Hey Guys, here is the first chapter of One Last Dance that I'm writing :) I hope you like it and I hope it gets the same response as my last one, Strange Attraction :) So thank you for trying it out and don't forget to comment on how you think it's starting out :D Disclaimer – I do not own Harvest Moon or any of its Characters x

One Last Dance – Chapter one

Chelsea's P.O.V

The sun danced delicately on the soft, rippling water as I threw a pebble in. No matter how hard I tried I could never make in bounce on the gentle waves like dad could. Looking up he winked at me before ruffling a heavy hand through my hair and skimming another pebble across the water. I frowned and sat on the floor with my arms crossed in agitation. Dad laughed before kneeling down to my level, his soft brown eyes searching mine as his mop of dark hair fluttered into his vision.

"It's all in the wrist Chelsea" He smiled as he opened my hand carefully and placed a smooth, black pebble into my tiny fists. "You never fail, until you stop trying"

I let out a short huff before standing up again and glaring at the annoying rippling of the lake. Dad nodded for me to carry on. I held my breath as I turned the pebble over in my hand before letting go. Closing my eyes I didn't want to see it sink into the water again.

"Chelsea look!" Dad exclaimed. I opened my eyes just in time to see the pretty black stone hop across the water in elegant little steps. I grinned widely at my accomplishment as Dad picked me and swung me onto his shoulder. Holding onto his forehead tightly, we watched the glistening autumn sun set behind the tall building of the city.

I suddenly snapped back into the real world, the street lamps flashed by as I sprinted down the quiet road. In the surrounding houses people lay asleep, dreaming of pleasant things, completely unaware of what went on in the dead of night. They had no idea.

As I reached the corner I slipped and fell, my knee catching the hard concrete below. But I didn't have the time to spare; I picked myself up and continued to run; even having time to yell pretty impressive bad language at the group of prostitutes hanging out in a cloud of illegal smelling smoke. Although I'm sure that there were equally good comebacks that could be thrown at me, considering I was being chased by druggies.

Turning around I looked back at the three men still hot on my tail. I threw my head back and laughed before taking a sharp left onto the bridge overlooking the mouth of the river leading to the sea. As I got halfway across I got stopped by a large roadwork truck which took up the whole length of the bridge. Shit.

I stopped dead. The men behind me finally came to a stop just three feet away. The light was barely bright enough to make out their features. The man closest to me was tall and a little overweight, but his muscular arms evened out his body mass. The two behind him were shorter and skinnier, both their jaws clearly defined with little stubble spread over their top lips. It gave me a massive urge just to grab a razor and shave their faces manually. Either you have a moustache and name it Fred, or you don't have one at all. Not one of them things.

"Nowhere to run Miss Dawson," The chubbier man sneered. I turned to face him and winked.

"How's the wife Bob, still sleeping with your brother?" I asked raising an eyebrow before smiling smugly. His face fell and turned red before he closed the gap between us in one simple step. I hopped back and climbed onto the ledge of the bridge. His two butt lickers followed him till they were all surrounding me, again.

"Can I just say?" I asked staring at all three of them, "It's been a laugh," They all took a step closer to grab me but I held my arms out, winked, and let myself fall backwards, plummeting towards the cold water. Just before I broke the surface I saluted the three men looking over the edge of the bridge. As soon as I impacted the water I felt the icy chill stab me like knives.

Quickly opening my eyes I swam away from the point of collision and towards the other side of the docks.

"Did you see where she landed?" I heard one of the men yell. I snickered underwater, unfortunately loosing half of my oxygen at the same time. Slowly I came up for air and quietly stuck my head out of the water. It was too dark to spot anything so I just held my breath and swam in a direction which felt right.

Finally I hit something solid. Breaking the water again I looked up at the hard metal object. It was a ferry, and a big one at that. It must have been a cross-channel ferry.

"Pull up the lifeboats" A voice called from above. Suddenly the water was disturbed as a boat close by started to climb up the side of the ferry. Seizing my chance I swam quickly over towards it and clambered inside, hiding under the protective covering. No-one would suspect a thing.

