Chapter 8: The Red Moon
1161 Words
Chapter 8: The Red Moon
I barely remembered reaching the room.
My body felt strangely heavy as I walked toward the bed. Mary was already tired too, so she went straight to her own bed without saying much.
I sat on the edge of my bed for a moment, rubbing my face.
Something didn’t feel right.
I had not drunk that much at the party. At least, I didn’t think I had.
“Why do I feel this drunk?” I whispered.
My head was spinning, and my eyes were becoming heavier by the second. I tried to think about what had happened at the party, but my thoughts were already becoming blurry.
Maybe I was just exhausted.
I lay down.
Within seconds, I fell asleep.
I don’t know how long I had been sleeping when a scream suddenly tore through the silence.
“Sam!”
My eyes opened.
For a moment, I couldn’t move.
Then I heard it again.
“Sam!”
It was Mary’s voice.
I tried to sit up, but my body felt like it was made of stone. My arms were heavy. My legs refused to move.
“What…?”
I struggled against the strange weakness.
Then—
CRASH!
The sound of glass breaking came from Mary’s room.
My heart jumped.
“Mary!”
Something inside me suddenly changed.
Fear rushed through my body, giving me strength I didn’t know I had. I forced myself out of the bed and nearly fell to the floor.
I ran toward Mary’s room.
The door was open.
The window was shattered.
Broken pieces of glass covered the floor.
“Mary?”
No answer.
I looked around frantically.
Her bed was empty.
My heart sank.
“Mary!”
I ran to the broken window and looked outside.
That was when I saw them.
A group of people were moving quickly toward a dark car.
And between them was Mary.
They were taking my sister.
“No!”
I pushed the window open and jumped out.
I landed badly, pain shooting through my leg, but I didn’t care.
“MARY!”
The car started moving.
I ran after it.
My injured leg screamed with every step, but I kept going.
“Stop!”
The car moved faster.
“Please!”
I was getting farther behind.
Then the car suddenly turned.
I tried to move out of the way.
Too late.
The car hit me.
I was thrown onto the ground.
Pain exploded through my leg.
For a few seconds, I couldn’t breathe.
But I lifted my head.
Through the darkness, I could still see the car disappearing into the night.
“Mary…”
I tried to stand.
My leg was badly wounded, and blood was running down it.
But I forced myself up.
I couldn’t let them take her.
I started running again, but the car was already too far away.
Soon, it disappeared completely.
I stood alone in the middle of the dark road, breathing heavily.
Then something caught my attention.
The back of the car.
I couldn’t see the whole plate clearly, but I had seen something beside the number.
A small symbol.
It looked like a red moon.
I stared at it until the car disappeared completely.
I repeated the image in my head.
A red moon.
That was the only clue I had.
I had no idea what it meant.
I had no idea who those people were.
But I knew one thing.
They had my sister.
I turned around and began limping back toward the prince’s estate.
By the time I reached the entrance, my clothes were dirty and my leg was still bleeding.
The guards immediately stepped forward.
“Stop. The palace is closed for the night.”
“I need to see Prince Adrian.”
“You’ll have to come back in the morning.”
“My sister has been kidnapped!”
The guards looked at each other.
“I said my sister has been taken!”
“Sir, please calm down.”
“Calm down?” I shouted. “How am I supposed to calm down when they took Mary?”
My voice echoed through the quiet entrance.
A few moments later, the palace doors opened.
Prince Adrian stepped outside.
He looked surprised when he saw me.
“Sam?”
I rushed toward him.
“Adrian, they took Mary.”
His expression changed immediately.
“What?”
“My sister. They broke into our room and took her.”
He looked at my injured leg.
“What happened to you?”
“They hit me with their car.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Tell me everything.”
I explained everything—the scream, the broken window, the people carrying Mary, the car, and how I had tried to follow them.
“And there was something on the car,” I added.
“What?”
“A symbol.”
“What kind?”
“It looked like a red moon. I couldn’t see the whole plate, but I remember that symbol.”
Adrian remained quiet for a moment.
Then he turned toward one of the guards.
“Bring the investigation team immediately.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Within a short time, the head investigator arrived with several officers.
They questioned me carefully.
Where had the car gone?
What did the people look like?
How many were there?
What did the symbol look like?
I answered everything I could.
Then one of the investigators looked at Adrian.
“There may be a lead.”
Adrian turned toward him.
“What is it?”
“The lake.”
My heart tightened.
“The lake?”
The investigator nodded.
“We’ve had reports of unusual boats moving through that area at night.”
“Then we go there,” I said immediately.
The investigator shook his head.
“We need to be careful.”
“Why?”
He hesitated.
“Because there is an old belief about the other side of the lake.”
“What belief?”
He looked at me.
“People believe a witch lives there.”
I stared at him.
“And you believe that?”
“I believe there are things about that place that we don’t understand,” he answered carefully. “People who have been taken across the lake are rarely seen again.”
My stomach dropped.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“Mary is not going to disappear.”
Adrian placed a hand on my shoulder.
“We’ll find her, Sam.”
I looked at him.
“You promise?”
“I’ll do everything I can.”
The investigators began preparing to search the area.
But my mind remained fixed on one thing.
The red moon.
Whoever had taken Mary had left behind the smallest clue.
And I knew I had to follow it.
Because Mary was not just my sister.
She was the last family I had left.
And I was not going to lose her.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD