My parents vow to stay a few days to help me settle. But really it only makes me feel more agitated. I didn't want them here anymore. It was only the second morning and I was already ready for them to go back home.
I hadn't gone out much the day before, mainly because I had taken two extra pills and couldn't really force myself to really do anything. I could feel it though, the lingering effects leaving my body. I didn't like it. I had half a pill in me, and I needed more.
But if you get more, you'll get caught.
The whole reason you're here is to get clean.
I sighed as I stepped into the sun, breakfast had ended and everyone acted as if I wasn't locked in my room the day before in a drug-induced haze.
As if they didn't speak about me right outside the door like I wouldn't hear them.
"Will he be ok?" My grandfather asked, his voice a little above a whisper. I could tell the man didn't speak much from the day we arrived, but I didn't think the first things I would hear him the day would be laced in worry about me.
But at that moment I didn't care, because my mouth was hung open as I sat up in the nearby desk chair, my arm hanging numbly towards the ground, I blinked a few times, but I was too far gone. I couldn't force myself to the bed, let alone the door to let them know that; hey, I was fine.
"Just, give him some time. This is all very new to him." Silas said, his voice low too, there was a silence between them, and understanding.
"He will get better."
I didn't hear Silas reply, and soon after their feet were echoing down the hallway.
I didn't want to think about it. It made my chest hurt.
"'Eh there!" An overly perky voice said, coming in from behind the house, "You must be the grandson, How yea doin' I'm Preston, I'm yer' boss until Riot comes back. Because he's the real boss. But like, let me believe it for a little bit yea?"
I looked at him for a minute. My eyebrows raised on their own, but it didn't deter the blondes 'goofy looking smile. His dark blues eyes didn't shift either, he had his long, lanky arm outstretched to me, ready for me to shake his hand. So I did. I put my hand in his then quickly gave him a two-finger salute.
"Unfortunately, I'm not fluent in sign. So I'm not overly sure how we plan to do this."
I nodded, taking out my phone and typing into it quickly. 'It's fine.'
"Ah, now that's lucky. Technology eh? Well, come on. Chip N' Dale won't feed themselves."
'Chip and Dale?"
"Chip n' Dale." He said with a nod, not really catching what I was throwing. But it wasn't long before I found out who Chip n' Dale were.
We walked into the stable, and both horses waited inside, a large bag of feed waited by the door. One of the horses let out a huff, the large black one waved his head as if it was nodding for us to come over. "Now, we don't normally give them much feed in the summer months. They can eat the grass and such. But, Chip here is havin' a baby, so we want to help beef her up a bit." He patted the black and white horse on the nose, giving her a little pack, before turning to the pure black horse that stood taller than the mare and looked a lot scarier. "Dale here, he gets jealous, and though he may look like a tough boy, he's a big softy and pretty spoiled. Mostly by Riot, I like Chip more. She's a lot less sassy." Preston patted the back of Dale before putting feed into a basket nearby. "They'll eat this, and then go off. I did some other things this morning, like cleaning their shoes and brushing them out. I was gonna wait for you, but I figured we wouldn't get too heavy on your first day. We also gotta give some feed to the cows, because trust me they smell this stuff."
Preston started walking out of the stable, and it was then I wondered if I was overdressed, because the day had hardly started and I was already sweating in my sweater and dark jeans. Preston wore a tan plaid shirt with light jeans and a backward cap. He didn't look like he was phased by the heat at all as we went on with our day.
We had fed the cows, inspected the fields for anything that was out of place on a side-by-side that Preston drove.
By the time we stopped for lunch I felt like I'd been in the field for days. It didn't seem like so much work, but we had to pack feed, had to make sure everyone's pens were clean. At one point chickens had gotten out of their coop and we had to chase them, I got peeked by a rooster named Tony and spat at by a goat.
And the cows.
Oh god, the cows.
"After we finish eatin' we'll check on Mable, Abel, and Cabel," Preston said with a mouth full of sandwich, referring to the three sheep that I had only seen in the distance.
'Who the hell comes up with these names?' I wanted to smirk at Preston, he as a good guy, didn't seem to into himself. He was put together but still funny. Still able to joke around with me, even though I had hardly even looked at him.
"Miquel and Ester came up with some of them. But she lets us name a few of the new ones. I came up with the sheep's names. Chip N' Dale were rescued, so they already had their names. Sally, Cindy, and Saul. That was me too. If they rhyme, chances are it was me."
'Who did this Riot name?'
"Oh, he named some cows, and Tony."
Once lunch was finished, and we got back to work I had long shed my sweater, opting to change before we got back to it.
Preston and I sat on the gator, drinking water as the sunset. The animals had put themselves to bed, it was just up to us to lock the gates behind them, and do a headcount to make sure everyone was in their rightful spot. Nani was cooking in the house, the smell of roast was strong in the night air as I let out a sigh. Preston said that some of his payment for helping on the farm was a hot dinner every night that he didn't feel like cooking himself. Which is said was rare. Normally Riot would cook for them after they finished up, but because he was away, Preston took Nani up on her food offer.
I was deep in thought when something wet hit my face as I let out a silent gasp in shock, looking towards Preston who had a smug look on his face. "You looked like yea were drifting, what's on your mind?"
I sighed again, taking out my cellphone to tell him nothing, but Preston cut me off before I could.
"Don't go lying to me now. You have a lot on your mind, I can tell. I know you won't tell me everything, so tell me a little. Let me get to know you."
I sucked in my lip. I didn't want to bring up drugs, or how I was feeling. But there was something that was getting buried with all this drama in my life that was knocking at the back of my head every chance it got.
'Have you heard of the matlos?'
Preston paused, he covered his water bottle before nodding. "Who hasn't. It's a touchy subject." I nodded along with him, "You think you're a matlos?"
I nodded again, swallowing thickly. It wasn't something I had told anyone. But I was supposed to be dead. I should have died the night Lucca killed our family. A matlos was someone who was mateless. Someone who didn't have a soulmate. Either because your soulmate died before you could meet, or they were just never born. I shouldn't be alive. My destiny wasn't to be written. Who was to say the goddess wrote my mate and me to a young death.
"Whose to say, maybe you are. But you're just a kid, you're not even twenty. Most people don't meet their mates until their mid-twenties, sometimes their thirties. You've got plenty of time."
'Are you mated?'
"Nah, but I'm only a year older than you. I've got plenty of time. I'm not worried about finding my mate yet." Preston leaned back on two hands, looking up at the sky. "I want to get my own farm or buy this one off your grandparents first before I think about settling down. I might go on the hunt for my mate when I reach my thirties, and who knows," He shrugged, "Maybe I'm a Matlos. I'll find someone. There is a good bit of Matlos out there, and I'm sure they've got a Facebook group going on like the humans. I'm bound to find someone that I like, and you are too."
I looked at him, a little â for lack of better words, speechless. He was ok with being alone, forever.
Maybe if I stuck close to Preston, his mindset could rub off on me, and maybe, just maybe.
I could be ok with being alone forever too.