• wakawaka New Gloucester, a small town in Cumberland County of Maine, and one that only had a population close to 4,000, it was nearing winter soon and most of the farms were starting to get ready. But one farm, Heaven’s Peach, was not getting ready as normal like all the others. The cold wind blew through the grassy fields of the small homeland farm, a family of three living there. A young man was standing in the middle of the field, his back to his small two story home while his gray eyes were staring out in the long field that was stretched out long, and a small path that led to the small hill forest that situated at the left side of the farm. At the moment, Justin Marcus had to go and find one of the female goat’s that got out again. Lilly always did like running off, and she gave Justin trouble almost every time he got near her. If it had been his father, Julian Marcus, it would be another story. Almost all the animal’s loved him, even his grandmother sometimes. His father was the farmer, not Justin. All he wanted was to get out of this small farm town of his, and move to Portland to have a real job and real life. But now wasn’t the moment. His mother needed him, and so did his grandmother. Alexandra Marcus was a religious woman, believing in God and everything above and below. It was hard to tell if she was a Christian or Catholic, and he didn’t really care since he didn’t believe in God all that much anyway. His mother on the other hand, Grace Anthony Marcus, gave up all her religion belief’s when his father passed away from a car accident driving home when a tire blew out. He died having his car run off the road and down the hill.
    wakawaka The nearest hospital was in the town New Gloucester, but even then, they didn’t have the most advance stuff that Portland had. Julian Marcus soon passed away on his hospital bed, bleeding out internally. Justin soon made it a mission that he would leave, not get stuck in this backwater home of his. But he couldn’t leave, not his mother and sure as hell not his grandmother alone. When Grace gotten the news of her husband’s death, she broke down and since then had been in a depression slump. Not caring if the farm survived or not, and always at odd’s with Alexandra. His uncle on the other hand, Michal or Mike for short, would come up to Heaven’s Peach from time to time when he was off work in New Gloucester to try and help fix up the farm. As a handyman of sort’s in the town, he was well known and liked by everyone.
    wakawaka Then again, when a bachelor who lost his only twin in an accident, most women would flock to him and try to help him. But not his uncle, for some reason he held off any type of romantic relationships and made HIS mission to try and help the rift in the family. Justin snorted, and rolled his gray eye’s that was a likeness of his father’s. His dark brown hair was short in the back, while the bang’s slightly long; almost covering his forehead while he had a worker’s built on his twenty-five year old body. Most of his muscle came from carrying and moving stuff around on the farm, as well as helping build stuff with his father during the time. Three months had passed since his father left everyone, and it was during those three month’s Justin had the decision to leave his family and have his own life. But again, the guilt of leaving his mother and grandmother would pop up in his head, making him stuck in this boring lifestyle.
    wakawaka The sound of goat’s letting out their cries came from the semi-large barn that was situated by his home, and his head turned to look and watch while most of the goats were grazing inside of the pin. Heaven’s Peach made their life on goat milk and cheese, not much to sell, but it was something they got by. They also had good pure-breed horses that they could give to racer’s looking for a breeding horse or one to ride. It was also that, that helped bring in the bread. But then again, they made most of the food they ate on the farm itself, only having to head into town from time to time to get supplies for fixing things up.
    wakawaka Reaching up, Justin rubbed the back of his neck and mutters with eyes lowering, “Where the hell are you Lilly…” It annoyed him on no end when that goat ran off, and it was a big deal to Alexandra, since Lilly was known as the Mother Hen of the farm. The one that gave birth to most of the goat kid’s and also the one to produce most of the milk they have. Since it was nearing winter, Justin was wearing a long sleeve cotton shirt, a tan color and a pair of working jean’s that had white and brown paint covering it, as well as a few tears in the knees since he used them all the time while working on the farm. On his feet, just a pair of normal dark brown work boots, most of his clothes were hammy-down’s from his father now, since they were in a bit of a pickle for money. Turning, he surveyed the farm ground’s, making sure and hoping that Lilly was just lose and around the ground’s instead of the small forest hill that his uncle nicked name; Wolves Keep. It was a funny nickname, since they don’t even have wolves near Heaven’s Peach. For some reason, it’s like they have a lack of it, and only the occasional wild dog would wander onto their land. But Justin’s dog, a Doberman by the name of Sires, would wake and protect the farm at night if there ever was a problem.
