Lunar's Curse

“We are here, in this auditorium, to commemorate on the loss of on a student well-known in this school. She will be dearly remembered,” the principal said in the microphone up on the stadium. No one clapped. The death of a student is a solemn event but Justine looked like she wanted to clap and wolf whistle.

“Dearly remembered for her slutty ways,” Justine whispered to me. We were in the front row on the balcony overlooking the auditorium. Earlier, Justine tried to be as disrespectful to Amanda as possibly by putting her feet up on the golden rail and leaning back to snore. It wasn't appreciated and Ms. Taylor came over to tell Justine to wake up (though her sleeping was all pretence) and sit up straight.

“All rise in honour of Amanda Tress,” our principal said. The ninth graders and Amanda's friends rose immediately while the ones who didn't know her that well or liked her at all took a while. Justine? Well, she took her time. She stood up and gave an echoing yawn. Ms. Taylor stood on the stairs beside us and hushed at her.

“Boring,” Justine said. “We don't give a damn about Amanda. In fact, I think I'm going to spit on her grave. You know all those times that I said I wished that she got hit by a car? I didn't think it was going to be this early.”

“She...she didn't get hit by a car,” I began hesitantly. I wanted to tell Justine about the whole Xavier thing and her screams. I wasn't exactly sure what it meant. Did he have some kind of knife?

A weird knife that can punch two holes and drain blood? What kind of knife is that? Maybe a weird syringe. Yeah, that must be it.

But why would Xavier need a syringe? It made no sense. Was he some kind of crazy scientist? Or maybe an apprentice of a crazy scientist who needed pints of blood from a slut?

No, that didn't make sense. I closed my eyes for a moment I saw Xavier's red eyes. Maybe he was a science experiment and he got red eyes...

That sounded ridiculous. Science experiments? Blood? That sounded like something from a dystopian/mystery novel. But then...it was much better than the other option I had come up with. The science experiment sounded much better compared to my other one.

There were two pierced holes on Amanda's neck right above a vein. Thinking back, it looked like...marks made from fangs. And what kind of thing would...suck blood...from the neck?

It could have been a cougar or maybe a bear but that was laughable. Why would any bears or cougars be sucking blood? Why would they be in the city?

And why would Xavier have been at the scene the moment Amanda...was gone? Why didn't he do anything while she was screaming?

Apparently, when the police had arrived a few minutes later and investigated, it was approximated that Amanda had died over an hour ago. It couldn't be possible because I had heard her speak and scream ten minutes before the police came. I didn't voice this to anyone. Telling this information...didn't feel right. I had planned to tell Justine about it but I was almost sure she would wave me off. Who else could I tell? Certainly not Ella or Dean. And the idea of spilling this information to my other classmates didn't feel right either. Maybe—

Justine pointed at the seats down below. She let out a gasp and squealed which made Ms. Taylor give us a withering look. Justine paid no attention to that.

“Look!” she told me, “Myra, it's Alex!” She was tugging on my shirt sleeve and leaning so close to the railing that I was almost afraid she would fall and pull me down with her. She was staring intently at a boy with dark hair. As if sensing us, the boy turned around and flashed us a brilliant smile. Justine swooned and sank into her seat with a sigh of bliss. I stared at her like she was crazy.

“He's just a boy,” I said quietly.

Justine sat up straight and looked at me like I was stupid. “Just a boy? Are you out of your mind?”

“Girls!” It was Ms. Taylor again. “Anymore talking and I'm separating you two. This is a solemn event. Please be respectful.”

Justine had the nerve to talk back.

“Respectful? To the slutty girl who bullied me and harassed me? Um, no way. I hope she's burning in Hell right now because I'm throwing a party at my house right after this. I'm glad that bitch died.” She hadn't said this quietly and half the auditorium heard her.

She was lucky that Ella and her clique didn't hear. Or the principal. A few students cracked smiles and shot her thumbs up. Some looked horrified that she even had the nerve to say that so loudly.

Even I wondered how in the world she could have had the guts to say that.

