Marissa didn't mind the cool air on her face, what she minded was the speed. Going 65 MPH on a 20 MPH backroad wasn't her version of fun, and it was beginning to make her nervous as her brother turned another sharp corner, honking his horn to scare away the birds.

         "You good over there, Tater Tot?" Lucas cackled, grinning as he splashed in another puddle and mud was sent flying into his jet-black hair. His JEEP was already muddy, but so was Marissa considering he had no doors or roof on the once bright orange vehicle.

         "You said we were going to watch a movie!" She hollered over the motor, which had begun to hiss oddly.

         "I lied!" 

     Indeed, he did, because it was the only way he could convince his sister to go mudding. He was mildly considerate in the sense that he didn't charge through the deeper potholes on the road, but they were both soaked from head to toe in slimy, muddy water. The duo matched the JEEP, or maybe the JEEP matched them as more slop was thrown by the tires.

     The worried girl tightened her jaw, eyes closing to avoid dirt slipping past her lashes. She wasn't very squeamish with dirt and muck, but needless speeding and forcing the vehicle to balance on one side in a sink hole was far from enjoyable. She was only glad she had decided to wear her mud-boots, anyway, knowing it had rained for a week straight until that morning.

         "Lucas, this is why no girl trusts you!" She decided to inform him, but the boisterous man only laughed heartily.

         "And this is why you're the fun sponge of the family!"

     The title wasn't a foreign one, but it wasn't completely accurate either.

     The woman tightened her dark brown ponytail with a sour expression before standing up and stepping over Lucas' legs to stand in front of him. He yelped as he nearly lost control, but his sister merely shoved him over to the passenger seat (neither were wearing seatbelts), refusing to let the JEEP lose its momentum in the bog they were fighting through. When she was finally able to sit down, Marissa changed gears and forced the off-roading vehicle into fifth gear with a practiced ease. There was a moment of spinning tires before it connected to something solid, and the car jerked forward. Lucas choked on his own tongue as his sister popped a wheelie, hitting the dried, dirt road again, only to make a U-turn and charge back towards the bog.

         "Fun sponge, huh?" She smirked at her brother, who was shaking his head rapidly as she shifted again, forcing the JEEP into a skid. She yanked the wheel harshly to one side and the duo were brought around in a donut. Mud and water flew everywhere, the trees spun in an endless spiral and Lucas was clearly begging for his life to be spared. 

         If there's one thing that can be said about Marissa Faireborn, it's that one should never challenge her ability to have fun.

     It was only noon when a pair of weathered eyes caught sight of the returning siblings. The man smiled as he noticed Lucas' practically green face and Marissa's triumphant expression. Their father had known what his second born had been plotting, but he also knew the consequences of those actions, so did not bother to stop his amusing idea. He waved a calloused hand at the returning pair, receiving a large smile and a wave from his youngest daughter. His children might be grown by now, but he always saw those childish twinkles in their eyes when they got away with something mischievous. 

     Their mother, Lilian, was reading a book in her rocking chair, a sleeping puppy in one arm while the other flipped through the pages with a single finger. Jesse wondered how her mother could slide the pages both back and forth while rocking herself and the nursing pup. She could barely read a recipe and cook at the same time. Lilian smiled at her daughter's staring, knowing exactly what she was thinking.

         "Three children to practice with." Jesse was torn out of her staring thoughts by her mother's weathered yet soothing voice. Her hair was greying from its original chestnut brown, and the lines at the corners of her eyes were beginning to get deeper the more she worked in the sun. "I perfected the technique with your sister."

         "I don't remember Lucas staying still enough for you to try it at all." Jesse smiled; her bleached blonde hair fried at the edges from trying too many dyes. 

         "If he was tired enough, he stayed still." The tired parent admitted, poking her bifocals with the tip of the hardcover to set them correctly on her nose. "Much like sweet Vidalia." She looked down at the puppy, who was stilling nursing on the glass baby bottle (saved from all three of her pregnancies). "I can't believe you found her in the transfer sight. Poor thing."

