The Moon Girl.

Chapter Two.

Daniel.

“Tell him I miss him.” She whispered to the sun. She even had the strength to give it a tremulous smile and then walk into the night.

I followed her. I followed her like I always did, like I always would. It was why I was with her in the first place. It had been a duty but somewhere along the way it changed. It evolved. I didn’t do this out of an obligation anymore. It just happened. Wherever she went, I went. It became involuntary. It became inevitable. It became deep. And she didn’t even know I existed.

Liara was brave and magnificent. Had been since I first saw her when she was a little poppet. She was the cutest little thing someone could ever see.  And that’s all people ever saw. They saw a smily, pouty little miss and missed the hurting little angel underneath. And then she grew. She grew around so much grief, insecurity, no love. And yet, she had the strength to face everyday head on. It never deterred her. Well, that’s what she let the world see. But I have seen the real her, the part of her that only craved for a little humanity. And she never received any. She couldn’t receive it from me, I felt so helpless around her. Sometimes, I would just want to hold her, tell her that everything will be alright, that a brighter world awaited her. But it would be the biggest lie.

She was walking all alone on the streets. And she didn’t care. Of course, she didn’t know that I was there behind her. Always there behind her, shadowing her but never rising from the dark, not enough to let her see me.

She hated life. She had every reason to. But most of all she felt betrayed by her father. She hated him for leaving her in this place all alone, for not telling her that there was a big bad wolf waiting, for not being there to see her win the sag race, to give her a peck on her first dance but most of all for leaving no one behind for her.

But what she didn’t know was that her father loved her enough to make me look after her. She always had me, she just didn’t know it. Well, she did for a little while when she thought that I was her imaginary friend and was pink till she was nine. She was the only one who even named me. No one else had ever done that. They didn’t know I existed, I just guarded them from a distance. But sometimes she would reach out her hand and look me in the eye and smile at me and though I knew she didn’t know I existed I would hold onto her hand, too and smiled back. She called me Daniel after her father, she called me Danny. I never needed a name or something to identify me. I was just a messenger and so I had always been there for her. I had been there when she fell down the swing and her mother laughed at her face, I was there when she cried herself sleep most of the night, I was there when due to frustration and rage a little part of her would just explode and her powers would flame to life, I was there the first time she cut herself and I just stood there and watch her blood flow out, I was there when she talked to the moon and let out all her frustrations, I was always there to look after her she just wasn’t aware of it. But sometimes I feel that she always knew of my presence. She knew that there was someone to watch over her.  

Suddenly she halted and so did I. She raised her head to the moon and I saw a tear glisten. This was one the times when I felt helpless. At these moments all I wanted was to be human enough to just wipe her tear away. But I couldn’t because I wasn’t human. I was just her guardian angel. A last gift from her father to her. A gift that was going to do more harm to her than good. But there was one thing I could do. One thing that soothed her more than anything. I stated humming the lullaby her father had sang to her. And that’s all that took. She shook her head and moved forward. One of the things she never left behind was her moonstone. And that was definitely a good thing. Her whole life was embedded in that stone, literally. And a little part of her maybe knew it because she never left it behind.

The oracle said she would embrace her nature when she turned eighteen. And she was going to turn eighteen in a few hours.  She would accept being a Pilfer.

I could already feel the black clouds inkling, eating up the blueness of the day and announcing that arrival of the night. She sensed it to because she entered into the first motel she saw. Well, one good thing about being invisible was that at least she wouldn't have to pay for two. She argued with the old guy at the manager desk for a little while but when she heard the first strike of the lightning she hurriedly slapped the money on the manager’s desk and moved towards the room.

 Once in the room Liara moved to the window and slapped the glasses shut and then she bundled into the bed. I peeked a look outside and realised that the clouds were pitch black. And then it suddenly hit me.

The Mephistophelian’s. They were coming. They were after her. They knew who she was, of her powers. The thunder rattled the sky, it rocked the frames. I looked at the clock at it was 11:47 pm. And suddenly Liara was shrieking, she shouted and moved over the bed, twitched and I went numb. I called to her, I went to the bed to look at her but nothing happened, she kept on shrieking and twitching. I rubbed her moonstone and it glistened the silver light back at me. The silver light started glistening more and more, everything in me was freezing in shock. I wanted to do something but I couldn’t! I tried to grab onto the glass of water but my hand moved through it. I went to her beside and sat there looking at her shriek in pain and then she looked at me. Right at me and her hand, that was clutching her moonstone, moved forward and grabbed hold of my hand. She tried to catch it but she couldn’t, I couldn’t help her! But her hand made a shape that said that she was actually holding someone’s hand.

And then I felt something flow from her hand in me. It was almost like a current and I went lax against her. My head fell backwards and there was a sudden blaze of her moonstone so brilliant that it almost blinded everything else in the room.

“Liara!” I shouted through the blaze and again she looked at me. It was almost as if she could see me. Her body was rocking from side to side. The window frame rattled uncontrollably and then I heard the Grandma clock strike thrice. It was 12:00 am. And suddenly every glass thing in the room shattered to pieces the voice was so loud that both mine and her shriek went unheard.

I staggered, my eyes felt like they were going to explode and I felt a .. thing tighten over my hand. I tried to focus my gaze and realised that it was her hand. I could feel her hand.

I could feel her hand! I moved back from her with a start and Liara grip went slack. She lay there motionless, immobile and paler than ever. But I was shocked and scared. I moved across the room to the table where the water jug was there and reached my shaking hand towards it. My hand didn’t move through it but toppled the jug and the water fell all around.

I was traumatized, powerless, and immobile. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was an angel, I couldn’t feel or touch things, however hard I tried I couldn’t.

“No.” I kept on saying and moved to the bed again. I had to summon the Barbelo’s. Liara didn’t move an inch and I inched closer to her. She wasn’t breathing but that was okay because she wasn’t supposed to and she was awfully pale. I moved my hand to her. This was my last chance to prove my insanity because if I could touch her then something had went terribly wrong and I was entirely to blame.  

I put my finger on the back of her hand and I felt it. I could feel her skin.

I was somehow alive again and it was not good at all. That authority crumbled me. I lost all train of thought and just sat there with my head in my hands.

“You’re hallucinating.” I told myself and looked at Liara again. She was motionless, like someone had painted her into the red canvas. I wanted one last final try. I moved my hand towards her face to brush back the curls there and just when my fingers touched her skin, Liara sat forward with a jerk. She looked straight at me and I sat there, frozen. I prayed that she wouldn’t be able to see me. That my mind was playing tricks but then she smiled and whispered a word that tore my world apart.

“Danny.”

A/N- I hope you guys like this! I was so happy and shocked by the reception this story got that I got a little over excited and posted this chapter! 

So tell me what you think?! I know it might be a little confusing but I'm taking this story one step at a time.