CHAPTER THREE:
I hated making them worry, it was never my intention, I didn't want them to but they couldn't help it and I couldn't help it either, I know it's foolish of me but it was just a part of me. I slid my keys into the lock and with a silent clack the door slid open, I looked down at my jeans, tattered, torn, dirty a complete mess, the same with her chucks, they weren't the ideal footwear for her kind of journey and they clearly proved that to Her with their current condition, utterly miserable and appalling, I muttered a silent prayer under my breath in hopes that my parents were already asleep. I tiptoed through the darkness as quietly as I could trying to avoid making any sound, but then there they were, both my parents sitting there gawking at me, their stares froze me in mid step, I'd been through this exact same thing over a hundred times in the past years, every time they were worried.
Every time it was the same sermon but this time there was no way to evade it, I was direct in their line of fire, "where on earth have you been Lunar? Do you have any idea what time it is? Just what happened to you and why do you look like you were just run over by a truck?" Right there he was right, I only realized it then but my body felt like I'd been run over by a truck, the scrapes and bruises stung and my bones ached, my muscles felt as though I'd been run through a tenderizer, "are you okay?" he finished lastly, one thing I'd learnt about my father Simon Anderson was that he always expected that all his questions must be answered with appropriate answers especially when he wasn't in a good mood and his mood was anything but good at the moment, I could see the lines anger built along his face, "I'm sorry for being late" I started lamely, I didn't have an excuse, "I was in the woods, my phone died I lost track of time I was on my way back and I slipped and fell, " I blurted it all out before he had a chance to interrupt me and the cycle got longer otherwise I'd be answering his questions all night.
"why! Why are you so reckless! You know how dangerous it is! But yet still you keep on acting without thinking, what if something worse had happened to you? What if you'd hurt your leg and you weren't able to come home? You'd have kept us here worrying, why do you keep on acting so selfishly? Do you even think about us about how we feel, how worried we are?" His words stung bitterly but he was right "I'm sorry dad, it won't happen again", "you say the same thing every time Lunar" said my mother, she rarely said anything whenever my father would scold me but I could sense the disappointment in her voice, she wasn't the type of person who said much, she only spoke when she needed tov and this time she probably felt like she needed to, tears stung my eyes "I'm sorry", that was all I could manage.
For a while my father stopped his onslaught, he wasn't accustomed to seeing me cry, I could tell he was confused, he gave a sigh of relief, "you know what, you're grounded", I couldn't argue, I didn't want to, I walked up to my room sneakers in my hands, let my clothes fall to the floor and stepped into the shower, my cuts, scrapes and bruises throbbed as the soap lathered, it tingled but not so much, fortunately my wounds were healing fast, the warm bath felt good, the ache in my bones was starting to reside, my thoughts raced back to the cave, I just had to go back there, I had to know more about it, I couldn't explain it but there was something about that kept calling me back there, I needed to know what, I needed to understand why I was so desperate to go back there, what was it about that cave that held my thoughts captive, this was one mystery that wasn't going to stay a mystery.
"Can I come in" asked my mother in her usual gentle voice, "hey mum" I said as calmly I could trying clear out any tension in the air, "I'm sorry I blurted out before she had a chance to say anything", "I know you are and I know you don't mean to make us worry like that but your dad is right, you keep making us worry about you, we aren't with you out there we don't know if you are safe or if something bad has happened to you", "you're right and I'm sorry", "look I know you love it out in the woods but remember that it can get pretty dangerous out there, especially at night, we just don't want you getting hurt" she finished opening her medical kit, "I know mom", she turned her attention towards cleaning my wounds.
"here let me see your hands" she said taking my hands in her own, she studied my hands taking note of my cuts and scrapes, "you need to be more careful Lunar, just look at how badly you got hurt" she said calmly as she poured some surgical spirit on a piece of cotton and applied it gently on my wounds, "ouch, it stings", I cried seemingly a bit childish, "well that's a little reminder that you need to be more careful and not more staying out past eight", she finished placing a reassuring grip on my arm as she left my room. That night I lay on my bed revisiting the events that had occurred over the last twenty four hours, being in the woods, wandering around, stumbling onto that cave and the rest of it but one thing that I was sure of, I had to go back there.