The next morning came and it was evident that summer had started. The heat of the morning sun blasted down onto the land, making the temperature rise dramatically from the usual spring weather. The trees seemed to be greener and lusher than before and the animals were taking advantage of the cooler morning before the weather started to get hotter. Eve yawned as she sat up, looking at her new watch. "Oh…welp..." she slowly got up out of the old bed. "I need to get moving…though…not really since I need to get my seeds." Miso was meowing and walking around his bowl as she got up. He was making noise as if he'd hadn't been fed for months. Eve smiled and picked up his bowl from the floor.
"You are so funny…" she mumbled as she scooped some wet food into his bowl. She put it back down and watched the cat start to eagerly chow down. Eve just couldn't help but smile as she watched and even sat down to pet the little kitten. "You're so good Miso." She mumbled to the cat and even kissed him on his head, making the cat pause and look at her. "Oh sorry, keep eating. I won't disturb you" she said as the cat trilled and continued the meal. Eve chuckled and got up off the floor. It was a brand new day and the sun would be high soon. She needed to get to work.
After a shower and getting dressed, she opened the door and the hot air immediately hit her. It took her a second to get used to the dense air before she looked and saw the silo had been completed the previous season. Finally, after one long and hard spring, her first building was done. Now she had a place to put all the grass she'd been cutting away. Finally, the farm would start to take on a more personal touch, and it could only go forward from there. Excited to really get started, she grabbed her sickle and went to the fields. The green beans had died almost instantly in the summer heat and were wilted completely. She started to slice the old crops and clear the fields of grass. Eve smiled as she was making a pile of grass.
"This season is gonna be good. I'll have an even BIGGER field! Oh, and I should look at what crops I need for the community center! And what I need to go out and find…and maybe Rosetta will have something this time…but I still need to save up right?" she sighed and paused. "This is harder than I thought…I wish I had a more stable income but I'm pretty sure the spring onions only come out in the spring…ah well…I'll just need to work even harder than before!" Eve thought aloud for a moment about using her phone to take notes on what she needed, as if she were going to the store. However, the moment she took out the phone, she paused.
"…no…I think I have a better idea." She finished with the tilling and then went inside. She pulled one of the bags out from under her bed and unzipped it. After sifting through a few things, she found an old notebook and some pens from when she still worked for Joja.
"Oh, please still have ink…" she mumbled and scribbled her name a few times to get the ink flowing. "Evelyn Rose Turner…Evelyn Rose Turner…" she mumbled as she wrote, smiling as it seemed that the pen still had some ink. "Heck yeah." She smiled as she made her way to the community center. She was jogging over, something she hadn't done before but she felt like she was full of energy. She pulled the door to the community center open and was greeted by several little Junimos.
"Hello friends…" she mumbled as she walked in. "I won't be long I promise." She started to check the bundles, writing down the things she needed to grow or things she needed to catch. "I'll have to do research on the fish…or maybe Willy can tell me." She mumbled to herself, and finally she went to the broken fish tank. She knelt down and placed a few things on the scroll, watching them be absorbed into it. A mussel, a scallop, a cackle, a clam, and a crab she'd bought from Rosetta. She smiled as she stepped back, letting the Junimos grab the collected bundle and giving her a reward. Suddenly, her bag felt huge.
"Good Yobba what the heck?!" she nearly buckled as she caught herself. Suddenly she found three crab pots had somehow been added to her inventory. She found that whatever she got from the Junimos was shrunken down so it could fit in her bag, but only when she just got it. Although, the weight was still the same. She shrugged and fist-pumped. "Alright, I'll get these to the beach, buy some seeds along the way, and then ask Willy about the fish. I'm realizing that I talk to myself quite a bit more since I started this job…" As she was going to leave, the door opened. Eve pivoted on her kneel and dashed to the side. She ducked into the craft room, going behind the shelf again. "…crap…"
"Haven't been in here in a while, I'm surprised the door was unlocked." A voice said, but it was a female voice. Eve didn't know any female Joja employees, so maybe it was safe. She peeked around and saw Abigail was walking around the main hall, taking in the scenery. The Junimos were tumbling and rolling around to avoid Abigail's steps. It was obvious that she couldn't see them…or if she did, she didn't care. Eve let out a sigh of relief and slowly got out from behind the shelf. She walked out of the craft room and looked at the purple-haired girl.
