Chapter Text
The first time you spent the month of July on your grandfather’s farm, you were seven years old. Your mother stayed with you for that first visit, sharing the guest bedroom with you. Every summer after that, though, it was just you and your grandfather for 31 days.
Pelican Town was a small coastal town located in Stardew Valley, with few residents and fewer things to do. But as a child, that didn’t matter much to you. It just meant you knew everyone and everyone knew you. Your grandfather always told you that the lack of things to do made you use your imagination.
There were quite a few kids your age in the town, but your best friend was Leah. Leah came around to Pelican Town once a year, for two weeks in the summer that overlapped perfectly with your visits. Her family owned a little cottage just south of the farm, and like the farm, it had been passed down through the generations.
The very first place you showed Leah was your treehouse, Maplewood Mansion. You weren’t sure if it was actually made out of maplewood, but you didn’t really care. It was a small little clubhouse, not meant for more than a few kids, but to you it really did feel like a mansion. It was your own space, a place where you could escape from your problems. Pelican Town as a whole made you feel like that, but Maplewood Mansion served as a pocket inside of that where you could just…be.
The interior was insulated, so you could stay in there as long as you wanted without worrying about freezing. It had a few bean bag chairs, and a bookcase filled to the brim. Different drawings you made over the years decorated the wooden walls. Your grandpa worked hard to personalize it to you.
You giggled as you climbed the ladder up the tree, Leah close in tow. “My grandpa built this for me,” you explained excitedly. She “oohed” as you ascended into the house, looking around in awe.
“Really?” She asked incredulously.
“Uh-huh! He’s real cool.” You took a piece of paper off the wall. It was a bunch of scribbles in various colors, mixing in places to make a weird shade of brown. At the bottom, it read your name and the year you drew it. “I drew this for him when I was, like, a baby.”
“I like that a lot,” she said. Her voice was quiet and timid.
“You’re shy,” you said. Her face turned almost as red as her hair.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay! I’ll help you not be shy.” You shrugged.
Despite your promise, the two of you really kept to yourselves when she was around. Your days were spent in Cindersap forest, playing in Maplewood Mansion. Every day was a new adventure; it was only a matter of what the adventure was. Some days you were pirates, others you were princesses, and some days you were nothing special at all. You liked those days most of all, where you were just yourself and Leah was just Leah.
After Leah left for the summer for the first time, you weren’t sure what to do without her. You knew about the other kids in town, but you hadn’t talked to them before. Ever the outgoing child, though, you were able to weasel your way into the lives of Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail.
They were much different than Leah, you found. Especially Abigail. Where Leah liked to be princesses with you, Abigail liked to be a knight. Where Leah was quiet, Abigail was loud. It wasn’t a bad thing, and you liked Abigail a lot, but you missed Leah.
Sam was loud, brash, and outgoing. He was often the ringleader between the four of you. He was a small blond boy, covered in bandaids and bruises from his many tumbles off his bike or skateboard. Sebastian was always quiet and soft spoken, giving the false impression that he was well-behaved. One of his favorite things was going to the creek and catching frogs. He never kept them, though. He’d catch the slimy creatures in his hands, laugh, then let them go.
“I wonder if the frog would turn into a prince if I kissed it!” You mused one day. You were sitting on the rocks by the creek with your three friends. They were all knee-deep in the water, splashing around and trying to nab the animals. Sebastian was definitely the best out of the three; he always won the little competition that they made frog-catching into.
“What? No way!” Sam said, looking over at you. “That’s only in fairytales.”
“You should try it,” Abigail encouraged. As if on cue, Sebastian pulled a small green frog out of the water. It squirmed a little, getting ready to jump, but he kept a good grip on the amphibian.
“Demetrius says that frogs carry diseases,” he said, “and that we shouldn’t put them near our faces.”
“I guess so,” you replied, dejected.
“Kiss it!” Sam said, lifting up his own frog. In response, you made a face.
