𝙄𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙐𝙣𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬𝙣

Chapter 11

Previously on Into the Unknown

"So, you've checked up on me. Don't you have to um go tell your sister that I'm good? Not that I don't want you here or anything, but I... uh... yeah." I said.

"Actually, I was thinking I could hang out with you some more." he shrugged his shoulder nonchalant about the whole situation.

"I like that idea. I have some chores to do, but you can accompany me while I do them. If you don't mind." I smiled at him.

"I like that idea." And he smiled back at me.

NOW

Bernard trailed behind me as I gave him him a tour of the farm while also doing my chores at the exact same time. I could tell he was listening to my explanation by the way his cute pointy ears reacted to my voice. Wait. Did I just call his ears cute?? What the hell is wrong with me??

"Okay, so this is the chicken coop. I feed them when I get home and after I collect their eggs in the morning. The egg collecting is the only chore I have in the morning. My brother feeds the other animals. Do you want to meet the chickens?" I said.

Bernard nodded his head as a yes to my question. I smiled and whistled. The fifteen chickens (it may seem like a lot, but trust me that isn't a lot of chickens some farmers have hundreds of chickens) ran out of the yard and stared at me. Me holding the food for their dinner.

"Bernard, meet Ginger." the chicken named Ginger ran up to me as I threw food at her (well not at her but near her) and I did that with the rest of them. "Bunty, Pepper, Babs, Edwina, Sugar, Viola, Carla, Ashley, Zeta, Renee, Jonah, Heidi, Darla, and Farrow."

I watched (with Bernard beside me) the chickens eat their dinner. "Do you have roosters?"

"We have two. Roger and Gallifrey. Named after Roger Rabbit and the planet the Doctor is from. You probably have no idea what either of them are, do you?" I explained.

"No, but I supose you're going to explain it to me, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes, I am. So Roger Rabbit comes from the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit which combines both live-action and cartoon as a private detective tries to prove Roger Rabbit, a cartoon character, innocent after he was accused of murdering a business man. Gallifrey comes from the Doctor Who franchise. Now, the whole premises is that there is the person called the Doctor who is the last time lord and no one knows his name, and he originates from the planet known as Gallifrey." I explained to him.

"Do you two like each other?" the chicken, Zeta, asked me causing the other chickens to raise their heads at me.

Wow. I sort of forgot that I can sort of talk to animals. And if my knowledge is the right knowledge, Bernard over here only knows how to speak and understand Reindeer. Please, please, please, please let that be the case! I desperately wish that was the case. I didn't want Bernard to know that the chickens were talking to me, so I glared at the chickens and threw more feed at them.

"Shall we go to the pigs now?" I asked turning towards Bernard.

"Pigs?" he questioned with a raised brow.

"Yes, pigs. Ahren, Othello, Hamlet, Violet, Waddles, and Wilbur. And yes, I did name two after Shakespeare characters and one from E.B. White and another from Gravity Falls and another from Walking Dead who only lasted one episode in Season 4." I explained.

"I have no idea what you said, because it all sounded gibberish after E.B. White." he informed me.

"Don't worry. I think you'll get their eventually." I told him and picked the bucket of pig feed up and walked to the pig pen (with Bernard following close behind).

When I got there, I fed the pigs and the monsters (the pigs, that's just what I call them) rushed over faster than anything I had ever seen them. If there wasn't a fence in front of me, I might have jumped away from them and tried to run the other way in case they thought my fingers were part of their meal. After that, I went inside the stables to feed the cows and the horses.

And I have to clean them. Wow. That's going to take a long time. I looked over to Bernard with a sad look on my face and big puppy dog eyes.

"What do you want?" he asked me.

"Will you help me clean the children called horses and cows?" I asked him.

He looked towards them before looking at me. "How many of them are there?"

"Roughly thirty horses and about six cows and one donkey. His name is Nestor. The donkey's name is Nestor. So, will you help me?" I answered.

"Sure." he was unsure. "How long will this take?"

"No idea, but all we have to do is rinse them. I'll go get Abbigail. We'll begin with her." I told him and went to get the cow known as Abbigail to wash room.

You know it is hard to move a stubborn cow, and it was one of these moments that tempted me the most to take the job at the North Pole, but I never would. Because even those moments made me want to stay here in this place to save them. To protect them from the cruelty of the world. I made my way (with a cow in tow) to the wash room (where Bernard was waiting for me) with the hose and rinse off the cow.

"Thank you for helping me." I told him as we rinsed off the cow.

"No problem. We're friends right?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I think we are." And I swear I saw Abbigail smirk (can cows smirk?) before she swung her tail.

I stumbled into Bernard unable to keep my balance. And something happened. Something I was conflicted about. I landed on his lips as his arms caught my waist. He sank into the kiss same as I did. My hands went to his face. This kiss wasn't like a full on passionate one like a makeout. More of a comforting type of kiss that was hesistant in everything it was.

And it ended almost as soon as it started.

"I think you should leave." I told him as soon as we parted.

He nodded in aggreement and he ran off. I sighed trying to recollect myself and what had just happened right there. Abbigail continued to smirk, and I glared at her. But I could never stay mad at her. I stroked her snout and whispered, "Thank you."