Recycling Bin :)

Chapter Two: Is This Just Fantasy

 Chapter Two: Is This Just Fantasy

"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"

My eyes shot open at the rooster's wakening, my body shooting up as well. 

Then my head slammed straight into the wood plank above me, everything fading back into darkness a moment later. 

"-line? Caroline? Are you okay?"

I groaned loudly as a pair of hands shook my shoulders. 

"Stop it," I mumbled, my hands flying to my forehead because of the throbbing pain emerging from it. 

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Shh, Mom, five more minutes," I said as my mind began to drift back into unconsciousness.  

"I am not your mother," the voice chuckled. "Although I'm flattered at the suggestion even if it is impossible considering my gender."

My eyes shot open in a flash revealing a pair of amused glinting bright blue ones inches away from my own. 

"Peter?" I blinked a few times, taking in the light stubble decorating his cheeks, the barely there freckles that dotted his nose, the longer brown hairs that touched the hands covering my forehead, the dimples in his cheeks from the wide smile he was producing. 

"You must have hit your head rather hard. I don't think I have seen you this confused since you arrived here in the forest," he said while removing himself from my body and onto the hay next to me. He turned his head to look at me, his smile replaced by a serious look. "You have never talked about your mother before. I didn't realize you had one."

I closed my eyes for a moment, letting the reality sink in. I was back in Tehall. The formal way Peter was talking proved that fact. I was no longer in my own bed judging by the stiff hay I lay on. But everything felt a bit woozy still, my head pulsating in sync with my heart, the pain not very bearable. I really did hit my head extremely hard. 

"I guess we should raise the roof so I don't hit my head anymore," I joked, laughing at the little raise the roof comment, while changing the topic at the same time. "We could party really hard. Maybe that would do the trick." I snickered more at my own joke, before realizing my slip. I slowly turned my head towards him, expecting upmost confusion. Peter was staring at me with his eyebrows completely scrunched together. The whole 'raise the roof' thing probably wasn't something he'd ever heard in his life until now.

"What?" He searched my face with a lost puppy look. I sighed and turned to look back up at the ceiling. 

"Never mind silly old me," I muttered. 

"You really are an odd one Caroline.” He shook his head at me with a puzzled expression. “We had better get moving. The barn is not going to clean itself." He slid down to where the ceiling pitched higher before sitting up and motioning for me to follow him down the ladder. 

I slept in the barn in the loft like area on top. It was cramped and uncomfortable along with the gross stench of animal poop but it was better than living on the streets. I had always wondered why Peter offered for me to stay at his home. I always just assumed he was just a kind and generous person. But never was I more grateful. 

I followed him down the ladder, wrinkling my nose as the stench of animal feces got stronger. It was a hard smell to get used to after the lovely vanilla smell of my room in reality. 

"Hop to it then." Peter was handing me a broom while he held his saddle in the other hand. I took it with a small smile and began sweeping up the extra feed in the horses' stalls.