Shooting Star

Chapter 1: What The Hair?

Stem wrapped around stem. Petals facing outward. Each wrapped stem forms a perfectly rounded circle. That is the way she liked her flower crowns. No one she knew could deny her spectacular flower crown making ability–

“Evangeline!”

– except her father.

“Yes, Dad?” The young girl arose from the beautiful flower garden she had planted, carefully hid her creations underneath the house, and carefully made her way over to her father, Viktor Jacobstow.

Viktor was a towering man with a stern brow and scowl. He was tough and always had a knack for being serious. Evangeline’s heart dropped every time he spoke to her.

“Did you complete your tasks for the day?” Viktor asked his daughter. He folded his arms across his chest.

Evangeline brought her hands up to chest level as well, rubbing one hand with the other repeatedly. “Um… no, I haven't yet. My apologies, Dad.”

“You'd better get on it right this minute,” Viktor demanded. “Now is not the time to dawdle in the flowers. You have work to do.”

“Yes, Father.” Evangeline bowed her head, then looked back up at Viktor. “Is there a chore list that I'm supposed to follow?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. There is.” Viktor tossed a rolled up scroll into his daughter's arms. “I trust that you'll be able to remember what you need to do this time. We can't have another day of incompetence around here.”

Evangeline promptly shook her head in understanding, waiting to open the scroll until her father left to go back inside their house. She looked back at the flower field and let out a big sigh. She was hoping to spend some time making flower crowns for her and her best friend today. She turned back to the closed scroll.

“Ok, the chore list shouldn't be that bad, right?”

Once she unrolled the scroll, she instantly regretted it. The scroll’s contents fell down to her feet and onto the dirt road her feet were standing on.

Evangeline frowned. “Aw, nuts.”

✧⁠*⁠。

After thoroughly examining the chore list, Evangeline decided to complete each task depending on the difficulty level. The easiest chores would go first, then she'd be able to get around to the more difficult ones.

The first assignment she was going to get done was to tidy her room. That wouldn't take too long. Her bedroom was normally kept clean with the exception of the occasional clutter on her multi-purpose desk. She happened to do a lot with that desk, particularly a lot of artistic things.

There wasn't a whole lot of open space in her bedroom, but she managed to give everything a rightful home.

Next was to wash the dishes.

This was something Evangeline never looked forward to. The way the grimy water stuck to her skin was the worst part– not including her undesired duty to listen in on everything that was discussed inside the house. Even so, this was something she– and she alone– would have to take care of. So, with a drive to get this excruciating job over with, she hand scrubbed each dish to the best of her abilities, all while bearing the awful, uncomfortable feeling that the nasty water left on her hands and arms. She shuddered intensely.

“Ugh…”

Once all the household chores had been completed to a tee, Evangeline moved on to get the weekly shopping done at the Old Corona marketplace. This was probably the only assignment Evangeline enjoyed doing! Frankly, it was because she could get a break from the overwhelming stress she often feels at home. Getting away from it all and simply experiencing the way of life in Old Corona is the best part of any day.