Forced to be Luna

Run down Apartment

Bella and I were eating breakfast. I had eventually been able to get some sleep early this morning.

Last night was still weighing down on my mind, I was trying my hardest not to think about it. Especially not in front of Bella, she was very observant and easily picked up on my moods. I had lectures later this morning, after I was going to work. I had managed to get some extra shifts in the restaurant where I worked as a waiter.

Mother dragged herself out to the kitchen, she barely looked human. Her blonde hair had withered down, which left her scalp visible to the thin strands that had managed to stay on. Her blue eyes which Bella and I both inherited were cloudy, with red rings around it. Wrinkles and stains covered her face, and a thin white powder left a trail down her mouth. She was a walking zombie, and smelt of puke even from where Bella and I sat. Bella took little glimpses of our mother and her facial expression soured immediately.

My jaw tensed roughly. The sight of my mother ignited a terrible rage in me. My mother washed her face, drank water and headed back to her room. I went after slamming the door to her room behind her. She turned around startled to look at me.

I stared back at her, seething and puffing.

“The next time you put your hands on her I will make sure you rot in jail for abuse” I said with all seriousness.

My mothers eyes widened for a second before filling with a defiant look.

“You will not tell me how to raise my own daughter” she responded with indignation.

“The hell I won’t!! “ I shouted back at her. Moving closer to her. I could smell her foul breath up close but did not care about that.

“ I have raised her, not you” I added making sure my words carried all the disgust I felt for her.

“ You have never been a mother to her, never!!. Stay out of her life mum, she definitely does not need you to start now” I held my mothers gaze making sure she knew I was completely serious about. If she touched Bella again there’d be hell to pay. I could be fierce and ferocious when I had to and my mother knew that.

“Don’t you want to know what she did” my mother asked me.

“No” I answered, turning my back and moving from her room. I had given up on my mother long ago. She was a deadbeat and I had no more tears or feelings to waste on her.

I went back to finish my food when I saw Bella paying close attention to the local news station on TV. A news reporter in a horrid pink pantsuit was reading off the latest news of the day.

"-for the loss of such valuable lives. And back to you, John."

The screen flashed over to a burly man in a charcoal suit. He was balding and had a deep baritone voice. Ribbons of the minor news in other regions passed across the screen with a blue background. The reporter cleared his throat, shuffled his papers, looked directly into the camera, and began speaking.

"A shocking discovery was made this morning in Devil’s Den. Police came to investigate a call made by a local fisherman passing through the area about a rancid smell near Devil’s Den Library. It was later confirmed that the cause of the smell had been from a newly deceased body found between the alley. Details are still coming in, but the first report has claimed this was a homicide. CCTV cameras that caught the nature of the murder had been destroyed within a one mile radius. Police have denied to release any new details other than an a statement to say this had been an act of-"

I pressed the power button. The screen flashed into a rainbow of colours and turned black with a line of static down the middle. The air felt empty without the presence of someone talking.

Bella glanced at me but said nothing.

My heart hammered in my chest. I pushed away the food, appetite gone. They must have discovered the body. I didn't know if I should be relieved or worried. What if one of the cameras caught my face? I forced myself to push the paranoid thoughts out. The last thing I wanted was to be to tied to the crime scene in any sort of way.

I suddenly remembered running through the streets in the dead of the night, my heart in my throat. It was something I never wanted to experience ever again. The big man’s face who had casually snapped someone neck filled my thoughts again, dread began filling me.

"Sophie, there's someone knocking on the door." Bella’s voice snapped me back to reality.

I rubbed my eyes, finally comprehending what she had said. There was someone knocking on the door. Loud, persistent knocks that almost broke our door down.

"Stay here, I'll get it." I said quickly.

My heart had begun to beat a steady strong rhythm in my chest, I could feel something was wrong but I tried my best to not panic as I walked to the door. The banging had not yet stopped.

"Who is it?" Bella shouted from the living room.

I took a moment to take in a deep breath and then opened the door, ready to greet whoever it was. But there was no one there. I poked my head out, looking both left and right. Relief washed through me, I was probably just too paranoid for my own good. A light in the hallway flickered. I shut the door.

"No one." I answered Bella. Wondering who was banging so loudly and then just leaving.

I was about to walk back to Bella when she appeared in the living room doorway. Her blue eyes trailed above my head and she smiled.

"Hello sir” she greeted politely.

I could feel my eyebrows knit together.

Confusion swirled around in my brain, and then slow understanding. Suddenly I felt a big presence behind me. My heart rate spiked and was beating at double the rate than normal. I knew who it was without a doubt. I had in fact never felt more sure of anything in my life.

I turned around and looked into the eyes that had haunted me all night. They were cold. They were cold and beautiful.