Chapter 5: Back To School
His gaze suddenly froze on the name on the card. He had nothing else on his mind except for who exactly Charles Corbin could be.
He thought to himself, "Who could he be? Is he related to me? Are we family?" He thought about it for approximately 30 minutes before he saw the time. When he looked at the digital clock on the microwave he saw that the time was 22:30. After seeing this he ultimately decided to go to bed. He sluggishly dragged his feet all the way up the stairs and straight towards his bedroom. Once he got inside he collapsed onto his bed from exhaustion and fell asleep almost immediately.
The next morning when he woke up to the piercing sound of his alarm clock, he had this strange yet strong urge to protect someone. He couldn't place the thought and so he got up out of bed and got ready for the day. At this point, he didn't even think about his dad because he knew that he wasn't going to return. He thought of his dad being dead because that way, he wouldn't be affected much after hearing about the potentially bad news about his dad.
He got a glass of water, made his bed, brushed his teeth, took a shower, and made himself eggs and toast for breakfast. He then left to get to school.
On his way, whilst he was walking to school, he saw Luna a few meters ahead of him. He was a little surprised as this probably meant that she stayed near to where he lived. He quickly caught up with her and when she saw him she was ecstatic. Her smile immediately widened from ear to ear and she jumped right into his arms.
"GABRIEL!" she cried out.
"I've missed you so much, I didn't even know what to do or think in your absence."
Gabriel can't help but smile upon hearing this. "I've missed you too Luna. I was so happy when I realised that I would see you again."
They walked to school together, both seeming unusually cheerful and happy.
When they arrived at school together they got a lot of attention. Word about Gabriel going to hospital had clearly been passed around as people gave off looks that were
rich with sympathy. As they walked through the hallways they eventually stopped so that they could go to their register classes. They smiled and waved at each other and both walked in opposite directions.
It felt strange for Gabriel to walk the halls of the school again, even though it had only been two days. As he entered his register class his presence silenced the entire room. As he walked past Ms. Anders' desk he could feel her sorry eyes piercing the back of his skull. He approached his desk and sat down. After this, the silence was slowly being filled with the voices of the other students. Time passed by and then the bell rang for the first lesson to begin. Just before he could step outside the classroom he was stopped by Ms. Anders.
"Gabriel, could I please speak to you?" Ms. Anders asked.
Gabriel took one step back and turned around to look at Ms. Anders.
"Yes ma'am, what do you wanna talk about?" Gabriel asked.
"I wanted to find out how you were doing. The school hasn't heard from you for two days, and your father hasn't been in contact for even longer than that. Is everything okay at home?" Ms. Anders asked.
Gabriel was starting to get tired of Ms. Anders' concerns. He knew it came from a good place but he felt that it was too much for his liking.
Gabriel snapped but tried his best to sound as respectful as possible, "Ma'am, I appreciate your efforts and concerns but at this point, I'm not going to say anything to you. It's true that I did think about it at one stage but honestly, I don't think I'm gonna talk to you about it. I don't think I ever will. I'm really sorry ma'am but that's the truth."
Ms. Anders was shocked by Gabriel's statement. She was utterly and completely speechless. All she could say was a simple, "Okay then Gabriel, enjoy your day further." with a slight, friendly smile on her face.
Gabriel walked off with Ms. Anders' prying eyes set against his back once again.
He stepped out of the class and carried on with his classes for the morning. Before he knew it it was break and he was able to sit somewhere in peace and have his lunch which he made for himself. He decided to go to the Astroturf because no one ever hung out there during break. It was quite a hot day so he went to one of the trees surrounding the Astroturf for the shade. Once he sat down he heard a twig snap behind him, he jumped up and his heart was racing. Once he saw who it was he instantly calmed down and was pleasantly surprised, It was Luna.
"Gabriel!" Luna exclaimed as she jumped into his arms. She was clearly excited to see him.
"How did you know I was here?" Gabriel asked.
