Moon Desire

CHAPTER FOUR ?

She dashed through the woods at breakneck speed. The wind blasted over her hair, causing the trees to tremble and the leaves to tumble to the ground. Her lungs cried out in exhaustion as her breath came in pants, her heart thudded, and her heart thudded. She chose to disregard it. She ignored it all and continued on her way.

When she splashed around in a stream, the water sprung up in panic and glistened in the sunlight, soaking her paws. Sapphire wished she could pause to appreciate the intense coldness of the water and how magical it felt as it rushed over her brownish-red fur, but she couldn't.

As it swooped through the green trees, evading trunks and branches, the bird she was chasing cawed in terror. Sapphire was taunted by its blue and brown feathers, which danced in front of her eyes.

We're almost there.

Sapphire.

One step forward, one step back. Sapphire could almost feel her jaws closing over the small creature.

Sapphire!

Her canines glinted brightly in the sunshine streaming through the treetops as she opened her mouth. She bit down and gracefully caught the bird.

"Sapphire!" Something violently shook her shoulder, jolting her awake from her slumber. Her head slammed violently against the shelf on the wall by the booth as she jerked up, startled.

"Ow. Damn." Sapphire stroked her temples, the ache striking her like lightning. She raised her eyes to the person who had awoken her.

"Sandy?" As her intellect caught up with her, her gaze raced around the diner. How long had she been dozing off?

“Finally. I've just been attempting to wake you up for about 15 minutes now. You're lucky they even let you have your brother here while you work," she grumbled.

Sapphire made a frowning expression. "I'm really sorry; I didn't intend to do so. It's just been a little difficult recently."

"Sure, sure. Keep it, "Sandy sneered and rolled her eyes at her.

"You'd better hurry back to work before your employer notices you've been slacking. It's been 20 minutes since your break ended."

Damn.

"You also need to find a way to contact your brother. He's been pestering that elderly couple for a long time."

Sapphire leapt from the booth, her frightened gaze darting over the room for Charlie. When did he rise from his seat in the booth? When she spotted him near the rear of the ancient diner, chatting excitedly with an older couple, she couldn't help but sigh with relief. Fortunately for her, the pair didn't appear to mind him joining them for supper. When Sapphire saw Charlie grab a fry off the elderly man's plate, she gasped. She sprang into action right away, completely forgetting about Sandy.

"Charlie!" When she arrived at their table, she growled. “Did I say anything about leaving the booth?"

She apologised to the couple and pleaded with them to forgive her. “Please accept my sincere apologies."

The lady merely smiled at little Charlie, who sat next to her with his blonde curls out of control. "No way, Dearie. This young man is more than welcome in this establishment." She stroked his hair with her hand. “Harold and I are unconcerned. He's been quite well-behaved."

Charlie looked up at the lady, no likely giddy with delight at the compliment. “Fire! Fire! Is it okay if I stay? Please?"

Sapphire looked sympathetically at Charlie. "I apologize, Charlie, but you must remain in the booth where I can watch you. Besides, you have all of your toys with you. You don't want to play with your playdoh, do you?"

If she had known these folks, she would not have objected. If that's the case, she'd be fine with Charlie staying at their table if it meant he'd have a good time. However, these were strangers, not pals. Even humans. Sapphire needed to use this as an opportunity to teach Charlie not to talk to strangers. He could not, under any circumstances, approach strangers and take their food.

The lady answered, "We don't mind having him here, Dearie."

Sapphire, on the other hand, was already shaking her head. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you. Come on, Charlie, we've gotta get out of here. Thank you so much for keeping an eye on him for me."

Sapphire snatched Charlie's arm and dragged him back to the booth without saying anything. She pushed him down near his toy bag and took his play doh from the bag's side pocket. Sapphire was taken aback when he didn't even go near the cap after removing it. Charlie was obsessed with his playdoh. With a single ball of the squishy, clay-like substance, the toddler could create a whole story.

She cast a peek down at her brother, who sat at the table with his head bowed. His arms were tightly wrapped around his face, blocking any light from entering.

She sighed heavily, squatted down so she was face to face with Charlie, and started rubbing his small back. “Please accept my apologies, Charlie. I understand you wanted to stay with them, but you can't just walk over and start talking to random people. What if they intended to kidnap you and take you away from me? I wouldn't know what I'd do if I never saw you again."

