Abigail woke up in her bed feeling more refreshed than she had ever felt before, even though she only had 2 hours sleep. The sun shone past her windows, streaming in the brightest rays of autumn sunshine.

“Gar! Gar!” She heard a grumbly voice say. Much too peppy for early morning, she thought. And it sounded way too close.

After a solid second, the connection snapped in her brain and she jumped up to sit straight on her bed with Jester rolling off her face onto her lap like a theme park ride. A loud giggle bubbling off him. “Aren’t you supposed to be at the center? How did you get here?”

In a flash of a moment, he went non-corporeal and floated like a ghost, his colors disappearing until he was invisible to the eye.

“Boo!” He surprised behind her, chuckling.

Abigail yelped loudly with a start. Then she pushed off her bed with a grunt and glared at him in full height.

Jester began hopping on one foot and dropped his brows in a more vicious glare. They stood there battling wills in a stare-down before Caroline walked in without knocking.

“Something’s happened.” Her mom grabbed her by the arm, walking out “Your dad won’t wake up. Watch over him while I go get Harvey.”

“Wait, mom! Why isn’t he waking up?”

She looked bewildered, having just woken up. Her hair was in a messy shape, clothes mussed up from yesterday, and it didn’t seem like she had time to wash her face. “I don’t know. He woke me up with his nightmares and he doesn’t wake up to whatever I do. I have to go quick. See that your dad doesn’t get himself hurt while I’m away. Quick!”

Shocked, she watched her mom leave through the front door and she walked stiff towards her parent’s bedroom, unsure what she will find on the other side. Terror gripped her hard by the throat and it felt like ice, chilling and running through her whole body. Reaching out for the door knob, she pushed it open.

Her dad, Pierre, was flailing with wild gestures in his sleep like he was fighting something off. He rolled from side to side and his breaths were coming in heavy. There was a pale sheen to his skin, a stiffness to his movements. It almost looked like he was having a hard time breathing.

“Garrr.” Jester passed through the wall from her bedroom like he was made of air. “Garr garrrr” he said in a melodious rumble, his eyes spinning in wild phantasmagoric colors.

Pierre’s struggle intensified, his groans becoming faint. There was a weakness to him that started settling the more he struggled.

Abigail moved across him next to the footboard and watched him fight an invisible fight. The same way she had been fighting growing up. The man he called her father built a near pristine reputation, larger than life and admirable to all who knows him. No one would believe about his abuse behind closed doors. Heck, even Sebastian had a hard time believing her. Most times his abuse didn’t feel like a fight but more of an endurance, a gargantuan endurance that demanded a lot of mental and emotional strength. But those two strengths were invisible, and what a fool she would make if the truth ever came out. Her scars were in her heart, not in her body.

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As Pierre weakened from his struggles, Abigail’s heart burned with the scars, burned with a vengeance. The man was fighting an invisible like she did for years. Let him suffer as she did.

After seeing the poor man struggle for a few moments, a sense of intuition prodded at her. It must be Jester’s presence that is causing all this. After all, this has never happened before. Inside her pockets, she fished for a small piece of amethyst. She never goes anywhere without the purple gem. It has become a superstition that calmed her whenever she grew depressed. It was when those usual annoying thoughts came her way that holding a piece of the purple stone was key to warding them all off. It was stupid. But then again, she has been feeling stupid for a long long while.

The moment she plucked it out in the open Jester lost his color-chaotic gaze. Instead it diminished down to a red purplish hue, reminding her of this strange creature’s potential. “What power you have, lil’ monster.” She said, waving the piece of amethyst to his rapt attention.

With pride, “Gaaaar.” he said. The sound resounding from deep within his chest.

She pointed at Pierre, “Aren’t you hurting him? Stop it.”

At that, she noticed the air around them became less stifling. Sunlight glowing stronger from the windows by each passing second.

“Good.” She curled open her fist that held the amethyst and offered it. “Here. Take your prize.”

Jester swiped it off her hand in a single flash. “Gar gar!” He said victoriously.

“One more thing.” She said, offering another amethyst from her back pocket. “Take away his nightmares, will you?”

With questioning eyes, Jester faltered in his step. “Gar gar??”

The meaning of his gibberish seemed to settle in her mind and she replied to him without any doubt. “I want to give him new ones. Both of us will. Together, okay?”

There was a naughty gleam that filled up Jester’s eyes. Jumping up on the bed next to Pierre’s face, he released a long tongue with its end disappearing inside his dad’s temple. He seemed to be feeding off him, sucking and lapping through like it was a gourmet parfait made in perfection.

Soon footsteps thudded outside the door and Jester finally retracted his non-corporeal tongue. When she blinked, he was gone and she could hear the faint impish giggle through the wall to her bedroom.

Caroline and Harvey along with Maru following closely behind started bursting through the door. They found Pierre in the middle of waking up and while the three of them fussed over him, Abigail leaned by the doorframe and thought about all the creative ways he could make more nightmares for Pierre now that she had a partner-in-crime whose specialty lies in terror and deception. The thoughts gave her an exciting thrill, it was nothing like she had ever felt before. Nothing has ever made her look forward to a future as she did right now. The potential for expressing herself in this purple and black color was innumerable, and she wanted to discover the many devious ways she could be.

It fits. Like a piece of a puzzle coming back home. This was how she was meant to be. Destructive, devious and in a lot ways, pure unadulterated terror. The never-ending possibilities expanded in her sight, in her vision. Strange things in Stardew valley will only become stranger with Jester and Starfa running amok in the shadows. And she can’t wait to observe what ruin they will bring to this awful town with its simple complacent townspeople who let a vile man like Pierre in their midst.

What a fruitful destruction it would make. And like what the Stardew townspeople did to her, she would not lift a finger to help them in their struggles.

Soon, she thought as she stepped back away from the chattering flurry inside her parent’s bedroom. Soon they will pay. And she will watch them burn.