The House of Angels

Red roses

Time passed quickly in the foster home and Moon had now grown used to the new routine.

She'd go to work, spend time with the other kids, go out with Celine or the guys.

After the night on the rooftop, nothing else had happened between her and Daniel.

On the one hand, she'd started working part time again in a bookstore, which was her second part time job, on the other hand, Josh had spent a lot of time with Daniel, even during the night. Daniel had been very sweet, but they agreed they didn't want anyone to know about what had happened at the moment, so they didn't spend much time alone in order to avoid being suspicious. She kept thinking about that night, about how he touched her, how he made her feel. She kept wondering if he'd regretted it. Or maybe he didn't want anyone to know because he just wanted to mess around. And she knew very well he'd left with Vera that night at the pool party, so she could only blame herself.

But she'd decided it was too late to regret it, after all it had been so good, it was ok as it was. She would always be grateful to him for that, for the first healthy s****l experience of her life.

He was being so considerate, always checking on her, always giving her small attentions along with Josh.

Then, after the lights were turned off, he would spent half the night texting her or talking to her in the baclony. They would sit on a pillow each in their respective balcony and talk about anything. They both had kept their promise and didn't touch anything but weed and booze, with Josh's eager help.

Things were going so smooth in her life, she almost forgot about Clay and the threat looming over her.

School was about to start and she was starting to think everything was going to be fine, that she had the guys by her side and Clay wouldn't be able to get to her. Something told her she was safe with Josh and Daniel, they acted like they knew exactly what they were doing but they needed to stop asking uncomfortable questions.

One of her last free days she woke up at the sound of someone knocking gently at her door.

"Moon? Are you awake?" Mrs Solonov asked from the other side of the door.

"Uh, yes, come in..." she said, after making sure she was presentable.

Mrs Solonov hesitantly opened the door and entered the room, as Moon was getting up from the bed. She was giving her back to the woman so she didn't see the huge boquet of red roses she was holding, at first.

Then, she turned around and her eyebrows shot up at the sight.

"How may I help you, Mrs Solonov?" She asked politely, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Some delivery man came earlier to drop this for you. I guess you have a secret admirer, kid." She have her a playful smile, before excusing herself.

Moon was bewildered and couldn't think of anyone who could do something like that for her. A small part of her clung to the pathetic hope that it was Daniel.

She didn't even had time to read the note that Josh, Daniel and Ant stepped inside her room with cheerful smiles plastered on their faces.

They all widened their eyes at the sight of Moon holding a huge boquet of roses, standing in the middle of her room with a dumb expression on her face.

"What are those?" Josh asked in a whisper.

She looked at the three of them, still confused.

Daniel had gone rigid, his jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes fixed on the boquet as if it was going to detonate at any moment.

Josh had a deep frown on his face, his eyes searching hers.

Ant, being his usual self, just grinned widely before approaching her and tearing out the note from the boquet.

"Wow, it says: 'Happy birthday, princess.' Moon! You didn't tell us it was your birthday!" Ant said, and kept talking, not noticing Moon's face had paled and horror was written all over it.

"Happy birthday, girl!" He said, pulling her in for a hug.

Daniel and Josh, on the other hand, had noticed something was wrong.

"Moon..." Daniel was the first to react, approaching her as the boquet was falling from her hands, landing uncerimoniously on the floor.

"Oh, there's something written on the back..." Ant continued, still unaware of what was happening around him. "It says: 'Delightful, the new accomodation. What a cozy little house. See you soon, my love.' What does that even mean?" He asked, confused.

Then he looked up and saw his friends holding Moon while she looked like she was having troubles breathing properly.

"What the f**k?!" He yelled, hurriedly approaching them, dropoing the note on the floor.

"Ant, please take those and make them disappear." Josh said, as Daniel focused on Moon and nothing else.

"What am I supposed to do with these?"

"I don't f*****g care, thow them, burn them, but make them disappear." Josh snapped, and Ant immediately obliged, knowing something was really wrong.

"Moon, talk to me..." Daniel whispered, trying to gain her attention, but it was useless.

She couldn't hear or see anything, only feel. Panic, terror, desperation.

