Us | A Stardew Valley FanFiction

Chapter 14 - Fall 24

"Do you, like, need help with that?"

"All good," Alex grunted in response to Haley's question, lifting yet another large brown box up the stairs and through the front door.

"And what's in this one?" she groaned, moving the box's flaps and peering inside. I could hear metal clang around as she rummaged through the contents, eyebrows furrowed.

"What does it look like?" Alex shot back, wiping residual sweat beads off of his forehead.

"Where did you find all of this?" She questioned, pulling a solid iron bar out of the box. I could feel my heart stop in my chest. That was worth hundreds of gold, at least.

"Clint hooked me up, Haley," he laughed, snatching the bar from her and placing it carefully back into the box. "You think I could afford something like that?"

"Of course not!" She shrieked, crossing her arms. "That's why I was asking. And I know your dumb ass wasn't down there mining it yourself."

I chuckled, allowing my thoughts to wander. The lingering bite of Josh's threat had slowly been settling over us for the past week, like a storm cloud looming overhead—and we were ready for downpour at any second.

Alex had already led a few failed attempts at running Josh out of town, most of them targeted towards Joja Mart itself. Between organizing strikes against Joja, bribing Pierre to have a "holiday blowout" sale at the general store, and now hauling large loads of random material to and from the house, Alex undoubtedly had his hands full.

Describing his most recent efforts as a "top secret exchange with Lewis," I knew that the old community center uptown had to be involved. I was no stranger to having favors asked of me, one being restoring and renovating that entire, decrepit building. Yeah, no thanks.

"Alex, come on, just let me help out," I pleaded, watching as Sam unloaded the recent shipments and sorted them into more refined packages.

"Sade," Sam stated bluntly. "Let us do something nice for you, you workaholic. Don't you have, like, a plant to water?"

I watered the plants at 6 in the morning, Sam. And fed the animals. And picked up twigs. And—

"We have to go," Alex interjected, looking at Sam and nodding his head towards the door. "Sam, will you—"

"On it," Sam said with a salute, compiling his organized stacks into one large box.

Picking up the remaining items off of the ground, Haley gingerly stuffed the variety into her bag. "We will see you later, love, okay?"

I sighed as they walked out of the door, the silence of their absence quickly filling the now empty space. If you already know what they're up to, then it would be a sad surprise anyway, Sadie. It would be much more fulfilling to help them finish it, right?

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My ultimate decision led me straight to the front doors of the Community Center, my heart racing out of my chest. What will it look like? Will they be mad at me for figuring it out?

I pushed down my thoughts and forced my hand to push open the door, the old hinges squealing as it creaked open. A small gasp escaped my lips as I laid my eyes upon the sight: freshly painted walls that still reeked of leftover chemicals, de-dusted furniture that could be mistaken for brand new pieces; liveliness.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, Sadie!" Alex groaned as he lugged supplies into the common area. "You're serious right now? Did you follow us here?"

"What—no!" I spit back, my tone drenched in caginess. "I figured it out, on my own. There's only one project that Lewis would be willing to dog on Joja Mart for."