Alive at Sunset (Rituals of the Night Series Book 2) (5 page)

L
una flipped through the pages slowly. She knew every detail of what was written in the book. She glimpsed at each page as she turned the brittle white pages. Detailed images and descriptions written by her own hand lined each piece of paper.

A few of them had old newspaper clippings that had begun to turn yellow around the edges. The newspaper clippings were on the deaths of two cheerleaders, the trails that the cops had used until they were too cold to be of any use. A few of them were about the death of her best friend, and the injury of Max.

The rest of the book held drawings of a world unknown to most humans, but they were all things that Luna had been confronted with. They were problems that she had had to overcome because of her Teardrop of Knowledge ability.

Everything in that notebook had been a real experience of her past angst filled life. She hated remembering that it was true, but there was no way around it. She had written it down for the sole purpose of remembering. Finally, her shaking hands turned to the last page in the book. Her handwriting on it looked scrawled and oddly big. The grief she had been feeling all those years ago was prominent:

Violet died, Max was close. Amy’s traumatized now, the town worries about her. As for Chance, well, he has lost his memory forever. I don’t know what this experience has done to me, but the dreams have stopped at last. I don’t want to say I’m free just yet, because it’s oddly hard to believe. It might be the time to begin healing- but not to forget.

Never forget….

Tears bubbled in Luna’s eyes as she read it. She read it over twice; the message impacted her. Melancholy feelings hit her like a rock. She had written the words ‘never forget’ years ago, and she had meant it.

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Luna went to dinner with her parents, she kept her notebook tucked away into her jacket so they wouldn’t see it. If they saw it, she knew they would automatically try to read it. She tried acting normal or at least, as close to as she could anyways.

She knew her behavior was off. All she could think about was her little black book, and the secrets it contained.

“Oh, before you go,” Rose said as Luna stood beside the door. “I want to ask you something.”

Luna turned to look at her mother expectantly. “Yes, Mom?”

“How’s Lucky been?” Rose asked. “I haven’t seen her in at least a good year.”

Lucky had originally been Rose’s dog as a puppy. When she had left for her last meeting in Taiwan, a little after Luna’s graduation, she had trusted Luna to take care of her dog.

“She’s great, Mom. Never better,” Luna replied. “I took her for a walk earlier, and she took off like a rocket.”

Rose nodded, looking pleased with the update of her precious puppy. Luna knew that she missed her even though she wouldn’t say it. “All right. It was good seeing you again. Be sure to drop by for another visit when you get the chance. Hopefully that will be soon.” Luna recognized her stern look.

“Same to you, Mom, and you know I will,” Luna said without looking at her as she stepped outside. Honestly, she had no thoughts of visiting her parents again; her mind was miles away from that.

Luna rushed from the house to Amanda’s car, once again avoiding looking at the things around her. Her small black notebook was clutched in her hand like precious gold. To her, that was what it was. She got into the car and closed the door, sitting in the driver’s seat as she stared at the cover of her black notebook again. It was so real, the weight measurable in her hands and every page was laced with her own handwriting. It was another reminder that her past was as real as the book in front of her.

Luna held back the tears that threatened to flow again as she forced herself to start driving. She had to have a clear mind to make it home with the long drive ahead of her. There would be time later to mourn. She glanced at it from the corner of her eye. She drove back home, wondering if she’d ever get over what had happened.

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally, she pulled the car into the driveway in the apartment complex in Bowling Green and turned the engine off. She wanted to go back to her room and sit alone, but she didn’t know how she would handle Amanda. Instead, she sat there in the purple Ford Taurus Sedan for a long time. She tried not to look at the passenger’s seat for a minute.

She wanted to fully compose herself before going inside to face Amanda. She knew that could take a long time. Her friend was observative; she’d instantly be able to tell that something was wrong if Luna didn’t hide it well enough. She didn’t know how long she sat there, waiting for her mind to compose itself. Suddenly, a thunderclap overhead alerted her to the fact it was going to rain.

