Author’s Notes – Based on the N64 version.
Well, Karen obviously sits at the ocean all day
because she has an ambition/dream, right? Well,
there’s another part of that, which is what is the
different thing about this story; I changed it a little.
She sits at the water staring out over the sea for a
different reason, too…I guess this’ll be a one-chapter
fic. The song in here is by Dido.

It was an overcast, autumn day as Karen
gazed out over the ocean by the edge of the dock,
sighing as the sun began to set. She could tell it was
setting by the way the clouds were bright orange
before her, and the clouds behind her were dark.
She loved sitting here peacefully, since she got a
break from her family back home.
A crybaby mother, a hot-headed and lazy
father—not to mention forbidding—and a sloppy
helper.
Sometimes life burned up Karen’s mind. She
HATED home sometimes—in the rare times she was in
a good mood something always messed it up.
Karen relaxed her nerves as she gazed out at
the ocean. She often felt that her life was really
messed up.
Whenever she was at the beach, she always
thought of her dream to live in the city. But she also
felt that there was something about the ocean, too.
For some reason it made Karen feel longing.
Of course, if an ocean is bleak and grayish-blue it
does look lonely to a well-trained eye. But it wasn’t
that type, exactly; she felt that she belonged
somewhere else whenever she looked at the water.
Karen was lost deep in thought, her knees
curled up under her chin, when she noticed a bottle
bobbing in the water. It looked like a wine bottle with
a fancy label, so she picked it up out of the water
and set it down next to her.
She wiped her hands down. The bottle was
very wet. She read that the wine was made from a
very good vineyard in California. For some reason,
when she read the vineyard’s name, that made her
heart pang.
She was going to throw it back out again when
she heard a *clink* from inside the bottle. She peered
at the bottle closely and noticed there were two
objects inside.
Karen uncorked the bottle, curious. Out slid a
rolled-up letter, but the other object wasn’t coming
out of the bottle.
She peered inside. There was a cassette.
“How the hell did that get in there?” Karen said
aloud.
“Did what?” asked someone.
Karen looked up and saw Jack. He had been
there for three years now; around then she guessed.
But they had never been very close to each other. In
fact, Karen’s mood seemed to put him off for good
now. Just as well; he was dating Elli, anyway.
Jack’s muscular arms and good looks meant
nothing to Karen.
“It’s none of your business,” she snapped at
him.
“I just wanted to know,” he said, shrugging.
Karen peered up at him closely. Then she said,
“It’s a cassette. It’d be kind of difficult to get it in the
bottle, now wouldn’t it?” she added sarcastically.
Jack looked slightly hurt.
“Maybe they made half the bottle, put in the
cassette, then finished the other half,” Jack said.
Karen rolled her eyes at him. She turned
around coldly to stare at the sea again.
After a few moments of silence, Jack said,
“So…you going to read that letter?”
“Yes,” Karen said, coldly and pointedly.
Jack got the message. He trudged away.
Karen sighed, watching him like a hawk until his
backpack disappeared between the two cliffsides
and up the hill to the ranch. Then, before she
unscrolled the letter, she broke the bottle away from
the end of the dock. She walked back to the edge
and peered at the cassette.
It looked pretty old, but not too old. She
wondered if it could be played.
She decided to listen to the cassette first, and
read the letter afterwards. She didn’t know what
made her choose that; but she DID have all the time
in the world.
After a few more minutes, she followed the
way Jack left and looked into Green Ranch.
She was going to go and talk to Ann; but she
saw Jack was there talking to Cliff so she decided to
talk to Ann later.
Her gaze hardened as she was walking past
Jack’s farm and she saw Maria entering it.
She went back up to the vineyard. Her dad
was standing outside the door, like he always did; she
walked in quickly without having to talk to him. He
said something to her, but Karen did not hear the
words.
Karen ran upstairs to her room to avoid her
mother.
Now that she thought about it, her parents did
not seem too much like her. Her mother had her
green eyes and the blonde hair like the streaks in hers;
her dad had dark brown hair; but their faces were
sculpted differently.
Karen locked the door behind her and jumped
on her bed. She took out the cassette player under
her bed. She plugged it in, placed the cassette in it,
and pressed the PLAY button.
She wondered who would put a cassette in a
wine bottle, with a letter. It wasn’t likely if the person
who wrote it was lost; if they had a cassette, that
wouldn’t make sense. If the person was looking for
someone else, then it wouldn’t seem very likely that
the person would actually GET the bottle.
The cassette was silent for a minute; then
someone began talking. It was a boy’s voice; by the
sound he seemed only about fourteen or so.
“Umm, hey Isabelle. I know you probably
won’t receive this; but I finally wrote the song about
you that I promised you. But I wrote this after you
were lost…I just want to say, I still love you.”
Then music started playing. There was a long
moment of music; then the guy began singing. It
wasn’t a hard rock song; it was more like a quiet song
with gentle guitar music and also a mixture of sounds
you can play on an electric machine(or whatever),
and base drum beats.
“I thought it was funny when you
Missed the train
When I rang you at home, they said you’d left,
Yesterday,
I thought it was stra-a-ange when your
Car was found
By the tree in Eunice,
Where we used to hang around,
Dear Isabelle, I hope you’re well,
And you’re in a good place tonight,
Oh its been such hell I wish you well,
I hope you’re safe to-onight,
It’s been a long day comin’, how long will it last
when its
Last day…leavin’, I’m helpin’ it pass by
Lovin’, yo-ou more…”

Then there was a long period of soft guitar
music. The melody was quite haunting; it was also
sad, in a way.

