Surprise in the Haystack

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TragicTrees

TragicTrees

Matchmaker of Ants
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Scifi, Crime/detective, supernatural, apocalyptic, horror, magic realism, mystery, historical, Western(at points)
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Abele
Abele Carlo Vissani hardly found what his father deemed 'good, honest work' and what his mother called 'something to build character, bella bambina' to be what HE consider 'fun'. He didn't enjoy feeding the animals, or gather up the hay, or checking the crops. He would much rather be doing something else. But his mother had said 'Get it done soon, tesoro' and his father had added a 'And get it done RIGHT, figlio', so he didn't have much of a choice not to do it. After all, he was the oldest child, and the only son. Who was going to inherit the farm later on in life? His younger sister? No, no; as much as he despised the work, it was going to be him, so he might as well get used to it now, rather than later.

So, that's why he was out, trudging to where they kept the hay in the storage house. His hair, as usual, was a complete mess, with leaves and stick sticking out, making him resemble one of this mother's pin cushions, which she made sure to decorate with fancy little flower pins and things that did not really make any sense to him to have. His shirt was somewhat of a wreck, with tears in it from accidentally rolling down a nearby hill while trying to chase down a run away sheep.

Needless to say, he did not catch the sheep, but he very well might've caught a infection from all the things that stabbed him on the way down.

Abele sighed a bit to himself, running a hand through his hair and knocking out some of the debris that littered it. Then, he went to the hay stack, taking out the pitchfork from the pile. Time to get this done and over with, so he could possibly REST for a bit. An idea that seemed a bit foreign to him, at the moment.
 
Jacob jolted awake when he heard a door slam shut. He groaned in pain when he opened his eyes, the bright sun shining into them, blinding him. Jacob crawled away from the light, stumbling to his feet. He blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust to the new light. When he realized the light had to be the result of someone entering the haystack, Jacob crouched down. He pictured one of the merchants in the band walking around looking for him. The idea was unlikely but it still struck fear into.

Jacob crawled across the floor, hiding behind a pile of hay. He took a deep breath, peeking around the haystack. He saw a figure, way bigger than he was and quickly hid again. He wore a ripped shirt and tattered pants. He wore no shoes and his hair was a tangled mess. He could feel the dirt caked on to his face and wanted nothing more than to shower. "Please don't be Walker," Jacob whispered to himself. Jacob's heart hammered in his chest as he slipped around the side of the haystack. He got a better angle this way. He saw a boy, a year or two older than him, and a little cleaner too, with a pitchfork. Jacob watched him for a few moments before coming out of hiding. "Don't freak out..." he said quickly as he revealed himself. "...Hi."
 
"Dolce madre di Gesù Bambino!" Abele exclaimed, stumbling back a bit as he held up the pitchfork, as if it was a actually useful weapon. Which, it probably could be, if he knew how to use it. Spoiler, he didn't, and he KNEW he couldn't. So, this was more for show than anything else.

He soon lowered the weapon, albeit slowly, once noticing it was a kid, who looked a bit younger than him. Who was sleeping in the hay. The farm boy frowned, lowering the 'weapon' completely. This was now more confusing than anything. He had a small, hermit, dirty boy, who was living in his hay. Well, his fathers hay, but that wasn't the point. The point was, he shouldn't be there in the FIRST place.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Abele wheezed a bit, still a bit out of breath from his small panic session "And why are you in the haystack? What the hell is going on?"
 
Jacob's eyes widened in fear as he had a pitchfork thrust in his face. He went crosseyed staring at the further most point. He swallowed thickly, hands in the air in surrender. "Please don't kill me!" He squeaked, regretting every showing himself. After few tense moments, the boy in front of him lowered the weapon and Jacob breathed a sigh of relief. He lowered his hands, shoving them in his pockets. "Uh, well, I'm...hiding," Jacob explained shyly. "Y-You can't tell anyone I'm in here okay!" Jacob said hurriedly, taking a few steps forward. "I'll...I'll uh," he looked around thinking of a way to bribe the man before him. "I'll help you with my chores if you keep my secret, swear!"
 
He'd help with chores? What? Abele narrowed his eyes, before sighing, and thrusting the pitchfork into the ground. Then, he stretched a bit, because if he was going to talk to this....KID, he didn't want his muscles to be as tense as the discussion at hand. Then, leaning on the pitchfork's handle that was beside him, he looked back at the boy, and flashed a small, tired smile.

