Encounter Under the Pale Moon

The memory of a certain incident was what it took to erase with laughter the bitter taste that had been caused by accidentally stepping into Maika's privacy. Of course, the laughter could not last forever.

The one who interrupted the pure moment was, of course, Aiden, who, in his peripheral vision, coincidentally caught a glimpse of something that instinctually caught his interest.

—Ah? —he said reflexively.

About twenty meters diagonally from him, where he was walking, there was a small canal about five meters wide that extended for several dozen meters, with some curves and passes under the bridge that our protagonist was currently crossing. On the shore of the small canal with a depression of 2–3 meters, under the full moonlight, peeking out from the clouds carried by the wind, was a girl bathing, increasingly immersed in the canal.

Although it didn't have a greater depth and the intensity of the current wasn't anything to worry about, as it was an artificial and systematized stream, anyone who saw the scene unfold would raise a series of questions. Thus, Aiden hastened his pace.

—I just saw something strange —said the young man, his breathing clearly more agitated than before.

Someone who had been drinking and couldn't control their alcohol? Was the girl diagnosed with depression and was trying to commit suicide? Whatever was happening, he did not need a clear picture to act. Certainly, it was alarming to see someone take a nighttime bath in the canal, especially because they were in a somewhat remote area from the urban conglomerate. On the outskirts of the commercial district, there were mostly warehouses under construction and other storage facilities.

—It's in the middle of the canal, near my dormitory. I'm sorry, I have to hang up, there's a girl, she's bathing, I'm scared.

Aiden cut the call even though he heard Maika going through half a sentence: "A girl what!? Hey, stop a sec." She didn't even finish forming the word when the call was ended.

Aiden ran to the nearest point to the canal edges, without a second thought, threw his suitcase aside, and slid down the slippery and mossy inclined wall; walked along the water and called out to the girl several times before she became aware of his presence. Despite the poor lighting, he was able to get a good look at the girl in the middle of the canal.

She wore a thin white one-piece dress, which was now almost transparent, with subtle floral designs and decorations here and there. Her smooth red hair, completely wet, flowed delicately from the top of her head to accumulate, like a pool of blood, around her in the water that reached just below her waist. Her bare arms displayed a porcelain quality as the hanging water was seductively removed from the right arm by the left in a downward motion.

She began to walk towards Aiden, her legs, as they were being uncovered, revealed to be long and thin. Her face was rounder than square, but had firm accents on the jaw; her thin lips lacked color, surely due to the cold; the thick and ascending eyebrows gave her a certain aggressive profile. Then there were the eyes, her eyes, big and deep, like two cavities directed to the soul.

What was disturbing about them was that there was nothing there. One could get lost for hours in her sober and rowdy dark eyes. It was as if all light were absorbed in them to never escape, as if all reflection was going to die there; like a drop of ink in the water, only it was floating freely through the membrane.

But the most striking thing for Aiden, undoubtedly, was that from those precious, or perhaps horrifying eyes, depending on who you asked, a transparent liquid flowed down each round cheek.

She was crying, moreover, she seemed to be suffering. The clumsy way she was crossing the water and writhing in her arms betrayed her Stoic expression.

Clearly, it was hard for her to walk, but Aiden was hypnotized, he knew he should go to help her, but a part of him enjoyed the view. He was worried and at the same time intrigued, that girl had captured his interest in some way.

Once she was close enough, he extended his hand and helped her jump the small mound to firm ground. He watched her in silence as she squeezed the base of her dress and the tips of her long hair until she determined that that was she could to squeeze out of both.

—What were you doing out there? —Aiden asked.

—Well… An unsolicited helper did their thing, and as a result, my clothes got dirty. I needed to wash them urgently.

—W-what?

—I left him without any further ado because he seemed like a good person. But if I see him again…! He better never cross my path again. Ahhh! I can't get rid of the smell, no matter how much I wash it.

—What smell? I only smell the water from the canal.

The expression of the girl, who until then was apparently calm, changed to one of pain, and hugged herself as if she were experiencing a spasm.

—Hey! Are you okay? —Asked Aiden, cautious not to touch her impulsively, worried of hurting her unintentionally.

—It's not surprising that you don't smell it. Hehe. I've always had an excellent sense of smell. By the way… What is this? You… You smell good.

—That doesn't matter. It must be cologne —said Aiden, even though he did not put on anything this morning. What's more, he probably was pretty sweaty from all the walking.

—First, let's get out of here to dry you off; otherwise, you'll catch a cold.

—Oh, don't worry. In fact, I've never been sick. Super seriously, for all my life that I remember, I've never needed to take medicine or injections. This is what happens when I use "that" and don't eat well. Wow… I don't know what it is, but really, you smell superb.

This girl was writhing over her stomach, leaning forward, almost facing the ground, so her hair obscured her face. For some reason, the last words she said made Aiden remember what his classmates had talked about during recess. His heart sank, it stopped for a second. But once that second, flew by, nothing happened.

«I must be paranoid, it's the fault of those dreams. I'm on edge lately. Yes, must be imagining things» Aiden said to himself, but for some reason, he felt nervous still. Something inside him was telling him to leave there and quickly.

He watched carefully as the girl arched forward and took the first step back.

—Well, if you are fine, it's better for you to go soon. I have to do the same. They say there's a loose vampire in the city —he added sarcastically. Though truth be told, he did not know whether his words were a joke or a warning, and took a second and third step back.

—Yes. It's true —said the girl, slowly raising her head to face him—. Take care as well, your aroma… You smell good.

—Ha. HaHa. HaHaHa. Okay, you take care too. Goodbye.

Aiden turned and quickly climbed the short, steep slope; heart racing. Instead of continuing on his way, he turned back to where he had come from in the first place. Either way, in his dormitory there was no one, not a soul, and for some reason his heart was telling him to go where there were more people.

The teenager hastened the pace as he heard the crunching of the grass near the canal. His black dismayed-hair became zappy as if he were underwater with the suffocating sound of drops hitting the ground behind him, just one meter or so away.

He froze, couldn't turn around, wouldn't dare to do so. His breathing became chaotic, and his vision swayed as if he had been hit. Every centimeter, every ounce of his trembling body, excreted cold sweat and an unconsciously primordial chemical compound ran wild throughout.

The soaked girl, with thirsty eyes, threw herself at Aiden, shoving her whole weight without even considering for herself. The young man with unruly hair managed to miraculously dodge the girl's charge, rolling to the side. Without stopping to see what had happened to his attacker, he hurried, not caring about where or why, he just wanted to escape from there. He couldn't think clearly, terror had gripped his bones.

Unknown to him, a plausible substance, fluctuating like smoke in the wind, a black wind, began to articulate with the surroundings; to appear and disappear at will, as if it had a shifting will of its own.