Cry for the Moon

Warm heat washed over us as we walked inside, but I didn’t bother to shrug off my coast yet. Instead, I went in search of Mark. I called for him impatiently and could hear Thomas and Roy laughed quietly behind me but I didn’t care. Mark appeared from the kitchen, lyrics in hand. I jumped for them, but he held them out of my reach. Mark was easily a whole had taller than me, much to my current annoyance.

“Come on, Jansen, you’ve kept me waiting long enough,” I grumbled, crossing my arms. He smiled at me.

“Not long enough, it seems,” he laughed. I sent him a glare.

“Mark, don’t make me kick you,” I replied bluntly.

“You wouldn’t,” he answered.

“Oh, yes, she will,” Yves chimed in from his spot on the couch. “And when she does, you won’t be able to walk for an hour!” I turned from Mark to Yves.

“Okay, two things; one, you know better than to sneak up on me like you did, and two, that was an accident,” I replied.

“It still hurt,” Yves yelled.

“You’re a grown man; you could’ve got up and walked it off, and Coen, what the hell is so funny?” I asked. Coen was sitting in the computer chair, practically gasping for air because he was laughing so hard.

“I totally forgot about that!”

“I don’t know how, you and I were the ones who had to peel him off the ground,” Isaac laughed. Smiled I turned back to Mark.

“Come on, you said you’d show me the lyrics today.”

“Alright, fine,” he replied, holding the paper out for me to take. I reached out to grab them, but as I did, he pulled the paper back out of my reach again.

“Mark!”

“I get a hug first,” he laughed. Without hesitation, I shot forward, wrapping my arms around him. We fell back into the wall, both of us laughing. Mark hugged me back, pushing us away from the wall. He handed me the lyrics and I let go of him, reading the bold words that were typed on the page.

As I read, I stopped at one line in particular. This line caught my attention and for a split second, an old memory, one that I’d forced out of my mind, came back to me. The only time this memory, or the one that accompanied it, crossed my mind was whenever I had that… nightmare.

“And it all becomes clear, that no one will hear my testimony…”

I crept quietly along the bookshelves, moving with as much silence as I could manage so he wouldn’t hear me. When he was within reach, my hand shot out, reaching for his shoulder. He jumped up from his seat, nearly cussing. The librarian shot a glare our way and he quickly fell silent as he turned to me, glaring.

“If you get me kicked out of here, Ana, I’ll kill you,” he whispered, glaring.

“Oh, what would it matter?” I asked, sitting next to him.

“I need the library to do research, of course,” he answered, shuffling the papers next to him slightly before writing something out in his notebook in neat, cursive handwriting.

“Research for what?” My question came out louder than he preferred and he shushed me but I paid him no mind as my eyes scanned over the unopened books and various papers that lay before us. They all had to do with various laws and trials, specifically murder cases. There were even a few things from the public records, interviews and such.

“Are you studying law now?” I kept my voice low as I flipped through the pages of one of the books, looking over at my friend. He nodded, smiling.

“All for my crusade to find the truth about the human mind and it’s inner most workings,” he explained. Silently, I closed the book and leaned back in my chair, laughing quietly.

”Why are you laughing,” he asked.

“No reason, I just don’t know how you sit and read this stuff.”

“Well, you do the same thing with all that stuff on world history that you have,” he replied.

“That’s not the same, though. That’s just knowledge gathering for the sake of gathering it. You on the other hand…”

“I long to find the truth of how people’s minds work so I can figure out how to prevent horrible things, that’s all. If we do not look at our history and what has happened, we will never be able to prevent bad things from happening, nor will we be able to bring about the good things again…”

I shook my head slightly. I was just getting my mind worked up. There was no way my dream had anything to do with what had happened that night. It’d been two years since then, it just was possible.

“The lyrics are amazing, Mark,” I smiled.

“Was it worth the wait,” he asked, smiling back. I nodded.

“Yes, it was.”

“Good to know, Ana, and thank you, by the way,” Mark replied.

“Okay, lovebirds,” Simone chimed. I quickly looked down, using my hair to hide the fact that my face was heating up.

“How about we get to work on recording vocals for this song,” she continued. Mark moved his arm from where it hung over my shoulders and walked over towards Simone.

“Yeah, let’s get to work.”

.X.

I sat on the couch in the studio, listening to Simone and the members of Epica working on Cry for the Moon and a couple of other songs. Though I was listening, I wasn’t paying attention. I was off in my own little world, thinking and replaying my dream in my mind, trying to figure out what my reflection turned into.

“Analii!”

“Huh?” I turned to Simone, her blue eyes showing concern.

“Are you okay,” she asked. “You were staring off into space,” she added.

“Oh, yeah, I was just thinking about something. What do you need,” I asked.

“I asked if you wanted to go with me to get pizza,” she answered, smiling. I jumped up from my seat, grinning at my friend.

