Never Too Late

Mistakes

Tom Nook scurried around the boat, looking for something heavy they could replace the anchor with. Redd stayed at the helm, steering towards the dock at the nearby city. Tom searched everywhere for something heavy to use, but with the boat being so darkly lit, it was nearly impossible to see. 

"Did you find something yet?" Redd asked as the boat hit itself against the dock. He stayed at the wheel, making sure that the boat wouldn't drift away. 

"No, nothin-" Tom's eyes widened as he saw a head of a stone statue hidden in the corner of the boat. He quickly ran towards it, grabbing it off the ground and trying his best to tie it to the rope where the anchor used to be. 

"Woah! Woah! Woah! What do you think you're doing?" Redd spat. Tom rolled his eyes, gritting his teeth as he finally tied the rope around the piece of art. It was heavy, very heavy, but Tom knew that it would keep the boat in place. 

"I'm using your 'art' as an anchor for the boat," Said Tom, "If you have any better ideas as what else we could use I'm all ears." Redd scrunched up his face and gritted his teeth. He knew that Tom had a point. There was nothing else they could use, and he knew that any of the other statues would be damn near impossible to carry with how heavy they were. After all, that statue was fake.

"Yeah, sure whatever," Redd muttered. Tom exited the boat and threw the statue into the water. The boat tilted a bit causing Tom to nearly fall over, but he quickly regained his balance. The two animals stood there for a while, making sure that the boat wouldn't drift away. And when they realized the boat was steady, they both let out sighs of relief. 

"Welp we're here," Redd said as he exited the boat and stepped onto the dock. Tom trailed behind him, scrunching up his face at the smell of salt and dead fish. 

"Yeah, and where exactly is 'here' anyway?" Tom asked. Redd never told him where they were going. All he knew was that there was land, and land meant people. And despite the whole city looking run down, he knew that they didn't have many options for finding help.

"Oh? You don't know? Come on Nook, this place should be a bit all too familiar for you." Redd teased. Nook squinted, looking around the area until finally, it occurred to him where they were. His breath got caught in his throat at the sights around him. He should've known. They were back in the city they have met so long ago. The old buildings, the bright lights, the beach covered in trash. This was a time in his life Tom wished he could forget. 

"Hehe, now the memories are starting to come back, aren't they Nook?" 

Tom didn't answer. The two of them just continued down the dock until their paws hit the cold sand on the beach. Tom felt a shiver down his spine as he stepped on some old trash beneath him. He felt disgusted by everything around him, the beach had always been like this. Tom remembered coming down here some nights after work to see the boats come in and out of the city. It was so much more different than the beach in the small town he and Sable used to live in. He remembered those days, sitting in the soft sand with her and staring out at the blue sea. There was no trash there, no boats coming in or out. Just the stillness of the waves.

Tom remembered how he would sit at this beach missing his old friend. But it wasn't the same. The ocean was green, sand was cold and wet, and the sound of the noisy boats would ruin any peace this beach had left. Tom didn't want to be here. He felt sick to his stomach just looking around. He wanted to go home, he wanted to see Timmy and Tommy again. And it seemed like Redd noticed Tom wasn't looking so good as he stopped in his tracks.

"Are you alright?" Redd asked. He didn't understand why, but he did feel a bit bad for the raccoon. "Look, I have some friends here," Redd continued, "We can just ask for some food and water from them and we'll be on our way. I know how to get back to your island from here, you'll be home before you know it."