Moon Bloom

Chapter 2

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

- 1 John 1:8

Lexi started awake to see her mom crouched low over the steering wheel to keep herself awake. Lexi felt grungy from not taking a proper shower in over a week, only washing up in store restrooms. She wanted a shower, a real meal, and a home. She looked around to see the scenery was no different from when she fell asleep.

"Where are we?" she asked her mom.

"Wyoming, in a couple of hours we'll head east to Montana," her mom said smiling faintly.

Lexi lay back and fell into a sleep full of dreams.

She was standing on the edge of a wood. Tourists took pictures of a big sign and she clenched her fists. The tourists walked off toward her old home. There was a shift in her vision, a sudden blur, and then she was closer to the ground and she could smell the tourists. She scrunched up her nose, they stunk of car fumes. Suddenly she felt a weird feeling come over her, like a sixth sense. Some one was watching her, but she couldn't see them.

"Honey, wake up! We're in Montana, and look, there's our road!" Her mom called.

Lexi woke just in time to see them turn onto Iris Street in the evening light. She gripped the seat as the car rocked and jostled. Finally they took a sharp turn on to a steep drive that lead up into a wooded area so they couldn't see the cabin yet. They curved around a corner and her mom hit the breaks right in front of the cabin so as not to hit it. Lexi's forehead came close to the dashboard and then her seat belt locked jerking her back.

"We're here!" her mom called cheerfully.

It was dark and Lexi had trouble seeing the cabin, but climbed out and got her suitcase. She headed to the door and followed her mom into the living room which was combined with the dining room. She set her suitcase down and wandered into the kitchen. The house had furniture in it, but was very modestly furnished. She went to the bathroom and took a shower. When she got out her mom had already put her stuff in her new tiny bedroom. There was a fireplace that was lit and a bed and dresser, but that was it as far as furniture. She climbed into bed and curled up to sleep in a real bed for the first time in a long time.

The next day she woke and went to the kitchen where her mom had left her a note telling Lexi that she had left to find work. Lexi had cereal for breakfast, which was a relief compared to peanut butter and bread which she had lived on for their time on the road. She looked at the calender. School in three days? In New York she would have had another week. She was seriously disappointed at that. She finished up and washed her bowl. Lexi decided to explore around the house for something to do. She put on her shoes and walked outside. It was pretty, a wooded view in every direction. She walked into the woods, making mental land marks so as not to get lost. It had been a while when she tripped and fell over a log she hadn't seen. She twisted her ankle and bit her lip to keep from shouting out. Why did she have to be so clumsy when she was in the middle of nowhere? She tried to stand, but her foot buckled under her weight and she fell again. Taking a long stick, she propped herself up and began hobbling back the way she had come. She held back tears that were now blurring her vision, she hated Montana.