As the bumpy ride finally came to a halt I peeked out from under the cover and didn't see anyone close by. Quickly hopping out I ran towards the door, opened it and slammed it behind me. That was too close. Damn it Chelsea, I thought you were cleverer than that. I turned around and caught everyone in the corridor staring at me. I smiled at them all widely before flicking my dripping hair over my shoulder and walking away,

I reached an on-board shop in no time and slid my elbows across the counter to smile at the cashier. He looked only around 17 and still had traces of acne across his jaw line,

"Hello, how may I help yo-" He stopped to look at me; my red top and light jeans were dripping with water and creating a lovely puddle underneath me.

"Midnight swimming in the pool, you should try it sometime," I winked at him. He frowned at me before running a hand through his greasy blond hair.

"We don't have a po-"

"So what've you got for sale?" I cut in smiling. He shook his head before turning around and pointing at some shelved behind him.

"Got some chocolate, mugs, pens …" He answered turning back around to face me again, now ignoring my appearance.

"Any clothes?" I asked, shaking my leg to add to the water puddle. Maybe they didn't have a pool but I was sure creating one hell of a mess. My jeans rubbed uncomfortably against the back of my thighs, what a time to get chef's arse. He returned shortly grasping a map in his hands.

"This ferry has a larger clothes section here" He pointed to a little T-shirt icon in the middle of the page, "It's just left, straight up there and then left again. You should be there," He smiled down at me before handing me the map.

"Cheers," I returned the smile before following his directions down the crimson coloured corridor. There were a few pictures on the wall, mostly of happy families galloping in a field like twats. Families were never really like that, especially not mine. I rolled my eyes just as I turned the corner and came across a large sign. 'Sea-life Shopping Centre' It read in block capitals. I walked right through security and towards the clothes isle. I didn't really care what clothes I had as long as they weren't wet. Smiling to myself I picked up a pair of denim shorts, a yellow long sleeved top and an orange jacket. Completely unlike me, I hated the colour yellow and as for the shorts, they should be burn and thrown in the ocean. But I shoved them under my arm none the less and made my way over to the changing rooms.

As I closed the curtain behind me I stripped down and replaced my old clothes with the new one's I'd acquired. Ripping the tags off them I quickly kicked my wet clothes under the clothes rack before walking out into the shop again. The closest shoes near me were a pair of bright red wellington boots; I quickly shoved them on my feet and smiled. Could I have chosen anything more retarded? I smirked before walking towards the other exit of the shop. As I passed the kids isle's I stopped at a pirate stand, on the bigger kid's head was a bright red bandana. When I was little I'd always begged my dad for on just like that to be like my idle Polly Popper. She was the main character of the story books I used to read and she wore a red bandana just like that. I snickered before whipping it off his head and replacing it on mine, now I looked completely awesome. I danced out of the shop to a little beat before reaching the stairs and grabbing the railing of it. I slid down the banister and landed just short of an old lady who took a step back in astonishment.

"Now you watch where you're going, we don't want anyone getting hurt with your messing around now do we?" She asked pointing a pale, fragile finger at me and shaking her head. I smiled at her and nodded.

"I'm sorry, I'm in a rush. I forgot that when the flares go up that you're supposed to grab your lifejackets, not go towards the rushing water coming in" I smiled sweetly before skipping off down the corridor. Her face fell as she watched me bounce off into the distance. I smiled to myself before searching the corridor for the right door. Catching the right sign I quickly walked towards it and tried the handle. Of course it was locked, what did you expect Chelsea? I growled under my breath before turning around and looking up the corridor. Just a few meters away stood a guy wearing a white shirt and black pants, now that looked like a guy of authority. I ran towards him and grabbed his arm in panic.

"Mister, Mister you've got to help me. My gran, she thinks the ship is sinking and keeps panicking, I don't know what to do, I'm afraid she's going to hurt herself" I wept to him. He nodded understandably before looking down at me.

"Where is she ma'am?" He asked, his voice a hell of a lot deeper than he looked. I pulled on his shirt to follow me as I ran back to the old lady who was making her way up the stairs.

