A Luna's Revenge

The beginning - 11 years ago

Warning: This book contains dark and adult themes!

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Jenni G

A Luna's Revenge

Chapter : The beginning - 11 years ago

"Quickly, get in!" mother said, as she shoved me into the cupboard and closed the door. "No mommy, please!" I begged through the wooden doors of their cupboard, "it’s too dark!" my voice was breaking as fear drove me to tears, "I'm scared..."

"Shhhhh, he's coming!" mother whispered with urgency. The clicking sound of a key turning in the door deafened the silence. The door screeched painfully as it slowly swung open to reveal the intruder.

"Howdy young lady... why, aren't we looking particularly gorgeous today," the man said as his fake charm came off as a threat. I could only see a small piece of him through the gap between the cupboard doors which both concealed me and held me captive. He was much taller than mother, with big shoulders and arms, his red hair was cut short and his beard kept untamed.

"Don't touch me!" mother said as she jerked away from him. Mother was scared of him; her skinny figure stood huddled against the wall beside her. In a flash he grabbed her by her neck and pushed her up against the wall. My heart was beating so loudly I thought he might hear me from where he stood, next to the tiny basin mother used to wash us.

"Careful there darlin, I might just forget to buy this week's groceries,” he said with his lips to mother’s ear, before tossing her to the floor, out of my sight. I wanted to fly out of the cupboard to her rescue, but then I recalled mother’s golden rule, stay out of sight. 

“B***h,” I heard him mumble before I hearing him spit, undoubtedly at mother as she still lay on the floor. The door slammed shut and I flew out from hiding to my mother’s side.

“Mamma, mamma,” I cried, grabbing her arm to help her up. She was crying, hysterically, between coughs.

“You ok mamma?” I demanded to know, worried sick to my stomach. I was only 7 years old but already felt like my mother’s guardian. She was my teacher, my caretaker, my best friend, my whole world, and I wished I could take all her tears away. 

“Yes, my sweet, brave, girl… mommy’s ok, we are ok,” she sobbed, wrapping me in her arms. She took my mind far away from this dark little place I knew to be home.I have never been outside this dark place, and sometimes I wondered if the world mother told me about was real, if all the stories were real, but I knew mother would never lie to me. I loved how her blond hair fell over me when she held me close, how her arms made me feel safe as they were wrapped around me, how she made me feel like I lived far, far, away when she read me stories about princes, princesses, waterfalls and rainbows.

-

“Mommy has a plan…” She started to explain in a rush, her eyes darted from side to side as she looked at me, “Mommy will get you out of this horrible place, listen carefully ok!”

“Yes, momma,” I nodded, not taking my eyes off mother.

“The bad man will be back soon, and when he is, Mommy will lie to him and say you were sick and died. He will pick you up and take you away, that’s when you have a chance to run my little Phoenix,” she said stroking my cheek lovingly.

“I’m scared momma,” tears rolled like fire down my cheek.

“I know honey, I know… but you have to be strong for Mommy, always! Promise?” she held out her pinky finger, smiling encouragingly at me.

“Promise,” I grabbed her pinky with mine, shaking on a pinky promise.

“Now let’s prepare, my beautiful girl, there’s a lot to do before you are ready.”

The rest of the afternoon we practiced wriggling free from a rolled-up blanket. Rolling to my left over and over until the blanket was loose and I was free to run. Momma said she was going to pretend I had a very bad fever and died, telling the bad man not to open the covers as I may be diseased. He would take me outside, and I must remain still. Momma hoped he drove a truck, but believed that he did, it would be easy to escape from the back of a truck. If he put me in a car, I was to look for a handle on the door, open it and then run. Momma said I was only allowed to run once the vehicle stopped and once I heard other people around me.

“You are ready my little Phoenix,” she kissed my head, her lips lingering on my skin as I heard her cry, “Mommy loves you so much, never forget that, or me.” She wrapped the quilted duvet around me and lay me down in the middle of the room, where we waited for the bad man to come. She sat on the floor next to me and stroked my back, up and down, comforting me. A long while passed before the familiar click of the keys in the door sent mother jumping to her feet, hysterically crying to convince him of our story.

“Where have you been?” she screamed

“What’s going on?” he replied gruffly.

“She got sick, had a bad fever, then… she died!” mother cried, this time it sounded real, even to me. I was crying silently along with her, in the privacy of my disguise.

“No… don’t open her, it might be contagious, I feel sick and warm too,” she panicked. Without saying a word, he picked me up. I concentrated so hard on what mother said, relax and don’t move when he picks you up, or else he will know. Mother’s loud cries behind me disappeared after the door closed to separate us. I heard him walk, a strange crunching sound like the time I accidentally stepped on the pasta shells I dropped on the floor. He threw me down so hard, a sharp pain in my head almost made me scream, but I stayed strong for mother. Everything around me started to shake and I rolled from side to side as he drove. I had to be on a truck, I was sure, there was so much space around me and the area I was lying on was big. Every now and then I rolled to hit the side of the truck, I wriggled free, sitting on my knees to look over the side of the truck. My eyes burned, it was so bright, like when I looked directly at the light above mother’s bed. The trees were so big, I couldn’t believe how big they were, even bigger than in the stories mother told me. We drove away from the trees and past houses and buildings, there were people everywhere and I knew this was the time. The truck stopped at the crossing and I jumped, my legs hurt from the impact but I ran as fast as they could carry me, straight into the old man’s shop. The truck stopped and I heard him yell for me to stop, but I didn’t. He turned and ran back to his truck the moment I was surrounded by people in the shop.

“Help!” I shouted, just like mother told me, “I escaped from a bad man, the man who stole my mother, please help me!”