Lunar Distortions

Chapter 7

Eleanor looked around my barely unpacked room in fascination, "I can't imagine what living in a city would be like." She wrinkled her nose at the thought, "The smells, the noise..."

"You get used to it all," I shrugged not knowing what else to say. I actually kind of missed the noise of cars at all hours, I didn't realize how comfortable I had gotten with it until now, "The smell never really gets better though."

She traced a finger over a framed photo of my dad and me from a couple of summers ago. When we went on vacation to Utah, spending our days camping before hiking through the national park. I missed the heat, it was the only thing my dad hated about the place.

Even in the picture, I could see the sweat on his brow as he smiled through it. Dad wanted to take us to Michigan, but I'd had enough cold, I wanted somewhere that didn't require layers of sweaters all day.

"I used to hear stories about your dad, although no one really talks about him now," Eleanor turned to look at the dressing table that had my nail polishes neatly arranged on it, "Some people are still...bitter that he left. You know? Barely anyone ever leaves Sterling, so it was surprising."

It reminded me of when my dad told me about how he'd never go home, "He told me that even if he wanted to, he couldn't come back." I said sadly, tracing my fingers over my knees, "Apparently, his family disowned him for leaving. So, there was nothing to come back to."

There was sadness in his dark emerald eyes when he spoke about home. Like this place was the one place on earth he could never come to. Now that I thought about it, we stayed completely far away from places like this.

Part of me couldn't understand why they couldn't just bury the hatchet and reconcile. I couldn't ever imagine being angry at my dad for so long, never seeing him- or treating a child of mine like that. Was it really so bad that he left?

"Don't tell the others, but..." She gnawed her lower lip, casting a glance towards the window. As if someone could hear us when she was speaking in such a quiet voice, "I think your dad is brave for what he done."

Something crashed downstairs, making me jump at the intruding noise. Eleanor cursed lightly under her breath as she crawled into a sitting position on the bed, moments before a hasty knock landed on the door, and it was thrown open.

Landon's eyes were wider than plates as he regarded us, "Hey, girlies." He choked through a mouthful of something spongy, "Elle, I think it might be time that we take off. I don't want Roan to chase us off the property again."

"He chased you off the property," Eleanor corrected with an unimpressed expression, "He won't mind if I stick around any longer. I want to talk Addison through the school events that are coming up- you're going to want to get involved."

Panic was confusingly present in Landon's eyes, but he nodded stiffly towards me, "The more; the better," He encouraged me with a lopsided smile, "Don't become a loner like your uncle."

"Roan isn't a loner." Eleanor rolled her eyes dramatically, casting me a slight smile, "Your uncle is just...he prefers his own company. Which will make sense when you familiarise yourself with the weirdos around here."

We exchanged a small round of laughs before Eleanor sighed heavily and cast Landon a look, "Daddy will be wanting us home soon anyway, for dinner." She looked a little saddened by having to leave, and slowly rose, "It was nice, being here. I don't really have any girlfriends of my own, it would be good if we could do it again."

I thought back to the group of girls she had been surrounded by in the school corridors, and how one always sat beside her in class but didn't comment. Stranger, and stranger, was what became of Eleanor North.