Bloody Moon

Chapter 2: Cursed Friend

  Luna was standing in front of Maki. A circle of fire surrounded them, and she held a knife.

"Run away Maki. Please."

"Luna?"

"Listen to her."

A new girl walked in. She had blood red eyes, hair blacker than midnight. She stood next to Luna, and she nodded.

"This is the place where we will meet again," Luna said solemnly. "You will either die... or kill me. Go now."

Maki jerked awake and caught a strong whiff of something. Smoke.

His house was on fire.

With dawning horror, he leaped out of his bed to search for Saki and his mother.

"Saki! Mom!" he yelled. Pieces of the ceiling fell down and crumbled as he ran, and he barely managed to escape them as he ducked under them. His lungs hurt from all the pressure it took to breathe in smoke, and his legs had never run that fast before. But he forced himself to run.

He reached Saki's room and couldn't breathe as he witnessed the gory scene. Blood trickled down from a cut on her neck, right in front of her windpipe. She had many scars on her arms which were bleeding profusely. Maki reached down and cradled his sister's head gently. Her body was ice cold, and frost was forming at her fingertips. Who murdered Saki? Why was there frost? His chest tightened. What about mom? He raced for the door and then the floor gave away.

He crashed down into the living room, fire surrounded him as he heard cracking sounds from his knees and ribs. His arm was bent at an odd angle, but he didn't care. He took a piece of the wall and smashed it down on the floor as hard as he could, and he crashed down into the basement again. He leaped to his feet, and his fear was confirmed.

She was also dead in a pool of blood. A scar was visible on her neck, already beginning to frost. The only other wound visible was a knife in her back. Her painting was splattered with blood. Unlike Saki, it took very little effort to kill her. Tears fell down his face as it sank in. His family was dead. They were viciously murdered and he couldn't do anything. He wanted to burn in the fire forever, but he heard a scream from above.

Luna's scream.

He climbed up the stairs and there she was, stuck in a pile of rubble.

"Luna!" he cried, and she lifted up her head to look at him.

"Maki?" she said softly. "You're alive?"

He grabbed her arms and pulled her out. Her arms and legs were bruised awfully, and there were several small cuts on her face.

"You should be running away right now. Your family's dead and you're badly injured." Her eyes trailed to his broken arm and the burns on his body.

"It's ok, Luna. But you're safe now."

"YOU'RE not safe! You gotta run! Now!" she yelled. Maki stared at her, shocked by the sudden outburst.

"Look, I didn't tell you, but a strange girl told me I should run because my family would die tonight. I didn't listen and it happened, but I can't leave you here to die!"

Maki noticed tears in his friend's eyes. She closed her eyes, her eyebrows furrowing for a few moments as tears peeked out from the corner of her eyes.

"Luna?" he said softly.

He waited, and then her body went limp and her face relaxed.

"No! Don't die!"

His hands fumbled around for her wrist and felt her pulse. It was a bit slow, but it was still beating. He breathed a sigh of relief and then remembered the fire. His throat was closing up from the smoke, and he knew Luna would be much worse in conditions like this. He lifted her up onto his back and clasped her arms. His own arms and legs screamed from the pain it took to hold her with broken bones of his own. His ribs felt like it was cutting into his flesh, and his lungs struggled to breathe properly. But he couldn't let Luna die. He could feel her soft breath on his shoulders as he trudged up the stairs, occasionally skipping the steps that broke off.

He made it up the last step and nearly collapsed with relief. They were close to his front door. They could run outside and get help from a neighbor. They'd be all right. He knew that.

Suddenly everything went black.

Hazy with pain, Maki opened his eyes. His vision was blurry, but half of what he saw was dancing blobs of gold and orange. Something was in front of him... no, someONE. Silver, violet... Luna.

His eyes focused on Luna. She was standing in front of him. The flames licked her skin, but she wasn't burnt. Her bruises and cuts seemed to have healed, and she was carrying something in her hand. It was small, and it reflected something red... a knife. But red?

Maki looked up and saw the moon had a reddish glow around it. Red, not silver moonlight, gently covered Luna as she looked at him, guilt clearly visible in her eyes.

"Luna?" he whispered. "What?"

"I'm going to kill you Maki."

"L-luna," he stammered. "Why? Y-you wouldn't kill me, r-right?" He hoped perhaps she would feel guilty enough to leave him alone. He couldn't believe that the girl was right.

Instead, she grabbed him and pinned him against the wall. He felt his back screaming in agony, the same back that had carried her. There was no guilt in her eyes anymore. She looked desperate to kill him, but why? She saw him noticing, and turned it into a smile, trying to intimidate him.

"Master's orders," she whispered into his ear. "You can join our side if you wish to survive. Or, I could stab you right now and leave you here to burn."

"You were my best friend, Luna! How could you? After all these years? It's not because of your dad, right?" Maki trembled violently and continued stammering. "Your dad isn't the master, r-right? You would never listen to him, right? What about Spirit Night-"

Suddenly, he felt the wall behind him crumble into pieces. He stumbled back, wincing as he stepped on the sharp pieces, horror on his face.

"Dark m-magic?"

He tried to take deep breaths. But between the smoke and the fear, it was impossible. He had never trained for a moment like this. It was too unbearable.

"My master is quite skilled in the dark arts," Luna replied. "And Spirit Night? That crap?" She laughed. "What a bunch of fools. They should really learn."

He had to convince her. He had to stop this. He opened his mouth to reply, and felt a sharp, stinging pain in his abdomen. He gasped, and slowly looked down at his hands, which were clutching his stomach. They were covered in red. His blood.

A deep, nasty cut was bleeding tremendously, and he could feel his strength fading away, his life force weakening. He stared at her in shock. How could she?

He felt faint as his head started lolling from side to side, his heart slowing down and down, as he watched his blood on Luna's knife fade away. The knife glowed eerily in the moonlight, the red moonlight. Luna smiled sadly as the glow died down.

"I was hoping I could spare you by welcoming you to our side. But it seems you're not the right fit Maki," She turned around and draped her scarf over her shoulder. "Goodbye Maki. Thank you for the memories you gave me. You were the best friend I ever had, and I hope your soul rests peacefully."

She looked into those warm, coffee brown eyes one last time.

And then she disappeared in the moonlight.

As he slipped down into unconsciousness, the girl's face flashed through his mind one last time.

"She was right," croaked Maki.

And then the world went black with pain.