“Luna? You okay?” Luna’s mom came outside to sit with her. She couldn’t help but cry a little more, not because she was sad but because she was scared of what Raina did to her dad to get him this way.
“I am just scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“Why is my dad being this way? I know he loves me but at this point I am starting to worry about his anger. What if I do something and he gets that mad, what if he hits me, what if he is okay with threatening me?”
“Oh god Luna, don’t think that way. Your dad loves you, I think his love for you is causing him to make the wrong decisions. You are his world, and I doubt he would ever lay a hand on you.”
“How do you know? He has never threatened anyone before, we never see him like this. Why did this start happening?” Luna couldn’t help but question everything. She was wondering what was going to happen next.
“I know, but I think your dad is just missing you a lot more since his dad died. I think he wants to spend more time so he doesn’t feel like how he felt with his dad, because I know that he and his dad weren’t close. That’s why I told the officers inside to just keep the report but they will go and speak with him if he comes by again. They will keep an eye during this timing since you are home until January, you can always ask them to come inside if anything as well but don’t be afraid of them, they are trying to keep you safe. Okay?” So she has a police car watching her while she’s at home just in case her dad comes back.
“Okay, that’s fine I guess.” Her mom hugged her and gestured for Luna to come inside, even if she didn’t want to, she had to because it was cold outside and she chose to go outside without a jacket on.
“Hi Luna, I know you’re scared about everything but myself and Officer Morgan want to make sure you are safe. We don’t want you thinking that we are here to hurt your relationship with your dad, we want to make sure that he understands what he said and did was wrong. Okay?” Listening to Officer Collins, Luna couldn’t help but not care what he was saying to her. All she cared about was how her dad was going to take it knowing that he has the police waiting for him. She nodded to Officer Collins so he knew she understood what he was saying. She was questioning if she could ask to call her dad but she knew that was going to be an automatic no. She wanted to ask her dad why, why was he doing this and why was he acting this way. Luna went to her room to get ready to just shower away the day. She heard the officers leaving which meant she could come outside to relax. The remainder of the night was silent, no one spoke with Luna because Luna didn’t want to speak with anyone. She could tell that she didn’t want to deal with it, so the rest of the night she decided to work on her Christmas break homework.
The next day was quiet. Luna woke up to walk Chewie and found a note from Marc saying ‘I walked Chewie for you, call me if you need me,’ she looked at Chewie with her eyes squinting at him.
“You traitor! I am supposed to walk you in the morning.” Chewie looked at her with his head sideways. She questioned if she took him out on a second walk just to get out of the apartment even for a minute. She put on an outfit and got ready to seem like she didn’t see the note. She walked out with Chewie and she found where the police car was at. She didn’t know if she was supposed to say hi to them, offer them coffee or stuff like that. She acted like she didn’t see them either, she wanted to act like she was having a normal school break day. She focused on singing.
‘Last Christmas I gave you my heart/But the very next day you gave it away/This year, to save me from tears/I'll give it to someone special/Once bitten and twice shy/I keep my distance, but you still catch my eye/Tell me baby, do you recognize me?/Well, it's been a year, it doesn't surprise me’
She loved singing Wham!, she couldn’t help but smile as she was singing this song. She turned around and saw Aaron, she was civil so she smiled and waved as she went back toward the apartment.
“Luna!” Ughhh nooo! Luna has no energy for faking a smile and having a normal conversation. She acted like she heard nothing, so she kept walking. She waved at the police car knowing that she can show that she noticed them but also to show Aaron that she has cops watching her right now.
“Luna!” Clearly that wasn’t enough, keep walking Luna just keep walking. Then she felt the tap on her shoulder.
