You sit on the edge of a wooden bridge overlooking a wide river, away from the rest of civilization and having nothing on you but the clothes on your body. You hear police sirens wailing in the far distance, and you choose to ignore it. You sit in silence, the cold night's wind slowly blowing over you and moving the waters under you. Despite being in a desolate area, you hear a bell's soft, gentle, rhythmic ringing. It relaxes you, and you sigh. Your shoulders slump and your eyes turn up towards the moon. It sits in the sky, watching you and everything around you. The moon shines brightly, and the ringing stops.
"What are you doing?" a smooth voice asks you, deep and calming like the river you're sitting over.
You look around, panic setting in your stomach. You were sure that no one followed you, and yet you hear this voice so close to your ear it sends a tingle down your spine. Who is talking?
"Up here." You freeze mid head turn, and your head slowly turns back towards the moon. The only other "up" this voice refers to is the sky after all.
The moon has no face, no human form, and yet you feel its concern for you. "I..." Your voice hitches in your throat because you've never imagined in all your life that the moon would talk to you. In fact, is the moon truly the one talking to you?
"So, what are you doing?" The voice asks again, and that's when you realize that, yes, the moon is indeed talking to you. Your body adjusts itself, sitting properly on the edge of the bridge now. The bridge had no guardrails, and you had taken no precautionary measures when you sat here. You had a goal.
"I didn't plan to do anything... just relaxing..." A blatant lie. Your hands clench into fists, and you felt a pain resonate within your chest. Something hitches in your throat again, and painful memories enter your mind.
The ringing starts again in your ears, and your body starts to calm down. Your hands unclench, and your gaze turns up at the moon once more. There is no person here. This voice in your ear could just be the lack of sleep, or the lack of a friend. But for whatever reason, you feel that you can tell this voice anything. Why you associate this voice to the shining moon, you don't know.
"I... did something horrible." You answer, the words carrying all of your burdens and all of your regrets. You feel something hitch in your throat. The voice is silent, as if it's waiting for you to continue.
"I did something no human... should ever do... And I don't know why, but I keep... wanting to do it... I keep..." Your voice trails off by the end of your spiel. Your voice is cracking and hiccuping, and you feel tears well in your eyes. You don't know why you feel such remorse now, talking to thin air. But these tears you shed are because you regret what you did.
"Well..." The voice started speaking, and you can just barely hear over your own hiccuping, but you think the moon just said your name.
"If you regret what you did, why not repent?" The voice asked. Your eyes widened. If you think correctly, the moon is really asking you a question you can't answer.
For the first time, you calm your mind. What if you did repent? Obviously, it would be better than wallowing here until you muster the remaining amount of your courage to jump. Your eyes slowly look down at the river. From this height, you're sure that if you jump, the impact wouldn't kill you and your body will simply fight its way back to the surface. You don't want that sort of pain, despite others wanting something worse for you. It must be easy to simply give up, but you don't want to do that either. But with what you did, it might be better to listen to this voice.
As you were about to thank the moon, footsteps could be heard approaching the bridge and stopping you from even uttering a word. The fear in you suddenly spiked, and you can even hear your own heartbeat start to rise. Someone definitely saw you.
"H-Hello? Yes I'm in Harlow Park, south side..." You can hear the caution in this woman's voice, and for some reason, you let her continue. You know who this woman's on the phone with, and you didn't care. Is this what the moon, a celestial being, wants you to do in order to repent for what you've done?
"Yes, I'm looking straight at them. Black clothing, skinny stature, same face on the news..." the woman explained, taking deep breaths every time she looked at you.
You stand up carefully, standing in the center of the bridge and looking up at the moon. This was the correct answer. It felt strange to turn yourself in, but you didn't feel scared at all. You didn't call yourself crazy for talking to the moon either. You just accepted it for what it was.
After the woman called, she immediately ran away. You waited patiently for the police to arrive, and when they did, you simply put your hands up.
"Freeze!" men yelled, pulling their guns out almost immediately. The ringing started again in your ears, but the moon stayed silent. You showed no resistance to the officers that approached you and put you in handcuffs. You can hear them talk into their walkie-talkies, speaking in officer's code about your arrest. "Fuckin murderer..." the officer mutters under his breath as he shoved you into the back of his car. You don't feel bad. In fact, you feel happy. As you were sat down in the police car, you looked out the window. The moon's shine was muddled by the car window, but that didn't matter. You can still see it vividly, and the ringing came back.
"So, what do you plan to do...?" The voice asked you. You can still hear it so close to your ear, and yet there was no one else in the car with you. You didn't respond, but the moon seemed satisfied with your decision.
After all, it didn't matter. Again you heard it. The moon just said your name.
~~~
Hello! Thank you so much for reading this first prologue of The Moon Knows Your Name !
There will be another prologue, along with chapter 1 of this story very soon. As for why the moon can talk, it will be explained in the next prologue. These two prologues will have roughly 1000 words, but chapter 1 will have over 5000 words! (At least, that's what I plan...)
I do not intend to have the rest of the story follow this second person perspective. It will have 2 main characters, along with many other side characters. In between main chapters, there will be side stories concerning various extra characters and what they deal with during the night.
Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you don't end up talking to the moon on your way to bed.
XOXO
Xiao Mei
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The Moon Knows Your Name
General Fiction"What are you doing?" This simple question is asked by a concerned figure. One that has seen suffering like no other. If something you love were suffering, would you not approach and attempt to amend the suffering? What would you do, if the univers...
