The Werewolf Moon of Samhain 2020
Background information:
Each year, halfway between the Autumn Equinox in late September and the Winter Solstice in late December is an ancient holiday we call Halloween. Its name is pronounced "saw win" our "soun" and spelled "S-A-M-H-A-I-N", commonly thought to mean "summer's end". It has long been usurped by Christianity in the quest to convert the "savages" of ancient Britannia and the magic of it's lore quashed under its teaching and the dark curtain of science. But a joke from Ben Franklin has resulted in an even more powerful magic in the twentieth year of this century.
Franklin's joke was that French citizens got up very late in summer and went to bed after dark because of it so they should just set the clock forward an hour at the end of spring, say on May Day, and back at the end of summer, or in 2020: Halloween. The magics of old were awakened that year when a strange convergence of three insignificant events occurred. First, Samhain was celebrated in a somber atmosphere of pandemic. Secondly, a blue moon occurred on this same night. And finally, through the magic of universal belief, the world clock fell back an hour.
The ritual of the night started of very carefully as children and adults re-enacted the ancient rights of appeasing gods long thought dead. The long prosperous days of spring and summer were concluded, and harvests were occurring at a frantic pace. Children dressed as characters and myths going back into our deepest fears (one brave virologist even dressed as a corona virus while his partner was a vaccine). All was well while the sun was up, but as dusk swept from east to west, enormous changes were happening.
The story:
At about 6:40 that night, twilight has truly set in and moon rise is just over the horizon. Two children dressed as classic werewolves were escorted by their babysitter dressed as Elvira. Happily, covered head to toe, the kids didn't have to wear a face mask like their babysitter while they howled and screeched at each of the stations of the street fair before heading into a hay maze. Just before seven, the barest sliver of pale moon light graced the horizon and fog seemed to rise from the damp grounds due to the week's strange cold front showers.
No one noticed at first the seemingly conscious actions of the fog as it formed random shapes and the wind picked up. Soon the moaning, laughter, and howling of the children was joined by crows and ominous, low whistling noises that began to sound like voices. It was strange as the moon rose the children seemed to get more into their characters where once a playful Frankenstein was, a dull plodding one now walked. A child dressed as a fairy seemed to be shrinking and turning malevolent. But the babysitter was having the worst trouble in this small town. As she acknowledge her costume was just a horror show host with props, she didn't feel the weirdness around her.
"Jenny! James! Stop fooling around! Others want to try the maze, so we have to hurry." She turned around and noticed the twins' costumes were look a little ratty and the ears twitched in the breeze. They must have both just drank some water and waited as drool appeared to dribble out their wolf-like jaws. "I've gotta ask your parents why they gave you those old props from 'The Howling'. They look real disgusting." The kids yipped a little at the praise, but it was soon followed by a low growl.
Eyes of gold glinted in the moonlight as young Jessica looked at her charges. The claws of their gloves, hardening and shining a vicious black as they lengthened. Their legs appeared to merge with the costume and show well defined muscles under the damp, mottle grey fur. Her heart racing made the low rumble from the pair more ominous. Step by step, Jessica backed away into the depths of the maze.
Spying some apples and cinnamon, she threw them as distractions at the stalking werewolves, carefully avoiding hurting them and hoping this was all a dream. The mists seemed to engulf these objects voraciously like a child with a bag of candy. The clock chimed seven times in the background before all went black for her. Sometime later she awoke, feeling like she'd landed in a sticker bush as the loud winds roared through her ears and her tail... wait tail? She felt around, fur encased her arms and legs, her face felt strange and the loud banging that woke her counted twelve times. Severe pain assaulted her and the twins with each deafening clang, causing them to pass out yet again. In a daze, they heard the chimes strike one, then two, and one again. Pain, an unbelievable pain washed over the three as the mists receded in laughter with crows cawing and insect chirping horrendously!
The next morning, the clean up crew found the missing twins and their babysitter curled up in a far dead-end corner with disheveled werewolf costumes and fallen haybales blocking them in. Each of them appeared to have a faded birthmark in the shape of a wolf's fang on their neck and no memory of the night before. It was forgotten for a time, until November 30th came round and eerie howling lasted half the night as the three once again vanished in the dark.
