Chapter V

Luna Katz

It was 3:00 am in the morning. Luna Katz was waiting in the truck while her dad was ordering McDonalds. She was tired and wanted to sleep.

It was her 3rd time moving in just two years, She went from California to Washington, and now New York City. Luna’s dad promised her this was the last time that they would move, but Luna didn't argue with him this time like she did all the other times.

Her mom was in New York, so Luna was happy she was closer to her. She didn't like having to ride an airplane everytime she would visit.

After a couple minutes of waiting, Luna's dad finally came back from McDonalds carrying two bags in one hand, and two drinks in the other. He opened the door to the truck and gave Luna one of the bags and drinks.

“ Here honey, I got you some breakfast.”

“ Thanks dad. “ Luna said as she opened the bag.

Inside the bag were Two egg mcmuffins and a hashbrown. Together they ate in the truck trying not to make a mess. Once they finished their breakfast, Luna's dad started the truck and pulled out of the McDonalds driveway.

They were on their way to the new house they just bought. It was quite far away so it would take hours to get there. Luna wondered what her new life would be like.

According to others from her past homes, Luna Katz was one of the most attractive girls in their school. People kept telling her how cute she was ever since she was a child.

She never liked the attention so she tried her best not to talk to people but it always backfires as people thinking she was just shy.

The main thing Luna hated about herself was her white hair.

She was born with it and people always made a comment about it. Whether it was a nice comment or a bad comment. Either way, she never liked the comments.

She’s tried to ask her dad if she could dye it a different color but everytime her father would just say,

“ Just accept it, it's part of your beauty. “

She couldn't argue with her dad considering he wins every one, so she stopped bringing the idea up.

Lias dad pulled up in the driveway parking the truck. As Luna got out of the truck she looked up at the house and was amazed at how good it looked.

There were bricks lining the outskirts of the house with a fancy fence behind it. She looked at the other houses around her and thought she was in a rich neighborhood.

Every house that Luna could see was fancy in some way.

She walked up to the porch and opened the wooden door. The inside of the house looked nice as well. After 10 minutes of exploring the house she finally came to the last room.

The basement.

She quietly opened the door and walked down the creaky stairs. She turned on the basement light which was hanging above her and peeked around.

There was a bunch of metal shelving in the middle of the basement.

The shelves held tools and weird artifacts like a stone with weird lettering on it. As she neared the back of the basement, every warm feeling she had escaped her entire body.

She was filled with nothing but coldness.

There was nothing in front of her but a wall with dirt and stone over it. She was about to head back upstairs when something caught her eye.

There was some metal sticking out of the wall. When she brushed some of the dirt off, a metal long handle was revealed. She grabbed the handle and pulled it wondering if there was another room in there.

It wouldn't budge.

She kept pulling and pulling as more dirt started to fall off. She stopped trying after realizing it wouldn't budge, she looked at the big metal door in front of her wondering what it could lead to.

She eventually got bored of it and went back upstairs. She went to help her father bring boxes into the house. Luna's father gave her a warm smile and finished unpacking the moving truck.

¨ So starting on Monday, you will be going to your new school. ¨

Luna wanted to forget that she was going to a new school.

“ I know dad, and I'm not very comfortable with the idea.”

Luna gave a sigh when she spoke back to her father. I'm gonna visit mom first thing in the morning tomorrow though, Luna thought. Since tomorrow was only Saturday, she had two days to prepare herself for school. Getting her mind ready and prepared were essential to her.

After dinner, Luna decided to head on up to bed. The only thing she didn't like about the house was that the bottom of the stairs creaked every time you stepped on it. It made it feel like the house was old when it was just recently built.

Luna set her futon on the floor spreading her blankets over it. It would be 3 days until her new bed came, so she has to sleep on a futon for the time being. She didn't bother to put her pajamas on since she was so tired and just crawled into the futon. Right when she closed her eyes, she fell into her dreams wondering what was in store for tonight.

Luna woke up to the sound of her phone alarm at 8:00 A.M. She got up, yawned, and proceeded to take a shower. She felt filthy with everything going on.

