A Fresh Start

Zeke yawned out tiredly as he stretch his arms after sitting for so long. Tapping and typing some stuff on the keyboard of his used laptop, searching for establishments that fit exactly what he's looking for.

Ads are everywhere, floating, blocking, and crowding the screen of his old, worn-out laptop. Some are interesting, enticing even with their low offers but something about them just doesn't feel right, so he skims them through. Right now, he's focused on his goal: to find a suitable piece of land to finally start his lifetime dream of running a his own farm.

It wasn't easy, he's been looking for quite a long time and at some point he almost gave up. However, realizing that he has done so much for this dream of his, he just can't possibly throw all of those hard work away, so he persist on searching.

Zeke has actually already found some amazing ranches but are way too expensive and out of his initial budget, and then some cheap ones which are barely taken care of. After some more typing, searching, and with a little bit of luck, he finally came across an ad about a farm in a place he has never heard of.

'Loneharv' is the name of the small town, it's a self-reliant town that doesn't ever ask or need any outside help. It runs subsistence farming to provide for the whole town, as everyone treats each other as family. They only have two farmers so they're looking for another one to manage their last piece of land. Seeing this golden opportunity he immediately clicked the ad to see more information.

"Hm. This all seems a little bit sketchy but somehow… somehow this ad speaks to me," he blinked a few times while wearily wiping his sore eyes, exhausted from looking at the LED screen for too long.

The place is just a whole day drive from his city, from the blurry images that is posted on the ad the farm looks desolate but manageable, he knew he could turn those empty fields into a farm brimming with life, and surprisingly, it looks like it is within his budget! He finally found his homestead. He immediately contacted the seller without any hassle, exchanged information, sorted out the payment and made a resignation letter to hand in to his boss tomorrow.

He couldn't believe that he has never seen or heard about this farm or place before. The deal is almost too good to be true. Zeke could not help but feel as if he was meant to find this ad, to take care of this farm.

He closed his dingy laptop and thinks about his lifetime goal. Zeke has always been putting his dreams above everything else. Because he knows real well that happiness will come after the hard work. He's been saving up his hard-earned money ever since he started his job and because of that he's been losing some quality time with his friends and that is so he can avoid unnecessary expenses and save more money to put into his savings. Making excuses just to keep from anything that'll prevent him from achieving that dream.

Thinking about these things he fell asleep.

Zeke woke up abruptly by the sound of his alarm. He groaned. He's never going to get used to this annoying alarm, he thought to himself. He got up to get ready for the day ahead.

Taking the same boring way to work is really taxing. Zeke only walks because it is just two blocks away and he's saving both his money and mother nature efficiently this way. He sighs, but he smiles as this'll officially be his last day as a bona fide office worker.

It's twelve noon already so Zeke got up from his chair to go for a coffee break. When he got in the coffee room a colleague is in there and already handing you a coffee.

"Thank you," Zeke said smiling gently at her. She's the only person here who still talks to him, and he felt bad for forgetting her name.

She looks like she's about to ask something. "Is she going to ask me to go to one of those after-work get togethers again?"

"Ummm.." she mumbles, "we're all going out later after work, do you maybe wanna come?"

"Ugh I knew it," Zeke thought to himself, "she's really nice but irritatingly persistent. The thing is, I think that she likes me that way, but she doesn't know that I don't really swing that way which is partially my fault." Zeke doesn't really talk to anyone about him being gay, in fact he doesn't wanna talk to anyone period, well unless it's work related.

It is also not because he's still in the closet or confused he just doesn't think that it's a big deal because it's normal, and if anyone do ever ask he will just tell them outright.

"Ummm.. hello?" Zeke blinked.

"Do you still wanna come?" she reiterated her question.

"I apologize I really do, but something came up and I really need to come home early for the day," Zeke said trying to sound apologetic to avoid hurting her feelings.

"I-it's alright," she smiled bashfully, her expression showing that of understanding, realizing that she must be overstepping her boundaries, "I am sorry for taking up your break time, I'll get going now, see you!" she flattens her skirt absentmindedly, then hurriedly left the room.

Zeke sighed, a little exasperated, finally a real coffee break, with my coffee alone. He really cannot start making friends here now as he will be leaving for Loneharv tomorrow.

