City Girl

A/N: Hey y'all I'm still working on this! I would like to mention that the rush of spring planting is almost over at my real job and I'm also almost finished with my schooling so soon I'll be able to dedicate more time to this.

Side note: I was recently reading through some feedback I've received and wanted to comment about something; I received feedback on February 28th of this year from someone guessing where this story is located. Well, I looked into it and, if you remember who you are, you got the interstate routes right, but the setting is based on a place closer to the other river.

Anyway, back to the story!

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Chase walked out of the hospital and tracked down his grandpa's truck. He was relieved to find that it was parked in a spot decently close to the exit. As he made his way towards the truck he walked himself through what the surgeon had told him. It had been two weeks since his surgery and he was leaving from getting his stitches removed.

"Well?" His grandpa asked as he climbed into the truck.

"The stitches are out and now I'm allowed to use my arm." Chase answered. "He did say no lifting with it though."

"Well at least you can use it now." His grandpa commented.

"No kidding." Chase agreed. "Now I can at least get out of the house."

"Yeah well don't work too hard." His grandpa said bluntly as he pulled out of the parking spot he was in and headed for the road.

"When have I ever done that?" Chase replied sarcastically, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"For the last eight years." His grandpa said, his tone had become more serious.

At this point Chase knew that his grandpa was being serious and that he had to actually address the issue at hand. "Well," he managed to say, "we have been a man short the last eight years..." He could already feel the guilt starting to rise in his chest.

"Yes but there's still three more of us other than you," his grandpa countered, "you didn't need to take on two men's work yourself Chase."

Chase looked down to the floor of the truck and sighed. "Try telling that to your son..." He muttered. After what had happened, his uncle had seemed to develop a sixth sense for tracking him down when he was relaxing and giving him a browbeating about what he'd done.

His grandpa was silent and a quick look at his face revealed to Chase that he wanted to say something more but either wasn't quite sure what to say, or wasn't sure if this was the time to say it. Either way, Chase was happy to let the conversation end there for the time being.

The rest of the trip home was silent until Chase started to get out of the truck.

"Chase..." His grandpa said as he began to climb out, "I know how you are, you're gonna do your damnedest to get out and get things done around here. Just don't push yourself too hard and hurt yourself again."

Chase sighed. "I'll be careful grandpa." He said as he turned to close the door.

"You'd better." Came the reply. Chase closed the truck door and headed inside.

Once he was inside, Chase took a moment to look at what time it was. "Two-o'clock." He thought to himself. At that point he decided that it would be a good idea to get a shower since he hadn't been able to do so properly for the last two weeks.

He laid out another set of work clothes and headed to take a shower. As he removed his shirt he took the first real look at his surgery wounds in his bathroom mirror.

The first thing he noticed was that the wound was massive, much larger than the little pinch would have had him guess. The pinhole entry wound near his shoulder was virtually unnoticeable compared to the sprawling network of scars left from the surgery. From the entry hole, three main branches split off. One branch ran about three inches down his arm and stopped about halfway down his arm. Another branch wound its way around his arm and up into the front of his armpit. The final, and largest, branch wound its way around the back of his arm and crossed over his shoulder and even forked as is spread across his back, one side of the fork stopped near his collarbone, and the other nearly reached his shoulder blade.

For a few moments he simply stood there, shocked at the extent of the injury he'd received. "Thank God she made me go to the hospital..." he thought to himself, "I definitely owe her one."

Having sufficiently studied his wounds, he finished undressing and proceeded to take a much needed shower. As he moved during the process, the soreness that arose in his shoulder with every movement reminded him that he needed to take things easy. He was severely limited in terms of range of motion and he assumed probably strength as well.

Nonetheless, he managed to get himself cleaned up and proceeded to return to his bedroom to get dressed. He put on a set of thermals along with some insulated socks underneath his normal clothes. He went and put on his Carhartts before venturing back out into the cold January air. Something about the feeling of finally being able to get something accomplished made the cold air feel almost inviting. He knew that with his shoulder being as sore as it was he wouldn't be able to do any wrenching, so he opted to go to the barn and start working on cleaning out the hay mow. One good arm was enough for him to lift a small square bale. Plus, if he managed to find some wasps or something similar the cold weather would work to his advantage.