Luna tucked her precious notebook under her arm and into the coat pocket on the inside of her jacket before she rushed to the door of their apartment. She stood on the small porch and tapped the door three times quickly, the signal to Amanda that she was back. The door opened up instantly, and Amanda let her inside.

Luna hurried into the kitchen without even looking at her friend. She still wasn’t sure how her face looked; she didn’t know what emotion her friend would see there. Luna sat at the table and stared straight ahead at the refrigerator. Her notebook was tucked away into the pocket of her jacket again so that Amanda wouldn’t question it. She tried not to think, but that was all that she could do.

“Luna, are you okay?” Amanda asked her worriedly as she stepped cautiously into the kitchen to join her roommate.

“No,” she replied flatly. Luna was past the point of pretending to be okay.

“What’s the matter?” she inquired.

“You wouldn’t understand if I told you,” Luna said chuckling nervously as she looked down at her hands. Nobody would understand if she ever tried to tell them the true extent of the past she had survived.

“Try me,” Amanda said persuasively, putting her hands on her hips like she was trying to seem tougher. “You never know unless you try.”

Luna laughed and looked her friend full in the face. She was serious about talking it out, yet she had no idea what she was trying to involve herself in. Luna wished with all her might that she hadn’t been a part of it. She barely believed what had happened to her, and she had actually been an eyewitness to it -what would Amanda think about it?

“No way, Mandy, I can’t do that. It’s too weird,” Luna said finally. “Just know that something is wrong, and I’ll be a little iffy for a while. I hope you don’t take my bad mood to heart.”

Amanda looked crestfallen at Luna’s tone. She knew that she couldn’t change her mind. Luna had to admit that she did feel bad about being snippy with her friend, but the way she saw it, it was the only way she could handle the situation. It was the way she had always handled it -alone.

“Well, if I can make you feel better at all, let me know,” Amanda said, trying to sound cheerful though the hurt was still apparent on her face. “Things can’t be all bad, I’m sure. There’s always a silver lining. I’ll be here for you whenever you need me. And when you do, you know where to find me.”

Luna knew that was supposed to be a joke, but she couldn’t summon up the desire to laugh. She merely nodded seeming as listless as a zombie. “Thank you. I’m sure there will be a time when it’ll come in handy to talk things out with you. It’s just…I’m not feeling that’s today.” Luna didn’t know why she said the words, because she knew that she hadn’t meant them.

“It’s no problem,” Amanda replied. “Just tell me whenever you need something.” She gave Luna one last solid look. Luna knew that she wanted to say something else, but she held her tongue and turned to leave the room.

Luna watched her go, feeling oddly hollow. Normally, she would’ve felt some kind of guilt for being so short, but she felt nothing. She waited until Amanda disappeared into the living room before she got up and trotted to her room; her notebook was still hidden in her coat to make sure Amanda wouldn’t see it.

As she stepped into her room, she heard the rain splattering against the house outside as the sky finally opened up and let it out. She knew that that heavy of a rain wouldn’t lighten up. She would be spending the rest of the night in the apartment; she hoped that Amanda wouldn’t keep pushing her to try to talk out her problems because Amanda wouldn’t be able to leave either.

She sighed and tossed the black leather bound book onto her bed as she took off her coat. Lucky ran into the room at the sound of movement, barking and hopping excitedly, trying desperately to get her owner’s attention.

“Good, girl,” Luna said, petting the dog gently between the ears. Bad mood or not, she knew her pet always cheered her up.

Lucky whined happily from the contact, and Luna smiled as she petted Rose’s Border Collie. Lucky barked happily again, seeming as full of energy as she had earlier. She leaped once showing the full extent of her energy. She lie down again suddenly, head bowed and tail wagging.

Luna petted her for another moment longer before she pulled her hand back, and Lucky looked up at her. She got up suddenly and barked once before she ran from the room. Luna watched her dog go before her smile fell. Lucky only managed to cheer her up for a little bit, but when her sunshine left, the clouds came back.

