Legends of Mirandis Academy

Chapter 49: So Shall You Reap

It was a clear day, although that didn't matter much. It had been clear on that fateful night three years ago; during those last few hours that Luna had been worthy of absolution.

The sun's reflection glared from puddles of snowmelt as Luna walked along the street. It was midmorning. From the road came an uninterrupted roar of traffic. Tires threw black water into the air, and every so often the gasoline fumes would sting Luna's nose. She kept her head down. Someone had left a fast food wrapper on the floor of the bus stop. The wind came through and brushed against it, creating a hollow rattling sound.

It wasn't as if the sensation was new. Luna had felt it before: the stiffness in her legs, the chill in her heart. The way that her brain somehow went stale, went dusty and dusky and the way it shielded itself from all good in the world, trapping Luna within. She stepped carefully around a spilled coffee on the sidewalk. The cream and foam resembled a splotch of vomit.

And Luna was worth nothing more than the plastic cup that rolled aimless circles on the ground. Something cheap and flimsy—unnoticed, unloved. If Luna served a purpose, it was brief, and then she was a problem again, so much detritus, something to be stowed out of sight. The coffee cup hadn't even done its job. It had failed. Then it was left behind.

Brielle had kept texting her over winter break. Analyzing, speculating, remembering. It was logical, Brielle kept saying, to conclude that Iridia was at fault. Whatever her feelings, Brielle could not deny the truth. It was almost humorous, seeing her so stubborn and so detached—like a little machine, running into the same wall over and over again. No wonder Iridia loved her.

Iridia, the complete opposite of her once-counterpart, radio silence. Not a single word, not to anyone. If there was anyone Iridia would talk to, similar to Brielle, it would be Luna. In the beginning, Luna had sent a text or two, mostly out of guilt. Luna never received a reply, nothing at all to confirm whether or not Iridia had even seen the messages. It was as if Iridia had rediscovered invisibility, and this time, she would never resurface.

Despite it all, no one ever arrived at the real truth, which was that everything in the world was either trash or about to be trash, and that Luna was sometimes a very good liar. Consequence passed over Luna just as it had three years ago. Say nothing, and someone else will suffer.

She had tried to move away from it. Wasn't that why she had sought safety with her fellow sophomore Kelam Quincy? Wasn't that what had drawn her towards that shy freshman girl, who could never hold eye contact, whose hands were always twitching and nervous and full of machines? When she had seen Duran, was there not a part of her that had said, "At last, here is a second chance"?

Luna had never arrived at the real truth until now. It didn't matter what her intentions were, with Duran or Iridia or Backup Food or any of them. She was a type of plastic that could not be recycled. There was something within her, intrinsic, that resisted the pull of redemption. Every choice that she made was pocked with chewing gum and broken glass.

The sun was radiant white in the sky, but it could never shine on the part of Luna that relished the consequences. The twisted part of her that still crowed over the fact that, three years ago, Luna had remained safe and hidden. The part of her that watched Iridia and Brielle fall away from each other, so soon after reuniting, which felt nothing but jealous satisfaction. The story would never end happily. Kelam would never find his reconciliation, and Iridia would be alone, and not even Brielle Prescott's proud name would wash away the filth of existence. To know Luna was to know corruption.

Her feet traced a path that had become well-worn over the past semester. She could still tell herself that she had done the right thing. It was stupid and it had cost so much, but every time she saw Backup Food—the laughter on his face, the way he no longer flinched at her touch... surely, it was not evil, what she did, if she had done it for him?