THE NIGHT OF THE FULL MOON

Am I alright?

Am I alright?

Mara wanted to ask incredulously as she stared up at her mother.

She couldn’t have imagined the whole thing, could she?

The woman mumbling crazy things just a few minutes ago was so far from the woman that was now talking to her that she wondered if perhaps she was the one who was losing her mind. 

Shaking her head to clear them of the terrifying image of her hysterical mother, Mara plastered a small smile onto her face.

“I’m fine, mother,” she replied with a sigh before gesturing to the basket that had fallen to the snow. “I was coming over to suggest that we head inside. I think we’ve gotten enough supplies from the garden. Why don’t we get out of the cold, and I’ll make you a hot cup of tea?” 

Lucinda still looked confused and unsure, but she nodded and picked up her basket. “Yes,” she murmured, her fingers lightly touching her forehead. “That sounds like a lovely idea.” 

Mara put a hand on her mother’s back, lightly guiding her toward the direction of their cottage. She picked up her basket as they walked past it and headed straight for the door. Before she shut it close, she looked into the woods, hoping her father would return soon. Perhaps he could explain what happened to her mother. 

In the meantime, she helped her mother settle in front of the fire and took their baskets to the small kitchen. Keeping an eye on her mother, who now seemed enraptured by the orange flames dancing in front of her, Mara put on the kettle and prepared the tea leaves. 

“Mother?” she called softly, worried the older woman might lose herself in a trance again as she stared at the flames. 

“Hmm?” her mother replied softly, turning in her chair to look at her daughter. When she saw Mara standing awkwardly in the kitchen, she smiled and gestured for Mara to come closer by reaching her arms in an open embrace. “What’s bothering you, sweetheart? Come, sit and tell me.” 

Mara hesitated for a second, worried that revisiting the incident would trigger her mother’s hysteria or whatever happened to her. But the smile on her mother’s face was warm and familiar, and she felt silly to be afraid of the woman that had raised her all her life.  

Leaving the water to boil, Mara finally walked over to Lucinda and plopped down on the floor in front of her mother’s chair like she’d done since she was a child. Her mother began to hum softly and braid her hair as Mara watched the fire dancing in the hearth.

“A while ago, out in the gardens,” Mara began softly, “you were mumbling something I didn’t quite understand.” 

“Was I?” her mother asked in between her humming. Mara didn’t know if she was pretending not to remember or if the episode truly escaped her mind. 

So Mara nodded silently, still second-guessing if she should ask her mother about it. However, her curiosity was eating away, and the fear and hysteria in her mother’s eyes also struck something within her.

We must leave before they come for us.

Did that mean they were in danger? 

“You spoke of a bad moon rising,” Mara mumbled. 

Again, her mother’s song halted, and the fingers weaving through her hair disappeared. With dread, Mara turned to look up at her mother.

A look of concentration flashed across her face before she schooled her features into a smile. “Oh, I must’ve been talking about the full moon, sweetie. It’s nothing to worry about,” her mother reassured her. 

But while a smile was on her face, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Mara opened her mouth, about to ask her to expound on the matter, when the door to the cottage swung open, and her father walked inside. Snow still clung to his boots as he dragged the firewood behind him.

When he saw the two women staring up at him, he flashed them a tired but happy smile. 

“Hello there. What are my two favorite ladies up to?” he asked cheerily, depositing the wood near the door. 

Lucinda rolled her eyes at her husband, about to scold him for tracking snow inside, but Mara had already shot up from the floor to hug her father.

She was happy to see him home and in one piece. The incident with her mother had deeply rattled her, but now that her father was home, she felt much safer. It now felt absurd to have such fears when her father was there. 

Although Richard Hastings already had silver hair streaking through his gray locks, he was still a tall and hulking figure of a man. His head nearly reached the beams holding up their roof, and his torso seemed as wide as the trunks he had spent all day cutting down. Somehow, Mara felt no one could harm them with him around. 

