One of my life principles was to never make friends with fools.
Fools would never understand how much weight the word “friend” carries.
But that day, Luna brought a toy dog to my house.
She stroked the toy dog’s head and said:
“I have two friends, one is Huanhuan.”
Huanhuan was the name of this toy dog.
She added: “And the other one is Rachel.
I didn’t respond.
I didn’t want to admit that I was her friend, but looking at Luna’s expectant eyes, I couldn’t bring myself to refuse.
After Luna left that day, my mother said:
“Our Rachel has made a good friend too.”
I said:
T
20
“Luna is not my friend.”
My mother poked my cheek:
“But I saw you smiling so happily.”
a
8:48 AM
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17
When I was twelve, our whole family went on an overseas trip.
On the day we returned, as we got off the plane, I received a call from Luna.
She mumbled on the other end: “Rachel, what time are you coming back?”
“In about an hour,” I said.
But on the way home, I suddenly wanted to eat at a certain Mexican restaurant, so I ended up being a few hours late.
When I finally reached the front door of my house, I discovered a small figure standing by the fence gate.
Luna saw me and waved happily:
“Rachel!”
Thick snowflakes had accumulated on her woolen hat, and her nose was red from the cold.
It wasn’t until much later that I learned that from the day I left, Luna had been counting the days until my return.
That day, she had calculated when I would get off the plane, but due to a flight delay, it wasn’t until the twelfth call that she got through.
Then, because I went to the restaurant, she waited for me in the heavy snow for three hours.
18
The year I turned thirteen, on my birthday.
Luna had said early on that she would come and that she had prepared a gift for me.
But even after Lucas and the others had left, Luna still hadn’t arrived.
I was a bit annoyed at her breaking her promise and refused to call her.
As I was staring blankly at the piece of cake left for Luna, Mrs. Li’s phone rang.
It was the police.
Luna’s body had been found in an air raid shelter in the village.
She had been sexually assaulted before her death, her lower body torn, and her death was tragic.
The culprit was quickly caught, a boy from the same village as Mrs. Li.
On her way to my house, the boy saw that Luna was beautiful and had evil intentions.
After he was done, he ran away, but Luna died from excessive blood loss.
I accompanied Mrs. Li to claim the body.
I didn’t dare to lift the white cloth.
But those hands, I knew at a glance, they were Luna’s.
There was a sticker on the back of her hand that I had given her.
I had said it was my favorite one, so Luna would take it off when she bathed and put it back on after.
She had kept it on for a week like this.
When collecting her belongings, Mrs. Li put one of the boxes in my arms.
8:48 AM
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I looked up at Mrs. Li.
Mrs. Li’s eyes were red, but she still smiled at me and said:
“This is the birthday gift Luna prepared for you!”
Mrs. Li wiped the corner of her eye: “Although it’s a bit late, but, Miss, happy birthday. This is said on behalf of Luna”
I carefully opened the lid.
Inside were strawberry–flavored lollipops.
The packaging was simple, the kind I wouldn’t normally eat.
