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Disclaimer: I don't own Harvest Moon or any of its characters.

The Houses

We all froze when we looked around us. There were at least five run-down, grey houses. There were rotting board covering the place where there should be a door. Holes appeared on the roofs, and the walls were crumbling.

"Oh my Goddess," Natalie whispered. "I wonder what happened here!"

I separated away from them and wandered around a bit. I peered through the boards of the houses, and saw rotting, torn furniture. There were signs in front of the houses, but the writing was too faded to read.

Suddenly, I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to face it and saw a ginormous boulder towering above me.

"Whoa," I gasped, and stumbled backwards. That had to be the biggest boulder I'd ever seen in my life. Natalie and Elliot ran over to me, and were just as awed about the huge rock.

"That," Elliot pointed to the rock. "Has got to be the biggest rock I have EVER seen."

"It's not a rock," Natalie said matter-of-factly. "It's a boulder."

Well, the two of them started fighting over whether it was a boulder or a rock.

"Does it really matter!" I screamed, getting irritated by their bickering.

Elliot and Natalie both shot an evil look, and turned their backs on each other.

I turned to walk the opposite way, but saw a broken bridge. It looked like there was a forest behind it. I sighed, and walked down the path. I saw another path, and walked up that.

When I came to the end of the path, I saw a huge, barren field covered in sticks, rocks, and weeds. There was a yellow-roofed stable to one side, and a red-roofed house to the other. It looked pretty stable, so I walked over to it.

There was an actual door, and a glass window. The walls looked secure, and the roof didn't have a single hole in it. I peered inside, expecting to find old furniture and cobwebs. Instead, I saw relatively new furniture, clean walls that were cobweb free, and…

Two living, breathing people.

I walked backwards a few feet, then turned and ran, screaming, "Natalie! Elliot!" the whole way.

They were both standing back to back, but when they heard me screaming, they turned to face me. "What is it?" Elliot asked, a concerned look on his face.

"I was going to say that," Natalie said angrily, and stomped on her brother's foot.

Elliot screamed in pain, and grabbed his foot.

"Will you two stop fighting!" I cried. "There are two people, alive, up that hill!" I pointed to where I had come from.

"No way!" Natalie said, forgetting her anger.

I nodded, and grabbed both of their wrists. "I'll show you!" I said, and pulled them along the path.

We walked silently towards the house, and peered through the window.

Natalie's eyes grew wide, and Elliot's mouth dropped open.

Suddenly, Natalie screamed and ran through the door. Elliot followed behind her quickly, smiling widely.

I watched them through the window. Natalie wrapped her arms around the woman, and Elliot stood there talking to the old man excitedly.

"I can't believe you're here!" Elliot said.

The old man was smiling widely. "Neither can I," he said. "That shipwreck nearly killed me!"

The woman and Natalie walked over to them. The woman hugged Elliot tightly, and kissed him on the cheek. Their mother, I presumed.

Watching them made me lonely. I just sat there, looking through the window. I think the woman saw me, because she pointed to the window and began talking to Natalie. I couldn't hear what she was saying, because she was nearly whispering.

Natalie laughed. "That's Chelsea," she said. "She was with us when the ship crashed."

The woman looked somewhat relieve. Natalie walked over to the door, and leaned out. "Chelsea, do you want to come in?" she asked.

"Sure," I said quietly, and followed her inside.

"Mom, Grandpa, this is Chelsea." She said when we entered. "Chelsea, this is my mother, Felicia, and my grandfather, Taro."

Taro hobbled over to me and shook my hand. "I heard you saved my grandkids' lives." He said.

"I didn't really save them," I said shyly.

"Oh, pish-posh!" Taro said. "Elliot told me you said for them to climb onto that piece of wood. Therefore, you saved them!"

I was having trouble following what he was saying. His voice was raspy, and his sentences didn't exactly make sense in my mind.

"Ok?" I said, confused.

Taro smiled, and walked back to Felicia.

"Would you like something to drink?" Felicia asked me.

Only then did I realize how thirsty I was. My throat was dry from all the salt water, and it was very hot on the island.

I nodded, suddenly being unable to speak. I felt like I was choking. I honestly didn't know where that came from. Felicia hurriedly got me some water from Goddess knows where, and handed it to me.

I drank the whole thing, and felt much better. I sighed with relief.

"Wow, you were thirsty!" Taro exclaimed. "Are you two thirsty?" he looked at his grandchildren.

They nodded, and seemed unable to speak as well. It seemed we weren't feeling things until someone else pointed them out.

Felicia got them both a glass of water, and they drank it as fast as I did.

"So what do we do now?" Natalie asked. None of us knew the answer.

"We could try and find homes," Felicia suggested.

"Do you think we'll be here long enough for that?" Elliot asked, his voice shaky. "Surely they'll be looking for us."

"Elliot, honey, they probably think we're dead." Felicia said softly. Elliot looked scared and sad at the same time. He quickly looked to the ground, and began twittling his thumbs.

None of us said a word for a minute.

"Well, let's go look for a house!" Taro finally said, clapping his hands.

"Chelsea, why don't you live here?" he asked.

I shot my head up at my name.

"I think this place used to be a ranch," Taro said. "You could be the new rancher!"

"Well, I-I don't know m-much about farming," I stuttered.

"I'll teach you, then!" Taro exclaimed happily. "You know, I used to be quite the rancher back in the day." He held his head high in pride.

I sighed. "O-Ok," I said softly.

"Great!" Taro said, smiling widely. "Now you get some rest. You'll need it!"

He then left with the rest of his family, out the door and down the path, to look for a house, leaving me all alone.

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