Intoxicated (Stardew Valley)

Chapter Eleven

THERE WAS A monster lurking.

It crept behind the bushes, the trees, and hid among the shadows. It was a blanket of darkness and cowered to any light. It snuck up on its prey, ready to bite with its acidic teeth and feed off fear.

Or maybe it was just Emily, dressed in a black cloak that covered her bright blue hair, trying to scare the life out of us.

It was Spirit's Eve and right as it turned dark, Sam had suggested that all of us sneak into the abandoned community centre. I was a bit hesitant, but later on agreed. After all, I did plan to restore it to its former glory.

I was planning to try out the maze at the festival. I had heard that the Wizard—the one who lurks to the west of the forest—created it with magic, but Sam said it was near to impossible to complete. So exploring an abandoned building was the best option.

Emily was ecstatic to join and we dragged along Penny and Shane, knowing that they were too scared.

Sam wanted to bring along Abigail and Sebastian, but they weren't too keen on joining us. We weren't the best of friends anyway.

So now we were standing outside the old building, waiting to get in.

Sam had a bag full of supplies with a handy flashlight, Emily was still trying to scare our group, and Penny clung to herself in deep fear.

All the while, Shane was awfully quiet and remained behind our group, not saying anything. Maybe he was still awkward about that almost-kiss a few days ago. Was he? I couldn't stop thinking about it and every time I met his eyes, I'd always break out into a red face.

"Boo!" Emily shouted, jumping out of the darkness right behind Penny.

Penny shrieked with a high trill that echoed off into the night. Emily burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.

"That's not funny, Em!" Penny said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It really is," Sam replied with a chuckle, pointing the flashlight ahead. "You're too easy to scare and that's why it's funny."

"I don't want to do this. Can we leave?" Penny looked over to Shane hopefully. He just shook his head and said nothing.

"You'll be fine," I reassured her, tossing Sam the keys that Mayor Lewis has given me. "You've been here before, right? Back when it was running? It's the same thing—just old and dark."

Penny's eyes glazed over the building. Moss was starting to grow on its walls, vines stretched toward every direction, and the plants were overgrown and dead. The clock didn't seem to work anymore and stayed in one position.

"Right..." Penny murmured, fiddling with her orange hair.

Emily suddenly popped up between us, a malicious grin on her face. "I've heard that little creatures live in here. They're green and small, and have little legs that they crawl with."

Before Penny could react, Sam finally unlocked the door. It creaked as it opened, a dark space before us. We all exchanged nervous looks and trailed inside.

The building was spacious, but it was hard to see anything, using only the light from Sam's flashlight. The moon illuminated through the windows, but that barely did anything.

Shane walked over and tried a switch on the wall. Nothing. He tried again, flicking it up and down, but no light responded. "Great," he said, looking around. "I'll check out the generator at the back and see what I could do."

He turned to leave, but I called out, "Hey! Do you need any help?" I wanted to confront him, to talk about what happened.

Shane shook his head. "I'm fine. You guys can explore without me." He scurried out the door, leaving us alone.