As he made his way out to the barn, his phone went off and when he checked it he saw that he had a new text. He opened the text and found that it was from Sarah. He responded as he made his way to the door to the hay mow.

"Hey Chase, how'd your appointment go today?"

"Not too bad. I'm finally allowed out of the house so I'm not complaining."

"Just because you're allowed to doesn't mean you should..."

"I'm not pushing anything too much."

"You really shouldn't be pushing anything at all Chase..."

"I won't."

"Good."

"Yeah. So what are you up to?"

"On my way home from work. You?"

"Headed out to the barn."

"What are you doing out there?"

At that point Chase realized that he had just incriminated himself.

"Don't worry about it." Was all he could think to say in response. He knew it wouldn't work but he still said it.

"Chase..."

"I'll be fine."

"Don't tell me your working."

At this point he knew she was probably onto him so he decided to just make a sarcastic response and run with it.

"I wasn't going to tell you."

"Chase! You're gonna hurt yourself again!"

"I bet you I won't."

"Chase!"

He could tell that he'd gotten her wound up. Before he could think of a response, she texted him again.

"That's it! I'm coming over!"

"Lol What are you gonna do? Stop me?"

"I'm gonna try."

"Lol good luck with that."

"Quiet you."

Chase couldn't help but smile as he returned his phone to his coat pocket and walked into the hay mow. He began to plan what he was going to do.

He knew the straw and hay weren't gonna be worth keeping, but he did need to find a place to pile everything so that it was out of the mow. Plus, he planned on having cattle by the upcoming winter and would need a place to stack manure.

The barn had a lean-to off of the north side which sheltered an outdoor lot. He knew that, if he could, it would be a good idea to keep his manure piled under the roof to minimize nutrient leaching due to rain. Plus, since it was so close to the barn, it would make cleaning out the pens in the barn easier as well.

"Now let's see," he thought out loud, trying to orient himself, "if that's the north side," he said pointing towards the lean-to, "then the left end will be the weather end so I should pile everything off to the right."

The upper story of the barn had two doors that opened under the lean-to, one near each end of the barn. He walked up to the eastern one and lifted the locking bar and tried to push the door open. To his surprise, the door actually opened, although the hinges squealed in protest.

With the door opened, Chase took a moment to take in what was in front of him. From the high vantage point he could see the lean-to much better than he'd been able to in the bottom story of the barn. One thing he noticed was a concrete feeding trough that was set up against the wall of the barn that spanned the middle half or so of the wall's length. He also noticed that there was already a walkway that extended out from both of the doors along the floor joists that then crossed the distance between them, creating a path from the eastern door to the western one shaped like three sides of a rectangle with the barn wall forming the fourth.

"Well that'll make feeding hay easier." He thought to himself. He would simply be able to carry the hay out to the concrete feeding trough directly from the mow. "Hell," he added after that realization, "if I decide to bed this area, I can just throw straw down too."

After studying the existing pathway for any obvious signs of imminent failure, his gaze wandered upwards and he studied the rafters holding up the roof. Just like the rest of the barn, they were coated with cobwebs and dust but appeared to still be structurally sound. Once he got more use of his arm back, he planned to go around with a cobweb broom and clear them out of the rafters.

Chase returned his attention to the floor of the lean-to to pick a spot for his pile of old hay and straw. Along the eastern end there was a wall about chest height that stuck out about twenty feet from the barn's lower story. Since the wall would provide good protection against the weather, he decided that the corner formed by the protruding wall and the wall of the bar would be a good spot to pile the material from the hay mow.

With a location selected he walked over to the stacked hay, found the two twines with his good hand and lifted the bale. To his surprise, the twine didn't break and he was able to carry the bale out onto the walkway in the lean-to and set it down.

"There you are!" A voice behind him called out, startling him. He turned around to see who it was.

