Luna's Awakening

17

Dad stood up, excused himself, and walked out of the room, going to let Grandma Marie and Beth in. I watched him go out of the corner of my eye, praying that this would work, that Grandma Marie and Beth could come in and out without any problems.

I kept watching the doorway of the dining room out of the corner of my eye, waiting for him, Grandma Marie, and Beth to appear. I prayed that it would be the case where they could come in, and then come out without any hassle.

I kept watching. Seconds ticked by. A minute went by. Two minutes. Three minutes. Four.

I felt myself grow more and more nervous as each second ticked by and no one appeared. What was taking them so long?

"Is everything okay, honey?" Grandma Jenny asked and I realized I'd just been sitting there, staring at the doorway, not eating my food. "You've barely touched your food."

"Yes," I said a little too quickly. "I'm fine. Everything's fine."

Johnny and Helen noticed Dad was gone far longer than he needed to be.

"I'm going to check on him," Johnny said. "Helen, stay here with Luna."

She nodded and he hovered out of the room.

I was growing more and more nervous as it grew to ten minutes. There was no reason why this was taking so long. Something was up.

When it reached twenty minutes, I couldn't take it anymore.

I stood up and said, "I'm just going to use the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back."

I left the room before anyone could say anything. Helen followed me.

"I'm sure they're fine," she assured, but I shook my head.

"No, there's no reason why they shouldn't have been here by now," I told her in a quiet voice as I marched through the living room to the front room. "I think something's wrong."

I peeked out one of the front windows. Dad's car was still there, so was Anna Marie's car. Grandma Marie and Beth were here, and so was Dad, but where were they?

"Luna, look," Helen said and pointed behind me.

I turned around to see what she was pointing at. The door to Sarah's basement was open.

I frowned. Sarah had always told me and everyone else that the basement was forbidden, that no one was to go down there for any reason. I hesitated, then shrugged. Since when did I care what my aunt said anyway?

I glanced over at the dining room, making sure no one was noticing what I was doing. Everyone was eating and talking to each other, deeply involved in whatever they were discussing. They weren't paying attention at all.

"I'm going to see what's down there," I whispered to her. "Stay here and keep a lookout. Tell me if anyone's coming."

She nodded. "I'll whistle if someone tries to come down here."
I paused and gave her a 'really' look. "A whistle?"

"Fine, I'll come down and warn you," she said and fluttered her hands at me. "Now hurry up and go! They'll probably notice you and your dad is gone."

I walked through, stopped on the first step, and softly closed the door in case someone noticed it was open. The light was already on and I quickly made my way downstairs.