“We were just getting some tea ready and talking about the full moon, darling,” Lucinda replied, coming over to give her husband a quick kiss on the cheek. 

Richard appeared somewhat surprised. “The full moon? That’s tonight, huh?” he asked, looking down at Mara, who was still wrapped around him like a monkey hugging a tree. 

“I’m afraid so,” Lucinda murmured as she went into the kitchen to finish making the tea. The kettle had begun to whistle loudly, and she felt annoyed by the sound. 

“Hmm,” Richard hummed in reply, a slight crease appearing on his forehead. But when his gaze landed back on Mara, he smiled and changed the topic. “And how was the garden? Were you still able to get anything under all that snow?” 

Mara nodded enthusiastically, finally pulling away from her father to show him their baskets. “I think mother and I got too much,” she said before shrugging. “But it’s alright. This might be our last harvest for the year with the snow falling.” 

“You’re probably right,” Richard agreed, finally sitting down to remove his boots. “The snow is falling fast this evening. It was above my ankles by the time I walked home.” 

“Do you think Caelum will be alright?” Mara suddenly asked, a happy smile falling on her face.

Richard stood up and patted his daughter on the head as he joined his wife in the kitchen. “Your brother is probably safe and warm in the village. He’ll be home tomorrow with the necessary supplies, and the snow should be clear by then. It will be a while before they stick to the ground and become a real problem.” 

Mara still felt somewhat uneasy, but she trusted her father. He certainly knew more of the world than she did, seeing as she mostly stayed with her mother at home when they weren’t moving to a new place. She decided to busy herself with helping out in the kitchen, hoping that keeping her mind occupied would stop her from worrying. 

 When dinner was over, and her parents had sent her to bed, Mara was tired but still uneasy. She couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that something was wrong. It felt like a rock had settled at the bottom of her stomach, and the weight of it made her uncomfortable. 

She lay in bed, tossing and turning, while outside, it was getting darker. The snow continued to fall heavily despite her father’s words, and the cold from the outside seemed to creep into Mara’s bones. No matter how long she closed her eyes, she couldn’t find sleep. With a sigh, she sat up in bed, and that’s when she noticed light still coming from beneath her bedroom door. 

Her parents were still awake. 

Mara quietly got out of bed and crept towards her door, wondering why her parents hadn’t gone to bed after her. She could hear their voices floating softly towards her as she turned the knob and swung the door open. 

“Something isn’t right, Richard,” she heard her mother saying in a strained voice. She could imagine that distressed look repainted on her face, and Mara was tempted to run over to them and hug them. “We need to leave.” 

We must leave before they come for us. 

Lucinda’s earlier words echoed in her ears again. But the sound of her father’s angry scoff brought her back to the present. “And where will we go, Lucinda? Winter is upon us. If we travel in this weather, we will freeze to death.” 

“We will meet the same fate if we stay,” her mother replied, her voice breaking. 

She heard the loud creaking of wood and imagined her father shooting up from his chair. “Don’t say things like that. You’re going to scare the children!” She heard her father hiss angrily, trying to keep his voice down. They probably thought she was asleep. They wouldn’t have been speaking like this if they knew she was awake to listen. 

“They should be afraid! We were wrong to keep this from them!” Her mother answered with equal urgency. 

Mara wanted to cut in and tell them not to fight. She also had so many questions and was determined to get answers from them. What were they keeping from her? 

Just as she was about to step outside her room, a loud howl sounded from the forest outside. It was so loud that it seemed to reverberate inside Mara’s ears, and her heart began to pound rapidly inside her chest.

Silence fell all around her as the eerie sound came to a halt. She couldn’t hear her parents. She could hardly hear her thoughts. All she kept thinking about was that strangled sound and the uneasy feeling in her stomach growing larger. 

Then, everything seemed to snap back into place, and she heard thundering footsteps headed her way.