Alive at Sunset (Rituals of the Night Series Book 2) (12 page)

“What happened to you, Luna? In high school you fought, you used to be strong. Where did
that
Luna go? We need her now, not you. You’re just whiny and pathetic,” he said bitterly, obviously seething.

Luna ground her teeth and whipped her head to look at him. “That Luna died with Violet,” she said, seething back at him.

“I know you’ve thought about the possibility of it, Luna. You’re not stupid, you’ve listened to what I’m saying, but for some reason you don’t want to cooperate,” Max said cautiously.

“This isn’t real! It just can’t be!” Luna said.

Max was speechless. He had tried every card he could play, but she was still stubbornly persistent that he was wrong.

“I want to live my life, Max, please let me do that,” she said.

Max set his lips into a grim line. “Fine, but you might not live that much longer.”

Luna turned away without a word as she headed back to the funeral. The grief over her lost father was accompanied by a touch of dread in her stomach. If Max was that worried about something, then it had to be serious. She
had
thought about it a lot -that was the reason she had dug out her little black book.

She wanted to move on, and be normal at last. She didn’t want to face it again after the things she had encountered last time. Ignoring him might be a fatal move on her part, but it was a risk she was willing to take. She refused to acknowledge the possibility that her teenage nightmare was coming back to finish what it started.

W
hen Luna got back home, Amanda still wasn’t there from wherever she had gone. Amanda hadn’t gone to the funeral with Luna, and she was yet to make an appearance. The last time Luna talked to her, she had made excuses about having things to do, but Luna knew the real reason why she hadn’t gone. Amanda knew that Max would be there.

Luna frowned as she sat down on the couch in the living room. With nobody else in the apartment, Luna felt lonely. She was worried about Amanda; she didn’t understand why her friend was suddenly avoiding her like the plague. With David in the ground, Luna felt empty. Even if she wouldn’t admit it, she felt better being surrounded by a few other people.

Rose was as devastated (if not more than) her daughter. Luna wondered how she was handling David’s death by herself. Luna had always considered herself lucky that she had had parents that actually stayed together and were happy for over twenty years. A component of her family was actually gone, and she didn’t know how she would cope with it.

Luna knew that it would, of course, be harder on Rose for a number of reasons. At least Luna was an hour away from the worst of the memories. If she tried hard enough then she could pretend, at least for a little while, that things were okay.

Luna hated being alone, but at the same time she wanted nothing to do with anyone. She was used to handling grief alone. David had made her see a therapist after the death of Violet, merely because they had worried about her sanity. She didn’t need it; she still believed that it hadn’t exactly helped her. Regardless of what she thought, she still hated carrying the weight of her problems.

The familiar triple tap of the secret knock rang out, breaking Luna from her thoughts. Her heart fluttered in excitement at the sound. Luna stood up to answer it. For once, she wanted to talk to Amanda. It bothered her that she hadn’t gone to David’s funeral, and she hoped her friend had a good reason for missing it.

Amanda smiled widely at Luna from the other side of the door as she stood -nearly beaming with happiness- on the porch. Luna stared back at her feeling a little worried about what had happened to her in the time she was gone. Amanda didn’t notice Luna’s reaction as she smiled and stepped (nearly floated) into their apartment. She tossed her ridiculous red purse to the floor and collapsed to the sofa, the back of her hand to her forehead like a melodramatic princess in a medieval film. Luna was almost worried to ask her what she was thinking about.

Luna scrunched her eyebrows, not able to help feeling confused; seeing that much happiness on one person seemed unhealthy. She closed the door and slowly turned to look at Amanda, carefully deciding what to say. Her throat burned with the desire to ask her where she had been.

“You seem really…happy today,” Luna said, stuttering slowly as she folded her arms across her chest.

“Yes!! I am extreeemly happy,” Amanda said sitting bolt upright as she took her hand off of her face. “I had the most amazing day!”

Luna simpered and when she looked at Amanda, it dropped almost in the same moment it appeared on her face.

Amanda’s tone dropped from happy to wary as she remembered where Luna had been. “Oh, how was the funeral?”

