Chapter 3: The Mark Beneath the Moon
1074 Words
The next morning Linda got ready and headed to school.
She made few friends and they chatted after school before she went back home.
She also heard rumors about the forest again and this made her wondered but as always she shoked it off.
The forest behind Linda’s school was never supposed to be crossed after sunset.
That rule had been repeated so many times it almost sounded like superstition and ancient stories, like something teachers said just to scare students into behaving.
But tonight, Linda wasn’t thinking about rules.
She was thinking about him.
The way he had stood in front of her two nights ago.
Silent, watching, like he knew her name without ever asking for it, like he had been waiting for her specifically.
And worse… the way her heart had reacted.
Linda tightened her jacket as she stepped over the broken fence at the edge of the woods. The air was colder here, heavier, as if the forest itself was breathing.
“Stupid idea,” she whispered to herself. “Very, very stupid.”
But she kept walking anyway.
The path was narrow, twisted with roots that looked like veins under the soil. Moonlight filtered through the trees in thin silver lines, turning everything unreal. Every sound felt louder than it should—the crunch of leaves under her shoes, the distant call of night birds that suddenly stopped whenever she paused.
She wasn’t sure what she was looking for.
Maybe answers.
Maybe danger.
Or maybe just proof she wasn’t imagining things.
And it also sounded as if someone was following her.
A branch snapped behind her.
Linda froze. Oh my God she said.
Her breath caught in her throat as she slowly turned.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
“Hello?” she called out, immediately regretting it.
Silence answered.
Then a low sound—somewhere between a growl and a sigh—rolled through the trees.
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Sweat rolled through her skull.
At that moment she imagine all sorts things
“You’re here again,” a voice said.
Linda had a sweet relief but also spuned around fully this time.
Frank is that you she asked with a little bit of fear in her.
Who are you?
He was standing there.
Not stepping out of the shadows.
Not appearing suddenly.
He was just… there, as if the forest had shaped him out of darkness itself.
The same boy.
Same eyes—gold, sharp, unsettling.
Same calm expression that made her feel like she was the one out of place.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Linda said quickly.
“No,” he agreed. “You shouldn’t.”
That response surprised her more than fear did.
He took a step closer. Linda didn’t move back, though every instinct told her to.
“You followed me,” he said.
“I didn’t follow you,” Linda corrected. “I came into the forest. That’s different.”
A faint expression crossed his face—almost amusement.
“You came into the forest… at night… after seeing something you can’t explain,” he said. “That is called following.”
Linda hated that he had a point.
Wind moved through the trees, and for a moment, his gaze shifted upward, as if listening to something she couldn’t hear.
“You shouldn’t stay long,” he added.
“Why? Because of you?” she challenged.
That made him pause.
For the first time, something flickered in his eyes—something deeper. Not anger. Not pride.
Warning.
“Yes,” he said quietly.
The word hung between them.
Linda crossed her arms. “If you’re trying to scare me, it’s not working.”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“Then what are you doing?”
He hesitated.
And in that hesitation, something changed in the air.
The forest seemed to grow quieter.
Even the wind stopped.
“You saw me,” he said finally. “That night.”
Linda swallowed. “I saw something. I don’t know what it was.”
His gaze locked onto hers.
“But you remember it,” he said.
She didn’t answer.
Because she did.
The silence between them stretched.
Then he stepped closer again, slower this time, like he was making a decision.
She couldn't see his face cause it was covered with a mask.
“There are things in this world,” he said, “that don’t belong in the places humans build.”
Linda frowned. “And you’re one of them?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Just the truth.
“What are you?” Linda asked quietly.
His eyes flickered toward the moon above the trees.
“Someone you shouldn’t get close to,” he said.
That wasn’t an answer.
But it was enough.
A sudden rustling came from deeper in the forest.
Both of them went still.
His posture changed instantly—subtle, but sharp.
“Go,” he said.
Linda looked toward the sound. “What is that?”
His voice dropped lower. “Not me.”
The rustling grew louder.
Closer.
Too close.
Linda took a step back.
Then another.
But her eyes stayed fixed on the trees.
Something moved between them—too fast to fully see, too large to be natural.
Her breath hitched.
The boy stepped in front of her.
“Stay behind me,” he ordered.
“I don’t take orders from—”
A low, deep snarl cut through her words.
The forest broke open.
Whatever it was moved fast—shadows and glowing eyes rushing forward like a storm.
Linda stumbled back.
But before she could fall, the movement ended.
One moment he was standing still.
The next, he wasn’t.
The air shifted violently.
A blur of motion, something inhuman, something powerful.
Linda gasped.
And then—
Silence again.
The forest was still.
The thing was gone.
But so was the calm.
The boy stood a few feet away now, slightly crouched, breathing heavier than before.
And there—beneath the moonlight—Linda saw it.
A mark on his neck.
Dark.
Glowing faintly.
Like something burned into his skin.
Her voice barely came out.
“What… are you?”
He didn’t look at her this time.
“I told you,” he said softly. “Someone you shouldn’t get close to.”
She noticed someone carrying her but could not see cause it was blur and then she fainted.
- Writer
