Chapter Two
Morning came much too quickly.
Alice groaned at the bleeting of the alarm clock app on her phone. She stuck a hand out from beneath her black comforter and groped blindly down to the floor, where she fished her phone up and under the blanket with her. She peered with bleary eyes at the time.
6:00 AM stood out in bold white letters against the purple and blue Cheshire Cat theme she had installed.
Six am . . . it was still hard to believe such a time really existed. She'd worked the night shift at the Joja Corp head office and her days usually began at around ten at the earliest. Of course, this wasn't the first six am she'd seen since moving out to Pelican Town in Stardew Valley-it just garnered more and more weight each time.
Too tired to think clearly, Alice hit the snooze button and promised herself that she wouldn't make a habit of it. She rolled over and drew her Twitchy plush from the Killstar website close to her chest.
Her body ached. Ached more than she ever thought possible. It felt like her bones had broken-that her muscles had torn-and every tiny movement she made was met with jolts of searing agony up both her legs and in her arms. Every night she laid on her bed with her heating pad wrapped around her legs and watched movies on the old analog television her grandpa left behind upon his death. It took her a minute to figure out how to hook her PS4 up to the old thing, but once she did all her still active subscription packages happily waited for her. What are we watching tonight, Alice? The Simpsons on Disney+? King of the Hill on Hulu? Oh! Maybe we feel like another The Walking Dead marathon on Netflix! Anything to take her mind off of her utter exhaustion.
Two weeks Alice had been hard at work on the farm, taking little time for much else. She thought about it almost constantly: how she would do her planting near the destroyed green house so it would all be together when she figured out a way to fix it. She thought about putting up a fence near that as well, near her grandfather's shrine, and create something cozy over there.A place to sit and enjoy the afternoon, perhaps.
She wanted to put something directly south of her front door . . . but had no idea what. Robin told her all about the kinds of things Alice could have her build: a barn, a chicken coop, a cottage, slime hutch-all of it filled Alice's head with incredible possibilities. A slime hutch would go down that way, perhaps, along wtih a spare cottage on the off chance she ever had guests.
Clint had come to visit her after her first foray into the mines and given her the recipe for a furnace. He explained the uses of them, and Alice thought about building some sort of stone path from her front door down to where she planned to put the slime hutch eventually-and maybe creating a sort of midway point where she could set up several furnaces for melting down ore. It was an idea, of course, that she imagined would be subject to change if it didn't work the way she thought it would.
Five minutes later, Alice's phone bleated again.
She groaned, again, and hit the snooze button. Again.
In spite of all the work she had to do, Alice had made time to follow Mayor Lewis's advice. When she went out to buy more seeds to plant-harshly diminishing her pocket money for the time being, much to her chagrin-Alice made a point of introducing herself to the villagers and was met with warm smiles and hearty welcomes to the town. As much as meeting new people made Alice nervous, she decided to try harder at it. This was her new home and she wanted to make the most of it. She'd allowed her life in the city to be taken out of her hands and pushed down a path that led her to a dark place she didn't want to be. She wouldn't let it happen again. Wouldn't let anyone make her miserable again-not even herself.
There were a few people she had yet to meet, but felt good about how many she had. Abby, the purple-haired daughter of the general store owner, seemed to latch onto her quite quickly and Alice thanked Yoba for that. Abby was so warm and happy. She introduced Alice to her friend Sam, a goofy blond guy who Alice immediately attributed to being something of a brother-type.
"I'd introduce you to Sebastian, but he's being an antisocial weirdo at the moment," Abby said rolling her eyes.
"Sebastian-that's Robin's son, right?" She had to double check, because the way Abby described him didn't make him sound like the small child Alice had imagined when Robin told her about her two kids.
Abby had nodded. "Exactly. He lives in her basement and, I swear, it takes a SWAT team to get him out. You'd like him though. He's really nice-just shy."
But she had yet to meet really-nice-but-shy Sebastian. She had, however, met his half-sister Maru. Maru, Alice realized upon meeting her father, Demetrius, had taken more after her father than her mother.
The alarm went off once more. Alice rolled over onto her back.
She groaned. She hated using her alarm-it always put her in such a bad mood. She reached to hit the snooze button for a third time, but was halted by her fat gray Maine Coone, Gizmo, deciding that was the most opportune time to leap from the rickety table in the middle of the room directly onto her stomach. She gasped and, once the surprise wore off, put her hands on either side of the feline's rotund body and laughed.
