We Saw the Moon

Chapter 1-The beginning

I stepped out of the dark coldness from the basement into the bright, and grossly, sickeningly warm upstairs. Man, do I hate this place. The place I'm supposed to call home, but it doesn't feel like home. It feels like a house, just not mine. Like somebody else lives here. Why can't times just be like how they were before I was born? So free, you could do whatever, go wherever, without worrying about that stupid thing that plagues my mind. What a grim life to live. I find it so funny how the world works. So fluently, yet stopping so easily.

My older brother-Johnny-gave me an odd stare as I walked right passed him and onto the old, beige couch. "What do you want?" I said bitterly. He shrugged and continued cooking whatever he had in the pan. "What's wrong with you?" He said it pretty quietly, what's up with him? "Nothing. What's wrong with you?" "Max and I broke up. I dunno, didn't seem like he liked me anymore, anyway."

There's no way he's just fine with that. He wanted to marry Max. They'd done things I probably shouldn't know about, but they aren't good at hiding it, so that's their fault. Johnny's a pretty big guy, so the things I heard from Max about him we're surprising. Especially his bottom comments towards my brother; those were the most surprising. Johnny's just a big softie, but he's hard on me. It's so odd how he looks so much like mom, yet acts exactly how dad did.

"I'm sorry." He shook his head, putting what I can only assume was eggs on a plate. "Can I go walk the tracks?" "If you bring Ellis." I sighed. Ellis is our neighbor, I don't hate her...I just don't like her. She's what you would call a 'pick me girl'. It's really annoying. "How about i bring Cassy or Samantha? Not that dingbat..." I whispered the last part, but he heard.

He gave me a glare that pretty much said 'you know what you did.' He doesn't like Cassy or Sam too much, though. Say's they're bad influences and I shouldn't hang out with them. That's just because Sam got suspended last winter for vaping. Me and my friends don't vape, though. Some hockey guy was telling her how hot she'd look if she vaped or smoked.

I don't know why she listened to that kid. We all made a promise not to care about what other's think about us, especially the hockey kids. But Sam just likes to feel noticed every once in awhile. I get it, but I'd never listen to those bozos. "Johnny?" "Yeah?" He asked, cautiously. "Can...Cristian bring me?" He shook his head and stood up. "Nope. Uh-uh. I'll bring you." He answered quickly. I knew he'd go for that. He hates Cristian with a burning passion; probably because he's Johnny's age-seventeen, going on eighteen-and he flirts with me every chance he gets.

"Ain't no way I'm letting that boy bring you somewhere alone." We put on tenni-shoes and started walking towards the dike. Whenever I go out to walk the tracks, I walk the dike to the bridge so I don't get lost on my way there. Not that I can get lost in such a small area, but one time I walked all the way to Crookston. So I guess I can get lost. Besides, i usually start on the tracks in Grand Forks.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked while pushing me. We mess around like that all the time, we never mean it and it doesn't hurt us. "The tracks. Idiot." He sighed. "I know. I mean, where do you usually end?" "Uh, no specific spot. Just whenever I get tired." That's a total lie, I stop around the farm area because the old people get mad at me for walking through their land...even though the train tracks aren't their land.

I took my phone from my pocket and checked the time. We'd already been walking for about an hour. "Seven thirty, wanna get back?" "I'm going to." That was code for; we should head back or you'll probably get kidnapped. "Okay." We'd really only gotten about halfway. But that's fine, Johnny said I could go see a movie with him and his friends today. So it couldn't hurt to get ready early.

We were almost back to our house, when I noticed a shady guy following us from a far. He looked fairly strong, but Johnny could've easily beaten him up if they got in a fight. So I wasn't worried. "Johnny." I poked him in the rib. He glanced down at me and we kept walking. That's when when I pulled out my phone and opened camera. He'd gotten closer. Really close.

He must've noticed that I saw him because before I knew it, I was knocked out cold and I heard Johnny yell something. When I woke up, he whispered something to me. "Go to Micheal's house, tell him not to worry. And don't call the police. Got it?" I nodded as my vision was less hazy and stood up. I didn't even look back because I knew he could handle himself. I ran about half a mile before I got to Micheal's house. He used to babysit me when I was younger, so I knew his house like it was my own. And for awhile, it was.

When my parents got put in jail a year ago, and Johnny got custody over me, Micheal had gotten temporary custody over me so that the law could sort everything out with Johnny's schooling.

I knocked on his door and he opened it almost instantly. "Hanna, are you okay? You look like you've ran the mile four times and got cut up a bunch." "I do?" Did I really? I looked at myself in the circular entryway mirror of his house. I looked awful. I had a scar on the side of my face from below my eye to the tip of my nose. It wasn't bleeding too bad, but it would definitely be there forever.

"What happened?" "Uhm, don't worry about it. I-I fell on the tracks, and-" "THE TRACKS? IS THAT TETANUS?" He yelled; the tracks are pretty rusty, so that was understandable. "Maybe? I don't know. Hopefully not, I'm not up to date on those shots." "As much as Johnny worries about you, I'd assume you were up to date on absolutely everything." "Me too." I muttered. He led me to the bathroom, I sat on the counter and he started cleaning the cut. "Ow! Jesus Christ, Micheal!" I winced. He was using alcohol to clean it; and if you don't think that hurts, you're in over your head.

"Okay. That should be it." Johnny said after he put a bandage over the cut. "Oh my god." "What?" His face was pale white like he'd seen a ghost. I looked down, my shirt was covered in blood. But I was fine. It wasn't my blood...then I thought back. Johnny had hugged me before he let me go. Why was he bleeding? "Johnny's in trouble." "What do you mean he's in trouble?" Micheal asked, sounding concerned.

"I mean, Johnny's either bleeding out, or-" That's when it occurred to me that he could've murdered a guy. I glance back at the bathroom mirror. There were bloody handprints on the back of my shirt. "Johnny killed a guy." "H-he killed a guy? Hanna, are you joking? Please tell me you're kidding." "I wish I could." I said as I noticed his eyes getting glassy, I pulled him into a hug.

"Who on earth did Johnny kill?" He whispered.