bad day, full night

 As the moon rises, bright and shining in the eastern sky, you can feel its pull on you. The full moon draws at the emotions contained within you, crashing them against their barriers. For some the barriers are weak and break immediately, snapping their sanity and leaving them to instinct and emotion. For others, like you, the barriers hold and their emotions are kept in check. So when other people are out in the moonlight wreaking havoc and running amok, you are safe in your home.

 But tonight is different, dangerously so. There is an added stressor that wears at those barriers throughout the day. Today is Friday the 13^th and, for those of a superstitious mind, that makes it the unluckiest day of the year. A day once called “witch’s Sabbath” and a number that is a depravity of completeness. There are those who are too afraid to even leave their homes on this day, who refuse to fly or drive or work.

 Even if you are not superstitious, it still weighs on your mind. Anything that happens on this day is attributed to bad luck, no matter how simple or profound. Accidents and incidents are emphasized, and by the time the moon begins to rise and the tide begins to shift the barriers within your mind have been worn thin.

 Looking at the moon, staring deeply into it, you hear a rushing sound, as if the ocean itself were right before you. You feel an urge to run, to howl, to be free of your burdens. Never before has the moon looked so large, so near, as if you could reach out and pluck it from the sky.

 The ocean sound has become a rumble, and then a roar as it fills your ears and your thoughts. It is the wave of your emotions, your instincts breaking loose and coming forth in a tidal wave to submerge and eradicate your rational thoughts. That last thing you comprehend, beyond the roar in your ears, is a howl. It starts out low and guttural, gaining in pitch and loudness as it grows. Something breaks loose in you and you go to shout, but you hear only the same sound coming from your lips before you lose yourself and the world goes dark…