Siren's Song. (Princess Diaries.)

Chapter Two: best friends forever and ever.

I'M STANDING ON the edge of a great cliff. The wind is harsh and cold against my skin. My hair is whipping around my neck and strangling me. The water below me is crystal clear and fresh salt water. The waves are crashing over boulders and my feet are bare. I'm wearing a dark, stopping at my knees dress and holding a thin, chain-link silver pendant between my fingers. The chain felt cool between my fingers and like I was going to drop it at any moment if I didn't keep holding on tight. Sea gulls swarm overhead like overgrown bees and the sky is scary, grey, and as endless as this ocean. I'm peering out into the vast blue when I suddenly hear the most hauntingly beautiful voice I've ever heard. I'm preoccupied by the voice. I want to follow it. I start taking a few steps forward and almost walk off the cliff's edge when I hear a new voice. A man's. And he was screaming at me.

"HELP! HELP ME! SOMEONE! PLEASE!" The man yelled in desperation. I was hit with the strongest feeling that I knew who the voice belonged to at once. It was my father screaming for help.

"Dad! Dad!" I screamed back at him. But the wind was too strong and carried my voice away.

"Dad!" I tried again. This time, I got a response back.

"Luna!" He screamed.

"Luna! Help me!" He screamed again.

"Dad! Where are you?" I yelled. He screamed my name again. And before I could answer him? I was being shaken awake by my mother in real life. It was just a dream. It was all a terrible dream. Dad was still missing. And it was also my 16th birthday.

"Luna? Sweetie? Are you okay?" My mother asks me. My eyes blink open and I see her chocolate brown eyes staring at me in concern. She has a wash cloth pressed against my forehead and a tall glass of ice water on the coffee table placed in front of the living room couch. I moan as I start to sit up and feel an unpleasant pounding in between my eyes.

"Ouch," I moan in distress.

"When you fainted you hit your head pretty hard. Sergeant Garcia helped carry you inside. I was just pulling in the driveway when I saw the two of you. It's eight o'clock in the morning and you're birthday. Happy birthday, Lulu," my mom congratulates me on turning 16. I wished she wouldn't call me LuLu. She hasn't called me that since I was seven and a half.

"What are you doing home so early?" I wonder as I sit up and lean my back against the couch.

"Whoa, head rush," I say, feeling woozy.

"I heard about your dad. I had to come home," she explains as if it were obvious. Of course, she would have to come home. Her husband was reported missing.

"Dad, he's gone," I whisper to myself.

"Yes, sweetie. I'm sorry. But they have a search party looking for him since six this morning. The Water Police," she explains gently.

"Do you think they'll find him?" I wonder.

"I hope so. But while we wait? You still have to go to school and I have to go to work. They update me on my pager every two hours so I know what's going on. I'm sure they'll find him," she mutters to herself; not sounding 100% sure about it. And that doesn't help my already humongous lack of confidence in the search patrols or the Water Police. I'm reaching for the tall glass of ice water as I feel my phone buzzing beside me on the couch. I take a long, refreshing drink of the perfectly chilled beverage and then reach for my iPhone.

1 missed call from Natalie H.
2 missed calls from Nellie S.
2 incoming text messages from caller I.D. 989-555-2277.

Natalie's phone number was 555-2277. I click open the text message inbox and start reading through her messages:

Natalie: hey Luna, it's me, Natalie. I tried calling you earlier but I guess your phone was off or something? I wanted to tell you happy birthday! And you are soooo going to love what I got you.

Natalie from ten minutes ago after the first message was sent: hey, I heard about your dad. I'm so sorry. He was on the 6 O'clock News this morning on Channel 9 with that really hot reporter we always talk about. You know? Kevin? Anyways, not the point. If you need anything? And I mean anything? Please do not hesitate to ask me. I love you lots, my hot best friend. --Natalie.

I rub the exhaustion from my eyes and set my phone back down. I didn't feel like returning her calls or text messages. I was way too preoccupied with my missing father to chat about the weather with my friends. My dad was on the Channel 9 News this morning with Kevin Gibson? Great. Now the entire world knows he's missing and I don't have a dad anymore. I groan and watch my mom from the kitchen.

Mom was never the good cook of the Gilmore Family. On more than one occasion, she burnt toast and turned cake box mix practically into dog treats. We don't have any family pets and haven't had any since I was twelve years old and eventually killed my goldfish I named purple galaxy. I'm almost positive it was a girl but how can you really tell on a fish unless you were an ocean biologist of some sort from one of those movies? I named her after these really good purple colored ice pops because the Grape flavors were my favorite kind of ice pops to eat, anyways. Every-time I eat ice pops I am reminded again of my goldfish and feel sort of sad in my thinking processes now. Anyways and finally, mom just let dad cook the meals and stuck to things like box mac and cheese and frozen Lasagnas. She always used to sit on the couch and watch him prepare dinner. They would talk about baseball and the Soap Opera mom was currently obsessed with, "Endless Love." It had Julia Roberts in it and mom was a HUGE fan.

Right now, at eight in the morning; mom is ruffling through the cabinets and taking down a box of Cookie Crisps Cereal and chocolate chip granola bars; which must've been her goal all along. She didn't look like a total wreck at the news of her husband's sudden disappearance. She had red-rimmed eyes from crying recently and or not getting enough sleep, her green tee-shirt was wrinkled from not being taken into the dry cleaners in the last two weeks, and her favorite Nike leggings were grass-stained. Her long, dark hair was tied in a low-neck ponytail and her white sneakers were also Nike brand. I didn't know if she was just trying to be strong in front of me or not. It was hard to tell which one. Mom was a master at hiding her emotions. Unlike dad who was always emotional. I suddenly got the sense that she was hiding something from me.

She told me she had taken a late shift at work the other day; the day Sergeant Garcia arrived to tell me my father was Missing In Action somewhere at White Lagoon. I had been passed out for the rest of the night. And mom just now got home from work at the Hospital and found me unconscious.

I studied her as she opened the refrigerator, grabbed a carton of milk, and poured some into her cereal bowl before adding the Cookie Crisps. Then she took a silver metal spoon out from the second drawer down from the sink and spooned a spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

She must've felt me watching her because her eyes suddenly glance over to me. I smile at her and she shrugs her shoulders as she spooned another spoonful of cereal into her mouth.

"Better get ready for school. I'm gonna go for a quick jog around the block. Also, don't forget about breakfast, please, you need the nutrition. Try a boiled egg or something. It lasts longer," she informs me.