Here's the next chapter, y'all. So, so much happens here. Enjoy?
CHAPTER STATS
Word Count (excluding A/N): 2178
Date Updated: 12-18-11
Current Review Count: 556
Dear Mom and Dad,
Hey. It feels like it's been ages since I wrote to you guys. I'm sorry. Spring has been okay, and I'm expecting my crops to be ready for harvesting in the next few days. They've been taking longer than usual, but I've been taking care to water them every day like I'm supposed to. Hopefully I'll make enough off them to get a lot of seeds for the summer and then the farm can really kick off.
Speaking of the farm kicking off, Daisy is finally giving milk! It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but she did it. I gave some to Vaughn and he said it was good, so it must be—if there was one person to trust when it comes to animals, it's Vaughn.
Oh, also, Julia and I made up. The whole thing was stupid. I was just getting homesick and emotional, haha! But it's all good now. I miss you guys, but I just know that the farm is going to start being profitable soon. Until then, I won't have enough to come visit. But I will soon, don't worry! Everything's fine.
Anyway, I just thought I should write you guys and let you know everything's fine. I love you and I'll see you soon,
XOXOXO
Chelsea
Ooo
"Well, she seems to be alright," Claire said, giving the letter back to her husband.
Gray sighed, setting it on the table near them. "She's alright, sure. But we still don't know where she is."
"I want to see her just as much as you do," Claire frowned slightly. "But without a return address, there's really not much we can do."
They fell silent for several moments, contemplating the situation.
Claire took a shaky breath, looking up. "Why won't she tell us where she is?"
Gray didn't answer. He put one arm around Claire, attempting to comfort her.
The farmer and the blacksmith watched the table morosely, wishing they could just have their daughter back.
Suddenly, a thought struck Claire. "Did she say that her cow just started giving milk?"
Gray furrowed his brow in confusion, but nodded anyway. "Yeah, she did. Why?"
"Hasn't it been over two seasons since she got her?" Claire asked, frowning. "That would mean…"
"What?" Gray asked, getting frustrated in his confusion. "What is it?"
"Gray," Claire said, frowning. "I think her cow—well, I don't know, but I heard about this disease in cows. It's rare, and Chelsea's cow is probably fine, but—"
"What disease?"
Claire shook her head. "It's something that a cow is born with. There's no way to prevent it and no way to stop it from happening, but it's a mutation in the cow that basically makes the cow start to die after it begins to give milk. I don't know how it works. It's really unlikely that Chelsea's cow has it, too. The late start with giving milk is the only symptom I know if in her cow, but…"
"It's probably nothing," Gray said. "The odds are against it. It's just a coincidence."
"I hope so," Claire said, watching the wall. "If anything happened to that cow, Chelsea would be devastated."
Ooo
Chelsea walked into Mirabelle's shop, sighing. She sat down at one of the stools at the counter, slumping forward. Julia smiled sympathetically at her from the other side.
"How're you today, Chels?" Julia asked, her tone both understanding and concerned. She had been told what happened with Vaughn on Thursday night.
"Fine, fine," Chelsea said, sighing again. "I guess."
"I have some news," Julia said, pursing her lips. "And I'm not sure if it's good or bad."
"Well, what is it?" Chelsea asked, sitting up.
"Vaughn's not coming in this week," Julia said, watching the farmer apprehensively.
Chelsea slumped again, her heart dropping. This was just perfect. With the week she'd just had plus this, she felt like she could be crying. He hated her. She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. "Why?"
"He said there were storms and that his boat wasn't going out," Julia explained, giving a little shrug. "He also apologized for the short notice. I mean, it is Wednesday morning…"
Chelsea shook her head. If she was a little glum before, she was downright depressed now.
"And there's something else," Julia said, her face scrunching up apologetically.
Chelsea looked at her. "Huh?"
"I'm going with Ma out to the city for a few days," Julia said, "I'm sorry."
"When are you leaving?" Chelsea asked, frowning. Now her only means of venting and solace was going away.
"Today," Julia cringed at Chelsea's disbelieving expression. "Soon, actually. It's really short notice."
"Oh," Chelsea said. She couldn't think of anything else to say. She was having a hard time not just shutting down. This was such a bad week. She had really underestimated the amount of emotional stress this Vaughn incident was going to cause. She was losing sleep over it. She just knew that he hated her now and it was killing her. And now Julia, the only one who offered any sort of comfort, was going away.
"I'll be back in a few days," the blonde said, patting Chelsea's arm. "But right now I've got to finish packing. The boat leaves at noon."
"Alright," Chelsea nodded, standing up. "I should go take care of my crops, then. And check on Daisy. Again."
"I'm sorry," Julia said once more, and Chelsea could tell that she really meant it. "Really. But I know you'll be fine."
"Yeah," Chelsea said, sighing. She walked over to the door, adjusting her rucksack on her back. "Have fun—I'll see you Saturday."
As the door closed behind her, Chelsea frowned at the dirty ground beneath her boots. She might as well go and make sure her crops were doing alright. As she walked up the path to her farm, she noticed the grayish clouds forming overhead. It looks like it might start raining. How fitting, she thought with a sigh.
As she made it up to her farm, she headed straight over to her plots of crops, expecting to see ready-to-pick vegetables. After all, it had been weeks now without a harvest. So when she saw drooping, wilted stalks where just yesterday there had been promising vegetable plants, she didn't believe her eyes.
