Burning Moon (Wattpad Version)

Bonus chapter: Damien POV

Damien: Message to Jess

Yo Yo Yo, what up dogg?

Jess: Seriously?

Damien: Fo sho

Jess: Okay, I'll play along. Howz it hanging Lil'Dame?

Damien: Fo Shizzy shorty. Just sitting on the plane waiting to take off. YO! 

Jess: Cool. I'll call when you're no longer possessed by the spirit of Tu-Pac.

Damien: See you in Thailand.

Jess: Have a good flight- don't be sippin on Cristal big mac daddy.

Damien: Send my love to your ho.  

Jess: Hahaha. X

Okay, maybe I needed to stop listening to the Hip-Hop music channel on the plane. But I'd been flying, and or in transit for over 26 hours already and it was the only thing keeping me awake. And to make matters worse, we were running late. The plane was still waiting on the tarmac  for some latecomer to arrive. Boredom had officially descended in full fucking force. 

I opened the tray table and closed it again. I opened the in-flight magazine and flipped through the pages, why were they always trying to sell you perfume? I closed the magazine, looked at the semi-naked women on the back cover for a second or two, another perfume ad, and put it back. Those women always looked the same, like perfect carbon copies of each other. There was nothing interesting or original about them; stick insects with big, pouty lips. I opened the tray table again and drummed my fingers on it. 

I heard a throat clearing noise next to me and turned. The woman sitting to my left  looked like she'd just had a shot of Tequila and was now sucking on the lemon. Her eyes scrutinized my hand and I stopped drumming. They moved up my arm, lingering on my tattoos for a moment and then finally came up and settled on my face. 

"Hi." I said, trying to muster a warm, yet natural looking smile. Apparently, I don't have the  friendliest smile. What does Jess call it, my 'fuck me' smile. (She has such a delicate way with words!)

"Do you mind?" The woman glared at me. I don't think my smile was working. 

"Sorry." I pulled my hand away, closed the tray table again and crossed my arms. I looked up the aisle but out of the corner of my eye, I could see she was still looking at me. Glaring. And I knew what she was thinking...

Women like her were always terribly suspicious of 'delinquents' like me- just because I had a few tattoos  and didn't give a shit if my shirt had a hole in it. Maybe I should have dipped into my trust fund and flown Business Class after all. I could be drinking Champagne right now and reclining in a bed with fluffy pillows and a big LCD TV screen, and not this tiny little thing. 

When the hell were we going to take off? 

I had the sudden urge to drum my fingers again, but didn't. This was the last leg of my journey- on the plane anyway. Once I landed in Thailand, that's when the real adventure was going to begin. This had become an annual tradition for Jess and I, to meet up every year at the Burning Moon party.  Our reasons for going are totally different, though; for Jess it's the party, for me, it's the moon. There's nothing more amazing than watching the usually silver moon turn blood red. It drenches the world in a kind of supernatural glow. No matter how many times I see it, I'm still as blown away as the first time I looked up through a telescope at the stars.