Ms. Taylor glared at her. “You, young lady, need a trip to the guidance office right after this. I'm keeping an eye on you.”

“Guidance office and possible therapy is much better than having to face Amanda alive. In fact—ow!”

I elbowed her hard in the ribcage to stop her rant from going any further. The thing with Justine is that she is fearless to the point of idiocy. Sometimes, I wondered if she even cared whether she lived or died. The whole point of her life seemed to be getting her opinion across even if it kills her.

“Quiet,” I muttered to Justine. “You can put a video about it online later.”

“Great idea!” Justine said. Ms. Taylor hushed at Justine again. This time, she didn't talk back.

The rest of the hour had us finishing the event and the students filed out of the auditorium. I had a feeling that Justine wanted to clap at certain parts but she had the self-control to retain herself from doing so.

The moment that we could stand up, Justine was hailed away by Ms. Taylor like some sort of criminal. Ms. Taylor might as well have taken out handcuffs. Justine waved goodbye at me like she didn't have a care in the world which I suppose was partially true. She didn't care much about consequences at all. It was pretty stupid when you thought about it.

As I was heading out (alone) with the other students someone patted me on the back and I nearly jumped. Turning back, a dark skinned ninth grader was smiling at me. This was an odd gesture that I never got so I wasn't exactly sure what to say back.

“Your friend is awesome,” he said. “Standing up for all of us that were bullied by Amanda? That must have taken guts.”

And a whole lot of stupidity, I thought. Not that I thought Justine was exactly stupid, it was just that she made a lot of stupid and reckless choices.

“Yeah.” A girl about my age came to stand beside me. “She sure deserves some award.” I noticed it was the girl from English class in which I had incidentally knocked her stuff over when I stumbled away from Xavier's red gaze.

Speaking of Xavier... I muttered a quick “thanks, I'll send your messages to her” before I pushed pass the crowds. I needed another look at Xavier. There was just something so awful about him and I couldn't understand where this instinct was coming from.

I finally spotted his raven-black hair in the crowd. He stood out in the crowd primarily because of his club of crazy fan-girls. I shook my head and snorted. They looked ridiculous. It was bad with celebrities but even worse with someone that attended the same school as them. Unlike the time with Amanda, he seemed to enjoy their company.

I debated on whether to approach him and demand what he was doing when Amanda was close or just to watch him from afar. In the end, I settled with the latter. The first one was too direct for me. It felt like I was being the instigator; it was more of Justine's style not mine.

But my plans shattered because Xavier turned back to look at me. The arrogant smile faded to be replaced by a grim look and then a sneer. His fan club all looked at me. Some of them giggled while the rest glared at me with hands on their hips. From their expression, I could tell that they were telling me to stay away from their 'future husband'.

I turned my head away and kept my head down. Bad choice. Within a few steps, I crashed straight into someone. “Sorry!”

I met warm brown eyes with my own green ones. So that someone had turned out to be the boy Justine had waved at. Alex. He smiled at me and said, “It's all right.” There was something nice about that smile and instantly, I felt like I could trust him. It was all very much unlike my first meeting with Xavier where I felt like he was a danger to all of us. Alex felt like someone I could trust instantly.

“You're Alex...right?” I asked him. “Friend of Justine?”

“Yeah. Alex Burke. By the way,” Alex said as we continued to shuffle out of the auditorium, “Justine really did throw a good fit there.”

I laughed. “You mean you heard? About Amanda deserving to die?” He nodded. “I think she went a little too far.”

“But she always does that, doesn't she?” Alex asked me. “It's basically what she's good at; insulting people is her speciality.”

“It is,” I agreed. “She's so reckless too! I bet she's in the Guidance office right now and 'talking about her feelings and solving them' with the teachers. Honestly, I bet she's not even going to cooperate. She's just going to spew more stuff about Amanda being a bitch and how unfair they are to her.” Knowing Justine, she was probably going to make some President-worthy speech. She can be such a drama queen. In a good way. I didn't think Amanda deserved to be...killed, but Justine was right. Just because Amanda was dead didn't mean the horrible deeds she did was erased.

