The mark

What was that?

The red eyes were still haunting my memory and to make everything worse, the mark on my wrist was burning from the inside like something was trying to crawl from inside my skin. I kept hiding the mark under my fingers, the skin was burning but I kept my focus on the street lights that welcomed us as we finally reached near home.

I glanced at my mark for the first time after it had started burning, the mark had changed, it was no longer almost invisible shade of faint brown.

It was now red.

Red. I inhaled a sharp breath.

"Are you okay?"

I quickly covered my wrist again, giving a weak smile to Kai, "Yeah, just tired."

He didn't respond immediately. "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "I just want to sleep, it was a long day."

"Alright, moon girl," Kai waited until I walked inside the home, his eyes were reading me but I was too tired to explain anything.

The haunting orbs were coming in front of my eyes as soon as I tried to close them.

Was it even real?

Maybe it was all in my head, it was dark outside and maybe my mind was playing tricks with me and it would go away with some good sleep.

"Humans don't have glowing red eyes and an animal would not stand on two legs in the middle of a forest to watch us," with this thought, I closed my eyes and waited for sleep to engulf me....only if it were that easy.

2 am.

.

3:30 am.

.

.

5 am.

.

.

7 am.

Fuck.

My night was full of tossing and turning, even the slightest sound was enough to scare the sleep away. The constant burning sensation on my wrist was not helping as well.

A cold bath would help me open my eyes...another wrong assumption.

I put on an olive crop top with off white cargo pants. I decided to let my hair open, my hair had natural silver glints between the black hair, it resembled the lighting at night, which I never liked. It was another reminder of my imperfection, just like my eyes, which looked silver as well, according to Kai, it was a blessing by the moon.

Dabbing the concealer under my eyes, I grabbed a black hoodie quickly before making my way to the breakfast table.

I mumbled a good morning before taking my usual seat at the breakfast table in front of Lily and next to Dad.

Dad replied with a smile, "Good morning, how did you sleep?"

"Don't mumble your words, dear, you know it doesn't sound good," Mom put avocado toast made of rye bread in front of me. Grapefruit slices were sitting neatly on the right side of the plate with a cup of herbal tea on the left.

Lily was already sipping her tea while reading something on her phone with a smile.

I never understood how she liked the tasteless tea, but again, she was our mother's perfect image.

"You didn't sleep well again last night?"

I started chewing the grapefruit to delay my answer, which was useless.

"I was working on an assignment," I lied.

"Don't put too much pressure on yourself, dear. Sleep is important for your body."

"I will sleep on time tonight, Mom." Another lie.

I had been hearing whispers in my sleep. The whispers were my constant companion, no matter how much I tried to block those voices, I couldn't.

I learned to ignore them and it was going well until last night.

"My friends and I are going to perform in a school play next Tuesday, you guys have to be there," Lily chirped and I was thankful for her taking the spotlight away.

Although we were only 1 year apart, we were entirely different from each other. 

"I am proud of you, dear," Mom replied with the same tone but different words.

"You both should listen to your heart, but always carry your brain. This is a cruel world and I want you to stay safe," Dad started giving his usual speech in a stern tone, which we had heard hundreds of times already.

Lily and I shared a look but instead of saying anything, we just smiled.

"We just want what's best for you," Mom added, putting a hand on Dad's shoulder.

.

.

.

There was something different in the air, it was my first thought as soon as I reached the college gate.

Everything looked the same and yet it was different. 

I didn't know why I stopped but my eyes started searching for something. The temperature suddenly dropped and the air shifted around me in a particular direction.

And then everything stopped around me as soon as my eyes were locked with the answer to my questions...it was a pair of darkest black eyes I had ever seen. Those eyes didn't reflect light, they absorbed it.

I felt a shiver run down my spine as I continued watching them, those eyes were not looking into my eyes, they were staring directly into my soul. I knew it'd been a few seconds, but it felt like years.

Reluctantly, I shifted my gaze.

His black hair was slightly tousled, like he didn’t care enough to fix it but still looked deliberate, falling just past his thick eyebrows. The cheekbones were sharp. Something was carved into the lines of his mouth that suggested he didn’t smile often and when he did, it wasn’t kind. The light pink lips were curved downward not in a pout, but in something closer to disdain, as if the world had already disappointed him too many times to expect anything different.

