The Moon Man - Part II

9th March

Linwood, Christchurch, New Zealand

Kyle showing up unannounced after I haven't seen him for seven years, and saying that my father wants to see me... I think that angered me more than anything. I'm also scared, because I don't know what to do here. I don't know what my father wants with me.

The conversation that I had with Kyle had annoyed me. No, angered me. The fact that he made me late for work makes it even worse. I think this is the first time I've truly felt this angry in months. To think, just one mention of my parents makes me lose it. What a joke. It's always been like this though. Any mention of my parentage, or my parents, has always made me lose it. This is nothing compared to how I would've reacted a couple of years ago. Recently, I've been a lot better because I've been trying to live in a certain way. Living by a creed. First, be kind. Second, be honest. That's helped me a lot since I left my relatives' place. But Kyle made me livid. 'I guess he wants you to safe while everything happens in the next few months', is what he said. What a fool. Of course, that isn't what my father wants me for. There will be something else, no two ways about it. Kyle is wrong about him. He isn't anything like what Kyle seems to think he is. There will be something else behind this.

On Friday nights, I work three hours, so my shift ends at midnight, meaning the sky is pitch black by now, even though summer just ended. I sigh. Because of everything that happened, I forgot to bring my jacket. There's always cold wind coming from the sea at this time of night, so I always wear my school jacket to work and back, but I forgot it because of my conversation with Kyle.

"What's up? You haven't been focused all shift?"

I hear the voice of my co-worker and friend, AJ. Me and her have been working together here since she was employed over the summer. We didn't really become friends until after school went back, and we found out that we both attended the same school. You'd think we would have talked about school at some point over the holidays, but I guess that shows just how little we did talk back then.

"Sorry, I've had something on my mind."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I tilt my head at her, "that's unusual. Are you feeling okay?"

"What?"

"Your being strangely considerate. At least for you."

She gets a little mad at that, "shut up. I just feel like I owe you. I never got the chance to pay you back for everything with my brother."

I understand now. AJ and her brother weren't exactly on the best of terms for a while, but I was able to help her reconcile with him a little while back. So, it now makes sense to me. That's just like her.

"Then, I'll take you up on that offer."

We start walking down the road, in the opposite direction to my house, toward the bus stop. AJ lives further away, so she busses to work whereas I just walk. Even though it means I'll be even later home (and even colder), I'll walk with her since she agreed to listen to me.

"Your parents are estanged, right AJ?"

She looks over at me and frowns, "yes. I haven't seen my father since I was a little kid."

"What would you do if he suddenly asked to see you again?"

She stopped where she stood.

"What?" I asked her, looking back.

"Who're you talking about this time?"

"Myself, for once."

We keep walking in silence for a little while after that. I look over at her out of the corner of my eye. Her forehead is screwed up in concentration. She's thinking about this seriously. I'm surprised by that, she doesn't seem to take much seriously. Or at least, she pretends she doesn't.

"I guess that'd be fine, for me at least. I still talk to my father pretty often, even though I haven't seen him in person. You should at least here him out. I don't really know the situation around your family, so I can't really say, but you should probably at least hear him out."

"I see."

That does seem reasonable. But like she said, she doesn't know everything about my family. The only person who I've told the whole story since I left my relatives' place, is Tayla. Would AJ's answer be different if she knew all of the facts? I don't think anyone would know the answer. And I don't really want to tell her. More than anything, it's embarrassing telling people who my father is.

"So, is your father around here at the moment?"

"...no, he wants me to go see him."

"Hmm," she glances at me, then looks away. AJ didn't press me for any more detail. Luckily, she's smart enough to take hints. After all, I don't want to lie anymore. Especially not to a friend like her.

I see her off at the bus stop, then I check the time. Already twenty minutes into the new day. I sight at that. It'll be after one by the time I roll into bed. Maybe I'll skip on the shower... no, I won't skip the shower. Tomorrow's a Saturday, so I'll be able to sleep in. At least until I have to get ready for tomorrow's shift. And I also have to catch up on homework at some point. This really is the worst. And on top of that, I've now got to think about perhaps going to see my father. How's that going to work? He can't come down to Earth, right? Does that mean I'll have to go up to the moon to see him? I look up at the sky. There's a half-moon almost directly above me. You wouldn't usually get to see the moon so clearly nowadays. Too much dust and clouds, even in a country like this that prides itself on being clean and green. Father, what do you really want from me?