He rubbed his forehead a bit, pushing his hair up as he did and mumbling "Dio, abbi pietà della mia anima.....", before directing his next statement, this time in English, to the boy in front of him.

"Look, I don't know who I'd even out you to, so calm down. Besides, you look like you just crawled out of a bog, what's up with that?" He said, looking the other over once again.
 
"Yeah well you don't look much better yaself!" Jacob said indignantly. He crossed his arms, brow furrowing slightly. He felt childish, which he was being, but he paid no mind to it. "You just can't tell anyone okay? Peoples is lookin' fer me," Jacob said. He bounced from foot to foot, looking around anxiously. He didn't feel safe. Jacob felt like the merchants were going to come through any minute and snatch him up again like they had when he was younger. He glanced up at the boy in front of him and decided to trust him with a just a bit of information. "I'm a runaway," he said begrudgingly.
 
Well, that's great. Abele had expected as much, but still, hearing the news wasn't great. He took a moment to frown and ponder over what to do with the boy, because 'good options' didn't seem to be in high stock at the moment. Actually, he really couldn't think of any good objects. He could, possibly, take him back to the house, but the problem was that all the bedrooms were already filled, so the kid would have to share with someone, which would be a pain. But, he couldn't just leave him out here.

He took a few more moments, before pulling the pitchfork out of the ground with a slight 'thunk' noise, and holding it over the his shoulder. He turned back to the door way, and then glanced back, eyebrow raised "I can probably- probably, mind you!- get you a place to stay, if you want." He offered, though it was hesitant, because he didn't know how his parents would react to him bringing home a runaway.
 
Jacobs heaved a sigh of relief. He'd never felt happiness before, but this seemed about right. "Thank you so much!" Jacob said. He repressed the urge to run and hug the boy for his generosity. For once in his life Jacob was going to have a place to stay. Even if it was for a short amount of time, Jacob was still grateful. No one had been so kind to him in his entire life. Jacob watched the boy walk out of the barn, following him just to the doorway. "Hey wait!" Jacob said, calling after the boy. "What's your name?"
 
"Abele. And if you don't follow, I will leave you in the dirty haystacks." He threatened, though it was weak sounding, and gave off the impression that he wouldn't actually do that. Which, he wouldn't. He liked to consider himself somewhat of a good person, no matter how annoyed he could get at some people.

He then continued walking, going over in his head what to say to his parents. 'Hey, I found this in the hay, can we keep it?'. No. 'Look at him! He needs to stay with us and help with my chores.'? No, no. Both were horrible options for actually getting his parents to agree to taking in ANOTHER kid.
 
Jacob nodded quickly. He stumbled down the trail after Abele. He was pretty skinny, not remembering the last proper meal he'd actually had. The walk to the main house was rather far but Jacob didn't complain.

He kept quiet for most of the walk. He didn't know what to say anyhow. He didn't want to upset Abele, make him change his mind about his. He may have found a sanctuary and he couldn't ruin that by opening his big fat mouth.
 
Abele stuck the tool into the ground, before pushing open the door and walking in. He was about to announce that he was here, and he had brought someone, but was cut off by his mother rushing over, and pushing up his hair so that you could actually see his eyes, for once. After a few seconds, she had made sure it stayed that way, tying some of it back.

"Abele, sei proprio un disastro!" she scolded, whacking his forehead lightly. He winced, about to retort something, but the dark-haired woman had already moved on, noticing Jacob. It was a few moments til she went over to him, fretting a bit.

"Oh, dear! This poor boy! Abele, where did you find him? He's a mess! Tell me you had nothing to do with this." She demanded, and Abele raised his hands in surrender.

"He was in the haystacks, alright? Not my fault!"
 
Jacob stood tense as the strange woman inspected him. He looked at Abele, eyes pleading for help. He didn't know how to handle someone worrying over his well being. He felt cramped and a little creeped out. As Abele's mother looked him over, Jacob wished he could just hide in the haystack. She ushered him towards the kitchen, saying something he didn't really pay attention to. Jacob was too worried about where she was taking him. From his experience, being separated from a group was never a good experience.

Fearing the worst, Jacob ducked under the woman's arm and ran over to Abele. "I don't wanna go with you!"Jacob shouted, fear filling his voice. He was shaking like a leaf as he dipped behind Abele's body. He held on to the boys arm. He didn't hold on to Abele because he trusted him but because he knew, hoped, that he had a less of a chance of being separated and taken somewhere else if he held on to someone.
 
