1 A Town Where the Moon Shine Brighter

~Mystery Man~

In a small and quite town, surrounded by hills which covered with natural forests and bushes, a moon peeked from a lone cloud, shone some areas that waited desperately for the moon to pour its light onto. Skies became clear and a lone cloud suddenly disappeared as if it was eaten by the moon itself.

Moonlight Hills, a town where the moon shine brighter, that’s what people usually call it, consists of about ten thousand people. Though it is very popular with its beautiful panorama, it also has some packs of mysteries inside. Some native townsfolk believe that there are creepy beasts lurking in the forest and the town. But many think that it’s not important to believe in irrational things in this modern era. That story is only become an interesting fairy tale that attracts tourists, sometimes become a bed time story to put their children into sleep, or maybe become a scary but fun prank on the Halloween day.

But they don’t know who they share their life with. I do know. I exactly know about it and I have experienced it.

Maybe what you can do is just believe in the native townsfolk and beware. They maybe look like a joke with their primitiveness, but sometimes what they say and believe is real. And also it’s not really a good idea to underestimate minorities.

A sound of wolf howling was suddenly heard, broke the silence of the night. Some teenagers who seemed to have a fun party at the edge of the forest, not far from the town, became quiet for a moment. They looked at each other.

The young curly boy with the red face, who was standing near the bonfire, stopped his horror storytelling. Then the grin in his face became wider and wider, showing his truly eerie expression.

The big muscle one seemed confused. He put his beer bottle and his eyes were wandering around. He was barely drunk. “Since when there are wolves in Moonlight Hills?” he asked.

Nobody answered. They just showed their lack of knowledge with their shoulders rising. Some others only shook their heads.

But the young curly boy suddenly spoke. It seemed that he wanted to continue his story, “Once, there was an era where you can find wolves in Moonlight Hills. But it was long…long ago. I remember my grandfather told me when I was kid.”

“I know about it!” one of the girls shouted and raised her hand. “My father told me that there used to be many wolves in this forest. But they were being hunted and die one by one, until there’s nothing left,” she explained.

Another girl, the one with blond hair and pretty face just sighed, “Maybe it was a dog. You know sometimes dog can howl like a wolf,” she tried to guess.

“It’s not just an ordinary wolf,” the curly boy continued, “It’s a man wolf.”

Another boy who wear a hat suddenly winced, “You mean a werewolf?” then he laughed, followed by the others. “You believe in that stupid fairy tale, Brody? Then you are as stupid as them,” he said. The word ‘them’ referred to a few native townsfolk who still exist in the town.

“It’s not just a fairy tale, Max,” he eagerly pointed to his friend’s face. “I believed in my grandfather. You all know my family has lived for a very long time here.”

The girl who shouted before, tried to stop her laughter and began to speak, “That’s why we like your stories about this town, especially a horror story. But it doesn’t mean we believe you. It’s just for fun.”

The muscle boy agreed and nodded. The curly boy whose name revealed as Brody, showed his grin again. With the fire dancing in the middle of them, his face seemed scarier than ever. He raised his finger as high as his nose, “But be careful, anything can happen. I’ve already warned you about this.”

As the final word from his mouth stopped, they suddenly heard a mysterious sound among the bushes. Once again, their eyes were wandering around. For a minute, silence caught them. The blond girl hugged his boyfriend, the muscle boy, very tight. It seemed that that boy Brody’s story was over her.

The girl who shouted was only whispering then, “It’s your joke right, Brody?” she accused him.

Brody shrugged, his face showed that he knew nothing. Or maybe it was just his pretending. The sound reappeared two times, making they all suddenly raised their body and stood still with pale faces.

“It’s not funny anymore, Brody! Stop it!” the blond girl then the one who shouted. She seemed that she would never let go off her already drunk boyfriend.

Brody lifted his two fingers, “I swear, Martha. It’s not me,” he said. In that circumstance, they slowly moved closer to each other. The sound of cracking bushes stopped, but the sound of their heart beat was going faster. A minute later, one of them finally spoke.

“What was that really?” asked Martha. Brody tried to make them sure that it was not his doing. Max guessed if that was the wolf. But nobody could have the right answered.

Martha then looked at the other girl, “You said that there was no wolf left in this forest. Are you sure about it, Tina?” she asked.

Tina nodded, “I’m sure, but…I have no idea. Maybe it was just a lost wolf from the next door forest, or something else,” she guessed.

Brody suddenly burst into his laughter. He laughed as loud as he could, as if it was his last laughter in this world. He stepped back, watching their angry friends who were staring back at him. Martha felt like she wanted to take her boyfriend’s bottle and threw it straight to Brody’s head. But she didn’t do that.

“It’s not funny, Brody. You’re idiot!” Tina shouted at him.

Brody couldn’t stop laughing. He really couldn’t help it. But slowly, he managed to control his self. “You’re all suck. You said that you were brave. I asked Tom to make that wolf sound with a recorder, and it was really buying you into it. No worries, Buddies. It’s just a prank,” he then chuckled.

With the angry in her eyes, Tina then hit Brody’s head with her bare hand. “Once again you do this to me, I’m going to kill you!” she threatened him, “Now where is that fucking Tom hiding?” she shouted again.

Brody then looked at the bushes behind him. He yelled, “Come on out, Pal. We did it.” Several seconds after that, there was no response from his friend. He then winced, felt a bit confused. He yelled again, “Tom, come out! Don’t hide anymore!” But still, there’s no response.

The wrinkle in Brody’s forehead didn’t disappear. He slowly moved forward, and something they never imagined in their life before, suddenly happened.

Something was thrown straight to Brody, something big, as big as human body. It was really a human body and it befell right onto him. He screamed, they all screamed in fear. Brody moved away that body without head from him and he quickly moved back. It was Tom. Brody recognized him by his clothes. It seemed that something killed him fast without a sound.

“What is it? What happened here?” Tina cried.

A shadow from the bushes appeared then. It looked like a very big four-leg animal. They could hear the sound of its growling. The darkness in the forest made them unable to see what it really was. But surely, that big thing moved towards them.

They shouted, run, run, and run. And they really ran away while still screaming, crying for help. The mysterious beast didn’t stand still. It chased them with its super speed.

A minute later, their screams couldn’t be heard anymore. It came back to silence. And then, the real sound of wolf howling filled the eerie air around the forest, again…broke the silence of the night. They didn’t know, and most people didn’t know at that time, that the danger awaited them. One thing they would know later, that the thing would change their life forever.