"Abigail?" she called out, causing the girl to stiffen before turning to the farmer. "What are you doing here?" Abigail had a similar confused look.
"I could ask the same thing." Eve tensed a little bit as she held the notebook tightly in her hands.
"This is where I uh…plan?" She tried to think of something to say but blanked under the pressure. Abigail raised an eyebrow.
"Plan? Couldn't you do that in, like, your house or something?" she asked. Eve shook her head.
"No, because my cat is very…vocal about wanting attention…Miso is very clingy…so…I come here in order to not get in anyone's way and then I can plan on what I want to do. For the seasons…plants…" she stopped talking as she waited for Abigail to say anything. She just nodded slowly.
"Right. Sure." She said, clearly not believing Eve in the slightest. "Well, I think this place is pretty old. It's been here since I was born so…" Eve nodded.
"Mayor Lewis showed me it when I got here last month. He said he was thinking about selling it but was having second thoughts. He's left it unlocked for me since then and sometimes I come here since, well, maybe if he's not going to sell it, maybe something else could be done, you know?" Abigail crossed her arms over her chest.
"Why didn't you just say that in the beginning? That makes sense. Not sure what 'could be done' with this place, but hey, anything is possible right?" She smirked at the farmer, who in turn rubbed her neck in embarrassment.
"Heh, well…I wasn't sure what to say when I heard someone else in here. I guess I didn't want you to think I was weird." Abigail scoffed a bit.
"What's wrong with being weird?" she asked as her eyes locked directly onto her. "I don't think there is anything wrong with being different from other people. I mean, look at me. My mom is always telling me that 'I have such nice natural hair'. But I like purple better! You know? And Yeah, I like to go to weird places and explore…it's just who I am. That's not weird to me, but other people apparently think it's super weird." She almost glared at Eve. "So being weird is not a bad thing."
"I…never said it was." Eve replied, looking back with a knowing expression. "I know I'm weird and strange to most. I came from the city just to…take up trying to figure out how all this farming works…and I mean…look at my hair!" she gestured to it. "It was blonde originally. When I was in my accident…it turned grey and white. I just…embraced that afterward and haven't bothered to change it. You won't believe how many kids called me an old grandma." Abigail looked a bit surprised.
"You were a blonde? Can hair do that? Just what kind of accident were you in?" Eve got a little quiet for a moment. Abigail slowly started to realize what was going on as the awkward silence persisted. "Oh wait…that's personal, isn't it? Sorry, don't answer that." Eve shook her head.
"No…no I'll answer. It's okay, I've talked about it a lot recently, so it's fine." Eve replied and then took a breath in. "When I was little, my parents and I were on our way home from a piano recital I was in. They were really proud of how I did so we were on our way to get pizza and go bowling. We were about there when a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel…it was later found that he was drugged up on something from the Empire, and his truck rolled into and on top of our car…" Eve balled one of her hands into a fist. "My parents didn't make it…they died instantly. I had the car door handle lodged in my chest and obstructed my heart's blood flow. I was in a coma for a long time, and in that time, my hair turned this color. And I always had red eyes. I'm not sure how." Abigail sighed and looked away.
"Dude…I'm sorry…I didn't mean to like, do a deep dive on your life…but I guess it explains a few things. Like your looks and like, why you take stress so seriously..." Eve smiled and shook her head. She felt her face as a few tears had formed and immediately wiped them away.
"No, it's okay. Don't worry about it." Abigail rubbed her neck and looked around a little bit.
"So…are you gonna go to my dad's store today?" she asked, though she wasn't looking at the farmer. "I'll walk with you. I mean, us weirdos gotta stick together right?" she looked at her and smiled. Eve nodded and smiled back at her.
"Yeah, I was about to go there. Let's go together." Abigail smiled back and gave a thumbs up.
"Alright, that sounds good. I can explore this place later anyway." The girls both made their way down the stairs toward the shop. Both girls didn't try to force idle banter, so the walk to the store was a quiet one. When both girls got there, Abigail smiled and waved. "Welp, I'm going to my room. Later." She said and left to go to the back. Pierre watched for a moment as her daughter went into his house and then smiled at Eve.
