The Wild Moon's Gift

I remember laying in my room as the wind was raging outside. I’d always hated storms because of the loud thunder. The rain was pounding against my window as lightening flashed across the walls. I threw my head under the blanket, covering my ears, and began shaking. Despite knowing it was coming, I still jumped as the thunder roared, seeming like it was just outside my house.

Finding whatever courage that was left in my six-year-old body, I decided to go find my parents before the next one happened. I jumped out of bed as fast I could and ran into the hall. My parent’s, if you could really call them that, room was right across from mine.

Running in as fast as my little feet would take me, I was greeted only by the empty bed in their room. I didn’t bother calling out to them because they hated whenever I yelled in the house.

Hoping I still had time, I turned and ran down the hallway to the common room. Just as I made it there was another flash of lightening followed immediately by a loud rumbling. I crouched down as fast as I could, covering my head.

Not long after I heard three hard knocks on the door. I stayed there shaking. Another thing my parents hated was whenever I would answer the door. Especially when they weren’t home. I didn’t move. I assumed whoever it was would just leave like most people normally do when I’m home alone.

They didn’t. They knocked again three times. This time harder. It wasn’t until I heard a voice from the other side of the door that I started paying attention.

“Azra.” The voice called out competing with the storm. “Azra dear, are you inside?”

Without a thought I immediately jumped up and ran to the door, throwing it open. It was my neighbor Mrs. Datura. She was an elderly woman who moved to Asteria from the Bastian Forest. I wrapped my arms around her as quickly as I could, burying my face in her shirt as the lightening lit up the sky again.

She wrapped her arms around me, rubbing my back, as we both walked through the door. Once we cleared the door frame she turned around and closed it.

“Oh dear. Oh dear. Come here little one.” She said crouching down to hug me. “How long have they been gone this time?”

“Three nights.” I said not wanting to let go.

“Have you eaten?”

I shook my head yes. It wasn’t much but I didn’t lie. She continued to rub my back as she held me. Her smell reminded me of the forest after it the rained. I may not have liked the thunder, but I didn't mind the rain. Between her warm hug and smell, the two together felt almost like magic.

I began to feel a tingling on my skin as I started to calm down. We sat down on the old leather chair in the middle of the room. I curled up in her lap as she sang to me. Mrs. Datura waited with me all night through the storm.

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Mrs. Datura continued to look out for me over the years. Anytime I was home alone, which was often, and there was a storm she would come over. Sometimes she even brought food with her. I don’t remember exactly when but at some point I stopped being afraid and started to look forward to the storms.

Sometime after my tenth birthday, my parents finally left and never came back. They would leave often but usually only for a couple days before they came back. It had been a month. I can’t remember if I was even a little bit sad thought I doubt it. It definitely didn’t come as a surprise. Besides I still had Mrs. Datura who was basically taking care of me anyway, and I preferred it this way.

We were a like in a lot of ways. He husband passed away a few years back and they never had any children although she always wanted to. So, she was alone as well. We both loved when it rained, though my affection for it came later on. And we both loved nature. Plants were more her thing and animals were mine.

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Two years later, the summer just before my twelfth birthday, we were basically attached at the hip. Neither of us would be found outside without the other. I think by this point, anyone who saw us assumed could be my actual mother. Something I had wished to be true more times I honestly could have counted.

Most of our time outside was spent at the flower garden just up the road from us on sunny days. The colors of the flowers were so bright, and the trees felt like I could touch the clouds in the sky if I climbed to the top of one. This was our favorite place. Despite the tingles I got on my skin whenever we came here. it almost felt magical.

We were no longer the same people we were six years ago. Once while visiting the garden, she commented on how much I had grown.

“A’ghealach, you’ve shot up like a weed.” She told me as we sat on a wooden bench. Something I doubt would have happened without her. A’ghealach had become her nickname for me. I would ask her several times what it meant but she wouldn’t tell me.

“Someday.” She would always say.

While I was busy growing taller, she grew older. We no longer spent as much time outside like we did before. Walking had become much more difficult for her and anything with hills, stairs, or the like was a definite no. Anytime we did go somewhere I made sure she held onto my arm so I could help her when she needed it.

On the day of my twelfth birthday, she could no longer stand on her own. I found her still in bed when I came over that morning. We spent the day together like we had everyday for the past six years. Any request she made of me that day, I did to the best of my abilities.

As the day grew late I felt an overwhelming sadness come over me while I sat by her bed. The wind began to howl outside as a storm rolled in.

“A’ghealach. Do you wear that sad face for me?”

I didn’t notice when I had begun to cry until the first tear fell down my face. I couldn’t say anything. I could only sit next to her in silence. She reached out and grabbed my hand. The smell of forest and rain began to fill the room. The air made my skin tingle as the storm roared outside

“Life has cycles. Just as the phases of the moons. Some day all life must return to Crann Bethadh. Do you know why I call you A’ghealach?”

I shook my head no.

“A’ghealach means moon.” She told me. “You are the light that breaks through the darkness. Just like the moon at night.”

She weakly smiled and gave my hand another light squeeze before she closed her eyes. The smell of the forest faded from the room leaving only the scent of rain. The tingling on my skin began to disappear.

There was a flash of lightening quickly followed by the roar of thunder that caused me to jump for the first time in six years.