Celia, Abele's mother, looked a bit startled at the sudden exclamation, before she sighed a bit, brushing back her long, curly hair, and placing her hands hands on her hips. Her stern look, though, was directed at Abele, not Jacob.

"Abele, go get that boy cleaned up, would you? And he's staying in your room. At least try to make him comfortable, and not stand there like a petrified tree!" She chided, before sighing once more "I will make some food. Go clean him up, and let him use some of your clothes. Ah! No complaining, you know we don't have any close to his size."

Abele paused, before grumbling a bit. He looked at Jacob, he raised an eyebrow "You....do want to be clean, right? Or do you like being covered in mud?"
 
"Maybe I do," Jacob mumbled. He always had a problem with his mouth. It got him in more trouble than it was worth but he didn't seem to have any control over it. Something inside was so defensive, but growing up the way he did, you had to be if you wanted to survive. Reluctantly, Jacob followed Abele to get clean. He didn't really enjoy being alone with someone, but Abele didn't scare him too, too much. At least they were about the same age. If he needed to, Jacob was sure that he could fight him off, or at least out run him if there was ever a need for it. "Where do you sleep?" Jacob asked, curious as to where he would be staying. He'd find out soon enough but curiosity killed the cat now didn't it.
 
"In a bed? In a room?" Abele answered, shrugging a little, getting water ready "Its....comfortable, don't worry. Bed's kind of small, but it's probably better than hay. Worst comes to worst, my mom will have me sleep on the floor or something, so YOU don't have to be uncomfortable either way."

It was true. His mother valued guests more than her own son. Which would seem horrible, but it actually wasn't. He lived here; he could be comfortable once the guests left. The guests only stayed for a few days, so they kind of deserved it.
 
"You have your own bed?!" Jacob said excitedly. A smile broke out on his face, bouncing on his toes. He felt excitement bubble up in his stomach, the idea of his own room and his own bed. It was incredible! When he was traveling with the merchants, Jacob usually slept outside the tents. He wasn't high up enough on the food chain to get inside. In fact, he was the lowest. He ate last, he drank last, he got the worst sleeping accommodations. It was a pretty terrible life. Even sleeping in the haystack was a step up from where Jacob normally slept.
 
Abele nodded nonchalantly, before gesturing to the water. He figured he should point it out, now that he was done preparing it all for the other.

"You can wash yourself, right? Because.....yea. I'd rather not help with that bit. I can get clothes and stuff, though." He said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, eyes flickering over to the door ".....yea." He ended with lamely.
 
"Course I can wash myself you loon," Jacob said with a pout. He looked away, arms crossed, feigning being insulted. He glanced back at Abele for just a second, calming. The guy was just trying to be nice, sort of. "....Abele.....thanks," Jacob said softly, uncrossing his arms.

Jacob looked down at the water, seeing himself in the reflection for the first time in a while. He was absolutely filthy. Jacob cringed as he took off his tattered clothes. They were more like rags than clothes at this point. He cleaned himself, scrubbing until his skin was raw. His black hair returned to its natural chocolate brown and you could properly see his emerald green eyes. He looked like a completely different person once he washed up.

Jacob dried himself with a towel and looked around for Abele. He didn't see him and panic settled in his chest. Was he left here? Where they just going to embarrass him?
 
Abele had left rather quickly, racing to get the clothes. It took him a bit, though, as finding ones that would fit the boy was a difficult task. He scoured through the various things he had, before finding something decent, and running back. Of course, he had also gotten sidetracked with his mother telling him something, so he took more time than he intended. He got there eventually, though.

And, when he did, the clothes were tossed into the bathroom, because Abele wasn't keen on seeing anyone without clothes on. He was a good person, after all, and good people would not do that. He'd also probably become a flustered mess, no matter what, so this was the best option for everyone involved.
 
Jacob felt relieved when Abele appeared. He let out a sigh, the panic he'd felt settling as he took the clothes. He got dressed as quick as possible, getting rid of the dirty water before stepping outside. Jacob looked up at Abele, suddenly feeling shy. "Um, thank...thank you Abele," Jacob said softly. He toed the ground, hands clasped behind his back. "C-Could I, uh, get something to eats?" He asked softly. His grammar wasn't always the best. He never got the luxury of school or even learning from educated adults. The men he'd traveled with were illiterate.
 
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