Invisible

Chapter Six

Lily's POV

Lily studied Luna carefully as she absorbed her words. Luna's eyebrows were scrunched up. "What?" she stammered. Lily considered backing out, making up a lie or saying it was an unfunny joke. But she have to do this–even if it was only part of the truth–for Georgie. Always for Georgie.  

She pieced together what to say in her mind. "My brother Georgie died when I was eight years old. He was six." She looked up, meeting Luna's eyes, then glanced away quickly. Her striking cobalt blue eyes were too intense. 

Lily took another deep breath. "There was a fire at my house. The house burned down, Georgie died." Lily said flatly. Luna's eyes were questioning. "Were you inside–" she began. Lily cut her off sharply. 

"I don't really want to elaborate." Lily knew she was being cold and mean, but she didn't want to tell her the whole story. Lily looked away, fussing with her shirt. She gazed at the peaceful blue waves lapping against the shores of the lake, an awkward silence falling over the girls. 

Lily stared intently at the softly rippling, shimmering water as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered, refusing to meet Luna's eyes. Except she had to see what her reaction was. 

After a few moments, Lily held her breath and had enough courage to quickly dart her eyes in Luna's direction. Luna was gazing at something only she could see. To Lily's surprise, the emotion in her blue eyes didn't look upset at being interrupted–and she didn't look like she pitied Lily, like she was a tiny, whimpering, shivering puppy that got kicked. 

Instead, Luna looked sad. Not about how rude Lily was to her. She thought Luna looked sad for Lily. Sad for her loss. Part of Lily wanted to scoff at that. 

If only Luna knew the truth...if anybody knew the truth, Lily wouldn't have any friends.

Lily squeezed her eyes shut tightly as tears trembled on her eyelids like dew desperately clinging to a blade of grass. It was your fault, Lily curled her hands into fists and dug her fingers into her palms, her nails biting her soft flesh. You don't get to feel sad. Yet she still had. 

She had been numb, at first. Then the pain had come. The sorrow, piercing through her once happy self. The regret, in hindsight she could've saved him. 

Sometimes Lily thought of herself as a rose. So peaceful, pretty, docile, on the outside, but people forgot, roses had thorns. 

She felt a rebellious tear slip down her cheek and furiously wiped it away before Luna could see. No, I shouldn't be crying. I let it happen. She used her shirt to make sure her face was dry, leaving no trace of the tears. 

Luna cleared her throat softly after a few moments had passed, letting Lily know that she was going to speak. "I'm sorry, Lily." Her words were so quiet that the gentle waves of the lake nearly drowned her out. "I won't try to pretend that I understand. I don't..." Luna trailed off. 

Luna

Luna didn't know what to say. This was, to put it mildly, a shaky start. She felt terrible for bringing up siblings. It must have been excruciatingly painful and devastating for Lily to talk about Georgie. Luna really didn't want to intrude or pry, or pretend she understood. She mentally kicked herself. Lily would never like her now!  

"Do you want to change the subject?" Luna asked softly, breaking the silence. Lily nodded, a lump forming in her throat. Luna thought for a second. "What's your favorite color?" she asked. It was a lame question, but it was better than talking about dead brothers. 

"Emerald green!" The cheerfulness in Lily's voice was definitely strained, fake enthusiasm lacing her words. Luna didn't take it personally. She would try to act happy if she were in Lily's shoes. 

"What about you?" Lily's lips twisted into a forced smile, although it looked more like a grimace. Luna almost blurted out, "The color of your eyes," but thankfully, she stopped herself in the nick of time. Now was not a great moment to talk about her crush. 

"Silver, I guess?" She chose a random color that had nothing to do with Lily. They continued making small talk for the rest of the time. 

                                 *****************

Luna walked back to her house, mulling over her conversation with Lily. Part of her had been a little glad when Lily had said she had to go–she wanted to hang out with Lily, but the rest of the time by the lake had been awkward. She hoped Lily still liked her and they could hang out again soon, without the sadness and forced happiness lingering over them.  

Luna looked up, seeing her dull, drab, sagging gray house ahead of her, and crossed the unkempt lawn. She was so caught up in her thoughts she almost didn't notice the bright red sign outside of her house. Almost. 

She realized it was there after she had passed it. Luna turned around and walked back to the sign, frowning. "What's this?" she muttered to herself. 

It was a sign that declared in big, bold letters that this house was FOR SALE. It had some real estate agency and a phone number below it, as well as a website. 

The sign was a bright red that caught people's attention, and the words were white. Luna's brow furrowed. Her parents probably had an explanation for this–and if they did, it had better be a good one.     

Luna hurried towards her house, trying to leave her growing worry behind her. She unlocked the door with the spare key that was tucked away beneath the tattered, faded rug and the door creaked open. 

"Mom? Dad?" Luna called as she kicked off her shoes at the entrance of her house as to not bring in mud and contribute to the already dusty floor. "Yes, Luna?" Mom replied wearily from the kitchen. "There was a 'For Sale' sign outside of our house." Luna walked into the living room and sat on the worn armchair, looking directly into her parent's eyes. 

Her mom sat up from where she was sprawled across the couch. "What?" she exchanged an alarmed look with Luna's dad, who straightened up from his spot on an armchair. 

"It's probably just a mistake, we'll email the real estate agency that's on the poster and sort things out," Her dad soothed them, his words easing Luna's worries. But only slightly.

"Ok," Luna replied, changing the subject. "So...how was work today?" Her parents swapped glances again, although this time it seemed resigned and tired. 

"Luna..." Her dad drew out her name. "We've been meaning to tell you this for a while, but..." He trailed off, at a loss for words. Luna's stomach sank. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. 

Her mom avoided Luna's eyes "We lost our jobs." 

The words knocked the air out of Luna, like someone had hit her with a well aimed punch in the stomach. "What!" Luna exclaimed. "When? Why? Where? Who? How?" Her mom looked anywhere but at Luna.

"Moonbeam, this happened...a long time ago." Luna sprang to her feet. "How long?" she demanded. "Honey, we have to tell her eventually," her dad said softly, laying a hand on Luna's mom's shoulder. 

Her mom took a few deep breaths. "Last year."