Am I starting a new story? Yup. Good idea? I'm not so sure.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon.

My dearest Alisa,

I'm really not sure what I'm doing. I've never written my thoughts onto paper before, because I'm pretty sure real men don't keep journals.

The young woman smiled as she read the words, then lifted her eyes to look back at the sandy beach. The boat hadn't taken off but a minute ago and she was still able to make out the features of people's faces. Her eyes locked onto a certain face, a downtrodden expression staring back at her. Alisa smiled sadly and raised her hand in farewell, but he could only halfheartedly return the gesture. When he looked away, she returned her gaze to the paper in her hands.

But I thought it might be good to write to you—I'm not sure if I'm going to give these letters to you, but I might.

She looked back to the island, which was not becoming smaller every second as the boat picked up speed. She could barely recognize who was who, except for a few defining features.

This is going to be the first of many, I can tell you that much. I swore to myself that I would write you every day of the year, every year, even if I don't visit you as often as I used to. I'm pretty sure you know why.

Alisa knit her brow, her eyes flicking up to the top of the page where the date was written as her heart twisted in a knot, predicting what would come next. She took one last glance at the land, no longer able to see the people. Only the outlines of the buildings were visible and she stared at them until they disappeared from sight, not wishing to read the rest of the letter. She eventually forced herself to look back down, and the words that came next pained her almost as much as the day it had happened.

You broke my heart, Alisa.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she didn't allow any of them to fall. She had to be strong for her cause.

As I write this my blue feather is sitting on the table in front of me. When I got back home that day I almost threw it into the fireplace so I would never have to see it again. I'm not sure why I still have it. Maybe I'll keep it for a little longer, but I'm not sure how long I can stand to look at it.

She had known the reason why he had become so distant after that day. She knew it was her fault and her fault alone.

So I thought that maybe if I write to you and visit you less, I'll stop loving you. I know that my logic makes no sense, but maybe it'll work. Maybe if I can write out your flaws on paper, even if they're addressed to you, I'll begin to hate you.

Alisa let out a strangled noise and Nathan gave her a concerned look. She waved it off and looked back at the letter, though a small frown began to form at the edges of her mouth.

I think that if I hate you, it'll be less painful than loving you and never being able to be with you. I hope you understand.

Remorse welled up in her throat as she came to the last line.

Because right now I just can't let you go.

She put a hand to her forehead as she looked at the box of letters that was sitting in her lap, unsure as to whether she could force herself to read all of them. What if they were all going to be like this; all of them trying to make her feel guilty about her decision. But as she thought about it, this was a fair punishment. What she did to the man was a terrible thing, and she should feel every drop of regret at its full potential. Ever since that day she had felt like a terrible hypocrite that had put up a front of quiet holiness. What a terrible deed she had done.

A pang of shame went through her as she read the name that was signed at the bottom.

Mark

Alisa folded the letter and looked back towards the island, but it was no longer there.

A/N: If you read my other stories, you'll be able to tell that this one is a bit... different. Especially since I usually aim for a 2,000 word minimum for each chapter. However, because each of these chapters will revolve around a different letter, they may not be so long. This also means that I should be updating faster than I usually do. Yay.

You may also be thinking that not much information was given in this first chapter, and I did that on purpose. I'm going to try to draw out the actual storyline throughout the chapters, and since I plan on making many, many of them, the details on what actually happened between the two characters will be used sparingly for now.

So yes, I, A.J., the fan author who likes to make the plot super evident by use of lots of detail is trying something new. Lets only hope that it works out.