Downpour

A KING AND HIS CASTLE

He wakes up to light on his face. It's bright, too bright to be coming from his room. More like sunlight, the kind that seeps through curtains in the early hours of the morning.

He opens his eyes slowly.

Sunlight is angled just over his eyes, and he's blinded by it. He raises an arm, trying to stop the bright light, but instead of the soft duvet he'd fallen asleep on, the material beneath him is rough and scratches his arm.

He rolls over and it pokes up through his clothes, digging into his side. Chan squints at it through the harsh light. It's definitely not a bed, but how was that possible? Unless he'd been moved after he'd passed out, there was no way that bed had changed into straw while he'd been asleep.

Straw.

He sits straight up, eyes adjusting to the light quickly. He's sitting on a hay bale, stray pieces poking through the soft material of his clothes.

There are more hay bales surrounding him, and the sunlight that woke him up is streaming through a huge pair of open double doors.

He's in a barn.

Chan runs a hand through his hair, trying not to groan at the obscene amount of dust that rises from the motion. Why a barn? What kind of drug trial involved volunteers being drugged unconscious and then put in barns?

There's a small movement near his feet, and he looks down. A small goat is licking his left foot, its tongue like sandpaper down his toes. He stares at it.

A goat.

This is real.

Trying to hold back a shriek, he jumps up, trying to get away from the offending creature as quickly as possible. He lands haphazardly on top of the hay bale, the goat looking up at him with huge innocent eyes.

He'd never been a fan of animals, a few too many bad experiences with huge dogs when he was a child. They weren't scary, per se, he just didn't particularly enjoy them closer than ten feet away.

"Shoo!" He waves his hands in its direction, trying to fend the creature off. It doesn't move away, instead bleating softly and tilting its head at Chan questioningly. "Go away!"

His voice echoes in the barn, bouncing off the wooden walls. He tries again to push the animal away, but the goat doesn't budge.

Instead, it clicks its hooves on the floor and leaps up onto the hay bale, resuming its cleaning of his foot.

This time, he can't hold back his scream.

As it summoned by the noise, a boy maybe a couple of years older than himself walks into the barn. He rubs at his eyes briefly, before seemingly noticing Chan and the goat for the first time, and his mouth forms a small 'o'. Then surprisingly, his face spits into a huge grin.

"Sammy!"

Chan has just enough time to jump off the haybale and safely onto the floor before the boy sprints towards the goat and scoops it up into his arms, rubbing its fur affectionately. The goat bleats happily and licks his cheek. A line of saliva connects the two, and Chan shudders, but the boy doesn't seem to mind.

He only grins again and continues to coo at the goat.

Chan's never understood animal lovers.

"Excuse me," he starts, trying to get the boys attention. As strange as he may be, he might know where Chan is, and more importantly, how Chan can get home.

But before he can even ask his question, the boy turns round and starts to speak. "Channie! I wondered where you were!"

"Channie?" Chan's pretty certain he's never met this guy before, and yet he's already being called Channie?