Chapter One
Molly looked at her finally empty drawers, smiling with the satisfaction of getting completely packed 15 minutes before her stepfather, Rick was supposed to take her and her older sister to the docks at the edge of the city, to catch their boat to Castanet Island. She walked into her bathroom and peered at her reflection. She had shoulder length, dyed dark blue hair, wide hazel eyes, and a smattering of cinnamon colored freckles across her nose and cheeks. She had a nose ring and a zit on her right cheek.
Right now, her face was blotchy with a slight sheen of perspiration from packing so fast and sweeping all her unwanted items into a huge pile in the closet for Rick to deal with when he discovered it. She splashed some water on her face and bent over the sink, thinking about all the memories she'd be leaving behind in this house. Good and bad.
Her sister, Akari banged on the door, startling her out of her reverie. "Hurry up, Rick is early!" she shouted. She toweled off her face and walked out. Akari pinched her cheek. "Ready to do this?" Molly looped her arm around her sister's shoulders."Of course, I'm ready! We grew up on a farm, Ari, the city has been torture this past year and a half. I'm beyond ready to start over."
Her sister sat in the backseat, looking out the window and listening to music through her headphones. Molly sat in the front with her stepdad. He had been in their lives since they were little girls when their mother divorced their father and remarried a man she met at the small market she worked at. Her mother's name was Karen, and she died 2 years ago when Molly was 15 and Akari was 18 by their father, Jack's hand in a jealous rage when he finally tracked her down after years of keeping the girls from her. They had never really known another father, other than Rick.
Their mother's boyfriend before Rick was Jack, a wild farm boy from the next town over who got her pregnant when she was 16, but by the time they got married when she was 20, Karen only had another pregnancies worth of patience with his ways, his habit of coming home late, smelling like booze and perfume, the alcohol-fueled arguments and or fights they had almost nightly before she finally left the little shack they called a house on his father's farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley at 2 AM and came back to her parents store in Mineral Town. She worked there until she could afford a permanent room at the Inn.
Then, she met Rick. He wined and dined her as best as he could for a small town chicken farmer. He especially tried to be there for the girls, helping them with homework and taking them to special dinners and hikes.
They loved him, more than they could ever love Jack. They lived with him for a month after their mother's murder, until word got around that Jack was in town looking for his daughters, then their Aunt Popuri spirited them away in the middle of the night, to her posh apartment in the city.
Molly was lost in her thoughts until Rick jostled her shoulder. "We're here, honey! Are you okay?" He looked at her, concerned. "Yeah, I'm okay, Ricky. I'm just thinking about much I'm gonna miss you and the farm."
"We'll always be waiting for you when you two are ready to come back." He said softly. They checked in their many bags and Rick walked with them until they were about to board. "I love you girls so much. I've been blessed to see you grow. I want you to have this," he pressed an envelope into each of their hands. Akari peeked in hers and found 10,000G, so did Molly. They gasped in unison and tackled him in a huge hug. "I love you!" They squealed. He returned the hug and pushed them towards the ship. "You girls go now, have fun," He wiped a tear from his eye.
"We'll miss you so much. We'll write and call if we can!" Molly promised.
AN: I haven't written anything in over a year since I went through some crazy trauma situation. Please feel free to constructively critique me! :)