Chapter 1
A girl with long red hair and a petite frame stares into a void of darkness as her eyes begin to droop. She lays down on her side and before long she falls asleep, only to be haunted by the nightmares. I smile as I skip towards my mother in my new peach dress. I smile up at her as I see her cut her red hair short. “Babycakes why don’t you go see if you can help your father with our experiment! I’m sure you’ll be a big help!” My mom says and I smile up at her before running down to our basement where we have our makeshift science lab. I see my father in a white lab coat and he lifts me in the air before spinning me around and placing me in front of our phone.
“When the phone rings I want you to answer it ok?” He asks and I smile up at him before saying yes. “Oh and Happy 15th Birthday!!!!” He tells me and I smile even more brightly until the phone begins to be making a strange new sound. I shrug and answer it anyway only to feel myself being sucked up into a black void of nothingness.
“Elaine?” I hear my mother ask and I panic. That was when her area of expertise came in handy. My mom picked up the phone with shaking fingers and before long I could tell that I was never going to see the light of day again. Years and years go by and as they do the voices of my parents grow quiet. I stare into the loneliness until I hear the only sound of relief. “Elaine, darling we figured it out! We can’t get you out of this place but we figured out how you will continue living there. The last call the phone makes before it is destroyed will be where you will be transferred to. And I’m sorry babycakes but, we couldn’t find a way to let you die, to end the cycle. The only way is for someone in heaven who you knew you outside of a phone to change places with you. I love you babycakes,” I heard my mother say to me before their voice dies out into the background. I never hear from them again, I never get to see another face, but I do get to hear what the phone tells me sometimes. It teaches me language after language until I can’t fit another one in my head after all my parents never came, they left me in this endless abyss, alone and afraid.
Meanwhile...
A girl with long white hair that contrasts her dark skin elegantly sits at the head of a long oak table. The red bandana covering her chocolate brown eyes is starting to be untied by her older brother. His light brown eyes started to glow as he ran a hand through his short brown hair. He untied the bandana covering his sister’s eyes as a plate full of pancakes is placed before her. Her eyes gleam with joy as she sees the pancakes and the small brightly wrapped gift her brother gave her.
She opened the gift hurriedly and sees a phone with a dark screen. Except for the girl curled up and crying in the center. “Luna? What’s wrong?” Her brother asked and the girl zoomed in on the tiny figure of the girl crying her eyes out. Suddenly, the girl looks up at the screen, shocked beyond belief, then seemingly scared to death. Who...are...you? The girl asks Luna in sign language. Are...you...an...angel...sent...to...take...my...place? As Luna sees this she lets out a small chuckle causing the girl’s eyes to widen to the size of baseballs.
“Can you hear me?” She asks tentatively and everyone in the room heard her sweet voice. Luna smiled at the screen, thinking how cute the female was.
“Yes, we can hear you,” Luna says and the girl smiles before her eyebrows scrunched up.
“We?” The girl asked and Luna nodded pointing the screen at her older brother, her mother, her father, and the Harp family. “Please, don’t leave me in the dark!” The girl begged and Luna pointed the screen at her face again, slightly shocked.
“You can’t see them?” Luna asks and the girl shook her head with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Instinctively, Luna began to wipe the screen where the girl’s tears were and surprisingly, the girl’s tears were wiped away by an imaginary hand. “Hey, it’s ok, I’m here, so please, tell me, what’s your name?” Luna asks the girl and in a shaky voice, she answers.
“Elaine,” She replies and I swear Luna reached through the screen and gave her exactly what she wanted. “W-who a-are y-you?” Elaine stutters and Luna gave her a bright smile, that seemed to easy Elaine’s very soul.
“My name’s Luna, Elaine. It’s very nice to meet you,” She replied saying the standard pleasantries.
“Luna? That’s a pretty name,” Elaine says and Luna smiles before her stomach started to growl.
“Sorry, Elaine but do you mind if I eat? I’m famished,” Luna says, and Elaine smiles up at her, closing her eyes so that Luna couldn’t see the fear hidden behind them. That was when Luna thought of taking a picture so that Elaine might not be stuck in the dark. “Elaine, I want to try something really quick, I’m gonna take a picture of a lamp and if that will lighten up your surroundings now,” Luna told her before opening the camera and taking a picture of the lamp hanging above the large table. She takes the picture and tries setting it as her background to make it so that Elaine can see it. After her attempts are in vain Luna gives up.
“I’m sorry Elaine, it doesn’t seem to work like that. Hopefully, after breakfast, I can figure something out,” Luna says with the obvious failure in her voice.
“It’s fine Luna! I could still see you when you changed over to the camera so I think that as long as you’re in front of the screen I can still see my moon!” Elaine exclaims happily before blushing at the realization of what she said.
Luna seemed oblivious to what Elaine had told her to the poor girl trapped in the phone, but her family knew otherwise. “Luna? Don’t go all lesbian on us while we’re eating. We still need an appetite,” A young man with long black told the girl causing her to blush even more.
“Jacob! Don’t be so mean to Luna! She is my little sister!” Her brother told him while nudging the rude man with his elbow.
“Seriously, Keivon! Jacob! Don’t start acting all gay at the table!” Jacob’s mother told the boys making Luna laugh. As Elaine watched the beautiful girl laughing her head off she couldn’t help but stare and start to gush. No! Liking a girl is wrong! I’m a girl! Elaine thought conflicted between thoughts of what should be and what shouldn’t.
She watches as Luna eats her pancakes and starts to sigh lightly. I wish I wasn’t so confused! I wish I knew what to do! Elaine thinks freaking out and before she knows it, Luna has finished eating and put the phone on her desk while she tries to figure out what to do.