“It was a funeral, Mandy, it wasn’t good,” Luna said loathingly, feeling her friend’s question had been unnecessary. All funerals were tragic events in her opinion, but the worst were when they were of blood relatives. “Max showed up and made a mess of the thing but other than that, it was standard. “

“That’s good I suppose,” Amanda said not sure of what tone she should be using. “How’d he mess it up?”

“It doesn’t really matter,” Luna said wondering if Amanda was going to pretend she hadn’t invited Max to it.

“I’m sorry anyways,” Amanda said looking like she meant it.

“You’re allowed to be happy, you know,” Luna said to her as she realized how downcast her tone turned. She didn’t like that she had the power to bring her friend down that much, that fast. Misery
didn’t
love company.

“I know,” Amanda said smiling again, and Luna could instantly see the tension leave her shoulders.

Luna widened her eyes a bit at Amanda’s instant polar mood swings. Sometimes she worried that she wasn’t the only crazy one.

“Mind letting me in on your secret?” Luna wondered.

“Luna, I know it doesn’t interest you, but I met the most amazing guy!” she gushed holding a hand over her heart.

“Well, that’s great,” Luna said instantly feeling her interest leave the conversation. She quickly found that she wished she hadn’t asked. “I’m happy for you.”

“I’m happy for me too!” she said pleasantly. “He’s so adorable. Oh, my God, Luna, you wouldn’t believe it!”

“Hang onto that one then,” Luna tried joking though to her it didn’t matter either way. She turned towards the hallway that led to her room.

“I will, I will hang onto him!” Amanda chanted sounding as if she was trying to convince herself of something. Luna knew that she only liked going with a guy for a few dates before moving on. She didn’t like anything too serious. “In fact we have a date tonight!”

“Well, I hope you have fun,” Luna said lightly though she couldn’t help thinking of the lonely evening ahead of her.

She didn’t have any work, and no friends to hang with (especially since Max was apparently off of his rocker). Her evening was wide open for her to do whatever she wanted. Yet, all she could think of was how she didn’t want to spend it alone. Her mind whispered to visit Rose and see how she was handling things, but Luna didn’t know if she could handle that conversation again. Part of her wished she still had schoolwork or even some hours at work to keep her mind busy.

“Enough about me for now. Do you have any plans for tonight?” Amanda asked her, sounding a bit calmer now.

“No, I think I’ll go visit my Dad’s grave.” She sighed feeling her grief well again. The happier Amanda got, the worse she felt.

Amanda frowned at her as if she couldn’t think of a thing to say. “Well, I hope you feel better,” she said.

“Thanks,” Luna said, nodding to her. That line wasn’t as bad as people offering apologies for things they couldn’t understand, but the sound of it still made Luna frown. Her grief wasn’t an illness. “Good luck on your date.”

Amanda smiled affably. “Thanks.”

Luna turned away from her before she could say another word. She finished going to her room in a flash. Luna closed the door behind her and went to sit on her bed, not sure what to do. She looked sadly at her hands at she twined her fingers and thought. It seemed like everyone was living their lives but her. Even Max had a life beside his DreamWorld worries. Luna had thought things would be different (better) after high school. That was what everyone had always told her. But they weren’t. The grief seemed to bite her, and she gasped as she began to sob again over her dead father.

                                          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chance watched the officers as they stepped up to the receptionist. He swallowed heavily before ducking into the nearest room that belonged to an elderly woman. He silently thanked the heavens that she was asleep. Small talk was the furthest thing from his mind. He busied himself by checking her IV and vitals, all the time his thoughts were on the lobby.

He knew he couldn’t avoid the police forever. They would get the schedule and see he had been working the floor that night. Questions were inevitable.

He left the room in time to run into Officer Jackson.

“Chance?” he asked. “Just the person I wanted to see.”

“What is this regarding, Officer?”

“I have some questions for you about David Ketz’s death,” Officer Jackson said, looking at a note he had written in his small notebook.

“It’s a hospital,” Chance said. “People die here all the time.”

“I can do without your jokes, Sir,” he said. “This is a murder investigation, and according to the video footage, you were the one working at the time of his death.”

Chance nodded. “I was.”

“Run me through that night.”

Chance sighed as he turned to look at him. “Do we have to do this now? I’m very busy.”

