Forsaking His Luna

Buried emotions

Miriam

Present time...

I couldn’t gather the strength to open my eyes. Every muscle in my body ached.

Where am I?

The last thing I remember was being beaten to a pulp, and then... Cody! Oh s**t, it can’t be...

I slowly started opening my eyes. The panic started to sink in. I was sure it was Cody. Did that mean that...it can’t be.

The fluorescence of the light coming through the window was blinding. I slowly started to adjust to the light in the room. The view was breathtaking. We were in front of a massive lake or river. I couldn’t tell. White mountains as a background looked out of a painting.

I was alone in a massive bedroom. The bed had white sheets and a pearl duvet, with dark blue walls contrasting with the wooden pine floor.

There were massive sliding doors on one of the walls, possibly the closet and toilet.

On the other side, there was a fireplace, surrounded by pine logs, a bookshelf and a pearl chaise-long with a dark blue blanket, made for snuggle-by-the-fire reading. The decoration of this room reminded me of... him.

I don’t want to see him.

Don't I? The confusion in my mind was unsettling. What am I supposed to do? Should I get out of the room? What if I see him?

I can’t deal with this. I started to panic, hyperventilating.

There was a small knock from the other side of the door. I was so focused that I jumped at the sound.

“Miriam? It’s Cody. Can I come in?”

“Uh, sure, come in...”

He gently opened the door, poking his head through the small opening.

“Hey Mi, how are you feeling?”

“My muscles ache, but I think I’m okay... Cody, what am I doing here? How did you find me?” - he exhaled, passing his hand through his hair.

“That’s a very long story. I’ll tell you everything, but first, you have to eat something and take painkillers.” he was avoiding my question.

I will let it slide... for now.

“Well, can I at least ask where we are? Is this your house?”, he looked at me like he was deciding whether to tell me something or not.

“Don’t even try to hide it. I deserve to know where I am. Or am I a prisoner?”

“Of course not! I just don’t want you to freak out.” he seemed apprehensive of my reaction.

“More than I already am? Cody... just spill it already.”

“Okay, okay... we're in Switzerland. This is Arthur’s safe house. We have a special rescue unit that intercepts distress calls, in case there are supernatural beings in trouble. We intercepted your ship's call for help. I hacked into the ship's camera system. After we established a satellite connection, I was going to send your call to the Portuguese navy authorities since you were in their sea territory. But then I recognised you in the footage, and we came for you."

Seeing my reaction, he made an apologetic face.

“Sorry, too much info in one go?”

“No, no, it’s just...I don’t know what to say...this mission was supposed to be confidential, I don’t know how they intercepted us...”

I looked at him and realised I hadn’t thanked him yet.

“Thanks.”

“No worries, I just wished I had got there sooner.”

“Cody, I need a phone. I need to call home.”

“Sure, you can borrow mine here.”

He handed me the phone and gave me a Cody smirk, only he could pull that face.

“Also, can you take me to the airport or train station or, wait, s**t my documents? Did you get my stuff from the ship?”

He pressed his lips, shaking his head.

“No Mi, sorry. We didn’t have time for that; extracting you was my priority. I can speak to our people and have your documents replaced with ease.”

I looked down, shaking my head.

“I can’t stay here, Cody, I have to go back to Lisbon.”

“I thought you lived in the UK now, aren’t you in the Royal Navy?” A loaded question, could I tell him? Did I even want to tell him? He didn’t need to know Lucas was Arthur’s son.

“Yes, I live in the UK. But my son, Lucas. He’s staying with my parents during the summer holidays.” - he looked like I had just slapped him.

“You got a kid?”

“Yes.”

“Uh...Sure, uh... why don’t you call your family while I make you something to eat? Then we can work out a plan.” - I raised my eyebrows.

“You are going to cook?” - he seemed offended.

“Hey, it’s not that bad, I’m better now...” - I giggled at his defensive remark.

“Sorry, I just remember the last time you tried to cook for us, we ended up going out for dinner...”

“Ha! Very funny. I’ll be back in a bit” - I nodded. He turned around to leave, but just before he did, I had to know.

“Cody,” he turned around. “Is he here?”

He waited a few seconds before he nodded. Then he left me alone in the room with the knowledge that Arthur was in the same house as me. Why hasn’t he come to see me yet? I didn’t want to think about him right now, I had to call my baby first of all.

I went to get up from bed and realised I was only wearing underwear underneath the hospital dress. I needed a shower too.

I approached the window and started dialling my mum’s number. It rang for a while until she finally picked up.

“Hello?”

“How mom, it's me. How are you?"

"Hi, honey. It's good to hear your voice. Are you in Canada? I don't recognize the number you're calling from."

"Everything is fine, mom. I'm okay. I can't really talk about where I am, but I'm well. Don't worry."

"Oh, good, that's a relief. I was beginning to worry. It's been a while since the last time you called."

"I know I'm sorry. What about my baby? How is he?"

"He's having a great time. Your dad took him to the park. They just came back." In the background, I heard running steps. "He's here, I'm going to pass him the phone."

“Mommy? Mommy, I went to the park and had ice cream!”

“Hi, honey! Did you? Was it fun?”

“Yes! Mommy. Are you coming to get me?” My heart squeezed at hearing his little sad voice.

“Oh honey, mommy is working... I’ll be there as soon as I can, and then we can go to the beach together and play all day.”

"Okay, mommy! I miss you, mommy. Bye.”

“I miss you too, my love, bye.”; I heard him running away.

“Sorry, he went to play with the dogs.”

“That's fine mom, I'm glad he's having fun. I had better go now. Don't worry, I'll give news when I can.”

“Okay darling, take care. And don't worry, Lucas is fine. I love you”

“Okay mom, love you too. Bye.” I hung up with tears in my eyes. I missed my baby, he was everything to me.

I didn’t want to think much about my current situation, I needed to clear my head.

I thought about taking a shower but got caught looking outside at the lake.

Maybe I could go for a swim... But I didn’t want to go through the house to get outside. Luckily, the room had a balcony with a seemingly sturdy drain pipe. I think I could easily slide down. Yap, I was definitely going for a swim.

I slowly opened the sliding doors. Stepping outside, I took a deep breath.

The fresh cold air from the mountains was refreshing. It immediately reminded me of him.

Wanting to relieve the dry sensation on my skin, I descended the stairs slowly.

My body still ached, but right now, I didn’t want to explain myself to Cody or, worse, run into Arthur. Even if our encounter was inevitable, I didn’t want to think about it just now.

I slid down the drain and when my bare feet touched the wet grass, I started running towards the water.

I took off my dress at the edge of the water and dropped it on the rocks.

As I dived into the water, I heard Cody shouting my name. There was no way he could stop me. As soon as my skin felt the cold from the water, I also felt relief.

I swam underwater for a long time until I emerged twenty meters from shore. Taking a deep breath, I emptied my head and leaned back, looking at the sky as I floated.

It was a beautiful morning. The sun was shining. It was reflected in the mountains right in front of me.

This place looked like a fairy tale. The lake was extensive. From where I was, I could see a small town in the distance. I turned around to see the house behind me. It was a three-story log cabin surrounded by dense forest. Next to it was a black helicopter and two SUVs parked.

A dark thought crossed my mind, ruining my peaceful moment. Was this why he left me? Money?

Shaking my head, I focused on what mattered. I didn’t care about what happened in the past. I have a life now. It didn’t matter what he would say or not. It would make zero difference to me.

He didn’t know about Lucas, and it felt unsettling. He only has himself to blame for it. He didn’t want to listen to what I had to say all those years ago.

At the time, I was a mess. He broke my heart. After I hung up on our last call, I promised myself we wouldn’t need him.

Was it fair to Lucas? To assume he was better off without his dad?

Maybe it was selfish of me, but at the time, it was all I could do to shield my heart from destroying itself.

Everything I endured was worth it.

I will never forget it. The day he was born, I promised I would do anything for him, even bury my emotions.