“Her recklessness is going to get her in trouble one day,” Alex said. His voice was careful like he was trying to hide emotions. “Keep an eye on her.”



“Hey Myra!” My head jerked up so fast that I hit it against the metal locker shelf. I groaned as I massaged my aching head. “What in the world are you doing with your head in your locker?”

I was careful to make sure that my head didn't hit the wall again. “Well,” I began. “I was cleaning out my locker until you came along.” Justine was looking happier than usual and there was a light bounce in her step. That meant that she had gotten her way with whatever went down.

“So what happened?” I asked as I grabbed a bunch of old notes and threw them in the recycling bin.

“Well,” Justine started, “she dragged me to the Guidance office like promised. I explained my situation to the Guidance teacher and everything ended well. The Guidance teachers said she understood but to never speak so crassly again.” Justine shrugged. “It would have felt better to rant about it to the school and all but I honestly think they would probably expel me or something like that.”

“They would. Or at least suspend you,” I said grimly, thinking of Alex's words. Then I told her the words that the two students had said to me. A wide smile spread across Justine's face as she heard the news.

One of Justine's most obvious flaws is that she loves attention.

That was also going to get her in trouble one day. Attention is not always good.

“That's great!” Justine said, punching her fist in the air. “Justine Anderson; new school celebrity,” she said as if she was imagining headlines for the school paper. “Justine Anderson; the girl brave enough to stand up to dead bitches.”

I snorted and shook my head. Justine really was crass. Especially involving death.
“I talked to Alex,” I told her. “He seemed pretty nice.”

Justine squealed and Amanda was forgotten. “Really? He's definitely hot, isn't he? He completely breaks my hot scale.” She laughed. “Did he say anything about me?”

“Yeah. He said that he liked your little speech in the auditorium about Amanda and that you should be careful,” I said.

Justine frowned. “Careful? What do you mean by that?”

I shrugged. “Oh, you know. Shouting things about a dead person surely is reasonable,” I said sarcastically. Justine punched me in the arm and I almost dropped the papers I was holding. I scowled at her while I rubbed my arm.

“Ha-ha,” she said. “Very funny.”

“No, I'm being serious,” I told her. “You're pretty reckless if you ask me.”

“But no one's asking you,” Justine said absentmindedly. “Anyways, are you coming over to my house after school?”

I frowned at her. “Why would I? I've got an English project due next week! Wait...are you actually 'throwing a party' for Amanda's death?” It sounded so...crude and hilarious at the same time. I didn't know which to feel about it.

But Justine nodded. “Yeah. No duh. Not actually a 'party'. I'm just going to the supermarket to buy a bunch of things. You know, some cupcakes and all.”

I stared at her; sometimes Justine could go so overboard... “Are you serious?”

She looked at me like I was crazy; like throwing a minor party for someone's death was the most normal thing in the world. “Why wouldn't I be serious?”

I shook my head and forced a smile to play on my lips. “It's just me being stupid,” I managed. Justine shrugged and went on with mentally creating her 'party'. The thought of throwing any kind of party for someone else's death didn't play so well with my mind. But of course, Justine as crass as she was didn't give a damn.
“I'm not coming,” I told her. “I'm going to Coffee Coven for my shift and then I'm going to finish my English project.”

“Remember to tell me what you said!” Justine reminded me. “I wanna see how many fan-girls will squeal once they hear that the Lamia is a creature with Vampire attributes.”

“That eat children,” I added in dryly. “I know, doesn't that sound so attractive next to sucking blood? No wonder Vampires are so popular with the modern world today.”

Justine scowled at me. “You just don't appreciate the beauty in the ugliness.”

I'm sure that most fan-girls didn't see it as 'beauty in ugliness' like Justine saw it. Maybe more of a 'super hot shirt-less guys'... Wait...wasn't that associated with Werewolves? Nonetheless, I was pretty sure it was along the same lines.

“Anyways,” Justine told me. “See you at school tomorrow!”

