The Lunar Phase

CHAPTER 4: A DECK OF CARDS.

Contrary to the popular belief mornings never show the day.. My Monday morning was insane enough to prove it. I reached home to find my dad hovered over the phone. And by his expression I guessed it was my sister. “So it is all over isn’t it? You guys would stay back?” he listened carefully for a minute or two. And then he just slumped on a nearby chair “ Thank you…dear God....Bella…you just cant imagine how it feels just to think I would never be able to see you again…” Leaving? why didn’t anyone tell me about my sister leaving? “whatever is it you guys are all doing…you would always be my daughter…and always remember you have a family here with us. We miss you honey.” After inquiring about Edward and his family and little Nessie, he hung up. My only niece and I get to see her for the first time in exactly 5 days. Halloween. Though people just don’t bother to give me the whole story I know something very intense happened in the past few days.Something really important that involved Dad, Bella, Edward, the Cullen’s and off course the Quilotte boys. Everyone seems to be as secretive as ever. Anyways that wasn’t my problem. My problem was dad, who at this very moment was slumped on the dining chair and lost in his thoughts. “Dad? Are you all right? What did she say? Is she O.K.? Is Nessie O.K?” he looked at me as if he noticed my presence in the room for the first time and he smiled “Hey honey, don’t worry they are fine, and they promised they wouldn’t leave for a few more years” “That’s good isn’t it? So stop sulking and let’s get some food cooked” I kept my sack on the table and opened the fridge. “Lets see… lettuce, broccoli… we have potatoes, steak. Would you like some home-made chicken with potatoes on the side? Ya I guess that would work. You know dad I was thinking about taking up the cooking and cleaning in the house, just to be sure we don’t starve and you might would like to share the laundry. That way we would…” I looked up to find my dad looking at me differently. He blinked and suddenly I was suspicious he was crying. “Dad please tell me what’s wrong? Why are you so upset? I am not a kid anymore so quit babying me O.K?” He smiled a kind of sad smile,” that’s what I am worried about. You guys are growing up so fast on me… Bella married at 18 with a kid of her own… In a few days you would be out of school… and if some guy doesn’t turn up in my house marrying you off too… you would leave for college and get a life of your own. I will be alone again” Some things never change. Parents are weird this way. When you are young they cannot wait for you to grow up and when you are ready to fly they sulk. I went up to the man who had always been my support. My Dad. And hugged him “Whatever happens Dad, like you told Bella, we are family and nothing ever is going to change our ties for each other” As if to seal our pact, like a daughter and father, like a team, we saw the sunset together, holding hands.


I didn’t meet Jacob for the next three days. Met Seth however. I always believe every person in this world has a definite aura. Some have it bad some good. If all auras have had colors, I bet Seth’s would have shone golden. He is the nicest purest most lovable kid I have ever met. It is curious however to notice the huge difference in his appearance since last summer. I swear I could see the tight grip of muscles in his torso. He was always lanky. And he retained his frame. But somehow his lanky frame was fuelled up with wiry muscles that screamed dangerous. His eyes also were not entirely chocolate. I could make out the rims of gold in them. His skin was darker than before and hair shinier. The overall effect was spell-bounding. And more than taking pride in the beauty of this young man, I was happy that at least this relationship was easy. While he was talking about Nessie, I studied him. Funny! How everyone in the world knows her personally and I have to gather information about her. I smiled and hugged him. Nice warm personal hug. Just for my little friend. He hugged me back enthusiastically. Well! A little more enthusiastic than I could have taken. I was amazed how he could almost choke me single-handedly. “Seth…I am choking….little easy buddy” “oops!” and the smile he gave me made me realise how special he was all by himself in my world.

“Seth?” “Hmm?” “Why can’t I meet Bella and the baby? You know she would be the first baby in the family after so many years. Dad met her but why can’t I go” he was quite for sometime. I guess trying to think how better to dissuade me. How I hope people would stop treating me like that. I can handle bitter. “Bea, sometimes it’s always good to wait. Like a Christmas present. Even if you know where it’s hidden its more fun to open it on the day itself along with others.”

In that instant I knew there was something going on they wanted me to protect from. I didn’t know what it was. Was it sickness? Some dirty secret? But if they are protecting me I would let them too. In the end things always get settled down. I told Seth while we were walking back home,” You know Seth, I believe that it’s not wise to understand someone’s mental strength just by the way you look. I may be a tad shorter than you guys, but believe me I don’t get spooked easily. And my intuitions are pretty good. So I am confident that even if you don’t tell me what’s going on, the truth will present itself one day”

“Oh really? Let’s see how intuitive you are.” “What do you mean?” “Game time!” “Oh! No!” I groaned. Games were never what its supposed to be with the boys. As a kid, I was dared into much worse. With my grit I did manage to earn a decent respect from them. But these games weren’t pretty. I hugged myself to be challenged for a swim in the river or worse bungee jump. “Come on! Will be fun!” “Ok!” he gave a hopla of joy “So here’s the plan. We will find out how intuitive you are. I have a pack of cards and let’s see if you can find out with your eyes tied.” Quite juvenile. Easy. “But here is the deal, every time you go wrong you have to tell me a secret” Trust Seth to ruffle the most settled feathers with his tongue. “Done!” “O.K. lets sit down first. We sat down on a rock. And he began to shuffle the pack. Eyes glittering mischieviously. Grinning like an idiot. I couldn’t stop myself from sticking out my tongue at him.

