Moon Song

Chapter 3 - Claire

Claire was up late as usual. Being homeschooled, she didn't have to worry about having to be up early for school the next day like her neighbor did. Instead, she lay on her bed drawing in her sketchbook, with none other than Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher album playing in her AirPods.

Since she first laid her eyes on her the day earlier, Claire had not been able to stop thinking about her new neighbor. Everytime she passed the window in the living room, she'd steal a small glance in the house's direction, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl on her mind. 

She'd only seen her once. Earlier that morning, when Claire was hanging out the washing while her mum was busy with her younger siblings, she was just gazing in the direction of the neighbouring house, when a shadow passed the upstairs window. The figure seemed to be carrying what looked like a guitar case, before placing in down in the corner of the room. Claire wasn't even sure that this was the girl, but she continued watching as she walked back past the window. As she did, a sliver of sunlight caught the girls hair, revealing the dark maroon. It was her.

What Claire usually did when there was something bothering her, or just something stuck on her mind, is get it down on paper. She had multiple sketchbooks overflowing with random half-finished drawing and doodles stacked up on a shelf beside her bed. 

Claire had been drawing her neighbor for the last hour, but it was getting late now, even for her. So she got up, packed her art stuff away, and walked over to the drawers beneath her window to grab out her pajamas. However, before she bent down to open a draw, she glanced out the window and noticed a dark figure sitting on the neighbors lawn, which happened to be just outside her window. She took out her AirPods and opened the window. It was her, it was the girl. And she was very obviously upset. Over the soft breeze blowing through her window, Claire could hear her softly crying.

Without a second thought Claire hastily walked out of her room, down the hall and out the sliding backdoor. The cold was harsh, and sent a shiver down the girl's spine, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. 

Claire slipped on her mother's gumboots and made her way to the gate surrounding her section that opened onto her neighbors lawn in silence. There were now only a few metres between the her and the girl. Before she could convince herself not to, she silently opened the gate and stepped out on to the delicate grass. 

But when she went to close the metal gate behind her, Claire's gumboot caught the side of the fence, cause her to fall forward. She instinctively reached behind her to grabbed whatever she could to steady her, which happened to be the now slightly open gate. This caused the gate to slam with the force of Claire's entire bodyweight.

The crying girl suddenly whipped her head around to face Claire, who froze. She just stared at her, willing her brain to say something.

'Hi,' was the best she could manage.

'Hello,' the girl replied numbly, before turning her head back towards the front. Oddly, she didn't seem to bothered, or surprised at the interaction. Maybe she didn't care.

'What are you doing,' Claire whispered. When she got no answer, she calmly resumed her steps towards the girl, and took a seat beside her.

'My name's Claire.' The girl lent back, until her back connected with the damp blades beneath her. She stayed silent for what felt like ages, and Claire just sat there, unsure whether joining the girl had been a good idea.

'I'm Jasmine,' finally came the response. Claire looked down at the girl with a smile, but Jasmine only looked up into the sky. Claire thought maybe she should just get up and go back inside, and leave her by herself. Besides, it was pretty cold, and Jasmine's harshness only added to that. She unfolded her knees and hesitantly stood up. She turned back around to face the gate and-

'Wait,' came the voice from below her. Claire looked down to where Jasmine was lying, and this time a pair of eyes looked back into hers.

'Come back.'

After scanning Jasmine's face for any sign of a trap, she slowly went and lay down beside her. Both girls lay there in silence, faces toward the sky, waiting for the other to say something.

'Are you ok?' Claire finally muttered, rubbing her ear as it was tickled by a cold blade of grass.

'No.'

'Wanna talk about it?'

'No.'

Claire didn't wanna push, but she also didn't know know to reply to that. She'd never really been good with her words. 

Instead, she just lay silently, her fingers mindlessly picking grass at her sides. Gently, she rolled her head over to look at her neighbor, whose gaze was back to being glued to the sky.

'The moon's really pretty tonight.' Claire winced as she heard her own attempt at small talk. All she got was a hum in response.

'You know, I sometimes like to think of myself as the moon. My Dad actually used to call me Moon, because... It's a long story,' She trailed off, releasing she was probably being annoying.

'That's ok, I have time' Jasmine said softly, looking over to Claire with a soft , surprising her that she seemed interested in her words.

'Oh, my dog used to be obsessed with the moon, and she knew the word 'moon' because we would always use it to excite her. My dad basically just called me Moon whenever he could, just to wind her up,' she explained with a sad smile. 'I haven't seen either my dad or my dog in years.'

'Oh.' Jasmine sat up.

'Yeah.' Claire copied the action.

She again looked over to the girl next to her, and watched as she shivered.

'It's getting late. And cold,' she said.

'Yeah.' Jasmine whispered

'I'm going to go back inside now, I think you should too,' Claire stood up as she watched another shiver travel through her neighbor's body.

'Yeah, I guess so.'

And with that, Claire wandered back to the gate, successfully opened and closed it without tripping up, and went back inside.