"Welcome back Eve. Here to see the new summer seeds? I just got them this morning. All stocked up." Eve nodded and went to the shelf. She looked at her notebook and looked at what she needed. "Let's see…some tomatoes…blueberries and chili peppers…wow…melons are expensive…well I need at least one right? And then corn…I can get started on a few stocks of corn. Okay, just one." She picked up all her seeds and went to the counter. She had a bit of money to get everything at least. She pulled out her gold and handed it to Pierre. Eve was a little sad to see her coin purse, but she was determined to make this work. "I'll get a good bit of fish and make up the difference…" she thought to herself as she was paying. Pierre took the money and smiled at Eve.
"Pleasure doing business with you." He said. "Can I interest you in anything else?" he asked. Eve shook her head back and smiled at the merchant.
"Nah, I can't afford anything else anyway. I'm broke…again." Pierre chuckled and smiled.
"Well I know you'll make it back up quickly. There is always the mine, right?" Eve shuddered a bit at the mention of the mine. Remembering how her last trip into the mine went, she was hesitant to go back. But she knew she had to. There were things in there she needed…and there was certainly more to discover in there. She gulped a bit and forced a nod.
"Yeah there is that…but I have a plan. No worries." She said as she was putting her seeds in her bag. "Thanks for all thi-"
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Abigail's voice rang out. Pierre sighed and shook his head. He had an embarrassed look on his face.
"I am so sorry…I think she's playing her video games again…" Pierre said as he walked out from behind the sales desk and opened the door to his home. The sound of him knocking on her door was heard.
"Abi! Please don't yell like that!" he called to her. "I have customers here!" there wasn't an answer and Pierre just sighed as he went back to the desk. "Sorry about that. When she gets into her video games, she starts to tunnel vision." Eve smiled and shook her head.
"It's okay. Maybe I can talk to her about it." Eve said and walked into the back. She knocked softly on Abigail's door before going inside, watching as the purple-haired girl was engrossed in the level she was playing.
"Oh come on…come on!" she mumbled, but soon she died again. Abigail let out a long sigh as she turned to see Eve standing there.
"Eve? You scared me, sneaking into my room like that!" Eve chuckled.
"Well, it wasn't hard, seeing as you seemed to be really into your game. Are you okay?" Abigail sighed and stretched a little, standing up.
"Yeah…" she let out a sigh. "So I've been playing 'Journey of the Prairie King' for hours and I can't even beat the first level!" she glared at the T.V for a moment. "This game is ridiculously hard!" she sighed as she sat down on her cushion again in front of the T.V "Well, either that or I'm just terrible at it." Eve shook her head as she walked closer.
"Aw don't say that. I'm not a gamer myself, but I'm sure you're doing fine, right? Come on, give it one more try. I'll cheer for you." Abigail chuckled at that.
"Well, okay. I was gonna try again anyway…" She was about to start up but then a look of inspiration struck her. "Hey, do you want to try this level together with me? I think I might do better with your help." Eve looked confused and then shook her head.
"Oh…oh I don't think so Abigail. I've never even played a video game before." Abigail shook her head and gestured her over.
"I'll teach you the controls, come on! Give it a try." Eve sighed and nodded.
"Alright…but one try. I don't want to disappoint too much." Eve chuckled as she sat down and picked up the controller. After a quick lesson on how the controls worked, the game was started.
"Here they come!" Abigail said and Eve started to move around the screen, shooting at the tiny bug monsters that spawned in. Eve tried her best to shoot as many as she could but quickly lost a life.
"Oh, darn it," Eve said with a chuckle. "It seems so simple, but it is hard." Abigail didn't take her eyes off the screen as she responded.
"Right?! Alright, it's starting up again." And the game started again. They were progressing through the level okay, the occasion yelp or cheer coming from both of them before Eve, once again died. "Crap!" she said with a sigh. "I'm sorry Abigail, I'm trying." Abigail shook her head.
"It's alright. We're more than halfway through this. Just try not to die." Eve nodded and started to move around more to not die as easily as she did before…only for a bug to come from behind and immediately kill the little character on screen. "Oh…oops…" Abigail dropped her controller as the 'GAME OVER' screen flashed on the T.V.
"Ugh, I give up…I'll never get past the first level. Oh well…thanks for trying…" Eve sighed and gave a small smile.
"Sorry, I'm just not good at this kind of thing," she said as she got up. "But you'll get it, I'm sure. Plus it was pretty fun." Abigail paused for a moment and then nodded back.
