The Elemental Luna

Eight-year-old Serena is being put to bed by her mother. As usual, she requests a bedtime story.

"Mommy, can you tell me a story?" She asks with a yawn.

"Of course, baby, you know I always will. Which one do you know want to hear?" Her mother asks.

"The one of the lost princess."

Her mother laughs. "Why do you love listening to that one?"

"I don't know, I just love it." She replies tiredly.

"Okay. Let's get into it."

Once upon a time, in the Golden Palace of Aeternum, preparation for the birth of the newly-born princess was in order. The king and queen want this party to be marked in the history of celebrations as the greatest. All the staff move in haste to close the chapters of the last-minute preparations. Fortunately, the beautiful princess coos happily in her nursery, undisturbed by the hustle and bustle. This ends too soon, though as the celebration begins, aristocratic families pile into the great hall, all hoping to catch a glance of the newborn heir. The music becomes slow, signalling the entrance of the princess. Instead of the entrance of the cooing princess expected, it's the entrance of her hysterical governess screaming, her dress drenched in blood.

"Your royal highnesses, she's gone." She wails hysterically and falls to her knees, staining the floor with her bloody palms.

"What are you talking about?" The queen asks her as the guards move to remove her from her sorry state.

"The princess, she's gone," she trembles as she says this." I stained my dress and went to change, leaving the other nurses in charge of her. By the time I came back, the princess was gone, and all the maids were dead."

We watch the king and queen visibly tremble before rushing out of the hall, we assume in the direction of the nursery. Murmurs erupt in the hall, everyone talking about the turn of events. We hear screaming in the queen's voice, which renders us all silent.

"Where is my baby? where is my baby?" The queen continues to ask. We hear the king barking orders at the guards.

"Dispatch as many guards as possible put the castle on lockdown, and search the forest area. The princess must be found." The hurried footsteps of the guard's echo as they move to action. The doors of the halls are shut by two guards to stop any attempt to exit by the guests. We all descend into a tensed silence. Hours go by before we are allowed exit, but unfortunately, the princess is never found. Her parents still hold onto hope of bringing their daughter back.

"Mummy, I pray they find their baby," Serena says with watery eyes.

"Okay baby, it's just a story, though. That's the end of the story. Time to sleep." Serena's mum turns off the light after kissing her goodnight.

TWELVE YEARS LATER.

"Argh," I groan in pain as the force of their blows connecting with my body continues to cause me pain. Each blow to my rib causes a crack, a sharp pain shoots through my body, and I can taste the metallic tang of blood in my mouth.

"This is my problem with you," I can't recognize the voice speaking through the pain. "You never beg. You are too proud, and I will make sure I break you." The hits continue, but I make sure I don't utter a single sound.

I refuse to beg for relief. I refuse to lose my self-respect by begging these horrible and vile humans. Once they feel they've done enough damage, they leave, and I summon up strength to stand up and go home.

Each step I take is a brutal one, and the exhaustion weighs me down so much that I almost don't make it home. In the sanctuary of my room, I slip into the tub filled with warm water, causing the bruises on my skin to sting. Regardless of my stinging wounds, I can't help but feel relieved-thoughts of my impending move cloud my mind.

"Haven College, you really might just become my Haven." From childhood till my now adulthood in this Godforsaken town, I've been bullied by my peers, and a blind eye has been turned to my suffering. Pain and frustration have stalked me anywhere and everywhere, but finally, I've got an opportunity to escape this place that I call hell. I go to bed after a while, the pain too much to consider food. Thankfully, my mother won't be coming home tonight. Therefore, she won't see me in this state. How I've managed to hide this from her is a mystery.

I think back to the day I decided to end it all. End all the pain and suffering. I filled my bathtub with water and tried to drown myself by staying under the water, but I just couldn't do it. After coming out of the tub and drying up, I checked my phone to see a notification from Haven College granting me the opportunity to attend my final year of college there. This opportunity was a light at the end of the tunnel and has been the only thing keeping me strong.

A few weeks pass, and I successfully manage to avoid everyone until the day I've been waiting for finally comes. I carefully walk towards the car with a box and look up to the sky. It's extremely bright and clear today, mirroring my emotions perfectly. I feel so joyful, which is a rare emotion for me when I think of my mum and my impending move. The expectations I have almost overwhelm me.

Pushing the last box full of our meagre belongings into the trunk, I pull it shut and move to the front door to get my bag sitting on the porch. Just before I leave for the waiting car, I stop and stare at the wretched place that has been my home for as long as I remember and all I can think about is that I can't wait to get out of this place. A voice calling my name pulls me out of my thoughts

"Serena, what are you waiting for?" Calls the voice of my mum.

"Nothing, ma, just wanted to get my bag," I answer without walking towards her.

"Okay, sweetie, hurry up so we can leave. We have a long ride ahead of us, you know. "Mama tells me this like I don't already know. Her words finally prompted my movement to the car. Moving from this place has no negative impact on me as I have nothing and no one to lose.

Mum cranks up the radio as we drive off to our fresh start. The thought of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity still baffles me but Mum says I shouldn't overthink it I can't help but wonder why, I, Serena Stone who is generally unlucky in everything have been offered a scholarship to study at Haven College, an extremely prestigious school whose majority population are kids born with diamond spoons in their mouth. The school provides scholarships for a few students from different states every year, and when I applied, I never expected to get it, but I guess the God of luck finally remembered me. To top it off, my mum applied for a job at Haven when the scholarship offer came and got it. The best part is that the job pays more than her former one.

Thoughts of my soon-to-be new life flow through my head as I slowly drift off into a dreamless sleep.

*********************************************

A few hours after I wake up from a quick nap, we drive into Haven town. My anxiety is over the roof, but I immediately forget about it as soon as we pass the signpost reading "Welcome to Haven Town."

I look around, trying to take in as much of my new home as quickly as I can. Mum laughs when she sees me doing this.

"Honey, calm down. You are going to have enough time to explore."

"I know, mum. I can't help it." I tell her.

"I know, sweetie. How about this? From the map I can see that we are approaching a diner, why don't we stop for dinner?" Mum questions, and my stomach grumbles like it has been waiting for her to suggest food.

"Yes, mum, I'm famished." With this, she stops at the diner when we approach it. Upon entering, I am assaulted by the mouthwatering aroma of different foods.

We go straight to the counter to order and as mum calls out her order I begin to feel eyes on my back so I turn and see a group of people about my age seated at a boot staring at me and the first thought that comes to mind is 'beautiful' not the fact that they are staring at me.

I turn to my mum and ask, "Is the water in Haven different?"

She looks baffled by my question and raises a questioning eyebrow

"What I mean is, look at the people in this diner. They are so beautiful, I don't think all the people in our former town joined together look half as good as some of the people here."

"Serena, why would you say that? I didn't raise you to be rude."

"Mom, I'm not being rude. Look around you." I tell her, and she finally looks around it dawns on her that the people here are unnaturally beautiful.

"Well, it seems the people of Haven have been blessed with both looks and money. Now forget about that and place your order, we have a long day ahead of us." She lightly taps my cheek and passes the small menu to me.

"Alright. I'll have chicken nuggets and fries, please." We opt to wait for our order at the counter instead of sitting. Once it's ready, we pay and head to our new home, all thoughts of the unnaturally beautiful people gone.