The Moon And Me(Marijka dlS-P) ‘And When You Can’t Sleep at Night, You Hear My Stolen Lullabies’
Lune Murrey
May 17, 2024
9:18 a.m.


“Miss Murrey! Please, pay attention.” I am suddenly woken up, I peer up to the teacher, everyone is looking at me. “S-sorry, Mr. Evans,” I muttered, still feeling quite tired. I hear some snickers of kids as they turn back to the board. I rub my eyes gently to wake myself up a bit. First period is always a nightmare, I’m sleep-deprived and hungry. Thankfully, I slept through most of the lesson, mostly without getting caught. I glanced over to the clock, I saw that we only had about 10 minutes of class left.
I try to focus on the lesson, now that I’m somewhat less tired. But, all I end up doing is doodling in my notebook. I’ve drawn the moon but, with a great darkness. My doodling and thoughts are interrupted by the loud ring of the bell.
As everyone quickly got up to get to their second period class, Mr. Evans calls out, “Don’t forget your projects are due next week! I expect to see everyone’s models in the best quality.” He then looks at me, as I pack up my notebook into my bag.
“Miss Murrey, can I have a word with you, please?” I nodded and swiftly walked over to his desk where he sat. “Lune, tell me, what’s going on with you these past couple of days?” He asks politely. “You’ve been sleeping in class– are you not sleeping well? I know that you are one of our top students, but if you continue to slack off and sleep, you know that I have to report you, and I certainly don’t want to do that, especially you.”
I glance downwards to the ground, fiddling with the ring on my hand. I look back up at him. “I’m sorry, Mr. Evans, I know. I-” I trail off, not knowing what to say. “I am getting enough sleep,” I lie. “It’s just that I’m studying for final exams, and I may or may not be staying up late for it..” I lie once more, hoping that he believes it.
He gives me this look, which I’m assuming he’s trying to see if I’m lying. He inhales sharply. “Okay then.” he pauses. “Don’t push yourself too hard, I already know you'll pass.” He smiles softly, almost comfortingly. “Thanks... I… need to get to class now.” I say awkwardly, slowly walking away. “Alright then. Have a great rest of your day, Lune. Remember, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here.” He says to me.
I turn to look back. “Thank you, Mr. Evans.” I turn around to walk to my next class.
On the way there, I accidentally bump into someone; they give me a gross look, but I ignore them.

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3:15 p.m.
As the final bell rings, I’m left to wonder. The same thing that I think to myself every day. What if I wasn’t different? What if I’d fit into a ‘clique’ when starting this year? It seems sad to me that people are just stuck with the same friends, probably throughout all of high school. Isn’t that boring? I mean it’s more boring to have no friends at all, but that’s a different story.
As I walk home from school, I pass my former friend's house. Taylor. You may be wondering, “Why is she important?”. I assure you, she’s not, but she was my only friend up until about a week ago. She said I was giving her the cold shoulder, wasn’t talking to her about what was going on, and she told me she found ‘better’ friends than me. It was this crazy big fallout that I didn’t know how to handle.
I didn’t go to school for two days after that happened.
How am I supposed to face her or even anyone after that?
Anyway, as I approached my house, I dug into my pocket for my keys. I realized that I had left them in the house, and my parents weren’t home. I groan as I look at my bedroom window. ‘Not again,’ I mutter out to myself. I decide to climb up to the window, as it's not too high up. I never lock my window for this reason.
As I enter my room, I’m greeted by my cat, he meows but I sadly kick him out of my room. Sorry, Beppo. I put down my bag, take off my shoes and I flop onto my very comfortable bed. I let out a deep sigh as I sink into the comfort of my bed.
I think to myself, ‘Are Reed and Astra at the man cave right now? And if they are, should I go there?’
I decide to do that anyway; I quickly get up and put on my, as people would call it, ‘super suit,’ but I like to call it ‘Moonlight’ because that's my name when I’m in that suit. Once I finish putting on Moonlight, I decide to style it. I add a nice jacket and my best pair of Converse to complement my eye mask.
I look in my mirror and smile to myself. I like this suit—no, I love it. I feel so… confident in it. I like being Moonlight. I feel comfortable in my body when I’m Moonlight. This is who I’m meant to be.



