8 Years Later.

As I walked to the beach and decided to sit down, a group of kids came up to me, chanting and screaming, “You aren’t part of this village, get lost!”

I got up and ran to my parents and asked, “I am part of the village right?”

They looked at each other, and then at me, “Lunar, we aren’t your birth parents.” My body froze as I stared at them and I started to run. I don't know how long I ran. I decided to go to my hideout.

My secret hideout was a little clearing covered by a canopy of jungle wood trees, along with a single stump in the middle. There are dozens of tropical flowers of every single color imaginable, scattered around the clearing like paint splatters. Suddenly I heard a voice.

“Are you ok?” A girl came up to me quietly, I looked up. Wait, was that Amaria? I thought to myself. If I’m not mistaken, she was found in the creek and brought in by Aria and Clara when she was four. They found her left all alone with a battered-up dress. She was acting strange, I was told she was evil by all the village kids.

I stood up and wiped off my watering eyes.

“Yeah, of course,” I said quickly.

“Why are your eyes watering..?”

“Uhh… Allergies!”

“Sure,” she said suspiciously.

“I am-” I started.

“It’s ok.” She said gently. I want to get out here as fast as I can, I thought to myself.

“I am fine, I promise!” I said.

“Ok, I believe you, I guess.” Then I heard my name being called from a distance, though it sounded faint.

“Lunar! Lunar! Where are you? LUNAR!”

As I ran out of the hideout, I said to her, “I guess I should head back.”

“Bye!” Amaria said, waving at me.

I took a quick glance back before making my way towards the village. The two people who raised me are outside screaming my name.

“Lunar, honey, we were so worried about you!” I go limp and let them squeeze me. They both are crying.

“Don’t ever do that again!”

“Alba, Antolius,” I began.

They looked at me, “What did you just call us?” I looked back at them and started crying again, “I don't know.”

“Honey… Just call us mum and dad” They said in unison, hugging me tighter.

“But you're not my parent!” I exclaimed, crying.

“Why would that matter? Why would us not being your biological parents matter?”

“Because- It just does.” I stomped away. In my anger, I went to my room and laid on my bed. I grabbed my pillow and just screamed. Tears streamed down my face. Why am I so upset about this? I questioned myself. “I’m adopted? Why am I hearing about this after 14 years?”

When I woke up, I went right outside without saying hi to my so-called parents. I decided to walk to the beach and collect seashells. When I arrived, Amaria was there; she was building a sandcastle, but I was too nervous to walk up to her. So, I walked to the other side of the beach and started collecting seashells. I looked at her and noticed she has an earthy green outfit on and the special vines braided together for a headband.

I didn’t notice that before, I thought to myself. As I picked out the seashells, a tiny red crab crawled out of the sand. I watched it as it crawled across the sand, slowly following it. “Oof,” I stuttered as I ran into someone.

“Hey, Lunar!” I heard a familiar voice exclaim. I looked up and saw Amaria.

“I’m so sorry!” I said as I quickly backed away from her.

“It’s ok!” She said, “Don’t worry about it.” I sheepishly look at the ground.

“While you are here, why don’t you join me in building this giant sandcastle?”

Gazing at her sandcastle, “That looks fun...” I forced a smile, “Sorry I can’t right now.”

“Oh, come on! You can waste a couple of minutes, right?”

“I-I guess.” I stuttered as I ran to grab my shovel. When I got back to the beach, we started building. Eventually, it became night, so I said goodbye to her and went home.

Once I got home, I’m in a better mood than the night before. Alba and Antolius came up to me and started talking to me, “Lunar,” they said firmly.

“Yes?” I shivered from their tone.

“Your actions from last night are very immature. We understand why you would overreact but not to this extent.” Antolius said assertively.

Ashamed, I looked down at my feet. “I know. I’m sorry I shouldn’t have acted that way.”

Alba’s frown turned softer as she hugged me. “It’s ok, my little moonshine.” Using our nickname, “Moonshine, we are sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.”

I forced a smile, “It’s ok.”

“I understand if you don’t feel ready to call us mum and dad. We would just prefer you to call us that.” I nodded and hugged her and walked to my room.