Celestial Sisters

Chapter 6: Startling Revelations

Cobwebs hung off of unlit torches like sheer curtains. Two gold caskets with strange, Celtic engravings laid on a raised platform. The glorified tomb was filled with various golden trinkets stashed carelessly in mountainous piles. Holes, just large enough to fit a small casket, were carved into the length of the tomb's ten story stone walls. The only light came from the moon, which looked like a small white dot from the place Luna Goodwin was standing. She stood knee deep, in murky water. And though she frantically tried to move out from the disgusting moat, her feet remained rooted in place. She was trapped by her own mind, forced to watch as the scene unfolded. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of people slip from an unknown corridor and stand beside the tombs. They were shadows under the limited light of the night sky, their faces were darkened and voices hushed.

There were five of them, Luna concluded, but she couldn't tell whether they were girls or boys, old or young, short or tall. Two of the shadows separated from the crowd and trudged through the most.. A high pitched whine came from one of the shadows, Luna empathized with that person, she too was whining about being forced to stand in the chilled water. Beside the obvious dirt, she had no idea what was hiding by her feet. Maybe bones or rats, all the nasty things that would be found in a tomb. The two strangers managed climbed up the stairs to the platform and stood in front of the caskets. A brief moment of hesitation passed between the two, before they reached out and opened the tomb. Luna didn't understand what had come upon her but her stomach had twisted into knots, and her fingers began to quake. Something bad was going to happen, if they opened those tombs. She tried to move her feet and run to them, but her feet were yet again stuck. Luna did the only thing that she could, she screamed.

And then, she woke up.

When Luna's eyes shot open, the first thing they saw was the deformed face of a greatly aged woman. A startled cry escaped her lips as she jumped out of her bed and onto the floor. All she could think about, were the shadowy people and golden tombs. Her mind took another minute and a half to realize that she was back in the world of the living. The lined face did not belong to a corpse, but to a heavy set, elderly woman who was staring at Luna as if she had three heads. The woman was, Deena, Celeste Goodwin had hired her as a housekeeper six years ago. Deena was living off of an expiring visa and the hope to find love at sixty-five when Celeste found her. It was safe to say that she had yet to find love but now that she had a job, the U.S. Government was no longer threatening to send her back to the small village of Krasnov in Ukraine.

"Oh Deena you scared me," Luna released a sigh of relief.

Deena pursed her lips, she had a few colorful words in mind for Luna but instead, settled for. "I scared you? No. You scared me! I came to work on time, like always, expecting you to be in school when I hear big scream. I thought someone had killed you. That mess would have taken forever to clean."

Luna blanched. For six years, Deena had worked for her mother and after six years, Luna realized that Deena hated doing her job more than anything else. She always came to work late, and when she did come on time, she would spend a good hour watching romantic sitcoms. Celeste and Luna rarely made any messes but when they did, Deena would spend fifteen minutes complaining about said mess before even thinking about cleaning it up. Luna really didn't understand why her mother kept her around, Deena had as much charm as mosquito. And she sucked her mother's bank account dry, like one too. But Celeste still insisted they needed the help.

"I just had a nightmare," Luna stood to her feet and wrapped her arms around her naked torso. She usually felt uncomfortable in Deena's presence but even more so that morning, since she was only in her matching Victoria secret bra and panties.

The elder woman, however, was not phased by Luna's state of dress but by her nightmare. Luna was a dreamless sleeper, as far as Deena knew. She knew that development would be a vital piece of information for Celeste to know but didn't voice her concerns to Luna. Instead she rose to her feet and said, "A nightmare? Hmmm. You should get dressed you're late for school." Leaving that news to settle, Deena wobbled out of Luna's room and slammed the door shut.