With The Moonlight As Our Witness

Chapter 2: The Unfamiliar Incident

Author's POV

 Both Pheonix and Yukio would spend nights reading the book. However, a lot of information in the books was written in a different language, which both of them couldn't decipher. They even tried translating it with the help of technology, but would always get the same response language not found. In the end, they just accept the fact that these wolves are mythical creatures that the world doesn't want anyone to know about.

 The next few days were like any other normal day, which caused the experience of that night to feel like a dream. Yukio had given up the dream of finding more about mythical wolves, but still, she was uneasy at heart. At night she would roam the dark forest near her house to find any of the two wolves and study them. Not knowing great danger was awaiting her. One night, she left her house and made her way to the forest the same way she used to, but this time Pheonix spotted her and followed her into the forest.

 While she explored more of the forest, not knowing Pheonix was following her, she heard nearby bushes shaking. This sight gave her severe déjà vu. She tried turning back but was greeted by three pathways. She randomly chose one and ran as fast as she could. Later, she saw a huge fence with loads of warning signs. After being a bit hesitant and not knowing where to go, she thought going through the fence was a great idea. She snuck in through a hole cut into the fence.

 When she reached the other side, it felt as if she had come into a whole new world. The night was beautiful, with every star visible from one's own eyes. The moon was shining brighter than ever. No city light had touched this place, but the moon was enough to make it even brighter. The rays from the moon made it more visible to see. A body of flowing water could be heard from a distance. The scent of the soil felt as if it had just rained. Which Yukio found weird as it hadn't rained for weeks.

 The sound of flowing water piqued her curiosity, so she made her way to the body of water by following the sound. At the sight, she could bet on anything valuable she had that there was no place on earth as beautiful as this. Two huge mountains stood in front of her, forming a valley, accompanied by smaller mountains in the back. A waterfall could be seen flowing from one of the mountains. The waterfall became the source of the river that flowed a few inches in front of her. An odd triangle-shaped rock was sticking out in the middle of the waterfall, which indicated that there was a cave behind it. The rays from the moon made the water glow, making it feel like something out of a fairytale. She wanted to capture this sight but soon got to know that she had lost her phone. The feeling of transcendence was soon replaced with panic and anxiety.

 She tried going back but couldn't find the way. Her anxiety grew even more. To her surprise, it was already dawn. She planned to go when the area was more luminous. Soon she heard some animals, more likely wolves. She quickly hid and excitedly waited for one to be nearby so she could examine it more. She didn't have to wait for long as a wolf approached her. The wolf came closer and closer. Yukio thought it would be best to run. But her body didn't cooperate. She felt as if her soul had given up on her. Not knowing what to do, she closed her eyes. She then felt a hand grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back. When she opened her eyes again, she saw the fence with all the warning signs. She expected to meet someone behind her but was confused and surprised when she only saw Pheonix running towards her.

"You are the one who pulled me back, right?" She asked, extremely confused.

"What are you talking about? I just saw you". Pheonix said while catching his breath.

"Then who was it?"

"How would I know? Plus, why did you just run into the forest? Don't tell me you are still interested in those wolves."

 Yukio wanted to tell him all the things she saw, those beautiful mountains and valleys. But some part of her felt as if she shouldn't. If someone wanted people to know about this place, why would it be guarded? Who even pulled her back when Pheonix saw no one near that place? Millions of questions roamed around her mind, but soon were disturbed by Pheonix's question. "How the heck did you even go across this," Pheonix questioned while examining the fence. "Oh, there is a small opening in the corner." "I can see that, but this fence is electric." These words made Yukio question everything. "No, it isn't I went past that." She then looked on the top of the fence which had a huge board saying: High Voltage, electric shock hazard. "But look," Pheonix said throwing a stick at the fence and sparks could be seen coming out of it. She was shocked. "But-" she said while going near the fence. She hesitated for a bit and then quickly touched it. Expecting her whole body to be in pain and feel numb and her limbs to be stuck in place. However, she was surprised when she felt nothing. Pheonix stood where he stood in shock. Not knowing how to react or what to say. He didn't want to think about this more and thus convinced Yukio that maybe the power had gone off. Yukio, not ready to believe that, thought about going with it. She didn't want Pheonix to think more of it and was glad that she didn't tell him what she saw on the other side of that fence.