"You really don't want to let me rest, do you?" She asked. Gizmo purred in response. He padded at her blanket as if prodding to wake her. "Okay, okay, I get it. I'm getting up."
She sat up, kissed the cat on his forehead, and turned her alarm off.
One step off her bed and her legs gave out. Alice steadied herself on the edge of her bed and waited for the shooting agony to dull a bit before attempting to walk again. It always got easier the longer she walked on them, but first thing in the morning her legs were always at their worst. She tried to tell herself it would get easier-that sooner or later her muscles would get stronger and she'd be fine. Not that it helped to do so. She fought the urge to weep from her exhaustion. I signed up for this. This is what I wanted. It'll get better, I just have to try harder.
Steeling herself against another burst of pain, Alice got up and put on a pair of black jeans and a white t-shirt. As she built up enough will to leave the house Alice took one quick glance around the cottage. She thought about having breakfast but then remembered she had nothing but a hot plate and a pallet of ramen noodles she bought before leaving. Megan had shipped her stuff from ZuZu City down to Pelican Town just like she said she would, and even though she had gotten rid of most of her stuff she still found herself boxed in by her piles of books, movies, clothes, and games. Despite feeling somewhat suffocated by having such a huge mountain of things around her Alice also found it comforting in a way. At least if she managed to keep the lights on she'd have something to do that wouldn't cost money.
At length, Alice went out to the field to begin her work.
It was a hard-fought battle against the wilderness that had sprung up around her grandfather's farm in the lifetime since he died. Most of her aches and pains came from pulling weeds, smashing rocks, and attempting to chop wood. Honestly she managed better than she thought she would-which didn't say nearly as much as she hoped. There was still so much left . . . it was hard to feel like she'd made any progress at all.
But she had the space cleared around the busted greenhouse and had some crops planted. That wasn't anything to scoff at. Rome wasn't built in a day.
With a heavy sigh Alice popped her headphones in her ears, set her phone to play Melanie Martinez, and set to work.
Alice fell to the ground beneath a pine tree near the path from her farm that led up into the mountains, and pressed her back up against the trunk. The wide-reaching branches and thick leaves left a large halo of shade all around her and she couldn't have been more grateful for it if she tried. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and took in deep, ragged breaths. She got more of the forestry cleared away and had gathered enough of the rocks scattered about to start work on what she imagined would be a handsome stone wall separating the crops from the rest of the farm.
She turned to look at her work with the wall. It wasn't much but if she worked hard she would have something impressive to show. After all the chopping she did with the trees she had more than enough wood to build a small area on the western side of the greenhouse around her grandfather's shrine that would, on one side, simply be an area for Artisan Equipment, and on the other would be filled with flowers and maybe an outdoor table. If she bought some kind of grill or something online, it would be a great place to sit with friends in the summer.
If you ever have enough time to go out and, you know, make friends.
The thought came suddenly and hard, drawing frustrated tears from Alice's eyes. She buried her face in her hands and wept quietly. Not out of sadness or even fear that she wouldn't have time to really make any friends here-just from pure, marrow-deep exhaustion that made even the simplest of tasks seem too daunting. It would get easier-she knew it would-hoped it would-but for the time being all she could think was that she was way over her head. She'd underestimated everything that would need done and overestimated her ability to do any of it. Yes, once she stopped and thought on it she knew she'd made fantastic forward movement for someone quickly running out of money but at the same time it didn't feel like she'd really done anything. Just started a lot of things she had no idea if she'd be able to finish.
But the money she brought with her was nearly gone. She spent almost all of it on seeds to plant in the newly cleared stretch of land, all the while ignoring the fact that she'd never once kept a plant alive in her entire life so what made her think she could this time? There was a very real chance that she'd spent everything she had in the world and it would all blow back up in her face-
With a sharp intake of breath, Alice slapped the tears from her face and stood up. She couldn't sit around crying or else she really wouldn't get anything done. Despite the twinge in her muscles Alice did what she could to pretend to herself that it really wasn't as bad as all that. If she let herself slip even a little then the anxiety would needle its way in and there would be no getting it all the way out. Some would always remain like mildew in the walls. She couldn't give it that chance.
Well if I don't have money now, I better go make some.
She traded her axe for the cheap fishing pole Willy gave her when she first met him and headed for the big lake in Cindersap Forest.