“Jesus Luna! I said your name twice and you didn’t hear me, also why are there police right there?” Ugh! Luna truly didn’t want to talk to people yet, if anything she didn’t have anything to say to anyone right now. She just wanted to go back to sleep and just get through the break, she wanted to scream, she wanted to cry but she knew it was going to be pointless.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you. The cops are keeping an eye on the apartment for my downstairs neighbors since they claim that I keep doing weird things when they are home. I don’t know what that means either so I am just chilling and waving at the lovely police officers.” Liar! Why lie! Well…let’s see, tell Aaron what’s been going on and then risk breaking down crying and knowing that the police will get out of their car if they saw her crying in front of Aaron. She just wanted to let him leave her alone, but she knew that Aaron wasn’t going to be that easy to get rid of.
“Oh damn! Do you want company during this timing?”
“Honestly, not really. I just want to go back to bed because I am really tired.”
“It’s like 11 am, you are usually up and doing stuff. Are you okay?”
“Yes, I am okay. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Usually you are excited to go to your dad’s and alive by this time during the breaks. I am just worried about you.” Why does he care so much? What does he gain when Luna already rejected him?
“Don’t be worried, it was just a long night I couldn’t sleep. I just kept tossing and turning and I am just exhausted.” Wasn’t a full lie, she did have a rough night sleeping but she was just broken inside.
“Okay, but why aren’t you getting ready to go to your dad’s?”
“My dad is in New York spending time with his family, I couldn’t go up with him.” Another lie! She was on a roll, but she needed to end this conversation. She wanted to be home already.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I know you get happy to be with him during breaks.”
“It’s fine Aaron, I am gonna head back inside because I am cold and I want to go back to sleep.”
“Okay, see you after the break.”
“See you after the break.” Luna started walking to the stairs again. She felt like she was going to break down and cry but she knew not to do it until she was upstairs. She knew she was being extra watched. She saw Officer Collins walking toward her and Chewie, which meant more talking. She was tired of talking to people today.
“Good morning Luna. Who was that guy?” Seriously?!
“A fellow student from my school. Can I go now?” A bit more attitude came out of that statement but she was done with being outside now. She wanted to be in bed again, she wanted to sleep a bit more.
“I know you don’t like us here, but we are here to help keep you safe.”
“Safe? Safe? My dad isn’t dangerous, sure he was mad but he isn’t going to kidnap me or anything remotely close. I wanted a normal Christmas break but having a set of babysitters that could be using their time fighting someone in a Walmart for stealing. So sorry if I don’t feel safe because you guys are here. I am going to go upstairs if you need me please knock on the door, Chewie will let me know you are there.”
“Young lady, you should respect the authorities. We are here to protect you.”
“I’m sorry, but I was told by my mother that respect is given to those who gave it. You don’t respect me because you don’t know me and that’s fair because I don’t know you either so it makes us strangers so my respect isn’t as great as a person I know. Also please don’t call me a young lady.” At this point, she walked away with Chewie. She didn’t want to hear another word about it. She didn’t want to deal with Officer Collins anymore. She knew that if they needed something from the apartment or to check on her, they were allowed to knock on the door.
She got upstairs and practically passed out on the leather couch. The couch was so cold but cozy, she had Chewie in her arms since she was in one of his spots. She didn’t want to think anymore, so she put on a Christmas movie that she knew would make her smile as she fell slowly asleep. She woke up to a knock on the door, she realized the tv was blank because the movie was done. She sat up and looked out the window, it was Officer Morgan. Luna went to unlock the door.
“Hi Luna, I was wondering if I can use the bathroom real quick?”
“Sure,” as Luna gestured to come into the apartment. She got up and got a blanket from her room and then laid back onto the couch and put on another movie to fall back to sleep, Chewie laid right on top of the blanket even though she knew he would go under the blanket soon. Luna heard another knock at the door and she looked out the window again and it was Aaron outside. He couldn’t catch a hint today!
“Hi Aaron, everything okay?”
“Hi, no everything isn’t okay. I’m sorry but I am not going to go on my break and know that we aren’t okay. I know you hate me for trying to make a move on you at your lowest timing and I know it wasn’t my smartest moment, but I miss you. I miss talking to you. How do I fix this?” What would be a good response to this question? Luna didn’t want him to fix it, she didn’t want him around for a while because she felt taken advantage of. Luckily, she didn’t have to because Officer Morgan was out of the bathroom and came over to us.
