Existing like they were in a state of lifelessness, Luna and her parents, Catharina and Masum, lived in an inhabited area within the forests under poverty. Luna grew up reserved and jumpy; a figure caught in the corner of her eye was enough to get her scared. This disposition, however, was not caused by the eerily darkness in the woods but was rather developed by her ignorance and inability to explore what lay ahead.

Luna, in an attempt to discover another place for leisure, had meandered to the west part of the woods. While she wandered, cold droplets began touching her porcelain skin, signalling the visit of rain. She decided to go to a nearby shed to wait for the rain to stop when she passed out because of tiredness. She woke up feeling anxious, so she touched her neck to make sure that the necklace given by Masum was still there. This necklace is very important to her because, according to her father, the necklace will protect her. However, when she looked at it, the former dark blue color of the pendant had become black. Thinking to herself that it was just because of the unlit shed, she wondered about it no more, thinking it was better to go back home.

While walking, she saw at the side of her eye a black silhouette lurking behind her. She turned around and saw no one but an axe in a tree marked with an “X”. She felt a cold air hug her body and felt scared, but she shrugged it away. Convincing herself that someone might have just left a mark on a tree to ready it for cutting.

She then saw Catharina’s back not far away and called out to her, but her mother did not reply nor turned around, and with the blink of an eye, she was gone. Wondering where her mother went, Luna ran after her, but she failed to catch her.

Luna ran back to the house as fast as she could, and while running, she again saw a black shadow. The sky was also getting dark. Her cold sweat made her chill, her heart was beating fast, and she was running out of breath. She could feel the black silhouette behind her, and if she stopped, something worse could happen. Luna ran desperately to their house, and there, she saw Catharina in their flower garden waiting for her, smiling so big, asking where she was going. When she was about to answer, she saw a different kind of smile and felt a different aura from her mother. Luna’s eyes became drawn to the big smile and rounding big black eyes of Catharina, and she felt scared. She went inside the house hurriedly, a faint laughter of her mother still echoing. Luna became restless. She locked her room, added an extra lock for her safety and fell asleep.

The night came, and Luna lit the gas lamp in her room. She heard a faint muttering coming from beyond her room, indicating her father was back. Luna slowly unlocked the door and approached her parents for supper. When Luna felt comfortable around Catharina, she took the chance to talk to her mother about why she was laughing when she ran back to the house. Catharina looked at her confused and said,

“I just got back a few minutes ago.”

Luna insisted on what she saw that afternoon, but Catharina denied it and shrugged it away.

It was late at night, and Luna was still awake when she heard a loud wail, prompting her to go out of her room. She saw her father, Masum, lying unconscious on the floor. Catharina appeared suddenly, her face emanating what she could only describe as distraught.

Luna was stunned. She felt her knees weaken, and before she could go to her father, Catharina cryingly checked her husband to see if he was still breathing and tried to revive him. Tears began pouring from Luna’s eyes, too, her fist closed in an attempt to compose herself. All she could do was beg her father to wake up.

It seemed that the two had already shed a bucket of tears, that all they could do after was to stare blankly. They couldn’t process the tragedy that happened to the patriarch.

After an hour, Luna collected herself. She looked for a white sheet and gave it to Catharina, who still didn’t bear any reaction in her countenance. Luna sighed heavily and slowly covered Masum’s corpse.

While Luna was covering her father’s body, she began to feel uneasy. Glimpsing at her side, there it was again: the black silhouette, now with its head downcast, its gaze penetrating Masum. As if only waiting for her to recognize its presence, it disappeared into thin air.

After a while, Luna and Catharina heard a knock on the door that was becoming louder and louder. The blow of the wind outside their house intensified, followed by loud knocks on their windows. The frigid breeze enveloped her, causing a shiver of fear to course through her. Once more, her attention was brought to Catharina’s eyes. She wished she didn’t. Her mother’s eyes turned all dark, pairing the uncanny smile etched on her lips.

“𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚.”

The circumstances earlier, from Catharina’s odd behavior and the eerie feeling that continued to beset her sanity, she could only conclude one thing: she had no reason to feel safe around her mother. So she threw the gas lamp at her mother, who only broke into laughter, menacingly and inhuman.

With her heart beating fast, Luna ran outside. It would make her feel safer if she was not within her mother’s grasp. Not even far from their house, she stopped her tracks when she saw a girl wearing a black dress.

Out of impulse, she called the stranger. And as the latter turned around and Luna saw her face, she became speechless. From the porcelain skin, brown colored round eyes, the naturally red lips to the half-tied long wavy black hair, the girl looked exactly like her, save for the pretty black dress in contrast to her worn-out shirt and baggy trousers.

“Who are you?” Luna asked.

The girl replied, “I am you, and you are me.”

