Night's Shadow

Chapter 4

Sayomi screamed, wrenching herself out of her dream and back into reality. She sat up in bed, clutching her heart.

Uncle Shin snored in the bed on the opposite side of the room, completely unaware and undisturbed. She sighed and flopped back onto her pillow. Closing her eyes, she tried to go back to sleep but flashes of her nightmare behind her lids kept her awake. After a few more fruitless tries, she got up to get herself ready for the day.

Stepping out of the room she shared with her Uncle, she was greeted by the sleepy 'cluck' of a cuckoo. Looking down, she found a fluffy, white ball at her feet.

'Hey there Mochi. Sleeping outside my door again?' she whispered, gently picking up the cuckoo. It's red crest bobbed as it looked up at her and it fluffed up it's already fluffed feathers. She put the cuckoo down and sighed. 'You're not going to go back to sleep until you get fed, am I right?' she asked it. It clucked softly and pecked at her bare feet. 'Ouch! Ok, I get it. I'll take that as a yes.' Sayomi exclaimed, hands on hips. Looking up, she surveyed the room.

The house that she lived in with her Uncle wasn't that big, only having two rooms in the whole building. One room, the bedroom, was upstairs and the other room, which held the kitchen and living room all in one, was downstairs. Her room consisted of two beds, a wardrobe, the dining table, a cupboard and two bedside-tables. At the current moment, she was standing on a small landing, looking down into the lower room. The room was commandeered by half-a-dozen fluffy white cuckoos, all asleep in the corner, but in a moment, Sayomi would lead them outside to graze.

As she walked down the wooden stairs, she wondered, like she did every morning, why her Uncle allowed all these cuckoos to sleep in here. They were good cuckoos really, never made a mess, but they had lost a lot of eggs, from them being laid on the wooden floor and rolling away, ending up being stepping on or cracked.

The cuckoos clucked angrily at her when she woke them up. She stepped quickly away before their sharp beaks could get at her feet. As she herded the sleepy/angry cuckoos out the door, Mochi followed, occasionally greeting another cuckoo with a soft cluck or two.

The sun hadn't yet risen fully yet so the farm was still pretty dark. Sayomi went back inside to light a candle and bring it out with her. She led the cuckoos to a patch of nice green grass with soft clucks and the occasional prodding with her foot at a few stragglers. They immediately went to pecking at the ground, sometimes plucking up a small worm or bug. She left them there and headed over to the barn where all the horses and cattle were. They had quite a few horses, about 8 in total, and only two cows but that was enough.

Sayomi's Uncle didn't actually own the Ranch; a lovely couple had lent it to them when they had no-where to stay when Sayomi's father died and they were kicked out of their old house. The couple were off on holidays at the moment so Sayomi and her Uncle had the Ranch to themselves for a while. They had a few stable hands but they only came in the afternoon to work.

It was wonderfully warm in the barn and the smell of hay and animals soother Sayomi. Most of the animals were still asleep but she was greeted with a soft nicker from Plum and Buttercup. She went over to them to give them a quick pat and some oats for a treat before turning to the cows.

 One was awake but the other was fast asleep. Sayomi headed to Bluebell, who mooed softly as she ducked below the wooden bar and stepped into the small space. 'I should really clean your stall, but before that, I think I might as well milk you.' Sayomi said to the creature, reaching for the metal pail and wooden stool that was stored on a shelf above the fodder tray. Setting the equipment down, she got to work.