Dreamworld (#JustWriteIt #FreshStart)

Chapter 2

15 year old Eleora slumped gracelessly in the backseat of her family's SUV, staring out the window at the passing trees in boredom. She and her family were in the "County", the backwoods of northern Maine, where only the crazy and possibly psycho lived, in her opinion.

Her mother and father were dropping Ellie and her brother and sister off at their aunt and uncle's for the summer while they went on an extended vacation in Europe. Their "long overdue honeymoon" they were calling it. The fact that Aunt Carol and Uncle Chris were planning on making them help out on their farm just made their parents more enthusiastic about the whole plan.

"Are we almost there?" Hope, her younger sister, asked.

"I hope so," Ellie answered. "I haven't had a chance to move in ages."

Aaron, her older brother, sneered from the backseat with all the attitude of his 17 years. "Why are you two so anxious to get there? You know that they're going to make us do chores and stuff, right? I'd be happy if we just kept driving."

Their mother looked back. "Aaron, come on. Your Aunt and Uncle are going to give you plenty of time to do what you'd like. It's certainly not going to be a horrible summer."

"Yeah," chimed in their father, "You'll have lots of time to socialize and have fun."

"Socialize with who? The cows?" Aaron asked, rolling his eyes.

Ellie and her siblings were pretty divided on their opinion of how their summer vacation was going to be. Aaron, obviously thought that they were pretty much being sent to Mars to work a slave farm. Hope, at 12 years old, was eager to see the animals and explore the farm. She was even curious about the chores that would be asked of them.

Ellie was sort of in the middle of these opinions. She thought that they might be able to have fun this summer, and didn't mind helping out (as long as her Aunt and Uncle didn't ask her to do anything with poop), but she would have much rather stayed home for the summer, being able to hang out with her friends. Way out here, she thought that they would be lucky to see another soul from now till fall.

With a sigh, Ellie tucked her black hair behind her ear. Ellie had waist-length black hair that was straight as pin. She stood out in her family, her hair color being a throwback from somewhere in the family history. Her mother and brother had naturally blonde hair while her father and sister had light brown hair. All of them shared green eyes and a light skin tone. Ellie counted herself lucky that she had skin that seemed to tan but never burn like her dad, while her mother and siblings had to be more careful about the sun.

Ellie turned back to watching fields, farms, and trees go by.

~

45 minutes later, they finally arrived at "The Farm," as they had started calling it, each putting their own opinion behind the name. As Ellie opened up her door, she saw a big old barn, worn with time and weather but otherwise in sound shape, standing out behind her Aunt and Uncle's sprawling farmhouse. Aunt Carol and Uncle Chris had raised 4 kids here, but they had all grown and moved away by now.

The neighing of horses and mooing of cows drew her attention to the barn. The doors were open and she could see the vague shadow of someone working in there. Spread out around the barn and house was an extensive lawn. Ellie knew from listening in on conversations between her mom and aunt that there was an enormous vegetable garden behind the house. And framing everything were corn fields that seemed to stretch on forever. In the distance she could see trees.

"Welcome, welcome!" called Aunt Carol as she came outside onto the wrap-around porch. Her graying brown hair was pulled up into a neat ponytail and she wore a no-nonsense outfit of jeans and a button-up shirt. Her shirt sleeves were rolled up, showing slim but strong arms tanned to perfection.

Well at least I'll probably go home this fall with a gorgeous tan to show for all this, Ellie thought. There's a bonus, I guess.

Greetings and hugs made the rounds. "Come on in! I was just washing some veggies from the garden to have with lunch. Chris and Connor will be up shortly. We'll grab your things after we eat."

"Connor? Who's Connor?" her father asked as they all went inside.

"Oh, he's a boy who came and is helping us this summer. We can't afford to pay him much for his trouble but he enjoys it anyway. Plus, there aren't too many other employment opportunities around, especially for 16 year old boys," Aunt Carol explained. She led everyone into the spacious kitchen. It also served as a dining room with the table sitting in the open area passed the kitchen counter.

"Ooo, he sounds nice," her mother commented, raising her eyebrows at Ellie. Ellie just smiled and shook her head, rolling her eyes at her mom.

Seriously? She thought. We've only been here for 15 minutes and you're already doing this? Just don't embarrass me when they come in. Please!

After just a few moments, in which Mom and Aunt Carol talked and cut up the vegetables for a salad to go with the sandwiches Aunt Carol had already made and the siblings sat at the table just watching, before they all heard footsteps coming up the porch stairs. "In here, Chris!" called Aunt Carol.

A few seconds later, Uncle Chris strode through the door. He was the stereotypical-looking farmer: tall, broad-shouldered, boots and overalls layered over a t-shirt. He had blue eyes that always had a sparkle of humor and close shaven hair bleached blonde by being in the sun all year round. "Our guests are here!" he boomed in his loud way. "Saw you guys pull in but we needed to finish putting fresh bedding down for the horses," he told them, simultaneously shaking hands with their father and indicating the boy standing in the doorway with his other hand.

Connor, as Ellie assumed this was, was a few inches taller than her own 5'6" and slim in the typical teenager way but muscles earned from working on the farm helped make him lean and not gangly-looking. He wore boots and a t-shirt like her uncle but paired them with jeans instead of overalls. He had brown hair cut a little longer than her uncle's and blue eyes.

As everyone turned their gaze on him when Uncle Chris gestured to him, Connor flushed slightly, gave a simple nod and a small "hi" before grabbing a seat at the table.

The teenagers stayed pretty quiet through lunch while the adults talked about the farm and her parents' plans in Europe. When the meal ended, Uncle Chris stood up. "Connor and Aaron, why don't you two go grab the bags and bring them upstairs? We'll get you kids sorted into your rooms later. Then come on down to the barn. Might as well jump in and help us out. We still have things to do today." He said his goodbyes to Ellie's parents before heading back down the barn.

Ellie and her siblings hugged their parents and, after the bags were unloaded from the back of the vehicle, watched them pull out of the driveway and head back they way they had come just an hour before.

"Well, let's get changed and meet our jailer for our duties," Aaron muttered sourly.

And so their summer started on that rather unenthusiastic note.