Spring, 5:39 am
Looking up, Rick saw a young woman standing in front of him, her face was a perfect example of a beautiful woman showing concern.
Who was she?
He hadn't been around town very much unless to perform a few chores, so he couldn't have encountered her before.
Nevertheless, he smiled welcomingly, "Good morning!"
In response, the woman smiled faintly and tucked a stray lock of red-gold hair behind her ear.
"Hullo." She replied, and the lovely smile disappeared, "Are you okay? You look like you might need some help."
Rubbing his neck, he thought for a moment whether he should just tell her what was happening, or spare her his trouble.
After all, real ladies like her shouldn't waste their time on farm boys like him...right?"Umm..."He thought aloud, wondering how to put his answer to words.
As if sensing his uneasiness, the girl stepped up confidently, and extended her hand to him.
"I can help you, I sense that you have an abnormal problem. I'm an exorcist, you see."
And these words are all he needed.
Rick smiled gratefully, and motioned his hand to the chicken hutch.
"Follow me!"
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Inside the hutch, the young farm boy reminded the exorcist.
"Watch your step, even though we don't have many chickens now, they like to move around visitors alot."
"Hmmm..." As young woman known as Alia stepped inside the hutch, a small horde of curious chickens cluttered at her feet.
Rick stepped over the horde and walked over to the food bin. Pulling off a bushel of chicken feed, he spilled them into the feeding boxes.
"C'mon ladies! Feeding time!" He called out to his pets, but as he said this, he looked at Alia, embarassed.
"Well, you don't have to join in..." He said.
Now free from the birds, Alia was busy inspecting every corner and crack of the hutch, studying the form for any hidden items.
"So tell me, Rick. What exactly is your problem here?"She asked.
Leaving the chickens to feed, Rick stood beside her and replied, "Well, I don't exactly know. Every month we lose a few chickens, but there were no signs of forced entry. And anyway, chickens are usually spooked by intruders, but they seem pretty okay to me...don't you think?"
Alia crouched down to one of the feeding chickens and stroked its brilliant white feathers, but Rick could see that she was looking for anything strange on them.
"So when do these disappearances usually happen? and how recently was the last one?"
"Usually at the middle of the month during the night. I just found that we were missing more chickens this morning."
Rubbing his neck with his hand he sighed, suddenly feeling frustrated, "I don't know why. It's been happening three times already, but we can't seem to catch the crook! God knows we've breen trying to stand guard every night, but as the full moon hits us, we always get really sleepy."
"Full moon?"
Alia felt a twinge of recognition, and immediately got up to look at Rick.
Meeting her eyes, he nodded. "Yeah, it's always the full moon. And everytime that happens, I keeps having these dreams coming...bad dreams."
Resting his back on the wooden wall he asked her, "Does all this seem helpful to you?"
Alia pondered at this, she had never experienced such a problem before, but it does seem possible for her to solve it. The full moon seems to point to werewolves, and since it has happened yesterday, the town doctor may have visited the chicken farm, before rampaging to the Inn.
However, the dreams...?
During her time in this town, she encountered parasytic vampires, mysterious ghosts and a violent werewolf.
"I have one more question, Rick...Does anybody else know this?"
Rick nodded, "Yeah, My mom and sister know...but nobody else knows."
He grimaced suddenly, "Unless Popuri had spread it around...but I don't think it would do anyone harm. I tried to talk to the policeman Harris, but he had his arms full with other problems."
Alia found herself unable to find any connections, but nevertheless considered in finding out more.
Taking another look around the hutch, she told Rick, "I don't see anything unusual, besides your stories and the lack of chickens. I think what you should do is to wait for the full moon, which will happen in two week's time...by then you and I will be ready, and we'll see if the pattern continues...and what started it. Alright?"
Rick paused, considering about the ambiguous instructions. But since she is a proffesional, he nodded.
"I understand. Thank you for everything."
As they were looking at each other, the door suddenly oppened, revealing a young pink-haired girl standing at the doorway.
"Hey brother! Momma says it's time for breakfast...oh!"
When she caught sight of the exorcist she beamed, "Hello stranger!" she greeted good-naturedly. Turning to Rick, she exclaimed loudly, "Where are your manners? Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?!"
Shaken from Popuri's outburst, he stammered, "U-uh...Popuri, this is Alia. She's an exorcist. Alia, this is my sister, Popuri--"
"Pleased to meet you!" Popuri interupted, "Any friend of Rick's is welcome here as friends of the family!
Mi casa es tu casa, as they say!"
Alia smiled politely, while Rick shook his head.
"Uh, Popuri...we were in deep conversation here...so isn't there anything else you should be doing now?"
His younger sister pouted in response, and replied, "Fine~! I'll see you at the breakfast table." Turning to Alia, she waved, "See you around Alia, bye!"
As she left the two in the hutch, Rick had to close the door.
"Geez, she's so forgetful. She sometimes leaves the door open." He muttered.
"I should get going." Alia said.
Checking his watch, he asked, "Are you sure? We wouldn't mind having a visitor break bread with us..."