"Yeah, it was pretty fun playing with someone on my team. Thanks." She smiled back. Eve gave her a thumbs-up as she got to the door.
"I gotta get going, but I'll see you around, okay?" Abigail nodded as she started up another game.
"Yeah sure. Later then!" Eve then went out of the door and out of the shop. Eve started to jog down to the beach only slowing to a walk when she crossed the bridge. As she felt the sand under her boots, almost immediately sweat started to form on her brow. It was a hot day out and she could feel it. She walked toward the docks only to stop and look over at Elliot's cottage. She could feel her chest tighten as she looked. Her thoughts went back to the Flower Dance for only a moment…she hadn't seen Elliot since that day. "Maybe I should…" she took a step toward the cabin but stopped. "No…no, I shouldn't," she mumbled and instead headed back for the docks. "I'm…not ready for that yet…" she quickly made her way to the docks and down to Willy's shop. She walked in and was instantly greeted.
"Eve! Good to see yer back." He smiled. "What can I do for you today?" Eve walked up to him and took out one of the crab pots from her bag.
"Could you teach me how to set these up? I got some of these and I'm not sure how they work." Willy inspected the crab pot as he put a hand on the top.
"This is some mighty fine craftsmanship. Where did you get this from?" Eve flinched and immediately blurted out an answer.
"Internet!" After a moment she paused and collected her thoughts. "I mean, I found them on a website and decided to…order them." Willy gave her a look and then looked back at the crab pot.
"Well, I'm not one who uses the internet, but I can tell you that these are excellent products. Come on, I'll teach you how to use these." Eve nodded and the pair went out onto the docks. Willy knelt onto the dock and put the crab pot into the water, letting it float on the surface. "Alright, so you tie the pot to the dock, like this." Willy then demonstrated the knot that would best keep the pot to the dock. "Then you put some bait into the pot and check the next day. There are lots of things that can be caught with this. Crabs, lobsters, things like that. You can also put these in the rivers and catch different creatures there. As long as you put some bait in the pot, then something is surely gonna crawl in there. You know how to make bait right?" Eve nodded as she remembered. She had to get more bug meat…which meant another trip in the mines.
"Yeah, I think I have some bug meat back at home." Willy smiled and got up.
"I'll donate the first batch for this example. Give me a moment." Willy got up and ducked into the shop for a moment, coming back out with a good handful of bait. He opened the top of the pot and dropped a few pieces in before closing it back up. "And that's how you do it. Now I want you to try it." Eve nodded and slowly lowered the second pot into the water before tying the knot, or something similar to it, to the dock. Then she opened the top and put the bait inside before snapping it closed.
"Wow, that's really simple." She muttered as she started to set the last one up. Willy chuckled and he started to take his pipe out.
"No kidding. Some people are fortunate enough to make plenty of money from just these. So check them often." Willy said as he was stuffing tobacco into it. He took out a lighter and lit it, taking a few puffs as he looked out to the sea. Eve sat up after setting up the last one.
"Thanks, Willy…would you mind if I asked you some other questions?" Willy looked over curiously at Eve.
"I don't mind, ask away." Eve took out the book from her bag. She sat next to Willy, dangling her legs off the docks.
"Well, you know that project I was telling you about before?" the man hummed a bit as he nodded. "Well, it requires some specific fish. I want to know where to get some of them." Willy took the book and studied the contents carefully. He flipped through a few of the pages as his eyes scanned up and down.
"Looks like a lot is going into this project of yours, more than just some fish huh?" he asked, to which Eve nodded. Willy smiled and looked over at Eve. "Well…I can certainly tell you when these fish come round…that's easy. Which do you want to know about first?" Eve smiled as Willy went through each fish and where they could be found, and Eve was writing them down in the book. They would break out into idle chatter for a moment and have a laugh. Though Willy didn't know where all the fish were, a majority he did. After the discussion of fish, Eve was fishing a little bit and Willy was just smoking his pipe and the talking continued. Soon, the sun started to set, and Eve had caught a few fish to sell. Willy finished up the tobacco that was in the pipe and put it away and got up to his feet.
"I'm going to start heading for the saloon then Eve. Do you want to come with me?" Eve shook her head and sighed, pulling up another bundle of seaweed.
