Hallowina

The night was dark. Far darker than it had been for a while. Even with the light of the full moon that shone between the breaks in the clouds, it was dark. Even with the reflected moonshine in every single heavy raindrop that fell, it was dark.

The rain provided an eerie hiss as the drops splashed about in the many puddles of water.

The mysterious cloaked figure stood in the arched doorway, neither sheltering from the rain nor waiting to go in.

Lightning struck across the sky, causing a nearby owl to hoot loudly.

The lightning cast a blue-white flash across the face of the mystery figure. Her appearance oddly familiar yet strangely different. She smiled a smile that people who don’t normally smile do.

She turned her head slowly to face the viewer, the continued turning her head all the way around, 360°, until it was back to the start.

The figure laughed heinously, then tilted her head back so she faced the rain.

She transformed into a bat and flew away, up into the sky towards the brightness of the moon. Lightning crackled again as if to highlight her disappearance.

In those few moments, the world witnessed the birth of Hallowina.

In her private boudoir, Thomasina put down her pen and smiled. In an act of ‘unscrypted’ synchronicity, lightning crackled outside the window.