‘Sweet Dream Was Over’
Astra Miyawaki
May 17, 2024
3:17 p.m.


I step into HQ, or as Lune likes to call it, ‘The man cave’, after a long day at work, cleaning up wounds, getting called in to prep for surgery, and taking care of patients.
I am greeted by the sight of Reed sleeping on top of a pile of papers. I chuckle to myself softly, seeing that he probably stayed up late at night, researching. About what? He hasn’t told me yet. He’ll come around to it soon enough. It's not like I’m going anywhere, anytime soon.
I put down my things, and I slowly make my way over to Reed. I smile to myself as I start to hear him snore. I reach out my hand to him, resting it on his shoulder. I then gently start to nudge him awake. “Reed,” I say softly. He doesn’t have any reaction. I nudged him a bit more intensely.
He’s still asleep.
I then shake him awake. He groans and mutters something unintelligible. I chuckle softly at this. “Reed, get up,” I say sternly. “Why..?” He mumbles out, looking up at me with grumpy eyes. “Because it’s quarter after three, you’ve basically slept through the whole day, and something is going on. Now, up and at em’, Quake. We’ve gotta save some lives.” I pat him on the back, walking away. “You better be ready to go by the time I get back!” I call out before exiting the common room to my dressing room. He groans once again, and I hear him mutter something before getting up to get prepped.

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3:19
As I exit to the common room, I am stopped in my tracks to see Reed, actually up? He paces back and forth, mumbling something to himself. As he spots me, he stops. And just looks at me.
“What are you mumbling about?” I ask, walking over to him. “Oh nothing, just looking at the case we're going to..”
He says bluntly. He starts to tidy up his desk a bit before we leave.
I clear my throat.
“I’ll meet you in the garage, yeah?” I ask him, he turns his head around to glance over to me. “See you in a couple-”. He is then interrupted by something, no, someone. I turn around to see Lune, in her super suit. She huffs out as she catches her breath.
“I heard on the way here! Can I join you?” She says all excitedly. I chuckle softly. Is this girl serious? “Wait.. how did you..- you know what, that doesn’t matter- Anyway, are you ready for this type of mission, Lune?” I say, finding my jumbled-up words. This was something that could be way different than anything she had faced before. I’m just looking out for her. “Yes, of course! Please, Astra?” She stretches out the ‘a’, practically begging me to bring her along.
I look over to Reed, who has crossed his arms looking at us both with a blank look. I give him the ‘what do you think’ look and he shrugs. “Up to you, Astra.” I sigh softly and back over to Lune, who has these puppy-dog eyes now. “Okay, fine. But if anything happens, I’m going to send you back here, alright?”
Lune jumps up, she cheers. I smile softly at this. This sweet, excited girl has always been able to bring a smile to my face. I just don’t want anything to happen to her. “Thank you!” She exclaims, so thrilled that we’re bringing her along to this mission. “C’mon, let’s get going already,” I say, as I begin to walk to the garage. Lune slowly follows behind me.
I glance over to Reed, who’s now leaning against the doorframe to the garage. He’s smiling. This is the first time I’ve seen him truly smile. I give him a sweet smile back. He turns his back as I approach, stepping over to the car. I swear I just saw him blush before he turned away. I am then snapped out of my thoughts as Lune starts to tell me about her day.

‘What Died Didn’t Stay Dead, You’re Alive, You’re Alive’
Reed Bridgers
May 17, 2024
3:28 p.m.


