Hey! This is not only a story by me, but by my genius friend, Raesha Valentine also. Of course, neither of us own Harvest Moon in any way, but we do appreciate the use of the amazing characters and town! This book is the first in a series called The Flower Bud Times. Yes, it is demented and weird, which is how it gained it's title, The Nightmare. We really hope you enjoy this, and I'll try to have big chunks of it posted at a time. This book is done, and we're halfway through the second one, The Story. Thank you for reading, and please try to review. We're looking for anything from compliments to constructive criticism. Byez! -Renee.

Chapter One: The Departure

"I can't believe you guys are leaving!" Hayden Tripp says to her two best friends. "It'll be so strange without you!"

Berry Daniels pops another yellow Skittle into her mouth and laughs. "You'll get along just fine! I promise."

"Aw, but we'll miss you guys!" Logan Cohn adds. "Don't mind her; she always gets funny when she has too much sugar and alcohol."

Berry whacks her room mate on the arm and takes another swig of warm beer. "Sugar and alcohol... So fun! The best combination in all the world!" she exclaims, shoving half a piece of cake in her mouth all at once, then downing the rest of her drink.

"You guys are too much," Berry's brother, Aido, says sitting on the couch precariously close to Logan. He's also had a little too much to drink. too well, Berry. You're going to end up down and out pretty damn soon if you don't lay off the beer."

"I am not," she protests, pouting. No sooner than the words escape her mouth, she's laying in his lap, gone. Laughing, Aido and Logan carry her to her room. He pulls the empty beer bottle out of her hand and covers her, leaving her to rest while they return to the going away party.

"Where's Berry?" a slightly drunken friend asks Logan, who seems to be the only completely sober girl there. "I thought the party was for both of you."

"It was. ...Is. She passed out a few minutes ago. We're letting her sleep it off so she can drive tomorrow."

The woman throws her a puzzled look. "You're driving there?"

"Of course! It's only a couple days. we'll live."

"And you're letting her drive?"

Logan chuckles and replies, "We all know her too well, I suppose. She can sleep off alcohol in a few hours. I envy her for that, really..."

"You realize that it's only three? In the afternoon?"

"She'll be fine. I think it was those damn yellow Skittles again. She eats them almost ravenously."

Logan smiles. Her best friend's obsession with yellow Skittles is strange, but hilarious. In Berry's defense, yellow is her favorite color, and Skittles her favorite candy. Knowing this, Hayden had special ordered tons of bags of yellow Skittles for the party, and for Berry's life in Flower Bud.

"I'll miss you, Logan!" the drunken girl cries suddenly, wrapping her arms around the startled twenty three year old woman. "Don't go!"

"I promise we'll write, Lilly. And besides, there's tons of people in Albany. You're bound to make new friends. Everything will be okay," Logan awkwardly tries to calm her.

"My name is Joyce!" she yells, running off. Logan shakes her head in amazement.

"Oops..."

Meanwhile, Berry turns in her bed, wishing she had yellow Skittles. Her subconcious tries to wake her, but she slumbers heavily, her blonde hair displayed wildly.

"Flower Bud... ," she mumbles in her sleep, tossing and turning, "Flower... Skittles! ...Yellow..."

"Logan! Are you ready yet?" Berry hollers from the kitchen of their small apartment. Today is the big day; they're finally leaving this tiny, cramped apartment for a house in the country. She's just finished packing up the dishes and Logan has yet to leave her room.

"Why do I have to come with you on this little 'adventure'?" she moans, lugging a huge suitcase behind her. "I could always stay here and keep the apartment for myself."

Berry sighs. They've been over this many times before. "Without my help, you can't afford the rent. Besides, we've been saving up forever for a chance like this! Just imagine," she says dreamily, "Wide open skies, the smell of fresh grass and a small country town full of people. It's perfect!" She picks up the box of dishes. "Come on, Logan. We need to finish packing. We told the mayor we'd be there by four. It's a decently long drive to Flower Bud, with it being in Massachusettes and all. We need to hustle!"

"I hate you," her room mate replies, dragging her suitcase toward the door feebly.

