Stardew Valley - Dark Blue: When The Chickens Came Home To Roost (Shane)

Chapter 16: Everything Stays (Bonus Chapter)

There was nothing — not a single thing on this planet — more lovely than the summer sun. Nothing more giving, and nothing more kind.

When Marnie had been small, she liked to imagine that Summer existed for her, and only her — as if, every year like clockwork, the days grew longer and the air turned to warm honey just for little Marnie and her wide smile full of crooked teeth.

The tired old ranch that she now owned had once belonged to her parents, but even then, Marnie knew it was hers — especially once the warm weather ushered in, and she'd spend her days out in the barns, milking cows and learning how to steal eggs out from underneath the chickens just right, so as not to get her hand pecked off.

During the other three fourths of the year, Marnie and her younger sister Deena were shipped off to a boarding school — the finest (and most religious) that the Ferngill Republic had to offer, because, just as it remained, Pelican Town was entirely without a school. And though she missed the animals, and the ranch, and her parents — Marnie didn't really mind school. She liked to learn, after all — but the same couldn't be said for Deena.

Even as all the years passed her by, Marnie could still vividly remember the day that her younger sister had come into the world. She was born on the coldest night of that long Winter, and before the family had even taken her home, she'd already caused a row in the household — though it wasn't her fault, of course. She was just a little newborn girl.

Marnie was only three years old at the time, but still, as her baby sister was placed gently into her waiting arms, Marnie was confused. She looked over at her mother in the hospital bed, tan skinned and sandy haired, and up at her red headed father. She grazed her small fingers through baby Deena's thick, raven black hair, and then tugged at one of her own red curls as she studied the baby's squishy, pink face carefully.

"This is our baby, daddy?" She asked sheepishly, peeking up at her father.

"She's our baby, Marnie-moo — but you'll always be my little girl," he said tightly, planting a kiss atop Marnie's head.

Marnie's father was a jovial man, never without a smile on his face — yet Marnie could still remember the exact way he'd looked at her while her little three year old brain tried to piece together the apparent mystery of the black haired baby in her arms. Even then, she'd known he had his doubts.

Eventually, those doubts grew roots — and Deena, ever the brilliant little spitfire, caught on quickly. Though Marnie loved her sister, a small part of her still blamed Deena for their father's untimely death. Since that frigid winter night of Deena's birth, the man hadn't known a moment of peace. Deena made sure of it, with every beat of her icy heart.

Truthfully, Marnie had always resented Deena, one way or another. When they were children, it was due to the way that their once buoyant father seemed to suffer, but as they got older, and Deena grew taller, slimmer, and more exotic looking, Marnie stayed the same — short, frumpy, red haired and weathered from the time she spent working the ranch. Deena never worked the ranch, so of course, she never looked like she worked the ranch.

Marnie's discontent was ultimately fruitless. Though her father would hear her griefs and do his best to rectify them, Deena wouldn't bend — especially not for him. And when Marnie had gone to her mother for the same reassurance that any teenage girl needs from her mother, she'd simply told Marnie to suck it up. She favored Deena, like that — felt as though her youngest daughter needed protecting.

It was Marnie's senior year of high school when Deena met Michael. He was older than Marnie — maybe six or seven years older, and Marnie had known that he was a snake. She'd told her sister as much, but still, Deena was taken with him. It shouldn't have come as a surprise, really, because Marnie knew her sister well, and had grown ceaselessly familiar with Deena's love for pretty things. Of course, she must have known all along that Michael was a snake, but with a jawline like that, what difference did it make?