LIFE ON SUNSHINE ISLAND

HI EVERYONE! This is my first multi-chapter fic, so don’t kill me, okay? Flames are accepted, reviews and constructive criticism are better! Thanks.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t own Harvest Moon. Natsume does.

On with the story!

Mark Emerson worriedly glanced out the window of his cousins’ Mineral Town farmhouse. He’d been doing the same thing for the past two months. Even the townspeople were worried about him.

Claire glanced up from her breakfast. “Mark, you have to stop worrying about Chelsea,” she scolded, her bright blue eyes indicating she was fed up with him worrying about his childhood friend. “I know her. She’s a strong girl. She can handle herself,” she added. “How do you know that?” Mark shot back, his emerald eyes meeting Claire’s sapphire ones. “She left on that cruise two months ago. “Who knows what could happen?! That ship could be hijacked. It could have sunk. WHO KNOWS? Well, you wouldn’t, seeing that yours and Jack’s lives are perfect here in Mineral Town. You have NO IDEA what is going on in the world!” He stopped his tirade when he saw that Claire’s blue eyes were welling up with tears. Oh, boy, he thought, rushing over to comfort his younger cousin. If Jack could see this…

As if on cue, Jack burst through the door. When he saw his little sister crying, he narrowed his brown eyes at Mark. “What did you do…” he muttered. “Nothing!” his younger cousin replied, but in his head he thought, Man, does this guy have a telepathic communication with Claire or something? He shrugged, and then went out to feed the chickens.

Four hours later, he fell to the ground near the fish pond in exhaustion. “Oh, Goddess, WHY did Jack have to plant this many tomatoes?” he called out to no one in particular. “Because Jack wanted to, Mark?” he heard. He spun around. Claire was standing there, her basket full of sparkling gems and her ridiculously long hair tied in a ponytail. He looked at the basket, then her. “Oh, these?” she asked. “I found the Teleportation Stone.” As if THAT explains everything, he thought. “I’m going for a walk,” he said, cutting Claire off from her lecture about Teleportation Stones. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked softly.

Mark stalked up the road to the library, not apologizing when he bumped into Gray by the blacksmith or to Cliff by the winery. He just kept on going until he got to Mary’s library. He went inside. Mary greeted him with a cheerful “Hi, Mark!” as he waved to her. “I came to return the book you lent me, Mary,” he said. “Oh!” Mary’s eyes gleamed with pleasure. “So you finished David Copperfield?” she asked excitedly. “Yeah,” he replied. “And I was wondering, did you have any more Charles Dickens books?” he asked. “Sure!” Mary replied cheerfully. She gestured over to a shelf. Mark thanked her, and then walked over to it. Books had always been his escape from the world. He loved reading, which is why he went over to the library often. He smiled, picking up a book and leafing through it. “If only life could be like books…” he murmured.

The next day, Mark woke up happy. He smiled at Claire, ignoring the puzzled look she gave him. He fixed himself breakfast and hummed a song that his mother had taught him. He sat down next to Claire, ignoring her putting her hand up to his forehead. “Mark? Are you okay?” she asked. “Wonderful!” he exclaimed, unnaturally cheerful as he finished his breakfast and went out to feed the animals when he bumped into Jack. “Oh! Sorry!” Mark cried, helping him up. Only then did he see the worried look on Jack’s face. “Jack? What’s wrong?” Claire asked, coming over to them. “D-Doug lent me a newspaper…” he said softly. “There’s nothing wrong with that, Jack. Go on,” Mark said, smiling. “And…it was on the front page…” he muttered. Claire hugged her brother. “You don’t have to go on, Jack,” she said goodheartedly. Jack shook his head. Finally, he burst out, “The ship Chelsea went on…They reported that it sank!” Mark’s face went stark white.

A/N: So. how'd you like it? Love it? Hate it? Want to flame it? Whatever floats your boat! Thank's for reading!