Taking Root (Stardew Valley - Shane)

Chapter Two

"Hello? Are you in there?" A low voice called from outside the building. I jolted up from the sofa, a sharp pain immediately engulfing my neck with a wave of heat. Why did I always sleep like a crumpled ball of paper? Waking up was such a chore when several of your body parts were folded in all the wrong places, creased up and hard to unfurl.

"Coming!" I shouted back in some sort of dishevelled, gremlin-like morning voice.

I swung the door open with a loud, and almost worrying, creak. A sudden shot of cool, spring air danced around my ankles as I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. "Oh, good morning Lewis."
"Good morning, Sophie." His voice sounded much more calm and collected than my hurried attempt at speech. Just for a second, I saw his eyes dart over my appearance and into the open room behind me, but he brought them back to meet mine instantly. "I apologise if I awoke you, I just assumed you would be up by now. I found this box of some of your grandpas things that he had lent me over the years. They probably belong back here. And maybe some of them will provide some use."

My attention was brought to the cardboard box that sat tightly in the older man's grip. Lewis was one of my grandpa's close friends, and he was also an important figure among the dusty old memories of my childhood. I felt it very comforting to know that a familiar face still resided here, and his little visits to my doorstep over the previous weeks had helped to settle me in a little. Of course, his words still dripped with the usual judgement and sarcasm that they always had, but I could overlook it. He was kind of old, after all. Old people have to put up with things like their hair slowly falling out, or seeing a mass of wrinkles in the reflection of their bathroom mirror, or cankles. I mean, I don't even know what cankles are, but they sound pretty awful. So, if Lewis would soon need to get up and down the floors in his house using a chairlift, what was a little sarcasm now and then in the grand scheme of things?

"Oh, thank you!" I spoke with a smile, reaching out to collect the cardboard box and bring it inside of the cabin. "That's really thoughtful of you to gather them up. I'll definitely have a look through later."
"No problem at all." Lewis responded as he spared a few looks at the farmland around him. "You've done a good job at clearing up some of this space. Do you already have something growing over there?"
I followed his gaze to a few planters I had set up near a cobbled wall. "Yeah, just a few turnips and potatoes. I've seen a couple of birds about though, so I've been working on a scarecrow to set up today that might scare them away for a bit."
Lewis smiled to himself. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea Sophie. Your granddad set up dozens of those in his time, and I'll be honest, I can see why the birds didn't go near. They were positively frightening! Seeing one of those wafting about in the dark, no thank you. Anyway, I best be going. Lots of important town things to be getting on with, you see. Speaking of which, I think it would be a good idea if you eventually come and set foot in town. The people won't bite, you know."

I had been back and forth from my old home and this farm for a few months now, but I hadn't set foot on any of the cobbled footpaths leading from the overgrown safety of my grandpa's land. I was curious to see the old buildings once more, to see the people who now called this neighbourhood their home.

"Okay. You know what Lewis, maybe I'll take your advice for once." I said with a small giggle. "I'll check on the potatoes, and then, just maybe, I'll come see how well you really are running this little town."
Lewis rolled his eyes and shook his head, but he did have a small slither of a smile growing. "You're a daft girl. I'll see you later."

It didn't take too long for me to check up on my sprouting vegetables, or for me to scrape my hair into something that almost resembled a ponytail, or even to clean up the mud I had trapsed into the doorway last night. My stomach knotted itself with anxiety as I found myself moving one leg in front of the other until I was past the dilapidated bus stop and all the way into the open space of the town centre. I peered down at the paved bricks underneath my scratched, brown boots, and then at each towering building where birds sat lined up on rooftops bathing under the midday sunlight. They were the same buildings, alright. And yet, it still felt new to me. I guess the feeling could be likened to watching a new film adaptation of your favourite novel. Echoes of the same story still hung in the background, and yet, it was so very unfamiliar.

"Hello there!"
I turned to see where the voice had called from, and my eyes met with a short, homely woman, with brown curls of hair settling around her rosy cheeks. Her smile was almost infectious as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "Are you looking for somewhere in particular?"
"Oh, no, sorry. Don't mind me, I'm just taking a walk around." I explained, unsure of how to introduce myself.
The woman glanced down at the mud that caked the soles of my shoes, and her smile grew larger. "I guess you must be the new farmer, dear. I'm Marnie. It's nice to meet you. Lewis has told me all about you."
"Oh! It's nice to meet you! Lewis is the only person I know around here, really. Are you two friends?"
The rosy cheeks of Marnie's face grew a little redder, but she just glanced away with a chuckle. "Yes, we're good friends. It's nice to see a new face around here, and don't worry, you'll soon have a few more acquaintances than just old Lewis."

I didn't know yet whether I wanted those words to ring true. We said our goodbyes, and as she headed off with a basket of eggs clutched to her chest, I decided to stride in the other direction, towards a shop that had caught my eye. I didn't have much money to my name, but for the last few weeks I had been surviving off little else in the morning but scraps of buttered toast. I longed for the sweet, sugary deliciousness that were Cinnamon Grahams. Or handfuls of Cheerios, swimming in a big puddle of milk. Oh, how easily I would sell one of my kidneys to an underground organ operation just to get my hands on a plate stacked high with sweet waffles, drizzled in maple syrup - enough to glue my gums together.

All of a sudden, somebody brushed past me in a hurry, waking me up from my comatose state of dreaming about breakfast foods. They stopped a few feet ahead of me, and I watched as they fiddled with the zip of their tattered, blue jacket with large, shaking hands. I'm not sure what spirit possessed me to speak out so loudly - maybe it was overconfidence I had gathered from the pleasant conversation with Marnie. But I had already found myself opening my mouth and shouting, "Hello!"

The stocky figure paused for a second, as if interrupted from his thoughts. I watched as he slowly turned his head, and my eyes were met with furrowed eyebrows and a blatantly confused expression. I watched as the sunbeams from above laced his thick, dark hair with swirls of violet.

"I don't even know you." The man spoke harshly, as if intending his words to be hurtful or dissuading. "Why are you talking to me?"

Sweet Mary Berry on a bicycle. That line winded me like a sharp punch to the chest - the confidence and enthusiasm exiting my skeletal frame as quick as it had entered. I stood, my feet frozen to the cobbled spot below me, the shock of rejection hurting more than it should have. My eyes were still fixed on the man, but he was no longer even looking in my direction, instead poking around in his large backpack. That was when I saw another person enter my line of sight - clear blue eyes and a cloud of golden hair were all I could make out in the moment. I turned to meet her gaze, and as she walked passed me, her nose crinkled up and she squeezed her eyes closed.

"Ew, you smell like dirt!" She exclaimed, even going so far as to close off her nostrils with a pinch of her perfectly-manicured nails. "Are you, like, the new farmer or something?"
"No. I'm an astronaut that's landed here from the bloody moon!" I sneered, my hands flitting from being glued to my sides to being clenched tight. I heard a low chuckle from my right and, as I turned to glance over at the dark-haired figure once more, he immediately broke eye contact and continued off on his walk, his bag trailing within the grip of his right hand.

There was only one thought that echoed in my mind at that moment. "There better be waffles in this damned shop."