Red Moon, White Moon

Chapter 14: Purpose

The roosters were crowing, and the sun was just peeking over the horizon when I awoke in the barn with a sore back, all alone. Stretching with a massive yawn, I got up from the floor and bustled over to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Andie Rae, once again, had gotten up way before me and had time to lay out some clothes for me of her choosing. She'd set out some jeans and a long-sleeve, fitted red shirt. After dressing and doing a quick time check, I made my way out of the barn and into the kitchen of the house where I found the girls already eating breakfast.

Pouring some juice in a cup and placing it in front of me, Lilly asked, "Good morning, Connell. Did you sleep well?"

I hesitated for a second and looked past her, smiling. I could see Andie Rae frantically waving to let me know Lilly did not know about last night. "It was the best night I've had."

Andie Rae put her hand to her face and rocked while she tried to hide her smile. "Two or three eggs?" she asked.

"Two, please," I responded, holding out my plate as she dropped them on it. "Where's Hayden?"

Buttering her biscuit, Lilly said, "He had to run some errands, so he took off early."

"I'm going to assume Bear is still sleeping, right?"

Andie Rae put a large plate of bacon on the counter, and said, "Not for long."

I heard Bear scream from the hallway, "I'm so hungry my belly is rubbing a callous on my backbone."

He entered, give both the girls a kiss on their checks, and slapped me on the back so hard that my food shot out of my mouth. While I recovered from the massive blow, Bear grabbed the plate of bacon, some mayo, and an Italian loaf of bread, making himself a sandwich. I sat in amazement, globs of mayo dropping out with each bite, as he inhaled this monstrosity of a sandwich. I soon heard the cuckoo clock go off and checked the time. It was now seven in the morning, and I had about ninety minutes to get to Chamberlain.

After cleaning my mouth on my napkin, I took one last swig of my juice and asked, "What car should I take?"

Lilly pulled out some keys from her pocket and said, "Take the Dodge parked next to Bear's truck."

She tossed the keys over to me, and I snagged them out of the air. I hustled my way towards to the door yelling back, "Wish me luck—I'll see you all later."

I ran to the side of the house. They'd given me the keys to the most beat-up, rusted-out, and smelly car on earth. I opened the door and listened to it cry out in pain from not being oiled in decades. I jumped onto the long, vinyl bench front seat. Looking around, the first thing I noticed was that the car had an eight-track and a push-button radio for changing the channels. Shaking my head in disappointment, I found a sticky note on the seat expressing the hope I'd be safe and saying they didn't want me sticking out, hence this car and not one of their nicer ones. I turned the engine over, and it started right up and hummed, indicating the engine was well taken care of.

"So you may not look pretty, but apparently you have it where it counts," I said to the car as I drove off towards the highway.

I sped down the interstate, making my way in and out of traffic, and trying to get to Chamberlain in enough time to execute my plan. It seemed like the more I rushed, the longer it was taking me. I tried to calm down, and went through the plan again in my mind to distract myself. At last, I found myself on Busch Boulevard, heading over towards Chamberlain. I was nervous and started to feel my stomach cramping.

"Calm down, Maxwell, it will be fine," I said, pulling into the circle since I did not have a parking pass.

There was a massive crowd near the Chief's Head gathering around the flagpole along with fire trucks and police cars flashing their lights. I quickly parked the car and ran over to see what was going on. When I approached the pole, I could not believe my eyes. It was Jack, and he looked like someone beat the snot out of him. He was tied to the flagpole, and he had a sign around his neck that simply read "This is what happens to bullies." The group of students around the scene were all from different hierarchies, each no doubt wondering who could have done this. It was not making much sense to me either.