Moonlight Lovers

Thirty-eight

RIGGS WINTERS reached the small town of Loudane in Wobrium at around five o’clock that afternoon after leaving by bus from a traveler’s inn he stayed at located in the main city. The air was humid and the Ludresh commercial farm, the one he was writing an article about, was quiet and there were almost no one around. He thought the workers were probably done working for the day. It’s almost evening after all. He’d decided to just come over tomorrow and check on the owners.

He walked about two hundred meters from the farm’s entrance and found a decent three story house near the end of the road. He looked at the piece of paper he was holding where the address of the bed and breakfast he booked a week’s stay in was written. Then he glanced at the gate and saw the number-shaped iron material attached to the cemented wall around the house. He nodded to himself when he saw that it matches the address he had on the paper. He stepped near the gate and pressed the door ringer.

A few seconds later, a stout, short woman in her fifties, with huge pink rollers in her hair, opened the gates for him. “What is it?” She asked, scowling and peeking her head from a small crack on the gate. Looks like he disturbed her in the middle of her me-time, or something.

Riggs felt uncomfortable to continue bothering her but decided he needed his room and introduced himself anyways. “Hi, ma’am. I’m sorry for arriving very late. I’m Riggs Winters from Woodfort Digital Media. I phoned last week and booked a room here.”

The woman’s expression immediately changed. She threw her arms in the air. “Ah yes!” She opened the gate wider to let him in, smiling with her full set of teeth. “I thought you’re not going to make it today. Come in. Come in, your room’s prepared upstairs.”

Riggs felt grateful that the lodge owner shifted her mood. He smiled back and followed her inside the house.

He was pleased when he was shown to his room and found that it was a hundred times better than the room he stayed in in the main city. The wallpapers are new, the sheet and curtains are new, the bed looked sturdy and the furniture inside is well taken care of. He thanked the owner who then handed him the keys and informed him about the breakfast serving time.

Since he is staying for a week at the place, he unpacked and put his clothes in the cabinet and placed his things neatly on the desk. At around seven o’clock, he had taken a quick shower and changed into new clothes, when he heard a knock on the door. It was the owner’s daughter, probably around nineteen to twenty-one years old, telling him that dinner will be served shortly. He thanked the woman and when she was gone, he closed the door.

He was not planning to have dinner that night though. Despite not being able to have a proper breakfast at the inn and skipping lunch earlier, he wasn’t feeling hungry. All he wants to do is continue looking into the articles he was reading about the murders, and start an article with the information he got from the old man he met at the inn.

Riggs knew he probably would never be able to have the murder article published even if he begged Sullivan. He even told him he could lose his job if he continues working on stories that don’t really generate income. How he wished he could change his mind, he’s got so much more to share about the story now. Details that he’s sure even Sullivan would find puzzling.

But he’s there on a different assignment and that must come first. By midnight, he started feeling sleepy from not having any sleep yesterday and so he decided to hit the sack. He woke up the next morning and had a quiet breakfast in the lodge’s dining area. A couple of guests who were staying in the other rooms were having breakfast, too. He felt great when they smiled at him, like it has been a while since he’s had a normal human interaction.

I guess that’s what a day in Wobrium can do to you, he thought. And although he’s from the place, he never really had a lot of pleasant memories there. After his parents gave him up for adoption at age five, along with a baby sister who was just less than a year old at the time, because as their parents say they were trying to save their lives, he felt like he never got to be very happy again. He and his sister were sent to different adoption agencies and from what he heard, she died from a fever. He stayed healthy and was adopted by a well-to-do couple and was sent to a good school, but as he was growing all he could think about was his real parents and his sister.

The family who adopted him lived in Wobrium for a while but moved to Woodfort when he was in middle school. He never got a chance to visit again since then, until now.

After breakfast, Riggs went out to go to the farm. A worker operating a piece of machinery carrying crates of produce to a truck waiting outside stopped when he noticed him walking towards the entrance. He got off the vehicle and approached him.

“Can I help you, sir?”

“Hi,” Riggs said, extending a hand. The guy took his hand and shook it. “My name is Riggs Winters. I work for Woodfort Digital Media. I talked to a representative of the farm owners last month about an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Ludresh?”

“Oh, I see. Well, I can show inside the property, sir. You can talk to the assistant manager,” he said after a while.

He smiled. “Yes, that’d be great. Thank you.”

The worker told the truck driver that he’s going to pause from loading the crates for a second because he’s going to take Riggs to the main house. The man allowed him to ride the machinery he was operating because the distance from the entrance of the farm to the main house is too far to walk. In a few minutes, they reached the ancestral house.

Riggs waited by the foyer where a maid wearing a uniform asked him if he wants anything to drink. He politely refused, saying he’s fine, and waited patiently as the worker who accompanied him called the secretary of the farm owner from inside the house.

Shortly, a woman wearing an elegant blue knee-length dress came out from the house to greet him. “Mr. Winters?”

Riggs stood up. “Hi. That’s me.”

“Thank you so much for coming by. Would you like to come into the office?”

He agreed and followed her inside.

“You have to apologize the clutter. It’s a busy season,” the woman said after coming inside the room after him and closing the door behind her. She occupied the seat behind the white painted desk inside the room. “Please sit down, Mr. Winters.”

