Written 30th May 2008.
"I say," said Alfred Huberdale. "The moon is bright over Lebanon tonight."
"Indeed it is, good sir," replied his friend. "Indeed it is."
Alfred nodded and brought his smoking pipe to his lips. The two men (we're assuming his friend is a man, but it's rather hard to tell with the amount of strange shadow cloaking him/she/it) were lying on a hill. It was night, as you may have guessed, and the moon was quite big and luminous.
"Indeed, it looks like it's laughing!" exclaimed Alfred. "Look at it, grinning away." He grinned too, as if he and the moon were sharing a private joke. Suddenly, the grin was gone as another thought occurred to him. "The moon is always watching us, isn't it? It sees all… Oh, if only it could speak… What stories it would tell! I bet it was watching the very first night I made love to my wife… Indeed, that happened on this very hill! Aah, what joyous times." He lay back on the grass and smiled happily, overcoat folded underneath his head.
"The moon is a strange woman," said his friend, "it has to be said. A strange woman."
Alfred mused on this, stroking his moustache with one hand and waving his pipe around in the air with the other. "A woman, you say? What makes you think it's a woman? It looks quite masculine to me!" He puffed on his pipe a bit more. Green smoke gathered around his head.
His friend moved slightly. "Of course it's a woman. It always has been. Always has been, I say."
Alfred shrugged. "I suppose." He glanced at his companion. "How do you even see?" asked Alfred. "You have no eyes to speak of!"
"There are many mysteries in life, good sir. Many, many mysteries. I am just another. Just one more mystery…" He sounded quite forlorn as he was speaking. Alfred felt sorry for him.
"There, there, good chap," said Alfred comfortingly. "No need to get upset." Indeed, his companion seemed to be crying! Of course, it was rather hard to tell, not being able to see his face and all, but great black puddles were gathering on the ground. The shadow-creature was growing larger and larger, the shadow swirling and the black goo rising.
"I say!" cried Alfred. "Calm down!" He struggled up and tried to run away, only to find he couldn't move one jot. "Help!" he shouted. "Help me!"
The creature (he was not a man any more!) was about ten metres high now, and the shadow was flickering in the night breeze. A sad, empty noise was coming from the creature. It echoed around the hill and surely carried down to the village a few miles away. The noise was strange: sad and lonely and somehow lost.
Is that thing singing? thought Alfred. The goo was now up to his shoulders, and Alfred was well and truly stuck. He could move a little bit, and managed to extract an arm from the substance. What a strange night this has been. He waved the limb, trying to get the gigantic creature's attention. "Stop this!" shouted Alfred. "Stop! I'm drowning in your… stuff! Help! Help! Help… Help meee…" His cries were drowned out as a huge wave of goo covered his face, and he disappeared in a sea of black.
The creature stopped for a moment, seemingly gazing down at the spot where Alfred had gone. It started to shrink, and shrink, until it was man-sized again. The goo disappeared, and an owl flew on by overhead. The hill looked the same as it always did. Nothing strange had happened here tonight. The creature picked up Alfred's body and walked away as the moon shone in the sky, smiling to herself.
~REVerse