I watched as she left the school hallways. Something felt...peculiar. I felt like...I wouldn't see her again or at least for a long time. I memorized the bounce in her step and the way she walked like she thought she owned the whole world. She would have fit easily into the world of the girls that she despised the most.

But she didn't. She picked her own path. She chose where she was now. She liked it like that.

With a final flash of blonde hair, she was gone.



“Grandma!” I shouted. “I'm home!” There was a garbled reply and I sighed in relief. Ever since she had strolled outside once when I was late from work I was afraid of her doing that. I didn't need people to see my grandmother shouting incoherent things at people walking on the street.

Yes, it was embarrassing but it was actually a little more than that. If people found out that my grandmother wasn't stable I was almost sure I would be sent to a group home. Or somewhere else until some other relatives could raise me with them.

I quickly made some instant noodles (I didn't have much time to cook anything else seeing that I had to finish my project). My grandmother ate it without protest. Her eyes were glued on the old television screen.
My grandmother wasn't always this way. On good days, she would say a few coherent words like “hungry” but otherwise she would just be one of those crazy people you crossed the street to avoid. I never took her anywhere she was content to stay in the house unless I was late.

See, my grandmother and I had an unspoken curfew. If I wasn't home by nine, she would get...worried. Or hungry might be the better word. And then she would go outside and look for food.

But sometimes, I wished that my real grandmother was back in that body. The one who used to make cookies for me when I was little. At worse she just had migraines.

It started when I turned fifteen. So it was a little less than two years ago.

I had come home from school and...well...my grandmother did what she usually does now. She was sitting in front of the television with a somewhat blank look on her face.

I didn't know what exactly was going on but it was my birthday and I was kind of annoyed that she hadn't made anything for me. I mean, I was her only granddaughter!

So I tried asking her what she made me but she didn't respond. It wasn't until later on that she looked at me and said some words that I could understand.

“Lamia, Lamia, Lamia, Lamia,” she whispered. “I always knew she was no good, Lynton! You and your ridiculous claims of love!” She was shouting.

“Grandma?” I asked softly but she kept on shouting. But her eyes weren't focused on me. They were focused beyond me. I got the feeling that she couldn't see me. She was seeing something in the past.

“She's nothing but trouble! Nothing but trouble I tell you! Go and run away with her! Let's see if the monsters can't catch you! They're after her! She's the heir and she will either be killed or crowned! I don't care how seducing she is! You will find plenty of other women!” My grandmother's face was red.

“If you leave! Don't come back here ever again!”

With that, my grandmother stalked over to the front door, opened it and then slammed it down hard.

“Grandma?” I asked again.

Her shoulders were slumped and she headed back to the worn couch in front of the television. All emotion was gone now and she just stared blankly at the screen like she wasn't seeing anything at all which I supposed was true.

“Grandma? Look at me,” I told her firmly. I stood in front of the television and she looked right through me, not seeing me at all.

Of course, my grandmother 'saw' me now but she never talked properly again. I used to work a little bit but not often. My grandmother always found money somewhere. I don't know where she got the money and how but we could always pull through. Now, without my grandmother providing me the basic start, I had to work hard.

But sometimes, I just wished that I could start all over again. I wished that I could choose a normal family with parents who hadn't abandoned me at birth or died before I could remember them.

Maybe I'd be lying if I said that I didn't remember anything about them. There was one thing I would always remember and it would always come to me in a dream. Almost every night and tonight was one of those nights.

Pounding hooves on the forest floor. Shouting. Screaming. Running. Always running. But the hooves never disappear.

“Run!” a woman's voice was crying out frantically. “Don't let them catch you!”

There was a heavy sound like a body dropping to the ground and the woman screamed. “Wake up! Wake up!”

The blackness lifted and my eyes met the starless sky and the menacing red moon. The canopy of trees provided much cover for us. On the dark ground, there was a body of a man lying there and blood pooling around him. An arrow was stuck in his back between his shoulder blades.

A loud sob tore from the throat of the woman and we raced on, the body of the man lying far behind us.