"Oh..." He said as he realized that it was Sarah standing there. "You were serious about coming over..."

"Sure was because *you* shouldn't be out here working." She replied sharply while pointing an accusatory finger at him.

Chase didn't really have a good response so he just returned to what he was doing. He pulled out his pocket knife and cut the twines on the bale. The hay was sold old that the bale didn't spring apart. He pulled the twines out from under the bale and used his foot to push the loose hay off the edge of the walkway.

As he walked back through the door into the mow, he tossed the cut twines on the floor to start making a pile. He looked up to find Sarah standing there with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. "I don't know what to tell you." He said. "I've been stuck inside for two weeks and I need to get something done around here."

Sarah sighed and lowered her arms. "Do you really have to do this though?" She asked.

"The only other real option I have involves working on equipment and I need full use of both arms for most of that." Chase answered as he walked over to grab another bale.

"Aren't you supposed to avoid lifting?" Sarah asked him.

"I'm not using my weak arm." He responded. He grabbed the next bale and carried it over to the walkway. He set the bale down and went to get another one. As he looked back at her he noticed that she was blushing slightly. He wasn't sure if she had been like that since she came in or not, but he assumed it was due to the cold January temperatures and continued about what he was doing.

"What are you even doing anyway?" Sarah asked him after a few moments.

"Getting all this junk hay and straw out of here." He told her.

She shook her head but stayed silent for a moment. "You're gonna hurt yourself."

"I'll be fine." He replied.

She sighed. "Well can I at least help so you won't have as many ways to hurt yourself?"

Chase was a little surprised by her offer. "Well," he said, "if you want you can cut the bales and throw what's left of them down in the pile I just started." He said pointing out to the walkway and the bales he'd gotten stacked out there.

"Sure, if it means you'll be less likely to hurt yourself." Sarah said.

"You don't need to worry about me." He insisted. He pulled out his pocket knife and handed it to her.

"Do you always keep a knife on you?" She asked, a curious expression on her face.

"Yeah?" Chase was confused by her question. Almost every man he'd ever been around in his life carried a pocket knife at all times. Hell, his dad and grandpa had both told him to never leave the house without a pocket knife.

Sarah had a surprised look on her face. "Ok then..." She said as she took the knife from him and headed out on the walkway. "Down there?" She asked pointing towards where he'd started his pile.

"Yep." Chase told her as he headed back to the stacked bales. He grabbed the bale by twines and lifted. At that point, to his surprise, the old sisal twine broke. "Shit!" He yelped as he tried to prevent himself from falling and landing on his injured arm.

"Chase!" Sarah yelled, having apparently witnessed what had just happened. "That's it, you need to go inside!"

"Sarah," he responded, "I'm fine. I just got caught off guard."

"I don't care," She replied, "I'm not gonna let you hurt yourself."

"I won't." Chase assured her. He reached down and picked up some of the broken bale in front of him. Carrying a few flakes of hay was easy enough for him to do with his injured arm so he stacked a few flakes on it as he moved the broken bale over to the pile he'd started.

"You don't listen much do you?" Sarah said, clearly a bit agitated with him.

"Not when your telling me I can't work." He responded. "Speaking of work, are you gonna get started or keep trying to get me to go inside?"

Sarah huffed in response but she did continue cutting the bales that were sitting next to her. Meanwhile, Chase returned to clearing away the broken bale. For the next several hours, the two of them worked away at clearing out the hay mow. Eventually, the two of them had managed to clear away everything in the mow. At that point, Chase took to sweeping the chaff out of the mow and into the pile forming in the lean-to while Sarah sat on the last bale resting.

"Well," Chase said as he swept the last bit of chaff off the walkway, "I should definitely thank you for your help with getting that chore taken care of." He told her.

"You're welcome." Sarah said as she stood up from the bale she had been sitting on. She picked up Chase's knife, cut the bale, and threw it into the pile. "Here's your knife back." She said, handing it to him.

"Thanks." Chase said as he closed the knife blade and returned it to his pocket. "Well," he added, "Let's get out of here." The two of them walked out through the freshly swept hay mow, now lit by the dim yellow light of the decade old barn lights.