    wakawaka He just wished that he could bring Sires with him; the problem was that Lilly was afraid of the Doberman and wouldn’t come near at all and just run off if the dog got close to sniffing her out. When Justin’s quick look didn’t find any sign of the white and black goat, his lips thinned and soon was making his way down the path to Wolves Keep, grumbling under his breath. His skin was slightly tan, mostly due to the years he worked out in the summer sun with his dad, during the time when he thought, and was happy to, help on the farm for the rest of his life. As his boot’s crunched against the leaves fallen from some of the trees, a coating of cold and frozen water on it, he had to walk over a small fallen medium branch on the path, and made a note in his mind to tell his dad. That thought froze in place, just as Justin did and closed his eyes as he reaches up to pinch the bridge of his nose as a sigh left his lips. “I need to get out of this place, soon.” He said softly, and continued while his slightly shrew like grey eyes started to scan the open places.
    wakawaka Heaven’s Peach was placed almost on a small/large hill that overlooked New Gloucester, and it was a piece of land that most farmer’s wish they had, but at the same time would cause problem’s for their livestock since during the winter, anything or anyone that went into those wood’s, would get lost easily. And maybe won’t find it at all if they even have a lick of luck.
    wakawaka Jumping over another fallen branch, Justin was soon becoming more and more annoyed. “Lilly! Where the heck are you felly?!” He yelled out, the annoyance easily heard in his tone. Just as he was about to yell out again, he soon heard it. A goat’s cry, and one that was a bit shrill, as if something was wrong. His body stiffened, and the first thought that came to him was that a wild dog must have ventured into the woods, and found Lilly. Not wanting to get a ear full from his grandmother, he was soon high tailing it off the path, heading left and almost slipped since he was making a short cut down the hill instead of following the zigzag path down it. Only a dusting of white covered the wood’s and hill ground’s, showing that it had snowed slightly, but not that the big one came yet. Then he spotted her, the goat’s head was down almost like it was pulling at something, and lifted her head quickly when she heard Justin stumble down through the many bushes. At the sight of him, she let out another shrill like call, and he frowned when he didn’t see a sight of a wild dog. Even more so, it looked like Lilly was alright and fine.
    wakawaka “For the love of…Lilly, why the hell are you doing out this far.” Justin frowned more when getting closer, but was slowing to a stop when he notice the goat bend down to pull at something. Something blue, and something that look like the sleeve of a shirt. Getting closer, his eyes rounded when he notice that half a body of someone was covered in that white dusting of snow, and that her pale blond hair was covering her face. And that she was unconscious and had a bruise at her temple. “Oh f@#$!” Bending down, Justin quickly felt for a pulse at her neck, and let out a relieved sigh when he found one, but her body was cold and almost shivering. As he kneeled down on one knee, he pushed his arms down and under, pulling the girl into his arms, and noticed that this girl wasn’t a young one. Instead, her body was that of a young woman, only wearing a long and baggy t-shirt that was blue, with white dots all over it, and a pair of dark blue jean’s that also looked big on her slender form. Frowning, Justin turned her head a bit to look at her face, and saw that she had a round look, showing that even though she had a body of a young woman, she was still young.
    wakawaka That’s when her eyes fluttered, and slowly they opened, and Justin’s breath froze. The color of her eyes was the clearest blue he ever saw, almost like a clean fresh lake, or a open blue sky. Her gaze was unfocused; making him guess that she really had took a bump on the skull to make her like this, and watched as she narrowed her eyes with a frown on her face. Noticing that her lips were firm, and yet plump, like twin pink rose petals. As her mouth opened, a small croak came out, as if she couldn’t talk. Justin spoke quickly, making his tone low and soft, “Don’t worry, I’m going to get you out of there and somewhere warm.” Ever so slowly a small smile came over her face, and soon was out cold. He didn’t know why, but that smile almost made his heart stop. Her face was almost like an angel. And that thought was soon cut off, and he shook his head. There was no such thing as angels; just a myth and story that was from the same stuff his grandmother spouted each day and night. Justin slowly stood up, and then looked down at the felly, watching as she opened her mouth to let out a normal cry this time. Raising a dark brow, he remarked dryly. “You have a lot of explaining to do girl.” And soon was making his way to the path, the goat right behind him.