Instantly, she picked up the notebook again. She sat down on the edge of the bed and flipped through the book to the middle page. She had skipped it when she had been at her parents’ house, but she wanted to include the memories that were instilled in that page as well.

There weren’t any words on it, but there didn’t need to be. In that page, there was a small plump bundle wrapped tight in packaging paper. She knew what the object hidden away in it was, and her fingers trembled as she pulled slowly on the paper. In a minute, the dagger tumbled out from its coffin of white paper to clank on the hardwood floor below.

She set the notebook aside on her bed as she stared at the knife glittering on the floor. The snake-handle dagger had once belonged to Chance. It had been his weapon of choice for his ritualistic killings; his weapon to turn her life upside down. Luna had obtained it after Violet’s funeral when it had mysteriously appeared in her yard. Luna kept it as proof that those things had happened to her. It was the centerpiece that pulled it all together.

She bent down to pick it up with the paper afraid of leaving her fingerprints on it. She held it close to her face to as she thought about it. It was close enough to see a dried speck of blood that still clung stubbornly on the blade. She couldn’t help but wonder if it was hers.

She couldn’t help herself; the tears began to flow again.

A
man with shockingly blond hair stood on the road as the last of the sun’s rays disappeared. His dark clothes blended him into the shadows. He took a heavy drag off of his cigarette as he breathed in the soft evening air. He dropped it to the ground before he crushed it beneath his boot. It had been years since the last time he had smoked. A cough rattled up his chest and stung his throat. He cringed at the feeling. It was a disgusting habit, but his stress levels were high.

He stared at the old house before him as he remembered the time that he had visited it on a daily basis. It had almost become a second home to him. During his time away, the place had moved on without him. He frowned at the thought. It had been too long. He sure that a lot of people had moved on without him, but what he wanted to know was how many of them cared?

He stuck a hand deep into his pocket to feel the bag that was hidden there before he crept up to the nearest window. He peeked inside, noticing the low level of light that shone from somewhere deeper inside. Slowly, he pushed it open and slipped inside. His boots clanked on the kitchen floor as he listened for signs of movement anywhere in the house. He crouched under the table as he waited for the silence to greet him. Memories washed over him almost instantly as he looked around the small kitchen.

He suddenly craved the old interactions with Luna. Despite her thoughts, she was a ray of sunshine in his life. He wanted to see her -every fiber in his being wondered how her life was going after all the years of his absence. Was she happy like she claimed she would be? Or did she think of him from time to time?

This comes first,
he thought as he pulled the baggy from his pocket.

The metal shavings inside clanked lightly as he crept over to the refrigerator. He pulled open the door slowly, narrowing his eyes to the white light that brushed against his face. He had missed his old tricks. Capable of living to his full potential once again, he would make sure that his first move back would be huge.

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna was standing in nothingness. The ground was solid beneath her feet, but haze surrounded her on all sides. It was impossible to distinguish what was around her as if the haze had cut off all of her senses. It got thicker and thicker, the solid air was choking her when she tried to breathe in. She tried to wave it away from her face, but it didn’t work. The fog clung almost like an invisible mask.

She frowned; she was beginning to feel frustrated. Part of her was only vaguely aware that she was in DreamWorld (her Teardrop of Knowledge part she was sure). The rest of her brain was clueless. A blue light seemed faint on the edge of the fog. It was like a big curtain had been hung up. As Luna stared at it, it quickly got brighter, and closer. It was then that she realized the light was
moving.

It surrounded her, suddenly so close that she felt as if she was staring into a blue version of the sun. She clamped her eyes shut, unsure of what else to do. When the light reached her, its sound was a sonic boom that threatened to take her hearing.  Luna opened her eyes to see what was going on around her.

Luna was aware that she was still within in a dream even though she could feel herself slip out of the strange haze filled field she had been in a moment ago. Around her swirled a forest, a
very
familiar forest. For a heart-stopping second, she thought the dreams that had stopped haunting her years ago were beginning again.

Then, she noticed the sun in the sky and the clearing she stood in. She knew that she could actually see the sun and in her dreams, that had been impossible. A body lay slumped on the other end of the grass. In that second, she knew it wasn’t a nightmare –it was worse…a memory.

