Breaking Away From Here-Harvest Moon Animal Parade Fan fiction

Family Picnic

One night we had just started eating, when Father piped up, grinning. "Bellalese, I found a beautiful soft meadow the other day. I believe it would be a perfect place to enjoy a picnic date." Mother lit up. "Oh we haven't gone on a date ever since Beatrice was born! That would be lovely!" I felt like even when she wasn't conscious of it, she was picking on me. I knew I shouldn't have spoken up because Mother and Father would get angry, and Finn noticed me sit up like I always do when I'm about to speak and screamed at the top of his lungs for me to stay silent, but I said, "Excuse me, Mother, Father..." They glared at me like I insulted them. I looked at my plate. "Uh..." "Cough it up!" Mother angrily yelled. "Um, what will I do while you're gone?"

They looked at each other. There was a long pause as they thought about it. "Father and I will talk about it later."

Dinner continued mostly in silence. Eventually Father said he worked at the mine earlier that day. It had become harder and harder for him to find wonderfuls and ores. "But we can't be as bad off as Castanet." "Why? What's wrong there?" "My sister, Haley, you know how she lives up there. She's sent me a letter saying the place is suddenly just not working." "How so?" she asked picking up dinner. I helped her. Father sat at the table still as he explained, "She says the wind has stopped blowing, the crops will barely grow, the fire won't light, and the water isn't-" "Your sister is a little liar. There can't possibly be that much wrong with Castanet. That's the most prosperous land that I've heard of! She was probably bored and decided to make that up." "I don't know, Bellalese. My sister always has plenty to talk about," he commented with a grin. Mother laughed a little. I stayed quiet and wiped the table.

"I believe she's old enough to be home alone," I heard Father say downstairs while I tried to sleep upstairs. Well, up ladder. To get to my room you climb up a ladder. My room doesn't have a door, so it's extremely easy for me to hear my parents conversations.

"Henry, I don't know. She's only six." "Honey, she's the most mature child I've met." "Lately she's been demanding to go out and help you. I don't know why she'd want to go out there... and who knows! Maybe she'll go outside while we're gone!"

"I'm sorry, Bellalese." "What?" "We'll have to take her with us." "Wait. What!?" "It'll have to be a family picnic," Father explained grudgingly. Mother groaned. Finn exclaimed, "You'll get to be in the outside world! It'll be fun! Aren't you excited, Beatrice? Beatrice? Beatrice?" I only stared at the ceiling. I wasn't sure what to think.

The next day, Mother woke me up extra early so we could pack the picnic lunch. The whole time she explained to me we were going as a family. "It'll be fun!" She was acting like she was talking to me, but really she was trying to convince herself. "We'll eat good food and we'll still have a day off with Henry." I attempted to ignore her self assurance chat, but her strict voice can always pierce it's way into me.

We had just folded up the picnic blanket when Father came in from morning chores. "You two ready?" "Yes," she said handing the blanket to me and picking up the picnic basket. "Let's get going then!" We walked outside. The air was cold. Autumn leaves fell from the trees. We followed Father. It was wonderful to walk around in such an open place. Originally I was nervous to go out, but there was nothing to fear. Maybe that such a wide open place made me feel small, but the free feeling I was receiving overpowered the other.

Birds were chirping. I held on to the picnic blanket tightly so I wouldn't drop it and get in trouble. "Isn't it wonderful, Beatrice?" Finn smiled while asking. I nodded. But I didn't smile.

We were walking for quite a long time when my feet started hurting a lot. I'd never walked this much, literally, in my whole life.  I really wanted to take a break, but I was afraid Mother and Father would get upset. "You alright, Beatrice?" Finn asked. I nodded, but I needed a rest. Just then, Father exclaimed, "Here it is!"

We were in the middle of a meadow that was hidden in the Agan Forest. I hadn't even noticed we had been walking in the Agan Forest because of how tired I got. "Beatrice," Mother called when Father took the picnic basket from her. I unfolded the blanket and she grabbed the opposite side I had hold of. We both spread it on the grassy ground. Then my parents sat on the blanket. I basically dived into it.

