Author's Note: I do not own Harvest Moon or any of the characters mentioned, nor am I affiliated with any of the companies that have rightful ownership over it.
Now, to those of you who have been reading 'Before I Met You', I'm sorry I broke my promise! I just couldn't help myself! This fanfic is a little different from BIMY though, since the protagonist is really weird. I think I'll probably be the only one who likes her. _"
Anyway, onwards with the first chapter. Reviews are appreciated, but don't be too mean or I'll cry. ('_');
Chapter One
Fate's Overture
Molly Ivers hated everyone.
Okay, so maybe hate is too strong a word. But it was close.
Preferring to be alone, Molly didn't like having to live, work and interact with others. Heck, she disliked just talking to them. She coveted her privacy and her personal space and preferred to be alone whenever she could be. She believed that Jean-Paul Sartre said it best with that famous line from one of his plays: 'hell is other people'.
It didn't particularly bother her that people often thought she was weird and gossiped about her at work. Nor did it bother her that she literally had no friends. And it especially didn't bother her that she'd never been in a romantic relationship before. But it did bother her boss. It bothered him a lot.
"Molly," he began saying one day after calling her to his office.
She sat primly in a seat across the table from him, her chocolate brown eyes slightly glazed over as she stared at him blankly. She made no response to him calling her name.
"Molly," he began again, rubbing his forehead in frustration. "You've been at this company for how many years now? Five?"
Instead of speaking verbally, she held up four fingers on her right hand to correct him. She had been working for him for four years, having started at the company when she was twenty-two. She was now twenty-six.
"Oh yes, four years," her boss corrected himself, staring up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "It feels like only yesterday that you came into my office with that exemplary resume."
Molly once again made no response and simply stared through him. Not at him; through him. It was this nonchalant, uncaring stare that agitated the aging man more than anything else. It was like she was a robot that showed no sign of emotion. He couldn't understand what had happened to her to make her so despondent and apathetic towards other people. Troubled childhood maybe? Failed relationship? Regardless of the reason, he felt that it was a great shame that she wasn't putting herself out more. She was a pretty girl, and bright too; it was a wonder that she didn't have a husband or a boyfriend yet.
"You're a hard worker, Molly. You're efficient, get things done on time and you're not scatterbrained like the rest of the women in this office. However, you're what I call a 'solo agent'; you like to do everything by yourself and feel hindered by other people. Unfortunately, you cannot continue to work in this manner. Miss Hilson told me of how you effectively blew her off when she tried to speak to you about getting that Rogers & Rogers procurement proposal done last week. You were meant to do it together; not take on the whole work load by yourself," he told her sternly.
"Was there a problem with the proposal?" Molly asked, finally speaking for the first time since entering the room. Her face remained devoid of emotion, but it was clear from the tone of her voice that she was irritated.
"No. It was beautifully written as always," her boss answered.
"Then what's the problem?" she asked calmly, folding her arms across her chest.
The corner of her boss's eye twitched. "You were meant to work on it together. It was a two person job."
"The job got done. Why are you complaining?" Molly quipped back, her eyebrows drawing together ever so slightly in a frown.
"You need to work with other people Molly. You can't live your life shutting yourself away from everyone else," he said with a scowl. "If you refuse to co-operate with your colleagues then we will have a problem."
One of Molly's long eyebrows arched upwards questioningly. As far as she was concerned, the only 'problem' was with her colleagues complaining unnecessarily. They'd not had any issues with her taking on most of the workload before, not until that Freya Hilson showed up anyway. Being the new girl, Freya had obviously wanted to prove her worth with that project but had been denied the opportunity to do so when Molly refused to let her work on it.
"It's not just Freya that's complained, if that's what you're thinking," her boss added when Molly's eyes drifted over to Freya's desk which was visible through the glass walls of the office. "Others have mentioned it too."
"Mentioned, but never complained," Molly pointed out.
"You need to be more of a team player, Molly. United we stand, divided we fall, or so they say. If this problem persists, then I'll have no choice but to dismiss you," her boss stated warningly. He had only meant it as a scare tactic, hoping to force her into submission with the threat of her losing her job. But it backfired.
Rising from her chair, Molly ran a hand through her chestnut brown locks and looked down at her boss with a look of disgust that she'd been holding back for years. "Fine. I quit."
Molly sat up too quickly when she awoke the next morning and was greeted by a painful throb. Falling back into bed, she clutched her head moodily with one hand while the other blindly groped around on her bedside table for the television remote. Finally wrapping her fingers around it, she pointed the remote at her television and forcefully pushed the button down and watched as her television whirred to life. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she was greeted by news bulletins about stabbings, suicide bombings, corrupt politicians and rock stars dying of drug overdoses. Just a never ending stream of shit, Molly thought to herself as she tossed the television remote aside and rose from her bed. We're despicable creatures really, humans.
