I Don’t Want to Start a Story!

Max couldn’t recall the last time he slept for so long. He never got a chance with Bessie’s tight schedule looming over his head. And in his past life, his ageing natural body clock made it almost impossible to wake up late in the day. Maybe it was before the kids? No, it was even earlier than that. Ellie always had too much she wanted to do in the morning, so he had to give her a hand.

Stretching while clambering out of the small closet, which had been his home in this world, he found an exhausted Cy painting the walls. “Morning.” Max looked over the splotchy work that had been done so far. Cy was clearly not talented at painting walls, but he had managed to cover half of the room. “I thought you were supposed to be shovelling shit?”

“Alan has people over to help plug up his well again. Apparently, it wasn’t sealed properly last time because they can still smell Kyle’s body.”

“…Who?”

“Alan’s shepherd boy?”

“Ah.”

Cy’s voice and movements were mechanical. The purple bags under his eyes showed that he had stayed up the whole night. “I’m supposed to go back this afternoon. Bessie told me I had to clean up the mess from last night while I waited… Isn’t sleep deprivation a form of torture?”

Max looked around the room while he ignored the question. Cy had done a pretty good job of cleaning up. “So why are you painting the walls?”

“It dyed the wallpaper. The whole thing needs to either be replaced or repainted to cover up the splotches.”

“You chose to repaint the whole room?”

“I don’t know where to get this wallpaper, and I don’t have enough money to buy a replacement for the whole room.” Cy let out an exhausted sigh. “I think… I’m going to have to go back home soon.”

“Back to the capital?” Max asked while popping into the kitchen for some fresh water. “What’s caused the sudden change? No longer interested in my fate?”

Cy didn’t say anything for a little while as his small paint brush continued to steadily go up and down the same spot on the wall. “Ever thought about leaving the village?” Max was slightly taken aback from the question. “There are more people like me in the capital, so they might have an answer to why you have no fate.”

Story Name:

A Fresh Start

Genre:

Bildungsroman

Description:

Leaving a sheltered village, the MC finds themselves while living in the bustling capital.

Goal:

Make a place to call home.

Difficulty:

★★★☆☆

How to Start:

Go to the capital!

Max barely glanced at the prompt. “I’m not really fussed about not having a fate. If anything, only you care about it.”

Cy put down the paint brush. “Aren’t you worried? To be different from everyone else?”

“The way I see it, I have the freedom to choose how my life goes.” The irony of feeling freedom whilst working at an exploitative farm wasn’t wasted on him. Achieving ‘true freedom’ in the past meant nothing now since nothing had changed.

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud knock at a door. Tap, tap, tap. “Who the fuck knocks at a door like that?” Cy cursed.

Max couldn’t help side eyeing him as he recalled their squabble at Noah’s shop. “You do.” He was about to open the door when the prompt caused him to stop.

Story Name:

A Fatal Romance

Genre:

Horror

Description:

After experiencing multiple rejections, the village darling has snapped.

Goal:

Help Adelaide find peace.

Difficulty:

★★☆☆☆

How to Start:

Reject Adelaide’s advances.

“Max? I heard from Bill that you’re back home.” Adelaide’s voice called out from behind the door. Max and Cy exchanged worried glances. Tap, tap, tap. “I came to check if you’re okay!” Cy quickly gestured for him to close and cover the closest window, but Max had already made the decision to retreat further back into the farmhouse.

He didn’t make it very far when an irritated Bessie shoved him out of the way as she made her way to the front door. The storm from last night was still yet to subside. The front door was swung open with such force that it made Adelaide jump. “Ah! Good morning, Bessie. I was wondering if-”

“You’ve got some nerve making such a racket this early in the morning.” It was almost noon, but no one corrected her. Cy and Max watched the situation closely. Adelaide should run while she had the chance, but her eyes lit up when she saw Max over Bessie’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry. I just wanted to talk to Max. Could I come inside?”

“He’s working.”

Adelaide continued to look into the room. She had seen an exhausted Bill unload today’s deliveries and take two long, wobbly walks home with Elder. Poking his curious nose just within her sight, she could see an exhausted Cy covered in mud and paint. In comparison, Max looked clean, rested, and refreshed compared to normal. “Are you sure? He doesn’t seem to be doing anything,” she blurted.

Max couldn’t help but grimace from her comment. He had worked to the bone for months. Now he had one day off, and he was being called lazy. The comment didn’t go over Bessie’s head either. “Do you have a problem with how I distribute the work around MY farm?”

“No! No! I just- Would it be possible for me to help him with his jobs this morning? I really have to talk to Max about something.”

Bessie looked Adelaide up and down. Kitted out in the latest fashion again, it was questionable if she could bend down and touch her toes, never mind hard labour at a farm. “YOU are going to shovel up shit in those fields?” Cy began to look frantically between Max, Bessie, and Adelaide. After spending the whole night and the early hours of the morning cleaning up the fields, he didn’t want the credit of his work to suddenly go to someone else.

“Maybe not…”

“Then are you going to milk every cow on this farm?” Both Cy and Max tilted their heads slightly. Half of the berry girls were not producing milk right now, and farmer Gull should have already done it.

“It’ll be difficult for me to bend over for so long…”

“Ah, so you’re planning to help Max cull the infected cattle in Bo Field!” Bessie said, with a cruel smile.

It was only now that Adelaide was starting to realise Bessie was toying with her. “Listen here. Let me through, right now! I’ve come all the way here to this godforsaken farm to speak to him. Nobody is going to get in my way. Now, move!”

“No.” The coldness in Bessie’s voice caused both Cy and Max to brace for impact.

“Right.” Adelaide pushed up her sleeves before she began trying to push her way past the immovable Bessie to get into the house. Max didn’t move in case the system could interpret it as him rejecting Adelaide whilst Cy frantically tried to gesture to her to stop.

Thwack. Thud.