 A few weeks had passed since the incident in the forest occurred. Pheonix and Yukio haven't mentioned the incident ever since. Life seemed normal again, which Yukio doubted after the scene in the woods. She felt as if life was taking some unknown revenge on her. Summer break is over now and school has started again. Yukio waited for school to start as it would distract her from other things going on. Somehow, fate didn't cooperate. Yukio was told that her school would be changed as a result of an unknown transfer program. She was devastated. This meant she wouldn't be able to see Pheonix and her other friends. Leaving her friends was not a big issue, being invited to a new environment and making new friends was. When young, Yukio was diagnosed with social anxiety. It was cured to some extent but not fully. It was still hard to speak in a public gathering and to make new friends.

The day came when she had to visit the new school. Despite having multiple panic attacks and several mental breakdowns, she hoped for the best. After getting all the instructions and her class schedule, she was taken to her classroom. She introduced herself but the students didn't seem to care, which was good, as she felt comfortable talking. After finding an empty seat, she made herself comfortable and hoped for a good week ahead. She got to know that the girl next to her was the class topper and expected her to be rude and lonely. She didn't dare to talk to her, the main reason being her anxiety. During lunchtime, Yukio saw the topper, known as Yaleni, going to two other girls, expecting them to be friends. All three of them had different personalities and no one would even guess they were friends. One of the girls, called Yukio over to spend time with them as she was alone. She was shy at first but somehow went over to them.

Upon talking more, she got to know that the girl who called her over was Nora and the shortest one in the group was Andrea. Despite being the shortest, Andrea was the oldest. All three of them get along pretty well and had some weird sense of humor that no normal human could understand. With them, Yukio felt comfortable and didn't need to pretend who she was. Her true self just normally showed in front of them. She experienced this for the first time, even Pheonix had to wait a whole year to get to know her properly. However, it seemed that these girls had already known Yukio. Overall, she had fun with them and was glad to have some company.

The next day, Yukio went to school with the hope of meeting them again, which she did. School seemed easy with them being around. While talking to them she felt something that she had never experienced. It felt as if they were meant to meet. Yukio never had many female friends as she grew up with mostly boys. She got to know more about her new friends, and their personalities. Yaleni was the class topper and was the favorite of every teacher who knew her, well for some of them. She was thin and had shoulder-length hair. She was as tall as Yukio. She had a weird sense of humor and knew when to joke, sometimes. She gave awesome advice and would think logically, unlike the rest of them Yaleni was surprisingly only eight days younger than Yukio.

Nora was the second oldest in the group but also the tallest. She had a sweet personality and helped almost everyone with everything, which led to many using her for work. Apart from guys, even girls were shy when talking to her. She had long straight brown hair and bangs in front of her face. Her facial features would make you want to believe in fairies. She, however, knew how to make everything have a double meaning. Lastly, Andrea was the shortest. She was the most forgiving and would even forgive people who hurt her deeply. She had a unique eye shape and would get most of the men. She had perfect curls that every girl would want. However, her taste in men was horrible. Even horrible seemed a good word for her taste in men.

Altogether, these personalities turned out to be something superior. They weren't popular, nor were they completely unknown. They were known by a fair number of people for their reckless activities, such as climbing weird places, prank-calling people, and much more. They already knew many things about Yukio, except those wolf-related things. Yukio wanted to tell them, so that if they knew anything about the wolves they would tell her. However, some part of her wanted minimal people to know about these wolves.

The week seemed to end rather quickly. Yukio didn't want to leave them and was devastated. Surprisingly, when she got home she got a letter from her old school that she would be studying in her new school as her academic performance was liked by most of the teachers there. She was overjoyed. She couldn't wait for Monday, which happens rarely. On Monday, she was excitedly got ready and went to school. Well, she accidently forgot the bandaid with which she hid her birthmark. Upon reaching school, everything was normal until she met her friends. All of them were overjoyed to see her and even noticed the mark on her face. Nora and Andrea were astonished and praised her for her unique mark, but Yaleni was shocked. Yukio got the feeling that she knew what the mark meant but didn't want to get involved with anything for the time being.

Yukio felt her life was all set, but she didn't know what awaited her at midnight. An incident which will change her life forever and make her hate certain types of creatures. This incident will make her not want to know about the secret and lifestyle of the things that she always chased after.