Darker Than Sin

8.

I sleep late the next morning.

The latest I've slept in a long time. If I sleep past 8 a.m., Pa gets cross with me. He wakes at 5 a.m. most mornings to begin work on the farm that he co-operates with my Uncle when he doesn't have building jobs.

The clock on my bedside table flashes at me, telling me its 9:34 a.m. I rub my eyes and look again, half-expecting my eyes to be playing tricks on me.

"Wow," I mumble to myself.

It's surprising that no one has come to wake me.

I stretch and groan loudly, before letting myself get up. I laugh at my appearance. In my shower last night I clearly didn't make much effort to rid my face makeup. I stagger into my bathroom and begin cleansing my skin and clearing away all last night's decorations.

Last night.

A dreamy smile lights up my face as I go about getting ready.

My mind is consumed with him. The flashbacks of last night feel so vivid, that I forget what I'm doing in the present, as I repeat the memory over and over, like a movie you can't watch enough times.

When I get to the kitchen, there's a note on the counter.

Gone out for the morning to the markets with Pa and Cal. Can you take Charlie for a walk and collect the eggs? Love you, see you later today xx

After making myself breakfast, I change into my flannelette button-up shirt. I roll it to my elbows, before going out the back door. The screen door creaks, like it does every time, and I walk onto the timber deck.

I cup my fingers into a curve around my mouth. "Charlie!"

A few moments later, our golden retriever comes bounding up to me. He leaps not-so-elegantly up the steps, his claws scraping against the wood.

"Hey boy," I greet him, rubbing the top of his head.

He nuzzles into my hand, his tongue flopping out of his mouth as he pants.

"Want to go get the eggs?" I say in an excited voice.

Trigger word: Eggs.

He begins to leap all around me, shaking with excitement.

"Come on!" I shout to him as I skip down the steps.

He runs along beside me, his ears that look a little large for his head flopping adorably.

I continue running until we reach our large chicken pen. The chooks often roam around by themselves, but we lock them up of a night, due to carpet snakes.

The pen gate is already open, Pa having let them out early this morning when he woke. Even though Charlie is a big dog and often runs into people, because he's so uncoordinated, the chooks never fear him. Sometimes they even fly and land on his back, not that he likes that very much.

The three orange-coloured hens begin to follow me, hoping that I will have food. I wander into the nesting area. I grab the bucket and begin to collect the eggs for Ma to sell later in the week. Charlie bounds around the pen, sniffing and searching for food he can steal.

As I walk back to the house, I see Heidi standing on my porch, her arms folded.

"Hey!" I greet her, shielding my eyes from the sun so I can see her better. "I didn't know you were coming over."

"Maybe if you bothered to check your phone this morning!" she grumbles back, not looking very impressed.

"Oh, I haven't even looked at it!" I explain to her, half-wondering how I haven't checked whether Haze has messaged me yet or not.