Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68

“You don’t need to be sorry,” Mr. Xenois said gently, as he knelt down to my level as he said.

“Are you scared of the water?”

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

“That’s okay,” Mrs. Lumina said softly as she came closer as well, her scent familiar and helping me relax as I breathed out, my body going all slack as

she said,

“Lots of people are scared of different things. Would it help if we made the water shallower?”

She didn’t ask me why I was scared. She didn’t tell me I was being silly or that big boys weren’t supposed to be afraid of bath water. She just wanted to help me feel better.

They let some of the water out and added extra bubbles so that I wouldn’t see the water, and Mr. Xenois sat on the edge of the tub the whole time, talking to both me and Ollie about funny things that had happened to him when he was our age.

By the time we were clean and in our pajamas, I wasn’t shaking anymore.

Downstairs, we got to have ice cream for dessert even though it was late. Mrs Lumina had said that it was the best part of having a sleepover, whenever Ollie brought his friends over. I wouldn’t know..Mama never allowed me to have friends.

The whole time we were eating, I kept sneaking looks at Ollie. It was weird how much we looked alike. When I looked at him, it was almost like looking

in a mirror.

I wondered if the parents had noticed as well.They had to, right? Grown-ups noticed everything. But nobody said anything about it, so maybe it was just my imagination, and I was self projecting. It wasn’t just both of us that had black hair and green eyes. I had seen a lot of kids with those looks as well.

Mama words about replacing Ollie was probably working now and giving me ideas about how I would fit right in.

When it was time for bed, Ollie grabbed my hand again and pulled me toward the stairs.

“You’re sleeping in my room,” he announced. “Not the guest room.”

‘Ollie,” Mr. Xenois said patiently, “Riley might be more comfortable in his own space-”

“No!” Ollie interrupted, shaking his head which surprised me because I’d never heard him argue with his parents before, he always seemed to do whatever his parents said.

“He needs to stay with me. To keep the scary people away.”

His parents shared one of those looks that grown-ups shared when they were having a conversation but not saying anything to anyone.

“What scary people, buddy?” Mr. Xenois asked.

Ollie looked at me, then back at his dad. “The ones that give kids nightmares. Riley needs someone to protect him from the scary dreams.”

I stared at him, my heart beating fast. How did he know about my nightmares? How did he know that sometimes I woke up scared and crying, and Mom

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hurt me. But it was my fault. I deserved it.

“Is that true, Riley?” Mrs. Lumina asked gently as I looked at her as she said. “Do you have bad dreams sometimes?”

I nodded, not trusting my voice.

“Well then,” she said, smiling at both of us, “I think staying together is a perfect idea. You two should always look out for each other.”

–

As we climbed into Ollie’s bunk bed both of us on the bottom like he’d suggested earlier, I felt safer than I had in my entire life.

“Riley?” Ollie whispered in the dark.

“Yeah?”

“Are you glad you stayed?”

“Yeah,” I whispered back. “I’m really glad.”

“Good,” Ollie said sleepily as I could see him rubbing his eyes trying to fight the sleep that was imminent.

“Tomorrow we can play all day, and nobody will be mean to us.”

I slept off with his words echoing in my ears

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