Hanging By a Thread (Stardew Valley Fanfiction)

One

Sebastian always tries to stay calm. He's the kind of person who acts like he doesn't give two shits about anything. His jokes are all deadpan and edgy and when he smiles it's a jagged, disney villain esque expression

Sebastian likes to think he's calm, cold, and edgy.

But right now, he's definitely not any of those things. Hanging by a thin tree root sticking out from the cliff, he's screaming his lungs out.

He's not sure how it happened. One second, he was sitting on the cliff smoking, the next he was falling. He'd grabbed the first thing he could, and forced himself to stay clung on.

It was the cliff he often went to- a secret spot where he could just think. Sometimes he'd go there when he felt anxious, or depressed. And sometimes he came just for the view of the city.

No one knew about it.

No one knew he was here.

And Sebastian was sure he'd be dead in two hours max.

He'd tried to climb up the root, but he wasn't able to reach the top of the cliff from where the root was. So he did the next best thing, and tried to look for a ledge, something he could try to get to so he could stand. But he never looked down- he was too smart to do that.

After a while, his voice became dry, probably from all the screaming.

All he could do was hang there and think, either until he lost his grip or was saved. His lungs hurt so badly, so he stopped screaming. He wished he'd worn something brighter- his dark clothes would make it impossible for him to be spotted at this time of night. He didn't have his phone- it had fallen too, and he hadn't been able to catch it. Even if he had his phone, he didn't have service.

And so, he began thinking. It was all he could do.

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When he was around five, he and his mom had moved to Pelican Town. There, Robin had met Demetrius, who had been the doctor in town at the time. Sebastian hated Demetrius, because Demetrius treated Sebastian like he was his dad. Sebastian wasn't Demetrius's son, and he'd never be. Sebastian's own dad had died just a year prior, of a heart attack. The wound was still fresh for the young boy, so he never grew to love his mom's boyfriend.

Two years later, Robin had gotten married and was now expecting another child. Sebastian's room was moved downstairs.

When Maru was born, Sebastian was forgotten about. The fact he had no friends made it worse. He became obsessed with books and video games as a coping mechanism, and worked harder at school to try to make his parents proud. But they didn't notice. They were too focused on the baby, as if she had anything interesting going on.

His loneliness ended when Sam entered his life. He'd been looking for frogs in the pond when a younger boy with curly blonde hair approached and exclaimed "I like your freckles!"

Ever since then, he and Sam had been each other's lifeline. They did everything together, to the point where Sam's mom joked that Sebastian was like a second son.

After a while, they began to spend more time with the shopkeeper's daughter, a roundish girl with light brown hair. She had an obsession with ghosts, fantasy creatures, and magic. Perfect for their group.

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He stopped thinking for a moment- remembering his situation. Reflecting on his childhood had been a bad idea- his grip had loosened a bit and his eyes had become glassy.