the sleep drawn desire to flee back to her room and curl up in the downy covers, Tomari opened up the side door to the car’s house. Cluttered walls shelved with mechanical bits and tools, foreign to the girl, came into view as she entered the shelter. Inside, she groped for the light switch on the wall for a few seconds prior to her victory in drowning the shed in a blinding white light. Stepping around stranded cardboard boxes, Tomari found her way to the passenger side door of her uncle’s gray-blue pickup. Pulling it open, she tossed a canvas bag onto the floor. The metal moneybox rattled against its lock, chattering with the change it held.

Stepping back she shut the door, its loud thud resonating through the garage. Navigating more marooned supplies, the girl was able to stretch and hit the glowing rectangular button for the main garage door. Jogging underneath it as it continued to creak open, she moved down the dirt driveway to the barn to collect more items for the trip. Upon arriving at the already opened doors, she discovered her Uncle standing in the main opening of the barn, grappling with a box of tomatoes. As he succeeded in picking it up, he was passed by Tomari.

“Uncle, what do you want me to get?” squinting, she looked into the black abyss before her.

“Eh, whatever boxes you can carry Tomo. We’re going to have to get ‘em all eventually.” The man’s scruffy voice called from behind her, growing dimmer as he sauntered further away. Naturally, Tomari looked for the biggest box she could find. Her desire to save others from unwanted tasks always overpowered her personal aspirations.

Approaching a small box of onions, she gripped and stacked it on top of a larger crate of lettuce. She wriggled her fingers underneath the bottom of the crudely assembled mass. Hoisting it up, she leaned backwards to balance herself out with the newly acquired weight.

A sudden rattle from the back of the barn jeered the girl’s attention. Her movements became still as she waited to see whether or not she would have to drop her load, hop in the truck, and tell her Uncle to gun it. Tomari had been successful in blocking out her memories from that night almost a week ago. But now, standing in the dreadful abyss inherited by the barn at night, Tomari could feel the memories from that night, tugging at her brain. When she faced the possibility of once again seeing the same creature that haunted the darkest parts of her nightmares, everything was as frightening as it was before. Her heartbeat hastened and she was beginning to hope her Uncle wouldn’t come in and get caught in the middle of something he didn’t need to be in.

Her grip on the crate tightened, resulting in pricks on her palms from splintered wood. Tensing up, she braced herself as another set of clamors reached her ears, closer than the previous one.

Tomari flinched as a tabby cat pelted out of the gloom, chasing a dusty field mouse. Relieved, she settled on blaming the cat for the ruckus. Her problem currently resolved, she turned and lugged the hefty cases to the fallen back of the pickup.

After ten or so minutes of back and forth loading of crates, bags and boxes onto the truck, Tomari and her Uncle had finally completed stocking up the sales products for the day.

Quickly, the girl made one last stop at the house before they left.

After filling Bailey’s water and food bowls and ruffling the hair between the dog’s ears, Tomari skipped out of her home and into the passenger seat of the car.