Chapter Four
“Hi little Luna.”
“Grandma?”
“Hi my little one.”
“Grandma!”
Luna woke up in the darkness of her room. She opened her eyes and adjusted to the darkness, and then she looked at the digital clock on her bedside table. It was already eight in the evening. She stared blankly at her moonlit ceiling and admired the shadows forming on it until she remembered that she was reading before she fell asleep. She rolled on her stomach and allowed her hands to scan the floor for her ebook reader. She found her earphones on the floor and pulled it. Her reader was eventually dragged out of its hiding. Luna turned it on, and she raised an eyebrow when she saw that she had not moved a page, and then she shrugged her shoulders.
Luna laid back on her bed with the ebook reader and her earphones beside her. She stared at the ceiling once more then scratched her forehead. She closed her eyes with the intent to sleep again but before dreamland could engulf her, she heard her stomach rumble. Dinner.
For a few minutes, Luna battled with herself. She was hungry but apparently, she was too lazy to stand. A few times her laziness won and so she just laid there. However, her hunger seemed to not give up and so she was forced to get out of bed and walk down to the kitchen.
At the foot of the stairs Luna could hear her parents talking about the stocks they bought the other day online. Luna wanted to go to them and say something but she decided not to. She went to the kitchen where there was mashed potato, fish fillet and some string beans served on a plate on top of the kitchen counter. The plate was covered with plastic wrap and there was an orange note placed on top of it. Her mother's curvy writing welcomed her as she moved closer to it.
Here's your dinner honey. Heat it in the microwave.
Luna removed the note, crumpled it then removed the plastic wrap. Her food looks cold but she did not mind it. She took a fork from one of the kitchen cabinets and pulled out a seat from under the counter. She started to dig through the mashed potato. It was quite sticky as she licked her fork and allowed the dry soft potato to fill her mouth. She was half way through the potato when she started the fish and eventually the string beans. She wrinkled her face as she chewed on the beans. After eating, Luna took a glass and filled it up with orange juice from the refrigerator. The cold beverage was able to wash over the taste of food from her mouth. Luna burped. She was full and yet she felt quite empty.
She placed the plate in the sink and opened the faucet to allow water to flow over the soiled plate. She closed the faucet then went back to her room. It was a little over nine and her parents were still in the living room typing, chatting and swiping over their devices. Luna, on the other hand, was sitting on her wheeled-chair in front of her computer. She thought of going back to sleep but eating seemed to have woken her up. She switched her computer on and opened her chatbox. 18phoeb2014 was online and so Luna sent a message to her.
looneyluna12: hi :-)
18phoeb2014: hiiiiiii :-))
why are you still up?
looneyluna12: i just woke up
18phoeb2014: lol
i dyed my hair purple!!! :-)) :-))
looneyluna12: woah! Seriously?
you're allowed to do that?
why?
18Phoeb2014: i just felt like doing it haha
looneyluna12: oh.haha.
have you read howl's moving castle?
18Phoeb2014: that's a book?!?
nope. but i've seen the film
well, bits of the film
lol
looneyluna12: oh.
Luna had no other topic in mind and so she decided to log out. She clicked open an empty MS Word window hoping to start her English paper. She stared at the blank page for more than a few minutes, and then she sighed. She still had no idea what to do with it. She, however, decided that she will be writing about her grandmother, but there seem to be a block between the Luna trying to write the paper and the six-year-old Luna who was happy playing by the slide as she called to Grandma Sandy. Luna could remember the old lady's funeral, the wake and how her grandmother was to other people like Mrs. Chandler and her parents, but she could not remember how her grandmother was with her. She knew that her grandmother had a vibrant smile and a happy atmosphere around her but those did not feel true to Luna. She was writing on what she loved most and I can't even remember her, Luna sighed as she played with her pointer on the screen.
My grandmother was a happy old woman. She had a smile that could light up the room in an instant.