"I made turkey sandwiches", Mother said, unpacking the picnic basket. I touched the dirt with my index finger. Then I caught sight of a worm. "I also brought apples, carrots, and a surprise for dessert." "Sounds delicious, honey." "I used shining mayonnaise on the sandwiches. Hopefully it's delicious." I poked the worm. It slowly wiggled. "It's also made with perfect lettuce, so it ought to be luscious," she continued. I picked the worm up with my index finger and thumb and while holding it up to the sky, I examined it. "Cute, huh?" Finn asked. I nodded. Suddenly Mother gasped. "Oh! Beatrice! Put that down! That's repulsive!" I set it down carefully. "Ew. Now you must wash your hands." She got up, and, grabbing me by the wrist, she pulled me towards a river I hadn't noticed.

After scrubbing and washing my hands over and over for ten minutes because Mother thought I didn't clean it enough, Father yelled, "Just come over here so we can eat already!" She took out my handkerchief from her apron pocket and wiped my hands clean. Finally we started eating. I watched the river while I ate. Mother and Father chatted and joked. I stared at Finn fly freely around in the air. Cute, I thought.

"Excuse me, Mother?" "Hmm?" she asked, a little annoyed. "May I explore?" "Yes, you may walk around, but not out my sight." "Alright. Thank you." I got up and Finn followed me. I picked some flowers and sat near the river. Looking in you could see little tadpoles. "Not too close, Beatrice," Finn warned. I spent some time admiring the little plants and creatures in the river, then I walked around the meadow and picked more flowers. Blue mists, cosmos, chrysanthemums, and moondrops.

Soon I had more than I could carry. I walked back to my parents and set the bouquet in the picnic basket. Then a loud snore startled me. I looked up and found it was Father, sleeping. Mother was in his arms fast asleep also! Then my mind made a crazy assumption. If Mother's eyes are closed, I thought, then she can't see anywhere. But when you are asleep, you can see everywhere. She said stay in her sight.

I turned towards the Agan Forest, then grinned. "Beatrice? What are you thinking?" Finn asked. I skipped into the trees.

It wasn't long until Finn and I were lost. I was very scared. Scared of two things. Not being found and being found. Mother and Father would never forgive me for doing this. "I told you not to go in here! I told you that you'd get into serious trouble! Now we're lost!" Finn complained. I kept walking trying to find a way out, though I was very scared. "The sun is going to set soon!" he whined and started crying. He was right. You could tell by the shadows.

We kept looking until there was almost no more sun. The sky was dark blue and purple out of what I could see. That's when I was going to give up. I sat down and cried, too. "Beatrice! We can't give up! Then we'll never get out!" Finn exclaimed. I wiped the tears away, nodded, and got up to continue. Just then I heard someone calling my name. "Beatrice!" "Beatrice!" "It's that way!" Finn shouted, pointing to the direction from where we heard it. I ran that way and Finn flew not far behind.

"Beatrice! Where are you!?" I started crying because, believe it or not, I missed them. We went faster, and soon we emerged out Agan Forest into the little meadow. Mother looked at me angrily with her hands on her hips. "Where were you!?" I looked down. "I got lost in the forest..." "You are a mess." I stared at the ground, not daring to look up. "You have scratches all over your face, your hair is in a huge knotted mess, and your dress and socks are all torn." I hadn't noticed the branches hitting me as I ran back to the meadow. Now I could feel the pain of the scratches. "Beatrice, you knew better than to just go off in the forest on your own!" Father blared. He strode over to me and gave me a spanking.

Afterwards we ventured through the forest again and soon we were home. "You are taking a bath and going straight to bed without dinner or dessert," Mother told me. And that's just what happened. I stared at the ceiling while I heard the swallows of my parents eating strawberry shortcake. Finn looked out my window. "I'm sorry, Finn," I whispered. He just ignored me. Even Finn was angry at me. I will never be let outside again, I thought.