"Hey, Pony," I said, patting the horse's star. The horse was breathing heavily, not paying much attention to me.

"Hi Jill," Gwen breathed, her breathing matching the horse's. I smiled at her.

"Hello," I said. Gwen hopped off of Pony's back, patting the horse's sides to tell her she had done well. I grabbed the reins, leading Pony to her stall. Gwen followed, drinking from the water bottle she had left behind next to a fence post. I led Pony inside the hay-ridden stall, taking off the bridle, saddle, blanket, and girth. I put everything away and started brushing Pony as Gwen fanned herself, sitting down in a chair next to the stalls.

"How's Jack? Your father, I mean," Gwen said. I looked over at her and shrugged.

"I only see him at dinner nowadays, when he's super tired from trying to maintain the farm all day every day," I said. Gwen made a disapproving sound.

"He's so uptight these days. . ." she said, leaning back in her chair. I bit my lip and kept brushing Pony, who was now drinking water. We stayed in silence for a minute, before Bob came booming in.

"Hey Jill! Great to see you! Gwen, mind helping me out collecting some eggs?" Gwen's husband towered over her seated form, smiling as he always did. Gwen sighed slightly.

"Okay, just gimme a sec," Gwen said, waving him off a little. Bob went back whence he came, and Gwen opened one eye to look at me.

"Don't ever get married," she said, fanning herself again. I chuckled.

"Hey, Gwen, what do you think I should give my brother for his birthday?"

"Nothing," she offered. I laughed a little.

"Thanks for the help."

"No, seriously. You guys have the same birthday, it's weird to give each other gifts, isn't it?"

"No."

"Ha, whatever," she said. She got up and came over to lean on the stall door.

"Make him his favorite food, or something," she said, shrugging. I rolled my eyes.

"No one would let me near a kitchen," I said. They were afraid I would stab myself with a butter knife, or something. Gwen huffed a little.

"I'm not exactly a great mind for browsing gift ideas. Anyway, I gotta go help Bob out. Feel free to try and ride a horse," she said, smiling. I snorted. I did not want to fall again. Not only had it hurt, but it had made my dad flip out, even though I only had a couple of scratches. I couldn't tell him it was from riding a horse, or he would never let me ride again. I just told him I simply fell.

I left the stall, closing the gate behind me, and decided to just lean on the gate and stare at Pony. She came over to me and nudged my face, asking for a treat, so I went to get a couple of sugar cubes and held my hand under her mouth as she sucked them up into her mouth. I wiped my hand on a towel hanging next to the stall, patting Pony when I was done.

"You did a good job, Pony," I said. I hugged her, snuggling into her neck. It smelled dusty, even from all the brushing. I let go after a little while, Pony shaking her head a little and doing the weird little shiver horses do. I patted her twice on the head, then decided to leave the barn. I walked out, shutting one of the doors and leaving the other open, and decided to head over to the chicken coop to see if Gwen and Bob needed help. On my way over, I stopped.

I felt something stir inside of me. It was so sudden, but so strong. Totally out of the blue and weird, but I was so sick of this boring life. Doing the same things over again. I couldn't do this anymore. I felt motivation slowly fill me up like a cup, out of nowhere, leaving me standing there, biting my lip in a hesitation that had only been fleeting before. I changed direction, heading back to the Square.

I ran until I reached the platform, hopping onto it and stopping in the middle of the giant red and white pattern. I looked around, stopping as I spotted the path leading to the Grocery Store. I took in a deep breath as I jumped off of the platform, walking onto the path right in front of me. I kept walking straight until I saw Ronald's store.

I turned right, hesitating as I did so. I walked forward, ignoring the sign that held the ranch's name. I walked past the two giant buildings on either side of me, the giant field of crops just ahead. When I reached the edge of the field, I looked for my father. I saw him tilling at the far end of the field, and I went around to talk to him. He didn't see or hear me at all, making what I was about to do a little easier. I could still back out now. But I wouldn't. For some reason.

"Father," I said, quieter than I had meant to. He didn't seem to hear me, so I cleared my throat and tried again, his back to me.

"Father," I tried again, my voice cracking. My father stiffened, turning around and looking at me.

"Jill. . . what are you doing here? Where's Gina?" he asked. He looked torn between being concerned and angry.

"Um, I wanted to talk to you. Well, no, actually, I came to tell you something," I said. I was messing with my dress a little, a nervous habit I had when talking to my father.

"I-I. . . I'm leaving. Here. Right now. . . or, um, soon. Yeah. I'm going to go live with my brother. A-and y-you can't stop me. Okay? I'm not going to be sheltered anymore," I held my breath as my father stared at me, silent. I tried really hard not to look away, wanting to appear strong and, hopefully, independent. My father took off his gloves, folding them as he took in a deep breath.

"Um. . . Jill, dear, why in the world would you want to leave? I mean, not only is it extremely dangerous for you, it's simply out of the question. You can't possibly take care of yourself, what with all the needs you have. I mean, perhaps we can discuss you living by yourself in Leaf Valley, but Forget-Me-Not? No. No. Forget it. All you would have was your irresponsible brother. You'd end up seriously hurt there, possibly even dead," my father continued lecturing me, only causing my determination, and honestly, anger, to grow.

"I'm not going to die there if I go," I interrupted. "I mean, I might one day, but not from neglect. And most certainly not from simply taking care of a few plants and animals. Please, Father, this is no longer up for discussion. I'm leaving to go live with Jack. He needs my help. Desperately. He's my brother, and I will help him whenever he needs it. Now, we can make this goodbye end on either a good note, or a bad note. I personally don't want to leave on a bad note, so I will stay at the house today to wait for you to come to terms with my decision and so that you can see me off without any anger."

My father tried to talk more, but I held up a hand.

"I'll see you later, okay? I'll still be here, I promise," I walked off, glad that my father didn't follow.


So that's it for now, but I would really like to continue this and I have already written some plans up and a little more of the story itself. I would really appreciate comments on how it is going so far, what you want me to avoid, all these little things. I expect this to become good enough to get flames loool

Oh my I'll start crying a little bit when that happens so make sure it does you little sadists

Stay with me lovelies!~