Shooting Star

Chapter 1: What The Hair?

“Good morning, Evie, dear! How are you?” a sweet old woman by the name of Petunia said warmly. She ran a produce stand in the marketplace, and Evangeline often went to her for her family's supply of food.

Evangeline smiled brightly. She loved visiting Petunia. “I'm doing wonderful today, thank you. How have you been?”

“Just fine.” Petunia gave a laugh. “Are you here for some fresh produce?”

“When am I never here for that?” Evangeline chuckled, pulling out her chore list. She showed it to Petunia, pointing to the items she needed to buy. “This is all I need today.”

Petunia quickly set a basket in Evangeline's arms, then gathered some apples, grapes, strawberries, and carrots to place in the basket.

“Thank you so much, Petunia!” Evangeline bowed her head and turned to walk away. “It was nice to see you again.”

Petunia waved goodbye with a wrinkly smile. “Have a lovely day, dear, and make sure to say hello to Varian for me the next time you see him.”

“I'll be seeing him soon,” Evangeline let her know. “I'm making flower crowns for the both of us.”

“That sounds wonderful, dear. Good luck!”

“Thank you again!” Evangeline took off to return back home. However, just as she was doing just that, the ground beneath her began to shake tremendously, causing her to lose her balance and fall right on the ground. Petunia ran to Evangeline's side as soon as the quaking stopped and helped her dear friend upright. “Thanks, Petunia.”

“My, what in the world could've caused such an earthquake?” Petunia mused.

Evangeline shrugged her shoulders, gripping onto the basket tightly. “I'm not sure.”

She had no idea what could have caused it. Well, maybe she had a small idea. However, she really really hoped she wasn't right.

✧⁠*⁠。

Thankfully, there hadn't been any other tremors since the first one, but Evangeline was kept on her toes as she cautiously walked back home. She worried that something like it would happen again when she would least expect it. Things like tremors seemed to do that, you know.

She recalled Varian's most recent project in great detail and silently pleaded with God that that wasn't the cause of the tremors. She knew her best friend often had good intentions, but he had a habit of getting himself into trouble.

Her house was now in sight, and a large lump formed in Evangeline's throat when she spotted something unfamiliar in the flower gardens.

Upon further inspection, her jaw dropped. “A goat?”

A ragged goat with brown fur grazed in Evangeline's flower garden, munching on all of the plants she had cared for diligently for months.

At running speed, Evangeline approached the goat, setting the produce basket on top of the garden wall. “Hey, back away from the flowers, Mr Goat.”

The goat didn't reply. It continued to munch on the flowers.

“Please?” she asked with big eyes.

The goat munched on the flowers even harder than before.

Evangeline took a sharp inhale, pinching the bridge of her nose in annoyance. She bent to the goat’s level, placing her hands on her knees. Pleadingly, she said, “Listen, Mr. Goat, I really need you to go back to your home. These are my flowers, and I worked super hard to help them grow. Please stop eating them.”