Luna had not been her dreamy self lately, and no one could blame her.
She was having the worst week ever and she had been waiting for the
earth to explode since Tuesday. Her Father had died on Monday, her
apartment caught fire on Wednesday, she had been fired Thursday
(yesterday) for something she didn't do, she had had a cold all week
and her shopping cart ran away full of groceries so she was penniless.
She was ready to get into the car and crawl into the guest bed at
Ginny's house and go to sleep. She jammed the key into the ignition
and roughly turned it. She half expected it to just sit there, but it
started. As she began to drive down the dark, rain-spattered road, she
felt a sneeze coming. She grabbed the tissue just in time, but as she
looked up, she saw a magnificent doe and two fawns in the middle of
the road. Instinctively, she swerved and hit one of the many trees
that lined the road she screamed as she heard a loud crack and
realized it was her ankle. Her foot had gotten stuck between the
pedals in its way to the brake and the sudden stop had found it
twisted at an odd angle. The unshed tears that seemed to have been
waiting all week gushed forth in a river, and poor Luna did not even
try to stop them. She gingerly tried to remove her foot from between
the pedals, but it was no use. Her car would not start, she had left
her cell phone in the trunk, with her foot still stuck, she was
immobile, and no one knew she was out. By some stroke of luck, she saw
headlights in the distance. She opened the door and yelled with all
her might. The car drove on. "Just my luck," she muttered. After a
while, her tired eyes found rest and drifted off to sleep.
She awoke at the sound of a tapping on her window and a searing pain
shooting up to her knee. As Luna looked around for the source of the
commotion, she realized it was still dark, but the rain had stopped
and snow had covered the car halfway. There was a blurred someone
standing waist-high in snow outside the car. She rolled down her
window and looked out again.
"Do you need any help?" said a familiar voice.
"Yes, oh thank heavens!" said Luna, trying to match he voice with a
face, "I was worried that I'd have to sit here all night!"
"Luna? Is that you?"
"Yes…" she said uncertainly, still trying frantically to figure out
who this was. Finally giving up, she asked, "Who are you? I can't see
you properly."
"It's me, Neville."
Warm, fuzzy, relieved happiness that she hadn't felt for an entire
week spread through Luna's every cell. It was going to be all right.
Everything was ok after all.
"Are you okay? You don't sound yourself…" said Neville uncertainly,
slowly struggling toward the car
"I am feeling so much better now that I know that someone's here to help."
Neville turned red. "Can you crawl out the window? You're pretty snowed in."
"No, my foot's stuck between the pedals."
"Can't you get it out?"
Luna laughed dryly, "I've already tried that one." She didn't want to
hurt herself more than was necessary.
"I have a shovel in the back of my pickup… I'll try to get you out."
Luna could have kissed him.
Five hours later, they were sitting in the living room of Neville's
apartment. The sun was just beginning to light the town with that
musky-gray light that fills the earth with fog on cold winter
mornings, and Luna was sitting on Neville's couch, staring into the
fire while churning the day's events over in her head. The fire was
dying, its burning embers still a deep scarlet, and a black log had
just cracked in half, sending a spark into the brick hearth. Luna's
"Casted" and swollen foot lay propped up on the couch by three pillows
and Neville lay on the floor next to her all bundled up in a blanket,
snoring softly… It was more peaceful than any moment that week and
Luna couldn't remember a time she had more appreciated the fact that
it was Saturday.
:::/\::AN::/\::: That's my story and I'm sticking to it.