Listening to the news as she pulled on a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a comfortable black hoodie, Molly considered what she was going to do for the rest of the day. She had no job to go to, no friends to see, no pressing matters to attend to. Nothing. Part of her knew she should have felt bad about it, but in all honesty she was glad to have endless nothingness stretching out in front of her. Lazy and generally apathetic towards life, Molly was happy to just loll about her apartment doing nothing in particular. Most of her free time was spent surfing the internet or playing violent video games and she figured she might as well enjoy her sudden freedom a little before she started looking for another job.
When her mobile phone rang she rolled her eyes upwards with a scowl before scooping it up off of her dressing table and glancing at the caller I.D. It was her twin brother, Kasey.
"What?" Molly answered the phone brusquely.
"Good morning to you too, you little bitch," Kasey snapped. "Why did you quit your job?"
"Freak," Molly snarled as she headed out of her bedroom and into the kitchen.
"That's rich coming from you."
"Look Kasey, just tell me what you want already. I'm busy," Molly asked as she pulled out a carton of milk from the fridge.
"Busy with what? You're unemployed," her brother pointed out.
Molly took a swig from the milk carton directly, finishing it off and swallowed it loudly before she threw the empty carton into the bin. "I'm going to look for a new job."
"No you're not. You're going to spend all day surfing the internet. Ma's worried," Kasey said.
"Kasey, stop using your freaky shit on me and don't tell Ma what's happening in my life. It's got nothing to do with either of you."
"It's not like you don't use your 'freaky shit' either," Kasey said accusingly. "Just last Christmas you told Auntie Claire there was a troll sitting on her shoulder."
"Unlike you, I don't get to choose whether I see things," Molly replied as she leant against her fridge and stared up at the ceiling. "Now, if you're quite finished lecturing me, I'm going to go and have some breakfast."
Before her brother could reply, she hung up and put her phone on silent. She didn't want to hear anything else from him. Speaking to him reminded her of the fact that she and her twin were not exactly normal. While her brother sometimes saw glimpses of the future which proved useful, Molly wasn't quite so fortunate. Since she could remember she'd had been able to see things that shouldn't have been there. Abnormal, supernatural things. Things her parents once called her imaginary friends. Things that her psychiatrist called her hallucinations. What did Molly call them? Pains in the ass.
One pain in the ass decided to rear its ugly head as she was eating her Coco Pops later that morning and scared her half to death. Shrieking in fright, she accidently ripped out the page of the news paper she'd been reading and nearly overturned her bowl of cereal as a hunched shadow reached out a clawed hand to her in desperation and rasped out, "Please! Save me!"
"Fuck off!" Molly roared at the apparition. "Get the hell off my kitchen counter!"
"Please! Save me!" the shadow said, making a grab for Molly's hand.
She pulled it back sharply. "I can't help you! You're dead already! Just go and move into the light or whatever it is you things do."
The shadow, which was actually the spirit of a deceased person, froze for a moment. "I'm dead?"
"Yes. In case you haven't noticed, this isn't your apartment. And you aren't in a human body anymore. You're just a shadowy black thing that's floating around and freaking people out," Molly explained impatiently. "So go on, fuck off already."
"I... don't even remember... how I died..." the ghost said lamely as Molly's attention returned to her cereal.
"Hey, don't look at me for answers," Molly said with a mouthful of cereal.
"But you're the only one who can see me," the spirit pointed out.
"No I can't. This is just a figment of your imagination," she replied monotonously, pulling the torn piece of newspaper towards her and trying to put it back into place so she could finish looking at the page she'd been reading. As she put the newspaper back together, her eyes fixed on the tiny advertisement in the middle of the page that had been torn in half.
"Farm and surrounding farmlands for sale for only 5000G. Set in the sloping hills of the Cantata District, this remote farm is the perfect place for those looking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoy a quiet life in the countryside," Molly read aloud, her finger tracing the lettering carefully as she tried to imagine herself living on a farm. The idea seemed ludicrous at first, but the more she thought about, the more it seemed to appeal to her. She'd be living on her own, on a remote farm, in the middle of nowhere. Away from everyone. A smile crept to her lips at the thought. It sounds perfect.
The spirit watched as Molly scribbled down the telephone number in the advert onto a pink post-it note and reached across for her mobile phone. Dialling the number quickly, she hesitated for a moment before hitting the call button.
"But what about me?" the spirit said, drawing Molly's attention to the fact that it hadn't left.
Molly looked dismissively at the ghost as she said, "Not my problem. Go find some other saviour."