CHAPTER FOUR — THE NAME
800 Words
CHAPTER FOUR — THE NAME
THE SUSPENSION
Luna's suspension began the following morning.
She expected it to be boring.
It wasn't.
Her mother decided to use the opportunity to make her help around the house.
"You have enough energy to punch somebody," her mother said, handing her a broom.
"You can use that energy to clean."
Luna groaned.
"Mummy!"
"No."
"But—"
"Clean."
Luna began sweeping.
Her mother watched her from the kitchen.
After a few minutes, she smiled.
"You really punched her?"
"She slapped me."
"That wasn't my question."
Luna laughed.
"Yes."
Her mother shook her head.
"You have your father's temper."
Luna stopped sweeping.
"My father doesn't have a temper."
Her mother looked at her.
"You think so?"
"He's calm."
Her mother smiled strangely.
"Your father learned how to be calm."
"What does that mean?"
"Nothing."
She turned away.
Luna stared at her.
There it was again.
That strange look.
That feeling that her parents were keeping something from her.
She had noticed it before.
But whenever she asked questions, they changed the subject.
She didn't push.
Not yet.
THE NAME
A few days later, Luna was sitting outside with her mother when Paul returned from work.
He looked exhausted.
His uniform was dirty.
There was a small cut near his forehead.
Luna stood immediately.
"Daddy, what happened?"
"Nothing."
"You're bleeding."
Paul touched his forehead.
"It's just a scratch."
Her mother hurried toward him.
"What happened?"
"Minor accident."
"Whose accident?"
Paul didn't answer immediately.
Luna noticed.
Her father looked at her.
"Go inside."
"Daddy—"
"Inside, Luna."
She frowned.
"But—"
"Please."
The word was gentle.
That made it worse.
Luna went inside.
But she didn't go far.
She stood behind the curtain and listened.
Her parents were speaking quietly.
"I told you this was going to happen," her mother said.
Paul's voice was low.
"You don't know that."
"They've started asking questions."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Then don't worry."
"I'm worried because you keep saying that."
Silence.
Then her mother said:
"What about David?"
Luna stopped breathing.
Paul answered immediately.
"Don't say that name."
Luna's eyes widened.
David.
The same name that would appear years later.
The same name her mother would whisper while crying.
The same name attached to the photograph.
At sixteen, Luna knew none of that.
She only knew that something about the name frightened her father.
THE DAY EVERYTHING CHANGED
That night, Luna went to bed early.
She opened her university brochure and placed it beside her pillow.
Soon, she would leave secondary school.
Soon, she would enter university.
Soon, she would become the person she wanted to be.
She had no idea that before graduation, her life would change forever.
The first change came quietly.
It came one morning when Luna woke up and noticed that her mother wasn't in the kitchen.
That had never happened before.
Her mother always woke before everyone else.
Always.
Luna searched the house.
"Mummy?"
No answer.
She checked the bedroom.
Her mother was lying on the floor beside the bed.
Luna froze.
"Mummy?"
She rushed forward.
Her mother's eyes were closed.
Her breathing was strange.
Luna screamed for her father.
Paul came running.
"What happened?"
"I don't know!"
Paul dropped to his knees beside his wife.
"Luna, call emergency services!"
"I'm calling!"
Her hands shook as she dialed.
For the first time in her life, Luna wasn't the person watching an emergency happen from the outside.
She was inside it.
Her mother was the patient.
Her father was terrified.
And Luna couldn't fix it.
She held her mother's hand.
"Mummy, please."
Her mother opened her eyes for a brief moment.
She looked at Luna.
Her lips moved.
Luna leaned closer.
"What?"
Her mother whispered something.
One word.
A name.
"David."
Then her eyes closed again.
The ambulance arrived.
The paramedics worked desperately.
Luna stood outside the room, crying as she watched.
Her father sat on the floor.
His hands were shaking.
Eventually, the doctor came out.
He didn't need to say anything.
Luna understood.
Her mother was gone.
A heart attack.
That's what they said.
A sudden cardiac arrest.
Natural causes.
A tragedy.
But Luna couldn't forget the final word her mother had spoken.
David.
And somewhere deep inside her, a question began growing.
Why would her dying mother use the name of a man Luna had never met?
Why had her father once warned her never to say that name?
And why, years later, would a mysterious stranger leave a photograph at their door claiming that the same man had survived a fire?
Luna didn't know the answers.
Not yet.
For now, she only knew that the woman who had raised her was dead.
And something about her death didn't feel like the end of a story.
It felt like the beginning.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD