The Pull And The Push
461 Words
The next morning, Luna’s hands still trembled. Smoke lingered in her nostrils, though no fire had touched her room. Her sheets were damp with sweat. She couldn’t shake the image:
The woman in the flames who wore her face.
Something inside her was stirring, and now it wasn’t just fear. It was curiosity.
She skipped the last two classes and slipped away into the woods, back to the place where it all started.
The wind had changed. The trees whispered her name.
When she reached the clearing near the lake, where the raven had once perched, Luna stood still.
“Tell me who I am,” she whispered into the silence.
“Tell me why this is happening to me.”
A faint shimmer rose from the surface of the water, a pulse of silver and violet. Luna blinked, and it was gone.
Meanwhile, across town, Kairo was watching from the shadows.
He had followed her part of the way enough to see where she disappeared to.
He pulled out a small charm from beneath his hoodie, a crystal orb strung on a black cord. It flickered once… then glowed.
She’s close, he thought. Too close.
Back at school, he played his part. Casual. Smiling. But when Luna didn’t return, he spun a different thread whispering to her closest friend, Mayla.
“You haven’t noticed anything weird about Luna lately?”
Mayla narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“She’s been... off. Talking to herself. Zoning out. I’m worried about her. You should talk to her before someone else does.”
He left the idea like poison on a blade. Soft. Subtle.
When Luna returned home, dirt on her boots and leaves in her hair, her adoptive mother was waiting in the kitchen.
“Where were you?” her voice was sharp.
“I needed air,” Luna said flatly.
Her mother stepped closer. “Luna, please... we need to talk.”
“About what?” Luna’s voice cracked. “About why I can set things on fire without touching them? Or why I dream of women burning alive?”
Her mother froze.
And in that silence that tiny hesitation Luna heard everything she needed to know.
“You know something.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Then make it simple.”
Her mother lowered her head, tears clinging to her lashes.
“We tried to protect you.”
That night, Luna stood in front of her bedroom mirror, fingers twitching as purple light flickered beneath her skin.
She thought of Kairo.
Of his words.
Of how she felt.
But somewhere deep down... something didn't sit right.
Why was he always around when things got strange?
Why did her thoughts only start spinning after he spoke?
- Writer
