Bounty Hunter

O N E

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I sling my bag over my shoulder and turn around sticking my toungue out at my cousin Riley. He is currently taking a bite out of an over-cooked piece of Vegemite toast. "See ya later Ree!" I yap at my cousin as I am about to leave through the front door of the old farmhouse . He returns my cheeky gesture by poking his tongue out and going cross-eyed. Which looked so ridiculous it made me crack up just before I close the door behind me.

-

I cross the 5 acre drive way kicking rocks under my feet. I feel pretty content with myself this morning, the sun is warm on my skin and the air smells like freshly cut grass. I feel radiant, I have salt scrubbed my hair, and it was effortlessly wavy, the type of hair you'd associate with a surfer gal.

I throw my bag into the back of the rusty old ute and jump into the passanger side. As I wait for Riley I switch on my phone to check my messages and notifications. 

My mobile buzzes with 3 notifications. 

One from my friend Nelly notifying me she has a new boyfriend and that he's 'the one'... Suprise, suprise...

The other two are from Nelson, my relentless admirer.  He has sent me a poem expressing that he's in love with me and another message begging me to give him a chance- Well there's nothing new there! 

I switch off my phone and look out into the wheat field, it has grown to about knee height. But something odd caught my eye. I squinted my eyes at the moving creature.

"What the F-"

My heart jumps out of my chest as Riley jumps into the drivers seat scaring the living day light out of me. I place a hand over my heart and exhale heavily. 

A satisfied smirk crossed Riley's face that I want to slap right off. "You scared the crap out of me!" I snap. 

He winks at me. "It's one of my talents." His eyes scan over passed my face to where I was staring out the window. "what were you gawking at before?" He asks curiously.

"Oh. You'll never guess." I tease, I begin to check myself out in the rear-vision mirror.

"A Sasquatch?" He mocks.

"Nope." I roll my eyes as I play with the fly-away hairs in my ponytail. 

"Dad's bottle of bourbon that went missing last month?" Riley teases in a smart ass kind of way.

"No." I scoff and attempt to hide my guilty smirk.

He scratches the scar on his chin and a childish smile crosses his face "A very shirtless Channing Tatum?" 

"Holy Heck I would love that! But no..." I looked out the window and point to the little scruffy feral feline that is sitting right on the edge of the crop. Riley's eyebrows furrow in disbelief as we witness a ghost that we haven't seen in nearly 3 years.

"No way..." he gasps. 

It's cheese, our old 'no-good' cat. 

Cheese was a little pest, he used to hunt the chickens, he killed our little pets, he destroyed the couch in the the lounge room and he'd claw and meow at the windows at night. He was always covered in fleas, he was a feral cat until we started to feed him and then he never wanted to leave. To be honest he used to just annoying the crap out of everyone.

One day, Cheese decided to be a douche and ate half of poor Mr. SpankyPants, my much loved guinea pig. I was fourteen and sobbed over my dead pet by his hutch.