Calm and Calamity

Chapter 5

Day: 215 (Blood Moon)

Days Left: 5265

Lives Saved: 1

In preparation for the blood moon, Harmony was tied to a chair down in the basement of the house. She was still anxious and uncomfortable about the prospect but knew it was necessary to keep herself safe and everyone else. When the moon in the Eternal Abyss turned red, she would have no control over herself. She shivered at the thought of her body no longer in her command. But she wouldn't be the only one not in control.

Every thirty days, the blood moon would appear and force the prisoners of the Abyss to wear their masks, transforming them into monsters and wakening their violent and malicious urges to fight one another.

As her mask was lost somewhere in the ocean, during blood moons Harmony would become entranced, her body moved on its own in search of her mask. Unfortunately, this meant that she would have to venture outside where it was a warzone. In the meantime, before they came up with a safer plan to retrieve her mask or she received a new one, Harmony was tied up, preventing her from wandering outside.

Though no one can resist the beckoning call to their mask, some prisoners could withstand the blood moon's effect of conflict and battle to differing degrees. Calixte was one of the lucky few that the blood moon had little control over him. Only when he was under threat or his personal space invaded did he act with hostility and aggression. Thus, the amphibian sat on one side of the basement with Corinna far away on the other.

Whilst she still had not received her own mask, the blood moon's effect influenced Corinna's mind as violent thoughts and urges consumed her. Nails digging into her palms, Corinna breathed slowly in and out. She flinched every time Calixte chuckled or gasped whilst quietly reading his novel and sometimes humming along to the playing gramophone. With every noise and subtle movement, the thought of murdering Calixte clawed further into her mind. She wanted to snatch that book out of his webbed hands and-

Corinna shook her head, her fingers gripping at her hair. No... She wouldn't let the blood moon influence her like that. Even when she returned back to reading her notebook of memories, Corinna still couldn't manage to keep those malicious urges at bay. Curling up her toes, hands grasping her dress, preventing herself from storming over to Calixte and punching him, Corinna focused her attention to the gramophone in the centre of the basement. Currently, it was playing some of Harmony's favourite tracks to distract the entranced woman from escaping out into the dangerous wasteland. Her eyes glazed and vacant, Harmony watched the pair of holographic dancers swirling above the spinning vinyl record.

Realising that the music wasn't making anything better, Corinna stood up. "I'm gonna go get us some food," she said Calixte.

The amphibian nodded and returned back to his crime thriller.

Climbing up the ladder, Corinna exited the basement to the surface. After double-checking the room for intruders, clutching her spear tightly, Corinna opened the cupboard and took out two silver food packets. As Harmony was in no state to eat, she would have to wait until after the blood moon ended to have her share.

As she boiled the packets in a pan, Corinna stared out through the boarded window. Crimson light bled from outside and through the cracks in the wooden planks and cast the room a dark red. Peering through it, Corinna saw that the once milky-white moon was now stained red, the sky mirroring it.

She sighed, scratching the back of her neck, her fingers retreating when she felt her brand, the word 'treason' that was etched into her skin. The blood moons had been so much easier back when Harmony had her mask. She missed them. They would spend the day dancing and playing games, but they couldn't do that anymore. Corinna had to pay attention and make sure the entranced Harmony didn't escape and get into danger. If Harmony had her mask back, they could return to those simpler days.