I sped down the road. I spot police lights flashing in the distance. What the heck happened here? “What the….” I trail off; I have this worried look on my face. “What is it, Reed?” Astra looks over at me. I notice Lune getting captured by the sight. Astra then looks out the window, her jaw dropped slightly at the atrocity. I slow down the car and put it in park.
We are surrounded by destruction.
As I exit the car, I walk over to Lune’s side of the car. “Watch your step, Moon.” I say as I open the door for her. There is a bunch of rubble on the ground beneath us. She nods and steps out. Astra is soon to follow. She looks around at everything. In a sense, ‘taking it in.’
There are piles of rubble on the ground, things on fire, and an odd sense of.. coldness. Like the sun had been blocked out. It’s dark, too. But It's only around 3:30, how can that be?
Astra takes out her lighter and lights it on her hand. It makes a ‘whoosh’ sound as she lights it. She creates a fire light source. And it’s warm, so that's a bonus. Lune is soon to copy Astra with the idea of a light source. This lemon-yellow, star-shaped energy crystal forms in the girl's hand, emitting light.
“Well, aren’t you two fancy with your light sources?” I say, scoffing jokingly. They both giggle softly at this. This moment is cut short, however. We all see this dark, mysterious figure in the distance. I start to approach it slowly. Astra follows behind me, with Lune behind her.
Lune then suddenly lets out a yelp. “Moon, you alright there? What happened?” I ask Astra, and I turn around to face her. “Yeah- Yeah, I swear something tried to grab my leg…” She says. I swear, I can feel the anxiety building in her. As we turn back, our gazes are met with a cloaked figure. Which I’m assuming is the same figure as before.
“So… you’re the ‘heroes’ everyone's been talking about?” The cloaked figure says in a raspy, tired voice. He floats in the air in front of us. This eerie darkness fills the air. It gets colder. I can see my breath now. I shift myself more in front of Lune like I’m protecting her.
“Who are you? Show your face!” Astra calls out to him sternly. All he does is laugh. “Are you sure you want to see my face, Star?” Astra gives him a confused-shocked look. “H-how do you know that name?” Astra is severely taken aback by this. All Lune and I can do right now is to keep our guard up while they both speak.
He slowly lifts his hands to his hood, pulling it down to reveal his face. Astra freezes upon seeing his face. All he does is give her this cheeky, mischievous smile and says “Miss me, sis?” I’m completely shocked by this. I look back to Lune, who is as shocked and confused as I am. I look back to Astra to see that she's at a loss of words.
“D-Draven?” Astra cries out.
Who the heck is Draven?


‘Forgive me, Peter, My Lost Fearless Leader’
Astra Miyawaki
May 17, 2024
3:42 p.m.


“D-Draven?” I say, my heart pounding. Is this really him? Did… did he do all of this? How did he escape? How is he still… alive? I have so many questions, my head is racing. As he approaches, Reed is quick to put Lune behind him to protect her, but she insists on being side by side with us. Reed is ready to pounce as he gets closer to us, but I gesture to him to back off.
As he floats closer, I notice that he's not actually floating but getting lifted. By what? It seems to be just an empty space. I look down to that said empty space, which Draven notices. “You’re wondering how I’m floating are you?” He asks as he steps back onto solid ground in front of me. His presence sort of takes me aback and I take a step back.
“Well.. they’re shadows. I can manipulate shadows, Star.” He says, very proud of himself. “Don’t call me that. My name is Astra.” Does he really think he can call me ‘Star’ after all he’s done? Especially after all these years? “Your name is Star?” Asks Lune but is quickly shut up by Reed. “Yes, her name is Star,” Draven looks over to Lune innocently. “But I guess she changed it.”
He glances back over to me. “Did you do this?” I say, my emotions overwhelming me. Tears start to form in my eyes because of that. Stupid emotions, not now! “What do you mean, Star?” I scoffed at him as he called me Star once more. “This whole place! It’s destroyed! Did you do this, Draven?” I ask, my anger making it abundantly clear that he should tell the truth. “What do you think, Star? Yes, of course, I did this.”
He looks at me like I’m crazy like I should’ve known that he did this. Lune looks at him angrily, like he’d offended her. “Why’d you do it!?” Lune yells at him. “Lune, no!” I say, putting my arm in front of her body and telling her to get back.
“Because, Lune, I want to see the world in darkness. My own shadow.” He speaks in an eerie tone. Then, suddenly, shadows appear beside him, and they charge at us. I am quick to dodge, and Lune is quick enough to use her powers to block. Reed does the same as Lune. He uses his vibration in the air to create a force field around his front.
The shadows attack once more. I am quick to pull out my lighter to my hand, lighting it up in flames. “I’m not this ‘Draven’ you speak of anymore, Star. I am Shade.” He says in this wicked voice. He slowly floats up and away. Continuing to create shadow people to attack us. I am knocking to the ground as my flame goes out, and with one single hard punch to the face from the shadow, the last thing I hear is Lune calling my name.
Then everything goes black.