         "Whoever throws week-old dogs in the dumpster has a special place in hell." Marissa entered, having stripped herself to her sports bra and leggings. 

     Lilian frowned at her muddy feet, knowing her muck boots didn't do much good when water was flying everywhere. The motherly figure guessed her youngest had left them in the barn to dry out. She didn't need them on the farm grounds anyway, her feet were already calloused enough.

         "Then I'm sure you'd feel right at home." Jesse snickered, earning a glare and pointed finger from the other woman.

         "Stuffed animals do not count. Besides, you're the one who can't even keep a cactus from dying."

         "Hush, the both of you." Lilian demanded softly, a strange tone that only a mother could accomplish. "Vidalia is still resting, she doesn't need to be woken up."

         "Why name a dog after an onion?" Lucas entered, his mouth wiped clean, unlike the rest of his face. Jesse guessed Marissa out stunted him and he threw up, which was accurate. "She's a Blue Heeler, not an ogre."

         "Because her story makes you want to cry." Jesse put a hand over her heart. "Trying to suckle on her dead mom's teat. Surrounded by her dead siblings."

         "Could have just put her out of her misery-"

     This comment resulted in a slap to the back of his head, their father, Shane Faireborn, finally entering the house. His sun-dried face was stern, but it held a fatherly warmth to it. His hair wasn't as grey as their mother's, the peppered white looking like stars in a sea of black. 

         "Say something stupid like that in front of ladies again and I'll crack you in the kisser. Life is precious."

         "First: hypocritical when we literally butchered animals to put meat on the table. Second: ain't no way that is a lady."

     Marissa stuck her tongue out at her brother before announcing she was going to wash up. Her statement was met with grunts and hums, which was normal. 

     She tiptoed to her room of 10 years and listened to the usual swish of the sliding door that led to the attic, or what used to be the attic before she was too big to sleep in the nursery. The ceiling was low, so the woman merely grabbed the sides of the square hole and lifted herself up, an ability that earned her the nickname "featherweight" during church picnics and sports days. She was also mildly flexible, being able to bring one leg past her waist and slide onto the attic floor in the splits. Besides using a ladder, it was the safest way to enter without falling or losing her grip on the edge of the hole.

         "I'll kill that idiot." She sighed, spying the pile of horse poop that had been placed there by her brother. "He just doesn't know when to stop."

     What was worse was that they hadn't had a horse in nearly five years. It was old and grey, with mushrooms growing out of it. From the smell, it was most likely from the compost.

     21 years old wasn't much when thought about. Still young, still inexperienced, but Marissa didn't mind. She was happy helping her parents whittle down their farm life to a manageable level instead of running a hair salon in the city like her sister (who always smelled of some horrible cleaning product) or working in a noisy, country gas station and mechanic's shop like her brother (who preferred cars over girls). Out of the two, Marissa was the only one to stay home, still in the furbished attic despite two knew rooms being open for her use once Jesse moved out at 18 and Lucas moved at 20. She had always preferred the laid back, hardworking country life as her parents did, but she had seen at the early age of 16 that both figures were slowing down. 

     Her mother's hands started shaking, making tasks difficult when a steady hand was required. Her father's eyes started to fade as cataracts set in, and a large sum of money was spent to correct the obstruction. Then one of Lilian's knees were broken by a testy cow, later replaced, but she still needed a cane. Whether they liked it or not, the two needed the help, and were grateful for it, but they felt Marissa was being held back. She didn't care, but it seemed to be the only excuse she could use to convince them to downsize sometimes. 

     They sold the cow and most of their livestock (that being a flock of sheep, goats and chickens), only keeping a single male and female goat for milk (selling the kids from breeding) and a small coop of hens for eggs. Unfortunately, the woman couldn't convince her dad to part with the rooster, who was more of a grouch than Oscar from Sesame Street. His excuse being that he kept the hungry beasts away.

