18 Late night escape

June 3, 20199:30 pm

Moon was on her back balcony. She seemed to be stuck inside her head. Lionel and Santiago are really different in front of her, aren't they? Maybe Santiago was really a liar, maybe she should have never fallen for him, he's no good for her at all.

Santiago was extra quiet while jumping up the windows, he did not see Moon where she normally is, he went inside, past the stairs that led to the top of the roof, past her bed, and opened the door towards Moon.

They stare at each other for a second.

Oh no.

Moon charges towards Santiago and starts violently beating his chest.

"Murderer! Murderer! MURDERER!"

Santiago was wearing a leather jacket and Moon ripped the sleeves off as hard as her dainty little body could.

And then she saw the cuts.

The deep cuts.

Her anger melted into deep regret and her voice went softer than fur.

"Santiago."

She paused.

"Why?"

"I would never harm anything, and I never intended to kill Lionel. It's just..... my brother, he was my brother....."

Moon kissed Santiago. Her emotions were in a swirl and at the end of the day, she can only live him, and him only, even if it means dying for him.

"We should escape, get out of here, live a life where nobody will know our names."

"What?"

"Moon, for the sake of us..."

"I will."

There were some challenges, how were they going to get down the stairs? Santiago had an idea, it was a bit risky though.

"I don't think this is safe."

Moon was looking straight down at the road three stories above. There was no way she was going to make it out safety.

"This is the only option...."

"Jumping down 3 floors? We're gonna die!"

"No, we're not, I've fallen from 7 story buildings and not a bone was scratched."

"Well, you go first."

Moon couldn't watch as Santiago jumped off the balcony and did 3 flips in the air and landed normally.

"I'll catch you!"

Moon hesitated, and slowly, she managed to climb over the rail. Uh oh, she feels like she is going to go Kur-plunk on the ground. All she can do is hold her breath. She loses her balance and falls off.

Santiago catches her.

"Hey, it actually wasn't that bad."

"Let's go."

And so they went off, in Santiago's car, driving to Andorra.

"Why are we going to Andorra?"

Moon stares off into the depths of the night, she has never seen lights flash by her so quickly in her whole life.

"My dad. He owns a house there. Ever since when something happened between our parents, my dad ran away and your dad became almost mute. As for our moms, my mom became more emotional and your mom.."

"Became a psycho who hates her own daughter:"

The radio was playing soft French tunes, Moon almost dozed off from the calming music.

"What is your dad like?"

"Welp, he's very out there. My dad loved having more than one kid who were born on the same day. He was a triplet, just like me."

Santiago went quiet for a minute, Moon bit her lip in regret. She brought up Fernando, Santiago's dead older brother, she looked at Santiago, who was too focused on the road to notice her, and dazed off.

A bump in the road caused Moon to wake up not long after.

10:02 pm

Time is not going to fly by quick enough, is it?Moon was trying to think of words to put into sentences.

"So, you drive, that's cool."

"Yeah, I got my driver's license as soon as I could. When I get older and get a job and move out, I could go places without asking my mom. How about you, do you have it?"

"I'm not allowed to get it. Psycho mom lays 468 million rules on me, and like I'd be any good at driving, I don't even trust myself at times."

They had a little bit of laughter. They talked about anything and everything about the world and threw a few flirty lines in between, and time seemed to pass quicker than ever. However, there was a deep guilt boiling inside of Moon, and it started to make her feel uneasy.

Moon closed her eyes and fell asleep, the lights of all the cars passing by have made her sleepy, and she fell asleep for the rest of the ride there.

"Moon? Moon? Moonshine? Moon bunny bun? Are you awake? We're here."

Moon opened her eyes, Santiago kissed her forehead, she smiled. She got out of the car and saw Santiago's dad's place. So this is Andorra, she's in another country. At first, she was admiring the place.

Until the guilt and regret filled her up again.

She was looking uneasy, and Santiago notices it instantly, she was shaking like a spooked skeleton.

"I want to go home."

Santiago froze with his mouth open.

"Are you sure? Why? We can...."

"I don't want anyone to think badly of us and what has happened to us, I don't want anyone to worry, and my mother, your mother, your brother, and everyone else, I don't want them to man hunt us and then when they find us they'll eat us alive."

Santiago never thought about that.

"Alright, let's go."

And they went in the car again for another ride on the road to Saint Gaudens.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be."

The ride back home was silent, too silent. Whenever either spoke, it was either Moon apologizing or Santiago saying "Don't be." It suddenly felt cold between them, and Moon was shivering. She wanted to break down into tears, but she held it in, hoping not to worry or piss off Santiago. Moon just stared at the passing surroundings that got passed by in a flash and Santiago kept his eyes on the road.

When they got back to Moon's house, Moon was almost through the front door.

"Wait."

"What?"

"Please meet me in the back balcony, I'm lonely and I need you with me. Just wait for me to get to my room."

Moon went up the stairs, she was tired but she wasn't. When she got to the top and signaled Santiago to come to her room. He jumped on the windows and went to Moon, where they went to the back balcony.

All they could do was embrace the other so tightly that nothing else matters to them.