“I hope you’re not with some guy
And I hoped you haven’t di-ied,
But would he’ve loved you,
And not let you down, like I-I,
Would he be stronger,
Than his father,
Don’t punish yourself
Leave it well alone…
Dear Isabelle, I hope you’re well,
And in a good place to-night,
Oh its been such hell, I wish you well,
I hope you’re safe to-onight,
It’s been a long day, comin’, how long will it
last, when its
Last day, leavin’, I’m helpin’ it pass by
Lovin’ yo-ou mo-ore…”

There was another long period of music,
except it was like the “middle” part of songs you hear
on the radio today.

‘S been a long day, comin’, how long will it la-
ast when its
Last day, leavin’ I’m helpin it pass by
Lovin’…
Lovin’ yo-ou…”

The song ended. Throughout the song, Karen
felt jumpy whenever the name “Isabelle” was
mentioned. The song tugged at Karen’s soul, and
mind, and she wondered about it.
She unrolled the letter and squinted at the
neat, yet small, cursive handwriting.
The letter read:
“Dear Isabelle,
I still blame myself for the argument we had
over our eloping, and when you ran away and got
onto that boat. I am sorry for my mistake and I wish I
could take back the words I shouted at you and
made you leave me. I am pretty sure that we
could’ve made up the next morning.
“Ever since your boat accident, I was positive
that you were still alive. You were only fifteen and had
more life to live. It has been three years now; I trust my
instincts that you are still alive, somewhere. I pray that
maybe someday you will receive this letter while you
are still living. I cannot bear to be away from you
much more.
“Do you remember the vineyard we lived at for
the three months after our eloping? This bottle is from
the vineyard. Unfortunately, I had to sell it after you
ran away. We weren’t making too much money.
Now, however, I live in a nice house in California
writing songs like I did at the vineyard.
“I promised you a song for you, and I finally
wrote it. It is enclosed on the cassette. I wish I could
see you one last time; your green eyes flashing with
anger and hurt at what I said the last time I saw you
still haunts me. I’m sorry that the last thing you heard
from me was angry shouts. I wish you were here…”
Karen stopped reading then. She was
entranced by this letter; it all seemed so familiar,
somehow, even though they had no movie theaters
so Karen could watch a love movie. She was
remembering that she hadn’t remembered much of
her life before fifteen.
Karen glanced at the date on the letter. It
read: “July 15th, 1991.” It was around October 8th
now, 1997. This letter was written when she was
fifteen.
She continued reading.
“…and I hope that you don’t have another
guy by your side. I still wish you were mine. I know
you’re not reading this now; I know that probably
nobody will ever be able to read this letter, but I feel I
should write down what is in my heart now before my
life bursts and I finally break down.
“I remember teaching you how to dance. Our
favorite song was ‘Dance by the Moonlight.’ I wish we
could dance one last time together.
“I know you aren’t reading this. However, if
someone IS reading this, then please find a girl
named Isabelle Winter. She has green eyes and
brown hair, with two streaks in them.
“I love you, Isabelle, and I always will. Though I
may marry once again, I will always keep you in my
heart. I will search for you, around the world, until I
am too weary to go on. I love you.
Love,
Michael”

Karen’s eyes were wide by the time she
finished the letter.
This “Isabelle” person sounded a lot like herself.
Apparently, she and Michael eloped around 1987 or
1988 and had an argument. Isabelle left and was in a
shipwreck, never to be seen again.
Karen sighed again. The story was very
romantic and touched her heart deeply.
Though she couldn’t shake off a feeling…
Karen and Isabelle both loved to dance. Both
their favorite songs were ‘Dance by the Moonlight’.
They both had brown hair with two blonde streaks,
and green eyes. She was fifteen in 1988 and so was
Karen!
Karen remembered more forcefully that she
did not remember anything before the age 15. She
only remembered her life in Flowerbud Village.
Maybe, just maybe…
Karen flew downstairs with the letter and the
cassette.
“Mom, I need to talk to you.”

***

Karen’s bags were packed; she had her lucky
charm bracelet on her hand, all her possessions with
her. In addition, she had a rusty old locket that her
mother gave her; she had taken it away from Karen
when they found her on the beach in August, 1988.
Karen had not known anything when they awoke her,
so they took her in as their daughter. Inside the locket
was a photo of a younger Karen with a boy with
messy black hair and deep blue-green eyes. They
both looked very happy together.
Karen looked around at Flowerbud Village.
She had said the goodbyes that she had wanted to
say; her mother and Ann were seeing her off on the
ferry.
Ann was crying and wishing Karen good luck in
finding the boy, and telling her to write her everyday.
Karen’s mother was silent, and gave her a present
from her father that was simply money.
Karen couldn’t help feeling a tear in her eye.
With a last wave to her mother and best friend, she
boarded the ferry to leave Flowerbud Village, and to
fulfill her ambition and find the guy she once knew.

***

Author’s Notes – I hope you liked my story…I
got this idea from reading all those other Karen stories
and listening to the dido song. I thought it would be
more interesting to read a love story without Jack or
Kai in it.