The Veiled Moon

Jason, my best friend, and I, were sitting, legs pulled up to our chins, on the silken sand of Stillfield Beach. I stared at the horizon that was seemingly endless, just an effect of the lake stretching out before us. The sun was setting, turning the sky purple and pink and the water gleaming brightly as it showed the last of the sun's reflection, a soft orange. The real sun was a blinding hot orange. I squinted and breathed in the salt air.

“What do you think Nikki will get you?” Jason asked me, referring to my mom by her nickname.

“I don't know, definitely not a car,” I replied, not the least bit sad at the thought of not getting a car for my sixteenth birthday. Stillfield was so small, and I felt no need to go anyplace else, so a car would be useless to me. “Maybe a laptop, or a new iPod. Nothing big.”

“Maybe she'll throw you a party,” he said, taking a small handful of sand and throwing it in the direction of the wind. I looked at the grains split into a haze and be carried off before answering.

“Nah. It'd just be our moms, you and me. What would the point be?” I sighed, reaching in my pocket for my three-year-old, scratched silver iPod. But then Jason surprised me by getting up, adding to his weird behavior since his birthday. “Don't you want to listen to music? Ya wanna run?” I added, grinning. “It's gonna be dark, I don't think we could―”

“I have to go home,” Jason cut me off. My grin vanished in an instant. “See ya, Kat.”

“See ya,” I said, turning around and seeing him disappear into Stillfield Woods (very original name on the part of our ancestors). I turned around again to face the lake, the sun, the light and pictured him, walking on Stillfield Path, with his black hair barely visible; not much sunlight could pass with the tress being so tall and wide and thick; and his green and gold-flecked eyes probably fulled with worry. Worry that I didn't know the cause of. Something that worried me.

I imagined him licking his thin, shockingly red lips nervously, pale-skinned hands in his pockets, head downwards, kicking stones here and there, the noise of which would scare small woodland creatures away.

As much as I wished to shrug off his strange behavior, I couldn't. I ended up staying on the beach, chin resting on my knees, thinking about all sorts of things: my father, who I suspected didn't know I existed; my mom, single and working as a barmaid to support me, her only child; Jason, who'd been distant since his birthday last Friday, on the first of August; school starting again in a few weeks...

The world being plunged into darkness yanked me out of my thoughts. I got up and headed towards the path. Only a few meters into the woods, I heard a howl and jumped a bit. I looked at the obscure sky, easily noticing the moon. It was bright and seemed to be full; a full moon? I couldn't be sure, I didn't know much about astronomy.

Suddenly, I felt like a wolf, strong and powerful. Feral. As though the world would crumble before me if I ordered it to. My senses became heightened, and I heard a scared rabbit's heartbeat increasing. I swiveled around, hardly noticing the beach, and snarled at the small, gray animal, feeling a bizarre urge to eat it. The animal ― prey? ― ran away, and for some strange reason I was annoyed.

Then the feeling was over, and I was left wondering what just happened. Was it the howl combined with my imagination that made me feel that way? Was it the full moon, that according to a lot of people made weird things happen? Or was it something else? Something in me?

A rustling sound amongst the trees, on the left side of the path, interrupted my questioning. Instinct took over, I knew what to do: run. It was dangerous, I didn't know why, but it was. I ran straight ahead, the light from the other end of the woods indicating the beginning of the small town Stillfield; home. I thanked my muscles that compensated for my shortness, and the hours I spent running on the beach.

Finally the trees stopped and I reached the cluster of houses. Without a moment's thought, I headed over to mine, the tenth one on Saint James' Road. I walked up the few steps leading to my door and frowned, feeling something wrong. I pushed the handle down; the door was unlocked. “Mom?”

“Kat, isn't Jason with you?” Anne, Jason's mother, asked me, standing beside my own mother.
“He told me he was going home. That was about fifteen minutes ago.” I shut the door closed behind me and took a step forward. Anne, after twelve of years of knowing her, was still a mystery to me. I knew she was kind and tough. She'd do anything for the people she loves. But I always felt like there was something more to her. She seemed very motherly, with soft curves fulled out by food she'd cooked and served on holidays, and harmless.

Instinct told me no one should ever mess with her.

Anne bit her lip. Her concern was legitimate, however. She might be strong, but this still worried her. “Maybe he went to Bradford's.”

Bradford's was our small town's supermarket, open 24/7. Maybe he'd gone there to buy something, was what Anne implied. I didn't believe that possibility; but I agreed with her. “It's probably nothing,” I added.

Anne said nothing, questions flickered on her face like ghosts. Unlike ghosts, I knew her questions wouldn't fade.

“Kat?” I turned my head towards my mom. At thirty-six, she looked young enough to pass for my older sister. Her curly auburn hair, full red lips, pale skin, diamond-shaped face and short height were all identical to me. Our only difference in looks, was our eyes. Hers are dark blue and mine are icy blue. “Could you go look for him?”

“Sure.” I nodded and left. I wanted those ghosts to fade away as soon as possible.

Outside, I looked at the sky, dark clouds scattered across a sapphire blue background dotted with bright white stars. I closed my eyes, breathing in early night air, only slightly cooled down from the day's hot weather. My muscles tensed suddenly and I opened my eyes. Intuition pointed me to the woods; something was in there... But I ignored it and when to the supermarket.

As my presence was announced, the doors slid open for me. I stepped into the quiet shop, only one person was left. “Hey, Mr. Bradford.”

“Katrina,” he exclaimed, broom in his hand and a broad smile lighting up his elderly face. Wrinkles creased in joy. “What are you doing here so late?”

“I'm looking for Jason, he didn't come home like he said he would. Seen him anywhere?”

“No, sorry Kat.” He continued sweeping the floor but kept his eyes on me, “Maybe he's at The Silver Moon.”