As I took my time reading the stranger a few steps away from me, a tiny voice inside my head screamed for me to run in the opposite direction.

I closed my eyes, inhaling a deep breath and when I opened them again, he was gone.

What was happening to me?

The day went by quickly. I was once again in the library, wanting to be alone but Kai took it as an invitation to join me.

"Would you listen to me?"

"If I say no, will you disappear?" I didn't look up from the book.

"Moon girl," Kai sang the words.

"Shh," I gave him a warning look.

But I knew it was useless. Kai was not going to leave unless he shared his insights with me.

"You have 5 minutes," I closed my book and put it aside to give him all my attention, "go."

That was all Kai wanted to hear. With a grin, he put my book further aside to make space for his notebook that didn't need half of the space he created.

"Okay, so what do we know about the murders?"

It was the third murder in our city, the city where the biggest crime was a phone being stolen from a park until 4 months ago. But now our city was a hot topic, three murders in 4 months and no clue about the murderer.

The murders were so gruesome and inhumane that they sparked Kai's curiosity further.

"They started 4 months ago."

"All the victims were either teens or in their early twenties," Kai added, "but that's not it."

He flipped a page in his notebook to show some scribbles that were impossible to read, with some circles on the top of the page.

"They were all born on the night of full moon."

That caught my attention.

"That's not it, they were all murdered on the night of the full moon as well," Kai circled the circle once again in his notebook, which I assumed was the moon.

"But yesterday was the full moon," I stated, thinking about hearing any recent news, "there was no murder yesterday."

The red eyes came into my mind once again, but I shrugged off the feeling.

"That's what I can't understand as well, maybe they are still selecting the next victim?"

I narrowed my eyes as I realised we could have been murdered in the forest, "Did you get us in the woods even though you knew there is a killer out there murdering people on a full moon?"

Kai's eyes became wide as he started shaking his head in a no, "I connected the dots yesterday. I would never put your life at risk without telling you."

"Kai," I cried, "you are going to get us killed one day."

"Oh, c'mon, moon girl, we are a team, I am Sherlock and you are my Watson."

The grin was back on his face, "I'll drive you home," he grabbed my bag without waiting for my response. It was getting late anyway, so I decided not to argue with him.

The murders were keeping everyone on their toes, it was enough to stir the fear in the hearts of everyone.

But why the full moon?

"Don't worry, Watson, I will protect you from the killer."

"Oh no, you will get me killed before the killer finds me," we continued arguing as we reached home.

I got out of his car and waved him bye, ignoring what he was blabbering about not being supportive.

With a chuckle, I started walking home.

The garden outside our house wasn’t too big or too small, split neatly down the middle by a trail of flat rocks leading to the main door. Along the white fence, flowerbeds brimmed with autumn chrysanthemums, marigolds, and pansies, their colors shifting with the season under Mom’s meticulous care. 

They were the flowers of the current season. 

I paused when I saw something that shouldn't be there, the flowers were wilting on the right side of the fence but they were normal on the left side.

A frown formed on my forehead as my eyes fell on the yellow butterfly trapped in the spider web near the window. I left my bag near the door and started walking in their direction.

I touched the butterfly but it was already dead. Instead of freeing it, I decided to let the spider enjoy its meal.

Just when I was about to turn around, a sudden feeling of being seen made me stop immediately. My eyes fell on the window, and an uneasy feeling settled seeing my reflection. I was not alone.

A girl was standing behind me.

But it was not any girl.

Her pin-straight long hair moved slightly with the wind like the calm waves in the ocean, touching her hollow cheeks softly. She was wearing a baby pink dress. Her skin was pale and her pink lips were parted open as though she was going to say something.

But it was not what stole the words away from my mouth...it was her eyes. The eyes were shining, her brown irises rimmed with a terrifying ring of red. It was not red like the warm sky over our head, it was a scary red like staring into the heart of a dying star.

I spun around after gathering all the courage I had but.....nothing.

No one was there.

The mark on my arm flared up, burning from the inside again.

I didn't scream or call anyone for help, instead, I walked inside the home, pretending everything was still normal around me.