“Oh my god, are you okay?” Jim asked the man who laid on the floor. To their surprise he was laughing.
Jade stood back, watching the man get to his feet with Jim’s help. “Thank you sir,” the man said with an accent. “Oh, that was fun, lots of fun. Oh, you should try it.”
The man went on laughing like a mad man. When he stood up, they could see he had curly black hair, with the brightest blue eyes. He was tall, slim, the work suit he worn making him looking thinner. He looked normal and yet, off somehow.
“Mr. Moon, its Jim, from last week.”
“Oh, yes, yes, yes, the new renters!” the man grabbed Jim’s hand and shook it a little too hard. “Good to see you again! Glad you made it.”
“Did you think we weren’t going to make it?” Jade couldn’t help to ask.
Jim made a face. “Hey, Jade-“
Mr. Moon had laughed. “Funny you should ask. Oh, you are Jim’s . . . sister?”
“Daughter,” Jade corrected him.
The man looked to Jim. “I’m sorry,” he laughed. “You look so young. How old are you, dear?”
“I’ll be fifteen next month.”
“I’m actually 32, but we adopted Jade when I was 19, when she was two. A family friend had passed away, and she asked my wife to take care of Jade.”
The man gave a sweet smile and cocked his head. “Your wife? Where is she now?”
Jim looked to the ground. “She, um, passed away years ago.”
“Oh, terribly sorry about that,” Mr. Moon said. He actually sounded like he was sorry, unlike the other people who pretended to be sorry.
They started talking some more, making that small talk that the adults did that Jade didn’t care for. She looked around the kitchen when she noticed a door near the corner was nearly opened.
Jade stared, feeling something was not right with the door, that there was something strange about it.
She found herself slowly walking over, step by step, closer and closer to the door. She opened it for a split second, gasping at what she had seen.
For that split second, she could have sworn she had seen a forest, with huge bright green trees towering and covering the sky, before Mr. Moon had slammed it shut.
He looked down at her, and smiled. “Is something wrong?”
His blue eyes were sharp, staring right into her.
When he let go of the door, she panicked and opened it back up. But there was no forest, not like she had seen before. It was just a normal closet with a broom and cleaning supplies.
“No, um . . .sorry,” Jade said, stepping back, trying to get closer to her dad.
Mr. Moon eyed her, trying to keep a calm smile on his face. “Anyways, I am here after five on most days, and you have my number if you have any more questions. You can visit me whenever.”
“Oh, Jade, I forgot to mention,” Jim squeezed her shoulders. “Mr. Moon works at the high school you’re going to attend. He’s the art teacher.”
Jade awkwardly smiled at him, with him staring back hard at her. “. . . Cool.”
“Yes,” he smiled. “Anyways, I’ll walk you to the door, and you can start moving your stuff in. If you need help, let me know, okay?”
Once they got to the door, they stopped. “It was nice talking to you again, Jim,” Mr. Moon said, shaking his hand.
“You too, Mr. Moon.”
“Please, call me Simon,” he waved his hand. “And nice to meet you too, Jade.”
He held out his hand. Jade looked at it for a moment. “You too,” she said, taking his hand, and lightly shaking it.
At that moment, Jade felt a shock going through her body. Not a painful one, but as if she had just taken in a lot of caffeine and woke up suddenly. She gasped at the feeling and looked at Mr. Moon.
He looked just as shocked as if he had felt it too.
“You okay, dear?” Mr. Moon asked.
She took back her hand, staring at him. “Y-y-yes, I’m okay. N-n-nice to meet you.”
Mr. Moon smiled, “You too . . . Jade,” and then closed the door.642Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW50NhLg3E5
