Moonless Night, New Light

This is my first posting on Wattpad and I hope you like my short story. Moonless Night, New light is something I wrote a while ago for a school paper.

There is a bit of voilence but not much as it is a Short Story.

Thanks for reading and enjoy.

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The uneven thud of hooves signalled that it was time to make camp for the day. She looked to her husband for instructions as she had only done this a few times before. Her husband, a kind man by her standards but cruel and careless by others, was not the most attractive man a woman could find, but she wasn’t unhappy with her lot as she had seen and been through worse.

The woman did not know the bush and was unhappy to be camping outside with the dangers of the night running around. But she supposed, with a resigned sigh, that the dangers the bush presented her was as dangerous as any street of Melbourne.

Tethering the horse she went in search of firewood as it would be dark soon.

The woman returned to the camp after collecting enough fire wood for the night. It would be cold; even now the temperature was dropping.

Looking to the horizon she saw that the sun was nearly set and was worried as to why her husband was not back.

As the light drew away, the land plunged into the darkness of a moonless night.

Lighting the fire she sat down and waited, alone with only the sounds of the night to accompany her.

She waited there for what seemed like hours, stocking the fire each time it burned low and prayed for her husband’s safe return. She would not survive the bush without his knowledge.

“Bang!!” The sound broke through the night and all noise halted as though even the night was shocked by the sound.

The woman knew the sound of a gunshot and even as she identified it she was scrambling for the safety of the bush. The light of a fire would attract attention from any person that hid within the woods.

Curling her body to get the best view of the camp, memories of recent past flooded her mind.

She had hidden curled behind a dumpster, scared of the men chasing her. She had heard the footsteps before she had gathered the courage to peek from beneath her folded arms to look at the man standing before her. This man had held out a hand to her as if asking her acceptance. She had taken his hand in what had felt like a fit of madness and had, not two days later, married him.

The man crept out of the trees beside the camp and looked around. Searching for her, the thought jumping into her mind.

No others emerged from the bush and so she reckoned him to be alone. He must have waited for them to be separated and he must have killed her husband otherwise he would have been back by now.

She slid herself slowly out of her hiding spot but it was difficult not to make any noise. It was pitch black and she had hidden herself in a covered spot with lots of things that could break the still night.

Turning around the highway man seemed to look straight her and as the cruel light of the fire glinting off his eyes, a sly smile curved one side of his thin mouth. She panicked and bolted from her hiding spot.

Now she’s running, the thud, thud, thud of her feet hitting the rough surface of the ground.

Her entire being fixated upon the echoing footsteps of the man as he followed her rhythm.

Faster now, she ran like she was on the streets again, running from the police as they chased her for stealing that brown loaf of bread that her stomach had begged her to eat. But as fast as she was, she did not know the bush; she did not how to evade a person in the bush. She was used to losing the police in a noisy street, but there was an eerie silence as though the bush itself held its breath, even the wind had stopped blowing and the animals gradually fell silent as she plunged further into the bush.

The woman’s foot caught on a plant in the ground. Her breath escaped her as she landed with an echoing thud on the ground.

The snap of a twig behind her had her twisting around to see the man as his heavy weight crushed her to the bush floor.

Pain was all she knew. Humiliation flooded her and she plunged a finger deep into his eye. As he reared back, his scream of pain seemed to make the bush start again. The night was suddenly filled with sounds and she was gone. Running.

The crashes and screams of pain followed her as ran. He was coming, looking for her.

The woman’s head long rush was suddenly halted as she entered a clearing, the sound of rushing water filled her ears drowning all other sounds.

The sounds of pain and cursing broke her from her stupor. Reaching the river bed she looked for anything to defend herself with. Grabbing a stone from the ground she scrambled atop of a large bolder.

The man entered the clearing and she waited for him to come closer. His steps had slowed, cautious, but bold. Ever so closer he crept, almost there.

The woman tightened her fist around the rock. She would do this right, for she had done this before.

She swung hard and true.

He fell.

Climbing down from the bolder, the woman kicked him in the head, over and over. She cried tears of anguish that he could not fell the pain she felt.

Grabbing all she could from the fallen man, she plunged into the icy water of the river. Washing away the filth and drinking her fill.

The woman was alone now, with no knowledge of where she was and how to find home, walked with silent footsteps into the ever noisy bush, just as the sun peaked over the horizon to flood the moonless night with new light.