Fateful Moon

It has been a week since that day at the lake and I have not been able to keep my mind off of what I want to do. I knew that I had to find a way to free Michael. If not so that he can be with me, but so he can live a normal life.

I spent a lot of my time at the bookstore trying to find a way to break the curse. Michael would undergo another transformation in three short days and I had yet to figure out a way to save him. As I was just about to give up, even though I didn’t want to, a miracle happened.

I was approached by someone who could help me.

As I was walking home after another long day at the bookstore, a strange woman stepped out on the road in front of me. I stopped in my tracks and just stared at her. [Whoa, major case of déjà vu. This is how I met Michael for the first time.] I thought as the woman started getting closer.

“Who are you? What do you want?” I questioned as she stopped in front of me.

“I heard that you were trying to save a werewolf from its terrible fate.” The woman muttered silently.

My eyes widened, “How do you know that? Do you know how to do it?” I rapidly fired questions at her, trying to get answers.

“Here,” she placed a ratty piece of paper into my hand, “this will answer all your questions.”

I looked down at the paper in my hand before looking up expecting to see the woman standing there, but she was gone. I looked all around me, but there was no sign of her anywhere. Looking down at the paper in my hand, I decided to take a chance and listen to the creepy old woman. I quickly unfolded the piece of paper and stared down at it in shock.

On the left side of the page was a small note and on the right was a map and directions. [This can’t be possible, I have been searching for a way to help Michael for a week and haven’t found anything. Then this mysterious woman comes out of nowhere and gives me exactly what I’m looking for…] I shook my head in disbelief […There is no way that this is a coincidence.] I gasped when a thought crossed my mind.

Could that lady have been the one to curse Michael to begin with? And if so, why would she lead me to the cure?

Unless of course that this wasn’t a cure and just a trap in order to stop me from saving him. I gritted my teeth and clenched my hands around the paper in my hands. I had already decided that no matter what it took, even if it meant my death, that I would find a way to cure the curse.

I picked up my skirt and ran the rest of the way home. My parents were out at a party tonight so I didn’t have to inform them of where I was going. The servants followed my with their eyes as the door slammed open and into the wall behind me as I ran up the stairs towards my room. I quickly grabbed one of my saddle bags and threw it onto the bed. Ravaging my closet, I pulled out pants and a shirt and threw them into the bag before stripping out of my dress. I pulled on a pair of brown pants and a white top along with my riding boots. Throwing my hair up into a messy bun on the top of my head. I grabbed the bag and map and raced down to the kitchen to grab some provisions so I wouldn’t starve.

Without saying a word to anyone in the house, I ran to the barn. I quickly saddled up my chestnut colored mare, throwing and locking the bag in place. I led her to the front of the house and mounted her before taking off north.

It took me roughly two hours before we stopped be a river bank so the horse could relax and refresh herself. As I sat on the ground, nibbling on a piece of bread, I looked over the map again. I knew the location that was indicated by the ‘X’, so it wouldn’t take long to find it. But, what would it take to get the cure?

I let out a sigh before deciding to get back on the road. I quickly threw everything back into the bag and got back on the horse and made my way back down the road. As I continued to gallop down the path and through the trees, the note on the map weighed heavily on my heart and mind.

EASY TO FIND. HARD TO OBTAIN. IMPOSSIBLE TO DELIVER. TO OBTAIN THE WEREWOLF CURE, IT MAY COST YOU YOUR LIFE. MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE.



FF: 3 hours
The sun was just beginning to set when I finally came to a stop in front of the abandoned tower. I knew that I was running out of time. From some of the books that I had read on the curse, I knew that the infected person had to take the cure in the first hour of the change. But everyone’s change time was different, according to Michael. He told me when we were discussing the curse that he didn’t start to change until eleven.

That meant that I essentially had until the final stroke of midnight to get the antidote to him in order to save him. I slowly made my way to the door and pushed it open, it squealed in protest, the only light that could be seen was a simple candlestick in the middle of the room on a table. I let out a sigh as I made my way towards the table and picked up the light. Taking a look around, there was nothing to be seen in the pitch dark room. I took a few shaky steps forward trying to find some stairs or a door, anything that would help me.

As I made my way further into the room, a sliver of light could be seen off to the right. I hastily made my way towards the light and saw that it was coming out from the bottom of the door. I wrenched the door open and saw a set of stairs leading down, underground the tower. Not wasting anytime I bolted down that stairs, using the torches on the wall to see. Once I reached the bottom another door was placed in the way. [This is ridiculous] I thought pulling the door open, a gasp falling from my lips at the sight in front of me. A lush hedge maze stood in the middle of the room, and from what I could tell, it was not a small on at all. I made my way over to a wooden sign that was located next to the entrance. I held the candlestick closer to the sign to I could read the words that were carved upon it.

The journey the lies ahead is one that is not for faint of heart.

The quest to obtain the Werewolf Cure is one that will make you consider just how precious this life is to you and if you are willing to risk your life for that person.

ARE YOU WILLING TO RISK YOUR LIFE FOR THE CURSED?

If the answer is no: TURN BACK NOW!

If the answer is yes: proceed into the maze ahead. You will have to look deep inside your heart to find your way through the maze.

You will meet many challenges, but only if you don’t FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

BEWARE!

