Whispers of the moon: the tales of a nightwalker

Prologue

**Expulsion and Echoes**

The whispers began as mere murmurs, gossip swirling through the halls of the university like a toxic fog. "Did you hear about Luna Wilshire?" they hissed, the words dripping with malice and speculation. Each passing conversation carried a venomous tale, each more damning than the last.

Luna, once a promising student, found herself at the center of a storm brewed from falsehoods and deceit. False rumors, like twisted vines, entangled her reputation, staining it with accusations she could scarcely comprehend. They said she cheated on exams, plagiarized assignments, and even orchestrated schemes to sabotage her peers. Yet, amidst the chaos of whispers and accusations, Luna stood steadfast in her innocence, a solitary figure against the tide of slander.

In the dimly lit corners of the university, voices conspired, weaving webs of deception to ensnare her. Each utterance added another layer to the tapestry of lies spun around Luna until she found herself cast out, expelled from the very institution she had once called home.

**Present Day:**

In the shadow of the past, Luna stood, her gaze fixed on the horizon. At twenty-one, she bore the weight of a lifetime's worth of trials, each scar a testament to her resilience in the face of adversity.

But she had one friend, 2 years older than her, and a beacon of light amidst the darkness. With her soft features and long blonde hair cascading like sunlight, Ashley exuded an innocence that belied the tumult of the world around them.

Luna, in contrast, possessed an air of mystery, her long dark brown hair falling in waves around her shoulders. Her hazel eyes, reminiscent of a siren's call, held depths unknown to those who dared to gaze into them. Yet, it was the scar that marred her left eye, a jagged reminder of past battles fought and won, that spoke volumes of the trials she had endured.

"Luna," Ashley murmured, her voice a gentle caress against the silence the first time they met. "It means moon in Latin," she said as her lips curled into a friendly smile.

Luna, 17 when they first met, just stared at Ashley for a while. "Pleasure meeting you, Ash" she replied. It was the beginning of their everlasting friendship.

Their conversation drifted, carried by the currents of memory and reflection. Luna spoke of a childhood marked by abandonment, her mother fleeing at the first hint of dawn, leaving her and her father to fend for themselves in a world fraught with uncertainty.

"My mom and dad fell in love young. Everything seemed perfect until my mom's family arranged her marriage with someone else. The worst part, my mom was pregnant with me at that time. She gave birth to me and abandoned both me and my dad. My dad took care of me despite his financial struggles. At twelve, my father started a business," Luna recounted one night when the two were roommates and Ash kept questioning Luna about her family, her voice tinged with bitterness. "But it crumbled beneath the weight of his ambitions, leaving us destitute and alone."

At sixteen, Luna found herself adrift, her father's arrest plunging her into the depths of despair. Yet, amidst the chaos, she discovered a strength she never knew she possessed, a resilience born of necessity and forged in the crucible of adversity.

But there was something that haunted her, something she didn't even tell Ashley about: The whispers of the moon.