Moon

If the hundreds of buzzes didn't wake me up, the PSA did.

A loud blaring came from my phone before I picked it up. My screen lit up with the words in bright red "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON". Confused, I unlock my phone to Google why, when I'm met with the onslaught of messages telling me to look outside.

My heart starts to pound, it seems scary somehow. It's 3am and I got a government text telling me not to do something while a bunch of identical texts are telling me to do the opposite. My head spins as I stare at my phone, every few seconds another text comes in

"It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside!"

"The moon glitters today! It's never been this pretty before"

"Tell your friends! It's gorgeous. Look at the moon!"

In a quick spur of the moment I check Twitter for something, apparently everyone is getting the same message. What could it mean? I get out of bed and cross over to my window, the curtains are pulled over so I can't look through unless I move them. The message said don't look at the moon, so looking outside should be fine, right?

After gently moving the curtain to the side by 2 inches or so, I see..

Sunlight?

No, moonlight. It beams into my room. It's brighter than normal moonlight, and hot. Why is it hot?

Suddenly my curtain catches on fire, all at once. I jump back away from the window, falling. The curtain burns off of the rod and falls to the ground, the light beams into the room and hits my feet, to which they start to burn.

I yelp and go running away to the only room in my house with no windows, the bathroom.

I locked the door and called emergency services. The line rings forever, eventually disconnecting.

I clamber my way into the tub, I can smell smoke. There's more on fire in the house.

My heart beats faster and my breathing quickens. I don't know what to do. I don't know what's going on!

I remember I have towels in the bathroom so I hop out of the tub and grab one, turning on the sink and soaking it in the water. I use the wet towel to cover my nose and mouth with and make my way out of the bathroom.

There's smoke everywhere, I can hear fire crackling in my room. I can see the lights dancing under the crack in my door.

I make my way down the hall in the opposite direction of the fire to my garage. I grab my keys on the way out and climb into my car. I open the garage door and pull out of my home set a blazed. The light can't reach me in my car thankfully, but it sure is hot. I drive down the road, hoping to find some answers but alas, I only find more partially burned houses. Trees and plants caught on fire, but even worse, charred bodies, burning people, laying on the side of the road. Mothers with their children. Fathers with their sons.. Beloved pets..

There doesn't seem to be any escape from the heat of the moon.

I decided to try 911 again but again with no luck. I keep driving, panicking. I called my friends and family, no answer.

When I got into town the worst thing I saw was there, in the middle of the intersection, a mob of people, staring directly at the moon.. or is it the sun? Straight above them in the sky.

But none of them were burning, in fact, they didn't even move. As I got closer, all heads snapped and looked at me before slowly charging my car. Hitting the glass, pulling the mirrors and handles, jumping in front of the tires to get me to stop, everything was done to pull me out of the car and into the middle of the intersection.

Lying on my back, I kick and scream, pulling hair, clawing skin, biting arms. Anything.

Someone drags me by my hair to the dead center, and everything is quiet... Like an eye of a hurricane. The light doesn't burn, I don't hear the screams anymore.

The moon.

Bright like the sun but there was an obvious difference. It blazed in a golden-yellow fire. The flames seemed to lick at my cheeks, it was warm and comforting. I held my eyes shut, remembering the warnings, remembering how the moon burned everything I owned down to ashes, perhaps burning coals by now..

Even with my eyes closed I could feel the moon.

But the flames! The flames were so warm and they hurt, yes, but it was... nice. I couldn't explain it to you, I couldn't imagine it to you, you have to be here to see it! Feel it! HEAR IT!

"Come...." I heard a whisper in my right ear "Selene waits for you" I heard in my left ear.

The voice sounded like a women.. no a man! No, it was a child? The accent.. Was is a Spanish one? Perhaps it was New England.. No, was it Asian? I couldn't tell. It sounded like a cacophony of all the different voices in the world, and outside of the world. It was beautiful, and ugly. Inviting but scary. I could pick out the sharpest of tones with the deepest of bass in a perfect harmony.

My back pressed against the hard surface of the asphalt road, the crystals cutting my skin, I didn't even care. The moon seemed to be the most beautiful thing in the universe. I felt honored to be in its presence..

I felt something press its hands over my eyes. Soft hands. I'm coaxed to open them. My lids flutter open, the hands remove from my face, and I stare..

In to the moon..

And I am at peace.