“Ya! Very mature Bea!” He tied my eyes with a pair of handkerchief. Freshly laundered. But my nose became aware of a very intimate sensation. I could smell a very vague fragnance coming out of it. Something I could not put my finger yet. “All right! I will know the moment you cheat. So don’t try to look beneath or around. If I catch you the forfeit will be much higher.” I mocked saluted the place his voice came from “ Aye Aye captain” He didn’t reply. But I knew he rolled his eyes upwards. “ O.k what card am I holding?” In the darkness before my eyes, that question didn’t form a picture. So I told him whatever came on my lips. “ Queen of heart?” “Nope a Joker. First question. Why do you feel we are keeping things from you?” I sighed.

There was no point in hiding. “Well many things actually. Sometimes you guys don’t speak at all in my presence. But there are something in the way you guys look at each other that makes me wonder. Sometimes you guys are too relaxed but I could see the tension gripping your muscles. Bella never comes home and Dad has become a little weird, a little more sad, after he came back from her house. By the way he always makes sure the windows are shut in my room. Something he hasn’t done it since fourth grade. That was because I used to run away in the middle of the night to meet Jacob. And he is hyper vigilant when Jacob is around us. I could swear I saw him grip the rifle a little more tighter when I was passing him the keys to the Rabbit.” He laughed a little at my last sentence. It was silence for a while and I could almost hear him thinking aloud. “All right! Next card.” Still nothing. No usual flash of instinct burning my senses. And I was almost embarrassed to be so abnormally blank. “King of Spade?” I knew I was wrong when he chuckled, “Intuitions huh? Nopes I don’t think so. You are as clueless as Emmet”

I could feel the embarrassment on my face. Suddenly I wanted to prove him wrong. And that’s when I felt the shift in me. Something like slow burning ember swept past my feet. Physically, I felt the breeze blowing a little too strong around me. With my eyes closed, I slowly felt the warmth gripping my hands and forced them to rise above my face. Then as if to push the darkness away my hands, on their own accord pushed the air forward. Then the most amazing thing happened. Though my eyes were still tied, I could see the darkness surrounding me give way to a bright golden light. But I guess I didn’t really move my hands. Because Seth’s voice was very normal when he asked the next question. “ What angers you the most?” I wanted to say hypocrisy. I opened my mouth and my lips articulated a totally strange answer, “to be able to know injustice and not do a dime about it” Seth’s voice sounded slightly confused but he asked about the next card. This time I saw it clearly. “ King of Diamonds” my voice sounded confident. “Lucky guess! And this one?” My answers flew with every question. Deuce. Clubs.10. Once the vision changed faster than usual. “10 Club… no wait…10 Spade” and every time I was right. I was almost ready to gloat. It was then I felt it. The kind of dread that creeps like a spider into your being. As if someone blew a harsh gush of cold air on my naked arm, the fine hair on my body were raised. This was a kind of fear that makes you hypersensitive to the subtlest of all sounds. Mortal trouble. Curious,I concentrated a little more, bending the vision along the edges to take a clearer look in the haze, and though I couldn’t make out the almost blur images the name spread into my mind and rolled out of my mouth followed by a scream of terror. “Jenny!!!!!!!” I shouted as I ripped off the fold.

“What? What happened?” I was on the verge of tears now. Fear gripped my heart so bad I was literally struggling for breathe “Seth, something is not right here. Believe me please. Let’s get out of here” “Calm down! Calm down Bea. Are you hurt? I don’t understand….” “Please…please Seth, I don’t know what it is. But something has gone really bad somewhere and I don’t know how I know it but its going to hurt us…hurt us bad” “ All right we will leave now. Just let me make a call O.K?” I nodded. “That’s like a good girl. Now you wait here for a minute….” “Oh no! PPPlease don’t leave me here…” “Bea, I will be watching you. No one is going to hurt you. Stay.” And he left…almost sprinted to the nearby woods. I was practically sweating now. The tears ran down my face. I was still searching for a thread of sane explanation for all that had happened. My mind, sound and logical wanted to reason out everything that happened to tiredness or perhaps the result of an active imagination even. But the other part wanted to get back into the trance and see what happens next. Why did I see Jenny? Can it be true that somehow I was having the premonition of something bad happening to my friend? I wanted to pray but too scared to close my eyes. So I kept them open and sent a little prayer upwards. Please help us. And as if in answer to all my prayers, God send Jacob.

The first thing he did was to check for any physical wounds. He knocked me on my head twice as if to check whether I had any concussions . And then he looked at me hard to verify whether I was dreaming or not. And then he smiled. The kind of crooked smile that lights up his face and usually presides any smart-alecky comment. “So Seth tells me you scared the mighty Jesus out of him. Care to elaborate on what you did or said. It might come handy sometimes. “Look, I am not sure what happened O.K. One moment I was playing with Seth this stupid game of guess-work. The next I am blinded by this light that shows me all the cards he is shuffling. And then…then…” I could say no more. I burst down crying. “O come on Bea! Stop being such a girl” “Is she going to faint now or what” Seth asked. In a way it was good because it made me self-cautious and I stopped crying. “O.K lets get you home now missy. Seth stop goofing around the bike and call up Sam. Ask him to take you home. I will drop her off home.” I shivered once more. This time out of real cold and not fear.

Before getting on the bike, I put on his jacket. It was funny how it just hung on my frame. It felt good to notice such mundane things. He made some comments about scarecrow. Some other time I would have punched him on his shoulder. Some other time the banter would have continued till home. Not today. Had I not noticed how just by being here, he reduced half my terror, I would have been miserable by then. But now as I rested my head on his shoulder as his bike almost flew down the path, I sighed. It was good to have a friends.

RISING MOON