Life in Fae Valley

Chapter 3: Part 4

Brandy and Natalie sat quietly side by side, Natalie hugging onto her boyfriends arm as he softly soothed her. "Y-You sit h-here and relax, alright N-Nat?... I'll m-make you some breakfast s-sugar" he said softly, the women nodding some and slowly letting go of him to let him get up, Brandy first placing a soft kiss on her forehead before he left the room, the women quiet a bit before she took hold of her phone and started texting her two bestfriends, Missy and Lucy.

She was only startled out of her thoughts when she heard a loud shout and got up, stumbling some out of the room to go investigate what was happening, stopping at the top of the stairs.

At the middle of the stairs stood Chuck, his one foot on the windowsill while Brandy stood at the bottom of the stairs, glaring up at his younger brother who had the largest possible grin on his face.

"Dont."

"I cant not do it Brandy! You know what today is!"

Natalie stared at them a bit confused, shaking her head some with a heavy sigh. It was too early for this weird farm boy antics. She rubbed her temples a bit before asking, "What is today and why does Chuck like he's about to jump out the window? Is this some sort of weird Leroy tradition?"

"YES!"

"NO!"

Chuck only leaned further out the open window as his brother stared up at him, Natalie staring at the two brothers with pure exhaustion and defeat. Definitely far too early for this. Knowing she'd regret it later, she just sat down and let her head rest on her hand as she leaned some to look past Chuck at her boyfriend and raise her eyebrow. "What's this tradition?"

Brandy was still staring at Chuck before letting out a heavy sigh and slowly looking over at his girlfriend after he pinched the bridge of his own nose with a bit of a frustrated groan. "N-Not a tradition p-per se, more o-of an anniversary o-of Chuck seeing h-his favourite movie of a-all time" he explained, his girlfriend slowly nodding as the couple then both looked over at the younger man again who was still smiling away as if it was the best day in his life.

"Come oooon Brandy, just do it! Defeat is inevitable! Say the line!"

The older brother gave another heavy sigh, rubbing the side of his face before nodding a little, finally admitting defeat and placing one foot forward on the second step of the stairs, adjusting how he was standing before saying, "I-I forbid y-you to take another s-step down t-these stairs!"

Chuck giggled with glee before then just throwing himself out of the window, laughing his head off like a maniac, both Brandy and Natalie rushing to the windowsill to look out and see if the ginger was fine, his laughter if not louder now that he had landed on a bale of hay, grinning up at the couple. Brandy shook his head and took his shoe off, throwing it at his brother who got smacked in the face with it, earning a small grunt of pain from Chuck. He had tried to throw it back just for it to completely miss the open window and bounce harmlessly off of the wall.

Natalie giggled some and gave her boyfriends cheek a kiss before she slowly made her way downstairs,still in a bit of pain with each step she took, sitting herself down at the kitchen counter just to pause as she heard distant music slowly approaching the house. Getting up, she made her way to the porch just as a hot pink mustang drifted into their driveway, kicking up heaps of dust.

Once it cleared, it was Missy who climbed out, looking as beautiful as always, now wearing a pink dress with high heels and hot pink sunglasses, another women climbing out with her... She was absolutely giant, taller than even Brandy with a muscular build, a bronze bull mask over her face. "Hi Nat! Hope it's okay I brought my daughter Nikkie along! After you told me about your dreams it reminded me of something she once told me so I thought I'd bring her" Missy grinned, taking off her sunglasses as Natalie slowly nodded, leading them inside.

"First off, introductions! Natalie, this is my adopted daughter Nikkie. Beautiful, isn't she? She runs the local bakery! Nikkie sweetheart, this is my good friend Natalie!" Missy introduced after they had settled down in the living room, Natalie nodding some after sipping her tea. It wasn't that Nikkie disturbed her, she was just... Eerily quiet. For someone so big, you'd expect her to make her some sort of sound but no, not a single peep. Even when she walked it barely made a sound. She was unsettling, to say the least.

Nikkie signed something in sign language, Missy blinking some then apologizing, turning to Natalie. "I'm so used to this, I nearly forgot. Nat dearest, Nikkie's a burn victim and her face got pretty badly hurt. Because of this, she's mute, so she communicates with us in sign language. If you don't know it, I'll just translate for you, alright?"

Natalie blinked some, her gaze softening some before she nodded, giving the young women a sympathetic smile. "That'd be highly appreciated. I've always wanted to learn, but I haven't had the chance to" she replied softly, then gazing intently at Nikkie as she started to sign, explaining a story, which Missy then translated into words for Natalie.

"Dreams in Fae Valley are a tricky thing. Sometimes they mean something, sometimes they don't. However, sometimes it happens that you get people with dreams that have... Some freaky accurate aspects to them. She says she had a nightmare the night Eddie's brother was murdered... Often her dreams mean things. A fate like that doesn't let someone sleep much" Missy said softly, Natalie shifting some in her seat almost uncomfortably before nodding, sighing some.

"I see... Well... I hope they don't mean anything, otherwise I'm not gonna sleep at all... Between these dreams, my own PTSD that I'm working through and helping to take care of the farm, I don't get much rest" She murmured, Chuck walking into the room with a loud laugh that shattered the tense silence in the room as he ruffled hay and grass out of his hair, just to pause when he noticed the three.

"Oh... Did I come in at a bad time?" He asked a bit awkwardly, Missy shaking her head. "No no, it's alright Freckles. You carry on" she said, Chuck grumbling under his breath about how only Lucy could call him Freckles as he walked past, Nikkie then slowly getting up and signing something.

"She says you're always welcome to go talk to her if you need help Natalie... Here in Fae Valley, we're like family. And family takes care of one another" Missy translated, smiling some as she and Natalie also stood up. The ex-soldier just smiled a bit tearfully and hugged them both, murmuring a soft thank you.

She went with them to the door and watched as they drove off again, wrapping her sweater a bit tighter around herself as she shivered against the cold breeze, Brandy walking over and gently placing a hand on her shoulder. "F-Fog is r-rolling in... W-We should get the a-animals back to their p-pens" he said softly, the women nodding some as she then went and helped him, lost in thought before receiving a call from JD.

He needed her help.

Urgently.

Kissing her boyfriend goodbye, she quickly went and got changed before JD pulled up, quickly greeting her as she climbed in before he drove off again, Natalie looking at him with concern. "JD? What's up? You looked really spooked" she said softly, resting her hand on his shoulder and giving it a soft, comforting squeeze.

He didn't respond, dead silent while his grip on the steering wheel tightened, gulping some. He eventually drove them up a path that'd run along the edge of the woods, the detective finally glancing over at her with a terrified expression.

"This isn't my car Natalie. I found it... And there's a dead man in the boot. The thing is... They're not from this place. And no official record of him exists. Natalie, I'm driving around in the car of a dead man that doesn't exist."