"I have to get back and plant these seeds I bought. I don't want to be too behind." Willy nodded and smiled
"Good for you. Keep up the good work. Let me know if you need anything else, okay?" Eve nodded and Willy gave a little wave as he started to walk off. She felt bad that she had to constantly be lying to him. Willy was really one of the people in this town that Eve trusted...and she wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because he knew her Grandfather, or how easy-going and hardworking he was. Maybe it was because she felt like he genuinely cared about her...like a niece or a distant family member. Eve couldn't help but just smile and let her guard down when he was around. It felt...nice. She could be herself around him. Eve knew and silently vowed to herself that she'd tell him about the community center and the Joja conspiracy she was involuntarily a part of. For the time being...she let it be and just enjoyed her time talking and learning from him. Eve let out another sigh and threw her line out again.
"It's really hard to keep this secret from everyone…I want to be honest." She mumbled as she felt another bite. "Maybe…I could talk to the Wizard about it. He was the one who gave me the power to communicate with the Junimos. I guess I have no choice." She mumbled as she pulled in another fish from the water. "Alright, let's go." She put the fish in her bag and then started off the beach. The walk back was rather quiet as night was starting to fall on the town. She could see a bunch of people filing into the saloon for the night, including a very distraught-looking Mayor Lewis. It took everything she had to not run away from the man, but she stayed her ground and just casually walked past him toward the farm.
"Oh Eve." Lewis called out, looking at her with what could only be described as 'casual'. Eve turned back to face him and smiled.
"Oh Hello Mayor!" she said back with a smile. "How are you doing today? Long day?" she asked, clearly seeing how troubled the man was. Lewis sort of sighed and rubbed his neck.
"Is it that obvious?" he asked. Eve shook her head back to him.
"A...a bit yeah" she said back to him, knowing full well a source of the good Mayor's troubles. If anyone knew the strife of dealing with an angry Morris breathing down one's neck, it was surely her. The thought alone made her flinch. The Mayor looked to the side and then shook his own head.
"Well, work has been a little bit hard, I'll admit." he started. "But that's not your concern. I'll be okay." Eve took a step toward him.
"Well...you shouldn't overwork yourself. I mean...just try and relax a little bit once and a while okay? It is summer after all." Lewis chuckled and nodded.
"That it is," he replied with a smile. "Thank you, Eve. I guess sometimes we need a reminder to take a load off every now and again...I think I'll take a little break for a day or two to recharge...that does sound nice." Eve gave him a thumbs up.
"Sounds great. You better do that!" she smiled a more genuine smile back. Lewis felt a bigger smile grow on his face as he approached the farmer girl.
"So, how are you finding Stardew Valley during the summer? I bet you weren't expecting how hot it can get huh?" Eve nodded and gestured to her rolled-up sleeves.
"As you can see I'm fully prepared for the summer heat." she joked and then chuckled. "But yeah, I wasn't really expecting it to get this hot. I suppose I'll need to be careful of heatstroke." Mayor Lewis nodded.
"Oh yes. Please be careful of that. If you feel like you're going to collapse, the clinic is very close by." Eve nodded and folded her arms across her chest.
"Thank goodness for that," she remarked. "But it's helpful to know all the same. Thank you, Mayor. I won't hold you up anymore. Besides…" Eve held up her bag. "I got a lot of work to do tonight." the Mayor smiled and nodded a little bit.
"Ah, I see you've already gotten your seeds. What are you planting, if I may ask?" Eve opened the bag and looked in.
"Oh well...I got most of the summer crops that I could. Tomatoes, corn, peppers, some blueberries, and melon. So you'll be seeing a lot of those coming up." Lewis seemed to perk up a bit.
"Sounds like quite the hull," he said. "I do say that I am excited about the peppers. I love hot peppers. Why I try to grow them myself in my plot by my house so I can few them going forward. So maybe I'll be buying a few of yours." Eve smiled and nodded.
"Oh really? I'm gonna have to remember that," she said. "And I hate to interrupt, but I need to plant these tonight. Have a drink for me tonight, ok?" Lewis nodded back at her.
"Thank you Eve. I will." he smiled. "And thanks for checking up on me. We're glad to have you here." Eve smiled back.
"Well...I'm glad to be here. See you later, Mayor!" she turned and started to walk when the Mayor spoke up again.
