MOCASSINS
Episode 1 — The First Question
Salamander had always hated questions that were supposed to have simple answers.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Why can’t you just accept things?”
“Why do you ask so many questions?”
The last one was the question she heard most often.
She didn’t know why people found curiosity so troublesome.
She simply wanted answers.
Salamander was a teenage girl who lived on Moonrise Avenue, Morrow Hill, in the town of Bellweather. She lived with her father, Sloan, and her siblings.
Her family was complicated.
Sloan had married two wives: Ethereal, Salamander’s mother, and Oasis, his second wife.
There were five children altogether.
Salamander.
Shaun.
Ophra.
A fourth sibling whose story had not yet become clear.
And the youngest—a newborn whose name and gender were still unknown.
Then everything changed.
Ethereal and Oasis fell in love with each other and eloped.
They left the family behind.
But they took the newborn with them.
No one had ever given Salamander an explanation that satisfied her.
So she kept wondering.
And asking.
And wondering some more.
Her favorite people were her grandparents, Gp and Grams. With them, questions never seemed foolish.
But there were some questions even they didn’t answer.
For now, however, Salamander had school.
She attended Bellweather Academy, a respected secondary school in Morrow Hill.
The school’s motto was carved above the entrance:
CHARACTER BEFORE ACHIEVEMENT.
Salamander had always found that interesting.
Everyone talked about character, but people still judged one another by grades, family reputation, success, appearance, and expectations.
That morning, Salamander entered the school grounds with her best friend, Sierra.
They had barely reached the classroom when Salamander’s phone vibrated.
She checked the screen.
Unknown Number.
There was one message.
Do you remember what happened?
Salamander stared at it.
Five words.
Five ordinary words.
Yet somehow, they felt anything but ordinary.
She didn’t reply.
She didn’t show Sierra.
She locked her phone and slipped it into her pocket.
She wanted the reader to be just as curious as she was.
During the lesson, Salamander took out her notebook.
She wrote:
DO YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED?
Underneath it, she added:
Unknown number. 7:42 a.m.
She closed the notebook.
A few minutes later, she noticed something inside her textbook.
A small folded piece of paper.
She was certain it hadn’t been there before.
Instead of opening it immediately, Salamander checked the textbook carefully.
Nothing else was hidden inside.
She looked around the classroom.
No one seemed to be watching.
Then she quietly showed Sierra the paper.
Sierra’s expression changed.
Before Salamander could open it, the teacher called on her to read from the textbook.
Salamander quickly slipped the paper into her notebook.
She finished the lesson and waited until school was over.
She decided to take the paper home.
But outside the school gates, something else caught her attention.
A stranger was standing near the gate of her house on Moonrise Avenue.
The stranger wasn’t knocking.
They were simply looking at the house.
Salamander stopped.
The stranger turned.
Their eyes met.
Then the stranger walked away.
Salamander took out her phone and quickly photographed them.
She waited, watching the direction they had gone.
Then she followed.
The stranger disappeared around a corner.
Salamander searched the photograph.
The face was blurred, but something else caught her attention.
Around the stranger’s wrist was a small silver chain with a crescent-moon pendant.
Behind them was an old sign:
THE SECOND MOON.
Salamander knew that place.
It was an old bookstore in Lantern Row.
She also noticed a faint metallic sound from a nearby alley.
She photographed the alley.
Then her phone vibrated.
Another message from the unknown number:
You shouldn’t have followed me.
Salamander didn’t respond.
Instead, she saved the message and wrote it in her notebook beneath the first one.
Two messages.
Two questions.
No answers.
To be continued…
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