Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter One: A First Kiss

Neil had never kissed a girl before.

Since he was fifteen, he had lied to his friends about a stolen kiss he'd had behind the school bike shed. They'd all kissed a girl too, or perhaps they were just as bad at lying as he was and nobody had the stones to admit it. The thoughts were quickly pushed to the back of his mind as Rachel gripped his shoulders , looking into his eyes with hers that glimmered with excitement and lust. His lips trembled as her hands moved to his neck.

Neil hadn't really expected anything other than a movie tonight, especially after no hand holding had happened as they sat and watched the glaring, hammy film. It had been a spur of the moment decision as they had walked home from the pizza restaurant, and they had bonded over their hatred of the saturation of comic book movies, trying to sound impressive to each other. They hadn't really spoken in any real depth before that night. but they clicked instantly.

In an entirely unexpected move, the quiet, calm and mousy Rachel had grabbed his wrist and pulled him into an alleyway as soon as they had turned the corner. His back had met the cool brick and made him gasp as her fingers curled around his shoulders in the moonless night.

"I like you. A lot," she mumbled, her cheeks flushed and pink. Before he could respond she touched his lips to his, not entirely sure of proper placement or conduct for kissing and she exhaled as the chaste kiss began to transform. It got more slippery with more movement. It was clear neither had kissed someone like this before, and both only had second hand experience.

Neil kissed back, feeling her warm, wet lips, tasting her tongue with his. It was all quite awkward but in that moment Neil could only think about kissing Rachel more, as long as he could.

His hand crept up her back.

*****

His headache thumping in his head made him groan, and as he rolled his naked body fell and thudded onto the wooden floor, still tangled in his sheets.

His mouth was dry and he was drenched in cold sweat. Everything in his body was wrapped in pain. What the hell had he done to his body to make it ache like this. He scanned his blurry memory.

The last thing he remembered was the terrible film; he watched it with Rachel. They'd caught the last showing of the day and it was almost midnight when they left the cinema. He had been feeling quite feverish all day, and must have caught the last bus afterwards.

"Neil! Get up! Breakfast!" His mum called from downstairs, mixing with the greasy smell of frying bacon. Neil's insides were hollow, like he hadn't eaten in a week.

Getting dressed at a pace a snail would have scoffed at, Neil shambled downstairs where his mum was standing by the door, trying to slip her heel into a pump and scarfing away at a bacon sandwich. His dad had already gone to work.

"Don't be late," she warned as she chewed and eased her feet into her shoes. 

"I know." Neil plopped his head onto his folded arms atop the table.

"Your bus money is on the counter. Don't forget to lock up, okay?"

"Okay mum, see you tonight."

*****

The fever was still raw in his head as he walked to the bus stop, the cacophony of the car traffic swirling past him and making him wince; he definitely should have tried to wrangle a day off from school but he'd cried wolf too many times this year for his mum to believe him anyway.

"Lowell!"

Neil looked up in the direction of his surname being called to see David and James waving him over. A young man overcompensating at seven forty five in the morning roared past in a small modded hatchback and Neil tried to cover his involuntary gasp.

"Hey! Did you hear?" David was a kettle of energy always left to whistle until someone took him off the hob, which was usually Neil. His short cropped and oiled hair gleamed in the morning sun and the startings of a wispy soul patch blossomed at his chin, his proudest achievement since he confided to Neil that he'd started growing pubic hair.

"What?" asked Neil.

"Haven't you heard?" chimed in James as he crossed his arms, all carrot coloured hair and a toothy grin. "Rachel Galvin was reported missing this morning."

Neil's heart stopped. "M, missing? Like called the police kind of missing?"

David nodded. "Did your mum not say anything?"

"No. She must not have known." Neil wracked his brain, thinking of the night before. The fact that he was sick was not helping and he shook off a chill.

Nothing. His mind was blank since the credits of that awful film had rolled and the house lights went up. He tried again, but there was nothing once again. The chill juddered down his back again.

"It says here they're going to organise a massive search party tonight." James was scrolling through his phone, before looking up and giving Neil a pointed look. "You guys left the pizza restaurant early, right? What happened?"

Neil looked to the floor. He could only tell them what he remembered, and his heart crashed against his ribs at the mere thought. James and David sat waiting for an answer Neil felt forced to give.

"We went to see a movie, and then said goodbye." It sounded like a lie. "I waved her off and caught the bus home" At least I think I did, he thought to himself. What else would I have done?

David shrugged. "Well, the police are gonna want to talk to you, you were probably the last person to see her."

Neil's head was hurting even more, the fever was claiming his ear canals and stuffing them up, coating his forehead with sweat and making him shiver. He wasn't crying wolf today, for sure.

"Neil, man, are you okay? You're sweating buckets." James placed a hand on Neil's forehead. "Jesus! You're burning up! Go home, you idiot."

"I'll walk him home." David had already grabbed the panting Neil. "He can barely walk. Why did you even leave the house?"

Neil didn't reply.