DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harvest Moon
Claire stared at the stuffed doll that she had being working on upon the last few days. She didn't usually make stuffed dolls, however she was rather handy with a needle and a thread, sewing up the tears in her work overalls and even making a few colourful cushions for her sofa after not finding any she liked in the market.
But a doll? This was her first.
Slowly, she picked the small thing up. She had looked so long through her clothes to find the right fabric for each part of it, even going as far as to chop up the pretty dress she bought back in the city.
She winced a little bit as she remembered how pretty she had looked in that navy blue dress in the shop mirror. But that had been the only time she had worn it as it was too formal to be worn out and about. The possibility could have arisen that she could have worn it to the Full Moon festival this year, but she was alone with no one to go with now and it occurred to her that she couldn't attend alone seeing as it was more a couple's festival. So with a few snips of her scissors, her dress now had a small chunk taken off the bottom.
Perhaps she could cut it evenly around the bottom and then turn it up so it could be worn again, but frankly Claire felt it would be a waste of her time. She would never attend anything romantic enough for her to wear something so formal again.
She closed her eyes and ran her finger over the smooth, blue hat of the doll. She smiled a little.
Claire opened her eyes and picked up the doll.
For the hair, she had originally intended to use a dirty yellow wool but it had proved to be too thick for her liking, so instead Claire decided to thread individual strands of cotton onto the head, just outside the rim of the hat. The result? A soft mass of cotton hair that almost resembled his exactly. Claire chuckled as she remembered that one day when she had knocked off his beloved hat with the back of her hand and run her hand through his dirty blonde locks, ruffling his hair up, much to his displeasure.
She twirled a few pieces of the cotton hair around her little finger. She had done a good job with the hair. Yet, it just didn't feel exactly like his. The smile was gone now and a single tear came trickling down her cheek. It could never be the same. Things simply couldn't be the same again.
She sighed as her thoughts drifted over to the beige overalls. For those, she had cut up an old work shirt of hers that she had owned for years. That shirt was the perfect match for the overalls.
Old, well-worn and dirty, she was able to catch the essence of those work overalls perfectly without even trying. And with a tiny little piece of that fabric, she even managed to make the belt that wrapped around the doll's waist and tiny little pockets too.
Claire couldn't remember a time when he hadn't worn those overalls. If it hadn't been for that hat, those overalls would have been his trademark. Even in winter, when little snowflakes drifted down and the ice on the lake froze up, he wore those darn overalls. Whenever she saw him during the cold months, she always wondered why he was never freezing to death. They must have been much thicker than they looked.
Once, Claire had asked Cliff if that was the only thing he owned. With a chuckle, Cliff responded that the guy just owned multiple pairs. That cleared it all up for her.
The shoes had been tricky. Claire owned plenty of brown fabric but she wanted something strong and tough for the shoes. Leather would have been perfect but the only leather she had was on the saddle for her horse, Tetley.
Slowly, the clock had ticked away until Claire finally gave in, grabbed her scissors and wandered off into the stables. Surely Tetley wouldn't notice the small chunk of leather missing from his the left bottom corner of his precious saddle.
It had taken a while, but Claire had finally managed to get the leather shoes to stay in shape as she attached them to the doll's legs.
After the shoes had been completed, she had finished the main aspects of the doll, and now all she needed to do was to work on the elaborations to finally bring the little doll to life.
With a tiny piece of yellow fabric and a light brown felt tip pen, she slowly drew out the letter U, then M, then A onto the small yellow rectangle Then, using a thin layer of glue, she attached the rectangle onto the blue hat. She smiled at it. The doll's hat was a perfect replica of the real thing.
The real hat hadn't been seen since last Thursday. Truthfully, Claire didn't think it would ever be seen again. All that time, she had wanted that hat just to blow right off his head and dissapear forever, but now that it was gone, all she wanted to do was clutch the thing and breathe in the soft smell of metal and shampoo.
Now the doll was almost finished. All that was left for Claire to do was to give the doll a face.
She placed the doll back on the kitchen counter. She walked over to the box where she kept everything all together in one heap of a mess and rummaged through it. Underneath the life insurance letter, was the paints she had ordered last Friday for the job. They had taken a while to get it here but Claire knew that the face was the most important part.
Walking back over to the counter, she placed the fabric paints down and took out a small brush.
Claire began with those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes. Why he hid them underneath that hat of his, she never understood. No, she understood that he preferred to keep his emotions hidden, yet most days Claire just wanted to gaze right into those eyes and let them overwhelm her with the warmth deep within them.
His eyes were her second favourite thing about him. Her favourite thing was that smile of his. Not the wide grin he would use when he teased her, but the way the corners of his mouth would turn up slightly from time to time in a cute fashion that made her giggle and him embarrassed.
For a grumpy guy, smiling was a big thing. Around the town, she rarely saw him smile at anyone. He preferred to keep his head down and keep to his own. But when he was with Claire, it seemed all he had for her was smiles. Rarely did he lose his smile near her and if he did, it wasn't gone for long. He could never stay upset or angry with Claire for long.
Claire dropped her paintbrush down as she squeezed her eyes shut to imagine that smile again. Oh how she longed to see it. If she had know what she knew now, she would have made every moment of the last time she looked in his eyes last, every second of that kiss passionate and forced him to stay at home with her on that fateful day. After all, the only reason he went up Mother Hill in the first place was to collect some herbs for her when she was feeling too tired to do so.
Tears rolled down her eyes. She should have made him stay at home. She could have made a bigger protest. Knowing what she knows now, she would have kept him at home. I could have, I would have, I should have. She sobbed. It was too late now.
Now he was six feet under and all Claire's heart had been shattered into a million pieces.
Claire grabbed the doll and hugged it tight, sobbing loudly. The stupid thing was useless. All she wanted right now was a final hug from Gray, the man she would always love.
Author's Note: This concludes my first attempt at a Graire one shot. This story was wrote at 1AM in the morning, a time where my story ideas come to me so I had to grab my iPad and write down the words that came to me before they drifted away.
Inspiration: A YouTube video on how to make a doll.
Special thanks to my best friend Mariella, for beta-reading this for me!