“I don't think so... I'll check it out though,” I said, unwilling to turn down his suggestion. He was only being helpful. “Bye Mr. Bradford.”

I heard him say “bye” back to me as I left the supermarket. Oddly, after years of living here, I still didn't know his first name. I let the night silence envelope me like a blanket as I thought about that. A howl echoed in my mind and the recent memory reminded me to go to the woods. I walked there, rubbing my arms as the air got colder and colder. Finally, the edge of the path leading into the woods appeared before me. Without a moment's hesitation, I let the trees surround me.

Leaves on a tree bristled, I turned around. I blinked in surprise. Was that a dog? No, it seemed... like a wolf? It looked at me, eyes profound with intelligence beyond that of an animal, trying to tell me something. I had to leave? I frowned and shook my head. I was imagining things. The animal left, convinced it had conveyed its message to me. No. Why did I keep thinking it had something to tell me?

I sighed and went back home; Jason was probably safe.

*****

After a few hours of sleep, I woke up five minutes before sunrise. I stretched then threw the duvet off me, swung my legs out of bed and stood up. I yawned, looked around my room for a hair elastic and, having slipped the elastic around my wrist for future use, went to the bathroom. I splashed cold water on my face to wake myself up and quickly brushed my teeth and hair. I grabbed the first clean T-shirt and sweat pants I found, put them on, tied my hair up and left the house silently.

Just as I was heading towards the beach, I noticed the lights on at Jason's house. Anne was never up this early, hadn't she gone to sleep? Biting my lip, I rang her doorbell.

“Oh, Katrina, what are you doing up?” she asked the moment she saw me. She looked tired, light purple shadows under her big brown eyes.

“I'm going jogging. Didn't Jason come back home?” I frowned, I never worried about him, but this had never happened before. He'd never gone missing, at least not for hours, and not this way. Not without explaining himself before. Usually he'd just tell me he wanted to be alone. Jason never wanted us to worry about him. What was so different about―

“No, and he didn't answer his phone,” Anne said. “Do you want to wait with me, inside?”

I smiled lightly, feeling the concern she had for her son. “Of course.” It was so strong and overwhelming.

In her kitchen, she made us some coffee. I don't like it that much, but feeling I would need it, I accepted the steaming cup from her. We both sat at the small, dark-wooded table. It could only seat four people and that suited the Brooks' lifestyle just fine. Anne and I drank in silence, jumping when we heard the front door open. I rushed to the door, catching Jason trying to sneak upstairs.

“Where were you?” I asked.

Hands on the banister, he leaned slightly forwards and looked straight at his mother, who'd been slower than I. “I went to the woods with Lee. It was fine.”

“You know the woods are dangerous. And if it was 'fine' then why didn't you tell me, Jason? And Lee? The Edwards' kid? He's always in trouble you know.” Anne didn't sound too angry, but the mention of Lee Edwards seemed to bother her more than the fact that Jason spent the night in the woods.

“I don't know, we didn't plan to, it was on impulse. We slept on the beach though, it was safe.”
I knew he was lying, not only was he fidgeting as he said that, but I knew for a fact that it wasn't safe. If I'd heard the howls, he must have, too.

Anne sighed heavily, then told him to shower, get dressed and eat.

I went back home, to tell my mother the news. As I passed the calendar hanging on the wall above the small table on which the phone sat, I noticed that tomorrow night was the full moon. On the table, I found a pile of letters, I quickly went through them and one was addressed to me. I hadn't been expecting that. Curious, I ripped it open. A silver necklace fell out, landing with a small noise on the circular table. I picked it up and examined it. A silver, crescent moon-shaped charm was attached to the chain. My jaw almost dropped as I saw diamonds encrusted into the moon.

Frantically, I looked for a return address. There wasn't any. And no letter either. Who would send me such an expensive gift and not want credit for it? Putting the beautiful gift into my pocket, I shouted, “Mom! I'm going out running with Jason, he came back!”

“Where was he?” she yelled back.

“The beach, he slept there with a friend.”

Her head appeared above the banister, “Why?” Her hair fell as her head leaned down to look at me.

“I don't know. I'll have to ask him,” I said, taking the empty envelop and putting it somewhere safe.

“What's that?”

I closed my eyes, why did she have to be so curious? “Nothing. Just some paper. Bye.”

“Bye, honey!”

I listened to her go back upstairs, she preferred sleeping in. Especially since she worked at night. Outside, Jason was waiting for me, on my doorstep. “What really happened last night?”
Instead of answering me, he got up and started jogging towards the beach. His hair was still damp. Without a word, I followed him. For half an hour, we ran along the beach. The sky was dappled with clean, white clouds. The temperature rose as we ran. Finally, he stopped and sat on a sand dune. He drew patterns in the sand, letting it run through his fingers and avoiding looking at me.

“Your mother has no idea just how dangerous the woods are. I heard a wolf howl last night, on my way home. Tell me the truth, no lying.”

“I can't say anything then. I don't want to lie, but I can't tell you the truth either. Sorry.” He got up, trying to leave, but I grabbed his arm.

“No.” The two-letter word was sharp. “Jason, you can't just not tell me. You have to. I don't care what it is, but I'm your best friend, and if you can't tell me then who the hell can you?”

“I don't know. It's... I just don't want to talk about it, okay?”

Hearing the sadness in his voice and seeing it on his face, I let him go. I sat down on the beach again and watched the sun, rising higher and higher as minutes passed. I sighed deeply and a thought came to me: Today was my birthday. How could all of us have forgotten that?

My shoulders slumped as I realized it was because Jason went missing. “Well,” I said to myself. “Thank fucking God you're not a little kid who gets all excited about their birthday.” I closed my eyes and dropped my head back, “Happy sixteenth, Katrina.”