“Yeah, I’ll come,” I chirped. I loved hanging out with Simone with none of the guys around. The two of us had a bunch of inside jokes about the guys that they knew nothing about. Every now and then, one of them would say something and Simone and I would burst out laughing.

“Can I come,” Casey asked.

“No,” Simone and I said at once. Casey looked at us blankly for a moment before turning and yelling.

“Mark! I think the girls are planning to kill us!”

“No, we’re just planning on killing you,” I laughed.

“Oh, I am gonna get you for that one,” Casey declared, lunging for me. I let out a yell and made a run for it.

“Thomas!” I yelled, running towards him. “Don’t let him get me!” I jumped behind him, wrapping my arms around him from behind so he couldn’t go anywhere.

“What am I supposed to do,” he asked, laughing. I looked up at him to see that he was smiling at me.

“Save me,” I squeaked out. Casey walked over and I yelped, hiding behind Thomas, using him as a shield. The only thing standing between me and Casey’s revenge was Thomas. Thankfully, there was a wall behind me, so no one could sneak up on me.

“Thomas,” Casey spoke, his voice low. “I’m gonna get her.” I poked my head out from behind Thomas, sticking my tongue out at him. He just glared back at me. As long as Thomas stayed put, I was safe and sound.

“Dude, she’s latched on,” Thomas laughed.

“She has to let go sometime,” he replied.

“No, I don’t,” I answered bluntly.

“Yes, you do,” Casey persisted.

”No.” Casey let out a groan and I smirked at him.

“Can’t you just squish her against the wall or something,” Casey asked. Thomas looked down at me, smirking, and then he looked back to Casey. My eyes widened.

“I can, yeah,” Thomas answered. Casey grinned evilly.

“Don’t you dare,” I warned, looking up at the man I had my arms around. He smirked, taking a step back.

”Thomas,” I said lowly. He grinned and back stepped again. He started to lean back and I hit the wall.

“No, Thomas,” I yelled, smacking him.

“Don’t!” I let go of him, trying to push him forward.

“Please,” I yelled. “Don’t!” At that, Thomas let up and I let out a breath of relief.

“I hate you guys sometimes, you know that, right,” I grumbled. Thomas let out a laughed.

“Yeah, we know, Ana,” he replied, moving to wrap his arm around me. I stayed behind him, worried that Casey would still try to get me. Seeing that Casey was smiling at me, I took a step forward, making sure I stayed close to Thomas, just in case.

“Casey,” I started. “I will give you the extra slice of pizza if you do not kill me,” I continued, negotiating our truce.

“Sounds good to me,” he replied. I grinned.

“Truce,” I asked.

”Truce,” he answered, opening his arms for a hug. I darted forward, wrapping my arms around him. Casey and I were always giving each other hell but at the end of the day, we were good friends. Letting go of the drummer, I turned back to Simone who was smiling at me.

“We should go get that pizza now,” I laughed. She nodded.

“Let’s go.”

.X.

“So,” Simone said quietly once we were in the car, going down the road.

“You like him, huh,” she asked. I looked over at the singer, confused. That had come from out of the blue.

“Who,” I asked.

“You know who,” she replied, smiling at me.

“No, I really don’t, Simone.” She let out a sigh, probably thinking that I was playing dumb. In all honesty, I had no idea what the hell she was talking about.

“I’m talking about Mark,” she finally. “You like him, don’t you?”

“Clarify what you mean by the world ‘like’,” I replied.

“You know what I mean, Analii!” she said sharply, catching me off guard. I opened my mouth to reply, but she continued.

“I see the way you look at him and how you act when you’re around him,” she continued adamantly.

“I act no different when I’m around him,” I replied bluntly.

“Oh, yes, you do,” Simone laughed.

“You just don’t notice. I have and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Your face lights up every time you see him.” I looked down at my fee, fidgeting with the sleeves of my coat.

“I don’t like him like that,” I replied.

“You’re saying one thing, but the blush on your face says something else entirely,” she answered with enthusiasm.

“Shut up,” I snapped, hiding my face. She just laughed.

“If it makes you feel better, Mark is oblivious to things like that, but to be honest, I think he thinks of you the same.” I let out a laugh.

“Yeah, right! Nice try Simone but I know he doesn’t feel the same,” I answered, running a hand through my hair. Simone looked over at me, a suggestive grin on her face. I leaned away from her, creeped out. The look she had was unsettling.

“What’s with the weird look,” I asked.

“So you admit that you like him?” I thought over her words and when I’d told her, and then I realized something.

“Shit,” I cursed, letting my head drop. Simone laughed and I looked over to glare at her, but smiled seeing her do some sort of happy dance. When she was done, she grinned triumphantly at me.

“If you tell him, I swear, I’ll kill you,” I warned, laughing slightly, even though I was being serious.

“Don’t worry,” she said, smiling at me. “I won’t tell him. I’ll leave that to you.”