‘Don’t Call Me Kid’
Lune Murrey
May 17, 2024
4:36 p.m.


I sit beside Astra as she lies on the couch in the common room of the man cave. As I look over to her, I notice her eyes fluttering open. “H-hey Astra…” I say with a calm voice. “What happened?” She mumbles out. I tell her the whole story about her brother being the big bad guy, her then getting knocked out, and everything. I also now know that they are both adopted. That makes more sense.
“Reed went out to get more medical things, he’ll be back in a few.” I talk as I get up to make her some refreshing, hot tea. As I walk back with the hot tea, she asks “How long was I out?” “About an hour or so, not too long.” I reply, settling the mug on the table as I sit.
“How’s your head?” I ask, that punch must’ve been hard. She was out cold! “Oh, it’s alright... By the way… what happened to your face? The cut, I mean.” She asks curiously pointing to the bandage on my forehead. “Oh- this?” I reach up to touch it softly. She nods “One of the shadows got a pretty good hit on me. Don’t worry though, it isn’t that serious.” I shoot her a smile.
“I’m sorry, Lune. I shouldn’t have gotten you involved in all this.” She says out of the blue, all guilty about it. “Hey! It’s alright, It was a good thing that I got exposed to this type of thing.” I say, trying to sound comforting.
“I know but.. You’re just a kid, y’know. You're only in what? Grade ten? You’re fifteen, Lune. You don’t need to get into all these things. Especially when it’s something bigger than us. I don’t even know how to deal with Shade.” She rants on. I nod at this, glancing to the ground and then back to her looking at her with a confused face.
“Just because I’m young doesn’t mean I’m not ready for this type of situation.” I say, kind of rolling my eyes at her because she said this. “Hey, don’t roll your eyes at me, Lune. You know I’m just trying to look out for you.” She says annoyed that I’m acting this way. “I’m not some little girl that needs to look after twenty-four-seven, Astra! Yes, I’m only fifteen but I’m fifteen, Astra. I can take care of myself. I can deal with your brother, Astra. Trust me!”
“No, Lune you can’t. It was a mistake that I brought you along with Reed and I. This is something the adults need to deal with, I’m sorry Lune.” She says in this weird comforting tone. That's gotta be fake.
“Stop treating me like a little kid, Astra! You and Reed both were trying to protect me when we were up against Shade. I can protect myself!” I say, angrily. I’m frustrated because of the fact they treat me like I’m... smaller than them. I get up and huff out.
I storm out of the common room to the garage. I then see that Reed has come back. “Hey, kid. Is everything alright?” He asks, I ignore him and brush past him walking out the door. Watch me defeat him. I’ll prove it to them.


‘You’re On Your Own, Kid, You’ve Always Have Been’
Lune Murrey
May 19, 2024
5:39 p.m.


It has been a couple of days and I haven’t gone to the man cave since. I’ve been looking into this ‘Draven aka Shade’ dude for the past day. Not sleeping for even an hour. Just quick naps here and there, and coffee. Lots and lots of cups of coffee. I don’t think that's good for me but I couldn’t care less right now.
As I dig deeper into my rabbit hole, A lightbulb-worthy realization comes to mind. He’s planning to hit an apartment building complex next. Today. Oh my gosh!
I quickly change into Moonlight, climb out my window quickly, and jump onto a step I’ve created with my powers. I then use my powers to levitate myself off the ground, seemingly flying and going to where Shade will be as quickly as I possibly can.

