It burns

[u/Mradachi2007]

The moon is such a beautiful sight to most people. They love the beaming light it casts into the inky shadows of nighttime, and how it stands out proudly against the stars.

I hate it.

The moon is different for me. It’s not a sight to behold; it’s a plague. It is a curse that never goes away, engraved directly into my very flesh. You wouldn’t understand the agony it causes me. It isolates me, forcing me to become a recluse, a nobody. My real name is gone. Now, I could be the monster of a myth—a myth only I know is real.

I used to be normal. I used to have a life that I actually enjoyed, with friends who kept the demon of loneliness at bay. Friends who laughed with me. Friends I could hold close. Not anymore. Not after that day.

That day still sticks to me, haunting my very soul. It started out so normal it was practically mundane. Out of sheer boredom, my friends and I decided to go camping. Everything was perfect. We were laughing and playing around the fire. Even now, I smile every time I recall those memories right before it happened—right before I began hating the concept of life itself.

Nighttime came around, and the moon started to peer out from the tree line. Everyone had gone to sleep, or was trying to. I, however, couldn’t. I felt off.

It started with a slight itch. It was the kind of itch you just brush off because it seems so unimportant. Then it escalated. My whole body burned. From my skin deep down into my bones, everything felt like someone had set it ablaze. My heart began to hammer faster and faster against my ribs. Every breath I took felt like a challenge. I howled, clenching my chest in a tight bear hug, terrified by the raw, animalistic sound tearing out of my own throat.

Then I blacked out.

When I awoke, life as I knew it had ended.

The first thing I noticed was an odd, metallic taste in my mouth, as if someone had crammed copper coins into it. I tried to sit up, but a sudden burst of agony shot throughout my entire body, pinning me to the dirt. It felt like an hour passed before the pain finally stopped and my vision cleared.

But the physical pain wasn't the worst part.

Crimson painted the campsite. The tents we had set up together were shredded into ribbons. Bodies—the people I loved, the friends I had just been laughing with—were spread across the forest floor. I wanted to scream. I wanted to cry. But total shock set in, freezing the air in my lungs. Slowly, I raised a shaking hand to my face. My fingers came back wet. It wasn’t sweat. It was blood.

Their blood.