Emo boy [Stardew Valley]

Chapter 2 - First impressions

My eyes open again, but it doesn't feel like a usual awakening.. no, this must be a dream.
I can see myself in front of a computer screen, with a dark and lonely room consuming me, slowly decaying.. suddenly, the screen turns off by itself, with no other source of light nearby.
My body starts to rot away, until I suddenly see a beam of light shine through a small hole at the very top of the ceiling. As I stare at it longer, it grows wider and wider, until the light manages to shine on my entire body.
My wounds and near dead appearance suddenly fade away, as I reach out my hand. The light consumes the entire room until it's too bright to see anything else, and then, I wake up.

Unlike in my dream, I wake up in a warm room, the sun shining inside and greeting me. It feels so different. I used to be unable to sleep comfortably at night. After 3 hours of uncomfortably shifting around in bed, I managed to fall asleep, only to be woken up again 4 hours later by some weird nightmare. Then, I was awake. Listening to the clock ticking for hours and hours, until it was finally time to get ready for work.

The cycle repeated every single night. I haven't gotten an actual good night rest for years. I've attempted taking sleeping pills, but they only made me more tired. I was always tired, but never asleep. My body was constantly exhausted. It hated me, and I hated myself for treating it so poorly. I couldn't exercise a lot. I was stuck in my office almost the entire day, often working overtime, and after all that, I could barely even lift my legs. All I wanted was to go home and lay down, which probably only made it worse, but I didn't know what else to do.

I didn't have anyone to talk to about my problems. My grandpa was already dead, my parents as well, I had no other siblings, and friends? Definitely not. I could've looked for a therapist, but I felt as though my struggles weren't terrible enough to seek help for it. People die every year because of stress and mental health issues, I wasn't one of them. I didn't die, but my body felt like it was already dead.

Compared to how it was back then, I was able to sleep for a good amount of hours last night, and I finally woke up without a terrible pounding headache. I'm sure I'll have enough energy to tackle today. My first actual day in Pelican Town. I quickly get up and take a look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a simple green shirt with black overalls. The typical farmer outfit, but to be honest, it looks somewhat fashionable, depending on how you style it, of course. I decide to leave my hair open, put on my black boots and head out.

As I'm entering the town, the first thing I notice are two big buildings to my left. A blue hospital, and one which seems to be a store. Just as I'm about to open the door, it suddenly slams open, and there stands a purple haired girl, just a couple centimeters shorter than me, though her general body structure is a lot broader than mine. It kind of fits to her aura tho. I may not know her, but anyone who can slam a door like this is definitely pretty confident.

She's humming a melody when she suddenly notices me. "Oh that's right! I heard someone new was moving onto that old farm. It's kind of a shame, really. I always enjoyed exploring those overgrown fields by myself." I look at her with big eyes, and chuckle nervously "Uh, you still can explore.. I won't stop you." She laughs and slaps my arm "I was just kidding! Don't worry! I'm Abigail, by the way. You're Sami, then? I'll see you around." She gives me a smile and walks away.

Was that my first encounter with one of the villagers here? Besides Robin and Lewis of course. I guess it went pretty smoothly, but thanks to her, not thanks to me. Abigail, was her name? She seems extremely courageous. Walking around like nothing could ever do her any harm, casually slapping people's arms.. or is that a normal thing people do here? Why does everyone constantly touch my arm? I'm not used to physical contact.
It's been a while since I've even had to shake someone's hand.

I don't really have time to think about this right now though, I still have plenty of other people to introduce myself to. I turn to the right, and follow a path down, where I glance at a red haired girl sitting underneath a tree with a book in her hands. I don't really want to disturb her moment of peace and quiet, but Lewis said I'd better meet everyone, so that's what I've decided to do. I approach her from the side, trying to make myself noticeable by clearing my throat or silently waving at her.

After a little while, she closes her book and looks up, then gives me a gentle smile "Hi... oh, did you want something? Wait. You're the new farmer, right?" I quickly nod my head. "My name is Sami! I'm.. sorry if I'm distracting you from your book but I thought I should introduce myself." She glances down at her book and shakes her head "no, no.. you're not distracting me. I was about to get up anyway.. Oh, I'm Penny. I probably should've said that first.."

I gently shake my hands in front of me "it's okay, don't worry. What are you reading?"
She raises her eyebrows. She seems to be somewhat excited that I asked her this question "Oh, I'm reading a novel. It sadly doesn't have a name. I found it in the museum once. I find a lot of great books there, but this one especially stands out to me. I always take it with me and read it again and agai- oh.. I keep rambling on and on. I apologize.. you probably have a busy day ahead of you.."

She suddenly stops telling me about her book and glances away shyly. I scratch my neck and look towards the ground "uh, I guess" I can't think of anything else to say. Have I made her feel uncomfortable? A voice I'm not familiar with calls out the girl's name, making me jump a little. I turn around. A tall blonde boy with spiked up hair walks towards us, with a gigantic smile on his face.

He notices me, stops to examine me for a second, then gasps out in excitement "You're the new farm girl! I've been waiting to see you walk around town! I'm Sam, it's good to meet you!" He gives me two pats on my shoulder. Apparently I'm not going to escape this type of skinship any time soon. It's fine though, at least they accept me enough to touch me.

"Penny, I was wondering if you could pick up Vincent. He really wants to hang out at the playground near the old community center." Sam asks the red haired girl, who had just gotten up and gently removed the few strands of hair from her face and put her book underneath her arm. "Of course! I'd love to. Why don't you come along, Sam?" My eyes switch from looking at Penny to Sam during their little conversation. I don't know why I'm still standing here. I guess I forgot that this conversation isn't really meant for me.

"I can't, I'm gonna go meet up with Sebastian in a bit." Did he say Sebastian? Where do I remember that name from.. didn't Robin tell me to go meet her son? Wasn't he named Sebastian? If that were the case, I guess I could simply follow Sam to Sebastian's place and meet him. Though, doing that without asking might seem a bit creepy, but I also don't know how to ask him. I don't want to interrupt their conversation. I simply stand on the sidelines, listening and waiting for me to figure out where to go next.

After a couple more seconds, Penny decides to leave. She waves at me and Sam, then walks away. Sam turns around swiftly and looks at me. "Hey! Since you're already here, why not come with me? I'm sure you haven't met Seb yet!" He's holding onto both of my shoulders, impatiently waiting for my reply. "Y-yes, sure." I simply reply nervously, and he smiles. "Perfect! Can't wait for Seb to meet female Sam!" He grabs my arm and pulls me along.

Did he just call me female Sam? I guess because our names sound similar. This is the first nickname someone has given me. I'm not exactly sure how to feel about it, or about him holding onto my arm tightly and dragging me with him, but he seems like a fun person to be around. Though, so far I haven't exactly met anyone who made me feel uneasy.

That Abigail girl, maybe... not because she was rude to me, but because her confidence and way of speaking made me feel the need to stay wary. I don't know what it was. I can't explain it. Maybe I'm entirely misjudging her, she's probably a very kind person. But for now, I shouldn't be worried about this. The blonde boy is taking me with him to meet someone else now.

I'm going to meet Sebastian