I'm Only Happy When It Rains

Chapter 3

Quinn

As she folded the last shirt into her suitcase, Quinn took a look around her now empty ZuZu city apartment. It was so empty, all of her movements echoed off the walls. All of her things she either sold or gave away to help her break her lease. She felt weird about it all, giving everything up to go somewhere she only briefly visited in her childhood. She'd spend a week during summer every year, helping her grandfather run the farm, until her mother got sick and she stopped coming because her father needed her to stay home and help him take care of her. All she had with her was some simple farming tools, the last five hundred dollars to her name, and a suitcase of clothes and comic books she couldn't part with.

She didn't remember much about her time on her grandfather's farm when she was little, but many of her cousins were super happy they weren't gifted it in the will... until they found out they weren't gifted anything at all. She was given a single sealed envelope. Many wanted her to open it, at every family gathering somebody always brought it up, asking her if she ever bothered to open it and she would reply honestly. No. Aunt Sally was the most persistent with her, getting angrier and angrier every time she told her no. Like she was hiding something. Thinking the farmland was given back to the community, nobody really thought that Quinn kept the land deed hidden away in her desk at Joja mart, waiting for the perfect time to open it and if they did, then they didn't show it. Hell... even Quinn didn't know what it was. Her grandfather told her not to open the envelope until she was completely at the end of her rope.

And Quinn truly was at the end of her rope. Working as a code junkie for Joja Mart completely broke her soul. She no longer felt like she was living, just a shell. She owed a lot to the cooperation; afterall they put her through Joja Mart(™) programming classes when she flunked as a customer service rep instead of just outright firing her, but the rat race truly was just that. A rat race.

She tried so hard to salve off opening up the envelope many times, trying to get into hobbies, going to therapy to ease the numbness, hell, she even tried drinking and smoking cigarettes to ease the pain away, but in the end, she always gave up trying to fix herself with vices. The depression was just too bad and gripped her too hard. She'd spend her weekends not even getting out of bed and her weeknights trapped at work, crushed under the burden of trying to make a website faster that could not get any humanly faster. She had no time for friends, love interests, media, or music. The bandaid just needed to be torn off.

"When do you have to be at the bus stop?" Her dad asked, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Mayor Lewis said the bus will be here at twelve." She said, taking her phone out of her black pants pocket, looking at the time. It was eleven thirty.

"Look at you, already calling him Mayor." Her dad joked. "Come, I'll buy you lunch, squirt."

He picked up her suitcase that now held her entire life and they exited the apartment she lived in for the last five years. After dropping off her key with her former landlord, they walked to the local sandwich stop and sat at the bus stop together to eat.

"You know, I'm really proud of you for deciding to walk away from it all." He said quietly once they had finished eating. "You may not feel like it now, but I know you'll make everyone proud... and jealous. Make them all angry that your grandad didn't give it to them."

She couldn't help but smile at that. Her dad was a real one, always supporting her no matter what she decided to do. Especially after losing her mother so early on in life to cancer. He never sweated the small stuff and dedicated his life to doing what he loved.

Her dad was a huge comic book collector and ran a game and hobby shop that also sold CD's and vintage records. He was a DC superheroes guy with a huge passion for Batman, Led Zeppelin and regularly DM'd Solarion Chronicles tabletop games on Sunday nights. He gladly got her into scifi and fantasy when it piqued her interest. She lived for Cave Saga X and read it all the time in high school. Now that she was free from being a corporate drone, she hoped to somehow secure all the issues she missed over the years. It was sure to be a tall order.

"I'm just so grateful I didn't lose you to it all." He said seriously, his face crestfallen.

"Maybe when I get everything sorted, you can come visit me?" She asked to lighten the mood. "I'll make sure Mayor Lewis sends you some of my crops as well."

He knew about her medical bills from countless doctors visits, her therapy, her pills, her special medical card. She never wanted to hide it from him that she was having a hard time, because eventually he'd find out about it anyway.

"I think I'd like that." He said, his voice barely a whisper.

The bus to Pelican Town wheezed to a stop before them and a blonde lady in a purple shirt and gray sweatpants exited the bus.

"Quinn Berry?" She asked.

"That'd be me." Quinn responded, standing up.

"I'm Pam, Mayor Lewis asked me to drive you out. Is that all you got?" She said, pointing to her suitcase.

She nodded in response.

"Alright, I got it." She said, taking the case from her to load into the bus.

"Alright, squirt, you be good, okay?" Her father asked, ruffling her black hair.

"Dad! You're going to ruin my pigtails." She said with a laugh, tightening the elastic bands keeping her hair back out of her face.

She gave him a hug goodbye.

"I'm gonna miss you, Quinn." He said, trying hard not to cry. "But remember, I love you and if anyone is mean to you, give them hell for me. I didn't teach you to punch for nothing."

"Love you too, dad." She said, squeezing him tight before letting go to board the bus.

She adjusted her black skull t-shirt before sitting down, waving to her dad as the bus wheezed off, wondering what her life was truly going to be like in Stardew Valley. She plugged in her CD player she didn't know she still had and listened to music she hadn't listened to in years while watching the trees go by. As they got closer, the forest seemed to thicken. Two hours later, the bus pulled up to a stop in a wooded opening and Pam turned around in her seat with a smile.

"Welcome home, kid."

Stepping off the bus she was greeted by Mayor Lewis, a figure she remembered from her childhood, a bit more gray now tho. Next to him was a red haired woman named Robin, who Mayor Lewis introduced as the town carpenter who lived up in the mountains. After exchanging greetings, they escorted her to her new farm, which was now completely overgrown. Trees, weeds, and rocks littered the front yard and everywhere else for that matter. She quickly became overwhelmed by the sight, snapping a few pictures on her phone to send to her dad later once she texted him that she was there.

"You should get some rest and start tomorrow." Lewis suggested to her.

"That sounds good, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now." She said, looking at the small shack of a house.

"If you ever need me to expand anything for you, let me know." Robin said, pressing her business card into her hand.

"And don't be a stranger in town." Lewis told her. "Everyone is very curious to meet you."

With that they left her alone to enter her house. After shooting off some texts to her dad to let him know she arrived okay and to show him the state of the farm, she began to put some things away, before giving up and falling asleep on top of her old dusty bedspread, not even bothering to get under the sheets. This was going to be an adventure.