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5:48 p.m.
As I approach the place where Shade is supposed to be, I spot a fire in the distance. It seems to be only a block away. I went to the wrong place. At least it's somewhat close. As I now come near the right place, I feel the same amount of chill as I felt a couple of days ago. Maybe even colder.
I spot Shade in the air, and he spots me on the ground. That was quick. “Oh, look who it is, the kid. Moonlight right? Or can I call you Lune?” He smirks evilly. “Moonlight is better, call me that.”
“Lune it is then.” I get into my fighting stance, and my hands glow a lemon-yellow, as my star power forms in my hand. He creates these shadow people out of thin air, which caught me off guard. They suddenly pounce at me. I am quick to defend myself, however.
“No Star or Quake I see… You have some nerve coming here alone, girl.” He says as I continue to attack and defend from the shadows.
Some time passes and he continues to make shadows appear. My body is exhausted. This was a terrible idea. I huff out as I get knocked off my feet by a shadow. I let out an ‘oof’ as I hit the ground. I can’t do this for much longer. I groan out as I get up. I notice myself bleeding, it drips onto the pavement below me. I hold my side in pain. That fall really did hurt… I hope nothing is broken.
“Getting tired I see?” He laughs wickedly, finding it amusing that I’m exhausted from fighting him. I slowly put up my hands, ready to fight once more. “Oh, we’re just getting started..” I trail off. Huffing out as I attack a shadow. I knock down most of them but they overpower me.
I see Shade getting closer. Suddenly, all the shadows disappear. Then I can feel something abruptly wrap around my neck, choking me. I quickly realize it’s Shade’s hand as it is intensely cold. I start to kick and squirm as I try to get out of his grip, but it’s no use as I start to gasp for air. This was truly a terrible idea. I start to lose consciousness, and now I’m panicking. I kick my legs around more and more as my vision gets blurry. Shade still keeps a tight grip on my neck.
I then fall to the ground, and I quickly gasp as air fills my lungs once more. I cough and gasp as I regain oxygen back into my lungs. What the heck? I look up to see that Shade got blasted into a wall and has some residual fire on him.
From a blast, it seems. I then see Astra, strutting over to Shade. “Leave her alone, Draven! She has nothing to do with this!” She yells at him. I cough as I get up onto my feet slowly, holding my side as I limp over to her. She looks back at me. “Get out of here, Lune! You’re going to get yourself kill-” Her sentence is interrupted by Shade grabbing onto her with a shadow arm.
Astra is quick to blast her firepower at him, using the existing fire around her. Shade is quick to catch on that Astra needs a fire source to be able to use her powers in the first place. He uses his shadows to put out all the fires around us. “Astra!” I call out, realizing what he’s doing. All I can do is stand here as I am weak and useless. Astra tries to pull out her lighter, as that’s the only hope she's got, but it’s knocked out of her hands by Shade.
“Run, Lune! Run! Get out of here!” She cries out to me, Shade overpowering her. I limp forward, closer to them. She looks into Shade's eyes, I can just imagine the fear in her eyes. “Please, Draven… don’t do this..” She mutters out to him. He doesn’t even respond to her. All he does is suck the light out of her. Her body goes limp, he drops her to the ground. “No!” I cry out, run-limping to her body that has just reached the ground.
I don’t even notice that he’s already gone as I step toward Astra’s body that's on the ground, seemingly lifeless. I fall to the ground, I cradle her body in my arms. I start to sob. “Lune…” Astra says in barely a whisper. “N-no.. please, Astra… please” I choke out my words, saying them in between my sobs. “It’s okay… It’s okay, kiddo… you're on your own now. You've always been, kid, you just need to let go..” She says barely audible. The life in her eyes disappears.
I black out, and I don’t know for how long. I’m lying on top of her body, sobbing for what seems like an eternity. All I remember is feeling someone pick me up and me screaming and struggling to get out of their grip as I tell them to let go of me. I realize it's Reed, then I start to cry in his arms.
I don’t know what happens after. I wish I did. I wish I had done things differently. How is my life supposed to go on after this? What do I do? I feel so… empty.

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