A Moon Of Blood • Paul Lahote

Chapter One

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆♱⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Cerise stood outside of the house, cigarette between her lips, clouds of grey smoke flowing from them. It felt ike an eternity waiting for her childhood best friend's return. Standing around as the bitter Forks wind swept across her face. Cheeks rosy as the wind sliced across them. She huffed as the wind once agains nuffed out her cigarette, her nerves building. 

Cerise and Bella had been friends since they were babies, their mothers being in the hospital with them at the same time. Then growing up next door to each other. The two instantly got along. Even after Cerise's mother died and Bella moved away to Phoenix with her mother, the two talked every day. There wasn't a single thing that they didn't know about each other. Bella knew of all Cerise's friends, she saw every haircut and how her hair died with every bleach. 

As the familiar police car drove towards her, she dropped the cigarette, squishing it beneath her feet. Pulling her denim jacket close to her, she pushed off of the garden wall between the two houses and started towards them. The moment Bella stepped out of the car, she was tackled into a hug. The two manage to just stop themselves from toppling over. Laughter echoed between them. Bella still smelled the same, vanilla and old books, though her hair was slightly longer, drawing out her soft waves even more. 

Charlie watched with a warm smile. It seemed like the first time Bella had truly smiled since landing in Forks. He wasn't surprised. Cerise was like his adoptive daughter. Even after Bella left, she and her brother would often come around to check on him as he would them. The three acted like siblings too. Tied at the hip. 

He could still remember the countless joint birthday parties and sleepovers. The three of them sneaking downstairs for midnight snacks, unknowing that he had set them out on the table ready.

"It's so good to have you back," Cerise squeaked as she swayed her friend from side to side. 

Bella chuckled, "It's nice to see you again too," squeezing her friend back. The smell of cherry and cigarette smoke invading her nose. 

"Anyone would think you haven't spoken to each other in years," Charlie laughed at the two, starting to take Bella's suitcases out of the trunk. The two broke the hug, helping Charlie Bella's things. Cerise, pulled out two trunks from the back of the car, setting them on the floor with a huff. She took abreath before picking them up again, starting to head towards the house. 

"It feels like it has," Bella responded. They walked into the house. It hadn't seemed to change. It was almost as though Charlie wanted it to stay the same for when this moment happened. Frozen in time. You could practically see the two girls still running through the house as children. The footsteps of the past embedded in the foundation of the house. Cerise knew how happy Charlie was to have Bella home. He and Bella just had no idea how to communicate that. Both are as socially awkward as each other. 

Charlie had always claimed that the two balanced each other out. Cerise was extroverted and popular. Never afraid of anything. Bella, however, kept to herself. She'd hide behind her dad's legs at every social event. Two sides of the same coin.

As they got to Bella's room, Cerise's smile grew even wider. The room was kept exactly the same. Jewellery is still hanging on the wall. Childhood arts and crafts are still pinned on the corkboard. The girls could still imagine the countless sleepovers they had in that exact room. It felt smaller now. Not cramped, but it was clear they weren't the little girls they once used to be. The look on Bella's face said it all. While the nostalgia was there, the maturity not so much. After an awkward couple of words, Charlie left the girls alone in the room. Bella picked up a framed photograph of her, Cerise and her brother, wiping some of the dust from the glass.