Officer Jackson raised an eyebrow. “Right now you’re a prime suspect in his death. We can either do this here or at the station. Your choice.”

Chance sighed. “Fine. I was doing my rounds when I heard the code from his room. I rushed in to help him, but he was already flat lining, and I couldn’t save him.”

“Mm-hmm, was there anyone else working with you?”

“Duncan clocked out at about eleven,” Chance replied.

“What about visitors?”

“I’m not in charge of that, Sir.”

“Right. I did some research into your background, and I found out that you recently came out of a coma?” he asked.

Chance swallowed uncertainly. “That’s right.”

“How did you get put into that coma, Sir?” he asked. “When you were found you were in the middle of the woods near two crime scenes.”

“I don’t know, it was all a blur,” Chance said.

“You don’t remember anything about who did that to you?”

“Look, Officer, I’ve already answered all the questions the others had for me when I woke up. Get the details from them –I’ve told you everything.”

“Hmm. Well, just one more question. You were in a correctional facility a few years back, am I correct?

Chance nodded uncertainly.

“What were you in for?” he asked.

Chance raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”

“Your records were sealed by the court.”

Chance smirked, unable to hide his relief. “That’s because I was a stupid kid when that happened. I’ve grown up since then.”

“Glad to hear it,” Officer Jackson said. “There’s nothing else you have to tell me?”

“Nope.”

“Alright, thanks for your time,” he said. “I’ll find you again if I have any more questions.”

“I’ll be here. Am I still a suspect?”

“Do you think you are?”

“I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“Good,” Officer Jackson said, turning away as he jotted something down.

Chance stayed in place, staring after him. He didn’t like that he couldn’t tell whether or not he had cleared himself from suspicion.

Even if I’m not, they have no proof that I did a thing.

                            ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luna sighed as she pulled on her sneakers, carefully tying the strings into knots. The chair felt hard beneath her body and the kitchen never seemed lonelier. Hours had passed since Amanda had come home, and she was preparing herself to leave again. Luna was deciding what to do with the bit of alone time ahead of her.

Originally, she planned to jog to the cemetery where her father had been buried to get some exercise while at the same time paying her respects. Then, she decided exercise was too much. She decided to walk. She wanted her trip to take some time because, for once, she didn’t want to be in the apartment alone.

The bathroom door was open, spilling light into the hallway as Luna worked on tying her shoes. Amanda was inside, fixing her hair and makeup for her date with her mystery man. Luna sighed, feeling a bit envious of her blithe attitude but forced herself to push it away. Luna missed being that way, but it wasn’t Amanda’s fault that Luna’s life had been miserable the past two weeks.

Amanda had been successful in the things she wanted to do with her break. No matter what, Luna couldn’t help but feel jealous when she remembered that her free time had been spent mourning.

A knock sounded at the door suddenly, and Luna looked at Amanda expectantly, waiting for her to rush to the door like laboratory rats to cheese in a maze. Amanda peeked out of the bathroom and looked at the door as she stuck an earring in her ear. “Oh! Luna could you be a dear and get that for me? I’m not quite ready yet, and I won’t let him see me ‘til I’m absolutely perfect!”

Luna finished tying the last knot of laces. “Yeah, sure,” she replied emotionlessly as she got up from the kitchen chair.

Luna sighed as she grasped the handle of the door and pulled it open. She’d have to wear a fake smile to greet her friend’s date. That always took her a small moment of mental preparation.

“Amanda will be out-“ She stopped midsentence as she caught sight of him.

Before her stood a tall smiling man. His face was beautiful like Amanda had promised, but his eyes were full of hatred. It was almost like looking into the face of the Devil himself. At the sight of her, the guy grinned wickedly, exposing all of his perfect white teeth.

“Luna, it’s finally you,” Chance said, smiling painfully wide. The emotion in his voice was hard to register.

“No,” Luna whispered, horror overcoming her as she stood paralyzed to the spot. “Please, God, no.”

“So glad you remember,” he growled at her.

Luna realized in horror that his hand was dipping to his pocket to reach for something unseen. The gesture was enough to make Luna want to scream. She remembered that was where he always used to keep his favorite snake-handle dagger.