         'That makes things a little difficult when I am one of those hungry beasts.' She had told him, but Shane wouldn't budge from his opinion.

     With a sigh, Marissa picked up the rotting horse manure with a plastic bag, a pair of fresh clothes tucked in her armpit. Once it was tied and there was no possibility of a leak, she jumped down from the hole in the ceiling, closing the door behind her and skipped to the bathroom down the hall of the second story.

     Downstairs, Shane held his wife's shaking hand, her book placed next to the coaster on the end table.

         "We've been talking again." He told the two listening; both having interested expressions. "Marissa is a large help but she's never seen enough of the world to really decide whether she likes it or not."

         "Marissa has never wanted to leave the farmhouse." Jesse huffed. "She's hardheaded and strong willed, what did you guys expect? I doubt she'll even get a boyfriend after seeing how the dating scene can be."

         "To be fair," Lilian sighed, "Lucas' last girlfriend had a mental disorder and was moved to our town by the state."

         "Don't remind me." The 25-year-old dragged a dirtied hand down his equally as dirty face. "She was nuts-"

         "Threatening to drown the both of you isn't just nuts, it's lunacy!" Jesse corrected. "I agree with mom and pop: Marissa should get out, at least for a little while. See some of the world. It's not like she's scared of it, she's just comfortable here."

         "Why ruin that for her though?" Lucas continued, turning to his mother. "You and dad already have her in the will to receive the farmhouse. God forbid you two die any time soon, but she knows she's set to live here for who knows how long! She's not going to change her mind."

     The woman nodded with a sigh, Vidalia whimpering in her arm. She readjusted the pup, who was full of milk and plump.

         "Your father has been preparing everything already." Her tired eyes held tears from irritation and the growing dust from outside. "Marissa isn't really that stubborn but we don't want to hinder her growth in this world. We want the best for her and perhaps this old farmhouse isn't the future she really wants!"

     Shane massaged her neck comfortingly. He didn't like the idea of pushing another life on their daughter, but the amount of comfort she felt while her two older siblings were glad to be out didn't sit right with him.

         "I'll help broaden her view of the world and its options." Jesse offered, tired expression making her look closer to her mother's visage, she wanted Marissa to explore the world as well. "She can live with me for a bit."

         "Why not me?" Lucas huffed, mildly offended. "I have more in common than you do with her. She doesn't like the city anyway."

         "Maybe but it's the farthest from here we can get her without knocking her out and sending her to Timbuktu!" His sister snapped. "If she sees the big city, she'll see a lot more than the town she's been driven to for over twenty years. I get on the plane in a week, my vacation time wouldn't allow me to stay any longer than two. If we can convince her to come with me to Mission City than maybe, she'll find some more interests than mucking out chicken coops and milking goats."

     There was a hesitant silence. They all knew Marissa really wasn't that stubborn, but on this matter, she was going to leave kicking and screaming if they did convince her to go. 

         "Marissa listens to you mom." Lucas admitted. "She'll take your advice to go, right?"

         "If it means she has to leave, I doubt it." Shane stated, knowing fully that their youngest didn't leave solely because he and Lilian needed the help, but because she enjoyed her work on the farm. "Jesse, do your best to convince her to leave with you. This could be a great opportunity for her."

         "Maybe she'll find a nice restaurant." Lilian sighed, reaching her hand up to hold her husband's, which rested on her shoulder. "She always enjoyed cooking."

         "Marissa will have so many life options she won't know what to do with herself." Jesse smirked. "I've had this planned out for five whole years already."

     The two parents wouldn't admit it out loud, but the single glance they gave each other was enough to convey both their thoughts and emotions about the matter. They didn't wish for their baby to leave, unknowing of their plot to broaden her life choices. They didn't want to lie to her, in hopes that she may find a more comfortable life than helping them around their farm home. They had already decided the land would go to their youngest, who loved it with a passion, when they passed on, but for that land to pose as a hindrance to their daughter's growth in life?

         It worried them.