The Runaway: A Stardew Valley Story

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"Yes, is this Better Places Senior Assisted Livings?" Sebastian nodded. "Yeah, my name is Corey, and my pops, Eugene Renolds, is trying to get in touch with all his old fishing buddies. He really wants one last day on the lakes, yah know? He's not that great with a phone, so I'm helping out by tracking down some of the stragglers. Would you happen to have a patient by the name of Peter Lakewood by any chance?"

I held my breath as Sebastian listened to the receptionist on the other end of the prepaid phone he bought at the first convenience store outside Pelican Town.

"Oh, yeah, I'll be sure to let him know. Thanks for checking." Sebastian paused and bit his lip. Then, "Actually, do you know where they buried him? I'm sure Pop would love to pay his respects."

I clamped a hand over my mouth to hold back a scream.

Sebastian's eyes were glued to the pavement, and his voice cracked, "No, no, I don't need the address. I know where it is."

My legs gave way as I sunk onto an outdoor bench.

"Yeah, you too. Thanks."

We pass a sign for Forrestdale Community Cemetery under the cover of low-hanging branches and a sky thick with clouds. Sebastian slows the motorcycle to a crawl, then to a stop in a small parking lot. Grass and wildflowers break through the cement walkway leading to a hill dotted with tombstones and flowers. I don't know how Sebastian knew his way here without a GPS, but I recognize the name of the town as the place where Grandpa and Grandma lived when they were raising my mom. It makes sense that my grandma was buried here and that Grandpa would want to spend the rest of time by her side.

"I'll help you look for the gravestone if you want," Sebastian says as he removes his helmet. "Then, I've got someone to visit with while I'm here."

I frown at the back of Sebastian's head. Who could he have to visit in a cemetery?

Sebastian doesn't wait for me as he heads up the old path, but he calls over his shoulder, "Don't forget to put the hat on."

Tucking my hair into a grey cap that smells of cigarettes, I follow Sebastian's lead. I guess Sebastian has earned the right to his silence and brooding after agreeing to drive me an hour and a half to Stardew Valley's largest town. He'd said he had a lot to do today, but here he is helping me. Every time I think about how kind the people of Pelican are, I find myself wondering if it will all just up and vanish. Will my newfound friends be ripped from me someday just like Grandpa?

We walk on in uneasy silence past row after row of graves. Some are old and crumbling. The dates etched into them span farther back than I would have expected. I wrap a protective hand around my stomach when I stop to examine a particularly small grave. Florence Knight, June 20, 1942-June 21, 1942, it reads.

With each stone we pass, the knot in my stomach grows. Every muscle in my body is stiff, partially from riding on the back of Sebastian's motorcycle but mainly from shock. Each tombstone that doesn't have Grandpa's name fills me with unfair hope. Maybe the nurse didn't know what she was talking about. Maybe Grandpa is alive and well, and they only thought that he was being buried here.

Maybe. Maybe.

"I just realized that they probably don't have your grandpa's stone finished, but you said he'd probably be buried with his wife, right?" Sebastian asks. "What was her name?"

The question reminds me of how silly my train of thought is. "Her name was Charity but Grandpa always called her by her maiden name, Junox."

First the first time since disembarking the motorcycle, my friend turns to look at me. Disbelief creases the bridge of Sebastian's nose, and he opens his mouth as if to speak. But he just stares at me for a long moment.

"What?"

Finally, Sebastian's expression thaws. "Why would you go through all the trouble of moving away and creating an alias if you're just going to use a name that your parents will recognize immediately?"

"I-It's important to me."

"Yabba, Junox." Sebastian pinches his nose. He opens one eye to cast a withering glance my way. "It really is a wonder you're still here."

Heat flashes up my neck. Embarrassment chokes my thoughts. Sebastian must notice, though.

"I-I mean, I'm glad you are," he stammers quickly, "but it's just... Nevermind. You did the best with what you had, and that's okay."

I know my face burns for the remainder of the search, and from the little snippets of Sebastian's face I catch, I think his does as well. When we finally find a weathered grey stone with my grandma's name carved in blocky font, there is indeed a rectangle of fresh dirt packed into the earth the general length of a man or, I assume, a casket. This is where my grandpa was buried.

No maybes then, huh?

"I'll -- uh -- I'm going to give you a minute to yourself, okay?" I barely hear Sebastian. "I'll be just over there."

If Sebastian pointed in a direction, I don't see it. My eyes are busy roaming over the patch of dirt over and over as if unsure how to process it. It's just red clay like the stuff I till in the garden every day, but the perfectly cut rectangle doesn't mean new growth in the next season. This is a grave. It holds the dead.

I've never seen a dead person before, but I get the gist. They're gone.

Whether someone bleeds to death or fades out slowly, whether it's an accident or cancer, death is more permanent than goodbye. Death is never again and no more. Death is so final that not even the strongest will can change it.

I'll never hear Grandpa laugh again. He'll no longer tease me about how I remind him of Grandma. Whatever stories about Mom's childhood he forgot to tell me, are gone forever. He didn't even get to see Lakewood again, and I'll never get to introduce him to the whole reason we're in this mess.

My knees and hands collide with the ground beneath me under the weight of understanding or maybe lack-there-of. I'm frozen by it. It builds with mounting pressure and agonizing stillness. If time moves around me, I have no concept of it. I simply exist while Grandpa does not.

Finally, something shifts inside me like the hands of a clock sliding into a new hour as thunder cracks overhead. It pours out of my chest and into my throat. It's so massive that I can't breathe. Just when I'm sure that I'll choke, a small fragment trickles from my eyes.

"I didn't get to say goodbye, Grandpa." A hiccup seizes me. "After all you've done for me, I didn't get to say thank you."

A drop of rain splatters the top of my hand.

"This isn't fair." Another hiccup. "It shouldn't be you!"

A drop of rain soaks through my shirt.

"Why couldn't it be Josh or Mom or Dad?"

Two more drops on my calf and neck.

I shudder back a sob. "Why?"

Four more drops.

My voice shakes. "How do I keep going? What if... if I would rather join you?"

Five... Six, seven.

"I don't want to fight this on my own, Grandpa." I squeeze my eyes shut tight as though it will make the monsters under my bed disappear.

Rain begins to bleed through my shirt.

"Junox."

Water drips from the rim of my borrowed hat.

"Junox!" Wet hands are grabbing me by the arm and pulling me upward. "Junox, we need to go!"

I'm sorry in advance for causing my readers pain... *stands to the side awkwardly*

On a less grim note, I have no idea when this story will be finished. I thought I was halfway done a few months ago, but these characters just keep going. So I may need your help deciding if we want to break things up into two books, or are you guys are cool with a very long fic? Idk. This is the longest fic I've ever kept up with.