“Riggs,” he said, sitting down. “You can just call me Riggs. And, I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m forgetting my manners.” She extended a hand over the desk and he took it. “I’m Cindy Laurier, assistant manager of the Ludresh farm.”

“Nice to meet you, Cindy,” Riggs said. “I hope I’m not catching you at a bad time.”

“No, you didn’t. It’s fine. But unfortunately, the owners cannot entertain your interview request at this time.”

“Oh.” He pulled out his phone and quickly checked his calendar. “I thought I was allowed to do the interview anytime before lunch. It’s what I wrote on my schedule. Did I drop by too early?”

Cindy shook her head. “Mr. and Mrs. Ludresh are not on the farm right now. The couple left to visit a relative in Clessau in an emergency but they will be back in a couple of days.”

“I didn’t…know that.” Riggs didn’t want to waste his time. What’s he going to do in Loudane for a few days while waiting for the owner to come back?

I guess I can work on my other article, he consoled himself.

After a few more exchanges and a sincere apology from Cindy which he appreciated, Riggs decided to go back to the bed & breakfast lodge. Cindy saw him out of the house. When they were outside, however, he remembered something and asked if it’s okay to take some pictures of the farm. Cindy allowed him and told him to just call for anyone to bring him to the farm entrance once he’s done. He told her there’s no need for it and he can just see himself out. He could take pictures, too, as he walks to the gates.

Riggs enjoyed the green scenery around the farm. It was surely a refreshing sight from the towering skyscrapers in the city.

As he was snapping pictures, though, he noticed something very weird. Behind one of the trees near the mango tree orchard, a thin, pale face appeared from the shadows with a pair of crimson eyes.

Riggs almost dropped his camera if he wasn’t wearing it around his neck. His heart stopped for a second and his skin was crawling. What the f**k?

He peeked behind the lens again to try and see if it was really there and he wasn’t just imagining it. But it was gone. Like it hasn’t been there at all. He blamed the hallucination on his lack of sleep and decided to head back to the lodge after a couple more minutes so he could rest. When he reached his room, he went back to all the pictures he took to see if the face he thought he saw appeared in different photos that he just didn’t notice. But the face wasn’t on any of the other pictures he captured.

Riggs dismissed it and retired for the day. He decided to take a nap like he feels he should get and will look into his notes and articles when he wakes up.

A NOISE that sounds like something scratching against the window woke Riggs up in the middle of the night. He squinted his eyes at the closed window of his room and he could still hear the scratching sound.

He grabbed his phone from the bedside table and powered it on, the digital clock on the screen shows 12:17 AM. It was probably just some stupid stray cats, he thought and decided to settle back to sleep. But before he could close his eyes, he noticed grotesque shadows flashing past his windows. It took him out of his sleepy state. Curious, he climbed down from the bed to stare closer at the window. Eventually, whatever was moving outside his window stopped creating an unfamiliar silhouette.

Riggs stared at the bizarre-looking figure through narrowing eyes. He couldn’t make out what it was exactly, but it sure does not look like a cat or something. Suddenly, he heard it hissing, which made him jump back in fear. The sound it made didn’t sound like it came from a small animal. It sounded more humanly…but monstrous. He couldn’t really explain it. He grabbed the first thing he could find from his desk, a fountain pen—a dear gift from the couple who fostered him.

“Who’s there?” He demanded.

There was a long silence, and Riggs thought the thing outside his window had finally disappeared. But then, after a while, in the middle of the dead silence of the night, a loud noise breaks. The glass on the window shattered. Suddenly, before him, stood a dark and tall cloaked figure. It was pale, and their eyes crimson red.

His eyes grew wide. “Help!” Riggs cried. He definitely didn’t want to die tonight. “Somebody help me!”

He heard someone came running up the stairs. The figure glared at the door and growled in anger. Then it wrapped its bony fingers around his neck and strangled him so hard until he passed out. The last thing Riggs remembered before completely slipping out of consciousness was the voice of someone screaming and the broken window frame flapping against the window sill like some heavy wind moved past it.

When he came to a little while later, a woman was gently pressing a hot towel on his forehead. Riggs recognized her, she was the daughter of the bed and breakfast owner.

“What happened?” He asked, getting up on his elbow.

“You passed out. I heard you screaming so I came here but you were having a fever. My mother asked me to stay. She didn’t want any of her guests dying in her bed and breakfast.”

“I’m okay.” He looked outside the window. “Did you see that thing though?”

“Saw what?” The woman asked, confused.

“The dark figure that escaped out the window. It was here when you arrived. I heard you come in the second before it disappeared.”

A crease formed on the woman’s forehead. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And by the way, my mother wants to apologize for the window. The lock was loose, you see. It opened on its own, and the strong wind knocked the window against the sill that’s why the glass broke. I already cleaned it, though. But still, be careful, there might be some shards left on the floor.”

Riggs doesn’t understand what she was saying. It was not what happened. ”No, listen! There was a figure! Here! It attacked me! It was strangling me!”

The woman looked worriedly at him and touched his forehead with the back of her hand. “You’re probably just hallucinating. You have a very high fever. Why don’t you rest?”

“No, you don’t understand. There was a—”

“I will let you tell me everything tomorrow. But you should rest now. I’m sorry again about the window, but I assure you, you’re safe here.”

Riggs decided not to say any more. Something in the way the woman gently touched his face lulled him to sleep. Soon, he was having a very great dream.