"It does look a lot better up here now." Sarah commented.

"For sure." Chase agreed, looking around at the now empty mow. "I'll have to see what I can do about all those cobwebs everywhere, but I don't think attempting that would be a good idea until I get use of both arms."

"Yeah." Sarah agreed. "I won't lie, I didn't really want to go out there at first because of the cobwebs everywhere but I also didn't want to just stand around and not help."

"Well, I definitely appreciate you going out there and helping." Chase told her. "It made my life a lot easier."

"No problem," Sarah replied, "it honestly wasn't that bad and it felt good to get some exercise in the middle of winter."

Chase couldn't help but chuckle. "I guess that's one way to look at it." He said. At this point they were standing by the door out of the barn and he opened to let Sarah outside. He turned off the lights and followed her outside, closing the door behind him. By now it was well past dark and the dim glow of the security light illuminated the snow around the entrance to the mow with a soft orange glow. As he looked around a slight breeze poked at the exposed parts of his face. He started walking back towards his house. Sarah walked beside him, apparently using him as a windbreak.

"Well," he thought out loud, "Now I guess I should maybe get started on clearing out the bottom tomorrow."

"Don't make me come over again." Sarah quipped.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Chase responded in the same teasing manner.

"Try me and you might just find out." Sarah replied, a smug grin plastered on her face.

Chase rolled his eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, all I really need to do down there is move some random equipment, do some sweeping and take care of all of the cobwebs."

At the point Sarah stopped walking and once he noticed, Chase stopped to. He looked at her curiously.

"I know it's kinda late," She said, clearly a little nervous, "but would you mind showing me downstairs a little bit."

Chase was confused by her request but figured it wouldn't hurt to oblige her. "I mean... I'm not sure why you'd want me to but... sure why not." He turned and headed for the door to the lower story of the barn. As he passed by Sarah, she fell in next him and walked beside him to the barn.

Once they'd reached the door, Chase opened it a flipped the light switch. The downstairs lights evidently weren't in as good of shape as the lights in the mow, since about two thirds of them didn't work at all and the ones that did turn on took a couple seconds to do so.

The limited lights provide barely enough of an orange glow to navigate the barn. "Well I guess that'll have to do for light." Chase lamented, his voice just barely above a whisper. He looked to Sarah to see her response. The look on her face made it clear that she had her doubts but she looked up at him and managed to muster a slight smile and a nod. Chase replied with a nod of his own and began to walk through the barn.

"It's a little spooky down here..." Sarah commented, in the same just above whisper voice Chase had just used.

"Only because it's dark." Chase replied, trying to calm her fears a bit.

Just as he said that, he heard something fly right behind them, quickly followed by a gasp from Sarah and her grabbing onto his left arm. The two of them were now looking in the direction they'd heard the noise from.

"Chase..." Sarah whispered, fear obvious in her voice, "what was that?"

"I'm not sure." Chase answered, not exactly calm himself. But he continued to search for the source of the sound. After a couple seconds, right as he was about to continue walking, there was another sound, much like an airy scream, and it lasted for a couple seconds.

Sarah's grip on his arm tightened. "Chase..." She said again, clearly more scared than before. The sound repeated. This time, Chase was able to pick out the direction of the sound. It was coming from a shadowed corner of the barn off to their left from when they had entered. The sound was definitely spooky but something about it seemed familiar to him, he'd heard that sound before.

"Hey, Sarah," he whispered.

"Yeah?" She replied.

"You got a flashlight?" He asked.

"Will my phone work?" She asked, relaxing her grip on his arm a bit.

"It should." He replied.

"Ok..." Sarah said as she reached pulled out her phone and turned the light on. She handed it to him and he took it and shined the light in the dark corner.

As the light moved across the shadows he saw it. A white, roughly heart shaped face with two pitch black eyes. Once the light had hit it, it let out another scream, causing Sarah to re-tighten her grip on his arm. "There it is." Chase said calmly.

"What the hell is that?!" Sarah asked, clearly still scared.