Luna knew even from where she stood whose body it was. She crept towards it warily, wondering why she hadn’t decided to go the opposite way. It was the limp body of her old friend, Violet. Blood ran down her face in two irregular lines from her fresh bullet wound. Her eyes were closed though Luna remembered her eyes had been open when she passed. Luna forced herself to move closer to the unmoving body, and she hovered beside her deceased friend. She stuck out a hand helplessly, not knowing what she could do.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered quietly to her. She knew deep inside that her friend’s death had been her fault.

She studied her old friend’s face feeling glad that her mind had blocked out the worst of her memories. She had almost forgotten what her friend had looked like…especially after she had died. Suddenly, Violet’s eyes flicked open, and the blue irises moved to focus on Luna.

Luna instantly jumped backwards, horrified as she noticed Violet’s body moving. She realized it wasn’t a flashback -it was a dream. She remembered what Max had said in the past about dreaming about people that had already died. It could lead to situations as dangerous as what she had lived through.

“Luna…” her friend whispered, reaching out a chubby bloody hand towards her.

Luna backed away from her old friend helplessly, and the forest around her suddenly disappeared.

She opened her eyes to look at her own room once again. She breathed in deep and let it out. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, and her mind was racing. Her dream horrified her to the core. In her room, it was dark and hard to see but not impossible. Luna wiped away the sweat from her forehead. She was almost positive that she had had a panic attack. She sat up and took in a sharp breath of air in surprise as she realized that she wasn’t alone.

There was a figure standing in her room. It was bent over beside her bed, attention focused into something on the floor. At the sound of her movement, the figure stood straight up to look at her. The faint light in the room bounced off of bright blond hair and slightly illuminated his face. Luna took in a sharp gasp of air, instantly throwing all of her doubts out the window. If she had had a panic attack, then it had been for good reason. The figure moved over to her in the blink of an eye. A hand covered her mouth and forced her back down on the bed before she could even think.

She struggled against him with all that she had, but her limbs were still weary with sleep, and he was much stronger than her. Her fearful eyes looked up and caught the sapphire blue eyes of Chance Welfrey. He locked eyes with her, and she had never been more frightened in her life. It could be the moment that she finally lost her life to the monster that had hovered around her.

“Shh,” he said to her, his fingers stroking the side of her face. His voice was oddly gentle as he crouched above her frame.

That terrified Luna more than anything else.

He moved his hand and pressed his lips to hers. Her eyes widened instantly at the contact. She pushed against his chest as hard as she could. It was the only thing she could think of. In the times that he had kissed her before, that had worked. That time, he pulled back to look at her and growled. Instantly, he gathered her hands above her head and held her still. He kissed her deeper and set a hand to the side of her face. Luna found it was impossible to even think. The smell of his cologne was overpowering; it was almost gagging in a way. Between that and the weight of Chance on top of her, she found it was difficult to breathe.

He freed her mouth when he kissed her jawbone and neck. She opened her mouth; the desire to scream was ready on her tongue. Chance noticed and quickly covered her mouth with his hand. He moved his lips back to her mouth and kissed her deeply. Her window of opportunity to try to escape was closed. She kicked against him, trying to dislodge him any way she could.

He wasn’t detoured.

He kept her hands bound together above her head as his other hand trailer down her side to rest on her hip. She tried to scream, but the sound was muffled. Once again, she tried to wiggle out from underneath him. The hand he had held on her hip, he used to open her legs. He set his knees in between her thighs.

“I want you,” he whispered huskily in her ear.

Luna’s fear choked her too much to respond.

She could hear the clanking of metal as he undid his belt and zipper. Luna felt tears rolling down her face. She knew what was happening, knew what he was going to do. There was nothing she could do to stop it.

She heard shuffling sounds as he moved his pants, and his weight on her lifted as he sat up. His grip didn’t loosen from her wrists, and her hands were beginning to go numb from the lack of circulation. She tried to kick at him again, but her legs were at too awkward of an angle. She felt him yank her nightgown up to expose her stomach and panties.

