Chapter 13: Sky

Saturday morning, I woke up to the sun shining in through the window. I squinted as my eyes attempted to adjust to the light as it lit up my entire bedroom. My fingers rubbed against my eyelids in another attempt to make my overwhelming sleepiness go away. The heaviness my whole body felt continued as I sat up on the edge of the bed tucking my feet into my Pink furry slippers. Taking more time than normal getting ready in the restroom I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and started getting ready for the day. It was then that I started remembering last night. I had to tell Willow what I had seen right away!

Excitedly, I ran down the steps, grabbed my purse, and went to the kitchen to grab a breakfast bar from the cupboard. Once it was safely tucked in my bag, I checked the bus schedule on my phone and headed to the bus stop. It was already 1:08 P.M. I must have slept a lot longer than I had expected to. There were about 5 minutes left for the bus to arrive since it was running on schedule for once today. A quick look at the driveway told me my mom was already out on the town. That meant that she was either doing more overtime at work or she was at the Farmers Market. She was obsessed with supporting local businesses and made sure to show her support every week.

My mother worked in a big law firm and was a paralegal to Jonathon Stafford who was known for his pro bono work for small businesses, and immigration cases big or small. The truth was my mom worshiped him almost as much as Willow worshiped Alec before all this madness happened. She supported him in any way she could, waiting for him to notice her efforts in and out of work. He never noticed her or thought of her in that way, but she kept pursuing him anyway. Maybe that was where I got my passion from? I don’t love Willow that way, but I would do anything for her because she was like the sister I never had.

I heard the bus doors open in front of me snapping me out of my thought process as Larry Bellowed, “No Willow again today?”

This time I was ready for his answer as I stepped into the bus and stated, “Willow’s actually sick in the hospital right now. We're not sure when she’s getting out yet.”

What? It wasn’t a lie! I could see the concern etched on his face as he expressed his sympathy, “Oh No! Poor Willow. Please send her my condolences. I’ll make sure to pray for her at my prayer group this Sunday.”

Unsure of how to respond I just politely nodded my head in agreement at him and scanned my phone to pay for the bus fee. I made it to the back of the bus and took my usual seat but this time I was too preoccupied to even wear my headphones.

A sigh escaped me as I sat back against the seat and closed my eyes, “Everything okay?” a girl's voice asked me.

When I opened my eyes there was a girl sitting in front of my seat who had turned around to look back at me as she leaned against the back of the chair.

My eyes widened as I automatically answered awkwardly, “I’m good, thanks for asking?”

As I looked away to stare out the window, I could still feel her staring at me, and my cheeks began to flush. I hated attention especially when it was unwanted. Thinking that our conversation was over I closed my eyes again and angled my body away from her, toward the window.

She began introducing herself, “My name is Skylar, but you can call me Sky. That's what my friends call me anyway.”

Sky winked in my direction as I slowly opened my eyes and reached out to shake her hand, “My name’s Luna. Nice to meet you.”

“Not much of a talker, huh? That’s okay I get that quite a lot. I could see it when you walked on the bus it was all there in your face. You are going through a big rough patch right now and its affecting you and your feeling lost. You're about a few years younger than me and you look like you're carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone and that there is someone else out there that is probably going through the same thing as you.” Sky babbled.

“I highly doubt it, but if you say so.” I chuckled.

She grinned down at me and quipped, “It feels like that but trust me you're not alone.”

I repositioned myself in my seating and looked out the window knowing that my stop was coming up. I smiled softly at her as I stood up making sure to give her a quick wave goodbye. Even though I had no idea who she was or if I would ever see her again it was kind of great knowing that there was still some good in the people of the world and that gave me hope.