Luna responded sounding a little embarrassed, "I followed you." she said nervously as she stepped back, looked to the side, and started to blush.
Gabriel laughed, "Hahaha. Luna, you don't have to worry about that. I'm actually glad about the fact that someone followed me just so that they could be with me." he said with a slight smirk at the end of his sentence.
She smiled back at him and then looked away.
After a few seconds of silence, Gabriel spoke about what was on his mind, "Luna, I'm not the only one that feels some kind of significant connection between us right? Like I'm not getting my hopes up for nothing?"
Luna is shocked by this question, she knew it was coming but she wasn't expecting it this soon. "No, you're not the only one, Gabriel. Idk why but I feel different around you, I feel happier and I feel like I can be my weird goofy self around you. I haven't felt that way with anyone else in my entire life and I don't think I'll ever be able to express myself with anyone else other than you."
Gabriel was speechless.
No one said anything after Luna finished speaking. They heard the bell ring for their first class after break. They both got up and put their school bags on their back. Before leaving the Astroturf they hugged each other for a couple of seconds. They both felt so vulnerable in that moment that they both wanted to let their tears flow down their face but didn't. This was highly unusual as they both don't cry often at all.
They then left each other's embrace and parted ways to go to their different classes.
Both Luna and Gabriel slowly walked to their different classes with their minds flooded with an ocean of thoughts about each other. They thought about their potential futures with each other, about how they felt with each other, about how much they appreciated each other and many more similar thoughts.
The rest of their day went by fairly quickly. They didn't necessarily pay attention in any of their classes because of their thoughts about each other. Even when teachers spoke to them they just dismissed the question and pretended like they didn't know what they were being asked.
The only thing that ended their thoughts was the sound of the bell that ended their day at school. After hearing that final bell they both got a sudden burst of motivation. They quickly shoved their stationary in their bags in the first opening that they could find because they could hardly think about anything else except potentially seeing each other somewhere in the school halls. Little did they know that their classes were next to each other. As they left their classes Luna rushed out of the classroom, looked in all directions, and marched straight down the hallway, she was so focused on looking for Gabriel that she didn't look behind her. Gabriel however, saw her right away and decided to follow her in her path as he was curious to see where she was rushing off to. He was following her for 10 minutes straight, highly motivated to find out why she basically searched the entire school in just over 10 minutes. Once Luna came to a stop Gabriel also stopped in his tracks. He saw Luna drop her head in what looked like disappointment and put her bag down on the floor next to the bench that she sat on next to the school field.
The reaction that Gabriel got when he sat down next to her was priceless. Luna first was frightened as she knew that no one sits there after school but when she found out it was Gabriel, she was overjoyed.
She jumped up and hugged Gabriel, feeling safer than she had ever felt before.
After that, they sat down next to each other and talked about how their days were and what they were going to do later. It was quite a hot day but luckily their bench was in the shade. After talking for about half an hour they came across yet another moment of silence. In this moment their hands were on the table. Gabriel made the first move by brushing his pinky past the side of her hand. When he noticed that this caused Luna's hand to move a fraction closer to his he decided to put his hand on top of hers. They both looked into each other's eyes and before they knew it, they both slid closer to each other on the bench that they were sitting on.
They were so close to each other that they both couldn't resist the urges that their bodies made to get even closer to each other. Both of their legs were shaking from anxiety. And soon after that, they were both full-on staring into each other's eyes.
Gabriels' voice startled Luna but what he said soothed her immensely, "I really like you, Luna. I have never felt like this before but you make me genuinely happy when I'm with you. Do you, maybe, feel the same way?"
Luna got nervous, she swallowed her spit and felt it crawl all the way down. She almost couldn't find the appropriate words to say but eventually found them, "I do feel the same way Gabriel, I have felt this way for a couple of days now but only realised what it meant this morning."
Both Luna and Gabriel got uncontrollably happy after finding out that they both have feelings for each other. They felt this wave of excitement and pure joy, something that they both haven't felt for a long while now.
When they looked at the time it was 15:45.
