Crimson Moon

Something or someone...is coming

>>>AMARA

The air outside the school felt sharper somehow, colder than usual, and my bag bounced against my shoulder as I walked beside Kael. He was quiet, which was unusual , and I wondered what he was thinking. Probably nothing, or probably everything.

Something about him was different. Earlier this morning, he was cheerful when he asked me to be his girlfriend, but now here he was....quiet.

He glanced at me once, quick, unreadable, and then returned his gaze to the street. I had the strange urge to ask him if he was okay, but something in the set of his shoulders told me not to. So I stayed silent, letting the city swallow our steps.

Raven Field was alive in a way no other city ever felt. Humans rushed past, but the subtle sounds, the low growls, whispers, the shifting of shadowed figures, made my skin prickle. Even the streetlights seemed to hum with energy I couldn't name.

By the time we parted at the corner nearest my house,my pulse had slowed, but a tight coil of unease remained. Kael didn't even say goodbye. He just gave a small nod and disappeared down another street.

Typical.

I walked the rest of the way home in a daze, half-noticing the familiar streets, half-lost in thought about the way Kael had stared at Lucien. Something about that boy unsettled me, though I didn't know why.

When I pushed the door, the familiar smell of home, dust, old paper, faint coffee from the café downstairs, should have comforted me. Instead, it felt like a background for something else, something waiting.

My room was exactly as I had left it: chaos. Clothes in piles, sketches scattered, a layer of dust glinting in the late afternoon sun. I dropped my bag and sighed.Cleaning felt pointless, yet necessary.

And then I saw it.

The laundry I had been ignoring, somehow perfectly folded, and on top, a small card. Black raven stamped in silver. No words. No explanation. Just sitting there, like it had always belonged to the room.

My fingers trembled as I picked it up.

What now?

Unease curled through me, but curiosity edged it out. Something was beginning in Raven Field. Something that hadn't asked for my attention, and I had a feeling it wouldn't wait for me to be ready.

I stared at the card, black raven stamped in silver, perfectly still on the folded laundry. No words. Nothing. My fingers hovered over it, hesitant, but curiosity won.

Who would leave this? And why here?

I turned it in my hand, examining every edge, every scratch in the silver. It looked ordinary at first, but not quite. A faint shimmer ran along the wing, catching the afternoon light in a way that made my stomach tighten.

"Amara, lunch is ready!" my mom's voice called from the kitchen.

I shoved the card into my pocket, tucking the paper like it might bite me if left exposed, and ran a hand through my hair. "Coming!" I shouted back. The normalcy of her voice grounded me, though the unease lingered.

Downstairs, my younger brother was sprawled on the couch, phone in hand, earbuds blasting music. Dad hummed in the kitchen, stirring something I couldn't smell from here. The house smelled like baked bread and warm spice, ordinary, safe.

Ordinary. That's what they need me to think.

I grabbed a sandwich from the counter, barely tasting it. My mind was on the card. The shadow outside my window earlier. The subtle hum of the city that had felt... off. Raven Field had a way of being alive in ways no one else noticed.

Back in my room, I spread the laundry back out, folding mechanically, but my eyes kept drifting to the card in my pocket. I finally pulled it out again. The raven seemed sharper, somehow. Like it had eyes.

A soft tap at the window made me freeze.

Who's there?

I moved closer, heart hammering, and peered outside. The street was empty, glowing under the late afternoon sun. Nothing. Just the usual flow of humans, and the occasional shadow that didn't belong.

A faint breeze shifted the curtains. I could've sworn I felt a gaze on me, from somewhere out there in the city, cold and precise. Goosebumps pricked my arms.

I sat back on the bed, card in hand, and tried to breathe. The ordinary sounds of my family downstairs, Dad clinking dishes, my brother laughing at something on his phone, were a small comfort. But even they couldn't reach the chill curling in my chest.

Something had started. I didn't know what, and I didn't know when it would reach me. But I knew one thing: Raven Field rarely stayed quiet for long. And whoever, or whatever, had sent this card wasn't done with me yet.

I couldn't leave the card alone. Sitting on my bed, I turned it over and over, studying the raven's wings, the way the silver catch the light like it was alive. There was something... deliberate about it, as if someone had made it just for me.

A sound from downstairs, my brother's laughter, made me flinch. The ordinary life in this apartment felt like a fragile shell, barely containing the strange pulse of the city outside. Raven Field was humming, alive, and somehow, I felt it reaching for me.

The wind shifted again, tugging at the curtains. I froze, listening. Nothing but the distant hum of traffic... or was that a growl? My skin prickled. I tried to shake it off. Get a grip, Amara. It's just the city.

But then I noticed it. A shadow moving across the street below, too fluid to belong to any human, too deliberate to be random. I pressed my forehead to the glass, trying to make out the figure. And then it stopped, right at the edge of the lamplight, and I could've sworn... it was looking up at me.

My heart sped. I stumbled back from the window, clutching the card like a lifeline. Someone's watching. Someone's testing me.

The familiar sounds of my family downstairs tried to calm me, but the tension wouldn't fade. Something was starting, something that didn't care about ordinary afternoons, or sandwiches, or chores.

I held the card tight, feeling the weight of it in my hand. Raven Field had a rhythm, and I could feel it quicken. but I couldn't turn away either.

I sat on the edge of my bed, the card clutched in my hand, trying to convince myself it was just paper, just a prank. But the hair on my arms stood on end, and the room felt... wrong.

A soft, almost imperceptible rustle came from the corner of the room. I froze. My eyes scanned the shadows, tracing the familiar shapes of my desk, the chair, the stack of laundry. Nothing.

Then it shifted again. A subtle movement, like something brushing against the floor,but slower, deliberate, aware. My heart thudded painfully in my chest.

"Hello?" I whispered, barely daring to breathe.

Silence.

And then the curtains twitched. A breeze? I didn't think so. The air was still, but the fabric moved as if something unseen had passed behind it. My fingers tightened on the card.

Someone's here. Someone's close.

I wanted to run, to yell, but the unease held me rooted to the spot. Every instinct in me screamed at the presence in the room, at the weight of the card, at the city humming outside like it knew something I didn't.

A faint shadow stretched across the wall, flickering like smoke. And then, just for a heartbeat, it seemed to pause, as if watching me back.

My breath caught. I swallowed hard. The card pulsed in my hand, almost like it had a heartbeat of its own.

Something had started. And I wasn't ready for it.