I.
As Luna Heron awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, she found herself unable to walk properly on the ground. It had seemed as if all gravity on Earth had paused to a still, but not quite. No, Luna could still walk. It was only that she could only walk with a bounce in each step, quite like moonwalking. Like the Earth’s gravity was turned down to a record low. Undeterred by this fact that she could no longer walk easily, she decided to get ready for school, because the one thing Luna cared most about was her academics. It was always about the grades. If Luna didn’t get good grades, she wouldn’t be able to get into a good college. If Luna didn’t get into a good college, she wouldn’t be able to get her dream job. If Luna didn’t get her dream job, she would be desolate and empty for the rest of her life and possibly be living on the streets homeless. If it came to that for Luna… She didn’t even want to say it aloud.
“Luna! What are you doing?! Get down here this instant!” her mother screamed from down below.
“I’m coming, Mother! I just woke up!” Luna yelled down the stairs.
There came no reply except for the banging and clanging of pots and pans as her mother began making Luna’s breakfast and lunch. Or that’s what Luna thought her mother was doing, per usual. Nonetheless, Luna had things to do, so she focused her attention on getting ready for school. This proved quite a challenge, however, as she was moving so very slowly. It was nearly impossible to run, let alone walk quickly. Luna was sure that fifteen minutes had already passed by the time she had pulled on her clothes for school, and she still had to brush her teeth, do her hair, and wash her face.
Thirty minutes later, Luna bounded slowly down the stairs in frustration. She came to a slow halt when she saw her mother stand in the doorway of the kitchen with her hands on her hips. Her mouth was set in a stern line. There was no food to be seen anywhere.
“Is everything okay, Mother?” Luna asked cautiously.
“I’ve decided today that you can make your own breakfast and lunch. You’re not going to make me do extra work every day along with waking up in the wee hours of the morning. I’m going back to sleep now.” her mother said haughtily.
“What?! But why? What did I do?” Luna replied, stress in her voice. There came no reply as her mother stomped up the stairs. Luna realized that her mother was still walking properly, which meant that only herself was stuck in this incomprehensible situation where she couldn’t walk properly. It was only her, no one else. Luna knew this was something unnatural, but she couldn’t understand why or how this happened. She wanted to throw something at the wall for her sudden inconvenience. On top of that, her mother was also suddenly being cruel to her for no explainable reason! Luna Heron just could not understand what was happening today. In the end, she decided to skip breakfast and worked on arriving at the bus stop on time instead. Luna knew that if she tried to make both breakfast and lunch, she would probably miss the bus stop, and then what? Luna sighed. She would just have to buy lunch in school.
Arriving at the bus stop proved no easy task, as it seemed was with everything she did today. Her bus driver looked at her weirdly when she got on the bus, and when she arrived at school, it took her a very long time to get to her first period class. By the end of the day, Luna had been late to all her classes and her teachers had all marked her late, and she was not looking forward to arriving at home, where her cruel mother was waiting. It was not an exaggeration to say that Luna Heron was having a horrible day. All she wanted to do was to lie in bed and cry and scream into her pillow because her life was over. All because of today. But then, maybe if she went to sleep and woke up again, life would go back to normal. Maybe she could walk properly again, and her mother would go back to the loving and caring mother she was before. Luna’s heart bloomed with hope at this idea, and she bounced happily back home despite her horrible day. She was going to go to sleep as soon as she stepped foot in her house.
Upon arriving home, Luna’s parents were nowhere to be found. This was, fortunately, something Luna had been assured of as they were still at work. She quickly went upstairs to her bedroom without stopping by the kitchen for anything. (Unfortunately, the “quickly” part was more like “slowly.”) Kicking off her shoes and jumping into bed with still her outside clothes on, Luna pulled her blanket high over her neck and closed her eyes.
II.
When Luna woke back up, the sun had already begun to set outside, basking her room in an orangey and dark red glow. Luna yawned and stretched. She became immensely delighted when she remembered why she had gone to bed in the first place. Swinging her feet over her bed, she stood up and started walking… To her vast disappointment. Luna still was walking like she was on the surface of the moon. Even as she tried to put more force into her strides, she still couldn’t walk normally like she had before: with her two feet planted firmly on the ground! Letting out a huge sigh into her empty room, she knew the only thing she could do now was to check on her parents, who were surely home by now. They usually made dinner together in the evenings. Luna crossed her fingers and hoped that her mother had recovered from her morning grumpiness and had returned back into her usually lovely and cheerful self.