She got into the shower washing her hair and body and got dressed. Once her hair was done drying, she went downstairs and out the door. Her dad was still sleeping and probably wouldn't wake up until 10:00.

Luna enjoyed the nice morning weather with a slight breeze on her face. It felt as if nothing bad could ever happen today.

With a good feeling, she hopped on her bike and on to the hospital she went. Where her mom waited in bed for her to visit.

After a couple of breaks and stops, Luna finally arrived at the hospital. It was a pretty big hospital which looked to have at least 11 floors. As she neared the front door, a boy that looked to be around 16, walked out of the hospital.

She stopped in her tracks staring at the boy. In her mind, he was a very good looking boy, and he was the kind of boy she was into, a boy with piercings. He had cross earrings and light grey eyes. He had what looked like bed head hair which made him even more attractive to her.

She realized she must look weird just staring at him so she started to walk into the hospital.

The boy stopped walking and checked his pockets. Luna was curious to what he was doing as he walked back into the hospital. When Luna was finally in the hospital, she didn't see the boy again, so she walked to the front desk and asked the front lady which room her mother was in.

¨ Name please¨ The lady asked in a soft voice.

¨ Tiana Katz. ¨ Luna responded.

¨ Your mom is in room 296 on the 3rd floor.¨

¨ Thank you.¨ Luna said.

Luna proceeded to walk to the elevator hitting the 3rd floor button. She waited for the crappy elevator music to end as the door opened to the 3rd floor.

¨ 296, 296, 296. ¨ Luna said in a quiet voice, trying to remember the room number.

She eventually found the room and knocked on the door.

¨ Come in. ¨ said a soft and quiet voice from the inside.

Luna opened the door and walked over to her mom laying in bed.

¨ Hey mom, I'm here. ¨

¨ I'm so glad you could make it Luna.¨ Luna's mom always had a quiet and soft voice, so sometimes it was hard to hear her.

¨ How's your dad doing. ¨ Tiana said.

¨ He's doing good, we just moved into our new house so he's probably unpacking things right now, you know how he is, never takes a break.¨

Tiana let out a small and quiet laugh. Luna and Tiana sat there talking about past memories or catching up on things.

¨So, I start school tomorrow, and I don't know if I'm gonna be able to make some new friends. I don't want friends that only be around me to boost their popularity. I want friends that actually care about me, but I've never had friends like that, so I don't know what I'm gonna do.¨

Luna saw that her mom was frowning at the statement.

¨ Hey don't get so down, I bet that when you go to this school you're gonna have friends that care about you and want to be your friend because they want to. Not every person in the world cares about only themselves. There are thousands of people who will risk their lives to protect other people, even people like strangers. One day you'll even meet a boy that's gonna take you into a new world you've never been into. Whatever happens in the future, I want you to promise me that you will never look at the world with a dull view. I want you to look at it with a view of joy and happiness. Look at the greater good in people. Look for what positive influence they put on you or others. If you can promise me to do that, then our family can be whole once again.¨

Luna felt tears running down her cheek. Tiana reached her hand and wiped them off.

¨ You and your dad mean alot to me, so I want the both of you guys to be happy.¨

¨I promise mom, I promise. ¨ Luna said with tears rolling down.

Luna looked at the time and realized it was time to go. She wiped the tears off her face and stood up.

¨ Bye mom, I have to go help dad with unpacking now. ¨

Tiana waved at her daughter. ¨ How did I get so lucky? ¨ Tiana thought.

Luna waved back at her mom before walking out of the room. She was headed to the elevator before something unexpected happened.

All the lights in the hallway shut off. It was completely dark with not a single light in sight. Luna stood still scared to make a move.

The only courage she got was to take out her phone and turn her flash on. With the little light she had, she wasn't scared anymore so she started to walk around.

As she walked more into the hallway, she could notice the lights flickering on and off.

She was feeling her hand on a wall so she could know where the next elevator was. Her hand felt a bend of a corner so she turned around the corner and rammed into someone.

Luna fell to the floor with the person falling over her. She quickly looked at who rammed into her and saw it was the boy with the cross earrings from earlier. The boy grabbed her and said only one word. ¨ RUN.¨