The Moonlight Story

A few days ago I was at the wedding of a mate of mine. It was a big, indoors, beautiful party, with lots of people and incredibly good food. After dinner I was with my best friend sitting at the table, scouting the bridesmaids. He is a good lad and always gets laid with world class hotties. On the other hand, I’m shy and less comfortable in the field, but that day I was ready to do whatever it takes. I was upset because my girlfriend, actually ex girlfriend to be precise, just dumped me and I really needed something to take off my mind so I wouldn’t think about her. After a couple of rejections I gave up and went outside for a cigarette.
We were in a wonderful old house in the countryside, there was an enormous garden with three lines of trees on each side of a small road that went up to a little hill where there was a lovely gazebo entirely made of wood from which you could see the majestic view at 360 degrees around. There weren’t many lights, just a few candles here and there so it was possible to see the stars and I tell you, honestly I’ve never seen so many. It was all so romantic, but unfortunately I was there alone. Anyway, I didn’t care much, this was absolutely wonderful so I just lay down staring at the sky.
Suddenly I heard some footsteps, I turned around and saw a girl, walking down the road, coming towards me. She was moonlit and the light reflected on her white and blue dress lighted all the trees around her, creating a magical fairytale ambience. She was so perfect I thought she couldn’t be real. She was like a person who stepped right out of a dream. The purity of her beauty gave me a feeling close to sadness — a very natural feeling, though one that only something extraordinary could induce.
She was walking slowly, as she knew I was watching her. When she arrived at the gazebo I finally saw her face. She was the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. She had a small and narrowed nose, radiant cheeks, dark eyes in which you could loose yourself forever, black long silky hair and her skin was pale and smooth. She lay next to me without saying a word.
“I love staring at the stars”, I said. “They’re so perfect I could sit here all night long”. She didn’t reply. “It is so romantic to think that the light we see could be the last light they ever made. They could already be dead. It’s like if they sacrificed their lives to give us one last moment of pure perfection and just like that we will never be lit by them again. Isn’t that poetic?”
It was like she was listening but without participating in the conversation. And then, she said something that I’ll never forget. It was lower than a whisper but I heard it clearly. Nothing else was there, just us lying in the silence.
“It is always present, even in the absence”. I had no idea what she meant but I didn’t ask. I thought it was very romantic though. How could’ve I known she was trying to advise me.
We lay there in silent for a bit more and I discovered the beauty of it. Silence is something you can actually listen to.
I turned into her and slowly grabbed her hand and God, it was the coldest thing I’ve ever touched. “Are you ok?” I asked. She was colder than ice but seemed perfectly fine. Sill, she didn’t say anything. She looked at me. Her face was as white as snow and her eyes as dark as the night, even though they were moonlit. She was staring at me, without moving or saying anything. “Are you ok?”, I repeated. “Take my jacket, you’re very co…”
“There is no dark where you can hide. There is no light where you can see it”, she interrupted me. In saying this she was perfectly still, her tone was calm and soft but it hit me like a cold arrow. It totally freaked me out. I released her hand and instinctively moved back a little. She was still staring at me with those big rounded eyes. Suddenly all the candles died but no wind was blowing. I turned to see if someone was there but it was only me and the girl. You would think that when I turned back she was gone, no, she was still there, in the same exact position, staring at me without saying anything. I was starting to feel very uncomfortable and then she said “It is coming”.
“It is coming. It is coming. It is coming”, she was repeating slowly, raising her voice just a little every time. And now, all those things about her that before I thought were romantic were scaring the hell out of me. Her shiny skin was reflecting the light from the moon and made her so white in the dark that I could see my hands as if it was day. Her small mouth was moving, repeating those three creepy words, over and over. Her eyes were pointed at me like if she was digging into my soul looking for something to steal. And now her hair started to flow around. The light she reflected kept going brighter and brighter.
Scared and shocked I ran down the hill and back inside. I sat on a chair and downed a glass of champagne. It had to be a joke my imagination made. Maybe I drunk too much and I fell asleep under the sky. That was definitely just a weird dream, I thought within me. I calmed down and I was finally ok again. So I started to think about what happened. She said “It is coming”. What was it and why was it coming? What for?
Never mind, I thought, it was just a bad dream. Nothing better than a dance with some hot bridesmaid to stop thinking about it. But then I saw the woman coming in the room from outside and my heart started to raise until I realised she was perfectly normal. It was definitely the same girl but no weirdness nor shiny light with her. So I went to talk to her, she had no idea who I was and said she never went up the hill to the gazebo.
What the hell was going on?! Did I see her, thought she was beautiful, went on the hill, fell asleep and dreamed about her? But I was sure I never saw her before she came on the hill so how could that be true? I was so confused. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and when I got back in the ballroom no one was there. How long did I stay in there? What the hell is going on here? Where is everyone? I went outside, looking for someone and saw something on the hill but I couldn’t recognise what it was.
I walked there, thinking it must have been some guest who was lost and confused exactly like me, or, even better, someone who knew what was going on. When I got to the gazebo no one was there. The sky got darker as some clouds got in front of the moon, but sill, the gazebo was been lighted by something. Not from the sky. Perhaps someone lighted back up the candles, I thought. Then I realised the light was coming from behind me and when I turned around I saw her. Standing there, still like a rock, staring at me, shining like a star.
“It is here”, she said. I couldn’t take it anymore. “What?”, I shouted at her face. “What is here? And who the hell are you?” Her light became lower and lower until we were completely immersed in the darkness and then I heard some noises everywhere around me. It was too dark to see anything. The cloud in front of the moon was almost gone but not enough light was coming through to show me what was making those noises. They sounded like footsteps on the fallen leaves but they were too soft to be from humans. I was spinning around looking for something that I couldn’t see.
The girl was disappeared in the darkness but I could still hear her voice in my head saying “There is no dark where you can hide. There is no light where you can see it”. And then finally the cloud was gone and the moon was free to light everything again but nothing was there. However I could still hear the noises, closer and closer. I could see the leaves on the ground breaking like if someone just walked on them but nothing I could see. Nothing was there. Then someone spoke. It was a deep, cold and rusty voice, slowly saying “I’m here”.