Her mind was still aware of what was happening, aware of the monster in her bed. Nothing mattered to her in the time that it should the most. The only thought that ran through her mind was that she couldn’t believe it was happening to her.

It was the worst nightmare of her life.

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The thunder rumbled outside, it was raining again. Luna knew that before she even opened her eyes. The rain hit the roof; the sound was like a thousand marbles hitting the shingles and rolling down the siding outside the apartment. The noise made sleep impossible. When she opened her eyes, she felt the tears that had hardened hours before. She noticed it was still dark in her room since the sky outside was so heavy with storm.

She sighed and turned over as she tried to convince herself to go back to sleep. Her body felt incredibly sore, but she couldn’t figure out why. She reached out to turn on the lamp. The bright light hurt her eyes and made her squint. She sat up and groaned at the pain in her joints. She felt one of them in her back pop.

She pulled the blanket off of her to see that the tops of her arms were dotted with small purple and black bruises, and her nightgown was disheveled. She could remember her dreams vividly, and she wanted to ignore the latest of the three.

It had been the most realistic of any dream she had ever had. She couldn’t understand what it meant; she had never looked at Chance that way before, and she was horrified to think he might’ve thought of her in that sense.

All of her dreams had bothered her in some way. The worst part was that she couldn’t seem to remember all of the details of her dreams. She wondered if she had forgotten anything that was important. She knew that the flash of light had been important- if only to open the memories of her past- specifically those of Violet which Luna had managed to push away into the depths of her memory.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and looked at the floor as a tear dripped from her eye. She wiped it away mechanically, and that was when she noticed the open notebook lying on the floor beside her bed. It was open to the page that she had used to hold Chance’s knife. The book was empty; the paper that held the dagger was ripped, and the knife was gone.

Luna stared at it, shocked that something had happened to her book. She bent down to pick it up. She flipped through the pages desperately, though she didn’t know why. She knew where it should’ve been. She flipped faster through the pages but still couldn’t find the knife. She could feel her panic rising; why couldn’t she find the knife? She tossed the book on her bed and tore her room apart as she searched under the bed, beside her dresser, anywhere that the knife possibly could be, but there were no sign of it.

She racked her brain for a solution but found none. What could’ve possibly happened during the night? Amanda hadn’t come in to talk to her and found the book, had she? A flash of Chance bent beside the bed flooded through her mind suddenly. She refused to think more into it. There was no way that that dream could’ve happened to her; there had to be a better explanation. She looked around and realized Lucky wasn’t at the foot of her bed.

Luna got up and stumbled clumsily to her door frame. She stopped and clutched onto the wood to rest since the pain in her joints had grown immensely with the few steps she’d taken. She took in a deep breath and forced herself to keep going. She could handle pain; she’d done it plenty of times before. Her situation was urgent. If Lucky had the dagger, she had to get it back before Lucky hurt herself on accident…or before Amanda saw it.

Luna finally reached the living room and stumbled into the kitchen; she noticed that Lucky still wasn’t there. She frowned again, where was her dog? It was obvious that something wasn’t right. Every day for the past three years, her and Lucky had had the same routine.

Lucky would sleep at the foot of Luna’s bed as long as possible and when she got up, Lucky would as well. The Border Collie would then follow her as she stumbled tiredly into the kitchen. She would bark for her breakfast and that served as Amanda’s alarm clock. But today, things were wrong.

“Lucky?” Luna called and glanced around for her missing Border Collie. “Where are you?”

She was trying to be loud enough to grab the attention of her missing canine but quiet enough to not attract her roommate’s. Her dog was nowhere in sight, and she knew her apartment was too small to have a dog Lucky’s size disappear completely.

A knock sounded at the front door suddenly. Luna stared at it warily, feeling her heart sink into her stomach for a reason that she couldn’t quite understand. It wasn’t the secret knock only her and Amanda used to let each other in. It sounded sloppy and loud. Who was on their porch at six in the morning?