A Dark Descent

The Moonfall

There was a child.

A mist had circled him as he was fast asleep on his bed. But there was a noise. The tiny drops of water from a faucet. It was quiet but easily noticeable. The blanket was only halfway over his body and he was cold from the damp air. His eyes squinted as the noise became louder and louder until he heard a blood-curdling screech. His eyes opened wide as he saw a blood moon with the mist moving in a circle around it. The mist looked like sharp, thin hands, almost like they were made out of needles. He saw a crow fly through the moonlight. He sat up and looked around. He was outside, he saw jagged wood stick out of the ground like rocks.

He heard it again. Not the faucet, not the wind howl, not the crow, but the screech. It had been closer than before. The boy pulled the blanket up to his face but not over his eyes. He heard fast footsteps behind him, then right next to him, then behind him again. He kept trying to see what it was until he caught a glimpse of the night move behind one of the jagged pieces of wood. The footsteps got faster and faster until the boy had heard the sound of an old bell strike above him. It continued until the hands spun upwards towards the moon until they reached the top and lunged at the boy like spiders and ripped out his eyes.

It was all dark to the boy and the only thing he could hear was his blood-curdling screams. The bell had come back and the screeches and the bird and the faucet until it all just stopped. Dead silence fell when the boy heard.

"The night will come, and it is looking for something to eat."

The boy woke up hyperventilating and crying. His fur was static and messy and his ears perked up. He looked in the mirror in front of his bed and everything was still the same, a blonde bunny with pitch-black eyes. He was relieved but still shaking in his bed. He had begun to breathe slower but his heart was still racing. He looked out the window and into the sun, he saw hands in the clouds and he hid under his blanket.

"Alex." Called his mom from downstairs. Alex came running and jumped into his mother's embrace. "Oh, sweety." Her voice was calm and sweet but still worried. "What happened?"

"The nightmare." Said Alex.

"Oh, it's ok. Everything is going to be alright." She assured him.

Her voice was sweet and comforting. He held onto her for a little while and then let go.

"Thanks, mom." He said.

"Anytime sweetheart."

"Hey, mom." He said and she looked up at her. "Can I go and hang out with my friends today?"

"Yes," She said. Alex was ready to leave before she stopped him. "But. I need you to go down and get some bread." She said. Alex walked up to her and she dropped some coins into his hands. "Make sure to be back before dark." She said as he was leaving.

Alex stopped in front of the house and opened his hand. He had little circles in his hand that had a diamond-shaped hole in the middle, he counted each one of them but instead of the only needed 3 coins it took to buy bread, he had four. He gasped and looked back to the door and put the extra coin in a little pouch connected to his waist and continued down the dirt road.

There were houses just like his along the road until he got to bend in the road that led to the market.

"Hey, Mr.Palec." He said to the man in the market where he bought his bread.

"Hey good to see you." Mr.Palec said. "The usual?" Alex nodded.

"Yup." Alex gave Mr.Palec the 3 coins and got a loaf of bread in return and walked away.

Alex looked back into the pouch and counted how many coins he had. There were five, one from his savings, and Alex got excited and continued down further into the market. He kept going until he stopped at a little shop. It had shelves full of yarn and thread and needles. There were pin cushions and pillows and tapestries. Sown bears, dolls, whales, and anything you could think of.