"Gran, gran, the ship, this man is here to help you" I said looking at her with false fear in my eyes, inside I was pissing myself laughing. She turned to face him and widened her eyes.

"Is the ferry really sinking? I'm not the best of swimmers" She asked looking at him. He turned to face me and I squeezed out a tear. Slowly he took hold of her arm and looked into her eyes.

"Ma'am I'm here to help you. Do you understand?" He asked loudly, I took an unnoticeable step backwards and swiped the keys handing off a chain in his back pocket. The old women looked around confused and shook his hand off her arm.

"I can handle myself" She said before turning around and striding off. I grabbed the crewman's arm again.

"Please help her" I whimpered again. He quickly closed the gap between the two of them before talking to her again. I quietly stepped backwards until I knew for sure they were out of sight before walking back to the locked door and turning the key in the lock. It opened in one swift move and lead to a supply closet. Inside lay life jackets, spare cutlery, a broom, blankets, a few boxes and a wall full of key cards. I smiled at my accomplishment before heading over to the key cards and running my finger down the side of each one. Next to them was a light, if it shone red it meant the room was occupied but if it was green then it was vacant. My finger stopped on room 101, the nearest empty one here. Smiling I quickly took the card before leaving the room and locking the door behind me. I looked at the set of keys in my hand before sliding them across the floor till they hit the bottom of the stairs. It made it look like he had dropped them.

I walked off in the opposite direction, looking at the room numbers as I went. Soon I came to room 101 and unlocked it. Inside was pretty neat. There was a desk, a freshly made bed, a small T.V and a mirror all jammed into a little space. Beggars can't be choosers I guess. I unfolded the sheets before climbing into bed and pulling them back up to my chin. I snuggled down into the white sheets as my eyes grew heavy. I had no idea where this ship was off to. All I knew was that I couldn't stay in the city any longer, not if I valued my life.

I woke to the sound of the waves harshly lapping at the side of the ship, it was pretty damn loud. I rolled over in bed and closed my eyes, trying to force myself to go back to sleep. Even if my dreams were nightmares, it seemed a hell lot better than actual life where I was hunted down for reasons I didn't fully understand. All I knew was that it was Dad's fault, as soon as he left the country, his burden seemed to be carried on to me and so it was my responsibility to keep myself out of harm's way.

Suddenly an alarm started going off as another wave scraped along the side of the ship. Groaning I rolled out of bed and opened the door. There were a few people running down the corridor gripping their luggage close to their chests. I frowned at then, not sure what the hell was going on. Then the guy who I'd stolen keys off before ran past before stopping and back stepping a few paces to face me.

"I'm sorry Miss, but the ship was stuck by lightening in the storm, the ship's going down. I must urge you to get to the top decks as soon as possible before this tub goes under" He stated before rushing off again. The colour drained from my face as I soaked in the words. Ship, lightening, sink, deck, now. I left my door ajar before heading in the direction that everyone else seemed to be heading in. We weren't that far off the mainland right, I'm pretty sure we'd be fine. As a group of frustrated looking people barged their way past me, I was pushed to the side out of the way. They all looked pretty worried about the ship sinking; I quickly smirked to myself before taking a step closer to them.

"Near, far, wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on" I sang as one of the women turned around to face me with anger plastered across her face. I smiled at her in return and continued my out of tune singing. "Once more you open the door, and you're here in my heart, and my heart will go on and on"

"Do you find yourself funny?" She asked, folding her arms across her chest looking at me. I nodded at her, she was around four inches taller than me and had pretty thick arms for a lady but I couldn't help myself. After all she'd barged past me and threw me aside.

"In actual fact I do" I smiled politely at her. She threw me a dirty look before unfolding her arms and holding them by her side.

"You shouldn't be so foolish in a situation of panic" She spoke fiercely, hoping to scare me off. But I just continued to smile at her as kindly as I could. When she saw that I wasn't replying she turned around and huffed to her friend about how rude people can be. I sniggered again before following them up the stairs.

As we finally reached the top deck I managed to catch up to her one last time, to her disapproval.

