Chapter 3: The Moon

"Three things cannot be long hidden, the sun, the moon and the truth."

-Buddha-

***

Layla turned off the stove and placed the freshly cooked meats on three plates and added some sauce on top of it. Fortunately, before they arrived they managed to get some groceries and had carried their old fridge along with them because the place had no fridge to begin with. She also poured the greens and lentils on the side of the plate and placed them on the table.

“Dinner is ready.” She half shouted, calling her sister who was still in her room and her father who had been sitting in front of his computer the entire time, working to make the ends meets. Since they moved, Gregory had found a new motivation to live and was determined to work harder, since the place was rather quiet he found it easier to concentrate on his work.

Sabrina who at the time was video calling her best friend Isla had to cut the call short since Layla was getting more impatience.

“Don’t forget to catch up with me soon, let me know how the mountain life works for you later on.” The short haired brunette spoke with excitement. Sabrina shook her head pretentiously at the teasing.

“Trust me, it’s not something you want to experience. It’s only our fifth day here and I still find such a hard time adjusting, anyway, I really have to go down, I’ll call you later.” She cut off the call and walked to the dining room where her father and Layla was already seated. Sabrina could already smell the delicious scent of steak from afar and it became stronger as she approached the table.

“This looks delicious, thank you, Layla.” Her sister brushed it off and just told her to eat. Layla had always been a bit stubborn like that and did not deal well with compliments, but she had a genuinely good and caring heart.

“Let’s start our prayer before we eat our meal.” Gregory suggested. The three of them were holding their hands and Gregory started the prayer.

“Dear lord in heaven, we would like to sincerely thank you for this wonderful meal and for my beautiful daughter who has prepared it. May this meal nourish our body and become a blessing. Amen.” It was always the same prayer over and over again. The Donovan family came from a pretty strong Christian background. Even though the girls were not as religious as their parents, they still believed in the power of prayer.

“Oh gosh, this steak is really good.” Sabrina praised and Layla simply chuckled. Among the three of them she was the only one who inherited the mother’s cooking skill. Sabrina could cook but she was not good at it, so it was better to leave the task to Layla instead. Usually during dinner, they would discuss their activity for the day, after moving, it was no different. Although the subject of the conversation has shifted a bit.

“I hear there are plenty of wolves around the areas, I hope you girls would be more careful when going outside.” He reminded. At the mention of the wolves, she got reminded of the wolf sighting she saw a few days back. Guess it was true, there were some packs of wolves around the area, but so far none of them had come to her house nor did she hear news of anyone being attacked, so she guessed it would be fine.

“Also, at night. I would rather you girls stay inside the house. If you do go outside, make sure to stay as close as possible to the house. We do not know what other wild animals might be lurking around here, this is just for safety precaution, but I mean it.” His voice was stern and full of concern. Both girls could tell that their father actually meant what he said. It made sense for him to be worried considering none of them had any previous experiences dealing with wild animals.

After dinner was over the girls cleaned up while their father buried himself in his room again, only this time he planned to continue his work instead of dwelling in depression. As the girls cleaned up, they had a little chatter about their new lives.

“How has your relationship with your boyfriend been since we moved here? Are you guys still in a long distance relationship now?” Sabrina asked Layla. The younger girl paused a bit at the question and forced a smile on her face.

“Yes, we are still in relationship right now, but it has been hard. Lewis has been studying hard because he needs to get the scholarship for the university. While I am here because of our circumstance. There are not many public transportations around here which means it will be difficult for me to go there and see him. I don’t know if we can maintain the relationship this way.” Layla was usually a girl who did not care much for anything, but if there was one thing she cared about beside her family, it was her boyfriend of two years, Lewis. Sabrina who was eighteen had never truly fallen in love with a man, so she had no idea how it would feel. All she could do was to comfort her younger sister.

“It’s okay, what is meant to be yours will always return to you, no matter what.” Yes, it was a phrase she often told herself as well. She had never fallen in love before, even though she was not against the idea of love, as the eldest daughter and child, she felt a bigger sense of responsibility than merely dating someone, after she pulled her life together, she might be interested in it, but she had other priorities at the moment, so the idea of love was far away from her mind.

However, she had no idea, that love would come to her when she least expected it.

For some strange reason, Sabrina was unable to sleep properly that night. Something kept bothering her mind and she was not sure what it was. She kept tossing and turning on the bed it became irritating even to herself. Eventually, she gave up on trying to sleep altogether and decided to take a stroll around her house. Of course, outside it was already quite dark and they did not really have outdoor lamp except for the ones attached to the outer wall of the house, so she had no choice to begin with.

She took a seat at the wooden bench right outside and took a deep breath. It was rather refreshing to feel the cold air against her skin. In the city the air was rather polluted, but in the mountain, the air was still clean. She closed her eyes and lifted up her face a little bit. Opening up her eyes, she saw the beautiful silver moon in the sky.

“Seems like, it is full moon tonight.” When she paid attention to it again, the light radiating from the moon was a bit brighter than usual. It was her first time seeing full moon in the open. As a child she did not really get to experience much in nature since they barely travelled anywhere, but it was quite a pleasant opportunity to finally witness the moon at its utmost beauty. Sabrina smiled to herself, perhaps things would not be as bad as she initially thought. Perhaps her new life would be more exciting than she had planned.

Just as she was lost in her own thoughts, she heard the sound of wolves howling. It was not just one or two wolves, it was the sound of an entire pack of wolves. Sabrina felt threatened and remembered her father’s advice, she quickly went back inside the house and made sure to lock everything. After that, she went to her room and made sure to lock the door too just because she was being paranoid, but Sabrina could not help herself at that situation, could she?

She thought she should just go back to sleep but something was keeping her awake that night, as if something out of her control was forcing her to witness something. She could not comprehend it, but she could feel it.

It was nearly midnight and she still was not able to fall asleep, of course, she did not want to get out because there was a chance that the wolves were still out there, so instead, she walked into the balcony and stared at the lake and the forest. At night, things were darker and if it was not because of the moonlight, perhaps she would not be able to get a clear view of everything. From where she was standing, suddenly she spotted something.

There were a pack of wolves running around the forest.

Her eyes were fixated at them. Her gaze followed wheere they went. Among one of those wolves, one in particular caught her attention. It was a black wolf with piercing blue eyes.

Somehow, as she watched him, her heart skipped a beat.

"What is this feeling?"