Chapter 10: A Feather Friend

Mandy POV:

I sat in the dirt and muck just watching the chickens peck around in their small fenced in area that my mother had set up for them. Chickens reminded me so much of the other people in the city. They only did a select amount of things. Eat, Sleep, Reproduce, poop, and repeat. But unlike chickens people in the city are cruel. they also cheat, steal, murder, and lie. People in the city have no mercy. They come and go as they please and prey on small animals that would seem or look weak.

People in the city slowly eat away at the weak like acid and bleach, removing the germs and dirt until a distilled set of city folk are left. Only they can survive. Only they can continually live in the city. For they are the ones who created the stealing and murdering and the lying.

People in the city are like machines. Machines that don't need oil for fixing or gas to keep running. People in the city are fueled by the prey and the weak that live in the grim of the city. The grim that the city folk leave behind, like a trap the city folk use to lure the weak in. Like catching a mouse with cheese. But that cheese is always a lie. The cheese lures people in and eatings them from the inside out so the people in the city can easily eat them and destroy them.

I stood and walked through the rows and rows of my mother's crops. She had all types of plants and flowers growing in her vast field. But for some reason I stopped. I stopped at the roses.

Life is like a rose.I stared deep into the crystal blue color that erupted from the petals.

Life is like a rose. Roses dont all look the same. Some are blue, some are red, some are pink, some even have bits of magenta in them. They don't grow the same. They usually don't even come from the same bush, but sometimes- every so often- some will look and act similar.

Only they never really are the same. People all think that flowers look and act the same. But they don't. Each and every flower acts differently depending on the conditions and even it's biological make up.

But life is like a rose. Roses bud and are green and leafy. But in a matter of weeks they bloom and damn they look magnificent. Even the crappiest flower looks great, but they always die. Always even the plastic flowers that "last forever" die. People throw them out. Replaced one after another when their done with them.

City people like roses.

…

Mom handed me a sandwich and a grape juice bottle. She smiled, wrinkles crinkled around her eyes.

"Have a good day Mandy."

I nodded and shoved them into a backpack. Threw the bag over my shoulder and walked out of the farm. The winter twisted around every corner, haunting every road, shadowing behind every person. The residents of Mineral Town tried to hide in their homes, but because most of them depended on tourists they got up every day and cleaned the sidewalks and whipped the windows free of snow. The residents of Mineral Town tried and tried they did.

The blacksmith stood in front of his shop taking a break from his shoveling to wave to me. Not many people knew, but enough did. Gray the Blacksmith didn't.

Rick the chicken farmer didn't.

Popuri the Rick's little sister didn't know.

Karen the grocery store owner didn't.

Mary the librarian didn't.

Kai the … well he's a drifter but even the drifter didn't know.

I stood at the doctor's office.

The entire doctor family knew. Even Spencer, Elli and Trent's son. The kind hearted young doctor.

…

I sat up right in the comfy waiting room chairs. Trent had some farmer from the valley over. Finally the farmer came out. His hair was dashed with grey hairs but his face was strong and husky. He was old but strong much like most of the men in the farming business.

I watched him leave, but before he left we made eye contact. His harsh brown eyes softened rather quickly. He stopped and grabbed me. I heard Dr. Trent call out to us but the man pulled me into a hug and whispered into my ear "Don't stop trying." and then he left.

I stood there stunned for the longest time until Spencer shook me awake. I didn't even know who the farmer was but he took one look at me a it was like he knew my entire life story.

"Who was that?"

Spencer looked at his dad, than back at me. "That was the Forget-me-not Valley Farmer, Jack."

…

I spun around in a circle. Dr. Trent had gotten new chairs for his office and was letting me be the first to sit in them. Spencer and Dr. Trent were sitting across from me not saying anything. They both knew the reason why I was back in Mineral Town. And I guess when Dr. Trent had said I wasn't ready to leave Mineral Town he really was right.

"Mandy, Dr. Klaus gave us a report of what happened on the mountain summit." Dr. Trent's voice echoed in the empty room.

"Mandy would you like to tell us what happened?" Spencer finished.

"Not really." I looked up at the father and son, "But it's not like I have a choice, right?" I smiled, it was true. Everyone was worried about me.

I stopped swiveling and looked at the doctors. They really looked worried and like they wanted to know, but …

"We began to walk up the mountain together…"

…

Rod POV:

No one had even the slightest where she was from or where she came from. Mandy was a walking mystery. Her vibrant green hair, her welcoming green eyes, even her shy smile; they were a mystery that I was addicted to.

She beckoned me without trying. Her plain body. Her mysterious life. It was like a drug that was infused into a human being.

I had fallen hard for a mystery and it was no film noir.