Zuzu City bus depot had always been a bustling hub of activity. Catering to a menagerie of passengers from eccentrically dressed youth to impatient businessmen eager to return home from their 9 to 5, it was easy to miss the single patron sitting on a bench and not clamoring for her spot on the bus. Lilah Casey was no stranger to public transportation—she had used this very depot more times than she could count—but the atmosphere felt wrong. Dark, oppressive, as though the Devil would emerge from the crowd and wrap taloned fingers around her throat. Lilah removed her backpack and set it next to her on the metal bench, trying to calm her rapid heartbeat as bus after bus rolled in and away with the hours.

If you feel guilty about it, you're probably doing the wrong thing.

Her mother's words echoed in the back of her mind and Lilah clutched her bus ticket to her chest. The smooth slip of paper felt heavy—as heavy as the rusty key weighing down her jacket pocket. She tried not to dwell on the coldness in the pit of her stomach as the last of the other passengers disappeared into their respective buses with a hiss of hydraulics.

The vibration of her phone buzzed down her thigh, alerting her to an incoming phone call. Lilah yelped at the sensation, shame heating her face. She knew the caller before she wrestled the phone from her pocket—there was only one name in her contact list and, sure enough, it was emblazoned on the screen.

INCOMING CALL:
EMERY ROWE

Lilah stared at the screen, her mind screaming for her to answer but her bruised ribs and split lip kept her thumb hovering over the screen until the name was overtaken by a banner declaring ONE MISSED CALL. Adrenaline shot through her veins and a manic giggle bubbled up in her chest. She couldn't remember if she'd ever so blatantly ignored Emery's calls before, but it gave her a rush—a thrill not unlike a child sneaking treats before dinner and getting away with it. But, the phone rang again and the familiar blood-chilling survival instinct kicked in. Her thumb reflexively swiped to answer before she could stop it and her throat constricted.

"Where are you?"

No pleasantries, no preamble. Emery's voice was sharpened to kill like a panther stalking through the jungle, eyes already zeroing in on its prey. Lilah opened her mouth but couldn't bring herself to speak. She couldn't lie, but she couldn't tell him the truth. Silence was the only option before everything was ruined.

"Lilah, where the fuck are you?" Emery's tone dropped dangerously low.

"I'm...I'm on my way home," Lilah would have said anything to appease the rage that she knew must be boiling inside of him.

"Do you want to try that again?"

"What?"

"You know what happens when you lie to me, baby."

Lilah's ribs throbbed.

Emery went silent for a moment, allowing the weight of his words to sink in before he asked, "What bus are you waiting for?"

Lilah jumped up from the bench and looked around. She didn't see anyone familiar, nor did she see Emery's sleek black coupe on the surrounding streets. She glanced at her phone, realization crashing into her like a freight train.

The GPS.

"Don't you dare move. I'm coming to get you," Emery warned.

"Fuck you." The words came out faster than Lilah could stop them, but they strangled in her dry throat to the point where it was almost a whisper.

"What did you say?"

"Fuck you!" Lilah roared, throwing the phone with so much force that her shoulder burned. The sound of the touchscreen cracking was louder than thunder in the emptied depot and Lilah watched as the backlight died out. She stared at the phone for a long moment. Her heart was hammering in her chest and she couldn't catch her breath, as though she had just run a marathon.

But, it was too late. Emery already knew where she was. She covered her face and sobbed.

I need to apologize! Her frantic mind warned. If she apologized, Emery might take it easy on her. She could tell him she was confused, drunk, high, anything Emery wanted to hear.

"Shit, shit, shit," Lilah rushed over to the curb but fell back as a bus swerved into the depot, narrowly missing her outstretched arm and running the cellphone over with its front wheel. If it hadn't been broken before, it certainly was now. Lilah sat on her haunches, pale from the close call and mouth agape as the doors hissed open and a heavy-set blonde woman glared at her from the driver's seat.

