Chapter 2

Luna's POV

I crawled to my feet and silently patted the dirt from my clothes. My eyes were stinging terribly, but I did everything that I could to hold back my tears, not daring to let them fall.

Mom once told me that I was incredibly irritating and looked hideous when I cried. She already had a hard time hearing my voice. I didn't want to give her the impression that I was an annoying crybaby.

I only made it to school after walking for over an hour. When school ended, I stuck close behind Stella the whole time because I was scared Mom would leave me behind again.

On the way home, Mom gently asked Stella how her day was in school. Eventually, Stella got bored of describing her day. She turned her head away and stopped responding to Mom.

My eyes lit up. I carefully said, "My teacher praised me today, Mom. I also received a certificate for being a model student."

But Mom's ears seemed to stop working again. My voice was the only one in the car

In the end, Stella snapped, "Shut up, Luna! You're being so annoying!"

Only then did Mom speak again. "Be quiet, Luna. Don't bother your sister."

I blinked, feeling stunned. Was Mom's hearing working again? I wondered if she heard what I told her earlier.

I was just about to ask her when I remembered that she had just told me to be quiet. I immediately zipped my mouth shut.

I basked in happiness the entire car ride because Mom had finally spoken to me. But when we made it back home, I seemed to become invisible again.

Mom didn't call me for dinner, for bedtime stories, or for any of the time we usually spent together. For three days, she ignored every word I said, refusing to speak to me unless she had to.

I finally realized what the problem was when Stella walked in and pouted at the three drops of oil on her carpet.

I didn't sleep that night as I searched online for different ways to clean the carpet. Finally, I managed to clean the oil stains.

The next day, I had dark bags under my eyes. I ran up to Mom, excited, and exclaimed, "I've cleaned the oil stains on Stella's carpet, Mom."

Mom finally responded this time. She looked at the clean carpet, raised her hand, and ruffled my hair. She finally smiled and said, "You're amazing, Luna."

I looked up proudly. The exhaustion from lack of sleep seemed to disappear in that moment.

…

Fear surged back the moment my thoughts returned to the present. Last time, three drops of oil on the carpet meant three days of silence. Now that I'd spat an entire mouthful of blood onto it, was Mom going to ignore me for the rest of my life?

Panic gripped my heart at the thought, and my body felt even worse as the terror spiked. In the end, I couldn't even wipe the blood off the carpet before I retched up another mouthful, this time mixed with something dark and filthy.

At that point, it was impossible to clean the carpet.

I was frozen to the spot, feeling cold all over. Shockingly, the chilly sensation even overpowered the pain in an instant.