She started to type but as soon as she finished the second sentence, she deleted it. She felt like she was making a story out of a character from a movie she had watched a long time ago. The words felt like they were lies charging from her fingertips to the computer screen and all the way to her own heart. She squinted her eyes on the blank screen and started playing with her keyboard. She felt annoyed with herself for forgetting but she tried to keep her cool by typing random nonexistent words on the screen that made her smile.
flintuwi wymanufi fulufifi juniloki
She sniggered as she typed and then deleted the words. They were meaningless but they were funny. At least they felt real, she thought as she switched off her computer and went back to bed. She, once again, stared at the interplay of moonlight, streetlight, trees and passing cars on her ceiling. The shadows had become darker and the figures, as she stared at them longer, started to form other familiar yet strange figures. A figure of a faceless man sipping a cup of souls quickly appeared and disappeared on the ceiling as a car zoomed by. A castle that seemed to be traveling across her ceiling jumped from one part to another as a van honked by and parked next door. The night grew sleepier but Luna was wide awake, counting passing cars as she closed her eyes and invited sleep.
Luna woke to a gloomy morning the next day. Her head felt like a big rock had been thrown at it as it was aching from lack of sleep. Luna slightly opened her eyes and placed a hand over her head to massage it.
“Luna, come down and have breakfast already,” Mr. Robbins said as he knocked on Luna's door. “Your mom made pancakes.” Then Luna heard him climb down the stairs.
Luna's stare at the door lingered a little longer ,and then she sighed. She thought her father would wait for her to say something before leaving. Apparently, Mr. Robbins had other more important tasks for the day than to just wait outside Luna's door. Luna sat up and stretched her arms and legs. Her head still hurt.
The sound of a fast moving car came zooming from the street. Luna heard some joggers make angry comments as the car zoomed past them. Luna left her bed and went towards the window facing the street. She was able to get a glimpse of the green convertible before it made a turn. Luna smiled as she saw some of the joggers still cursing at the ghost of the green car.
Just as Luna was about to go back to bed and curl up for half of the day, she saw Mrs. Chandler walking. The old woman was now wearing a tight, black, knee-high skirt with a pink button-down shirt. Her hair was still in a tight bun and she was wearing the same dark blue clacking shoes as she crossed the street and disappeared to a curb. The old woman was heading towards the library.
Luna immediately changed her shirt and took a hooded gray jacket from her closet. She, again, fought with dust, used socks and pieces of paper just to get her sneakers from under her bed, and then she ran down the stairs. Luna could not explain it, but there was something about the library that made her want to go back. It might be the eerie yet cozy feeling that the library gave her or the feeling of the book on her fingertips, how each page felt alive in her hands as she flipped them, and how the soothing voice in her head comes alive every time she reads that book; not to mention, the figures that form in her imagination as she read.
Before Luna could even cross the living room and make her way to the door, her mother saw her.
“Luna!” her mother called from the kitchen door, “just where do you think you're going?”
&nb
sp; “I was just going out for a walk, mom,” Luna lied, clutching the iPod from inside her jacket pocket.
“You're not going out, not until you eat something, young lady,” Mrs. Robbins pointed, walking towards Luna.
“Okay mom,” Luna replied, sighing as her mother came closer to her.
They were having breakfast by the kitchen counter. Mr. Robbins was already seated with a steaming hot coffee in his hand, his laptop in front of him, and next to the laptop, a plate of pancakes ready to be eaten. He was wearing a pair of black slacks, a blue buttoned shirt and a maroon necktie to match his outfit. Luna sat next to him and saw her father reviewing a few advertisements. She raised an eyebrow as her mother served her with a plate of pancakes and a glass of orange juice.
“What's with dad?” she said, looking pointedly at her father.
“He has a meeting today,” Mrs. Robbins replied as she cut her husband's pancakes for him.
“Don't you usually do that online, dad?” Luna asked, cutting her pancakes into four and then pouring maple syrup over it.
“Not today, honey,” Mr. Robbins answered, looking at Luna, “the big boss wants to see me and talk to me personally.” Then he went back to his monitor.
Half way through breakfast, Mr. Robbins jumped out of his chair as he stared at his watch. It was nine-thirty and his meeting was in thirty minutes. He gave his wife a quick peck on the lips then ran out the house, to the garage where his black car was, while there were still bits of pancake in his mouth. Luna smiled at her rushing father and slowly drank her juice.
“Can I go out now, mom?” Luna asked as she got up from her seat.
“Put your plate in the sink and then you may go,” Mrs. Robbins replied as she browsed over her iPad.
Luna placed her plate in the sink, walked fast towards the door, and then she was outside. She walked across the street and towards the path that Mrs. Chandler took this morning. The sun was hidden behind dark clouds and it seemed like it was about to rain but Luna did not mind it. The air was quite cold, but the thirteen-year-old girl pretended it did not exist as she crossed to the town's library with both hands in her jacket pocket.