Luna then remembered the black figure, which seemed to have long hair, that she kept on seeing every now and then, and the feeling that someone was following her. She became afraid, and stepped backwards, and said in almost a whisper,

“You-you’re the black shadow,” she stuttered between her words, ”You’re the one who kept following me everywhere!”

Plastered on the girl’s face was a hint of confusion.

She raised her hand in her heart, slowly coming towards Luna. “Please don’t be afraid. I’m only looking after you.”

Then they heard Catharina shout Luna’s name and saw her outside the door. The girl put herself between Luna and Catharina, making Luna feel safe. Which made her think that the girl was protecting her.

“Don’t hurt her, please!” the girl pleaded to Catharina.

Even so, Luna’s mother did not listen and, with her voice thundering, she said furiously, “No! You cannot dictate to me what I should do with my own child!”

“You have to pass on me first before you can go to her,” the girl said with an evil smirk.

Harboring the courage to confront her mother, Luna was determined to face Catharina head-on. But as she stepped forward, she felt that someone kicked her back and felt a nerve-wracking pain throughout her body.

Luna didn’t know what was happening to her; it felt like her bones were breaking, and her upper body and lower body were twisting in opposite ways. It also felt like her head was about to burst in pain; and suddenly, the girl disappeared in the thin air. Then she saw Catharina arched her back and coughed a lot of blood. Luna was not in a sound state of mind, and she once more experienced discomfort hugging her entire form. After a while, Luna regained her strength and saw the girl looking concerned for her. Then her eyes go to her mother, who is lying down lifeless.

“What happened?” Luna asked, but the girl reasoned out that she also lost consciousness, and she didn’t know what happened either.

They decided to go out of the woods and report the incident to the police. In the middle of the quiet, dark forest, footsteps hitting the dry leaves and grasses, as well as the gas lamp that Luna carries, can be seen. She walked hurriedly with the guide of the girl at her back on how to go to the town. It felt that the walk was taking too long, and when Luna was about to demand that they could rest, the girl announced that they were near. Dragging her feet because of tiredness, Luna, alongside the girl, walked to the side of the road and went to the police station.

Luna was on the verge of entering the building when the girl spoke to her and said hurriedly, “I cannot go with you inside. I have to attend to something.”

“Oh, that seemed to be important, but I don’t know what to do inside,” Luna said unconfidently.

“Just go inside and ask at the front desk that you have to report what happened to your parents. I have to go now,” the girl said. “I will fetch you later,” the girl added with a big smile on her lips and left, which made Luna no choice but to approach the police alone.

Inside the station, Luna made a concerted effort to recollect the events of the preceding hours. She remained introspective but fixed her gaze downward as she provided her account.

The investigators harbored doubts about Luna’s statements but proceeded to their residence for an inquiry, all the while keeping Luna detained at the police station. And there, having collected the pieces of evidence, the police concluded that Luna was responsible for all the murders and had fabricated an alibi to avoid being jailed.

Within the confinement in the detainee room, Luna sat on the frigid floor, overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness and vulnerability. She was thinking about how to escape from her cell when she suddenly sensed a presence lurking behind her.

“Is anyone in there?” Luna asked, almost in a whisper.

The girl emerged unexpectedly from behind Luna, startling her. Luna was taken aback but immediately inquired how the girl had gained entry, but received no response. Luna did not waste any time, seizing the moment; she sought assistance getting out of the cell, but the girl proposed a deal. In exchange for the help she would provide, Luna should first give her necklace. Desperate to go out, Luna unquestionably removed her necklace and handed it to the girl, yet what unfolded next was unexpected.

The girl just smiled at her and said meaningfully, “I will pick the door lock. I will help you go out of this cell secretly. Just wait, and… DON’T MOVE!”

Luna was caught off guard by the girl’s shouting but also felt a little relieved as she waited for the girl to do something.

The girl inhaled and exhaled deeply and then blew into the necklace. Even though the pendant was made of sapphire, it shattered like ashes and flew throughout the room until it vanished. As the girl inhaled in front of Luna’s face, her breath came to a sudden, jolting halt. It is like her body suddenly doesn’t know how to breathe, even when her brain wants to. Her strength diminished. Her blood seemed to have been drained. Her lips, which were naturally red, had turned into a shade of blue. And in the blink of an eye, Luna’s heartbeat, once a steady drum in the symphony of life, fell silent in an abrupt hush.

“What lurks behind is your death, and lurking behind you would give me life and more power,” the girl said to the lifeless Luna.

The girl disappeared and was later seen on the street wearing Luna’s necklace without the pendant while walking like a normal person.

Minutes later, a woman was found dead on the sidewalk after the girl in black bumped into her.

Written by April Bautista
Illustration by Jamie Cruz