Isolated (Stardew Valley)

Chapter Twelve

THE NEWS SPREAD like a wildfire that engulfed the town in balls of energy.

It started as a small spark. A delicate whisper to a person's ear, a conversation along the damp sands of the beach, a sign plastered along the general store by a proud father. Soon enough, the spark became a fire. It surged higher and higher until it reached its peak. Everyone gave in to this fire, raving for its details, for its truth. It was all everyone talked about.

After all, who wouldn't want to know about the latest news, that the broody son of the renowned carpenter had finally gotten together with the store owner's daughter?

I shouldn't be surprised, really, since rarely anything exciting happened in this small town. Even small matters like Jodi cooking up her famous casserole had everyone talking about it.

Days later, the excitement finally wore down. I was relieved once I was able to walk into town square and not hear the constant chattering.

I met up with Abigail a couple of times and was surprised when nothing was awkward between us. She acted as she usually did, a boastful and confident woman, but still the same purple haired girl. In fact, she seemed happier now that she was with Sebastian. According to Sam, Sebastian seemed more joyful, too.

And that was a good thing. Sam was supportive of his two best friends, claiming he had known they'd get together eventually. But behind his constant teasing, there was a shadow of worry in his expressions, almost like he was scared of losing his friends. I tried to act the same, but it was hard to. I just didn't know why.

"Hello, June! Decided to sit back and relax too?"

I craned my head to look at the familiar face. Maru's light eyes shone brightly behind a pair of round glasses. She sat down on the bench next to me.

"Something like that," I replied as I gestured to the dark clouds. "It looks like it's going to rain soon."

"Of course! My dad and I predicted this a few days ago with a device called—" she looked at my blank face and flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, I'm doing that thing again where I go on a rampage about science!"

I shook my head and smiled just a bit. "No, it's okay. It's something you're passionate about." As much as I dreaded listening to her rants, I couldn't stop the girl from what she loved best. "You seem happier though," I pointed out.

Maru stared straight ahead and watched the ocean waves fold against each other. The corners of her mouth tugged upward. "Am I? Well... Sebastian has been acting differently towards me now. He's still cold and distant... but I can see that's he's trying."

"That's amazing, Maru," I said and truly meant it. Maru always wished that Sebastian would start acting like an older brother. Maybe being with Abigail really helped him.

She turned to me and smiled. "We'd always fight when we were younger, but now that we're older, we realized how we acted so childish. I guess all siblings act like that, right?"

I frowned as I thought about my own sister, Jules. It had been years since I had last seen her. When I went to live with Grandpa, we were on bad terms and it has remained that way ever since. I didn't dare mention this to Maru, though. "Right..." was all I decided to say.

I got lost in thought thinking about this, all the while Maru continued talking. I didn't think she realized that I had zoned out a while ago.