A Broken Luna

Chapter 12: The Darkness Took Her

Roxanne

Watching Lucy interact with Alexander is the most entertaining thing I have ever seen. One moment she’s calm and collected, next minute she’s stuttering and snorting. It’s like with him, she loses this whole sophisticated persona and acts like a normal girl.

‘I don’t know why I’m losing myself to this man.’ She says.

‘It’s because you need someone like me to handle a man like that.’ Rose replies.

I just rolled my eyes. No matter what, I will not unleash Rose on this man. I swear she will be the reason I get pregnant tonight and make things more complicated.

During the dinner, which is a 5-star restaurant that is so exclusive you got to box a seat a year in advance, I had a good time watching Lucy and Alexander enjoy themselves. He finds a reason to touch her all the time and we both enjoy the feeling.

“So, tell me a little about yourself Roxy. When did you get into fighting?” He asks while entwining our hands.

‘I’m going to let you handle the rest.’ Lucy says and pushes me back to the wheel.

All the nervousness I had when I first saw him were gone. I guess seeing him interact with Lucy showed me that I have no reason to be so nervous around him to begin with.

“That’s really a complicated question, everyone in our pack is required to fight.” I said to him while smiling. He shakes his head and laughs.

“Well I know that. It is required in most pack that members must participate in training. But you, you’re different. You fight as if your life depends on it, as if your fighting something that no one can see but you. Why do you like to fight?” He asks again while looking into my eye more intently.

That threw me off a bit.

‘Why did I like to fight?’ I thought to myself.

At first, I fought because it was required, but when the darkness came and the voices it always felt like I was fighting them. Sometimes I felt that the darkness would always beat me no matter how hard I tried and fighting helps me grow stronger. With every practice I knew that when I fight, I fought with the intention to some day beating this curse once and for all.

I looked away from him. “Everyday, I feel like I’m fighting something. Either it be the soldiers in training or even my own personal battles, I’m always fighting. Regardless of being known as this bad-ass fighter, I’m still not strong enough. Only the strongest can beat the toughest enemies.” I said.

“So let me ask you, who are your enemies?” He asks and I look back at him.

“My enemies?” I repeated. He nods and looks intently at me.

The voices and the darkness are my enemies, but I cannot tell him that. It’s still too soon and I don’t want to ruin something good. Just before I was about to respond, his phone rings.

Whew, saved by the bell.

“I’m sorry let me take this, it must be an emergency.” He says while getting up and walking away. Good, if he stayed here any longer and stare at me like that, I would have revealed my darkest secret.

While he was away, I decided to check my phone to see if Jess may have responded. When I turned on my phone, I saw 15 missed calls from Daniel and 1 message from Jess. I opened the message and it only said one thing.

‘I’m sorry’

‘What is she sorry for? Is she okay? Where is she?’ So many questions are running through my mind all at once and I cannot stop them. Right when I was about to text her back, Daniel calls again. Whatever it is must be urgent because he never call me this much.

I answered. “Hey bro what’s up?”

“Roxy, it’s Jess.” Was all he said, and my heart stopped. What is the coincidence that she texts me a message and when Daniel calls, it’s about her.

“Is she alright? Where is she?” I ask him while stuttering.

“Jess… she ran away.”

“What do you mean she ran away? Ran away where?” I said loudly and slightly irritated.

“She attacked Beta Jonathan and nearly killed half our guards. Jonathan is in bad shape. One of the servants spoke about her attempting suicide and her mumbling in her sleep about voices she hears. She has been put on the kill list and father declares she is a rouge.  I’m sorry Roxy.”

I’m sorry…

I’m sorry…

I’m sorry.

Those words repeat in my head like a broken record. Jess attacks her father and attacks the guards. Not only that, but she ran away. My best friend… no, my sister is now classified as a rouge and is on the kill list. All because I infected her with my curse. She heard the darkness, and now it has claimed her.

I drop my phone and try to catch my breathe. This is too much, I can’t breathe.

‘You failed as a friend.’ A voice says to me, mocking me.

‘You could have helped her the night of your birthday, but you let her leave.’ Another says to me.

‘What kind of friend are you?’ A voice laughs.

‘Now she’s going to die, and it’s your fault.’

‘Your fault, your fault…YOUR FAULT!’ The voices said louder making me scream.

I looked all around me and the people that were once surrounding us is gone, the darkness started to consume everything in its path.

“No, no, no.” I said trying to hold on to the little bit of light that is left, but I failed miserably. Everywhere I turned to and everywhere I touched, the darkness just grows. Consuming all source of light. Soon it is just me and darkness.

“Roxy?” A familiar voice says in the distance.

“Jess is that you? Where are you?” I yell, panicking that I cannot find her.

“Just listen to my voice, let my voice guide you.” She says and I listen.

I walk through the cold darkness, looking and searching for my friend while listening to her voice. “That’s right Roxy, you’re getting closer. Just keep walking.” She says to me.

“Maybe it’s not her, maybe it’s another trick from the darkness.’ I think to myself. ‘I have been walking in this darkness for hours, and she hasn’t shown herself to me. Why would she be here anyways”

Losing all hope that I had, I turn around and start to walk away until I saw something light up from the corner of my eyes. My head immediately turn to the source and smiled. Standing in close distance was my best friend smiling and waving her hands at me.

“Jess I thought you ran away?” I said while walking to her. As I got close to her, I continued. “What happened? Daniel told me you attacked your father, what happened…” I stopped midsentence. Something was off about her.

Jess hasn’t stopped waiving since I acknowledge her. She just kept smiling with her eyes close and waving as if she was on a loop.

“Jess?” I asked, while approaching her slow. When I got real close to her, she stopped waiving and put her hands down. She was still smiling, and her eyes were closed. “Jess, look at me. What’s going on?”

She didn’t say anything.

“JESSICA, ANSWER ME DAMN IT!’ I yell at her.

There was a brief pause before she finally opens her eyes. I gasped and fell back. Her eyes that were once bright and full of life, was filled with darkness.

“Sorry, Jessica belongs with us now.” The voices say through Jessica.

“NO, NO, NO!” I said while fell to the floor and rocked back and forth while holding my head.

“Roxy.” A voice says in the distance, but I can’t hear him.

“Roxy.” The voice says again, this time sounding familiar.

“ROXY!” The voice screams, causing me to snap my eyes open.

The darkness that was once covering everything was completely gone. I was sitting outside on the grass, somewhere in the woods.

“Oh, thank the moon goddess.” A voice says behind me causing me to jump.

It was him, Alexander saved me. He saved me from them. Tears started to swell from my eyes and he quickly embraced me in a hug. He was squeezing my shoulder tight and panting. Why was he so out of breath?

“You started screaming at the restaurant and you ran away. I kept calling you and you wouldn’t respond. You looked so lost, your eyes and the veins around your eyes were black. Please don’t ever scare me like that ever again.” He says and looks at me, steadying his breathe.

“I cursed her.” I said without thinking, my voice shaking. “Jessica is cursed and it’s all my fault.” I held my mouth and cried. He leans in and holds me for dear life.

“This is not your fault, Jessica did this to herself.” He says, trying to comfort me but I know the truth.

I shook my head. “My curse, the darkness, it affects us all. It is growing stronger every day and I am too weak to fight it. It consumes anything in its path. First it was Jess, now it will be you. It is only a matter of time until it will eat you away and consume you. I’m a curse, Alexander. I’m a curse.”

Alexander did not say anything anymore. Instead he spends the rest of the night in that same spot, holding me and consoling me while I cry at the lost of my friend being consumed by the darkness.