"Oh Eve…" he mused, his hands resting in his pockets. Eve paused and turned back around. "I've been told you've been going into that old community center a good bit." Eve's face grew flush and internal panic set in.
"Oh Yoba...did Marnie say something to him? I mean, more than what I told her anyway?" Eve thought to herself as she forced herself to speak up. "Oh that. I like going in there a lot. I guess it could be the idea of my grandfather going into that same place or something. I like going in there to think and plan my next move...I am quite the planner." she said rather manner-a-fact. Now, Eve wasn't lying. She DID like going in there and she DID make plans in there...but for what, she didn't want to say. Not that he'd believe her anyway. Lewis pondered that answer for a moment and shrugged.
"I can see that. I'll keep it unlocked for you then. No reason to lock it anyway." he smiled. "Have a good night Eve. Take care with your planting. I'm expecting good things!" Eve gave a thumbs up.
"You bet!" she said as she turned around to walk away...but again, the Mayor called out for her.
"Oh Eve!" she stopped in her tracks once again. The farmer sighed. This ordeal was not good for her already growing anxiety. Eve turned back to the Mayor.
"Yes?" she asked and Lewis was smiling.
"Keep an eye out on the events for this season. There is a lot that goes on here. Also, if you grow anything, keep at least one thing for yourself. We have an event where someone very important comes to town, and I'd like to surprise him this year. I'll mail you the details, is that okay?" Eve nodded back to him.
"Absolutely. I'll check the calendars tomorrow." Lewis nodded and turned around to the saloon.
"Good plan. Have a good night Eve." he said as he finally went into the saloon for the night. Eve sighed, letting out a breath that she hadn't realized that she was holding.
"That turned into a nerve-wracking experience…" she muttered as she started to walk back to the farm. "Alright...I need to get to work...let's do this," she mumbled as she walked across the town square to her home. The rest of the walk was thankfully uneventful and quiet. She stepped over the ruined gate and looked back at it. After a little bit of thinking, she tore the old rusted gate off its hinges and used some of the wood she had stockpiled to repair the fence posts. She took her notebook and wrote 'Fix Gate to farm' on her list of things she'd get around to doing at some point. Finally, she could actually get to planting and watering the crops she bought. After tilling some new land, she planted the tomatoes and corn together and then a bunch of blueberries. One of Eve's favorite things was blueberry pie, so she was excited to maybe save some for a pie in the future. Last was the one melon. She wanted to get more, but she knew that those were expensive.
Thankfully, she had at least one on her, so she could give it to the junimos at the least. After all the seeds were in the ground, she watered them and inspected her work. This was going to be a good season, she knew it. She let out a yawn and sighed as she was going back into the house. Miso was already inside and wanting food...and letting Eve know that he was hungry very loudly. Eve sighed and smiled as she knelt down to give him some pets. "You're so cute Miso…" she whispered and finally gave him some food. As he plunged his head into his food bowl, Eve felt her butt start to vibrate. She stood up straight and took her phone out, seeing it was a number with a Zuzu City area code. Normally people would be calling trying to sell her something or about a warranty she didn't have, unless it was from Joyce. Eve didn't have many friends that were outside the valley...so who would be calling her? She answered the call and brought it up to her ear. "Hello?" she asked.
"Hello there!" an overly cheerful voice from the other side spoke. "Am I speaking to Ms. Evelyn Turner?" Eve kind of rolled her eyes. Using her full name like that felt so impersonal. So...robotic. She sighed.
"Yes, I am." she said, but figured maybe she could just end it there. "Look, I'm not in the market for buying anything you have, if that's what you're going to ask." there was a pause before a small chuckle came from the other line.
"Oh no no ma'am." the woman said back. "I'm not trying to sell you anything. I'm with the Joja Main HQ HR department. I am following up on a claim that you submitted." Shivers were sent up her spine. Every time she thought it was over, it would come back again. She had almost forgotten about the claim, but the memories came back. At this point, she wanted to just curl up and go to sleep...but maybe...maybe this would be ok in the end.
"Oh...yes...that one…" Eve said, trying to calm down. She sat down on her bed and just started to breathe deeply.
"Are you okay to talk about this right now ma'am? I can call at another time if you'd like." the lady on the phone asked, but Eve perked up almost instantly.