“Mother? Father? Are you guys home yet?” Luna called carefully as she bounced down the stairs. Luna was met with the same image from earlier this morning, except this time her father had joined her mother.
“Luna Marie Heron, what exactly do you think you’re doing?” her mother sneered at her. Before Luna could even reply to that question, her father added in annoyance,
“You think you can just come home and take a three-hour nap? You’ve got homework to do!”
“I– I was only just– I mean, I was tired when I got home so I decided to take a nap. I’ll go and do my homework now! I promise!” Luna replied in shock. She not only couldn’t believe her mother hadn’t recovered, but in addition, it had also spread to her father! What was wrong with them today?!
Her mother scoffed and turned to her husband. “Little Luna thinks she can do whatever just because she’s still in school and not working yet.”
“That’s what it seems like,” her father replied, smug. “She’s always complaining about everything and vying for attention.”
“What?!” Luna’s face fell. “Why are you guys saying this to me? Who are you guys? My parents would never say any of this to me!”
Luna was given no answer. Instead, her parents walked away into the kitchen tittering without a reply. Feeling a hundred different emotions, all Luna wanted to do was to curl up somewhere dark and cry. Her day just didn’t make any sense. First, she woke up unable to walk properly or quickly. Second, her parents were now being especially cruel to her without any apparent reason. And now third, she couldn’t even find out why! Brewing over her new dilemma, Luna stomped (well, she tried, but it was more like dragging her feet) upstairs. Unfortunately, Luna was too invested in her future to curl up and just cry. She instead forced herself to do her homework from school and ended up stuffing down her feelings and putting her remaining energy into perfecting her daily schoolwork.
By the time she went downstairs again for dinner, her parents had long disappeared, and a plate of cold chicken Caesar salad sat in the middle of her seat. Luna took out a book and read as she ate her cold dinner in the quiet. For the rest of the night, Luna finished her homework and went to bed earlier than her usual bedtime. She just wanted this awful day to be over. Hoping with all her heart, Luna hoped that what had happened today was only for today. Maybe her afternoon nap didn’t count because it had been on the same day. Maybe tomorrow everything will return to normal, Luna thought to herself wistfully.
III.
As Luna Heron awoke in the morning from uneasy dreams, she found herself unable to walk properly on the ground… again. She screamed into her pillow the second she found out. Then she groaned miserably. This time though, when Luna went downstairs, her mother wasn’t even there to greet her. Thankfully, she was able to make breakfast this time, but she didn’t have enough time for lunch, so she decided to just buy lunch again and get to the bus stop while eating her breakfast bagel with the remaining time she had.
Arriving at the bus stop proved no easy task again, but at least her bus driver didn’t look at her weirdly this time when she got on the bus, which calmed her a little. But when she arrived at school, it took her a very long time to get to her first period class, again. By the end of the day, Luna had been late to all her classes during the day just like yesterday, and her teachers had all marked her late again. Luna was extremely exasperated by the fact that she was late to every class, because it wasn’t even her fault she couldn’t walk easily! She knew that being late probably went on her record, but she could do nothing to prevent it. It was as if nobody even noticed her struggle. No one had questioned her walking, let alone noticed it! Not even her parents! Luna wondered if she was going delusional or if the whole world was turning against her.
While she was not looking forward to arriving at home again, Luna Heron knew that she had to face her parents today and demand the reason for their horrible treatment towards her, even if she had to scream in their faces to get their attention. Luna cringed inwardly on her bus ride home. She hated yelling at her parents, but she just couldn’t understand why they were treating her with such cruelty. It was as if aliens had abducted her parents and sent in doppelgangers with totally evil minds instead.
Upon arriving home, Luna slammed the front door shut and went upstairs to do her homework. She was going to have to wait until after her parents came back from work in order to confront them. After what seemed like countless hours of reading about boring biology concepts and endless writing assignments from English class, Luna heard the front door to the house slam shut and two voices conversing. Her parents had finally come back home. Luna shut her history textbook and took a deep breath. She stood up and wrung her hands, walked to the door of her bedroom and… turned around and fell back onto her bed. Ughh, I can’t do this, she thought.