“Hello young man, can we help you?” Luna just looked up to see Officer Morgan holding the door, while Aaron turned a new shade of pale. She didn’t know that anyone could turn that shade of white before.
“I was talking with Luna about our friendship. Who are you to her?” Confidence, she stood for it but from anyone else right now.
“I am Luna’s cousin and I just came by to check on her as I hear you saying everything wrong so I ask again can we help you?” OOOO I LIKE OFFICER MORGAN!!
“I’m sorry, no. I will just leave. Luna, I hope we can talk about this later. I want to make this right.”
Before Luna could respond, Officer Morgan responded, “yeah, she might respond or she might not. So don’t hold your breath, stretch. You can leave now. Bye bye.” Officer Morgan closed the door for Luna. Luna just felt her chest realize the ultimate breath she was holding back. Officer Morgan was allowed to stay but not Officer Collins, Luna couldn’t figure out why she didn’t like Officer Collins; she looked at him like he was willing to make things worse for her.
“Okay kiddo, who was that guy? Clearly he sounded like a boyfriend.”
“No, he isn’t my boyfriend. He is a stupid boy that thinks that I want him to be my boyfriend when I told him that I don't want him to be my boyfriend. I like someone else in my school and he knows that but he thinks he can change my mind. Which I told him wouldn’t happen. Please don’t tell my mom.”
“I won’t because I know that you have no control of him, boys are dumb. I do think you should apologize to my partner, he is dumb too.” Makes sense, boys are dumb.
“I just don’t know if your partner is on my side on this. I am scared he is going to arrest my dad the minute he sees him.”
“He isn’t, I will make sure that he doesn’t.” After Officer Morgan said that, she left the apartment and went back to the car. Luna looked out the window and was questioning if she should believe that Officer Collins is on her side and isn’t going to arrest her dad. She looks at Chewie as he is looking at her with his head sideways, she does the same thing. She puts on her jacket and steps outside. She walks over to the police car and knocks on the driver's side window.
“Hi Officer Collins, I’m sorry for how I acted. I just feel like you aren’t going to help my dad but Officer Morgan told me you won’t, so I am sorry.” She sounded for real, she felt bad for attitude because she knew better than that.
“Thank you Luna, I know you think we are the bad guys but we aren’t. I want to make sure that you are safe just like your mom and stepdad. I know it is scary but I won’t do anything to your dad, we are just going to tell him that he is going to get into trouble if he doesn’t stop showing up without letting anyone know.”
“Can I ask, what kind of trouble would he get into if he didn’t?”
“Well, I assumed your mom explained how the arrangement is with him. If he doesn’t, your mom could take his right to see away because he isn’t respecting the one wish she has which is letting her know before anything.” Luna’s mom did explain the way child support goes. She hated how it goes because if a certain amount isn’t paid he gets in trouble and can’t see her anymore, or how this problem could get him in trouble and still can’t see her. Her mom constantly reminded Luna that her dad owed a lot of money to Luna during the beginning of Raina. She hated that she knew this information, but it made Luna’s mom relieved knowing that Luna knew why her mom was so hard on her dad.
“I do understand, I just don’t think it’s fair that I lose seeing him when he is in trouble.” Luna couldn’t help but feel sad about that idea.
“Oh no, we are trying to avoid that. A child shouldn’t be sad about their parent’s actions though.”
“I know, but I do have to get my Christmas break homework done. If either of you need me, I am just a knock away.” Luna wanted to cry but she wasn’t going to do that in front of two police.
“Okay, if you want to talk to us again. You can come and sit with us and we can just talk.”
“Thank you Officer Collins, and thank you again for the advice, Officer Morgan.” Officer Collins looked confused toward Officer Morgan which meant she would have to explain what happened while she was upstairs with Luna.
“You have a good day, Luna.” Officer Collins rolled up the window again and immediately faced Officer Morgan. Luna walked back upstairs to Chewie sleeping in her blanket.
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