Two many Moons and other tales of woe - Anita Marie Moscoso

The Riders attacked our camp at sunset.

One Rider tried to actually lift me up onto it's horse by the hair on the back of my head. So as it lifted me up I pulled it's arm down and unseated the ghoul from it's horse.

Then I took it's head between my hands and bashed it's skull into a tree.

It didn't die, but I didn't think it would. I just wanted to hurt it as much as I could before it finished me off.

That was the plan, then I had a better idea.

I stole it's horse and that' s when the real trouble started.

The horse screamed underneath me; it threw it's head back and when it did the back of it's neck caught me in the face and broke my nose and both of my eyes swelled up right away and I was nearly blinded.

Then the horse tore through the trees, the hills and villages. Do you understand?

It tore through them.

The entire time I was sure of one thing; that horse wasn't breathing, I don't even think it was alive, I don't think it was an animal.

It was a storm.

That's what it was...a storm.

Finally I worked up the nerve to turn the reigns loose, I threw my hands up and I let the force of the storm carry me off and away and here I am...

In these dark woods with two moons and no stars in the sky and something is moving in the trees, something with too many eyes.

I wish I were alone, I really do.

Part Two:

I spent my first hours in this place carving one bad word after another into the trees here in the Dark Wood I'm stranded in.

When I ran out of bad words (and I'll brag here, I came from a multi-lingual family I know LOTS of curses) my hands were so cramped I couldn't open them even to drop the knife.

I was exhausted and I wanted to cry but when the Horse broke my nose it did something to my entire face which now felt too big and numb. Hey, maybe I cried an ocean of tears but I couldn't feel them.

All I could feel was that awful numbness.

Finally I was tired, I felt alone.

I leaned against a tree and slid down to the ground and rested my head against my knees.

Now this was real life, and I know that sounded all very dramatic but the truth is I must have got a million splinters stuck to my back, my shoulders and you know...my backside from doing that and then when I learned forward and pressed my face against the ground because I wasn't done feeling sorry by myself something unable to crawl into my mouth tried to crawl up my nose.

I sneezed it out and looked up and there they still were...two moons.

One blood red the other dull blue.

Screw you Two Many Moons.

That's what I thought.

And that's what I ranted at the top of my lungs until my voice was ruined. Still no matter how loud I yelled or cursed it didn't scare THEM off.

They were still there; my symbols of failure, two very unnatural reminders I lost my temper, lost my faith, lost my ways and now I'm in this Place with Dead Black trees and bugs trying to nest in my mouth and if those things in the trees are so damn curious...

" get the hell down here and show yourself, otherwise GET LOST! "

The trees shook and those eyes disappeared into the upper branches.

It was dark and not getting any lighter and I'd been here for hours.

Well, there sure as hell wasn't anything to look at so I opened the bag I'd brought with me from Duwamish and shook everything out of it onto the ground.

OF COURSE there was no food in it...oh hey look here! No water either and surprise!

Sunglasses!

I rolled over to my side and laughed, really laughed and put them on. They were an ordinary pair of glasses, wireless with black lenses

I let them slide down my nose and I looked at the other things that had slid out of the bag. There was a map...I wonder if I can eat it? And a key. Oh great. Just what I need....

Glasses I can't see out of, a map for a place I'm nowhere near and the key.

Neato.

I was impressed with myself. This had to be the best case of self sabatoge anywhere in creation. I mean,I deserve an award or a medal for this!

Then ....

I looked back up and the stars were there.

Bright golden stars that looked close enough to touch. The constellations were all wrong but you know that was okay.

It was okay because stars are stars and they were light and they were there when nothing else was.

Then I followed the horizon and miles away I saw something to designed and formal to be a natural part of the landscape.

It was a building.

I pulled something out of my ear, popped it between my fingers then leaned down and picked up my map,key and knife and carefully packed them into my bag.

And then I started walking.