After giving herself a very serious pep talk, Luna stepped carefully down the stairs (which was actually pretty easy considering her walking situation) and saw her parents’ outlines in the kitchen making dinner. She was about to open her mouth when her mother turned around sharply.
“Luna Heron!” she barked. “Get down here this instant!”
Luna stepped cautiously down the last few steps.
“What are you doing sneaking around the stairs? If you need to come down just walk down for goodness’ sake!” her mother threw her hands up in exasperation.
“I just didn’t want to upset you guys,” Luna started. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, you already upset your mother, so you should be sorry.” her father muttered.
Luna swallowed, a lump starting to form in her throat. She hadn’t realized it until now, but a black chasm had started forming in her chest since yesterday. “I– I–”
“Speak plainly, girl!” her mother snapped. “We don’t have time for this insolence!”
“I–” Luna felt her eyes start to blur. “Why are you guys being so cruel to me? What did I ever do to you guys to make you hate me so? I’ve always been a good kid! Please, tell me what I did so I can fix it!”
Again, there came no reply to that question from Luna Heron’s parents. The result was just like what had happened the two times Luna had asked yesterday. Now, her parents simply turned from her and continued whatever they had been doing in the kitchen beforehand.
Tears streamed down her eyes, and Luna raised a hand to wipe her cheeks. The black chasm in her chest spread farther. “Why can’t you guys answer me?! Just talk to me!” she yelled at her parents.
Her parents didn’t reply. Their backs continued to face her.
“Why won’t you guys answer my question?! Why?!” Luna screamed. Tears streamed freely down her face now as the black chasm in her chest threatened to swallow her whole. She felt dizzy. Gripping the corner of the kitchen counter, she slid down onto the floor and sobbed.
The black chasm in her chest eventually consumed her whole.
And all the while, Luna Heron’s parents paid no attention to their daughter. They never seemed to even realize that Luna was on the floor in tears. They only seemed to realize that they had to get dinner ready before six.
IV.
Weeks passed by with no change to Luna Heron. She was still walking like she was on the moon. Her parents were still treating her cruelly. Her grades started to slip. She started to miss school. But, in the end, Luna Heron started to not care. About anything. About everything. She was numb. She didn’t feel anything anymore. Couldn’t. Except for this black hole in her chest. She had completely, entirely, broken down and stopped functioning.
One Saturday evening, Luna and her parents were driving home from a night out when Luna finally lost it. They were almost home, in their neighborhood, when her mother opened her mouth.
“Luna, stop being rude!”
“Wha– Wha– What?! I didn’t say anything!” Luna exclaimed.
“You’re always being so annoying! Just stop it, would you?” her mother cried.
“This is absurd! I didn’t. Say. Anything! What did I do? What did I just do?” Luna threw her hands up in the air and scoffed.
“You know what you did! Now stop it! You’re always like this!” her mother screeched.
“What?!” Luna banged her fist on her car seat. “You’re making stuff up now! Why would you do that?!” Even though she hated it, she felt tears starting to pour down her face. This was just so unfair, and Luna had had enough. “Father! What did I do? Tell mother I didn’t do anything!”
Her father only laughed at her.
“See? He’ll always support me. Not you,” Luna’s mother cackled.
“But I’m your daughter! Did you guys forget?!” Luna begged in desperation as her tears clouded her eyes.
Again, there came no reply on that issue except for the combined laughter from both of her parents that were directed at her.
Sobbing, Luna grabbed the car door and flung it open. She jumped out into the chilly night air and ran. She just ran.
Well, she tried to, but she was still trapped. By her inability to walk properly. She was still forced to go in slow motion, like she was on the moon. As hard as Luna tried to get away, she couldn’t. All she could focus on was her mother taunting her from behind.
“Run, little girl! Try to run! You’ll get nowhere!” her mother cackled.
Luna sobbed and pushed all her might into her feet to try to escape. She pushed and pushed and pushed… and pushed… and… pushed… Getting nowhere in the middle of the cold night air, with her mother and father laughing at her from behind her.
V.
Funny thing was, the car door hadn’t been locked at all. The car had also stopped moving when Luna had decided to get out.
It had seemed as if her parents had wanted her gone.
Long gone.
Chloe Lin is a sophomore at Kennett High School, PA. Her hobbies include reading, writing, painting, and eating good food. She hopes that one day she will be able to publish even more of her writing, and she is currently working on a poetry collection.
"My life is trying to run away" by Vincepal is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
