White Lotus
an excerpt

She took her father’s keys in her hand and in that instant her whole life changed.

Images flashed in her mind so fast she couldn’t see any of them clearly. Her elbow hit the tile floor as she toppled forward, but the pain was the only proof the room existed at all. A heavy weight pushed on her skin and Luna screamed. No sound reached her ears. The swirling pictured slowed in their movement, and she could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She focused on the sound, willing her mind to rain in the chaos, and to her surprise it obeyed.

Luna stared through a windshield. Rain danced on the glass, teasing the black wipers to catch it. Familiar hands gripped the tan covered steering wheel, cinnamon brown and stocky, the only adornment the two rings on his right hand, and one on his left. She knew them well. A simple gold band rested on the fourth finger of his left hand. On the third finger of his right hand was a silver ring shaped like the wings of a crane with a tear shaped pearl for the body. It was a gift from Luna for his forty-fifth birthday and he never took it off. Next to that was a ring given to him by the staff at the community center to recognize all the work he did there. It was a thick silver circlet with the crest of the Powhaten nation engraved into the heart of it.

She turned back to the windshield, and squinted. The rain was heavier now, more aggressive. Her father reached up to wipe the fog off the inside of the glass and a bight light flashed into their eyes. Luna cried out a warning. There was a loud squeal and a the sound of metal on metal. The car jerked with a violent motion and pain tore through her.
The image shifted, and it felt as if she’d been thrown from her father. She turned back to see her fathers car and a black sedan locked in a twisted embrace. The rain hit hard, icy wetness that coated her glasses. She wiped away the water, an in the instant of sight could see blood on her father’s windshield.

She ran forward, but the ground shook beneath her, throwing Luna to the pavement.
“Luna! Luna!” Her mother shouted. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

Luna tried to hold on, but as her mother shook her harder, the street faded and the kitchen came into view. Her mother bent over her, staring with a look that was part concern and part disgust. Luna glanced at her hand and saw her fingers were wrapped so tightly around the keys she’d drawn blood. She opened her palm and the keys fell to the floor.

“I saw him.” The words came out of Luna’s mouth, but her voice sounded strange, distant.

“Saw who?” Julie asked.

“Dad. He was driving home and there was a flask of light. It hurt so bad.” Luna closed her eyes. “So much blood. He’s dead. I just know it.”

Her mother backed away and drew her hands to her chest, as if to protect her. “That’s crazy. What would make you say something like that?”

“I saw it. Just now. It was him, I know it.” Luna struggled to her feet and her legs shook underneath her. “Do you think I had a vision?”

Her mother stared at her for what felt like a long time and then took a step forward. She touched Luna’s forehead and sigh with a breath that sounded like relief. “You have a fever. I should have guessed. We’ll get you to bed, and it’ll all be better after you rest.”

Luna barely heard her mother’s words. She stared into Julie’s face. The curlers and the robe was gone. Her mother sat on a red leather couch with a dark-haired man. He leaned in to kiss her neck. Julie’s eyes held a blank stare, and Luna followed her gaze.

On the black glass table in front of her was wet shot glasses and empty bottle littered a black glass table. In the center was a glass lamp on a brass base. A symbol like an intricate hourglass adorned the brass. The wick inside was dark and frayed, is if it’d been used. Next to the lamp were two pipes with small bowls and a long thin stem. The copper and shell pipes were smeared with black, as were her mother’s finger tips.

Confusion filled her and Luna shrank back from her mother’s hand. Once again she was in the kitchen. She glanced at her mother’s fingers, but they were clean. No trace of black. “What’s happening to me?”

“You’re sick.” He mother said soothingly. “I’ll take you up to bed.”

The word slipped from Luna’s lips before she knew they’d left her mind. “I saw you with a man. Your hands were black. He was kissing you.” She sounded stilted, robotic. Was it the fever? Was that why she was acting so strange? Luna could hear herself, but she felt apart from the words.

She’d expected her mother to deny it. She’d expected her mother to shush her and take her to bed. What happened next, Luna could never have expected.

“Get out!” Julie streaked, rage twisting her beautiful face. “Take your things and leave! You’re a freak! We should have locked the both of you us years ago! The pair of you! Freaks!”

Luna shrunk back from her mother until she felt the wall at her back. “I don’t understand. You said I was sick.”

“Sick in the head. Just like your father.” The tone in her mother’s voice was like nothing Luna had ever heard there before, hatred. Her shouts had faded into harsh whispers that were no less frightening.