Blood Moon

The Stranger on the Podium.

The cold dark hand began to descend. The leaf trembled as it drew near. Turning amber, it escaped but fell to the ground in fear. Mary placed her pen in between the pages. The tree trembled in the cold October air, causing the small Christian schoolgirl to shiver. She looked down upon her accursed uniform of thin white fabric and below the knee-length plaid skirt. It always got so dirty and everything felt exposed. Standing, she stared on at the leaves turning their beautiful shade of amber and beginning to descend from the trees. Her hair blew in the sharp wind like Cardinal's wing, home was a simple two blocks away.

She had been living in the old town of Silversmith for the entirety of her fifteen years of life. Of which she had attended Saint Agustin's Christian school. It was not a fine school. How could one, being so poor that the food, equipment, facility, and especially education suffered. She had heard of another school in another town, public and secular.  Students that were kicked from the school went there. Nevertheless, Mary yearned to go, looking down at her arm there were large shiny pink teeth marks.

At the end of the school year the nun's would throw a movie night/sleepover in the gym as a fundraiser. Francis, Mary's mother would sign her, her older brother Matthew and Luke the younger brother, up every year. It was often the night before her birthday, and as Matthew would put it, 'she doesn't have enough money to throw you a party' it was true. Mary would often wake up to the off key screeching of happy birthday and stale pancakes. After that she and a few other kids would receive the gift of a book, a cross and usually some kind of hard candy. Mary wondered if the candy was given because the nuns felt sorry for them.

The night before her thirteenth birthday, was different. As one of the sisters called out for the Sound of Music to start, Mary looked around for her brothers only to see Matthew panting as he sat on the floor. Leaning in she whispered, "Where's Luke?" He grinned, a horrible ear to ear devil grin. He leaned in, "We were playing basketball and he shot too far and it landed outside of the court so as he was going to get it I ran back inside and locked the door." he finished it with a short laugh. Mary ran to the door unlocking it, but no Luke.  She scrambled outside ignoring the calls of the sisters. Dashing to the court she heard the blood curdling cry from the tall grass. There in the pale moon light was Luke running from a large hairy dog. It's ears flattened, eyes yellow, it mussels contorted into a snarl. Sinking to the ground it prepared for attack. Mary grabbed her brother's arm. The dog leaped into the air pushing her brother aside the creature lached onto her arm. Shrieking she kicked it's hind legs, it let out a yelp in pain letting go. She heard the voice of Mother Clarence a busty women of sixty coming towards them. In her hand she held the large wooden paddle for discipline, "What are you doing out her, I-" Her eyes fixed upon the dog. Her eyebrows narrowed, "Get!" she bellowed in her most assertive voice. The dog reared snarling at her, angrily  she stepped to it wheliding the paddle, bashing it across the face. "Get!" she said again. The dog ran howling into the woods, and Mary spent the night in the hospital.

Ever since then something inside her changed.

Pushing back the memory, she passed many houses, old and decaying; the windows were broken and the paint on the door pealing, some off their hinges. The boards covered in mold and moss and dirt, some closed shops, and gas station. Finally the church. It's white well-scrubbed wooden boards gleamed in the cold autumn day, it's spotless windows closed with the curtains drawn. Melody wondered how warm it must be in there as she shivered in her thin uniform. She ascended the clean brick stairs up to the white door with a Red Cross painted on it, placed her hand on the polished silver handle.

She tried to turn it but to no avail. It was locked.

"Damn," she said under her breath.

"You know you shouldn't swear near the house of God, right?" A voice from behind chuckled.