Excerpt: The Inconstant Moon

The Inconstant Moon

Chris wanted to go save her. He wanted to push through the door and save her from herself. Michelle held his arm and pulled him back, for the third time.
“ ‘Chelle let me go,” he gritted through his teeth. “Don’t you hear her out there?”
“She needs to go through this, Chris.”
And he knew she was right. His psychology degree told him she was right. He pulled his arm free and threw a punch at the wall, leaving a hole the size of his fist.

Through her sobs, Darri could hear the sound of the wall breaking apart. Her mother could, too, and she jumped at the noise. Quickly, she turned her attention back to her daughter, who had just collapsed onto the floor. She wrapped her faux mink stole even tighter around her neck.
“Will you please get up,” she hissed. “You are seventeen and you’re behaving like an imbecile.”
Darri knew her mother’s patience was wearing thinner by the second because her Mexican accent was starting to seep through her newly adopted cultured words. Even still, she could not budge. This could not be happening. Tears were pouring out faster than she could wipe them away. A strange garbled sound was coming from her throat, so she knew she must be trying to speak.
“Get UP,” her mother said, grabbing Darri by the arm and yanking her to her feet. Darri stumbled, but managed to stay vertical long enough to attempt to hug the woman whose appearance tonight ripped her heart from her chest.
Her mother held her away at arm’s length and shook her head. “No. No, I’m done, Darri. Reynold told me everything --“
“Don’t believe him, Ma, please,” she cried even louder. “He…he….I should have told you when he first tried to touch me, but I didn’t, I’m sorry….” Darri covered her mouth, surprised she’d even said this much.
There were conflicting emotions on her mother’s face for a brief second, then her expression hardened once more. When she spoke again, it was with the detachment of a stranger. “You can have him. He’s not the first man you took from me.”
“Maaa,” Darri crumbled to her knees again and sobbed into her hands.
“Look at you,” her mother made an exasperated sound. “I came here to say goodbye. You spend so much time here anyway, you might as well live here. You never appreciated anything I sacrificed for you. I’m done with you.”
Darri tried to grab at her mother’s legs as she turned to walk away, but ended up with her face flat on the carpet.

When the front door slammed shut, Chris pushed past Michelle and ran into the livingroom. He did not see Darri, but he heard her sobs coming from the bathroom down the hall.
“Baby?” He knocked softly on the door.
Darri did not answer. He tried to open the door, but it was locked, as he’d suspected.
“Hey…can I come in? Or can you come out?”
Again, there was no answer.
Suddenly, Michelle was behind him, wringing her hands, fighting her own nervousness.
“Chelle I’m gonna knock this fuckin’ door down,” he said quietly.
“No, no, let me try…Darri? Honey? Do you want to talk?”
They heard her sniffle from behind the door and they gave each other hopeful glances.
Before they could feel too relieved, they also heard another noise.
Chris started banging ferociously on the door again. “Darri! Open this damn door now or I’m breaking it!”
Michelle hit him in the back. “Will you stop screaming at her?!”
Chris dropped his hand and stepped back, his chest heaving, his temper fuming.
Michelle touched the door lightly. “Darri, sweetie, I’m going to get Dr. Boyd on the phone, okay? Would you talk to him?”
There was no answer, and Chris continued to calm himself down as Michelle went to grab Darri’s cell phone. She dialed Dr. Boyd’s number and was immediately connected to his after hours operator. Michelle explained the situation to the operator and was transferred to his direct line.
“This is Dr. Boyd,” he answered groggily.
“I’m so, so sorry to call at this hour, Dr. Boyd. I’m Michelle Ware, Darri’s best friend --,”
“Is there an emergency?” he asked, sounding alert now.
“Yes, her mother just came here to my house to tell her that she’s leaving and she called her all kinds of names and now she’s locked herself in the bathroom and oh my God I should have let Chris stop her but I didn’t want it to get worse and I thought Darri needed to hear this from her mother’s mouth and oh my God what did I do,” Michelle started to break down and didn’t realize that Chris was now next to her, gently hugging her.
“Michelle, Michelle, I want you to listen,” Dr. Boyd’s voice was calm but urgent. “You did what you thought was best for your friend, there’s nothing more you could have done. She needs you to be strong for her right now. Can you get the phone to her?”
Michelle took a very deep breath and nodded. “Yes.”
She stepped closer to the bathroom door and knocked lightly. “Darri, Dr. Boyd wants to talk to you, okay? Just open the door so I can hand you the phone.”
After a few seconds, the door slowly creaked open a little. Michelle handed her the phone, and Darri closed the door again.
Michelle and Chris stood nearly motionless until the door fully opened almost five minutes later.
Darri slowly walked out, running her hand over her nose and mouth. The rims of her eyes were red with the stress of such an intense crying session, but she had obviously tried to wash her face with water. Her mouth began to tremble once she saw the worry in their eyes.
“Can…can youtakemetoseeDrBoyd?” she mumbled and Chris hurried to her, hugging her close to his chest. His hands softly caressed her thick, curly ponytail as he whispered “Yes, baby” into her hair.
Michelle rubbed her friend’s back.
“I’ll go get the directions for you,” she whispered to Chris, knowing he wouldn’t have anyone but him drive her there.

