Chapter 96
1241words
The little girl with dirty brown curly hair and a tattered dress walked into the room, her head bowed and her eyes puffy.
'What in Selene's name have you done again?" Joana asked standing up from her rocking chair.
Her eyes were wide, her hands on her hips as she looked at Moon, who looked up at her. Moon's lips were pushed out as if she was going to burst into tears all over again.
'Mama, see…" Moon called, her lips bent downwards as she rolled up her sleeves to reveal a fresh cut with dried blood.
Joana's face distorted at the mention of ‘Mama' from the little girl, her lips twisted in disgust, she felt bile coming up to the back of her throat at Moon's voice.
'I am not your mama." She had wanted to tell the thin and sickly little girl to her face but bit her tongue.
Her eyes roughly and quickly scanned the face of the little girl down to her
Instead of consoling the little girl, Joana's face tensed up as moved away from her.
'What's there to see?" Joana frowned even deeper.
'Blood…" Moon's mouth opened, her brows creased, and tears blurred her eyes.
'So?" Joana sat back down on her rocking chair.
'Your mates can fight back, but all you do is wait to get beaten, then come back here to whine about it." She scorned.
'You are a fool." She spat into the little innocent ears of Moon.
The little girl's eyes broadened and large droplets of tears left her eyes.
'Look here little one." Joana started.
'I had my peace of mind before you came in so if you are going to disrupt it, I'd rather you step outside till you are done." Joana was stern and left no room for bargain.
'Mama…"
'Shut your gutters and leave the room," Joana ordered, closing her eyes to relax.
Moon's shoulders sagged, she held her grumbling stomach and went out through the door. She felt hurt, her little mind could not understand why all these kept happening.
Was this the way her parents chose to love her?
She had watched other children get maximum love from their parents in different ways but hers was different. She chose to love them anyway; they were still her parents.
'Look!" The voice that haunted her dreams, even in her dreams, exclaimed, and soon, Moon heard laughter.
She knew who it was. It was the older girls but she chose to close her eyes and ignore them.
Slouching down the wall till she was in a sitting position, Moon buried her little head in between her knees as she closed her eyes and kept her hands over her ears and head.
Tears streamed down her cheeks when she began to move from the impact of things thrown at her. She ached all over but could not fight back; her little hands were not strong enough to exchange blows like she watched the big kids do; she could not even understand the concept of violence.
'Stop it."
Moon raised her head a little and caught a view of two boys standing in between her and the big girls.
'Do you have no shame at all bullying a girl a lot younger than you?"
'Whatever, you are so boring and pathetic. A hero indeed." One of the girls booed and left, followed by the others.
Moon wiped her eyes to see the lean back of a boy, a lot older than her, with blonde hair. He didn't turn back to look at her, not even once but the second boy with him did. He smiled at her as she smiled back.
***
Moon, a little older this time stepped into the room with her head bowed. She tried her best to hide the emotion on her face.
'What is it this time Moon?" Joana's soft voice asked, stopping her in her steps.
'Good evening Mum." Moon greeted stiffly, trying her best not to fall into her mother's obvious trap.
'Good evening," Joana responded, dropping her crochet and steeping closer to Moon whose head remained bowed.
Placing her index finger under her chin, Joana lifted Moon's head to reveal a swollen and blue eye, a cut, and bleeding lips too.
'What happened to you, Moon?" Joana asked again.
The softness in her eyes and the care in her voice lured Moon. Moon, who longed to feel loved by her parents, especially her mum, fell into the trap; she softened and sniffled.
'I was cornered and beaten by…"
*Slap.*
'You idiot!"
Moon held the right side of her cheek, staring at her mother in shock.
'I was cornered and beaten." Joana mimicked her daughter, mocking her mannerisms.
'What is wrong in fighting back?" She shouted into her face.
'You let yourself get beaten and you come home to whine about it? Is that how it is done?"
'Keep this up and you will get disowned."
'Just a hit and you are set to cry? Do it, and I promise you, I will hit your black eyes myself and make sure your tears are worth it this time." Joana swore, her face was flaming.
Moon stared at Joann's unkind eyes in deep hurt. She wanted to ask her if she was her mother, but she didn't; she only kept quiet and tried her best to stifle her tears.
'What? You want to hit me?" Joana brought her face closer.
'Go on, hit me." She cornered Moon who kept staring in disbelief even after experiencing this countless times.
'I regret having you as a daughter." Joana finally said the words she recently found out hurt Moon the most.
Moon closed her eyes at the impact of the words of her mother on her heart.
Finding an escape, Moon ran out of the room not even remembering how she located the door knob.
'Are you walking out on me?" Joana was on her tail, stopping the door from banging to a close.
'Wait till your father gets back!" Joana yelled after her, her voice bouncing on the wall of the hallway.
Moon's quick steps became a run, knowing how adept Joana was in weaving lies to her father, who would end up creating artwork on her body.
***
'Your mate can already transform into their wolves. What is keeping you?" Joana's harsh voice asked Moon who was on her knees. She was bigger, better at hiding her emotions, and a good receptor to pain.
'When will you transform?" Steve asked, already having a whip in his hand.
He spent less time talking, he was more of the action, quick enough to release the whip before she got her words out.
'Diana just joined the pack but she has her wolf already. What other motivation do you need!"
Moon placed her focus elsewhere as she solely concentrated on taming her growing emotion.
'I have tried my best…" She didn't get to finish her sentence because the whip rained on her like showers from the night sky.
In an attempt to escape the pain of the whip, half the length of it cut across the part beneath her tender breast and she felt a much worse pain.
Moon didn't know what death felt like, but it felt like she tasted death as she fell to the floor but kept being rained upon by the whip all because she was different from her mates.