Luna suddenly remembered that she needed to be home by 15:00.
"Gabriel I'm so sorry but I just remembered that I have to be home by 15:00 or else my dad would..."
She stopped herself from speaking as she was about to reveal too much information. She felt like she could trust Gabriel but not with everything, not yet anyway. Especially not with what she was about to say, she would feel too embarrassed.
Gabriel could hear a sense of fear in her voice, almost as if she was scared about losing her life. He decided not to question her about it but did offer to walk her home.
"Would you like me to walk you home?" Gabriel asked.
She agreed but only on one condition.
"I would love that but you will have to let me walk on my own at a certain point. Is that okay Gabriel?"
Gabriel agreed, "Yes that's perfectly fine Luna."
They then got up and left the school. The walk to Luna's home was relatively quiet. They both had nothing to say but didn't feel uncomfortable about it. They were both surprisingly content with just being next to each other. Gabriel couldn't help but overthink a little in this silence but it wasn't nearly as bad as it usually was.
Before they knew it they reached the point where they had to part ways.
"Alright, this is as far as we can go, Gabriel. I would let you go all the way but my father doesn't really trust me so if he sees another guy then I'm scared of what he will do. It's already bad enough that I'm one hour late."
Gabriel grows to become extremely worried now. He wonders about her dad and who he is and what he does to her. But he stops himself before his thoughts cause him to do something that he will regret.
"Thank you for today Luna, I really enjoyed spending time with you and I hope we see each other again soon," said Gabriel with a smile on his face.
"Me too, thank you so much, Gabriel," responded Luna with a smile right back at Gabriel.
After that Luna went home and Gabriel also went home.
With Luna, the first thing her father said to her was him screaming, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ONE FUCKING HOUR LATE LUNA??!! YOU BETTER RESPOND VERY FUCKING QUICKLY OR YOU KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU!!!"
Luna was shaken up to her core, she was used to being shouted at but this time it was different. There was this violent rage in her father's voice. Just as she responded there was a knock on the door, which her father answered. Luna was in the living room, which was next to the entrance hall but surrounded by walls, blocking her view of the entrance hall.
All she could hear was two men screaming, both voices sounding extremely tense and violent. The next thing she heard was a loud thud and the sound of bones cracking.
She jumped back into the couch she was sitting on and covered her ears. Once the noise died down she heard footsteps and what sounded like a body being dragged toward the basement. She witnessed it before but never questioned her father about it, she was too afraid of his potential reaction to her question.
A few minutes later her father returned, full of blood, with most of the blood on his clenched fists.
Luna's father spoke up in a low but clear voice. "Go to your room Luna."
Luna didn't argue at all and ran to her room and shut the door.
Gabriel however had a much quieter and calmer evening at home. He walked on the pathway to his house and then up the stairs onto the front porch. He opened the door expecting to find nothing, as usual, and heads straight for the kitchen for a glass of water. After that, he went upstairs to his room to put down his schoolbag and get out of his school uniform. He decided to go for a long and relaxing shower, something he hadn't done in a while.
As he stepped into the bathroom he took his clothes off and hopped in the shower. Feeling the water run down his body felt really good for Gabriel. He saw all the dirt running on the shower floor towards the drain and started to use soap.
After the shower, he went downstairs to make dinner for himself. He didn't know much about cooking but managed to make pasta for himself. He loved any dish that had something to do with pasta, no matter what it was. It was also the first meal he learned to make by himself.
After dinner, he decided to go to bed. After a while of lying there on his bed and staring at the ceiling, his mind just went crazy with thoughts, mostly about Luna this time. But then he started to think about how amazing she is to him. He thought about all of Lunas' perfect imperfections, how she makes him feel, how beautiful she is, and a lot more stuff like that. Before he knew it he fell asleep.
At around midnight Gabriel jumped out of his deep sleep due to a strong feeling of something bad happening to someone, he then got a text. He looked at the notification and saw that it was Luna. The text read, "HELP!!!"