Chasing the Moon Chapter Two

Chapter 2


Feeling the breeze on her face, Mirage laid back on the grass heated by the noon sun. She waited patiently for Aiken to show up, he did this every year on her birthday, gave her a time to show up and ended up being late himself. It didn’t really bother her much; being by herself gave her time to think things over.
She regretted telling Aiken about her dream yesterday, her desire to leave the town forever. She hadn’t ever really given it a lot of thought before, but Aiken could never leave this place. After his father passed on from disease, he was all his mother had left. Even if he wanted to he wouldn’t, for his mother would only lose another person she loved, and he couldn’t bare that not even for Mirage.
Banging her fist against her head in frustration at her own stupidity, she sighed. With or without Aiken, did Mirage have the courage to follow through on her wish? Up until now it had only been a fleeting daydream, however as the days passed the urge to stand up and run grew fierce. “I know I’m afraid,” she bluntly reminded herself, “But if I remain here, what am I going to accomplish? Ugh, but I can’t just up and leave everyone either!”
“Can’t you though?”
“Hmm?”
She looked up only to have a small velvet pouch placed on her head. When she sat up it fell to her hand and she looked it over, then back to Aiken, “Can I open it?”
“Well that’s what I brought it for.” Marveling at the package for a few more seconds, she opened it, and a heavy pendant with a thin chain fell out. Her breath caught, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but the faint sliver mist swirling around in the gems center was unmistakable. She fingered the jewel carefully; hypnotized by the way the color seemed to dance in the light, “Aiken, this is… but how could you afford something like this? Even the Lady doesn’t own many Moonglow because they’re so rare. A necklace like this would cost more then you’d make in half your lifetime.”
“And the funny thing is this is only part of your present,” she gave him a quizzical look.
“What pray tell is the rest?”
“I’m granting your wish, Mirage.” Her heart skipped a beat, not knowing what he meant by this she listened intently, and he continued.
“Everyone knows the only reason you remain here is because Willow and the townsfolk are the closest thing to family you think you have. Do you know how you came to live here?”
“Sure I do. My mother came nearly crawling to the Lady’s doorstep, begging for her to care for her child. She passed on later that night.”
Aiken shook his head, “No, that garbage they force fed you since you were young isn’t what really happened. My father told me before he died that Willow came to him and told him everything. That night a woman appeared to Willow and her husband in their dream and wished them to care for the baby. When they woke they knew it was no simple dream since they both had it, stranger still was that they found a baby girl in their living room that morning. That baby was you, the reason they named you Mirage is because they were sure you had to be an illusion, that necklace was with you. Now, you’d better be grateful ‘cause I went through Hell and back to get it. Anyway, the point is, they never met the woman, nor whoever it was that left you there, you might still have a family out there somewhere.”
Mirage stared wide-eyed at the pendant in her hand, but didn’t say a word. Aiken ruffled her hair, “Go, leave this prison holding you back, seek out the adventure you’ve dreamed of.” With that he kissed her forehead and whispered something inaudible, to her.