Originally Written 03/2024 for a school project

  tags: horror, magic

  Glistening Moonlight

  I remember the first-time mom caught me sneaking out in the middle of the night, scolding me, “its dangerous out there” “you should not go out at night” “it’s when the wolves hunt”. Every attempt after she gave a new warning, tales of witches whisking away brown-haired girls like me, or tree fairies stealing my soul.

  But I continued, each attempt a stealth mission of not waking her. Avoid the loud floorboards. swing the door quick, so it does not creak. Hold the door handle from the outside and slowly turn it back so it does not click. Then you’re free and out into the night.

  There was just something so magical about escaping into the chilly air, past the fields and houses into the forest of so little light, gnarled trees twisting up from the earth, a waving pathway of dimly illuminated corridors, gloomy scuttling bugs with pinpricks of light reflected on their hard shells.

  The trees are freeing. The smell of dew and leaves. Mis-mashed shadows darting along the crooks of the forest floor, spots of pitch-black night too deep to peer through. The bright moon casting shafts into a fuzzy world drenched in ink.

  Deeper and deeper my footsteps fall, till I happen upon a clearing. A meadow of flowers dyed grey. Standing in the center, I peer at the circling landscape. The moon blares down, caressing the flowers, trees, and roots. An awe of the monotone world’s beauty building in my chest.

  At that moment, I saw the truth. What is moonlight? It is to muddle, and to provide clarity. It is to distort behind dancing shadows and reveal the truths of the world. To pierce through the darkness, yet to hide in the shadows.

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  I saw into the moonlight and the moonlight saw back into me, the world reflected in my mind, my flesh drinking of the night. And I became whole, shifted into alignment with an understanding greater than myself.

  Then it was gone, the sublime replaced by a howl. The shadows spoke to me of the half-wolf half-man, a beast on hind legs, rushing forwards, winding through the trees and to the center of the meadow where I stood.

  Gnashed teeth lunging for my flesh, but I was not afraid. gray strings slithering around the air, they follow my commands and condense into illuminated blades of moonlight. With but a thought they fly and pierce through the darkness of the wolf. Shredding and tearing it apart, as if it were nothing but an illusion.

  Blended remains fall to my feet, droplets of grey-red ichor spraying through the air. A dousing smell of acrid iron bathing my hands and body. It is blood.

  Odd. shouldn’t I be upset? An encroaching beast of terrible strength, splattered remains of gore all around me. It’s like a nightmare, yet I stand unperturbed, clarity shining in my eyes.

  I must wash my clothes, blood will stain, and make mom angry. Flitting back along the forest groves, I do not see through the shadows. Yet, they whisper to me, of roots and stones, ready to trip. Practically flying between the twisted trees, my feet barely touch the ground.

  Torchlights, people talking in what should be a slumbering town. Many voices were calling my name. within them, a familiar worried cry, “HAZEL!” “WHERE ARE YOU?” “PLEASE COME OUT” “PLEASE”.

  Entering the village, a yelp sounds out as a man finally locks eyes with me. “muh- MONSTER!! DEMON!”. Screams, panic. Neighbors, armed with hoes, picks, torches. Faces painted with fear, hatred, and determination. A charging force of those once friendly rushing at me.

  A rock pelts me. Pain. A bank of strangely silver hair falls forwards as I stare down upon a trickle of fresh silver blood falling onto my already red splattered paper white hands.

  What am I? A last thought to think. The burning of torches. A last thing to smell. “IT BLEEDS, WE CAN KILL IT.” A last shout to hear. A daughter’s twisted form, reflected in a terrified mother’s eyes. A last sight to see.

  Into the woods my feet carry me. shadows engulfing in a cold embrace, spotted by shafts of horridly glistening moonlight.