Then all went black and she could feel nothing else.

~~~

When Moon woke up, she felt the hot summer breeze tickling her legs. The room was lit by golden rays of sun piercing from the half closed blinds, and she could hear the chirping of the birds outside, the kids playing and running in the distance, muffled music coming from one of the rooms, laughs, yells, thuds.

Sister Mary, Mrs Solonov and Sister Monica were staring at her in concern, a man she'd never seen was telling them something she couldn't focus on. All was muffled, confused. She could feel nothing but a painful headache and a bad taste in her mouth.

"She will need rest, an healthy and balanced diet, and some integrators. She's anemic and very thin. And she looks stressed..." the doctor went on and on talking about her and she was too weak to even tell him to shut the f**k up.

"How are you doing, honey?" Sister Monica asked concerned, before helping her drinking from a glass of water.

"Mph..." she could only mumble, swallowing a few sips of water with difficulty.

"You'll be fine, kiddo. Wait for the saline to do its job and you'll be ok. Just follow my instructions and don't stress yourself. After all, school is starting next week and you need to be strong and healthy. Rest, now. I'm going." The doctor said kindly before taking his leave.

Mrs Solonov, to Moon's surprise, took a moment to gently caress her cheek, before hurring after the doctor, leaving only the nuns in the room with her.

"Moon, dear. Is there anything you need to talk about?" Sister Mary asked, taking her hand in hers.

"I... I guess I overworked..." she said, trying not to tell them about Clay's "present".

"Moon, you've been skipping meals, working too much, sleeping too little, and we're worried about you. We know it's hard. We know what you're going through is terrible and stressing but we want you to know you can count on us." Sister Mary said politely.

"I..." Moon was too shaken to hold back her tears. There's always a breaking point and she'd reached it. All the pain she had to suffer during her life came crushing down on her with the weight of all her vicissitudes, losses, mistakes. She cried on Sister Mary's shoulder, while Sister Monica held her hand gently when the door opened and a tears-filled eyes Lucy came running to Moon's bed.

"Oh, Moony, how are you? I was so worried! We were making a cake for your birthday, are you happy? You'll have two pieces tonight, so you'll be ok, right?" Lucy said hugging her tenderly.

Moon couldn't help but sincerely smile at the little girl's words. She stopped crying, she didn't want to scare her or make her sad.

"Thank you, Lucy, I feel already better, what would I do without you, little mouse?" She grinned, poking her nose with her forefinger.

"Lucy, that was supposed to be a surprise, little girl. Now go, Helena will help you shower. Moon needs to rest." Sister Monica said in a fake stern tone, while ushering the little girl out of the room. Sister Mary stoop up from the bed as well.

"Moon, as the doctor said, you need a more stable life, especially now that school is about to start. So I was thinking you could quit your jobs, we have a small amount of money we use to help the kids... so, I know it's not much, but we'd be very happy if you'd accept our little help..." she spoke slowly and calmly, with a mild smile on her face.

"I really appreciate it, Sister Mary, but I can't accept it. You should use those money for the others, I'm fine." Moon was moved by the nun's words but she couldn't accept money, not when there were all those younger kids who needed it. She could work, take care of herself, like she'd done all her life.

"Think about it ok? Now I need to take care of something, you rest, tonight we'll celebrate your birthday, dear. See you later, call me if you need anything." Sister Mary left the room, closing the door behind her.

Moon took her phone from the bedside table and dialed Josh's number. She couldn't help but ask herself where he and Daniel could be.

She heard the phone ringing, but Josh never picked up. She hoped they weren't doing anything stupid.

~~~

"Just take a moment and think about it, Daniel. We shouldn't rush things." Josh tried for the umpteenth time to reason with a very pissed Daniel, to no avail.

When Moon had passed out that morning, he knew that was going to be a very long day.

Daniel had gone berserk and, after they called Sister Mary and Dr Jenkins and made sure Moon was left in good hands, he had lost control, as usual. Josh had barely been able to get into the car before he pulled out of the driveway at very high speed.

"Shut the f**k up, Josh! Your plan didn't work. He won't give up and I'm not going to do nothing while he scares her to death." He spat, furious, stopping at a red light. He lit a cigarette and turned on the radio, Korn's screams echoed inside the car.

"And what are you going to do? What's your plan?"Josh asked, exasperated.

"What do you think?" He spat, an evil, sinister grin plastered on his face.

"What a jerk I am." Josh shook his head, a bitter smile on his face. "You've been keeping an eye on him, haven't you?" He asked, stroking his eyelids with his thumb and forefinger, tired of all the mess around him. Moon had been clear: she wanted them to mind their own business. "This wasn't the plan, man. We were supposed to protect her, not going around playing The Punisher. I thought you despised your father and his philosophy, guess I was wrong." Josh tugged at his hair nervously while talking.

"I told you, Josh. I can do something about it and I will." Daniel said, parking the car in front of a small bar on the outskirts of the city.

He took a deep breath and looked at his friend. "Listen, let's just have a talk with him. Then we'll decide what to do. It's time this story ends, once for all." He patted Josh's shoulder and got off of the car, shoving his shades on top of his forehead. Josh hesitantly followed him inside the bar, knowing it didn't take much to set the fuse when Daniel was in that mood.

Inside the bar, a few people were chatting and drinking, while country music could be heard from the speakers and the air smelled of booze and sweat. Daniel's eyes wandered around the room before landing on the big frame of a familiar man playing pool at the corner.

Josh's heartbeat quickened as his body was getting ready for action. He had texted his position to the others, should Clay's friends interfere.

Daniel stopped at the counter and ordered four tequila shots, gulping down two of them and offering the two others to Josh, who gladly accepted. Daniel couldn't think straight, fury blinded his judgement, and he knew all too well he needed to calm down a little bit or he would end up doing something stupid.

He looked at Josh who was still grimacing from the shots, then walked as calmly as possible toward his target.

"Clayton Dalton?"