//------------------------------// // One Fateful Night // Story: Keep on Dreaming // by Noogy //------------------------------// There I was, lying in my nice, warm, comfy bed with my hands behind my head. I gazed over to the small digital alarm clock sitting on the bedside table; it read 3:00. Why am I still awake at 3 AM?! I lay there for a while longer in despair before the annoying urge to pee crept up on me. “Why do I always have to pee when I’m comfortable?” I groaned. Snaking out of bed and slipping on my robe I quietly opened my door and snuck down the hallway. I shuffled up to the bathroom door and proceeded to silently enter and close the door. Mom always said I was good at sneaking around. As I started to empty my bladder a small sparkle outside of the frosted glass window caught my eye and I peered through the glass to see nothing but blackness and the moon. Living in the city made seeing the stars almost impossible, what with all the light pollution. It was a bit sad, but after living in and around cities your whole life I guess you can’t really miss something you’ve never had. I finished peeing and washed my hands, still feeling very much awake. Deciding to go about my almost nightly ritual of going outside to stare at the moon, I crept back down the hallway to the laundry and then out the back door. When I came to the edge of the grass I turned my gaze up at the moon; full tonight, and the air quite chilly. I tied my robe up at my side and proceeded to walk onto the grass for a better view. Even with all the clouds and light pollution the moon always looked amazing. I could stand under the sky for hours, staring at the lonely white giant of the sky. It was splendorous, and high in the sky it sat in all its wonderful glory: large, soft white and perfectly round, not too bright and not too dim. I could almost feel the rays of moonlight sink into my skin and calm all my muscles. After a while it started getting too cold to be standing outside only wearing only a thin black robe, so I turned around and, reluctantly, headed back inside. I was just about to lock up the laundry door when an idea hit me. “Why don’t I go for a walk? I know of a place not too far from here where I could get a great view of the moon!” I exclaimed to myself a bit louder than I intended to. I hurried back to my room and flicked on the light, it was bright at first but my eyes quickly adjusted to the low watt bulb. I flipped open the top of my suitcase; living with a single mom came with its downfalls, such as not having a wardrobe to store clothes in. I quickly picked out a pair of black cargo pants and a grey T-shirt and slipped them on. Next came the shoes and socks which I quickly put on and tied up. I was just about to head out of my bedroom door when I heard my mom’s door open; I froze and I felt my heart skip a beat. If she knew I was going for a walk at this hour in this neighbourhood she would probably ban me from ever leaving the house again. My mom and I were on good terms at the moment and I didn’t want to mess that up with another fit of rage. After a few short minutes of suspenseful silence I heard her door close and figured it was safe to go. At the front door I grabbed my black hoodie and quietly locked the door behind me, I put my single house key into my wallet and placed my wallet back in my pocket. I pulled over my hood and started walking up the street until I came across a familiar alleyway, and started down the gravel path. It was pitch-black but I could see a light about 100 meters down the path, that’s when I heard the laughter and ranting of drunken teenagers. I quickly moved off the path and into the grass on the side of the gravel walkway. I hid behind and tree and could hear the teens approaching from the way I was heading, at the front of the pack was a rather tall older looking man with a shaved head, followed by two teens that looked very intoxicated. As they grew nearer my heart rate was climbing rapidly. I melded into the shadows the best I could, the black pants and hoodie helped. The trio of drunken goons were walking on the path I was standing on not 20 seconds before. Their leader stopped, pulled out a can of spray paint and proceeded to tag the nearby fence. When he was done he returned to the path, threw the can of paint into the long grass and looked down, he saw my shoe prints in the soft gravel. He turned to the other two dimwits standing behind him. “Oi fellas, we're not alone.” He smirked and started looking in my direction. My heart was now pounding and the adrenaline was coursing through me. I burst out of the low hanging branches on the opposite side of the tree and started to sprint. “Hey! Hey there he goes!” yelled one of the drunken teens. “Get him! He’s seen us tagging!” exclaimed the ring leader. Oh shit! I continued barrelling down the path. The bright light I saw earlier was closer now, about 60 meters away. It looked almost like a single moonbeam coming down from the sky to meet the ground. I didn't care much for it at the time for obvious reasons. I sprinted as fast as I could, hearing the ring leader’s heavy footfalls not 10 feet behind me causing me to run faster than I thought possible. The moonbeam was close now, only 20 meters away. It seemed to glow brighter the closer I got to it, I dared to glance over my shoulder to see that the ring leader had given up chase and his lackeys were even further behind than he was, being too drunk to run. I slowed my sprint to a slow jog as I tried to catch my breath as a stitch of pain shot through left side, I wasn't super fit and sprinting your fastest when you got out of bed only 10 minutes ago had taken its toll. I was now 5 meters away from the moonbeam when I stopped. I had to do a double take to make sure I wasn't hearing things, the beam of light seemed to be humming, only lightly but as I took another step forward it grew louder. Another step and yet it still grew louder, I was less than a meter from entering the moonbeam and humming grew to a screeching sound. I covered my ears from the pain but it didn't seem to help, the screeching was so loud I thought my eardrums would rupture just from the sheer force of the sound. Bleary-eyed and disoriented, I fell to my knees and entered the moonbeam. The screeching somehow grew louder as I fell to the ground. I briefly saw a bright light and a silhouette of a four-legged figure, then my eyes rolled back into my head and all was dark.