"Stardew Valley?" Her voice was gruff in the way that only decades of smoking could create. She held a lit cigarette to her thin lips while she glowered down from her seat. Lilah looked stupidly at the ticket still clutched in her left hand. The ink printed on its face had smudged slightly from her sweating palms, but it was still legible.

ONE WAY:
STARDEW VALLEY
DEPARTURE: 18:00

"Yeah," Lilah replied, hoarse. "Ehm, yeah, I am."

"Well, hurry it up, kid! I don't have all night," The driver growled.

Lilah gulped and scrambled to her feet. She started up the steps, then stopped and rushed back to the bench to retrieve her backpack before presenting her sweaty ticket. The bus driver clicked her tongue and shook her head.

"Just sit down, kid. Let's go," She said, but her voice softened slightly. Her gaze lingered a moment too long on Lilah's tear-streaked makeup and she fought back the urge to make an excuse, settling for a curt nod instead. She took a seat in the front and hugged her bag to her chest. She stared out the window as the bus closed its doors, the remains of her shattered cell phone unrecognizable in the reflection of the sideview mirror as they rolled away from the platform.

It wasn't until Zuzu City was a faint glow in the background that Lilah felt her shoulders relax. Everything felt so surreal and she couldn't quite determine how she felt. Relief and panic waged war in her brain. She wondered if she could really survive without Emery. For all the bruises and broken bones, she'd never gone hungry or cold...but no. Lilah dug the heels of her hands over her eyes and took a deep breath through her nose.

"This isn't love,"she whispered to herself. "This isn't love."

"What's that, kid?" The driver barked, not maliciously.

"Nothing, sorry. Just...talking to myself," Lilah sighed and pulled her hands away from her face. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key, weighing it in her palm as she thought. She'd only met her grandfather a handful of times as a child, but on his deathbed he still presented Lilah the sealed envelope with the promise that it would save her one day. Lilah wasn't sure if this was what Gramps had in mind, but he had been right in the end. If she hadn't found the old letter in her closet, Lilah had no doubt that she'd be dead soon too.

When she opened the envelope, there had been two keys. One undoubtedly to a front door and another much smaller and definitely more modern. The letter he wrote bequeathed her a small farmhouse in a town miles upon miles away from the city. Lilah had never been on a farm in her life, but in her heart she knew it couldn't be worse than where she was.

The name on the deed was "Haven Farm" and Lilah thought the name fitting for her purposes. What awaited her, however, was not exactly as she envisioned. The grounds were overrun by weeds, trees, and rubble. It appeared to have become a dumping ground for items of disrepair, as a refrigerator, washing machine, and several other appliances littered the area as well. A small, dilapidated shack was sequestered behind a wall of gnarled weeds and felled trees. Lilah climbed over the branches, up the porch steps. Several holes littered the wood and she briefly worried over the integrity of the porch as she slipped the old key from her pocket and inserted it into the lock.

It didn't turn.

Lilah tried once more, to no avail, and dissolved into incredulous laughter. Of course she would have come all this way to sleep in the bramble and the brush. Half heartedly, she gripped the doorknob and twisted. The door clicked, pushed inward with ease, and her knees almost gave out with relief. She wondered briefly if the cottage had been looted after Gramps's death, but hoped Stardew Valley was different from the city in that respect.

The interior was dark, the slight sliver of moonlight peeked through dusted-over windows and the crack through the door, but it wasn't enough to bring the room to life. A faint glow caught her eye from the corner and she squinted through the dark to see a small flame above the floor near a fireplace. She frowned and took a hesitant step forward, dumping her backpack on the floor.

It was difficult to see in the low lighting but she carefully made her way over. It was a tall, deep purple candle set in a small silver candlestick. The wick was still long, so it was new. Whoever left it hadn't been gone for long and Lilah's stomach churned. She lifted it up, briefly wondering what kind of person would have snuck in. Whoever it was, it didn't seem like they'd caused any damage. In Zuzu City, she'd heard of people that explored abandoned buildings for the fun of it—old hospitals and abandoned construction projects that ran out of funding too quickly. Though, she didn't see the appeal of exploring the jungle outside her door.

