I DON'T KNOW YOU

37.) new beginnings

"It's not that easy to just forgive, Lunar," I debated, "he lied to us. He lied to me. We all had promised to be honest with each other from then on. But then he kept it a secret anyway. He helped her. All those families, they never got closure. Murders have gone unsolved unfairly and it's all been going on right underneath our noses by the hands of someone who I thought was my friend."

"Someone who you thought was your friend? I knew what he was doing but I didn't say anything. So why aren't you mad at me, too?" Lunar accused, pointing to herself.

"That's different and you know it," I deadpanned, shaking my head and rubbing my eyes.

"Is it really that different? Or is it just difficult to accept? Don't mix up your vocabulary, Funneh. That's a dangerous mistake to make," she warned.

    "I'm not making any mistake," I frowned, "don't make me feel bad about it! I already feel awful. You're supposed to be my friend."

"I am your friend. I'm supposed to keep you from making stupid decisions. You're being irrational. You're always so understanding and now of all times you choose to give up your morals and act on emotion. What's with you?" she questioned.

"I'm not acting on emotion," I lied, "I'm just upset, that's all. Am I not allowed to be angry at times? Just because I don't lash out doesn't mean I never get frustrated. I'm aware of my actions, Lunar."

"You should give him a chance to explain. Right now, you're not being you. I get it, you're hurt. But you're silently lashing out, even at me right now whether you realize it or not. Funneh, you're not you. You keep thinking of him as a stranger to you, as someone you know nothing about. And yet, you aren't being yourself," Lunar firmly stated before standing up with a large smile and announcing, "alright, my friend Evan wanted to play a song for everyone!"

"In light of this moment, to celebrate a new beginning of a new home, a community rebuilt and blessed, let's rejoice and enjoy what we do have: each other! And that's all we need right now. Maybe we've hit rock bottom, but that leaves us only one way to go: up!" Gold announced to everyone.

Gold sat back down beside Lunar and asked, "You two seem down. What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing. Just talking like normal friends, that's all," Lunar widely smiled before turning to me, "right, Funneh? We were just agreeing on something."

"Sure, sure we were," I mumbled, staring at the ground as Lunar nodded towards Gold, who also nodded seeing that there was no apparent tension.

"Alright, then go ahead, Evan," Gold allowed, pointing to Evan, who nodded and started to strum on his guitar.

Lunar smiled at everyone warmly until turning towards me and mouthing, "Two weeks," and then glanced back around like nothing happened.

Everyone was smiling, cheering, singing along once they realized what they were singing. Of course, it was only the Gang and the Krew singing, but nonetheless they were singing. Everyone was happy, rejoicing in the fact that our summer had finally reached its peaceful moment. Everyone but me.

I felt the glow of the fire burning, coating my body as if to light up the world around me. It gave off a beaming glow to everyone else, one that made them look even happier than they already seemed to appear. The night sky around us only made it stand out even more so.