He threw his empty coffee cup and headed back to his table to continue his work.

It is almost midnight when Zeke got off work. He's walking home while humming a happy tune excited for his move tomorrow. It was easy handing in his resignation letter and easier getting approved as his boss barely paid any attention to him and just approved his request without any second thought.

"What a lovely night" he mused. He took the view of his surroundings as he watched people walk by thinking about how he'll finally start his real dream life. He just hopes that whatever awaits him there is something worthwhile.

It was around three in the morning when Zeke woke up. He got off his bed and went to the bathroom, showered then started packing up all his stuff. Zeke only owns the basic necessities in his apartment so he doesn't really have anything heavy or important to bring with him.

He looked at the time, time passed quickly and it is already four AM. He is required to be there by seven AM sharp. The letter that was sent to him last night was very odd. He is supposed to meet the Mayor of the town? How come a Mayor of a town personally have to meet up with him? And how come a small town even has one? Weird.

Zeke will also be given a guide to go with him whom will give him a tour throughout the whole town. It is said that they are a tight knit community so it wasn't really all that weird to him, in fact he's very excited to be part of it. Because he finally found a place for him to really settle down and belong.

It is almost 4:30 when Zeke left his apartment. He double-checked everything and made sure to not forget anything before he goes to his car because once he leave, he will never look back.

"Okay let's do this," he thought to himself. He felt a tinge of sadness as he looked back at the window of his old apartment. Zeke shook his head, his mind is set and he really couldn't afford having such feelings right now. He started the car then drives off of the parking lot with a feeling of hope. Hope that whatever happens, he's going to be the that farmer that he always wanted to be.

After a whole day of driving and a few stopovers at gas stations he's finally near the vicinity of Loneharv, if the address that was given to him was correct.

He was casually checking his rearview mirror when he got scared of the sound of his GPS saying that he's arrived at his destination.

Weird, he could've sworn the place was still a ten minutes away and he still haven't seen any welcome sign. Just as he was about to reach for his phone his car was enveloped in a light so blinding that he had to cover his eyes.

When it finally subsided, Zeke found himself in front of an archway entrance that says 'Welcome to Loneharv'. He was so disoriented that he just noticed the shift in his surroundings. The barren highway is now replaced by various trees and overreaching meadows of luscious greenery.

Zeke took a moment to gather himself. Where is he? How the heck did he get in here? So many questions but obviously no one to answer them. Zeke reached for his phone but it was dead, typical. Zeke then tried starting his car which unsurprisingly is dead, just great. He decided to just ignore the oddness of this situation and got out of the car. He took his backpack from the trunk and started to walk towards the entrance of the said place. Zeke is now just hoping to meet up with the Mayor in time, looking at his wristwatch it's already 6:45 AM.

As Zeke gets passed the archway, he saw a person standing beside the road looking at their wristwatch and they looked like they're waiting for someone. They looked petite in stature from afar and looked as if they were wearing a fur coat? But, isn't it a little too hot and humid today to be wearing those, it was kind of ridiculous.

As Zeke slowly gets closer to the figure he realized that what they're wearing is no coat at all! And what seems to be a person is actually a goat?! Or to be precise, it's a person standing upright with a face that wholly resembles a human but with bodily features of a goat. As he is processing this unthinkable information the mysterious being beckoned him to come closer.

"Hello there, are you by any chance the one who applied for our ad?" he asked with a smooth, soothing almost ethereal voice.

"Well, you must be, you're the only one here who arrived."

Zeke was so dumbfounded he couldn't even elicit a reaction.

"Hello? are you well?" he continued, "oh silly me, I didn't realize that it is your first time seeing someone like myself," he chuckled lightly somehow finding everything amusing.

"I apologize for the haste, but could you please follow me and I assure you, each and every one of your questions and concerns in will be answered when we get to my humble office," he turned around with inhuman grace then started walking towards the place where it seems to be the town of Loneharv.

Zeke still couldn't process what he just witnessed but one thing's for sure he is evidently the mayor of this town and right now, he is basically stranded in this place. Setting aside all of the bizarre events that has happened in the back of his head Zeke willed himself to follow the sophisticated Mayor.