NEMESIS!

CHAPTER ONE - THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK The first thing Luna noticed when she stepped out of the car was the smell. Rain. Wet earth. And something faintly metallic drifting through the evening air. She stood beside the open car door with one hand on the strap of her handbag, staring at the large iron gate in front of her. Home. After four years. For a few seconds, she simply stood there. The house looked smaller than she remembered. When she was a child, the building had seemed enormous. Its cream-colored walls had once appeared to stretch endlessly toward the sky, and the upstairs balcony had been her favorite place to sit whenever she wanted to watch the rain. Now, standing there as a twenty-four-year-old woman, she wondered how something that had occupied so much space in her childhood could suddenly feel so ordinary. "You're not going to stand outside all night, are you?" her father asked. Luna smiled. She turned. Her father was standing on the veranda. Paul. Even after all these years, she could recognize him from a distance. His hair had become noticeably gray, and there were deeper lines around his eyes, but his posture was still straight. Years of military discipline had left him with a way of standing that made him look permanently prepared for inspection. Luna shut the car door. "Daddy," she said. Paul opened his arms. She walked toward him. He hugged her tightly. For a moment, Luna was twelve years old again. She could smell his aftershave. She could feel the familiar roughness of his uniform shirt. And she could hear his voice against her hair. "My little soldier," Paul said. Luna laughed. "I'm not little anymore." Paul pulled away and looked at her. "That's exactly what a little soldier would say." "Daddy." He laughed. Behind him, Luna's mother appeared at the doorway. "My baby!" "Mummy!" Her mother rushed down the steps and hugged her before Paul could say anything else. "Look at you," her mother said, holding Luna's face between her palms. "You've become too slim." "Mummy, I'm fine." "You're not eating properly." "I eat." "Where?" Paul chuckled. "Leave the girl alone. She just came back." Her mother ignored him. "Come inside." Luna smiled as she followed her parents. She had imagined this moment so many times during the years she had been away. Graduation. Coming home. Starting work. Finally becoming what she had always wanted to become. A paramedic. Her father had spent most of his life responding to emergencies. Accidents. Fires. Collapsed buildings. Road crashes. People trapped beneath vehicles. People bleeding on the side of roads while strangers stood around helplessly. Paul had been the person who stepped forward. The person who knew what to do. When Luna was younger, she used to think her father was fearless. She later discovered that wasn't true. He was afraid. He simply never allowed fear to decide what he did. That was why she had chosen the same path. She wanted to save people. She wanted to be useful when everyone else was panicking. She wanted to wear the uniform her father had worn for decades. And now she had finally graduated. Her father was retiring. She was beginning. It felt almost poetic. Like one life was ending so another could begin. None of them knew that something else was beginning too. Something that had been waiting for years. DINNER Dinner was louder than Luna expected. Her mother had prepared almost everything Luna loved. Rice. Stew. Fried plantain. Chicken. And enough food to feed twice as many people. "Mummy, you cooked all this for me?" Luna asked. "For who else?" her mother replied. Paul raised his hand. "I live here too." Her mother looked at him. "You can eat leftovers." Luna laughed. Paul shook his head. "You see how they treat retired people?" "You've been retired for one day," Luna said. "Exactly." They laughed again. For the first time in years, Luna felt completely at peace. She told them stories about school. About difficult exams. About the instructors who shouted at students. About the classmates who almost gave up. Her father listened carefully. Sometimes he asked questions. Sometimes he corrected something she said. Sometimes he simply smiled. Then Luna noticed something. Paul wasn't eating much. "Daddy?" Luna asked. "Hmm?" "You're quiet." "I'm listening." "No. You're thinking." Paul looked at her. For a brief moment, something changed in his expression. Then it disappeared. "I'm just tired," he said. "From retirement?" "Retirement is exhausting." Luna smiled. "You're strange." "Maybe." Her mother stood and began collecting the plates. "I'll handle that," Luna offered. "No. You just came home." "Mummy, I've been home for hours." "You are still my child." Luna rolled her eyes affectionately. She took two plates anyway. As she walked toward the kitchen, she heard her parents talking quietly behind her. She couldn't make out the words. Then her father's voice became clearer. "...it's over." Her mother replied softly. "It should have been over a long time ago." Luna stopped. Her hand tightened around the plate. Then she heard a chair move. She quickly continued walking. She didn't know what they were talking about. And she didn't ask. That was the first secret she unknowingly walked past.