“No, I won’t actually!” You argued. “I was just wondering if it could happen.”
“You’re scaaared,” he sang.
“I am not!” You stood up and crossed your arms. “I’m not scared!”
“Then kiss it!” Abigail laughed. You huffed.
“Fine. Give it to me.” You reached out. Sam carefully placed the frog in your hands, a devious smile on his face. Sam was always sweet, but he was also quite the typical boy.
You took it in your hands and stared at it for a minute. It was slimy and bumpy and gross, more brown than green, but its big black eyes were a little cute. It had spots all over it which put you off, but you were not going to back down from the challenge your friends presented you with. Part of you always felt a little disconnected from the trio. They lived in Stardew Valley year-round, so they were always together. You were just that weird kid that came around once a year to play with them. You had to impress them.
You squeezed your eyes shut and puckered your lips, trying your best to ignore the giggling of your friends. Slowly, you moved the frog closer to your mouth. As soon as your lips touched the scaly creature, you shrieked and tossed it back in the pond. You wiped your mouth with the back of your hand, making “blech” noises as you did.
“Eww!” You yelled.
“You really did it!” Abigail said, laughing hysterically. For a minute, you were mad. They only wanted you to do that for their own entertainment. But before you could let it boil, you found yourself laughing with them.
Sam, Abigail, and Sebastian were great. You were good friends with them, but your favorite time of year was the two weeks you got to spend with Leah.
One summer, sitting by the fountain, Leah asked you a weird question:
“Do you think we could get married someday?”
She looked over at you, her fiery red hair sticking out in all different paces. In typical childlike fashion, the two of you had spent your day rolling around in the grass without a care in the world. Her jeans were covered in grass stains, dirt smudged on her cheek. Leah never had been a very “neat” young girl, but neither had you.
Giggles bubbled up in your chest. “You’re silly, Lee. Two girls can’t get married!”
For a brief moment, something akin to sadness flashed across your best friend’s face. You didn’t have time to process it, though, before she herself was laughing, too.
“The streetlights are coming on,” Leah said, once the laughter faded. “I should go home before my dad gets mad.”
“Okay,” you replied. Leah’s family had a lot of expectations of her, but her dad had one main rule, held above all the rest: when the streetlights come on, you need to come home. Your grandfather, an old soul at heart, didn’t care much when you came home as long as you were home for dinner. He really just wanted to know you were out having childlike adventures in the town he loved so much.
Leah stood up and brushed off her jeans, then dipped her hands into the fountain. She rubbed the water on her face, washing off any remnants of dirt.
He doesn’t like when I come home dirty, she had once explained to you.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” you said happily. Leah looked at you and smiled, all crooked baby teeth and freckles. Her eyes shone, and for a moment you thought she looked kind of like a princess.
You smiled to yourself as you watched your friends swim in the pond. You were sitting in the grass beside Leah, your knees pulled up to your chest. Water dripped from your hair, soothing your hot, sunburnt skin. Alex was on the tire swing, getting ready to launch into the cool water. You didn’t know him well, but apparently he had moved to Stardew Valley a few months ago to live with his grandparents.
“Alex is brave for that,” you said with a laugh. It was silly, but the idea of launching off a tire swing and freefalling through the air was not all that appealing to you.
“Do you think he’s cute?” Leah asked suddenly. You furrowed your brow in confusion and looked at her. Sure, Alex was cute, but you didn’t know him. Besides, you’d never had much of an interest in boys. 15-year-olds had much more to worry about than boys.
“I mean, I guess so.” You shrugged. “But I don’t think I’d date him or anything.”
Leah sighed, seemingly in relief. Why, though, you didn’t quite know. Maybe she thought Alex was cute. The idea made your stomach twist. Leah was your best friend, you couldn’t imagine losing your already limited time with her to some boy.
