The Little Luna

What are you?!

Luna’s POV:

Breath. I told myself this over and over as I paced back and forth in the small clearing I had stopped in. I had run from the cafeteria and straight to the forest, it was one of the few things I and my siblings had in common, we craved the forest. The quiet, the fresh earth smell, the sunshine filtering through the leaves, and the sounds of the woodland creatures scurrying from one place to the next. It was calming to us, like we weren’t meant to be here, like a part of us was wild and free like the very forest we craved. 

Sitting on a log I dropped my head between my knees and tried to take deep breaths, I’d see on some tv show that this was supposed to help with anxiety and though I wasn’t sure that was what I was suffering from I did know that I needed to calm down the wild beating of my heart. As I began to calm and slow the whooshing of air into my lungs, I heard footsteps nearby, for a second I went on alert until the scents hit me. Marshmallows with chocolate and cinnamon with apples. It was Celeste and Orion. Of course they would follow me out. I hadn’t exactly been very calm while exiting the cafeteria and as much as we all fought with each other and goaded each other on, we loved each other more than anything else in this world, more than we loved ourselves.

“Luna-bug, is everything alright? What did that guy do to you? I’ll kick his ass if you want.” Celeste, always the defender of the weak, always the momma even though I was the oldest. I felt the air shift around me than a hand on each of my shoulders.

“Hey runt, you can’t be running off like that, you scared me and Celeste. What happened? Was it that new kid, Vespian? He swears he hadn’t met you but it seemed a little tense between you two, do I need to do something sis?” Orion sat on my left as Celeste perched on the log to my right, she most likely was trying not to dirty up her outfit. 

Picking my head up I looked between the two of them and chuckled humorlessly, “While I am glad to have the two of you at my back for any battle I may face, the new guy has done nothing to warrant our wrath. It was my mind that scared me…” I trailed off, unsure how to explain to my siblings that I was hearing voices in my head, they’d think I was crazy, and mom was under enough stress at work without adding my mental breakdown to it. Vespian, I knew his name now as well thanks to Orion. The name suited him, dark and mysterious, handsome and unobtainable.

Looking down I dug the toe of my sneaker into the dirt, digging a hole in the ground, nervous to talk about this, even with the two people I was closest to in this world.

Taking a deep breath I just jumped right in, “I heard this voice in my head when I entered the cafeteria and it wasn’t my own, it wasn’t an internal monologue, it was a voice from some other being. I don’t know what to do, I can feel her even now, in my mind, listening to what we are talking about and waiting for an opportunity to take over so she can find him.” All of it was true, I could feel her, it was almost as if something was pacing in my mind, anxious and just as confused as I was.

‘Of course, I am worried and confused! You don’t know who I am, you don’t know what I am, what WE are! How could you be raised to not even know what you are, this is ridiculous, give me control, I will show you what we are.’  The voice in my head was demanding, she wanted out, she wanted me to understand. Wait, she? ‘Yes SHE, I am you and you are me. And stop calling me ‘that voice’, I have a name you know.’

‘Well, then what is it?’  I snapped back at her.

‘Elaine, Ellie for short.’  Her voice was so sure, she was Ellie and she was in my mind. I was really losing it.

“Luna!” I snapped my head towards my sister as she shouted my name. “Luna, are you okay?”

“I’m fine, why are you yelling in my ear Celeste?”

“Don’t get snippy with me, Orion and I were trying to talk to you after the bomb you dropped then you went and got all blank-faced and stary-eyed.” Celeste huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her hair over her shoulder.

“I’m sorry” I replied gently, “I wasn’t trying to get snippy; it was the voice again. She says her name is Elaine or Ellie for short. I don’t know what’s going on y’all, I think I’m going crazy. Right now I can hear her pacing in my mind, and that sounds insane, but it’s exactly what it feels like. Like I’m sharing my brain with another soul.” I was on the verge of tears now, my heart hurt, my stomach felt like I was going to be sick, I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew it involved Vespian.

Hearing a rustling in the brush behind us I jumped up and spun around, looking through the thick brush for who was watching us, “Who’s there?” Was it Vespian? Had he followed me? A part of me was scared he’d step out of bushes, while another part, one that wasn’t completely Ellie, wished he would.

Orion and Celeste were up and beside me in a flash, their eyes trained on the same patch of forest as me. That’s when I smelled it, his unique scent, it drew me in like a drug and I found myself taking a step towards the trees, Orion and Celeste both reached out, each grabbing a shoulder, that’s when I heard footsteps, and slowly the very man I had been avoiding walked into view, entering the clearing with a look of uncertainty on his handsome face.

Orion let out a sound that sounded like a growl as he pushed me behind him, his taller and thicker frame hiding me easily, I peeked around his side to see Vespian staring at Orion with a mixture of defiance and apology, ‘What an odd look’ I thought.

“What are you doing here? I told you to stay away from my sister, I told you to give me time.” His voice shook around us, making me and Celeste eye each other wearily, it took a lot to get Orion mad, but one sure-fire way to mess with me or Celeste, the only other time I had seen him this mad was 2 years ago when a fellow football player, Josh Miller, had been stalking Celeste, I always thought of my brother as a big teddy bear, he looked fierce but he was gentle and sweet, that day had changed that view. Josh had been in the hospital for 3 days and had moved schools immediately.

Vespian held his hands out in front of him in surrender, his eyes pleading with Orion. “I’m sorry, but I had to check on her, I had to make sure you all were safe, you don’t know the things that roam these woods. I just wanted to watch from afar and make sure you all were safe; I didn’t expect you to hear me.” At the last sentence, his face scrunched up a bit in confusion, as if he found a mystery that had him stumped. “How is that by the way? How could you hear a footfall from so far away?”

“No, we aren’t changing the subject. Do you really think I can't keep my sisters safe? I’ve hunted these woods, I know what can be found here. From where I stand, the most dangerous thing for my sisters is standing right in front of me.” Orion was challenging him, daring him to fight back, this was going to go downhill fast if I didn’t step in, but in all honesty, I didn’t have the willpower to step forward and say anything. The pull I felt for Vespian scared the crap out of me, I didn’t want those blue eyes trained back on me just yet. The thought had me looking into Vespian gaze, only to realize they weren’t blue at all, at least not anymore, they were a yellow gold and they were glowing.