Smiling and sitting cross-legged in the grass, Alice watched the bobber float lazily on the crystalline surface of the water. Birds cried overhead and all around her hummed an entire world of insect life. Wind rustled through the trees and as it breezed past Alice she could practically taste the pine aroma. She breathed a long sigh and relaxed.
Although Alice hadn't escaped having to exert effort all together, fishing proved to be much easier on her aching bones than shucking wooden logs back and forth across her property and making the land halfway useable. She already caught two of the same kind of fish, some trash, and a stick. If she caught a few more fish she would be able to sell them for a good amount of money. Nothing to get overtly excited over, maybe, but enough to keep the lights on or go get something to eat at Gus's rather than have yet another ramen noodles night.
No, she'd probably have another ramen noodles night. As much as Alice salivated at the thought of getting a pizza with extra cheese and bits of chopped up chicken on top she also knew it would be smarter to save her money. Her stomach groaned in disappointment.
She sighed. Pretty soon these days would be a funny memory. She just had to remember that. Someday she would look back on the days she spent in so much pain and starving for something, anything, besides ramen noodles and find it all covered in a rose-colored tint. Retrospect has a way of making even the worst situations seem not so bad.
"Hey Alice!"
At the sound of her name, Alice turned and saw Leah approaching with a hand raised in a wave. Her red, braided-ponytail sat on her slender shoulder as she walked, and in her opposite hand she carried a picnic basket. Alice smiled and waved back.
"Hi Leah!" When Alice met Leah during her first few days in town, the two hit it off. Leah was an artist and Alice was a writer-it was easy to get into a conversation about artistic inspiration and discussing the differences between their two chosen mediums. "How's it going?"
"Can't complain. I did some work on my sculpture and thought I'd take a break outside." She came to a stop next to Alice. "Mind if I join you? I brought food." She held up the picnic basket and grinned.
"Oh well if you've got food how can I say no?" Alice tried not to jump at the picnic basket as Leah sat down next to her and opened it. Inside, the artist had packed several sandwiches and a couple sodas. Alice raised an eyebrow and looked at Leah. "You brought all this for yourself?"
"Honestly? I saw you sitting here and thought it would be fun to hang out. I'll give you two sandwiches right now if you don't think I'm a total freak."
Alice laughed. Another reason she liked Leah is because they were both somewhat . . . off kilter compared to everyone else. "I wouldn't have thought you were a freak anyway, but I'll take the sandwiches anyway!"
With a grin, Leah plucked two sandwiches from within and handed them to Alice. Inside there was lettuce, slices of tomato, some parmesan cheese, and chopped up chicken. Alice tried not to stuff the first sandwich in her mouth too quickly but it was a battle hard fought. Hunger had its own agenda.
Despite that, Alice ate slowly. She savored the taste on her tongue. After weeks of nothing but noodles and chicken flavor packets a homemade sandwich was like eating a delicacy prepared by Yoba himself. Leah handed her one of the sodas and cracked her own open as Alice finished the first sandwich.
"You said you were working on your sculpture?" Alice asked.
"Yep! It's starting to take shape, I think. What that shape is, I have no idea. But I have a feeling I'm on the right track." She took a drink, then reached for a sandwich. "How about your writing?"
"I . . . actually haven't been able to do much. All this farm work has got me exhausted." She laughed to cover up the small twinge of hurt in her heart. "Feels like all I do is work and sleep!"
"Hey, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Sooner than you think you'll have everything up and running and you'll find time again."
She hoped so. A good portion of why she wanted to move to Pelican Town had to do with her writing. She loved the idea of living on her own farm, sitting out on her porch with her laptop or a notebook and writing away to the soft sounds of cicadas humming on the air. It was a delicious fantasy she felt had somewhat dimmed when she faced the reality of what the farm looked like after so many long years. Leah was right, and Alice knew it, but still didn't make it any easier to ignore the whisper of fear in the back of her head that she'd made a choice that shot her dream of being a writer in the back of the head. What kind of writer could she be if she was too tired after every day to do any actual writing?
Well its not as if I was doing much in ZuZu city anyway, Alice reasoned. Here I might be too tired, but-and I can always find ways not to be tired.
Alice smiled and told Leah she was right. It was the kind of thing only a fellow artist could understand, and why Alice enjoyed being friends with her so much. Leah clapped her hands in delight when the bobber on Alice's fishing pole dropped below the surface of the water, and shouted at her to hurry and reel it in. The two girls shouted at the fish as Alice struggled to bring it up out of the lake but when she did at last they both screamed in delight.