- A bit of a warning: This is a self-insert story, sorry if you don't like that, but I thought it wouldn't be that bad in the Animal Crossing series, since the main character is supposed to be you. I hope you do enjoy the story if you do decide to read it. Also I changed my name for safety reasons. -
Chapter 1: The train ride.
It was a warm August morning, I gave my family a goodbye hug right before I boarded the train and my Dad made me promise to keep in touch with them. After I boarded the train, I put my suitcase in the luggage holder and found my seat, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a small pamphlet that detailed the town that I was moving to. It was a small coastal town up north called Seascape. Seascape described itself as a, "Small, relaxed, coastal village with: fresh fruit, beautiful ocean views and friendly neighbors." along with some nicely taken photos of a beach, a museum and the town hall. I was a bit skeptical about the pamphlets claims though, a lot of towns, cities and travel destinations highlight their nicest features and then leave out any inconvenience, whether the tourists or people moving know about them or not. I did hope that Seascape would be better than my hometown, even if my family lived back there, it was three abandoned houses away from becoming a slum. I still had a long train ride to go, so I decided to see if I could sleep for most of my eight-hour train ride.
I woke up when the train shook me as it came to a stop, I looked at my watch and realized that I slept for about six and a half hours, I wasn't tired at all, so I stayed up for the rest of the ride. Since the train was stopped, I decided to take a look outside to see who was getting off and getting on the train. I noticed a blue and white cat, wearing a checkered vest and carrying a large hiking backpack standing in line to get on the train and then, almost as if he knew he was being watched, he made eye-contact with me. Instead of frowning at me, like most people would have done, he waved at me and gave a friendly smile, I waved and smiled back, out of courtesy and then quickly looked down at the floor with a feeling of embarrassment and awkwardness. After staring into space for a few minutes trying to forget my most recent awkward moment, I felt someone tap my shoulder, I looked up and it was the cat that waved at me.
"Hi, I noticed that you were looking at me earlier. Was there something on my face?" he asked in a friendly manner.
"Um, no." I replied feeling even more awkward. "I was just looking out the window and I guess we both looked in each others direction at the same time. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you if I did." I apologized, feeling like I wanted to smash my head through the window out of sheer embarrassment.
The cat chuckled and said, "No harm done, don't worry about it." He then stuck out his right hand for a proper greeting, "My name's Rover, it's nice to meet you." he said.
I reached out and shook his hand, "My name's Robert, it's nice to meet you too." I replied while giving a small smile. I try to keep my smiles from getting too big, as babies have been known to cry when I smile.
Rover let go of my hand and asked, "Do you mind if I sit next to you? I won't be a bother, I promise." I looked around the train car and spotted at least five empty seats, even the seat right in front of me was empty, but I guess Rover wanted some company on his train ride.
"Sure, take a seat." I said while still keeping a small smile. Rover then gave another big friendly smile and put his backpack on the luggage holder above the seat, then sat down next to me and said, "Thanks! Like I said, I won't be a bother."
We sat in silence for a little while, then we heard the train blow its whistle a few times as it started to move forward. Since I still had an more than an hour to go, I thought it would be a good idea to pass the time by talking to Rover. "Excuse me Rover, can I ask you a question?" I asked.
Rover turned to me and said, "Sure. What's your question?"
I asked him, "So, where are you going?"
Rover looked past me outside the window, I think he needed a moment to think about my question. After a brief moment, he looked back to me and said, "Anywhere, I guess. I do a lot of traveling, who knows, I might be going to the same place you're going. Uh, where are you going? If you don't mind my asking."
I handed Rover my pamphlet and said, "I'm moving to a small town called Seascape, here, look at that." Rover looked over the pamphlet briefly and then looked back to me.
"Seascape? Hmm, never been there and I haven't heard of it either. Why are you moving there?", he asked.
When Rover asked that question, I sort of paused for a moment, I knew that I had to move, my Dad insisted that I be on my own for at least a year. But I don't know why I picked Seascape over any other place. I thought about it for a few more seconds, then I said to Rover, "I guess because it looks like a nice place to live." I know that it wasn't the best answer I could give, but I thought it would be better than saying, "I don't know." At least he didn't ask me if I had been to Seascape before, which I haven't. Rover seemed to know that I just picked my destination on a whim, I guess my moments pause gave it away.
"This the first time that you're on your own, right?" he said. I was sort of surprised that he managed to get it right on the first guess, but I guess I was never very good at making excuses.
"Yeah." I said, "This is the first time I'm going to be living on my own." I turned my head to face the window, feeling a little unsure if I was going to handle living on my own. I have been left on my own to take care of the house while my family went out on trips, but that was only ever for a few days at a time, this was completely new to me.
Rover then gave me a pat on the back and said, "Don't worry Robert, I'm sure you'll be able to take care of yourself just fine." That felt reassuring, even if he said it just to cheer me up.
I turned to Rover and said, "Thanks, I appreciate that." For the remainder of my train ride, Rover and I talked about where he had been during his travels, since from the size of his backpack, it looks like he's been everywhere. We felt the train slow down to stop, the a voice over the intercom said that we have arrived at Seascape. "Looks like this is my stop, thanks for the company Rover." I said to him as I got out of my seat and took my suitcase from the luggage holder.
Rover reached out his hand for a goodbye shake, to which I obliged. While we shook hands, Rover said, "Good luck on your own and thanks for the company as well." I let go of his hand and made my way to the exit of the train.
- Thank you for reading my story. Please leave a review if you'd like to. -