The Anti-Social Social Club [Stardew Valley Sebastian x Female Player (OFC)]

Chapter Twenty-Two

Winter had fallen over Stardew Valley like a soft, white blanket. The air was bitterly cold on some days, and not so bad on other days, but overall there was this encompassing feeling of solitude and stillness. The birds had retired for the season. There wasn't that constant sound of humming from the insects in the tall grass or low croaking of the frogs in the river. And as I stepped out onto the crunchy, ice coated snow just below the last step of the front porch, I was reminded of the day I left home—and not Zuzu City—my real home.

It was winter. I remember because the tires on my car skidded across the roads as I tried to make my way home despite everything in me screaming, telling me not to go home if I could help it. When I'd go out with a friend or to run an errand in the afternoon, I sometimes wondered how long I could drive around for before I absolutely had to come home because I couldn't stand being around him when he was drunk.

I pulled up into the driveway, put the car in park and sighed, dropping my head into the palms of my hands. I knew what I was walking into, and I wasn't ready for it. I always wished for—prayed for—a day where I'd walk into my house and he'd be sober for once but I knew that day wouldn't ever come.

He was sprawled out in the lounge chair in front of the TV like he always was. His head was leaned back, his eyes closed, and an old fashioned glass in his hand with a light coating of dried whiskey at the bottom of the cup, just barely hanging on in his loose grasp.

He opened his eyes and looked up when he heard the slider door close behind me. "About time you came home." He said, commenting on my late arrival.

I didn't say anything to him at first. I dropped my bag by the front door, kicked off my shoes, and kept my head down as I made my way past the kitchen towards my bedroom at the end of the hall.

"What, you can't say hi to me anymore?" He called out to me from his spot in the living room and I stopped dead in my tracks. I hadn't spoken to him in four days because I couldn't stand being around him when he was like this any longer. I felt helpless. I wanted to help him, to grab him by the shoulders and shake him until he woke up and realized what he was doing to himself; what he was doing to me.

"I can't do this anymore." I said softly, mostly to myself and trying to build up my courage to finally face him. "I can't be around you when you get like this." I turned to face him, standing strong and firm, not backing down this time. "You have a problem. Why can't you acknowledge that?" I asked, my tone almost sounding pleading as I attempted to keep my voice from cracking.

"This doesn't concern you, Stella." He said, setting the old fashioned glass down on the table next to him and sitting up straight before rising to his feet and taking a few steps towards me. "You're crossing a line here and you need to back off." He pointed his finger at me accusingly; his eyes full of inebriated anger.

"Dad, for fuck sake, look at yourself!" I shouted. I broke. I had never swore at my dad until that day but I didn't know how else I could make him hear what I was saying. It was hard enough for me to come to terms with the fact that my dad was an addict—an alcoholic. It was even harder to get him to realize it, too. It was embarrassing to watch him get home late at night and stumble into the house, his clothes and his breath smelling like whiskey and him not even knowing who he was half the time or having to rescue him from the bathtub when he would stumble and fall trying to use the bathroom late at night, his limbs too weak from the alcohol to be able to get himself back up. More than half the time, he didn't remember it the next morning.

"If you really can't stand being around me, Stella, you can leave." He pointed to the door but I stood still where I was. "Go on." He said, flicking his hand at me and waving me off. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. When I was a child, he used to do this to me all the time. His favorite line was "if you don't like it here, go live somewhere else." And I always took it as a loose threat but nothing he was ever serious about.