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The inside of his SUV seemed much more confined as Darri pulled her left knee up to her chin after Chris closed her door. She glanced around quickly, then leaned her head onto the window. He must have sprinted to his side of the truck because in no time at all, he was inside, securing his seatbelt and putting the truck in drive.
She noticed that he kept giving her nervous looks. He rubbed her outer thigh through her jeans and Darri gently held his hand still, squeezing it so that he wouldn’t be totally offended. He must have gotten the not so subtle hint because he dropped his hand. Darri suddenly felt incredibly guilty. He was just trying to comfort her, trying to make her feel less like the imbecile she clearly was. She bit her bottom lip and tears flowed again down her cheeks as she pressed her head back onto the headrest and closed her eyes. She felt his warm fingers over her eyelids and then against her cheek, wiping away the moisture. Darri knew she did not deserve his sweetness. Chris was amazingly kind, yet right now, she wanted nothing more than to be away from his generosity. She hugged her arms around herself tightly, trying to fight the urge to have another complete breakdown.
The large mini-mansion came into view once Chris turned onto a dark road. Dr. Boyd’s house was even gorgeous in the moonlight. It sat on a small raised hill behind a perfectly oval lake that was complete with benches and a stoned path around its perimeter. The house itself was a brick and stone Tudor style extravagance. Chris followed the explicit directions and drove around towards the back of the house, where there appeared to be a separate, but attached, smaller structure.
He parked and walked around to open Darri’s door. He helped her down and with his arm protectively around her waist, they slowly headed to the big, wooden door.
It opened before they could knock and they were greeted by a serene-looking older man with wire-rimmed glasses.
“Hello, Darri, and you must be Chris,” he reached out and shook his hand.
“Nice to meet you,” Chris answered genuinely.
“I’m sorry it’s so late, Dr. Boyd,” Darri said, biting her lip to keep it from quivering again.
“It’s not a bother at all,” he said, extending his arm. “Come in, please.”
Darri remembered the last time she’d been here. She was with her mother, the day after the trial ended. He was the court-appointed psychologist she was required to see before she was allowed back in school. That was almost two years ago now. This ante-room looked like it hadn’t been touched by time. The two small backless couches were still facing each other, the wallpaper was the same neutral brown and tan checked design, and the door that led to his office still displayed the same photographs of puppies playing in the snow. After that very first visit, her mother insisted that Darri’s therapy sessions were held at his downtown office in the medical building. Her only explanation to Darri at the time was that the commute was shorter. Darri suspected it was also because there were other doctors her mother could flirt with while she was with Dr. Boyd.
“Darri?” She felt Chris’s hand on her lower back and she jumped. She hadn’t realized she was still staring at the puppies.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured into her ear. “I’ll be out here, okay?”
Darri bit her lip and nodded. She followed Dr. Boyd into his office.

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Over the next sixty minutes, Chris heard different sounds emerging from behind the office door. He fought the urge to bogard his way through the door the few times he heard her wailing. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he also heard her walking around and even laughing at one point. He answered about five texts to Michelle, and then to his best friend Curtis.
As soon as he sent the last text message, the office door opened and the love of his life walked out with the sweetest bashful smile on her face. He knew she would probably feel awkward, and that he really should not notice things as trivial as this, but he felt like the luckiest man alive to have someone so beautiful grinning at him. He stood quickly but did not move forward. She walked to him and wrapped her arms around his body, looking up to give him a quick kiss.