    wakawaka “You said that you found her, out cold, and off the path?” Alexandra Marcus, a woman of 65 and salt and pepper hair said with confusion in her voice. Her eye’s were a dark blue, different from the girl’s eyes that Justin saw, and her form was plump and small, but showed she was a attractive woman since her hair was pinned up on her head and smooth looking. Small curls of her bang’s hanging near her temples as she was at the side of Justin’s bed, moving a warm wash cloth over the young woman he found, and a large first-aid patch was at where the bruise was at.
    wakawaka When he came walking into the house, calling for his mother, who didn’t come at all but instead his grandmother, he told her about what happened and was soon situating the girl in his room since he slept in the attic area of the home. It was more warm and toasty then the other floor’s of the house, and only had a fan in it for when it got too hot on those summer days. His face was blank as he watched his grandmother move the wet cloth against the strange girl’s face, noticing that she had rosy cheek’s that almost matched her lips. Justin didn’t know why he was looking at her closely like that, and just knew that she was the only other female that was here at the farm that wasn’t his mom or grandma. She was a bit pale, but not sickly, from what his grandma told him, just cold to the bone. At her order, Justin had left her and the girl alone in his room so that she could change her out of her now wet and freezing clothes. Once she was done, Justin came back in and answered Alexandra’s question’s, through it all his entire face was blank and would shrug from time to time when he couldn’t answer certain questions: What was her name? How did she get there? And most importantly, how did she get hurt?
    wakawaka He didn’t know everything; all he did was find her, half covered in snow, and out cold. And he did the right thing by bringing her to his home and doctor what he could. Of course, it was mostly his grandmother doing all the work, but he didn’t care.
    wakawaka Moving the cloth once more, Alex sighed when the questioning was done, and a healthy color was coming back to the girl’s face. And Justin stiffened while Alex let out a relieved sigh this time when she let out a small groan from her lips. Her eyes scrunched down, as if she was in pain and soon was opening her eyes slowly with a confused look on her face. Looking around a bit, her vision blurry, she slowly turned to look at the older woman since she was sitting at the side of the bed, watching her give a soft smile to her. Reaching out, Alex rubbed her hand slowly up and down the girl’s arm, speaking in a soft and motherly voice. “It’s alright youngness, your safe now. You were almost a frozen Popsicle out there in Wolves Keep, and even more so with a hit like that on your temple.” The girl frowned more, and slowly reaches up to touch around her forehead, and when her finger’s got close to the patch on it, Alex reaches out quickly to stop her, but just shook her head when the girl winced when she felt the pain at the touch. “W-where am I?” Her voice was slightly hoarse, normal from a long sleep, and licked at her lips slightly as she looks around a bit. She stopped when she caught sight of Justin, her eyes focusing and narrowing her eyes at him. She said in a small voice, “I remember you.”
    wakawaka Justin just gave a nod of his head, speaking in a emotionless tone, “Yeah, I found you. Remember?” She gave a hesitant nod, and looked over to Alex when she spoke. “And you’re safe now. What I want to know though, is how did a young girl like you get stuck out there in those woods?” The girl stared at her, and frowned, shook her head once, and paused while frowning more. “I…I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Justin just let out a sigh, while pinching the bridge of his nose; Alex gave him a harsh look when the girl looked over with a frown. But soon looked back when the older woman spoke once more, “It’s alright, take all the time you have, what about your name? Where are you from?” Shaking her head, she closed her eyes while her lips thinned and let out a small sound that was breathless, as if she was starting to get afraid. “I…I don’t know where…I can’t remember…but my name. It’s Suna, that’s all I know.”
    wakawaka That’s when Justin scoff’s, giving a hard frown to the girl, and watches when she turned a confused frown to him. “Suna, what kind of name is that? Russian?” The girl, Suna, shook her head slowly still frowning. “I don’t know…”
    “It’s alright, you don’t have to answer everything right now,” Alex spoke up, giving another harsh look to Justin, and turned to give a soft look at Suna when she turned her head back. Rubbing at her arm once more, “you just rest here for a few day’s. And maybe you will remember. Alright?”
    wakawaka Suna nodded once, and gave a small shy like smile back to her. Standing up, Alexandra then moved to the door while speaking over her shoulder, “Come along Justin, let’s leave Suna to her rest. Your going to help me fix up the guest room.” The young man let out a groan and sigh, almost crossed together, and was making his way across the room to the door his face not so happy. Suna watched them leave, and as the door closed, she turned her head to the window at the other side of the room where Justin was leaning again. Staring out, she noticed that it was night time, and her face was blank, a thoughtful expression only there on it as she whispered out. “Where am I from…” She whispered out, and soon was closing her eyes.

