Harvest Moon: Magical Memories

Chapter Nine:

It was a few days later, the twenty-first of Summer. It was as though the sun sensed the ending of its reign, and so shone brighter and all the more furtively. The plants grew thin and tired, as though the sun were a tangible weight and lay heavily upon them. The clouds evaporated and the river sunk like the face of a cadaver. The world seemed to stop under the sun's spell, even the energy of the air stilled and slowed to stop. It was the most painful of summer days, the world on fire, screaming for the pain to stop.

It was this day that Luna stood. The day that the doctor bid her farewell. The day that she left the hospital, gauze still wrapped around her back, eye still swollen shut, head still bruised. And yet these seemed to be the lightest of problems.
It was the rumors that hurt.

Kurt. I'm so sorry Kurt. Why am I so stupid? How could I have been so dumb? He had helped her. Now his reputation was destroyed. Torn down by a foolish girl and a dead bird. She kicked a stone which scattered down the path and abruptly stopped once it hit against a larger stone, like a small child eager to play but reluctantly sent inside by its elder. She slumped against a tree, trying her hardest to enjoy this searing day. A small rabbit hopped past her, ears hanging down around its weary face as its eyes skimmed the ground, looking for anything that might suggest being edible. It hopped away silently, only the rustle of the browning grass a hint that it had been there at all.

"Hi." Luna squinted against the sun. A figure had blocked the rays, not such a bad thing on this day, yet still making it rather hard to tell who was the owner of that voice.

"Um... hello."

"Do you mind if I sit?"

"Uh..." But the figure had already slumped down next to her, the face immediately becoming recognizable. Ellen smiled widely, but there was something beneath the large grin, a suggestive hint of nervousness.

"Um... well..."

"You can speak freely." Luna was pulling small pieces of grass out of the arid earth.

"Great. Phew..." Ellen let out a thin stream of air, blowing up her loose bangs revealing a sweat-soaked forehead. "Well... erm... I heard you uh..."

"Slept with Kurt?" Ellen looked over gratefully, but Luna was growing more and more pissed off by the passing seconds. "Of course that is the rumor."

"You mean it isn't true?" Ellen said, making a failed attempt at nonchalance.

"Did you ever think it could be?" Luna spat back. She stopped pulling out grass and glared at Ellen. "He hates me! He won't even talk to me! Why the hell would you think I slept with him?" Her voice had grown loud and shaky. "He hates me! And whoever the shit's starting these rumors better knock it off! They aren't true!"

It was sometime before a rather bemused Ellen was able to gather her thoughts and reply, her voice hoarse.

"I- I'm so sorry Luna. I just- saw him leave so early. What was he doing-"

"YOU STARTED IT?" Luna stared at her in disbelief. Then she stood up, taking a look at Ellen, deciding if her words would matter to her, then finally just shaking her head and leaving.

I've got to find Kurt.

"Kurt's gone."

"WHAT?" Luna stood before Woody, who simply smiled at her, obviously missing the point. "Well... where'd he go? Why'd he leave?"

"He just apologized. Then he left. Joe went with him. I don't know where they are. If I were you, I'd talk to the mayor. Or Terry." He shrugged. "They usually are the first to know what goes on in this village." Luna stared at him. Then, with a final sigh, she bowed a 'Thank you' and left.

"Mr. Uh... Mayor!" She knocked loudly at Theodore's door, using all the energy she had. "Please! I need to-! Oh." A girl had opened the door, eyes staring her down judgmentally before finally sarcastically stating: "Next time be a little louder. We didn't hear you." Then she turned, "Dad! There's someone here to uh... see you!" She turned back to Luna, those judging eyes still looking her over as the mayor walked up behind her.

"Ah yes, thank you Maria." The pudgy leader of the village patted his daughter's back and smiled at the frazzled Luna. "Good to see you! Can I get you some tea?"

"No, please. I came to ask you a question actually."

"Oh? Well first please, come in, take a load off." He said, gesturing to his living room. Maria was sitting down, her nose already buried in a book the size of a small country.

"No, it'll only take a second." The mayor nodded as if to tell her to continue. "Where's Kurt." She stated, more of a sentence than a question.

"Kurt? Why, I hadn't known he'd left." He chuckled, eyes half closed. "Ah but you would like to know where he is, wouldn't you?" He waved as if to dismiss this thought, almost like an apology. "Never mind I said anything. Sorry, I haven't got a clue where he is." He smiled politely before shutting the door on Luna's face.

Luna crumpled onto the hot cobblestones, tears welling in her eyes. "It's all my fault." Miserable, she remained on the scorching ground, wishing she could sink into the stones and stay forever, where people could walk on top of her without even knowing she was there.

Luna's best friend sat on the edge of his bed, staring out at the stars. His spiky hair hung down over his face. His hands covered his eyes as he wept to the stars.

The stars that Luna was now staring up at. Two separate worlds, so closely linked yet so far apart, untouchable to the other, like complete and different dimensions in the same universe. Luna's hands clutched the grass tightly. As she listened to the night, the tittering of the darkest creatures seemed to be jeering at her from their places in the trees. Then she heard it. A crashing in the underbrush, a moan. Her hair stood on end. The nighttime swallowed and gulped at any sign of a faint light, making it impossible to see the thing that was crashing towards her.

Then it hit her. Like a brick, down it came. Falling on top of her, she could smell the reeking scent of too much sake on too dark a night.

"Luna...?"

"Kurt! You-you're drunk!"

"No. I'm not. That was Joe. He spilled sake on me... way too much sake." He rolled off her. "It kinda got in my eyes. We're camping up here and I tried to uh... find the river to wash off..."

"That's the most I think I've ever heard you talk." She saw his eyes glint in the darkness. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by that. It-"

"It's fine. I better go back and-"

"Wait! Please stay!" Luna felt her heart go out to him, so secretive and elusive in his ways. She wanted to know him, wanted to dust off his rough exterior and see something golden on the inside. "Please, Kurt... can we talk?"

"I don't think-"

"Please?"

Silence fell between them until finally, grunting, Kurt settled himself down, still far away from her but still by her.

"It wasn't me who started the rumor. It was..."

"Who?"

"It's not important." That silence again. Like a gap growing wider between them. She counted the seconds. When will he strike up a conversation? Why won't he talk with me? Why?

"I-" They both started at the same time.

"You go first." Luna silently pleaded him to speak. And finally, he spoke.

"I... can't stop... thi- uh..." She heard him gulp. "Wondering" nice word change Kurt. "about you and... I just... How'd you come to the village?"

"I don't know."

"Where's your home? Where's your family?"

"I... I don't know." Luna and Kurt fell equally silent at this.

"I should get back to Joe." Kurt said, moments later. He stood slowly. Luna stood with him.

"Can I... come?" Kurt just stood. Finally, as she squinted through the faint light, she saw him shaking his head, then finally disappearing into the night-time.