Chapter Text
~ Abigail ~
Abigail hefted the broadsword in her hand and flashed a bloody grin to gelatinous slime oozing its way towards her. She waited, weight on the tips of her toes. Any second now it would strike–
Abigail leapt to the side with ease as the slime launched itself at her. Swinging her sword with surprising ease considering its weight, she cut through the monster in a single strike. It burst into pieces around the blade, splattering all over the rocky ground.
She stepped over what remained of the slime, the dark depths of the cave looming before her. Shapes moved in the darkness and Abigail’s blood thrummed with anticipation.
Slimes and shadows and all sorts of nightmarish monsters leapt towards her, baring teeth and claws and fangs that dripped with venom. She avoided every savage attack with the grace of a dancer, her sword moving at lightning speed as Abigail struck and struck again. They kept coming at her, kept emerging from the darkness but it didn’t matter. Abigail didn’t tire, didn’t get hit, dispatching every monster that threw itself at her–
“Abigail!”
Abigail frowned as she stabbed a ghoulish creature that collapsed under her blade. That sounded like… But what the hell would her mother be doing in the caves?
“Abigail!”
There it was again.
Abigail turned to face an oncoming slime, but something was wrapped around her body, restricting her movement. A brief flare of panic turned to confusion as she looked down at her body to see that there was nothing there.
Her sword was gone as well. So was the slime, and all the other monsters, and even the cave around her had melted into darkness–
“ABIGAIL!”
Abigail cracked open her eyes to see her mother standing over her.
So it had all been a dream. She hadn’t actually been fighting monsters in the caves. How disappointing.
Abigail tried to disentangle herself from her sheets, which had somehow wound up wrapped around her body more times than a mummy’s bandages during the night. After an embarrassingly long time, she managed to extract herself and sit up.
“Yeah?”
Too late, Abigail realised that sleepy nonchalance was the wrong approach to take with her already pissed off mother. Caroline’s frown deepened as she fixed her daughter with a steely glare.
“You were supposed to be up an hour ago.” Abigail’s mum said in a tight, clipped voice. “To help your father with the store, remember?”
Abigail glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table, where sure enough, 10:02 was blinking in neon green.
“sh*t,” she muttered, throwing her covers off and launching herself out of bed.
“There’s no need for that kind of language.”
Abigail ignored the reprimand as she rifled through her dresser, looking for whatever she had that would be the least offensive to her parent’s sensibilities. Jeans, a plain grey t-shirt and a turquoise vest would have to do. It was about all she had that was clean, comfy and free of obscenities or holes.
“Sorry Mum,” Abigail said absently. “Er… do you mind?” she asked, nodding towards the door with her arms full of clothes.
Caroline already had her mouth open, but closed it at Abigail’s request. She did leave the room then, albeit reluctantly, but proceeded to keep lecturing Abigail through the closed door anyway.
“This is why you shouldn’t be up all night playing your video games, Abigail.”
Abigail gritted her teeth as she shrugged out of her pyjamas, trying to ignore her mother. Shoving her feet into her favourite (although scuffed) pair of boots, Abigail marched over to the door.
“If you can’t even manage to get yourself up at a decent hour, maybe I’ll have to take away your TV again–”
“For Yoba’s sake Mum, I’m an adult!” Abigail exclaimed.
“An adult who’s living here free of charge!” her mother retorted.
Caroline gave Abigail a sweeping glance, eyes narrowing as she took in her outfit.
“And is that really what you–”
“Do you want me to go help Dad or not?” Abigail snapped.
Her mum’s mouth tightened into a thin line, but she relented.
“We’ll talk about this later.” she said curtly as a means of dismissal.
“Fine.” Abigail muttered under her breath, already halfway to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast.
~
Less than twenty minutes had passed, and already Abigail was bored out of her mind.
There just wasn’t anything to actually do, with no customers. Her father had asked her to restock the shelves, which had taken about thirty seconds. Why? Because nearly nothing was missing, because no one had bought anything, because there were no f*cking customers.
Which was why Abigail was just leaning on one of the produce boxes, wondering how long she should wait before asking her dad if she could leave. There was absolutely no way she was lasting– Abigail glanced up at the clock– over an hour until lunch!? If she had her phone with her, that wouldn’t be a problem. But unfortunately for her, in the mad rush to get dressed and ready she’d left it in her room. Maybe she should just say she was going to the toilet, and use that as an excuse to go grab her phone.
The tinkling of the bell over the door interrupted Abigail from her reverie. Damn. If there was an actual customer, her dad sure as hell wasn’t going to just let her leave. She looked up to see who had entered the store, and to Abigail’s complete surprise, it was someone she’d never seen before. And considering Pelican Town had a population of less than 30 people, was miles away from any other settlement and had no working public transport, seeing someone new didn’t happen often.
The stranger walked straight up to the counter, wasting no time with small talk with her father. Abigail drifted closer, taking the opportunity to get a better look.
The stranger appeared to be a fairly tall, well dressed young man. The toes of sturdy looking boots poked out from underneath tailored charcoal pants that were immaculate except for what might be a little mud around the hem. He wore a jacket rolled up to his elbows, the buttons of which shone with a dull gold sheen. A white shirt poked up over the collar of his jacket, a gold earring winking at her from each ear.
But the thing that Abigail found most interesting about him was his hair. It was purple as well, but not the same bright shade hers was. Instead it was a much deeper, darker colour, closer to ink than iridium. She wondered if he dyed it, or if it was a natural colour.
The stranger turned then, taking a bag of seeds from the counter with him. And looking straight at her.
sh*t.
Abigail glanced away as quickly as she could, hoping that he wouldn’t think she had been staring at him. Well, she had been staring, but not in a creepy way. She had just been curious–
“Hey. I’m Twist, I’ve just moved into Aerion Farm.”
Well, if his polite greeting was any indication, he hadn’t noticed her staring. And he’d also answered the question of why he was here.
“Oh that’s right… I heard someone new was moving onto that old farm.” Abigail replied. Her dad had mentioned it at dinner a few times, excited for the prospect of more business. She just hadn’t expected the new farmer to look like… well, she had pictured someone in overalls and maybe a straw hat, and then not thought about it again.
“I’m Abigail, by the way.” she added.
“Lovely to make your acquaintance.” Twist smiled.
Now that she was talking with him, Abigail could see that his eyes were a dark red, a colour that stood out against the grey pallor of his face.
“I love the colour of your hair. Do you dye it, or is it natural?” Abigail asked.
He laughed at that, a quick little chuckle that made her wonder what was particularly funny about her question.
“Thank you. Yours is gorgeous as well.” Twist added, glancing up at the clock. “I’ve got to get back to the farm, but it was lovely meeting you!”
“Same here!” Abigail called after him as he strode out of the store.
Interesting guy, to say the least. But she certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he was gone by next season. Twist might be reasonably tall, but he didn’t look particularly strong or healthy. She’d spent plenty of time exploring those overgrown fields, and could only imagine the amount of work that would have to go into them to end up with profitable farmland.
Still, who knows? For all Abigail knew, she might have just gained a new friend.
