Luna and Stella

How can one try to understand a criminal act? Perhaps by accentuating the inscrutability in a human being, a fellow human being?

Revenge was on her mind…

It wasn't like in the movies. There was no compelling soundtrack, she didn´t have to dig tunnels with a spoon smuggled in the most intimate corners of her body from the refectory, and she didn´t have to bribe anyone to get a disguise. No, none of that. She just called a friend, on a five-hour leave, and he drove her to a ravaged slum, where two kind-hearted women cared about misfits and victims of domestic abuse in all sizes and shapes.

After staying there for two days, she came up with the idea to call her sister. She asked if she could come by and pick up her things. The phone call didn't end well...

-"How did you get my number." Stella screamed anxiously. She added that she had put all Luna's stuff in the trash and that it had been picked up weeks ago, and if she would be so kind as to never contact her again. She didn't want any contact with Luna. Never again!

Luna's fellow inmates had grown accustomed to her sickly obsession with her sister, but now her burning anger was at a breaking point: the rejection over the phone had pushed her over the edge.

Luna had always believed that Stella was the cause of her gruesome downward spiral into adulthood. Now she had to die!

Luna had always been the more serious one, or so she came across, and Stella seemed like a happy-go-lucky person.

Their father had abandoned the family when they were small children, trading in their mother for a younger model, leaving her to raise the kids alone.

Their mother went from boyfriend to boyfriend, from minimum wage job to even less of a job, and struggled with a persistent addiction to everything God has forbidden.

Luna was reckless in the pursuit of a high life, where she would be able to ignore her problems instead of confronting them. She had found a job in a bar, spent her meager income in casinos, and became more violent.

It had always been a thorn in her side that Stella had always been their mother's favorite. There were often competitive tensions between the sisters, which regularly resulted in violent quarrels and fights.

Luna tried to prove her dominance over Stella once and for all by planting a knife in her thigh. That incident was buried under the outward appearance of normality.

Stella had received a full scholarship to a renowned university, drove a nice car, was always well dressed, and had many friends.

Luna didn't feel like studying, so she enlisted in the military, with near-fatal consequences. The strict military environment was not for her, and she felt desperately trapped in despair. She eventually started telling everyone she was gay, only to be discharged from the military.

Luna soon found a job as a dealer in a casino, where she was allowed to gamble outside of her working hours. And she eagerly did!

In an instant, she had lost all her earnings, which made her mood swings even worse and started a steep fall.

She started stealing and even attempted suicide by overdosing on sleeping pills and strong liquor. It didn't work and the police were called in because of the long line of thefts. She was sentenced to prison and three years probation. In addition, she had to repay her victims.

When Luna was released, she had nowhere to go, so she thought Stella should shelter her in her beautiful apartment. Stella's life wasn't all rosy, but she was better at hiding secrets.

The two sisters argued incessantly, and it soon turned into a violent scuffle.

The police were called in, but instead of Luna, Stella was the one they took. Luna set her mind on her sister's beautiful car and wallet. She drained Stella's bank account and disappeared with the car to an old friend, who later called the police on her for stealing checks from him.

Stella also filed a complaint against her sister and Luna went back to jail. This time with work furlough, which allowed her to leave the detention center to work five hours a day.

Luna had fallen into a vicious circle, where her desires justified all means to achieve her goal. And the consequences were always her sister's fault. She was tired of always having to live in her sister's shadow. Luna was determined to take revenge on Stella. And it was in this frame of mind that Luna arrived at Maria and Christina.

Luna soon got to know Michelle. Like countless others, the two women lodged the girl, to keep her in a safe place. She had a gentle nature, but her crack-addicted parents had taught her to lie inexorably from an early age.

Despite all the misery, Michelle excelled in school. She was dazzled by the glamor of Luna's beautiful Corvette. Luna began to feign romantic interest in the girl ten years her junior. Michelle could not resist Luna's charm and the hint of danger around her.

Maria had asked if Luna would be so kind as to drive Michelle to school in the morning. Luna was only too happy to oblige. On one of those rides, she told Michelle she´d give her ten dollars if she could help her find a small gun. It didn't have to be a big or complicated one, just a little thing she could use for self-defense. The girl felt honored when this beautiful woman called for her help.

A few days later, instead of driving Michelle to school, Luna drove to her sister's house. Supposedly to pick up a few things. Michelle was in seventh heaven. She had never set foot outside the city limits. Excited, she sat next to Luna in the car and eagerly listened to her wild stories.

-"Have you ever hit anyone?" Luna asked Michelle, "Because we have to be careful. My sister lives in a dangerous neighborhood and there are a lot of gangsters and gang members."

Luna stopped at a grocery store to buy apples, ducting tape, and a rope. As they drove on, Luna continued her fantastic stories about dangerous gangsters.

When they arrived at Stella's housing complex, Luna went to the manager's office for an extra key. The man refused to give her one.

Luna told Michelle she would give her a hundred dollars if she helped her get into the house.

"You must hold my gun," she added quickly. Although Michelle felt extremely uncomfortable about this, she took the gun anyway, all the more because Luna didn't stop feeding her stories about dangerous gangsters in the neighborhood.

-"Have you ever killed anyone?" Luna asked suddenly.

-"What?" Michelle asked, feeling confused, "No! Of course not!"

-"Would you like to shoot my sister?" Luna asked as if she asked to pass the salt at the table.

Michelle took a few steps back and began to tremble all over her body:

-"We just came to get some stuff, didn't we?" she muttered. 

Luna was used to getting her way through manipulation. She rolled her eyes and started banging furiously on the roof of her car. Michelle was very disturbed and began to have the horrifying thought that maybe Luna could use that gun on her as well.