"Sharks to the left of me, Waves to the right here I am, stuck in the ocean with you" I sang before walking past her and towards the toilets. Hey you can't board a lifeboat with a bladder full of piss. Opening the door I locked it behind me and quickly did the deed. After feeling a hell lot better, I washed my hands and attempted to open the door. But the lock held in place and wouldn't budge. I tried to wiggle it free, kick it, slide it but in the end resorted to sitting on the lid of the bog and yelling unpleasant names at it. I had to get out of here; I didn't run away from one threatened life for another. I slammed my fists hand on the door and yelled at the top of my voice, surely someone could hear me in here. How does a ship sink after getting hit by lightning, it doesn't make sense, maybe a power cut yeah? But sinking?

I slammed my fist on the door as hard as I could 'till my bones started to ache. I was going to get out of here, I knew I was. Turning back around I scanned the small space for something to open the door with. Toilet paper? No. A scrubber thingy? No. Soap? No. Then I stared at the soap again, maybe if I got enough of it could act as a lubricant to unjam the fucking awkward lock. Placing my hand underneath the soap dispenser, I repeatedly slammed my fist on the button as the soap came pouring into my hands. When my whole palm was full I quickly poured it over the lock and rubbed as much as I could into each little crevice. I tried to pull the lock back but my hand slipped and I caught my finger on a sharp edge. Damn that fucking hurt. The blood began to pour out of my new wound just as the soap mixed with it to create a lovely slimy liquid on my hands. Suddenly there was a large groan form the metal under the ship and my little toilet room began to tilt to the side. Wiping my bloody hand onto my new shorts I quickly wrapped my hand in a load of bog paper and tried the lock again. With one foot on the sink and another securely on the floor I pulled with all my might. And luckily, with the help from the soap, the door burst open to allow a gust of the cool night air flow through my hair. Smiling to myself I stepped out of the door onto the deck which was tipping noticeably to the left. I had to hold onto the door to keep myself upright.

Looking around me I noticed that all the lifeboats had gone, not a single one left. I let go of the door and managed to slide my way over to the opposite side where all of them life boats had vanished too. They couldn't have left me, but as I looked around the place seemed deserted. Not a single person left. Swallowing a large gasp of air I made my way back inside the corridors and shouted.

"Hello" There had to be someone here, there had to be. But there was no reply. Now was the time to shit bricks Chelsea. I looked down the corridor and stumbled my way towards the closest room with its doors open. I searched the place only to come back with nothing. I did the same to the next room and the room after that until I found a storage room. Looking inside I threw all the boxes around, searching for anything I could use to help me off this damn boat. I finally came to a plastic wrapper. 'Only use in emergencies,' it read on the front, I'm pretty sure that applied here. Ripping open the protective layer I saw a string and pulled it straight away. Unfortunately I hadn't read any of the instructions so an illuminous orange inflatable suddenly inflated in my face, knocking me off balance and sending me crashing to the floor. I stared at it in rejoice before grabbing the side of it and squeezing it out of the tiny door, trying not to puncture it. When I finally managed to get it on the top deck I could make out the water spilling across the bottom half of the deck already. Shitting myself I threw the blow up raft into the water before diving onto it and paddling away from the boat with my arms stuck in the water. The rain poured down on my face as I detached a little makeshift oar from the side and began to paddle.

Soon the ship was just on the horizon but still close enough so I could see it go under. The last groaning of the metal sent shivers down my spine, or maybe that was just the icy water from the waves crashing down into my flimsy raft. I pulled in the mini oar before clambering inside the tent like covering. As the waves violently lapped underneath the raft it gave me a violent outburst of seasickness, lovely.

The sky seemed to grow darker in each second that passed, the clouds rolled over the killer waves to cast a looming shadow over my shaking body. There was no way I was going to die in this shit hole. I grabbed the oar again and shoved it in the water before frantically paddling with all I had. The waves hit me hard in the face and stung my eyes as the salt got into them. I wasn't the type to give up; I was going to get out of this alive.

And so it comes to the end of the very first chapter of 'One Last Dance', I hoped you like it and please review :) Thanks again for reading and I hope you stay tuned to find out more :D