The Moonheart Heir

Chapter 1: You Shouldn't Have Come

My mom died saving me from it. 13 years later, it came back.

The day my mother died was the worst day of my life. She died because she was protecting me from something. I never understood what "it" was. But 13 years later, "it" came back. Today was the day she died. So I decided to go to her grave.

When I got to the cemetery, it was much quieter than I thought it would be. There were no people talking. No birds. Just silence. I was holding a bouquet of white lilies in my hands. White lilies were my mother’s favorite flowers. I held them tight because my hands were shaking a little.

I walked down the same stone path I always walk. I know this path very well because I have walked it every year.

Every single year, on the day my mother died, I come here to visit her.

Sometimes life gets very busy. Sometimes I feel tired and I think, "Maybe I should just forget this day." But I never do. And today, here I am again.

I got down on my knees next to her old, weathered headstone. The stone was rough and cold.

There was a thin layer of dust on her name. I used my hand to brush it away very slowly and carefully.

I ran my fingers over the letters of her name. I could feel each letter under my fingers.

Then I closed my eyes for just one second. "I still miss you, mom," I whispered quietly. I tried hard to hold back my tears and the deep pain in my chest. The wind blew around me, but it didn’t answer me. It only made empty sounds. The wind carried the smell of wet dirt and old, dying flowers to me. It was a sad smell. No matter how busy my life gets during the year, no matter how many things I have to do, this one day always brings me back here. This is the only place where I still feel like my mom is close to me. This is the only place where I still feel like she is with me.

I was brushing the last bit of dirt from her name when I stopped.

Wait. There were already flowers on her grave. I looked down. They were fresh flowers. I touched one of the petals with my finger. It was soft and new. Someone had been here today. Someone had put these flowers here.

But who? I did not tell anyone that I was coming here today. Not a single person knew.

So who could have come and left flowers for her? I stood up slowly. I turned my head and looked all around the cemetery. I listened very carefully. I tried to hear every small footstep. I tried to hear every rustle of the leaves in the trees.

The question kept going around and around in my head: Who came here? Who left flowers? Suddenly, a cold chill ran through my whole body. The small hairs on the back of my neck stood up straight.

I stood up all the way. My forehead felt cold and wet with sweat.

I looked everywhere. But I could not see anyone. The cemetery was empty.

I took a deep breath. I decided to put my own flowers down next to the other ones.

But right at that moment, I heard a sound.

CRUNCH Footsteps. I immediately stopped breathing.

CRUNCH. The sound was closer now.

CRUNCH. And then it stopped. The whole place was silent. CRUNCH!

The sound was right behind me!

My fingers opened by themselves. The bouquet of flowers fell out of my hands and dropped to the ground.

I spun around as fast as I could. I turned so fast that I thought my neck might break.

But there was no one there. No one at all.

My heart was beating very fast inside my chest.

That’s when I saw it.

There was something carved into my mother’s gravestone. It was a symbol, and I knew that symbol. It was the exact same symbol that was on the necklace my mother gave me before she died. She used to kiss me on my neck every night before I went to sleep. Right on the spot where that necklace used to lie.

The necklace had that exact same mark on it. I reached out and ran my finger over the crescent shape that was cut into the stone. I had seen this before. My mind went completely blank. I couldn’t think. The image of the carving just kept going around in my head and it made no sense, and then I heard it. A voice. A low voice right behind me.

It said: “You shouldn’t have come.”

As soon as I heard that, my hands started shaking very badly. Cold sweat started running down my forehead. My legs felt weak, like they were made of jelly. They could barely hold me up. Everything inside me was screaming, "Get out! Get out now!" I didn’t wait to hear any more sounds. I turned around and I ran.

My sneakers hit the hard pavement as I ran as fast as I could. I ran straight through the big iron gates of the cemetery. I did not look back even once. The whole time I was running, I felt like something was right behind me. But I was too scared to turn around and look. My chest was burning. It hurts to breathe. But I didn’t stop. I kept pushing myself to run faster. In my head I kept telling myself, "It’s all in your head. You’re just imagining things. You’re just seeing things that aren’t real." But deep down, even I knew that wasn’t true. I couldn’t even convince myself. While I was running, I bumped into another person. "Sorry!" I shouted quickly, and then I kept running.

My own heartbeat was so loud in my ears that I couldn’t hear anything else around me. I just kept running and running until I finally saw my apartment building in front of me. Only then did I dare to quickly look back over my shoulder.

There was nothing there. The street was empty. I kept telling myself over and over that I had imagined everything. That I was just stressed and my mind was playing tricks on me. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not forget what happened.

The memory was so clear. It was as clear as if it was happening right now in front of me.

My hand was shaking a lot as I put my key into the lock of my apartment door. The key made a loud, stiff, groaning sound as I turned it. The door opened slowly with a long creak. A cold, quiet silence hit me as soon as I stepped inside.

"Hello?" I whispered into the empty air. "Is anybody here?" There was no answer. Only quiet. I peeked into the kitchen. It was empty. I looked into the living room. It was empty too. There was a door that led to the bathroom, and it was open just a little bit. I swallowed hard. I took a deep breath. Inch by inch, I pushed the bathroom door open. Nothing was inside.

After checking everything, I started to feel a little bit safe in my own home again.

I walked into my bedroom. The only sound was the quiet humming of the old refrigerator in the kitchen. I pushed my apartment door closed behind me with a loud thud. My bag slid off my shoulder and fell to the floor with a soft sound, and that’s when it started. A faint smell came into my nose. It smelled like metal.

I frowned and wrinkled my brow. I didn’t know what the smell was at first. But with every careful step I took toward my bedroom, the smell got stronger and stronger. My eyes looked down at the old wooden floor near my bedroom door, and there it was. A dark stain was spreading across the wood. My heart suddenly felt like it stopped. Then it started beating again, but very slow and very painful in my chest. I took one more step toward my room. Then I took another step. The dark stain on the floor caught the light from the room and shined a little bit. It was blood.

The blood was still wet.

I opened my mouth to scream.

But before any sound could come out, I heard something from behind me.

A low, deep, rumbling growl.

It was coming from right behind me.