A New Moon

Thomas and Marie Stuart were a young couple who owned a barn. It sat right next to their one story house. They had a small child who was six years old. The boy's name was Johnny. Johnny was a quiet boy who would take care of the livestock with his father. Johnny would feed the chickens as Thomas would milk the cow that his son named "Betsy". Marie would stay inside the house and she would tidy up the place. Thomas was an avid hunter. He would grab his shotgun and go out into the woods almost every day. When Thomas would get back, they would eat whatever game Thomas could find. Johnny always wanted to go hunting with his father, but Thomas said that it was dangerous to go out into the woods. One day Johnny got curious. After his father left, he decided to go out into the woods. His mother thought that he was just going to take care of the livestock. Johnny walked into the woods and looked up at the trees, he saw an owl up there, watching him. Johnny walked past the owl as he looked back at the bird. He stopped walking as they made eye contact. Johnny stopped looking at the owl and continued walking. Johnny was walking as he briefly saw a deer laying down behind a log. He stopped moving and focused his eyes on the animal. The deer was dead. Its eyes were lifeless, but they seemed to be pleading for mercy. Johnny was feeling a small amount of unease crawl into him as if a bug crawled into his ear and planted fear into his brain. Johnny thought that his father would find him, or that his mother would call his name, "Johnny, Johnny are you okay?" Those words rang out in his mind like the screeching of a bobcat. He suddenly heard the snapping of a twig behind him. Johnny turned around as fast as a bullet. His bright blue eyes widened when he saw it. It was a humanoid squatting towards the ground. Its skin was snow white and completely hairless. It was the size of a black bear and one of its three fingered hands was laying on top of the now broken stick. Its other hand was in mid air, as if the thing was crawling towards Johnny. The thing's face was completely blank except for a wide, gaping maw. It was standing still, like a statue. Johnny tried not to blink while backing up, slowly. It just stood there, not moving a muscle. Johnny called out, "Mom! Dad!" His eyes started to tear up as the creature twitched slightly with a loud cracking noise accompanying it. It started to creep closer to the boy as he tripped on a root and fell on the ground. Johnny looked around for a moment and then picked up a small rock. Johnny then threw the rock to his left, it landed in a stream with a splash. The creature looked in the direction of the stream and darted towards it. Johnny got up and started to run back to the house. He didn't look back. He saw the fields of grass and the barn in the distance. He heard a loud shrill noise, louder than a mountain lion's roar. Johnny ran out of the woods and into the barn with the livestock. Johnny fell to the ground and rolled into the fetal position as some of the sheep started to panic. Betsy walked over to him cautiously, never seeing Johnny behave this this before. She mooed at the boy, trying to comfort him. Johnny looked up at Betsy and told her to stay quiet. Johnny then realized that it was dark out, it was a new moon. He laid there in the hay for what seemed like hours, with some of the hay going into his light blonde hair. He heard a growl come from the roof of the house. He saw his mother walk outside of the house with a lantern in her hand. "Johnny, where are you?" She asked. Johnny wanted to reply to her, but he didn't want to give away his position. The creature crawled down from the top of the roof, slowly, like a snake slithering towards a mouse. Marie walked down from the porch and called her son's name as the creature's long arm reached out towards her. Johnny and the animals silently waited for the inevitable. Johnny looked around for a rock to throw, there was nothing. Suddenly a gunshot boomed from out in the woods. It was Thomas, alone, far out. The creature's cover was blown as it screeched and turned around as it ran off into the woods. Marie turned around as she screamed and collapsed on the ground. Johnny ran out of the barn yelling, "Mommy!" Marie was speechless as her son ran over and hugged her like they haven't seen each other in years. Marie looked at her son straight in the eyes and said, "Hide under your bed, your dad will be back soon, just stay quiet."

Johnny nodded his head as Marie signaled for him to go into the house. He opened the door and slammed it shut as Marie hid under the porch in a small crawlspace. Johnny ran into his room and crawled under his bed.

Thomas was in the woods, he saw a wild buck right behind a big tree. Suddenly the buck ran away as the creature ran in Thomas' direction, clumsily running into a tree. Thomas dropped his gun and ran in the other direction as the creature tried to remove a splinter. Thomas ran towards his house as the creature stood up on two legs and started to run towards him, gaining up on him. The creature's two toed feet left massive footprints in the ground as Thomas started to breathe heavily. The creature tripped and started to run on all fours, giving Thomas a head start. Thomas ran back to the house and repeatedly banged on the front door.

"Thomas, down here!" Marie yelled as Thomas looked down to see her under the wooden porch. Thomas then crawled under the porch and hid in the crawlspace. The creature lunged out of the woods and landed right next to the house, burying its claws in the dirt. "Thomas, do you have the gun?" Marie asked in a whisper. "Oh good God, no, I don't have it." Thomas replied. They both knew that it was too late now. "I shouldn't have went out at a new moon." He said. "What are you talking about?" Marie replied. "I've seen that thing before, and I saw what it can do to deer." Her husband whispered. "Well whatever it is, I don't want it doing the same thing to us." Marie said.

The creature scratched its long, blood red fingers against Johnny's bedroom window as the child whimpered under his bed. Its hand then suddenly broke through the glass as Johnny screamed and ran out of his room. Thomas then saw a long, rusty pole on the ground that was about five feet long. He grabbed it and crawled out from under the porch. He stood up as it started raining. He yelled at the top of his lungs, "Hey! If you want to take my son you have to take me first!"

The creature lumbered into view. It roared at Thomas as it rushed towards him. The thing's mouth was wide open, this was Thomas' chance to strike. He ran up to the creature and rammed the pole down its throat. The creature twitched and convulsed violently as blood spurted out of its maw. The creature fell on the ground as it let out a pained gurgle.

Johnny ran out of the house and Marie crawled out of her hiding spot. They all hugged each other as the moon appeared in the sky. Everything was pitch black for a moment. Johnny then saw that the creature wasn't there. Thunder boomed and lightning struck, as Johnny saw footprints and a trail of blood leading back into the woods.