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Heart pounding, hands twitching, and thoughts racing, Selene walks down her street toward the dead end she knows is just around the corner where her wonderful boyfriend is awaiting her. She’d been eager to see Lio all day, but the combination of sneaking out of her mother’s strict home and the knowledge of what they were about to do had her fingers spinning the rings on her hands.
The two had gone to the same elementary school, but they had only really gotten to know each other when Mrs. Brooks, their math teacher, had moved Lio to sit in the extra seat beside her. At first, both Selene and Lio had been less than ecstatic about the new arrangement. Selene had cherished the silence the class allowed her, while Lio enjoyed the opportunity to speak to his friends.
Surprisingly, they had grown to love that time spent together. He became the light in her dark world, and she became a solace in the chaos of his. When Mrs. Pomeroy reassigned seats, they were devastated, so they promised to keep in touch. This, of course, led to the relationship they share now, one where she is willing to slip out of her window, to meet him at two in the morning.
She catches a glimpse of his golden hair, standing out starkly in comparison to the inky black surrounding both of them. His face twists into the most gorgeous grin that she’s ever seen. She sprints up to throw herself into his crushing embrace. His gentle hands wrap around her, while his face buries itself in her silky, black hair.
“Hey Ele, I’ve missed you,” Lio murmurs into her hair, using his special nickname for her. “Me too, Lio,” she responds without a second thought.
At first their relationship had been slightly awkward, but now, it feels like they're the sun and moon. They can stand on their own, but the plants without the sun wouldn’t grow, and the oceans without the moon would still. Life without the other would lead the world to collapse.
“Are you ready to do this?” Lio asks, glancing at her still fidgeting hands. Selene responds with a simple, “yes,” because no matter how reluctant she is to go against her mother’s wishes, she’s always wanted to see a lunar eclipse. Seeing it with her boyfriend was just the push she needed to finally take the leap of seeing the heavens turn red.
Selene's feet fall rhythmically through the winding paths taken to get to the middle school, her and Lio hand in hand. Once they arrive, they make their way through the field to the main body of the school. They slowly become bored waiting for the lunar eclipse to occur so Selene makes a proposition, “Do you want to see if any of the doors are unlocked?”
Eyebrows raised, amused, Lio teases, “Well, well, well, who’s the troublemaker now?” Selene blushes as he grabs her arm and sprints towards the closest door. They make their way around the school testing quite a few locked ones. Selene knows that chances are all of the doors will be locked, but it's fun to go around the school either way. They’ve nearly reached their starting point, when they try one of the doors into the
hallway and it actually opens!
Elated, the two of them enter the school deciding to go visit their homeroom, Mrs. Hills’s class. Selene wraps her hand over the cool metal twisting it open. They find that this door is also unlocked. They giggle as they enter, mischievously writing “I was here” on the whiteboard, before Selene curls into Lio’s lap on the teacher’s chair.
And for a moment, everything is perfect. Her mom didn’t catch her, she’s with her favorite person, and she’s about to see a marvel her mom has been denying her for her 13 years of existence. But perfect doesn’t last forever.
Selene bounds towards the window at the first glimpse of the red moon. “Look, look, look, it’s happening!” She turns to Lio with her biggest grin that is reserved only for him. Chuckling, he rises from the chair, “Okay, okay! God, somebody’s excited!” He crosses the room to wrap his arms around her torso and lays his chin on her head. They stay that way, him holding her, watching as the moon becomes more and more bloody.
Selene is content, happy, hopeful, for once in her life, but then her stomach starts to twist. The longer she looks out at the moon the worse the feeling becomes. Selene had never watched a lunar eclipse, but she’s never heard of it making people nauseous. She begins to sway, unable to ignore the discomfort any longer.
Lio, concerned, asks, “Ele? Are you okay?” Before she can finish her lie of, “I’m fine,” her knees break and she slumps forward, Lio’s arms the only thing preventing her falling to the floor. Voice rising in pitch and volume, Lio cries, “God! Ele!” but she can’t seem to make out the rest of his words. Her head is filling with a heavy fog slowly smothering her. She still looks up when she hears her boyfriend say something new, but is confused when he jerks away from her.
“Where are you going?” She questions, voice shaky and slightly distorted by the ringing in her ears. She takes a step towards him, trying to get back to the only one who has ever truly understood her. But for some reason, every step she takes forward, he takes one back. Her stomach drops, and a pressure begins to build in her chest getting caught in her throat, as she realizes he lied. She is a burden to him. He never planned to stay. She is too much, and at the first moment of her truly needing him, he’s choosing to leave. Her view of him grows blurry with tears, when that feeling clawing up her throat sifts from grief to rage
Why are you leaving?” She asks again, with a newfound force when he doesn’t answer her question. Suddenly, her rage transforms into something worse, something animalistic. Without thinking, she rushes towards her boyfriend. How dare he abandon her in her hour of greatest need?
His eyes widen and he turns to run. To leave her, just like her father, just like every good person she’s ever let behind her walls. Selene feels the urge to chase him, so in her clouded state of mind, she does. She chases him throughout the classroom with only the vague awareness that she's knocking things over onto the floor, yet she can’t bring herself to care. Her shoulder smashes into something glass. Her hip knocks over desks, and her arms flailing in an attempt to grasp him, only scatter supplies across the room.
Despite all the objects beating her exterior, the greatest pain comes from within. He’s really leaving her. Her heart is begging to escape her ribcage as her internal organs are on fire. Every bone in her body is breaking and contorting beyond repair. She wants to claw open his heart the way he did hers.
Lio once again looks back. For a second, Selene wonders if he’s changed his mind. But alas, his face only reveals horror before he turns again to sprint towards the door with a new vigor. Selene feels as if running is much easier now, though. Lio makes it to the door, turns the silver handle, and swings the door forward. Yet, Selene is there in a millisecond and grabs him with little effort.
She looks into his eyes, the eyes that only an hour ago looked at her with such reverence as if she were a goddess. Now, all she sees is tears streaming down his frightened freckled face. They're supposed to love each other. He was the yin, to her yang. The sun to her moon. The light to her darkness.
It all becomes too much, and impulsively her arm swipes the only face she’s ever truly adored. He falls down, and out the door where he had almost made it out.
Selene hears his body thump against the ground and suddenly can think again, but then she looks down at her hand and it’s furry with claws coated in blood. She can smell the iron of his blood and the taste of his lips against hers are long past. Selene realizes everything she has done and gasps, falling to her knees, looking around her class, now destroyed. The love of her life is gone, and she is the one to blame. She feels the plants withering within her and the tide has stilled within him. Her whole world has collapsed.
She climbs into the ceiling, praying no one will find her so she can die. Maybe if she does, her beloved will accept her in the afterlife. Because a fate without him, is a fate worse than death.