The Forbidden Child - Alpha’s Lost Luna

Chapter 8

***Jane***

We pulled up to Melanie and El’s trailer so they could get a change of clothes and other items for the night. Also so El could get a few things for orientation day tomorrow. The trailer was old with paint peeling on the outside, and weeds growing up all around it. The few wooden steps leading up to the door looked like they had wood rot and the railing was broken. At least one window on the trailer was broken like a rock had been thrown through it and was boarded up from the inside. The girls got out of the car and then El turned back towards me.

“You coming? I don’t see dad's truck, so it’s probably okay to come in.”

“Sure, if you're okay with it.” I got out and followed El and Melanie across the gravel and carefully up the steps.

Melanie was first to get to the door and opened it as it had not been locked, walking into the dark room. El and I followed and I heard El say “s**t” under her breath. I soon found out why after my eyes adjusted to the dim light. I stood in a small living room with a couple of old worn-down couches and a leather recliner with a few tears on it, and one passed out man still holding a bottle of Jack Daniels Whisky.

“Just make sure you're quiet and hopefully we won’t wake him.” El whispered to me. Melanie had already walked past him, going down a short hall and through a door. El bent down to take the bottle from her dad and carefully pried his fingers off of it until he let go, then placed it on the coffee table on top of a bunch of magazines.

She then went down the same hall that Melanie had, and motioned for me to follow her but raised her fingers to her mouth to shush me when I stepped on a creaky floorboard. Then we found our way into the room Melanie had gone into. Inside the room was a single double bed crammed up against the brown paneled wall and a single small window, a night stand next to it right up to where the door opened up. At the foot of the bed there was barely enough room for a desk with a chair, a mirror on the wall over it and shelving around that. It seemed it doubled as a vanity.

On the only other wall was a double closet with the doors removed, a dresser on one side, with clothes hanging on the other. There was a deep purple comforter on her bed, and I proceeded to sit on it so I wouldn't be in the way as they went about packing up after El softly shut the door behind her.

I watched as Melanie reached into the closet to a top shelf and grabbed two small duffle bags and tossed them on the bed next to me. El started to go through the dresser drawers, pulling out a few things and stuffing them inside the bag. Then Melanie went over to the desk and grabbed what looked like a makeup kit and hair tools.

“Do we really need all that?” I tried to say, but both girls stopped what they were doing and looked at me in fear, shushing me again. I guess they really didn’t want to wake their dad. I decided to just let them do their thing so we could get out of there.

El then opened the bedroom door and left for a minute, coming back into the room with a bag of toiletries. Not long after, Melanie was zipping the bags up and the girls had their things and were ushering me out the door. I walked down the hall again, remembering to avoid the creaky floorboard this time. But just when I was almost to the door, I bumped into a coat rack and knocked it over.

We all looked over at the girl's dad hoping he would stay asleep, but we had no such luck. He began to stir, started to sit up more and looked around.

“What. . . what's going on? Who is that?” He asked grogerily.

“It’s okay dad, it's just Melanie and I, we're just picking up a few things, go back to sleep.” El said.

“Who's that other person with you?” He asked as he rubbed his eyes. Starting to stand up. He then looked at me with questioning eyes. “Serena? Serena is that you! What. . . What the hell are you doing here!”

“I’m not Serena,” I said. Confused why he would call me that.

“Dad, she’s not Serena, Serena is dead.” Melanie said, walking over to her dad. “Why don’t you just sit back down and relax, I’ll get you some water, would you like that?” She tried to coax her father back to the chair.

“No. No! You, you are the reason Catori is dead! It’s your fault!” He started screaming at me, trying to get to me while pointing his finger in my direction.

“El, get her out of here!” Melanie yelled to El. Then I was being directed out of the trailer and back to the car. El pushed both bags into my hands.

“Please put these inside, I’ll be right back.” And then she ran back inside the trailer. I could still hear their dad yelling even from the outside. “She’s why my wife is dead! It’s her fault!” Then I heard glass shatter, like a bottle had been thrown against a wall. Hearing noise coming from my right, I turned to see another man running towards the trailer. He got up to the steps and did a double-take look at me, pausing for a second before entering the home. Soon both girls came running out of the house towards me.

“Get in the car! Let's go!” Melanie yelled at me. I quickly jumped into the driver's seat as the girls got in. “Lets go, lets go, lets go!” Melanie said again.

“Okay! I got it! I’m going!” I said as I hurriedly buckled and sped out and away from their home. Even as I peeled out and drove away, the sisters still watched through the rearview window as if they were afraid their dad would come after them. It wasn’t until we were a few blocks away that they seemed to calm down and turn frontwards in their seats. But still nobody spoke, not when we were a few miles away, not when we drove up to my house. And not when we unloaded the car full of bags from shopping and their house. It wasn’t until we were all sitting in my living room, me in a chair and the girls on a couch, that I finally broke the silence.

“Anybody care to explain what the hell that was all about?” I asked.

Melanie and El looked at each other, and then at me. Then El spoke first, “I’m sorry about that. Ever since mom died, dad’s been a little different. It’s like she was his whole world, and he lost it when she died.”

“Yea, but what about calling me Serena? Why would he say that? How did your mom die anyway, if you don’t mind me asking.” El, looked down at her hands, like she was ashamed, or afraid, I didn’t know which.