    wakawaka Staring at the close door for a while, Justin didn’t move at all, but looked to his left when he felt his grandmother’s eyes on him. When she raised a brow at him, he scowled at her while walking pass and muttering. “Why the heck are you staring at me like that, I told you everything.” He listened as the woman let out a low mutter, almost like a curse and then crossed herself as she quickly went after him, making their way down the pulled out stairs to the second floor. “Are you sure you found her like that? You didn’t hit her did you?” Justin stopped and his mouth fell open, spinning on Alex with a look of disbelief that his grandmother even thought that about him. But soon she was waving a hand in the air, and said, “Sorry, but it just something that popped in my head is all. I’m only teasing you dear.” Patting his hand, she continue to walk past him, and he shook his head a bit as he grumbled and followed right behind her. Making their way to the guest room that was across from Alexandra’s room, he first went over to the closet to pull out the clean sheet’s and the pillow cover’s while his grandmother started to pull out the extra toothbrushes that they had in the small bathroom that was connected to the guest room. It was a pretty coasy home. The guest room had its own bathroom, but no shower. The main bathroom was on the second floor, and most people in the house had to use it, except for his mother since she lived in the master bedroom with their own bathroom and shower. There was another small bathroom downstairs like in the guest room, which was mostly used by people visiting their farm. Other then that the place was big, but at the same time not too big to have extra space everywhere.
    wakawaka As Justin was dropping the pillow sheets on the bed side table, he slapped out the sheets over the bed, watching as his grandmother grabbed the other end and they started to tuck in the sheet on the bed. “You know, something about her seems...different.” Justin looked up at his grandma as he was lifting the mattress, and raised a brow with a bored look. “Really? How so,” He remarked dryly, and watched with amusement as Alex rolled her eyes at him and waved a hand, something she always did, as a way to start a new sentence or to end one it was hard to tell. “I mean, that she’s able to remember only her name, but not where she’s from and who she is more? I think we’ll need to have the doc come up and check her out.”
    wakawaka Shrugging, Justin finishes up helping his grandmother fix up the guest room. The doc was M.D. Johnston; he was the head doctor in the hospital down in town, and one that did most of the home calls. It would be extra money, but with the winter coming, it would be hard to get down the hill through Wolves Keep when heading into town. Once the guest room was finished, Justin started to head out of the room, and then stopped when Alex called out to him, turning his head slightly. “Don’t forget to let Grace know we have a guest,” No ‘Mother’, and the tone in Alex’s voice was almost weary, like the woman she was talking about was on her last nerve. The thought that his grandmother wasn’t really in speaking terms with his mom made his lips thin. Then again, he wasn’t really in speaking terms with his mother as well. She wouldn’t even look at him anymore, not saying a single word and only to Alexandra and Mike, when ever his uncle came by that is. Shaking his head, he was opening his mouth to say no, but Alex gave him a tired look. “Dear, please, I know how she is but right now I want to make dinner and also get something for the girl so she’s not starving.”
    wakawaka Justin’s lips thinned more, and threw up his hands while stomping out of the door and mutter’s under his breath. “Fine, whatever,” Soon enough he heard Alex called out to him loudly when he went down the hall and turned left, to where the master bedroom was at, “Don’t you take that tone with me young man!” Justin snorted; it was funny since he was twenty-five, not a kid anymore. But it didn’t matter to Alexandra Marcus; all children in the family were kids and young to her. At reaching the bedroom, he knocked on the door a few times while speaking in a emotionless tone. “It’s me, Justin. I’m coming in.” When he heard nothing, just a rustle of the bed, he opened the door and looked through the slightly open door way to see his mother on her side. Back facing the door and not staring at him since the blankets were slightly around her hips. Fully clothed, her rumpled amber long hair, curly, down in waves were all around her shoulders. She didn’t say a sound, and didn’t move to stare at him. Justin’s lips thinned more at being ignored by his own mother, but soon spoke through his slightly clenched teeth with a bit emotion in his voice. “Alex wanted me to tell you that we have a guest staying here, so if you see a girl wandering around, that way don’t freak out.”
    wakawaka Nothing, not even a single movement from the bed showed that she acknowledged him. Waves of emotions were crossing his face; anger, sadness, and most of all a cold harsh face. Shaking his head, he soon closed the door and before walking away he heard Grace let out a small hiccup, and muffled sobs. Sighing, he reaches up to rub at the bridge of his nose, something he gotten in the habit of doing since the past two months went by from his father’s death. It was something that made him want to leave most of all, was that his mom didn’t even look at him. His grandmother said it was because she was a selfish woman, but his uncle told him it was mostly because Justin reminded her of his father. He had his built, but also his eyes were almost the same as his, not something a widow that was in deeply in love wanted to see day and night when she’s unable to hold him anymore.
    wakawaka Soon, he made his way to the second floor stairs, planning to head out to try and work out his nerves but paused at the slight creaking of floorboards. Lifting his head up, he frowned up at the ceiling, and soon heard it again. Seemed their ‘guest’ was up and moving around. While his lips thinned once more, Justin turned about in his course and was making his way back to the pulled out stairs to the attic. Since he was big, by normal working standards, he made creaking sounds on the boards while making his way up. And yet when turning his head to look over at the bed, he didn’t see Suna. Frowning, he looked around a bit from the angle he could see, “Is something the matter?” Jumping, Justin spin around with slightly wide eyes to look behind him, Suna was there kneeling at the opening of the stairs, her large clear and beautiful blue eyes staring at him with a innocence that only a child could have.