"Son of a bitch!" Lilah stumbled, her foot sliding dangerously on the floor as though it was encased in ice. Heart pounding, she held the candle's light down near her boot. A Ouija board branded by her muddy footprint rested in the dust on the floor, gazing up at her with more questions than answers. The room dropped in temperature and Lilah gulped. She cautiously stepped over the board to the fireplace and lit some old wood that sat in the ash.

The small cabin was illuminated, bathing her with warmth and revealing furniture covered in old, dusty sheets. She set the candle on the mantle and picked up the board and planchette. It was handmade, a thin plank of wood with the letters burned into the face and the planchette was just the lense from a magnifying glass. She dusted off the mud from the face of the board, as much as it creeped her out, the board was obviously well loved by its owner. Lilah set it down on an old oak table by the fireplace and turned her attention to the room.

Hopefully, the sheets covering the furniture protected them somewhat but she didn't have high expectations. She whipped the sheet from the bed in the corner and inspected the mattress. A cloud of dust puffed up around Lilah's feet as she dropped the sheet, but the bed itself looked acceptable enough. A wrap of plastic protected the linens and she sighed in relief that she could at least try and get a good night's rest before tackling the cleaning in the morning.

"Achoo!"

"What the fuck?!" Lilah scrambled away from the bed and another sneeze came from beneath it. She ran to the fireplace and snatched the iron poker from its stand. She held it out, pointed end aimed at the bed.

"I'm sorry!" A female voice called out and a head of purple hair poked out from under the bed. The girl crawled out, a layer of dust sticking to her clothes and she threw her hands up when she saw the weapon pointed at her. "Please don't hurt me! I didn't know anyone was living here!"

Lilah lowered the poker. The girl looked like a teenager, eighteen at the most. Her gothic style explained the dark colored candles and the board game.

"No one has lived here for a while. It was my grandpa's place...what were you doing down there?" Lilah asked.

"I heard someone outside and I hid," The girl said. "I thought you were my dad."

"Does your dad know breaking and entering is a hobby of yours?"

The intruder blushed, or it could have just been a trick of the fire's light.

"It's not that. There's a story about this place. The man who lived here buried a treasure somewhere and I was just...well."

Not just trying to contact ghosts, but Gramps's ghost. The idea put a sour taste in her mouth but the kid looked cowed enough without being reprimanded further.

"Well, you're not going to talk to him here. All that's left here is some dust and probably some squirrels. If I were him, my ghost would go somewhere tropical."

"I haven't tried the beach," she murmured.

"That was a joke...never mind. Look, sorry I scared you. I'm Lilah."

"Abigail. Are you the new farmer, then?"

"Something like that." Lilah picked up the Ouija board and held it out.

"Cool, everyone's been talking about you," Abigail hugged the board to her chest and shifted. "Uhm, I'm sorry that I snuck in. My dad owns the store in town, if you need anything. I think he'll be happy to have a new customer."

Lilah looked around the mess of a cottage and nodded. She didn't need a Ouija board to foresee a bit of shopping in her future.

"Thanks, I'll stop by. But for now, I really need some sleep." Lilah escorted Abigail to the door with her candle lighting the way.

"See you around, Lilah."

"Hopefully during daytime," Lilah teased, handing the candle over. Abigail smiled and took it. She climbed through the brush to the main road and Lilah kept her eyes on the faint glow until it disappeared. It wasn't how she expected her first night to go, but she liked the quirky teen. Maybe Stardew Valley wouldn't be as scary as she'd once thought.

Lilah shut the door, relieved that the lock didn't appear to be broken and slid into place easily. She slid on the chain just for good measure and wobbled over to the bed, exhaustion leadening her steps. She didn't even bother to kick off her shoes before collapsing onto the plastic-wrapped bed and closing her eyes.

There was no going back after tonight. Emery wouldn't follow her all the way out here even if he knew it existed.

Who knew that freedom smelled like dust bunnies and firewood?