So this time Melanie answered me. “Our mom died about 8 years ago in an animal attack. She was visiting some friends up close to the school, Paravetiti Academy, when they were attacked by a couple of bears. Our mom was able to escape for a little bit, but one of them tracked her down and killed her. Her friends died that night too. Serena was her best friend. Dad blames Serena because if mom hadn’t been there to see her, she would still be alive.”

Wow, that was absolutely horrible. I looked at El and could see she looked like she was starting to cry. I stood up and walked over to where El and Melanie were sitting, and wrapped El in my arms, giving her a hug. Her body stiffened at first and then relaxed. I heard her say quietly,

“You still want to be my friend?” I looked at her like she was crazy for saying that.

“Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?” I said as I gave her another squeeze and then let go.

“Most people around here just look at me like the girl who lost her mom. They either pity me or make fun of me. No one tries to understand me, except Mel, she’s the only one.” She says as she looks across me to her sister with love in her eyes. Well, I could certainly understand that.

“El had it harder than I did. She was only 9 years old when it happened. I was 12 and already had a I don’t give a s**t attitude with people. Sorry to dump this all on you. We’ll understand if you want us to go.” They started to move like they were going to get up and leave.

“Wait!” I exclaimed, they paused, sitting back down.

I looked down at my own hands, and realized I needed to tell them something too. “Well s**t, umm. . . you guys want some water? You want some water right, I’ll go get some.” I said as I got up quickly and walked into the kitchen.

“Umm, sure?” Melanie said as she and El looked back and forth at each other and at me.

After filling up two glasses and bringing them back over and handing it to them, I sat back down on the chair across from them. “So, umm, since we're spilling deep dark secrets and all, I think it’s my turn to tell you my story.” This was gonna suck. I sat there fiddling with some random piece of string on my shorts, until I couldn’t take it anymore and stood and started pacing back and forth as I spoke.

“So, funnily enough, about 8 years ago something happened to me too. I actually have amnesia and don’t remember anything from before the hospital. I’m told I was near death, laying under a willow tree somewhere in the Van Duzer Forest Corridor when a hiker found me. I was lucky he found me when he did, much longer and I’d be a goner!” I half-heartedly laughed at my own rhyme. I felt like if I just spit all the info out at once, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

“Yea, anyways. . . So I wake up in the hospital, not knowing who I am, where I am, have all these wires attached to me, a cast on my leg and bandages all over the palace, and start freaking out. Amy was the one who came in and was able to calm me down, and I ended up only trusting her. Every other person, doctor or nurse that came into that room felt like a threat to me. Soon she became like my personal nurse, and then took me home when no one came to claim me. And I’ve been with her ever since! So, yea that’s me.” I said while looking anywhere but them. Crashing back into the chair after letting it all out.

Before I knew it, both Melanie and El rushed over to my chair and somehow sat in it and both hugged me at the same time. “Okay okay I get it, we're all a bunch of emotional wrecks who don’t want to be pitied, right? Now get off! I can’t breathe!” I said as they both got up off the chair. Then they both held out a hand to me to help me up too. Pulling me up swiftly, with all of us lightly laughing.

With all of us standing in front of one another, I felt like something needed to be said. “Okay, so it seems we all hold things back, but maybe don’t want to? I propose a suggestion. From now on, we should not be afraid to tell each other things, no matter how weird, hard, or unbelievable it is. I mean, that's what you're supposed to do with friends, right?” I asked. They were silent. Were they quiet for too long? Should I say something else?

“I mean, I've never really had friends before either, because of the whole amnesia thing, you know, kids making fun of you and the whole pity thing? Yea, I’ve had that too.” I said, feeling rather vulnerable.

El and Mel looked at one another like they were trying to communicate something, then El said. “We don’t want your pity any more than you want ours, so. . . Yes, that is what friends do. But just like it took time for both of us to tell each other about our pasts, it might take time to tell more secrets if we have any. So I’d like to add another bit to what you said if that's okay?” She asked. I nodded my head in agreement.

“When new information is brought forth, we take time to consider all aspects before jumping to blame, pity, anger or sorrow. Basically, take a bit to think it through. Don’t end a friendship over what might look different on a new day.”

Well, that was an interesting way to say it. I wonder if they were still holding something back. “That sounds fair,” I replied.

“Okay, great! Can we ditch the emotional wagon and start the fun stuff now? We need to get ready for tonight!” Melanie exclaimed. Oh yea, the party. Both El and I groaned together at the same time, then looked at each other and laughed. “You too just need to learn to socialize more, and that is what tonight is all about!”

“Isn’t Kai going to be there?” I asked with a pouty look.

“Most likely, but hopefully he’ll behave. Now let's go get ready!” Melanie said. She then grabbed both El and mine hands and pulled us towards my room to start what she calls her fantastic makeover, grabbing her bag with the makeup and hair tools. The whole time she was working on me I couldn’t help but think of Kai. Right now, he just seemed like eye candy to me, but could he be something more? Did I want him to be something, anything to me?

Just thinking of Kai gave me butterflies in my tummy, but at the same time it kind of creeped me out. He was so intense! And kept invading my personal space! But I’d be lying to myself if I said I didn’t hope to see him again. Some part of me felt pulled towards him, and while I couldn’t seem to think straight when I’m around him, it almost felt like I could breathe easier with him near. Tonight would certainly be interesting if he shows up. Should I try to talk to him if he’s there?