Berry grins. "I know!" she says, laughing. They head out and set the dishes and Logan's clothes in the trunk of Berry's car.

"Will there really be enough room for Aido and our stuff in this cramped little Jeep?" Logan asks doubtfully, eyeing the red Jeep Commander.

"He can squeeze," she says, turning back to the building. She's so glad to be leaving this place; the building should've been condemned years ago. "So all that's left is my clothes and the four boxes in the study."

"Don't forget the rest of my clothes!" Logan says with an evil grin.

"You have more?!" Berry asks, glancing at the gigantic suitcase taking up a third of our precious trunk space. "You're kidding, right?"

"Hey," she retorts, "You can force me to live out in the boondocks, but my wardrobe is all I'll have left of the city." She throws an arm over her eyes. "Woe is me!" she cries.

"Drama queen," Berry mutters as she goes back inside to her bedroom for the last time. She looks around at the bare walls and empty bookshelf. "Actually, I might miss this place once in awhile..." she muses aloud as she grabs her two duffel bags, her bookbag and her suitcase. She has much less stuff than Logan, and still it seems like a lot to her. She hurries back out to the car and tosses her bags in the trunk. Done with that, she walks back into the study to grab the miscellaneous items Logan can't bear to part with. "What a packrat," she mutters, staggering under the weight of the two boxes. Slowly she inches her way to the front door.

"Need help?" Aido asks her, leaning against the doorway, getting in as much of her way as humanly possible.

Berry grunts. "Yeah. Either take one of these boxes or move your tush!" He laughs and she feels him sneak past her. Dropping the boxes into the trunk, she passes Aido as he carries a single box out. "Wimp."

"Redneck!" he replies, tossing his box into the trunk also. Logan comes out with the last box.

"Hey now, let's all get along," she says, looking for room in the car. Berry helps her rearrange some boxes and she sets it down. "Today's a big day for all of us. Berry gets to live out her dream and I get to rot in my own personal hell."

"Logan, it's not that bad! Think of how much easier it'll be to breathe, and how beautiful the scenery will be!" Berry sighs, picturing it. Green fields, scattered farms ...basically heaven on Earth.

"Hey, I like smog and traffic jams!" she counters, glaring at her friend.

"Whatever. Both of you shut up. God, why are you even friends?" Aido asks, rolling his eyes. He has a point. The two girls are as different as night and day. While Berry has shoulder length blonde hair, green eyes and a sunny disposition, Logan has mid-back length dark brown hair, cool blue eyes, and an extremely pessimistic view on life. Even their body shapes differ greatly. Berry is more tall and curvy, while Logan is petite and dainty. They met at a college-prep high school where both girls were planning on majoring in music education and minoring in linguistics. The Dean roomed them together in the apartment and they gradually became close friends. Now that they've graduated, college is being put on hold to see if this farm life can work out for them.

Logans turns to Berry. "Why do you put up with him again?"

"He's my brother. What am I supposed to do, hire a hit man?"

"You coulda just asked me! I could use the money!"

Chuckling, Berry shakes her head. "Nana would definitely not be pleased with that. I'll keep your offer in mind, though." Aido sighs loudly and she glares at him. "Keep this up and there'll be no car for you! I'll donate it somewhere!"

Eyes wide, he nods. "I'll be good."

Berry smirks. "That's what I thought. Do we have everything?"

Logan nods. "I think so, but I'm going to do a quick check to make sure." She leaves and Aido crawls into the backseat. About five minutes later she comes back out with two more suitcases. "I almost forgot the rest of my clothes!" she cries, shock etched into her face. Berry giggles. Opening the back door, Logan throws the suitcases ontop of Aido. Hearing his muffled curses, they both burst out laughing. "That's it. I guess we can start your 'grand adventure' now, Berry."

Berry shakes her head. "No, it's our grand adventure. Besides, if we're not happy after two years, the mayor will pay us for working the land and we can go to college. But it'll be fun, I promise."

She sighs and smiles. "I almost believe you. ...Almost." Laughing, the best friends climb into the car and set off for Flower Bud Village.