My Friend Taylor

Chapter 6

A week had passed since the accident and it was time for Luna to say her final goodbyes to her mother, it was funeral day. Luna had been dreading this day since her and Taylor had begun planning it. Luna walked down the stairs in her beautiful black gown and slumped on the sofa next to Taylor.

"You alright chicken?" Taylor asked as she flashed a half smile at the young girl.

"This sucks Taylor. I don't want to do this, it's not fair." Luna replied, no emotion in her voice. The funeral car was due to show up soon, Alex was arriving just before and a couple of Luna's mom's friends would be meeting them at the crematorium.

"I know it does." Taylor wrapped an arm around the young girl, pulling Luna into her side for a hug. "You just need to stick this out for everyone for a couple of hours and then you can come back here and deal with this however you like." Taylor took a long pause, "I mean, within reason of course." Taylor smiled, rubbing the younger girls arm. "How have you been doing lately anyway?"

"I've not been happy, obviously, and I've come so close to cutting every day this week, but I haven't done it yet. I can't bring myself to do it. I want to stay strong for my mom, I lied to her about all of this, I feel so guilty." Luna paused for breath as she lifted her dress to reveal the cuts on her leg, "Like what the fuck is this. My mom would ask me every day how I was feeling and if I needed any help with looking after her and school and such and I just brushed her off. I brushed her concern off and did this to myself." Luna was getting angry at herself now and tears had fallen onto the steri-strips on her leg. "I can't even bring myself to soak these off because I feel so bad."

Taylor pulled the younger girl in for a tighter hug. "I'm glad you haven't done anything, and I am so proud of you for getting this far, but you shouldn't feel guilty about this. You couldn't help your feelings Luna, this was a coping mechanism for you for so long, and you didn't want anyone to know which is okay. I know she'll be looking down on you, smiling at how proud she is. Truth be told, I don't think you needed to tell her. I think she already knew, she was just waiting for you to open up." Taylor smiled and grabbed a tissue from the box on the coffee table and handed it to Luna. "C'mon, wipe those tears, Alex will be here soon."

Luna took the tissue from Taylor's hand and wiped her eyes gently to try and make sure her makeup didn't run. She hadn't worn much makeup but her mom always loved her winged eyeliner so she thought she'd do it, even though it would get cried off throughout the day. Luna had just finished wiping her eyes when there was a knock at the door.

"Must be Alex, I'll go." Taylor said, standing up and walking to the door. She peeked through the window, not seeing the dark haired Alex, but seeing a brunette figure. "Hello?" Taylor asked as she opened the door, curious as to who it could be.

"Hi, I'm Denise, Luna Smythe's social worker." The lady at the door replied. "And you are?" Taylor looked at the Lady and smiled.

"I'm Taylor, Taylor Swift." She smiled warmly as the social workers jaw dropped. "I'm sorry, but this really isn't a good time, we're just waiting for the funeral cars to arrive."

"Funeral cars?" Denise asked, extremely confused at Taylor's statement. "Is Lillian home, Luna's mother?"

"Oh god, nobody told you?" Taylor said in shock, "Lillian died last Friday, on Luna's birthday." Taylor said softly as the expression on the social worker went from a soft smile to extreme shock. "I thought the hospital would have told you."

"What is Luna doing here? If her mother's dead she should have been placed in care right away."

"No, I was looking after Luna for 2 weeks in New York. I was still looking after her, she's okay." Taylor explained the situation to the social worker. The lady who identified as Denise looked to the floor in defeat.