    wakawaka Swallowing the lump in his throat, he shook his head and had to clear it a bit when it sounded slightly hoarse. “Nothing, everything is fine. Why the hell are you up and about? Your suppose to be resting.” Shrugging at the accusation, Suna just slowly stood up and patted bare foot back to the bed. “I can’t sleep; my mind is a whirl of thoughts.” Justin watched her the whole time she walked, the way she spoke showed that she was smart, and there was a slight accent to her tone, but it was hard to tell where it was from. It was almost French, but at the same time, the American accent was overpowering it. Walking up the rest of the step’s, Justin leaned against the railing while crossing his arms, watching with a slight frown when Suna made her way to the window instead of the bed as he thought. When she didn’t say anything more, but stared out at the window up in the night sky, Justin soon spoke. “Do you remember how you got here now?”
    “Nope,” was the quick response from her.
    wakawaka Justin raised a brow, the frown soon gone as he was now staring at the girl with curiosity. No not a girl, as he recalled the feel of her body against his. She had the curves of a young woman, and as his gaze went down he noticed that her hips were slightly wide, almost barely visible through the jogging pant’s that was his only pair. And the shirt she wore was one of his, large and went down to the middle of her thighs as well. She was a small one, almost 5’4 against his 6’0 height, and for some reason a feeling of wanting to protect her went through him. He shook his head, something was not right with him, why was he acting all weird around her, thinking all these strange things. Sure, Suna was a pretty—beautiful young woman by the looks of her. And she had a body that would make any small town boy’s want to get close to and try and impress. “Where am I?”
    wakawaka That question broke Justin out of his thoughts, looking up when Suna was staring at him with a small frown. As if she knew what he was thinking, he coughed a few times while rubbing the back of his neck. “N-New Gloucester, Maine,” The expression on her face didn’t chance, instead the frown went deeper and shook her head. “Where is that?” Justin just raised a brow at her question, which was kind of silly, and made sense if she wasn’t from the States. “It’s a place in the United State’s, you know the big old U.S of A?” She shook her head again, and soon reaches up to touch at her head. But her fingers touched at where the bandage was at, and winced while letting out a hiss of pain, that’s when Justin soon moved quickly away from the railing and towards Suna. “Hey, careful, you need to watch what you’re doing. Your hurt remember?”
    wakawaka When he reached out to take her wrist in his large hand, Justin froze when he felt a strange spark go through his body at it. Stiffening, his face was blank while he stared down at her form, her head tilted up and staring up at him with those large pixie like sky blue eyes. Swallowing hard, he was soon remembering that she was a young woman, a adult maybe and he was the same but a man. As those eyes continue to stare up at him, her face not showing a single expression, her gaze was almost going across his face, and soon a small smile lit her face. “Sorry, I forgot.” Just that one sentence made him let go of her wrist quickly, as if she was something he should be afraid of. Then he knew what it was, it was something his father and uncle told him when finding a girl, is that there had to be chemistry; Sexual chemistry. The thought made him curse out, and from the corner of his eyes he saw Suna frown with confusion on her face. “Is there something wrong?”
    wakawaka Shaking his head quickly, Justin started to back up a bit while speaking, a bit too quickly. “No everything is fine, I just remember I need to let gram know you’re up and unable to sleep. She can whip up one of her personal medicines to help you get to sleep. Sorry for bothering you.” Turning about, he was quickly making his way down the stair’s, and was scowling when he felt his cheek’s redden when he realized he looked almost like a fool when saying all that.
    wakawaka Suna watched where Justin left, a deep frown on her face, and then looks down at her right hand, staring at the wrist that was inside of his grip. Reaching up, she rubbed her thumb at the inside of her wrist while murmuring, “Why was he embarrassed…” She spoke softly, and soon turned back around to stare out of the window for a long while, her hands drifting up to place against the edge of the window sill, and her right hand that was held not too long ago was moving up to place the tips of her fingers against the plane of glass. Her eyes were far away, almost distant as she was trying to figure something out. And yet, she couldn’t help stare at that black wide clear sky, the stars twinkling in and out with dark cloud’s floating by slightly, covering the full moon. When she stared up at that sky, a part of her ached, but she didn’t know why, “Where is my home…” Suna whispered out, longing in her face while her finger’s slowly traced the plane of the window, moving from one star to the next.