Escaping the Past

Chapter 2 - Arriving

Tw for alcoholism and anxiety
Enjoy~

Annette awoke with a start as someone shook my shoulder
"Miss we are at Pelican Town," it was the bus driver "you're so well hidden back here I thought you'd somehow gotten off too soon" the driver chuckled
She stretched and began grabbing my stuff "Thanks for waking me, let me get out of your hair" 
"No problem ma'am hope you enjoy your time in the valley" he said walking her to the front of the bus
"I'm planning on it" Annette climbed off the bus and thanked the driver one last time before turning around to see someone waiting for her
"Hi, you must be Annette" the woman had a cheery attitude and a nice smile "I'm Robin, Lewis sent me out here to help you, he should be coming by soon enough" 
As if on cue someone rounded the corner 
"Ah speak of the devil! " Robin exclaimed
"Hello, I'm Mayor Lewis, we spoke on the phone a couple times" he extended his hand out to me
"Yes, I remember" She set my bag on the ground to grab his hand and shake it
Robin took the opportunity to grab my bag for "Come on let's get you settled in I'm sure you're tired and Dimitruis really wants to spend new years eve together" she began walking and Lewis and I followed
We walk for a couple minutes before reaching a pretty run down farmhouse 
Annette winced seeing the state of everything even in the dark she can tell the house is beat up and the farm is overgrown to hell
Lewis notices her grimace and tries to be encouraging  "I mean it's seen better days but I'm sure it'll be no time at all until you've got this place in tip top shape!" 
She tried to give a unconvincing smile and nodded "Yeah I'll start with cleaning out the weeds" 
"I can show you how to cut down the trees" Robin chimed in "And we can use the wood to upgrade your house and build a coop or barn or-" 
"Robin, it'll be a while before she's ready for that" Lewis cut her off
"Yeah I wanna make sure she's knows her options" Robin counters
Annette sighed at the pairs banter I hope that everything works out quickly I don't know if can handle another failure
"Well we'll leave you to settle in" Robin said 
Lewis nods in agreement and they turn to leave 
"Come by my place when you're ready to cut down some trees" 
"I don't know where you live" She called back
"Oh, there is a map and some tools of your grandfather's in a chest inside" Lewis called back to her
"Alright thanks!" The tools were his, it's been a while since they were used hopefully they're not falling apart
She made my way inside and see the chest Lewis mentioned and decided to take a look 
Everything looks alright She takes a peak at the map and see a two stores, a blacksmith and a couple houses labeled with some having business info on them and a doctor's office 
Great I'll having to go through another new doctor spiel again She groaned always dreading it I'm definitely putting that off as long as possible
She began to unpack her things she moved all her toiletries to the bathroom and her clothes into the dresser and stowed her suitcase under the bed tucked in the corner. Yoba I am tired. she didn't even know why she'd slept the whole way there. 
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Startled out of her thought Annette just stared at the door for a moment. Then whoever it was gave another knock 
"Annette? Are you in there, it's Robin" 
She groaned I just want to unpack in peace She trot to the door and opened up to see the cheery redhead 
"Sorry to disturb you, but since it's new years I thought you might like something to celebrate with" Robin handed her a bottle of wine
Annette forced a smile "Thank you Robin, that's really nice" I'll have to get rid of this later can't leave it around to tempt me
"No problem and if you're up to it you can come over for a bit, no pressure though, I'm sure you've had a long day" 
"Yeah I'm kinda tired so probably not tonight" 
"That's fine just didn't want you to feel lonely your first night in town" Robin said "I'll leave you be, try not to drink too much" She laughed
Annette keeping her fake smile "Yeah I'll be careful" and waved Robin off
Annette went to the kitchen set the bottle on the counter I'll get rid of it tomorrow She was too tired to want to deal with it now, she just wanted to finish unpacking and go to bed and she did just that she'd finished most of it before Robin stopped by all that was left was a few personal things. She set a picture of her and her grandfather on the nightstand I hope I can fix this place up and make him proud of me
The farm was his baby he only left it when he couldn't keep up with it anymore
I was probably one of the only things he cared about more than this town
Annette laughed a little dryly at the thought and wiped a year from her eye 
Yoba, I miss him I wish he were here with me
She then grabbed a small jewelry box out of the bottom of her bag and set it on the nightstand she opened it up. She pushed her sleeve slightly up and pulled out a watch of her grandfather's and put it on.
It didn't work anymore. Her mother broke it a week after her grandfather died. She claimed it was an accident but Annette knew her mother hated the relationship she'd had with him. It gave her less control over Annette. Even so Annette still wore it when she missed him. 
She decide to go to sleep for the night and worry about the rest of the farm the next day she layed down and looked at her phone and saw it'd just turned midnight. She took one look around her new home and quietly wishes a happy new year to her new home