After a few moments, she knelt down next to one of the dead plants. She gingerly tried to lift one of the tiny, mushy cucumbers on the vine, but it fell right off in her hand. She looked over at the turnips, all wilted and half-eaten by insects. The potatoes were not much better. She tried pulling one up, but there was no way that the thing that came out of the ground would be worth a thing if she tried to ship it.
She fell onto the dirt, gaping at her failed harvest. Her eyes started welling up. She tried to suppress the tears, but a few still managed to escape and fall onto the ground below her. She took a deep, shaky breath and stood up. Nothing was going right. This whole day was a waste. It just downright sucked. Maybe she just needed to sleep it off. A nap seemed like the only thing to do to get her mind off of this. Plus, she was starting to feel all the lost sleep piling up on her.
She got inside, pulled off her boots and bandana, and flung herself onto her bed, trying to block out life.
Ooo
When Chelsea woke up, it was dark outside. She looked at her clock. It was almost nine o'clock. She rolled over and stared up at her dark ceiling. She was broke. Well, almost broke. She had just a few hundred gold left, which was hardly enough for any seeds at all for the rest of the season. She had spent most of her money on the seeds that had just failed. Julia was off the island and so Chelsea had no one to go to for help. Vaughn had to hate her. Even if he didn't, he wasn't on the island this week, anyway, so it made no difference.
Chelsea was alone this time. She was completely and utterly alone. Her family was gone, her friends were gone, and she had nothing left. She sat up, choking back her tears. She hated this. She was just wallowing in self-pity. But what else was there to do? She sighed, standing up. Nothing. There was nothing else to do.
She smiled slightly, remembering her faithful cow in the barn. She had Daisy. She'd always had Daisy to help her through these times. Daisy would listen to her.
Chelsea bent down and pulled her boots on and situated her bandana on top of her head. She grabbed her rucksack and opened the door, surprised at the chill that blasted her from the outside. She pulled Vaughn's coat on, trying not to think about him and how much she'd messed that whole thing up. After everything that they'd been through…
She shook her head, walking out into the night. It was no use thinking about it now. Nothing could be done. Even though she knew that, her mind kept bringing it up.
She had lost Vaughn's friendship forever and she knew it.
Chelsea pushed the door to the barn open, walking into the well-lit room. She saw Daisy lying against the back wall of the barn, sleeping peacefully. As she was walking over to the brown cow, Chelsea's gaze landed on her feed trough and the fodder that was still inside it.
"Daisy," Chelsea said, frowning slightly. "Why didn't you eat your food today?"
Daisy didn't answer. Chelsea walked over, not surprised—after all, Daisy seemed to be awfully tired. For a moment, Chelsea's mind panicked—what if Daisy was coming down with something?
But that panic washed away completely when Chelsea made it over to her cow on the far side of the barn. In fact, everything in Chelsea's mind seemed to wash away completely—except for the fact that Daisy seemed so still.
Unnaturally still.
"Daisy?" Chelsea said, her voice quiet. She didn't want to breathe. The barn was too quiet, too still. Everything was too still. Chelsea felt the deafening silence push against her when Daisy still did not answer.
Unable to breathe, Chelsea knelt down, her hands shaking. She reached out slowly and touched Daisy's head. It was cold.
Chelsea's heart stopped and her stomach lurched.
Daisy was dead.
And just like that, Chelsea's world fell apart.
She couldn't think straight. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening—it was all just a dream. She hadn't actually woken up—it was just a nightmare. None of it was real. From her family to Vaughn to Julia to the failed harvest to this—it couldn't be happening.
Standing up and swaying on her spot, Chelsea couldn't take her eyes off of the body of her only family on the island. She didn't realize it, but she was sobbing. Hot tears soaked her face. She hiccupped and coughed and shook and swayed. Nothing made sense anymore. She staggered over to the wall, leaning against it, her eyes squeezed shut.
Why? Why was she doing this? What was the point of this all? She wished that she hadn't run away from home. She wished that she could be at home, eating lunch with her parents, sleeping in her own bed. She missed them. She missed her old life. She hated living in poverty and going hungry and cold. She hated not having anyone there for her.
She wanted to go home.
With her jaw clenched, Chelsea pushed off the wall and made her way to the door. The sky had decided to open up and pour out rain, washing away all of Chelsea's uprooted crops. She stepped into the downpour, the icy water soaking her bandana and bouncing off Vaughn's coat. She inhaled sharply and started running.
She didn't care anymore. Nothing mattered. None of it was worth it anymore.
She made her way through the sleeping town, stumbling several times but never letting herself fall. She felt her feet hit the sand and she knew she was on the beach. She blinked through the tears and the rain and saw a boat at the dock, preparing to set off on the last passage of the night.
She flew down the dock and one of the sailors greeted her.
"Ticket?" He asked, having to yell above the waves and the rain.
"How much for a passage to Mineral Town?" Chelsea replied, her voice tired.
"It's two hundred, and you'll have to switch over to another boat at the city—but that's no extra charge."
"Here," Chelsea said, rifling through her rucksack and giving him the coins.
He stared at them for a moment before ushering her onto the ship just as the horn blared and the engine started up.
Chelsea stood on the deck, drenched and empty. She watched as Sunny Island disappeared through the rain.
Dx
*By the way, as far as I know, there is no such disease for cows. But since this is a fictional game and a fictional story, I figured it would be alright to include a fictional disease.