His small hands squeezed into fists as he wept into the table, his shoulders shook.

"Charlie. Don't do this to me, please. Please let me get back to work," she pleaded. When she saw her little brother cry, it broke her heart, and it stung much more knowing that he had been sobbing a lot lately.

"I f-fin-finally got a friend, Fire!" he sobbed, "You t-took them from me!"

"Please, Charlie, keep your mouth shut. It saddens me to see you cry, you know. Come on, buddy," she pleaded, "we need you to get it together. Please?"

“No!” He yelled a little too loudly above the dinner commotion, "No! Fire!”

The emotions that were rapidly developing on his face told her everything she needed to know. Charlie was normally a sturdy little boy. With the best of them, he could take a punch. He was likely to be exhausted and emotional after Jackie left and now having to stay in the same booth for over six hours to watch his sister run back and forth like a maniac. Not every child could sit in the same spot for an extended period of time.

"Shh!" Sapphire was in a panic. People began to look over to their booth, perplexed as to what was going on.

Some even paused in the middle of a discussion to see if Sapphire was bothering the child. I'm his younger sister.

I'm his younger sister. Maybe if she repeated it loudly enough in her brain, the diner clients would hear it and realize what was going on. "Charlie, I swear to you, after this, just the two of us, we'll do something. As friends. Okay, let's go buy some ice cream. All you have to do now is keep quiet till my shift is finished. Please?"

When it came to children, ice cream must have been the greatest enticement since his tears gradually faded. With his eyes red and puffy and snot streaming from his nose, he raised his little head and gazed at her. “Are you sure?"

"I promise," she said softly as she carefully wiped his nose with a tissue from the dispenser.

"Okay."

"Now sit here and play with your toys while I go get some ice cream money for us. My shift isn't over for another two hours, so I'll need you to stay until then."

His gaze drifted over to the open playdoh as he nodded.

Sapphire softly slapped her knees before standing up. "Good." She gave him a wary look. "And don't approach or speak to any more strangers, okay?"

It wasn't the finest idea to bribe her younger brother with ice cream, but she was weary and out of options. She couldn't do much because she wasn't his mother or father. Most of the time, Charlie was fine with Sapphire's power over him, but that didn't mean it always worked. He only needed a little bit of...encouragement now and then.

Charlie made no show of agreement, but he did take out the playdoh and began constructing something that looked like a ball.

Sapphire turned back to her work, satisfied. She put in a lot of effort.

***

The syrup refused to leave the table. This morning, who the hell cleaned the tables? They did the most dreadful job ever. Sapphire scrubbed frantically at the chipping table, her opposite hand clutching a stack of cups. She'd just finished serving a group of middle-aged women a drink and now had to clean up.

Lindy's Diner couldn't afford to hire bus boys since it was too cheap. The person in charge of the money and keeping the diner clean was the biggest scrooge ever. Despite the chipped and falling-apart tables and the booths with one-too-many holes in the seats, Lindy's was never short of patrons. Since Sapphire clocked in for her shift, the jukebox in the corner had played a Whitney Houston song for the seventh time. The bathroom doors were so old that they practically crumbled just from contact with the air, and some of the lights that had blown out months ago were still not replaced—though it did provide a nice dinner mood—and some of the lights that had blown out months ago were still not replaced—though it did provide a nice dinner mood—

Before Lindy, whoever ran the diner wasn't the best Caretaker.

Sapphire had spent the previous two years working for Lindy and her husband. She'd had to seek a job as soon as she turned sixteen to help maintain the family.

She'd been overjoyed when she'd finally obtained the job, and she'd since proven herself deserving of it.

She'd worked more overtime than any other employee and always pitched in to clean while waiting for her tables to fill up. Unlike the other workers, she never stopped to talk until it was absolutely essential, and she always smiled politely. She never battled with clients the way Sandy did, and she once used money from her own wages to pay for a meal she'd messed up.

Before cleaning off the salt, pepper, sugar, and napkin trays, she used some of her extra strength to wipe the syrup off the table with her damp towel. As she watched and listened for customers, she kept her eyes and ears open. She was particularly concerned about Charlie's condition, but he'd passed out half an hour earlier.

Sapphire looked at the wall clock. The time is 7:30. Charlie had half an hour till her bedtime and an hour and a half until her shift officially finished. She hurriedly washed the cups in the kitchen sink and set the table with a new set of silverware.