Blood Moon

Introduction: Behind the Darkness

The rain is continuously pouring outside the huge glass window of the shop where Zihan is currently working. It's been five hours since the heavy rain started. And it's been already two hours since her shift ended. She remained stuck in there because she forgot to bring an umbrella. She reached down to her pocket for her smartphone. Then she browse over her contacts trying to find her boyfriend's number. When she finally found it, she hesitated for a bit to call him due to their argument early this morning.

"Am I really gonna call him?", she thought, hesitating to press the call button key. After a while she finally decided to call him. After four rings a man with a deep voice answered her call.

Man, "Hello?"

Zihan, "H-hello Lloyd! C-can you please pick me up?", her voice is shaking as she answers.

Lloyd seemed to smile after he heard Zihan. He responded with a smirk on his lips.

Lloyd, "Usually you refuse my help, but since it's the first time you asked I'll definitely help you." he abruptly ended the call without waiting for her reply.

She waited another and a half hour. All she does is gaze upon the Halloween design on the huge glass window of the costume shop. She'd been working there for more than a year now. She even remembers how she ended up living in the city. She left home in mid spring last year after she had an argument with her step-mother. At the age of nineteen, she thought she could already live on her own. With a friend's help she'd be able to find a cheap but livable apartment and mediocre job. Through it she'd be able to pull through more than a year on her own.

Boredom finally struck her so she walked back and forth inside the shop until she decided to gaze at herself in the mirror. Zihan has unbelievable looks; nicely shaped eyebrows that didn't need any definer, her beautiful blue eyes ornamented with her long curly lashes, her heart shaped face, her natural small pinkish lips, her dimples that always appear every time she smiles, and her beautifully shaped nose that she's always proud of. Every inch of her angelic beauty comes from her mother. She even remembered how her father always tells her that she looks exactly like her. She died right before she could even walk. All she has are pictures to remember her. She brushes her long straight and silky brown hair with her fingers, she smells it from time to time. Then she pushes it back allowing her hair to cascade down her waist. She smiled, pleased by what she sees in front of her.

But her smile gradually disappeared when she noticed someone at the glass window through the reflection in the mirror. A tall figure wearing a hood was watching her from the outside. She abruptly turned around to check the stalker, but by the moment she faces the huge glass window the figure had already disappeared. There's only the ceaseless rainfall outside. Her heart beats faster. She's shivering. She reached down for her phone to call Lloyd, but the moment she's about to press the call button, a light flashed through the window followed by a beep. Her breathing settled when she saw Lloyd stepping out of the car with an umbrella in his hand. She grabbed her bag and the store keys, quickly closed the shop while glancing from left to right, they hurriedly entered the car.

Lloyd, "Are you alright?", he asked while driving.

Zihan answered with a nod and looked the other way. Lloyd wasn't convinced with her response but he didn't dare question her again. The following day is just her usual working day. As the night falls the rain starts pouring again. She asked Lloyd ahead to pick her up after her shift. By the time the clock struck ten in the evening her seemingly ordinary day is about to change. While she's closing the counter, she glimpse a shadow of a man in a hood staring at her from the outside again. It's no mistake that it's the man from before. Again, because of his hood and the darkness outside she cannot distinguish his face. Her heart beats faster again, and with a trembling hand she dialed Lloyd's number. After two rings he answered the call.