 In an instant, Michelle grabbed the gun from the glove box, hoping this would protect herself and dissuade Luna from shooting her sister. Luna started laughing psychotically.

-"It's all right!" she gasped, "We'll get my things, you get your money, and nobody gets hurt. But first, we go to the store."

-"Do we need anything?" Michelle asked anxiously.

-"I want some magazines." Luna replied casually.

Michelle didn't understand and began to suspect that her newfound idol was downright insane.

-"So, you can pretend to be a magazine salesgirl “Luna, snapped seeing the girl's surprised face. "You present yourself at the door and ask her to buy some magazines, and then you see if she’s alone." She drove back to Stella's house and dropped Michelle at the door. Luna herself remained in the car and took the gun and duct tape from the glove box. Michelle knocked on the door and a young woman answered. She had no interest in magazines and closed the door. Michelle walked back to Luna in the car and said she was home alone.

-"Does that bitch look like me?" Luna snapped.

-"Uh, I'm not sure..." Michelle stammered.

-"Go back, and this time use your eyes for what they´re made for, “Luna demanded. Michelle reluctantly walked back, but this time nobody came to the door.

-"I'm hungry." Michelle said as she approached the car. Luna drove to a burger joint to grab a bite and then returned to Stella's house.

The magazines were rejected again, but this time Luna got out of the car as well, stood behind Michelle, and stormed in before the woman could close the door again.

She pointed the gun at the left temple of the young woman and ordered her to sit on the floor and above all else shut up. She turned around and slapped Michelle in the face.

-"That's not my sister, you fool." she snapped sharply.

-"Sorry," the girl sobbed, "I thought that woman was your sister. I don't know your sister at all, how am I supposed to know what she looks like?"

-"Shut your damn face." Luna snapped again furiously. She threw the roll of tape at Michelle and ordered her to put tape over the woman's mouth. 

-"And tie her feet - real tight." she commanded throwing the rope at the girl.

Luna ordered Michelle to watch the woman on the floor while she inspected the rest of the house. In the bathroom, she saw Stella standing with a telephone in her hand.

-"Did you call the police?" Luna asked quietly as she put the gun to Stella's head.

-"No." Stella lied.

Luna put the gun in her pocket, jumped Stella, and began to strangle her. She yelled at Michelle to bring the rope to the bathroom. As Michelle walked to the bathroom, the other woman managed to wriggle free and ran for the door. But Luna was one step ahead of her and hit the woman hard on the head with the gun.

-"Tie her up again and do it right this time!" Luna bellowed at Michelle.

Luna acted like a seasoned criminal, but Michelle was terrified.

The terrified women were forced to sit in the bathtub. Michelle stood beside them, looking down at them as they rocked back and forth.

Through the small bathroom window, Michelle could see flashing red and blue lights. She got extremely nervous.

-"I'm going to untie you." she whispered to the women in the bathtub. "Please tell the police this was a joke."

Michelle wanted to run, but there were police officers at the front door. Seeing the officers' guns drawn, she turned and tried to flee through the back door.

-"God, please have them shoot me quickly." the desperate girl cried. Before she knew it, a detective grabbed her.

The two women in the bathtub were trembling uncontrollably with fear.

"My sister," Stella tried to say between her sobs, "My sister is here too.”

Luna, however, had escaped and jumped into her car. Not more than an hour later, Luna used Stella's driver's license as identification to withdraw $5,000. She was picked up by a patrolling police car later that evening.

Stella was horrified by the attack and the fact that her sister wanted to kill her.

-"I thought she was still in custody." she sobbed.

After Luna was arrested, the police found enough evidence in her car that could hardly describe her intentions more clearly.

Luna went behind bars for conspiracy, burglary, possession of a firearm, and two counts of false imprisonment. She was sentenced to thirty years in state prison. Michelle was on trial as a conspirator.

Many people could hardly believe that this beautiful young woman had committed the crimes of which she had been accused. Some even believed in her innocence.

With a penchant for deceit, while waiting to be transferred to state prison, Luna started hiding pills she got from the jail commissary. Three days after the verdict was handed down, she was rushed to a hospital to have her stomach pumped out. She survived the overdose.

Over time, Luna began to acknowledge her responsibility:

"Oh yes," she said, "I absolutely wanted to kill my sister. I hated her passionately. She left me as a child when our mother left us. She betrayed me very much."

Stella was presented in the press as an angelic victim of her psychotic sister's actions. That was one way of getting the public to see the classic battle between good and evil, so they could just nod silently and then move on with their lives.

A few months later, Stella started appearing regularly on TV, to add to the mystique of the case.

Nonetheless, Stella started to spiral down and was arrested for prostitution.

While Luna was in prison, she was allowed to study and obtained a degree in behavioral sciences because she was interested in social patterns. She began to tell anyone who would listen how sorry she was and how ashamed she was, forever wanting to take her sister's life. Although she still served her own purposes, especially when it came to parole, Luna became more or less her person.

Stella supported Luna's release by letter. She was convinced that her sister had been given plenty of time to think and grow up. In addition, their mother was terribly ill (and still a gambling addict) and would benefit from her daughters' presence in her life.

Luna went to live with their mother and became a trophy. Stella was no longer looked at.

The sisters' relationship always had a peculiar character, but now it became really vampire-like. When one did well, the other went bad. When one was strong, the other perished...

It would not be difficult to find out Stella's whereabouts, but Luna claims she has better things to do these days.

When asked about Stella's well-being, she pauses and finally answers:

-"I think she's dead."