"No!" she shouted, but then cleared her throat. "I mean, no no, I'm good to talk about this now." she said, trying to focus on something. Miso at this point looked over at his master and went to the bed. He got on his back legs and stretched toward her. Eve smiled and reached down to pick up the cat up onto the bed. She smiled and then started to pet the small animal, who was trying to rub his head on her face. There was some ticking on the other side, and then started to talk again.
"Yes ma'am well, I wanted to let you know that we didn't receive a counterclaim to yours from the person in question yet, but the claim is going to be looked into nonetheless. I wanted to get some details from you, if that's okay." Eve knew that the claim system within Joja was bullcrap...so why were they finally looking into it? This itself was suspicious...but she would play along for the time being. If Morris could get out of the valley because of this, that would be magnificent.
"Yes well...my manager at the time was making advances toward me, and overtime I was getting very uncomfortable with how he was doing it. He'd often get close to me, he'd ask me to have meetings with him at his place of residence, and sometimes he would even pinch me while I was taking a break in the breakroom. I think what made me the most uncomfortable was when he would try and get me to go home with him saying that he could put me on his health insurance, which at the time was better than mine, since I have some health issues I am currently dealing with." she paused for a moment to breathe. Recounting it was hard on her, and her mind was starting to dark place.
The memories of that tie were flooding back to her head. Even his face made her want to vomit. "And to reiterate, I didn't disclose my medical history to him, so I'm not sure how he knew about it in the first place. Anyway, on the day in question, he was making another advance on me and I just sort of...snapped." she sighed. "And I know the cameras don't have audio, but you can see the distress on my face if you look closely enough." The woman on the other side was taking notes, the clicking on the computer said as much,
"Alright, thank you for that information. Now, you made it clear to him that you were not interested, correct?" Eve rolled her eyes. Joyce had always told her about gaslighting, making one person question their sanity or perception of situations. Eve knew what she saw and wasn't about to back down. She was tired of second-guessing herself.
"Yes." she said back. "I am certain of what I heard and I don't regret what I did." the lady gave a little chuckle.
"I mean...good on you if that's true." she replied, making Eve blink a few times. "I get hit on all the time around here? Men, am I right? That's why I have a girlfriend now." Eve snorted a bit and smiled.
"No kidding." she replied, making the call center lady laugh.
"Sure do, and I don't regret a thing. Anyway, I reviewed the claim pretty closely at this rate and I think I have a pretty good idea of what happened now. I'm gonna put in an extra note about the cameras. Is there anything else you'd like us to check?" Eve thought for a moment.
"Well, my email was purged so that's a bust. I'm sure you can see a few things on the cameras following up to the day in question. And I believe there are other people who had issues with him...but they were able to ignore it when I couldn't…" Eve sighed and the woman seemed to understand.
"Alright, I'll make that a note too. I'm sure you're aware of the accusations against Joja at this moment as well. May I ask if you made those claims?" Eve just kind of shrugged.
"I moved away from Zuzu city with limited access to my email, so I couldn't have been responsible for that." there was more clicking on the other side.
"Where did you move to, if I may ask?" Eve wasn't sure if she should tell her anything...but they were from HR. Her file was erased, right?
"I moved to Stardew Valley." she said. The woman's voice lit up.
"Oh, I've heard of that place! How is it? I've always been told it's a place to visit." Eve smiled at that. Stardew had really grown on her. She loved everything about it now. She really felt like this was the place she was meant to be.
"I love it here. It's worth the ticket." the woman chuckled.
"Duly noted! Well, that's all I needed from you. If you have any questions or would like to follow up on your claim, you can give us a callback. Thank you for your time!" Eve nodded, as if the lady over the phone could see her.
"Thank you, have a good rest of your night." Eve said back to her.
"You too! Bye!" and with that, the call ended. Eve sighed and flopped back on her pillow, her phone dropping to the floor. Miso looked curiously at her as he started to sniff her cheek. Eve smiled and gave him some scratches.
"I'm okay Miso...that was just very...uncomfortable…" she said as she gave the cat a few pats. She looked at the clock and saw how late it was getting. She sat up and dragged herself into the shower before getting into her PJs. Before going to bed, she checked the weather. It was going to be a sunny day...another hot day and a long day of work. Either way, she was going to endure. After all…
"I've been through worse." she mused before getting into the bed, and quickly, she fell asleep.