When The Moon Light Rises

1

  The bright sunlight beams through the broken blinds, onto the floor covered with things from dirty clothing to spare change. The young girl's bedroom hasn't seen a "clean day" since 2007.

The bed creaks as the young, skinny body moves around in it. One legs falls to slightly off the bed, it lays there until the brain believes a ghostly presence is near. The leg jerks back into the bed. A loud groan roared from the bed.

  Slowly, a body arose from bed. Brown hair falls in front of the body's face. Hands placed on the face, showing anger. A louder groan emits from the stomach.

"Astrid!" An energetic voice emits from down stairs. The sound echoes through the house to the young body's ears, bringing the girl to a shock. This girl was no other than Astrid Marie Sterling, daughter of Ambrose Sterling.

"What, Dad?" Screams the young girl. Astrid was just as her mother was, not a morning person. On the other hand, Astrid's father, Markus Sterling, was a morning person.

Silence from downstairs sends Astrid throwing herself out of her bed. She stands up; up a little too fast. She stumbles for a bit before getting to her door. As she opens the door, her 6'1 dad in her doorway.

"Good morning, my little ass-rid." A beam of bright light exclaims. Astrid pushes her self away from the door and stares at her father, who is now laughing.

"What? No 'Good morning to you too'?" Says Markus, stepping over the dirty clothes. He looks down and a disgusted face spread across his. His brown hair slightly falls into his forehead.

"Do you ever think about cleaning this damn room?" He says kicking a pair of lightly washed jeans into the open closet. He looks all around the floor then to Astrid.

"Sorry, I thought I was missing a mother, not a father." Astrid says as she falls back onto the bed. A small sigh from the other side of the room makes Astrid close her eyes.

  "Just, clean your room before you go to work." Markus leaves his daughter's bed room. 10 years have passed, he can't even have the balls to say anything related to his wife. Astrid doesn't like to mention her mother, she only does it to use it as a weapon.

When Astrid turned 14; the owner at Mr.Greg's Diner, Dennis Sager, allowed her to take her mother's shifts. She would wait tables for customers that would remember her but she had no clue who in hell they were. She liked working at the diner because the customers would tell her stories about her mother. As she grew up, she starting to connect the stories and started making theories. The theories took all the focus from school and work; not to mention all of younger Astrid's sleep.

Astrid hasn't had anything new information about her mother since 7th grade when her science teacher, Mrs. Granger; an elderly old woman who looks like she had taught the cavemen how to start a fire. Mrs.Granger had yelled at Astrid for sleeping in class everyday and not trying in homework, even though Astrid was a A/B student.

"You are just like your mother when I taught her. But she was more of a trouble maker; skipping classes for weeks on end, claiming that she didn't set fire to my chair, and the one that I'll, never forget-"

Astrid never heard the rest of the story due to the bell ringing during Mrs.Granger's sentence. Astrid didn't want to hear it back then; but now she wonders what else she could have learned if she had stayed.

Astrid pushes herself up and hangs her feet off the bed, swinging them as she plans out her day in her head.

She had planed on working her shift from 11:45 to 4:30; the same shift as her good friend, Nicole Vicker. Nicole was there for Astrid when her mother disappeared and has been since. Nicole had met Astrid in preschool.

Astrid had always been there for Nicole, no matter what happened. Astrid accepted Nicole when her family didn't. When Nicole came out, Astrid helped her practice talking to her parents about it. Astrid remembers putting on a mustache and talking in a 'manly' voice to imitate Nicole's father.

Astrid dresses into her uniform, white button up blouse and a dark grey skirt. Astrid's skirt's end gently brushes across her small thighs as she walks to her bathroom. The hallway to the bathroom was dark and was only lit by the upstair's windows.

She passes family photos as she goes down the hall, thinking nothing. She goes by her 3rd birthday party, the Christmas photo from 2006, and the family photo from the beach. She gets to a white, old door and reaches for the handle. She grasps the handle and the door opens, revealing a bigger mess than in her bedroom. Towels all over the floor, long strands of brown hair across the white bathtub/shower, makeup spread across the sink. Astrid doesn't use the makeup; only for special occasions.

"Special Occasions" in Astrid's mind is going to funeral and going out with her dad's girlfriend for 'Girl's Night.' Astrid believes that makeup only hides the true beauty that's underneath, her mother planted that in her head when Astrid asked for makeup when she was little.

Astrid picks up a sock with banana prints on it and picked up a white sock with yellow dots on it. Astrid shrugs as she sits down on the closed toilet seat to put them on. Banana sock on right foot and white on the left. She pushes herself up off the toilet and runs back to her room. She looks at her bed for her phone. It's not there. She springs to the floor near the bed, she can't believe she just lost her phone. She crawled up the bed to see that the phone was on her pillow.

10:13 am.

"SHIIITTTTTT..." Astrid grabs her white high top converse as she passes through her bedroom door. Astrid rushes down the stairs, watching each step to make sure she doesn't fall.

"Astrid, come say hello to Jaclynn." Markus screams from the kitchen. But Astrid didn't have time to say hi to Jaclynn. She didn't have the time to flip of Jaclynn.

Astrid ignores her dad and bolts to the dish where they kept their keys. She couldn't be late, she been late too many times. She grabs her keys to her mother's cherry red truck. She reaches for the front door knob as she feels a presence behind her.

"Astrid, dear. Trying to run away from your Gal Pal?" A sweet voice says in a way a baby would smile. Astrid knew this voice wasn't sweet and she WAS NOT her gal pal.

"Sorry, I'm gonna be late for meeting a friend." Astrid turns to a bottle blonde, who looks not a day over 27. This woman was Jaclynn Mayers, Markus' girl friend of two years.

"Okay, well. Remember, We're hanging out this Friday. I have this little cafe a coup-" Jaclynn pauses as she watches Astrid slowly back her way to the door. Jaclynn's smile dropped.

"Or if you're busy, we can do it another night." Jaclynn backs away from Astrid, makes a small smile before she turns to go back into the kitchen with Astrid's father.

Astrid shakes off the awkward moment and sprints out the door. Each steps brings up the fresh grass, sending grass and dirt with her socks. Her shoes swing in her hands as she runs.

Once Astrid reaches her truck, she flings open the door. She throws her shoes into the passenger seat. Then the thought of breaking the law of driving without shoes.

"Fuck it, I can't get a ticket if I don't get pulled over." Astrid starts her truck and plugs in her seatbelt. She starts to backup as her father steps out the door and watches her leave.