“We'll be safe my little one,” I heard the soothing voice of the woman say. “Safe where the blood night will never reach. Safe under the starry skies and the peaceful dawn. Safe, little one.”

But just as she finished the words, I plummeted to the forest floor. Luckily, the fall was not very big but I started to sob. Turning my eyes to the side, I spotted very bright green eyes staring at me from beside me. The eyes were such an unnatural but pretty colour. Tears were streaming from the eyes. I closed my eyes for three seconds, letting the blackness consume me. When I opened them the green eyes are just staring blankly into space, not seeing anything at all.

The pounding of hooves seem closer now and I heard high pitched laughter. Cold swept over me and the darkness took over once again.



Where in the world was Justine? She was usually met me in the morning every day before I went to English class. There was no sign of that girl anywhere. She usually didn't skip school not even when she was sick. She wasn't absent unless there was something major going on.

Looking up, I spotted brown hair further down the hallway. I slammed my locker shut before running towards him. “Alex!” I called. “Alex!”

He turned around to face me, a grin on his face. For a moment there, my heart started to beat faster than it usually did when I saw those dimples. It was no wonder that Justine fell for him. Alex was almost irresistible. But that moment of lust only lasted for a second. As attractive as he was, I didn't find that we could last very long together at all. Justine and Alex...on the other hand...

“Have you seen Justine?” I asked Alex.

Alex frowned, his grin turning upside-down. “No, why? Is something wrong?” There was a look of concern on his face and his brows furrowed together. “I haven't seen her since yesterday.”

“That's the thing,” I said. I had an urge to bit on my nails and I forced them still at my sides. “I haven't seen her either. It's not like her to skip school at all. She's a...good student, despite her outbreaks. She would never miss a day on the month of June. She knows that June is probably the most important month for final marks.”

Alex shrugged, looking unconcerned now. He began walking towards his class with me following almost blindly after him. “She might just be sick.”

“But it's not like her,” I insisted. “She would never miss school like this. It doesn't make sense. Justine's not the kind of person to do that no matter how many rules she likes to break. She would rather not fail a grade.”

Alex shrugged again, looking slightly annoyed this time. “Isn't it normal for people to miss a day of school? Try seeing her next week. She'd probably be here.”

I watched as he walked away, seeming so...cold now. And I thought that he had a thing for Justine.

But maybe he was right. I'd have to give it a few days before I jumped to any conclusions. But the thing was: I didn't want to wait any longer. I was going to Justine's house right after school today. Something about her being away from school felt so...off and wrong.

She couldn't be away from school. Something had happened to her.



I had rung the doorbell at least five times down and no one was coming to the door.

Justine's house was a simple one storey house with very few windows and just one door. The nature front of the house was quite small because a large portion had been cleared away for the giant driveway that only held one truck. There were no stairs descending or ascending from her house.

I rang the doorbell beside the white door again. I heard the quiet chime of the bell even from outside of the house. I knew Justine's parents were home because of the truck but they didn't answer.

Finally, when I was about to call it a day and leave for home, the door opened. Mrs. Anderson stood in front of me. Her blonde hair was a mess and her eyes were bloodshot. Her face was puffy and red and it was obvious that she had been crying.

I knew this wasn't a good sign. Any pretence about Justine being fine faded away.

“Are you looking for Justine?” Mrs. Anderson asked me, her voice strangely choked. “Right, Myra?”

“Actually, yes,” I said slowly. “Where is she...?”

Mrs. Anderson started wailing so loudly that I flinched back. “She's gone! Gone!” she shouted. “What have they done with her?”

“Mrs. Anderson, what's going on?” What did she mean that Justine was gone? Gone from where? I didn't exactly understand what Mrs. Anderson was trying to say and maybe, deep inside, I might not have wanted to.

Mrs. Anderson took in a shuddering breath and then tears started to pour out again. I wasn't sure how to calm her down and I wasn't even sure if she could be calmed. Instead of doing anything to ease her pain, I stood in front of her contemplating any actions.

“Justine,” Mrs. Anderson said, “she never came back after school yesterday night.”