Our Land

Chapter 3 - Kristen meets her neighbors

              Kristen woke up to the sheep making tons of noise. The flock was practically kicking the doors to the arena down. Forgetting the feeling from the night before, she launched herself from the couch and out the door running full speed to the arena. Once she got there, she slid open the door and the sheep ran out to the pasture. Now Kristen realized that she had left the gun sitting on the porch and perhaps she had made a very big mistake.

              It was the smell that hit her first. A pungent garlicy aroma that burned her lungs as she walked. The arena was dark, but there were noises in one of the stalls. She contemplated going back to the house, but that smell was something she remembered. Something she had encountered before and really did not want the creature it belonged to sticking around.

              As she approached the gate on the stall, she could hardly breath. There in the corner was a mother skunk with little ones creating quite the panicky stink. Kristen grabbed the lock and released the gate and ran to the other side of the arena. The momma skunk slowly peeked out of the gate and looked towards the open door to the outside. She ducked back in and Kristen could hear her communicating with the little ones. First one little one ran out, then another. Three little ones in all were followed by a momma looking in every direction as they ran for the open door. Kristen was glad when they were gone, and she decided a shower was in order.

              As she left the arena, that feeling of discomfort came rushing back. She heard tires crunching and spun around at the sound of vehicles coming up her driveway. There was her freshly washed Prius being followed by a dealership car. The man who exited her Prius held out a clipboard for her to sign, handed back her keys and thanked her for working with the dealership. She thanked him for his time and headed back to her yurt. She was certain that he made the interaction so short because the smell of skunk was coming off of her in waves.

              Once the guys from the dealership with out of eyesight and down the road, Kristen looked again at the wood line. She still felt uncomfortable and couldn’t figure out what was going on. At the edge of the trees she noticed something moving slowly. So slowly that she was hardly able to see it, but still, there it was. Taller than the average human, and broader, the thing that was standing in her woods was certainly what this uncomfortable feeling was coming from. Kristen kept her eyes on it as she backed to the door of her yurt.

              Once inside she locked up the door and headed to the couch to grab her gun. She was going to deal with whatever this thing was, but not before she got the skunk stick off of herself. She headed into the shower and scrubbed with the harshest peppermint and charcoal soap that she owned. Satisfied with the results, she threw on some clothes, grabbed the gun and headed for the door.

              Kristen wasn’t shy when she threw the door open and brought the gun to her shoulder. She had taken a quick shower, but in that time someone or something could have easily walked the distance across the fields to the house. She wasn’t wrong because standing just 15 feet from the door was the biggest man she had ever seen!

“Who are you and why are you on my property?” Kristen was stern and curt when she asked. She kept the gun leveled at the man’s chest but her finger off the trigger. No point in shooting without knowing what he wanted. That was unless he decided to charge her, and then all niceties were done.

“We were intrigued.” The man’s voice was deep and hollow. It made her bones grow cold. She could feel the life draining from her with each breath she took. This was certainly the time to panic. Especially since he had said WE! She took the chance of taking her eyes off the intruder and glanced around the field, but she couldn’t see any other movement.

“Please put the gun down, I mean you no harm.” The man held his hands up to show that he was harmless, but the waves of terror rolling over Kristen were enough to keep her from dropping the gun. The man sighed and took a few steps closer. Kristen did not shoot him so he continued to walk up. The closer he got the colder Kristen felt. He was just a few steps from her when she moved her finger to the trigger on the gun.

“Not one more step.” Kristen said, voice level and confident with her decision.

Again, the man held up his hands, but he stood his ground. He looked at her with big brown eyes and took in one very deep breath. He began to hum quietly and that feeling of discomfort and cold immediately left. Kristen was standing there feeling warm as though the sun was shining only for her. Happiness rushed over her and she lowered the weapon. This sudden change scared her more than the previous one, but she couldn’t get the gun back up before the man reached her.

He gently pulled the gun from her hands, turned her around and ushered her back into the yurt. This was not the start to her day that she had been expecting, and Kristen would have been terrified if the feeling of warmth and happiness wasn’t washing over her at an alarming rate. When he closed the door behind them, he sat her down on the couch. He unloaded and disassembled the gun and placed the parts across the room from where she sat. Kristen was certain she was dead now.

The man started singing louder and this time he was using some kind of words. Not words that she understood, but she was certain that there was some meaning to the sounds he was creating. Kristen felt tired and drained and her eyes began to shut. No amount of fighting on her part seemed to keep her safe from what was going on. As she drifted off, she saw the man walk back towards her door and open it to greet another man standing on the outside. This second man was slightly smaller, but still larger than your average Joe.