I didn’t even have to think about what I was going to do. I had already come this far and I was not going to lose Michael to this curse. I closed my eyes and placed the hand that wasn’t holding the light and laid it over my heart, I took a deep breath and released it. As long as I kept my heart and mind on Michael I knew that I would be able to make my way through the maze and to the cure. I opened my eyes and willed my feet to carry me over towards the entrance. I furrowed my eyebrows when I saw a ghost like apparition appear in front of me. It turned to face me and a gasp fell from my mouth when I gazed into the familiar green eyes that I had grown to love.

“Michael?” I took a tentative step forward.

He smiled and turned so that has was heading left. I stared after him, not sure what he wanted me to do. Apparently he noticed that I wasn’t following him, so he looked over his shoulder.

“You can trust me. Follow me and only me,” he told me with a soft smile.

I could feel in my heart that following him would get me just where I need to go. Maybe that is what the sign meant when it said ‘follow my heart’. Maybe the magic of the maze created Michael in order to lead me to the cure.

I smiled softly back at him and he continued to lead me through the maze. There was the first left, then 2 right, 3 left, followed by 6 right, 4 left, 2 right, and finely 2 left. When we finely reached the end there was another door awaiting me. I went to move forward, but was stopped by something touching my arm. I turned back to face the Michael apparition and he smiled while raising a hand to my cheek.

“You can do this. You can save me and we can be together,” he stroked my cheek as he started to disappear. “I love you Mary.”

“I love you too Michael,” I whispered as he fully disappeared.

I looked back at the door and made my way quickly towards it. Once I opened the door, I was surprised at what I was. Sitting in the middle of the room was a block of what looked to be ice. In the center of the block, I could see a small bottle of green liquid and a syringe placed next to it on a table.

I walked around the room and saw no way for me to break the ‘ice’. I picked up the needle and wrapped it in my spare shirt before looking back to the center of the room. I bit my lip as I tried to contemplate a way to break the block. Walking over, I decided that the best way to free the bottle would be to just push the block off the pedestal and shatter it on the floor.

I took a deep breath and then with all my might I shoved the block to the ground. And as I suspected, the block shattered into a million tiny pieces, freeing the bottle. But something happened that I did not expect.

“Ahhh! What the hell?” I screamed in agony as I pulled my hands to my chest.

I looked down at my hands and my eyes widened in shock. My hands were bright red and there were blisters appearing. It almost seemed as if they were burnt. I looked at the substance on the floor and could see smoke raising off of the pieces shattered across the floor.

“It wasn’t ice? Then what was it?”

I didn’t bother to think about it anymore. I took the shirt out of my bag and ripped both of the sleeves off. I wrapped my hands with the sleeves and used another piece of the shirt to pick up the bottle of cure so I didn’t burn my fingers anymore.

I ran out the door and saw that the maze had disappeared. I ran straight towards the stairs and bounded up them, making my way through the door and towards the exit. Without a second thought I jumped onto my horse and directed her in the direction of home. I didn’t have much time to get back, but I had to try.



I almost got lost on the way home due to the dark night. Just as I was galloping into town, I could hear screams coming from the meadow not too far to my left. I looked up at the clock and my face changed to one of fear; it was 11:45. That meant that Michael had already transformed and escaped from his chains again. [Just like the night I met him] I thought as I turned the horse in the direction of the screams.

As I passed through a line of trees, I gasped as I was (werewolf) Michael standing in front of two local girls. I quickly reached into the bag and pulled the needle and cure (making sure to keep the bottle wrapped). I opened the lid and stuck the syringe in and extracted the entire bottle.

I jumped off the horse and ran in the direction of Michael. “Michael, stop it!” I yelled out as I got closer. He stopped advancing on the girls and turned to face me. “Run! Get out of here!” I yelled to the girls and watched them take off back towards town.

Michael growled as he stared into my eyes. “Michael, stop. It’s me. It’s Mary.” He continued to get closer. The clock from town started to chime and I knew that I had to get him the cure now. “Michael, I’m going to save you.”

At that point he lunged at me, knocking me down to the ground. But as I lost consciousness I noticed the syringe lodged in his chest, the cure administered to his body. And then everything went black.



THRID PERSON POV
The sun shone through the trees, awaking Michael from his sleep. He blinked his eyes a couple of times to wake up a little more. He sat up and looked around and realized that he was lying in the middle of a meadow.

[How did I get here?] He thought to himself, trying to remember.

He shrugged his shoulders and stretched his muscles out but felt a twinge from his chest. He looked down and his eyes widened when he caught sight of the syringe sticking out of his chest. He reached up and pulled it out before inspecting the device. He saw a little drop of green liquid left in the chamber.

His eyes widened and he looked around the meadow again. When his eyes landed on a body lying not too far from him, he began to panic. He crawled over to her and rolled her so that she was on her back.

“Mary…” Michael shook her a little. He chuckled slightly, trying to ease his panic. “Come on Mary, wake up.”

When she didn’t wake up, tears began to leak out of his eyes. He couldn’t believe that she was dead. There was no way that she could be dead, she had to be sleeping. His eyes ran over her body trying to find any sign of injury. A gasp escaped from his mouth when he saw scratch marks all along her back. He pulled her into his arms and started rocking her back and forth as he cried into her shoulder.

“No Mary,” he whispered. “I love you. You can’t leave me… not after you saved me.” He cried loudly before screaming out into the air in agony.

“MARY!!!”