A True Luna

New Beginning

After leaving everything behind, things were starting to look up. Evee had dumped her narcissistic cheating ex and despite his attempts to force his way back into her life, there wasn’t anything else tying her to Jersey. She had been staying with her family until they sold the house after graduation and moved lightyears away down south, it was time to get away from the fake people and superficial “friends.” After Evee moved out Jason called her twice a day for months. It started with begging and apologizing but the voicemails always ended up turning angry. He would say it was her own fault for prioritizing work and school over him; or that she had become lazy and fat and nothing he did motivated her because she treated him poorly.

About three months after the breakup he showed up at her parent’s place demanding to talk to her. Melanie answered the door and told Evee to stay in the living room. She hadn’t heard any yelling or arguing but after about ten minutes Melanie came back in and said Jason left.

“What do you mean he left? What did he want?” Evee wasn’t exactly scared. But he had not left her alone since they split and it was starting to get uncomfortable. Melanie look serious, she was generally light hearted so it was concerning. “He said he would do whatever it takes to get you back, even if he has to drag you out of the house.” I told him if he comes anywhere near you again I’d call the cops and play every last message and show them every threatening text. He’s getting ligit crazy now Ev, I don’t know what his deal is but if he cared that much he wouldn’t have treated you like that or done what he did.” The two of them spent the remainder of the night saving everything he’d sent onto a flash drive that Melanie stashed in her purse to show the cops if he came around again.

The months that followed were quieter, the calls and texts had stopped at least, something wasn’t quite right though. She would get letters, printed out love poems with no sender, strange gifts, sometimes pictures of her leaving work. She contacted the police and gave them Jason’s name and information but he seemed to always have some alibi and it never went anywhere. It wasn’t every week. But just enough that she didn’t feel safe or at home anywhere. If the six months of therapy had any use it was that she now knew the things from her old life weren’t working and a big change needed to happen if she was ever going to trust anyone again.

She applied for a ton of jobs but one seemed like the perfect stepping stone, plus when she visited the area, the city was great; Lightfall City was not the biggest, but it had everything you’d think a city would: huge offices and corporate building, downtown night life, thousands of people. The city itself was contained within a valley so until you were at the doorstep, you’d never know there was even a big steel and concrete city hiding behind trees and mountains. The tallest rock covered mountains were to the north that tapered off to thick forest at each end that was separated at the south by a massive lake. It was beautiful and you got city and cozy mountain country feel in the same place, but best of all it was nearly a 9-hour drive from anyone she didn’t want hanging around her life anymore.

She was surprised this security company called her back because everyone else at the interview looked in way better shape, though maybe a bit on edge, she had just assumed it was how city people were in upstate NY. She had been at this security job for only a few weeks, but it was working out. The company provided security for nearly everything in the city, from bars to hospitals, it was a little strange but it made sense when you thought about it; they worked closely with the police so everyone was on the same page. Her boss Layla was really cool and nice. Always gave her hours, there were only about 9 or 10 other female security officers working for Sarks so they were all almost always on the rotation for big events and during the week. They needed at least one female at every event to pat search the female attendees. She was glad that meant she rarely had to work with the other female officers, she wasn’t very social to begin with and other women were usually catty. The ones she had met were at least polite, but on the few occasions she had to work with them directly they seemed to exclude her from conversations intentionally. It really wasn’t a huge deal, just annoying. She had finished the training class and was on her last week of shadowing before being put on the schedule solo. Today she was stationed at the front door of a concert event at the huge event center in the middle of the city with 3 other officers. The guy she was training with, Trey, was very friendly and extremely attractive, tall, broad shoulders, reddish brown hair, and ridiculous muscles. Now that she thought about it, it didn’t seem like anyone who worked for this company could be considered any less than gorgeous, almost like they head hunted Abercrombie models and gave them bonus pay to work out. The female officers were lean, toned, and beautiful too.

Evee caught her reflection in the large tinted windows on the side of the building, suddenly feeling a bit inadequate standing between these two massive chiseled guys. She’d been trying not to hate herself after Jason but it was hard not to see those things. She didn’t consider herself ugly, or even unattractive really, but by immediate comparison no one would be giving her a second glance. She stood about 5’7” with shoulder length dark brown hair that had the occasional deep red highlight that she always wore in a bun. Her hair used to curl up when she was a kid but now it was just fluffy and thick so styling it was a pain not worth dealing with if she wasn’t getting dressed nice. She didn’t think she was fat, but skinny wasn’t the word for it, she had a very athletic build, broader shoulders wide hips and muscular long legs. Her waist tapered in a bit but you’d never notice because her chest was so big that every shirt she wore was tight in the chest but way to baggy in the stomach. She had to buy extra-large shirts or they would all be crop tops. She stood there and continued to scrutinize her reflection, slate blue eyes pausing at every minor flaw. Her therapist had taught her when to recognize she was doing this, but what good did it do?

Ok I’m doing it again, it’s recognized, doesn’t mean I can stop. Think about something you like….. I like my tattoos.

She had gotten quite a few tattoos while she was with Jason, at first he thought they made her look cool, but as time went on he started to make little comments whenever she’d get a new one. She remembered all to well the very last time they slept together, if you could even call it that, she had just gotten another piece of her back finished and she came out of the bathroom feeling extremely sexy. The piece was a dragon that came up the one side of her back across from a reared-up wolf on the other side, a battered sword ran up the center keeping the two from destroying one another. She had seen it on a coat of arms in a museum she had gone to for a class that was having a special renaissance area exhibit. She had stared at it for hours reading the myth that was written on the plaque below it about the two mythic beasts caught in an ancient eternal battle for control over the land. She walked out of the bathroom that night wearing a backless nighty she bought on her way home a few days after the appointment. Jason screamed at her, “Why do you keep doing this?! These things are stupid and ugly, why can’t you get cute little girly tattoos, I thought I told you to stop after you came home with that disturbing wolf picture.” She had tried to explain to him why she liked it so much, and she had told him she was getting it, but he refused to listen, claiming she never told him anything. He grabbed her shoulders and turned her around inspecting it, he groaned and said hes not doing anything until she put a T shirt on. At this point she didn’t even want him anymore but it was so rare that he even agreed to touch her anymore that she could hardly say no. She put a T shirt over her self and he pushed her to her knees. She looked up at him heavily disappointed because she knew she wasn’t getting anything out of tonight. He was going to make her go down on him saying it “turns him on” then finish “accidentally” cause “it just felt so good” and then go to sleep leaving her unsatisfied laying awake in bed.

She blinked a few times realizing she had fallen down a rabbit hole of painful memories even though she was trying to think about positive things she liked about herself. Anger ran through her veins for a split second, that bastard was still managing to ruin any shred of good in her from hundreds of miles away after half a year. Internally rolling her eyes to shake off the momentary rage she tried to think about something else, but it just jumped between pointing out issues with her face that Jason said he always hated and how annoying her therapist would be if she knew what she was thinking. She eventually decided to just try to talk to one of the younger looking security guys about video games and avoid the spiraling thoughts all together.