“Um, are you gonna swim?” You looked at her outfit. She was wearing a bikini, you knew that, but it was hidden underneath an oversized, paint-stained t-shirt. She was never very keen on showing off her body. But you’d seen her in a bikini before, and she was beautiful. Tan skin covered in freckles, curves that you could only wish you had…
“I don’t know,” she whispered. You followed her gaze to her scraped, scarred knees. She always had inexplicable cuts and bruises all over her, and you never quite figured out why. She had always been active, so you figured she was just kind of accident-prone. Innocently, you examined her arms. They were freckled, like every other part of her.
“Where’d you get that?” You pointed to a dark purple bruise on her bicep. Her face seemed to drain of all color, and she pulled her sleeve down fruitlessly.
“Um…” she seemed to consider something. “My dad, he got mad at me, and he grabbed my arm. But he didn’t mean to hurt me, he just grabbed me a little too tight.”
Suddenly, everything clicked for you. The strictness of her father since you were children, the way she seemed to curl in on herself at every loud noise, how she was always so scared of going home at night.
“Lee,” you said softly. She shook her head.
“It’s okay. As soon as I turn eighteen, I’m leaving. I’m gonna go to Zuzu City and be an artist.” She sniffed and rubbed her eyes. You took note of the tears that were forming there, but didn’t say anything. You’d hate to make her more upset.
“You can stay with me and Grandpa,” you said, grabbing her hand. “For as long as you need to. I’ll keep you safe from him, I promise.”
Leah looked at you for a long moment. At that moment, you were sure that she was the most beautiful person you had ever seen in your life. Leah, with her shining eyes and freckles. Leah, with her sun kissed cheeks and her pink lips. With her soft skin and her ginger hair and her long eyelashes and…
Suddenly and without thinking, you were kissing her. You were kissing her, and she tasted like peppermint and strawberries and everything good in the world. Every noise around you faded to a dull roar, your universe focusing in on the way her soft lips felt against yours.
She pulled away from you. Her cheeks were redder than usual. She stood up quickly. Her breathing was shaky as she whispered, “I-I have to go. I’m sorry.”
“Leah, wait, I’m sorry–”
“It’s fine,” she said quickly, turning away from you. You could have sworn you saw her hesitate before she rushed off.
You left the pond not long after her. You wanted more than anything to go after her, to apologize and do whatever you needed to to make her not hate you. Realistically, though, you knew that was a bad idea. If her father found out, you didn’t want to think about what he might do to her. It was best to leave her alone until she came to you.
But she never did.
The next day, you walked past her family’s old cabin. It was empty. The lights were all off, and her father’s truck wasn’t in the driveway. The sight made your blood run cold and your chest tighten. What happened to her?
Without a thought, you rushed to the only person who might know: your grandfather. He was by the old coop, feeding the chickens and collecting their eggs, when you burst through the gate.
“Grandpa,” you said breathlessly. He nearly jumped out of his skin, and for a minute you felt bad; you didn’t want to give him a heart attack.
“Good Lord, child. What is it?”
“Leah’s cabin is empty.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His expression softened slightly. “I thought Leah would have told you.”
“...Told me what?”
What could Leah not have told you? You told each other everything. She was your best friend, not just during the summertime but during every other season, too. You’d even written each other letters when the cold weather hit. Leah keeping secrets from you was unheard of.
“They sold that old cabin to the town. Lewis was talking to me about it just the other day.” He put down the basket he was holding. “I’m not sure what they’re gonna be doing to it, but they won’t be comin’ back to Stardew Valley anymore.”
Oh.
Oh…
“Sh-She didn’t tell me,” you whispered.
“Oh, honey.” He sighed softly and opened his arms. You ran to him, hugging him tightly. Some people didn’t like their grandparents, but your grandpa was your best friend, your greatest confidant. You were almost closer with him than you were with your mom, or your mom was with him. When you had no one else, you had your grandpa. “I’m so sorry.”
You didn’t see Leah again for 8 years.