Chapter Four

I stood on the pier, eyes fixed on the distance.

It was a little hard to believe- that only a day ago, maybe a little bit longer, I had floated out from that sea onto this island. It all happened so fast. Part of me was wishing this was all a dream, but I dismissed the thought and the feeling.

"Oh, hey, it's Chelsea!" a voice came behind me, startling me.

I spun around, anxious to see who awaited my gaze.

"Oh…Hi…It's Denny, right?" I sighed in relief.

The purple bandanna-wearing fisherman was standing on the shore, grinning his usual grin.

"Yup, it's Denny! You coming to the festival today?" he asked me.

I nodded, turning back to the sea. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" he said, coming to stand beside me.

"I guess so" I mumbled simply.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

I smiled innocently and shook my head. I didn't feel like speaking, for some reason.

"You know, I feel like we should be friends. We've all got to stick together, no matter what our past says about it" he sat down, hugging his legs.

"I guess so" I muttered again.

Denny chuckled. "I'm glad that the sea gave us you. We needed a little excitement!"

"You're glad?" I turned to him.

"Yeah, we needed some more cute girls around here! I know Mark's enjoying your stay here, even if you've only been here a day."

"That's good. Even if I'm looking forward to this year, I…I wonder what I would be doing right now if I hadn't caught that ship, or if the ship hadn't sunk…or" I held my head in confusion. "It still feels like one big dream!"

I felt Denny's arms around me. I had just met him, and he was comforting me like we had known each other all our lives. "No matter what you do, we'll all be here for you now. This year will be a blast for you and for everyone else" he whispered, holding me at arm's length and looking me in the eyes.

His face suddenly broke into a large, cheesy grin.

"So cute!" he breathed enthusiastically.

I blushed, but covered my face to hide it. "What time is it?" I asked, changing the subject dramatically.

"I don't know, quarter to nine?" he shrugged.

It was surprisingly accurate for a guess.

"I'll see you at the festival, goodbye!" I called as I ran off back to Mark's house.

I glanced back at him, only to see him waving on the pier.

"You're back, just in time" Mark greeted me. He had laid my now dry clothes on my bed, and was now freshly-showered.

"You can get changed now, where'd you go?"

I grabbed my clothes and walked into the bathroom before replying.

"I went to the beach. You know, that Denny is pretty nice" I laughed.

Mark laughed along with me.

Putting on my old clothes felt so… nostalgic. They no longer smelt of disgusting sea water, though.

I pulled my lemon-coloured shirt over my head then stepped out of the bathroom, slipping my arms through my red, short-sleeved jacket.

"Yeah, he's a good guy when he doesn't stink of fish" Mark said while tidying Toby's hair.

"Let's go!" Mark shot up with sudden enthusiasm.

Toby mimicked him cheerfully, and the two ran outside eagerly.

On the walk to the meadow, Mark and I talked about pointless things that you make conversation on while Toby sang 'Goddess, goddess festival! Let's all go to the festival!' over and over, gripping one of my hands and one of Mark's, walking happily in between us. It was the happiest I had seen him since meeting him. He no longer seemed like such a melancholy boy.

The bridge to the meadow was steady, and seemed newly-built, which I assume it was. I flicked back to images of Gannon bragging about his work to me, when I was hauled over his shoulder only a day ago…It was only yesterday…

I could hear the happy cries of others, laughing, shouting, music. It felt familiar, but at the same time, unfamiliar.

"Hey, it's the new girl!" a voice came, almost knocking me over as I stepped onto the soft green grass of the meadow.

I found myself being surrounded by four girls, all very different in appearance.

I remembered their names- the blonde one in the green dress was Lanna, the pink-haired stern looking one was Natalie, the shy glasses-wearing black-haired girl was Sabrina and Julia was the waitress-looking blonde one.

"H-hello…" I simply stuttered, not knowing what else to say.

"Kya! Come with us, we'll go talk to the boys!" Lanna squealed in excitement.

So they pulled me to where the group of young men on the island were standing and conversing, away from Mark and Toby.

Denny, Pierre and Elliot greeted me, but the animal trader Vaughn just grunted and lifted his head slightly.

I had fun, even in the first few minutes that I arrived.

Lanna was trying to hook me up with Vaughn, who just blushed and said nothing, Denny tried to hit on me, and I laughed quite a lot.

The festival started soon, and the four girls rushed to the middle of the meadow, positioning themselves in a certain order.

After a while of preparations, the music began and so did the ceremonial dance.

I went back to Mark and Toby and sat with them as the dance commenced.

"Made friends?" Mark asked me as Toby wriggled to get under my arm.

I nodded and smiled, then turned back to the festivities.

Alisa, the petite priestess thanked everyone for coming at the end, but invited everyone to stay for food. Toby had fallen asleep in Mark's arms, which obviously meant Mark was going home.

"You can stay, if you want" he smiled.

"No, I'll come too" I insisted, of course.

But as I was about to walk over the bridge, I felt something on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. I realized soon after that it was a hand, not some evil tentacle monster trying to kidnap me…

But what surprised me most of all was that it was Vaughn who was standing there behind me, blushing wildly and holding his cowboy hat to his eyes.

"H-hi…" he stuttered. It reminded me somewhat of myself.

"Hello, Vaughn. What can I do for you?" I tried to smile, despite the curiosity pulling at my heart.

"Well…I…I wanted to apologize, for acting that way in front of everyone. It's just…" he started.

"That's alright, really- just fun and games, right?"

I patted him on the shoulder then ran off to follow Mark and Toby who had been waiting patiently for me.

'Home' felt nice.

It was almost like… I knew I'd enjoy the year to come…

However, something felt off about this all…