The Second Moon

When Margo’s fiancé, Derek, left her for his ex, she thought the world had ended. But then her best friend, Priya, and Priya’s husband, Leo, insisted on a distraction. They took her to the coastal town of Saltmarsh, where they had rented a small cottage for the weekend. Margo had always loved the ocean, but now it seemed like a vast, indifferent void.

They arrived at dusk. The cottage was perched on a cliff, overlooking a rocky beach. The wind was sharp, and the sky was a bruised purple. After unpacking, they walked to the local pub for dinner. The pub was warm and crowded, but Margo felt a chill that no amount of fire could dispel. She stared at her fish and chips, her mind replaying the moment Derek had said, ‘I feel nothing.’

Priya touched her hand. ‘Hey, we’re going to see that new sci-fi film tomorrow. You’ll love it.’ Margo nodded, but she hadn’t been paying attention. She had noticed an elderly woman at the bar, staring at her. The woman had a wild mass of grey hair and rheumy eyes. She raised a glass as if to toast, but her lips moved as if she were muttering a curse.

Later that night, unable to sleep, Margo walked to the window. The moon was full, but it seemed too large, too close. She blinked, and for a moment, she could have sworn there were two moons in the sky. She rubbed her eyes, and there was only one. But the night felt wrong, as if the moon’s light was seeping into her skin.

The next day, they went to the cinema in the town center. The film was about an alien planet with two suns. As they watched, Margo felt a growing unease. A man in the row behind her kept whispering about ‘the second moon.’ She turned, but he was just a shadowy figure. When the film ended, Priya asked, ‘Did you enjoy it?’ Margo lied, saying yes.

They decided to take a walk on the beach. The sand was dark, almost black, and the waves crashed with a strange rhythm. Leo pointed to the horizon. ‘Look at that cloud. Looks like a face.’ Margo saw it: a gaping mouth, a hollow eye. She shuddered. ‘Can we go back?’ she asked.

That evening, as they had dinner in the cottage, the lights flickered. A chill swept through the room. Priya said, ‘Probably just the wind.’ But Margo felt a presence. She looked out the window and saw a figure standing on the cliff’s edge, backlit by the moon. It was the old woman from the pub. She raised her hand, and the moon seemed to pulse.

Margo woke in the middle of the night to a sound like scraping claws on the roof. She went to the window. The sky was empty of the moon, but there was a pale, glowing orb descending toward the sea. She knew it was the second moon, and it was falling. She ran to wake Priya and Leo, but they were gone. Their beds were empty, the sheets cold.

Terrified, Margo ran outside. The air was thick, like breathing water. The second moon was now a massive sphere hovering over the water, casting an eerie blue light. On the beach, two figures stood motionless. It was Priya and Leo, their faces upturned, unblinking. Their mouths were open, and a thin, silver filament extended from each of their lips, rising toward the moon.

Margo tried to scream, but no sound came. The old woman appeared beside her, gripping her arm with a skeletal hand. ‘You see it too, girl. You’re one of the chosen.’ Margo shook her head, pulling away. ‘Let them go!’ she shouted.

The old woman laughed. ‘They’re already gone. The second moon feeds on grief. It calls to those who are hollow. You’ve been feeding it since you arrived. It’s taken root in you as well.’ Margo looked at her own hands, and in the blue light, she saw thin, silvery threads rising from her fingertips. She had been feeding it too.

She turned to run, but the ground gave way. She fell into a crevasse, plummeting into darkness. The last thing she saw was the second moon growing, filling the sky, and she knew it would soon replace the real one.

Margo woke on the beach, shivering. Priya and Leo were lying beside her, unconscious. The second moon was gone, only the normal one remained. They helped each other back to the cottage, but Margo could not forget the sensation of the threads within her. And at night, when she looked at the moon, she heard a whisper in her mind, but it was more like a distant hum. She knew that the second moon was out there, waiting for the grief to rise again.

Weeks later, back in the city, Margo stood on her balcony, watching the moonrise. It was perfectly normal. Yet, as she felt a pang of loss for Derek, she saw a flicker—a second, smaller moon, darting behind the main one. She blinked, and it was gone. But she felt the threads tighten, and she smiled despite herself. She had become a vessel, and the second moon would always have a home in her.

She never told Priya or Leo what she had seen. But sometimes, when they looked at her, they saw something in her eyes that made them uneasy. They would change the subject quickly, but the evidence was there: every night, when the moon was new, Margo waited for the second moon to appear again, and she knew it would, for it had claimed her heart.
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