Ephemeral

Chapter 18

I've seen my fair share of movies, believe it or not. When I was a kid, mom would have the random bursts of energy and decide to take me out for the day. We'd go shopping, go to a restaurant, sometimes watch a movie, and even the arcade if I was lucky. I remember waking up every single day and sitting in bed till 11:00 AM hoping she'd come in my room with the biggest smile on her face, telling me we were going out.

Unfortunately for me these moments came at very rare times. Sometimes it was once a month, sometimes once a year. I can't complain though, as sad as it sounds I'd trade Oscar, my stuffed polar bear, just for a day like that with her. It would genuinely be the highlight of my entire year.

Movies. They were a treat like no other. At first we'd go watch children's movies that had singing planets or bears that had superpowers, it wasn't till I had accidentally bought the wrong tickets while mom got snacks that I watched my first real movie, with real people and the real world.

I remember her being hesitant. She didn't know what the movie was about and didn't want her nine year old daughter to be traumatised with what she saw. Though I didn't understand what would be more traumatic than living in a household like mine.

We sat in the back row and had a large bag of butter popcorn between us, my eyes glued to the large screen. In the first minute and a half we watched a girl get wheeled into a hospital, blood everywhere, everything was blurry to her and she could barely hear a single word. I thought it was just in movies when they're on the brink of death and they see their loved ones in a complete white and angelic form, then they get the willpower to wake up and are welcomed back into the world with their entire family standing over them.

It's safe to say we never went back to the movies.

White. The first thing I see when I wake up is a colour, not a thing or a person. Though I didn't expect to see anyone, I never do. I always wake up staring at the cracked white wall where the stairs are, or the glow in the dark stars stuck to my ceiling in my bedroom.

Am I on the brink of death? Will someone come and encourage me to live? To fight? But who? No one loves me and I don't love anyone, other than my mother of course. But for a person who can barely fight to keep themselves alive, how do I expect them to encourage me to live?

"Hey." A soft voice spoke as I felt a warm hand over my own.

Pulling my hand away, I snapped my head in their direction just to squeeze my eyes shut in pain before I had the chance to see who it was. My heart was racing and for the first time I was thankful I could barely hear anything because I just know the beeping of the heart monitor would drive me nuts.

The voices were muffled around me. It wasn't till someone forced my eyes open and flashed a light in them that I grew annoyed and shoved the person away. I don't like the feeling of anyone, let alone a stranger, touching me. It's a big no!

Slowly reopening my eyes, Sebastian's friendly face smiled down at me. He was slowly speaking, I couldn't quite make out what he was saying due to the ringing in my ear, but from reading his lips he was somewhat reassuring me that I was okay. But I knew that's far from the truth.

It wasn't long till the loud ringing turned into a slight buzz and that itself eased my panic. Being unable to hear anything around me while my room had god knows who in it just made me feel all the more afraid. My heart stars to race and my brain runs wild. Let's not forget the ridiculous spike in adrenaline.

"You're okay, Luna." I heard the same soft voice speak.

"M...my names n...not L...Luna." I breathed out as I glanced over at Luca who was stood on the left side of my bed while Sebastian was on the right.