Chapter Nine
Luna went home that afternoon with a light feeling. Her eyes had become small from crying for almost fifteen minutes but she could see things clearer than before. It had stopped raining and the streets smelled wet and cold, but to Luna, it smelled fresh. The sun had finally shown itself, lighting the ground below. The sky started to clear out as patches of blue scattered over it.
When Luna reached their house, her mother was on the couch, watching a health channel while her father was in the kitchen counter with his mobile phone and laptop. Luna thought of greeting them, but since her eyes appeared swollen, she decided to head on to her room and lock herself in there until dinner time.
Luna threw her shoes on the floor as she locked the door behind her, and then she jumped on her bed. She was lying on her stomach, examining her thick cotton royal blue sheets. In her line of sight, she had counted five sheep printed on her sheets, and then she rolled over. She folded her legs and placed her arms behind her head. She pulled out her earphones then plugged them in her ears as she turned her iPod in full volume. She examined her white ceiling and eventually she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Luna was in a shop where there were hats all around. She was by the counter, seemingly waiting for someone to come in. She looked down at her palm, and then there was the sound of the bell. Someone had entered the shop. There were two people, a man and a woman. The man appeared unhappy while the woman looked quite controlling. Luna approached the two and before she could say anything, the woman waved her hand with a few strokes and Luna felt tired. The woman left with the man. Luna felt like her skin was leather and then she touched it. She felt like she was covered in wrinkles. She saw a mirror on one corner of the shop and went over. When she saw her reflection, she was not seeing herself but she was seeing a blurry image of Grandma Sandy looking back at her with a smile.
Luna opened her eyes and saw her ceiling. It was with a brilliant streak of red and orange. The sun was setting while Luna laid on her back admiring the sunset through her ceiling. She stretched her arms then removed her earphones. She could hear the sizzling noises from the kitchen. Mrs. Robbins may have learned a new dish to share that evening, but I wish she'd cook more pizza, burger and fries.
Luna slowly got up and went over to her computer. Her dream reminded her of what she needed to finish. She only had a few days before the submission of her paper for the week. She was able to finish a paragraph and she felt positive that she would be able to finish her paper sooner than she expected. The moment Luna's computer finished loading, her chatbox opened to reveal 18phoeb2014's offline messages.
18phoeb2014: hey!
haven't heard from you in a while
PM me when you're online
looneyluna12: hi
sorry, i was busy
what's up?
After Luna sent her response, she closed her chatbox. She was not expecting a quick response from her friend considering the time difference. She then opened her saved Word file about her week's paper and read the paragraph that she was able to type down. She thought for a while then continued typing. She deleted a few words, added a sentence here and there to make sure her sentence construction was proper and then stopped typing to read what she had written. It's still not complete, she thought as she closed the window and allowed her computer to Sleep. Luna sat on her wheeled-chair for a few more minutes, and then she went down to the kitchen to see what her mother was cooking.
“You didn't come home for lunch, honey,” Mrs. Robbins said as her daughter sat on one of the chairs, “where did you go to?”
“I was just—uhm—” Luna stuttered as she was shocked her mother noticed her absence, “I was in the playground, watching some kids play with their PSP and I didn't notice the time,” she lied as she went over to the refrigerator to get a glass of cold water.
Luna always felt hot and sweaty whenever she tried lying, especially to her mother. Mrs. Robbins was not exactly keen on Luna's habits. So, basically, she did not know when Luna was lying and when she was telling the truth. However, like most mothers, she can become very scary when she noticed that she was lied to.
“Oh Luna,” Mrs. Robbins began, as she pulled out a tray of freshly baked lasagna from their oven, as Luna's face became hotter, “you're no longer a child to be watching games like those.”
“Sorry, mom,” Luna sighed, as she continued drinking from her glass.
“Just next time, okay?” Mrs. Robbins warned while she allowed the tray to cool on top of the kitchen counter. “Go call your dad, this lasagna's ready, and prepare the table.”
“Okay, mom,” Luna gladly replied then set off to take utensils, plates, glasses and placemats from the kitchen cabinets to set the table.
After calling her father, Luna sat on her usual chair and was happy to take one part of the lasagna her mother experimented on. Mrs. Robbin was not exactly a chef but she made a decent cook, as long as she had something to follow.
Mr. Robbins came over to the dining table a few minutes after his husband and daughter started eating. Oddly enough, he did not bring his laptop with him. However, he brought his mobile phone to the table. He set it on his right then reached for a slice of the lasagna. As he ate, he glanced on his mobile phone once every minute.
“What are you waiting for, dad?” Luna asked when she noticed her father's odd behavior.
“A phone call from the office, honey,” Mr. Robbins replied, taking a bite from his plate of lasagna.
“Why?” the girl continued to ask, as she chugged her iced tea down.
“Well, I was told that I might be given a promotion and I'm just waiting for their call.”
Luna almost choked when she heard her father's news. She always knew her father was a workaholic so a promotion was not exactly surprising, even to Mr. Robbins himself. It just surprised her that her father was not promoted immediately. Mr. Robbins looked at her daughter as Luna tried to hide her embarrassment by pretending that she was just coughing.
As dinner went by, Mr. Robbins' mobile phone did not ring and the tension over the table was increasing. Mr. Robbins tried to cool it down by providing reasons as to why they have not called yet. Luna, on the other hand, thought that it was probably the first time that her father will not get that promotion he was expecting. She felt that her parents were thinking the same thing and so she tried thinking of a way to relieve the tension.
“Have you met Mrs. Chandler from across the street?” she asked to no one in particular, so her parents just remained quiet. “I mean, I know you have, but you know, like have you talked to her?” Still, no one replied. “Do you know that she's actually nice?” She tried again, but it seemed like her parents were too busy waiting for the call that they were only able to give her a nod.
Luna finished her dinner then she went up to her room. She turned on the lights then sat in front of her computer and woke it up. She opened her chatbox but there was no message. She opened a solitaire window and played for a few times as she waited for a message, but there was none. She then opened her blog window and started typing.
It rained again today. There were even lightning and thunder but it was weird, I didn't feel that scared.
Anyway, I went to the library again and since I was so smart that I didn't bring any umbrella, I was stuck there. I thought I'd be going home wet today but the librarian, Mrs. Chandler, invited me to go back inside, she even made soup for the two of us. That was quite creepy, but I was shocked that she did not eat me. She was even so nice. There were some moments when I would hear you from her. I guess it's because you're both old. No offense though. Haha.
But, today, I cried... in front of her, because I heard you from her. Isn't that embarrassing or what?!? She was really nice though. She even said she missed you too. I guess you're really that nice to everyone.
I'm making progress, by the way, I just need a little more touch.