Chapter 12 Under the Moon Sky

Rana stirred in her sleep. Then, she opened her eyes.

She saw semi-darkness. Her room was dark but a shower of light was cast from the windows. She turned her head toward the window.

Through the thin laced curtain, she could trace the roundness of the moon. She hasn't locked the window earlier. It was tilted open letting the gentle breeze of the wind enter her room. She felt the wind cool on her face.

Who are they? Those people up in the sky? She thought to herself as she lay still on the bed.

She feels like she knew them but she doesn't know their names.

Wait. How could she feel she knew them? She'd never seen them before. She shook her head at the sudden weirdness of her thought streaming then.

Rana rose from the bed and went by the window while she kept her eyes fixed at the moon outside. It was illuminating with its round white light. It felt unusually bright and white tonight, she surmised.

She stood by the window, one hand holding the side of the curtain while she allowed the cool wind to gently brush her skin. The breeze of the night wind calmed her.

Rana knows she's not a regular human. She can teleport. That's what she's aware of. But aside from that, she has no more weird ability to count. And teleportation doesn't necessarily mean she's a monster.

It would be scary to think like that. She thought with a slight fear building up in her chest. Because she knows that she's a gentle soul inside. Rana knows herself far too well that she has never hurt even an insect in its life. She's far way too kind.

She looked back at her digital clock on the bedside cabinet. It was 12:46 past midnight. A quarter minute less and it would be one in the morning. Soon, it will be morning again.

Rana went by her wardrobe and changed her clothes. Grabbing the coat that hung by the hooked wall and folding it on her left arm, she headed towards the door and opened it closing it as quietly as possible.

Since it was already past midnight and Julienne was possibly long asleep by now, Rana walked silently out of their small hallway and went down by the kitchen sink to get a glass. She opened the fridge and took the orange pitcher pouring it in a tall glass. She drank the juice and closed the fridge. She went back to the sink and washed the glass.

She needed a little walk for a while. She couldn't go back to sleep. Her mind already felt awake and sleep won't be coming back anytime soon.

Waking up half past midnight with a weird dream that seemed to strangely bug her and a head that no longer wish to sleep any further, she put the coat around her and felt her keys inside her pocket as she walked towards the front door and unlocked the door. Silently, she walked down the hallway, her footsteps the only sound heard as her boots hit the floor. She went straight to the empty elevator and pressed 1 on the button. The elevator closed with a ding and she waited for it to open when it reached the first floor.

Ran a got out and crossed the floor and went out of the building going straight to the parking space. She went to her car and drove out of the building.

The road was quiet and empty as Rana drove along. She kept the side of her window open and just let the cool night breeze brush her face. There was maybe a car or two that drove past her. The drive was at least a quarter-hour. She stopped when she reached the park.

With a slight slam of the passenger door, she left her car and walked inside the park.

The park was quiet and serene. Shadows and light played on the ground.

She checked her phone inside her coat. It was already one in the morning. Four hours more and it would be morning, she thought with slight care.

She stepped forward and walked along the banks of the lake slightly listening to the sound that her footsteps made. She saw a pair of swans on the other side of the bank. They were immobile and their long necks bowed as usual. They must be asleep.

She was slightly surprised at the sight of them. Don't they sleep on the ground instead of the water? She thought inwardly as she observed more for the next few minutes.

Rana continued to walk along the bank. She enjoyed the feel of the bright moonlight on her skin. It created a beautiful reflection on the water. Like it held mysteries underwater. As if it could open a portal she thought as she observed the round white shape, its form disturbed underwater.

Does someone enter it to go to the moon? She thought. Feeling silly over the thought, she raised her head and looked at the sky.

Then, she remembered the dream she just had before she opened her eyes. They were a bit hazy now. She couldn't remember much anymore when she opened her eyes in the darkness of her bedroom. All she knew was they were covered in silhouettes. In shadows. It was as if the darkness of her room swallowed what her dream was just about seconds ago before she stirred back to consciousness.

She tried to remember inside her mind. She was…she couldn't remember it anymore. She shook her head slightly. She only saw blackness inside her mind.

What was it she dreamt before waking up? She thought racking her brain.

She walked close to the banks, close to where the water was calm and still under her. She peered down into the water to see herself in the reflection. Her face looked back at her.

She lifted her head again watching the bright white moon.

Rana couldn't help admiring its beauty. She liked looking at the moon. She enjoyed it most especially when it's round and big and full. Like right now when it's pristinely white against the black sky.

She felt as if it had magic as its light bathed her.

She was entranced by its sight.

Unconsciously and unaware, while Rana was looking at the moon, she didn't feel that one by one tail grew from behind her.

One by one.

A white beautiful tail shoots from behind her back, slithering slowly, growing out from her lower back, a tiny narrow muscle first shooting up from behind her, growing into a white fur quietly until it swished silently. The process repeated until nine white tails formed behind her.

Rana kept looking at the moon mesmerized by it.

She wasn't aware that she has already grown tails. She wasn't aware that if she looked under the water she would see her own reflection. A different human now. One with nine tails.

She wasn't aware that under the moonlight she was glowing; that under the reflection of the water, she was glowing with her nine tails behind her.

While staring into the round bright white light in the sky, Rana suddenly felt a sudden rage inside her. An unconsumed rage quenched and bottled deep inside her. It was strong and it was raw. She felt her sight sharpened while looking at the moon. She felt strength.

She looked into the lake and could see fireflies floating and flying above the reeds. She focused her vision on the tiny insects and felt her own eyes clearly seeing them. She could even see their small little insides as if her vision was a microscope.

The wind blew mildly on her skin.

She felt the rage died down. It was replaced by calmness. Her sight changed, too. The microscopic vision gradually decreased as she kept her eyes looking at the fireflies. They were only bright neon light dots from her. But she heard more. Her ears turned acutely sharp.

She could hear the slow blow of the wind and the small movements of the leaves of the trees. She could hear the frogs croaking on the pond and jumping from one lily leaf to another. The lilies and their leaves moving ever slightly on the water. The fish swimming underwater. She could hear the plants and living beings under the lake. She heard birds slightly moving as they perched on trees asleep. She could hear their breathing.

She stood still as she heard it all.

Was she like them? Her mind paused on the question. The shadows floating in the sky?

Rana stood by the riverbank unaware that she has changed as one of them. Her tails swishing silently against the moonlight.

She heard a movement of feet from a shadowed tree.

"Enara."

A deep cold voice said the name in the barest whisper.

She turned around.

No longer looking directly at the moon and breaking sight contact with its light, the tails behind her disappeared in a flash.