Under the Blue Moon

Four

I head downstair to the kitchen to find my Dad standing looking lost. “What am I doing here son?” he asks me.

“We’re looking for any clues about the Rowan’s going missing Dad, remember.” I tell him, he clutches his head nodding. “It hurts son.” He groans. I take him by the shoulders and walk him out of the back door into the flower filled garden, the compulsion isn’t as strong here in the private space I note. Manoeuvring my father onto the wooden bench I sit him down and tell him to stay put, I’ll be back shortly.

I take a deep breath and head back into the kitchen. As I walk through the door the air splits again and a much older kitchen appears in front of me, the paint lacks vibrancy and the counter tops look well-worn, cups sit in the sink ready to be washed and the door to the laundry room stands open. I follow the fractured world vision into the small room, spotting an open washer and active dryer spinning to its side, I bend into the basket pulling out a handful of items. Clinging to them as though my life depended on it, I turn and head out to the garden where my father sits.

Leaving the distorted light of the house, the world becomes bright and sharp again, the items in my hands come into focus and I spread them out on the bench next to Dad. The life has come back into his eyes after leaving the house and he is focused on the situation again. “What is this?” he asks.

“Ok” I reply, “This sounds insane but let me explain” He nods at me to continue, I explain about the note and the vanity, the splits in the air and the laundry room. He patiently listens with no judgement, and I have never been more grateful of the man who sits in front of me than I am now. When I am done, we look at the clothes that I have brought out of the house properly.

The items I have laid out are a boy’s shirt, mid teen maybe, a pair of cream knickers with Hello Kitty on the back they say size 10 on the label, and a grey cable knit cardigan. “These were in the laundry room?” Dad asks.

“Yes and the dryer was on” I reply. Confused Dad looks at the pristine home in front of us again. “None of this makes any sense.” He states bluntly. We gather up the clothes and head around the house, not wanting to risk the confusion that overwhelmed Dad on our way through. He breathes a sigh of relief as we drive away, I feel the pressure in my head start to alleviate the further away we get from the cottage.

When we pull into the driveway at the packhouse Uncle Jamie and Matty are pulling boxes out of the back of a transit van and Mum is hovering around them with a huge grin on her face. We all grab a box and head into the smaller conference room setting them down against the internal wall, mum is setting out a trestle table for refreshments with one of the kitchen staff. As we head out of the house to grab the last few boxes Jenna and John her second in command are walking towards the hall with trays of sandwiches, cakes and drinks on a trolley.

Uncle Matty stops dead in his tracks “Jenna the love of my life, the woman who is meant to be my wife when will you relent and say yes.” She snorts with laughter and shoos him away from the trays, he pulls a puppy dog face “Still playing hard to get I see, the heartbreak the pain, I’ll not survive another day!” He clasps his heart and swoons against the wall.

“Enough boy child” the older women berates, smacking him with a stack of napkins “I know you only want me for my chocolate cake and there’s an extra slice of that just for you on here.” She pulls a frown looking at her beta as he drags himself down the wall wailing in mock agony as he goes. Quick as a flash he jumps up “See I told you all she loves me most.” He chases the plump chef for a moment before grabbing her and forcing a wet kiss on her cheek. “Tsk I’m old enough to be your mother, foolish boy!” she scolds unable to keep the smile from twitching at the corner of her mouth.

Uncle Matty lets her go and jogs back to us grinning like a Cheshire cat. I can almost hear Dad and Uncle Jamie rolling their eyes at him. Uncle Jamie goes back to asking about the house, Dad tells him that it was just all together odd and that it might be best to run through it all together so he’s not retelling it all afternoon. We all agree and grabbing the last four boxes we head back to mum and the food.

Lunch is quick but delicious, Jenna and her team are really the best, I almost understand why Uncle Matty harasses her for her chocolate cake. I am licking the last traces of frosting from my fingers as mum starts to unload the first box. My eyes start to twitch as I watch the contents gather on the floor. ‘Nope’ my brain starts to sing, this is becoming my theme tune I internally joke, before I say, “Mum all of this stuff is back at the house”. She turns to me to tell me not to be daft when she stops at the sight of my father’s ashen face, I say ashen, there’s not a drop of colour to him as he looks at the contents of the living room shelves in front of him. “H-h-h-he’s right love” he stammers “all of it, we saw all of it back at the house.”

Mum takes a second, looking between us and the items around us before murmuring something that sounds an awful lot like “f*****g magic” before storming off.

After a few moments of silence I stand up and head to the boxes looking for a box with Gwyny’s name on it, finding it towards the back I upturn it on the carpet. Out spills the soft toys from my four-year-old friends’ bedroom, a small baggy of hair ornaments and a bedtime story book. Every item of which had been displayed prominently in the bedroom I had spent so much time in this morning. “Nope” I mutter, “Nope”. Turning to the windows I open one wide to let some much-needed air in, when a fog of warm breath clouds the window beside me. “Come get me James” it says.

I hear the gasps from the gathered Alpha team behind me before I spin on my heel to face them. “Wait, what, you can see that?” I almost scream. Matty gulps and nods, Jamie and Dad do the same.

“Gina” Dad bellows, “What the actual f**k is going on here!”