Moonlight Shadow: Time Can Heal

Chapter 1: Son of the Dollmaker

It was dark. Warm. Comforting. There was the sound of a guitar ringing in his ears. It was familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. He heard it before. He was sure of it, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it from.

The sound of the guitar had stopped abruptly and was replaced with the sound of his grunts. An earthy metallic stench invaded his nostrils. He tried to break away from the person pinning him to the ground, one of his arms behind his back. There was someone else near him, someone on the ground. Covered in blood.

He could feel the tears pouring from his eyes as he looked at the person. Their face was obscured and he couldn't make out any of their features. But there was someone above them, a gun pointed at the bleeding person.

''Please stop!'' he begged in a strangled voice. ''Please don't do this! Mom,'' he looked at the person whose face was obscured and covered in blood. ''mom, please get up!''

There was a loud bang. Follow by five other loud bangs.

***

Onyx bolted from his bed, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead and back. His blue eyes darted around his environment. He was in the attic. Or more accurately, his room.

Slowly, his chest stopped heaving and he ran his fingers through his black hair to calm himself. Carefully, he shifting onto his side and he looked at his phone, which was face down on his desk, to check the time. 6:50 A.M.

He groaned and threw his covers off, scratching the right side of his head where his hair was shorter than his left. He's been having the same dream ever since he was ten. It wasn't every night, but frequent enough for him to bring it up with his therapist. It always started to same way. The sound of a guitar would comfort him, but then he'd be ripped away into a completely different scene. One that was drenched in blood. And every time, it terrified him.

He yawned, leaving his attic room and walking down the hallway. Near the end of it, his eyes landed on a door. The door was always locked. Only his mother went in. Sometimes, she'd stay in there for hours. When he was little, he'd press his ear against the door and would hear his mother sobbing almost as if that room held something dear to her and it just caused her pain.

He sighed and walked passed it like he had done so many times before until he reached the stairs. He felt a small smile tug on his lips when he smelled breakfast. He sat on the cherry coloured railing and slide down, passing by a family portrait. 

It was of him with the right side of his head shaved, a strip of his hair dyed a bright blue on the left. He had a smile on his face while wearing his usual dark blue bandana around his neck and a gray tank top with low cut sleeves. A porcelain doll with a white wedding dress resting on his shoulder, half of her face a dark gray colour. Behind the two of them was his mother. Her hair was covering her right eye. Her only visible eye was black. A small yet content smile suited her and she wore a black funeral dress.

He stepped into the kitchen with a small smile on his face. ''Morning mom!''

Donna Beneviento turned to her son, her hair tied in a braid that rested on her shoulder. She was wearing a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black dress pants. Her bangs covered her right eye like it usually did.

''Good morning, Onyx.'' she smiled back at him as he went to her. She handed him a plant with an omelette on it. There were green onions in it with what looked to be strips of ham mixed in as well. He looked up at his mother before frowning.

Donna face twisted with confusion, usually Onyx loved omelettes. Then, he suddenly stood on the tips of his toes, brushing the Dollmaker's hair to the side to reveal her mutated scar. Then, the boy pulled away and his smile returned. He gently took his plate from his mother and went to sit at the table. Even when his was still just a child, he would always brush her hair out of her face. Almost as if he was never scared of her scar.

''Onyx!'' the boy fell something hard fall onto his shoulder. He hissed and turned his head to see his sister figure. Angie. ''Ew! You reek of sweat! Don't you ever shower? You're so gross!'' she shrieked, pinching the bridge of her nose.

''You're one to talk.'' he scoffed. The two glared at each other before laughing. The doll wrapped her tiny arms around his head.

''How'd you sleep?'' she asked.

''Fine.'' he answered, starting to eat.

He heard his mother sigh. ''Same nightmare?''

Onyx merely nodded. He heard his mother turn off the stove and sit down across from him. She glanced up, meeting his mother's eye. The Dollmaker gave him a small smile. ''Your next shot it next week.''

He perked up at little at that. ''Hey, can I go to Aunt D's place after school? I'm hoping Dani will cut my hair.'' he said, running his fingers through the shorter part of his hair.

''Of course you can. Just be back at around dinner time.'' the Dollmaker smiled at him.

***

The sky was clear and pleasantly warm out. He was sitting on a giant rock, a notebook in his lap. They were sketches of gears a mechanical parts with arrows pointing to different places. They were blueprints to a small mechanical bike he was trying to make but she couldn't get the different gears to work properly. He didn't want to go to his Uncle Heisenberg since he wanted to try to figure it out on his own. So he was going over his blue prints over and over again.

Then, his notebook was snatched from him. His head snapped up to see a girl holding his notebook. Her nose scrunched up as she looked at the blueprints. 

She wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled up and baggy blue jeans. She wore black converse shoes. Her chestnut coloured hair was in a short cut. There was a scar on her lower lip and a bruise forming on her cheek and busted open knuckles due to the fight she got into earlier that morning with some rando that said something to another person in their little group.

''Geez, do you ever take a break from this stuff?'' she asked, tossing the notebook back onto his lap.

''Teresa, come here. I still need to clean your other hand.'' Onyx's best friend since he started school, Azzy said, looking at the toughest girl they had ever met.

Teresa rolled her eyes but sat back down in front of Azzy, resting her hand on his thigh. He had dark skin, a similar colour to Onyx's Aunt D's wife. He had honey coloured eyes with ash blonde hair. He was wearing black jeans with a blue t-shirt and black suspenders.

''Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!'' they heard a familiar, up beat voice. They all turned to see the final member of their group. 

She was of Asian decent from what she told them when they all started hanging out for the first time. She had brown hair tied back in a neat bun. She had bright emerald green eyes. She was wearing a white t-shirt tucked into her ripped gray jeans and white running shoes that was scraped with dirt. One of her eyes was a gross purple colour and as soon as Teresa saw it, she ripped herself away from Azzy and ran to her, grabbing her shoulders.

''Videl! Are you okay; what happened? I swear to whatever fucked up god looks down upon me and laughs at my misery, I will beat the shit-'' Videl grabbed Teresa's hands.

''It's fine, I'm alright. I just ran into a pole on the way here.'' the girl laughed.

Onyx just watched the wo of them while Azzy got off of their rock, going to the chestnut haired girl to finish patching up her knuckles. He couldn't help but chuckle at his friends, closing his notebook and bringing his knees to his chest to watch. Teresa was being stubborn and focusing all her attention on Videl while Azzy kept trying to clean up her knuckles.

He just smiled, watching the three of them before hoping down to try to convince Teresa to stay still so her knuckles don't get infected.