Lunar Shadow (A Tale of Forbidden Love)

"Ariana, are you coming to eat tonight?"

Albert looked at the brown-haired girl in front of him. The girl was busy taking care of some sick cats and putting them in cages while talking to them. Ariana girded her loins and sighed, she looked at Albert waiting for his answer.

"Are all the students in our faculty coming?" asked Ariana as she unknotted her hair. "I don't think I can."

"Come on Ariana, you've spent years with the animals at the Hospital. It's your birthday isn't it? How can you be so reluctant to celebrate?" Albert clucked his tongue.

Ariana just chuckled as she took off the white medical school coat she was wearing. Ariana did tend to refuse to eat together because she thought of her mother who was alone at home. The girl sighed, she blinked her eyes.

"Maybe next time Albert." she refused softly.

"Ah, you're always like this. Isn't it only a matter of time until we graduate here?" Albert did not accept Ariana's answer.

Ariana nodded, it was true, after all this they would be faced with their final coursework and probably go their separate ways. However, for some reason Ariana was eager to go home that night.

"Albert, my mother might have prepared my favorite duck and roast pork for dinner. I'm sorry, maybe next time?" Ariana looked at Albert guiltily.

Albert shrugged his shoulders. He then patted Ariana's shoulder and left the girl alone. Ariana picked up her bag, saying goodnight to the purebred cats that were looking at her. Ariana then wandered off, heading out of the room.

"Ari, not coming to dinner?" asked Caroline who passed her in the hallway.

"Not tonight Caroline. I have a birthday tomorrow, maybe my mom has prepared food and I can't bear to ignore it." explained Ariana regretfully. "See you at another dinner."

"Ah Ari, I thought you were coming. If that's the case, I'll just give it to you now."

Caroline reached into her bag in a bit of a hurry. Her short blonde hair seemed to sway right and left very quickly as her hands rummaged through. Soon, a keychain in the shape of a stuffed wolf emerged from the pocket.

"Tadaaa, I knew you loved wolves more than anything." Caroline smiled and shook the keychain, which was still wrapped in clear plastic.

Ariana was surprised and accepted the hanger happily. She didn't expect Caroline to give her a gift.

"Hey, thank you. This is very troublesome, how could you give me a gift in the middle of your busy schedule?" asked Ariana while holding the keychain happily.

"I know, since you were in charge of treating wolves the other day you've become obsessed with those animals right? Well, since it's too dangerous, I'll just give you a mini version. Have a good day!" Caroline winked one eye.

Ariana rushed to hug Caroline to say thank you. They parted ways in the campus parking lot and Ariana got into her classic car. She drove down the streets that night while being accompanied by Pop songs that were being hit.

The atmosphere of the Michigan streets that night was not as crowded as usual. The wind was blowing so hard that some trees swayed quite quickly. The area where Ariana and her mother lived was quite close to the forest, so Ariana didn't want to go home late at night to avoid danger.

"Full moon?"

Ariana drove her car while looking up at the night sky that was covered in thick black clouds. However, slowly behind the black clouds appeared a full moon that shone brightly. The closer Ariana's car entered the area of her house, the more clearly heard the howls of dogs and wolves.

Not wanting to bother, Ariana hurried to open her seat belt and backpack that she put on the side seat. The house was brightly lit and the wind was blowing stronger. With quick footsteps, Ariana walked into her house. There was no smell of her favorite roast pork as she had imagined, it was quite quiet and Ariana immediately looked for her mother.

"Mom? Are you home?" called Ariana as she turned her head to the right and left of her room.

There was no answer. However, she heard moaning from inside her mother's room that night. Ariana rushed over and peeked through the door, her eyes wide open, she saw that her mother was making love to a man who was the milkman at her residence.

"Mom!" snapped Ariana.

The two human actors who were making love stopped their activities in surprise. The mother covered her body with a blanket, while the man hid behind the mother's body.

"Ariana, are you home yet, dear?"

Ariana's eyes glazed over. Out of all the men out there, why was her mother even interested in the milkman?

"Are you crazy, Mom? He's the milkman! How can you-"

"Ariana, please listen to my explanation. This is just to ease my loneliness for all those years alone. You know, your father-"

"Don't bring him into this situation again, Mom!" snapped Ariana. "Mom, this man has no future and he's not much older than me. What are you thinking about? A moment's pleasure?"

Mom looked like she wanted to explain, but Ariana held her back. Tears welling up in her eyes, she regretted not going to dinner with the other students if that's how it ended up.

"Have fun, I'm going." said Ariana as she wiped away her tears.

"Ari, wait!"

Ariana grabbed her bag and left the house. She pressed the car key button and rushed into the car. Feeling emotional and disappointed, Ariana turned the wheel out of the house she had lived in for 23 years. Ariana's mind was in turmoil, she didn't expect her journalist mother to be interested in a snot-nosed young man like Daniel. The world felt complicated, Ariana didn't know how to forget the indecent scene she had seen.

The car Ariana was driving was really speeding up. The girl didn't realize where she was going with such emotional feelings. Without realizing it, the car had sped up and entered a fairly quiet forest area. For a moment, Ariana realized that she was going the wrong way.

"Tsk, I'm so unlucky today!"

Ariana cursed while trying to turn the wheel. However, a black cat passed in front of her and she pressed her brakes hard. For some reason, Ariana's car suddenly died.

"Gosh, I forgot to refuel." Ariana pressed her forehead against the steering wheel. "Okay, who can I ask for help in the middle of the forest?"

Ariana pressed her cell phone to call Albert. However, the phone's battery ran out and it simply died when she tried to call. Ariana pressed her forehead against the steering wheel in annoyance, where should she go for help until morning?

Ariana decided to carry her backpack out of the car. If I'm not mistaken, there was a residential area near the forest, at least that's what Caroline told her when she was camping with her boyfriend. Mustering up all her courage, Ariana took a large flashlight from inside her car and walked through the forest looking for the settlement Caroline had told her about.

The sound of the wind against the leaves made the atmosphere very spooky. Ariana couldn't understand why the further she went down the road, the darker the forest became. There was no sign of life, except for the eerie sounds coming from the animals in the forest.

"D*mn, I forgot Caroline was camping in Shettle." Ariana realized her stupidity.

Not waiting to think, Ariana decided to reverse her direction to where her car had stopped. But the road was getting more and more confusing and the wind was getting stronger. There was a full moon shining very brightly accompanied by flying bats.

Ariana accelerated her pace until she didn't realize a big root was in front of her. The girl fell down until her head hit a sizable rock. Fresh blood ran down her forehead and Ariana's eyes widened. However, her ears could clearly record the footsteps approaching her.

In Ariana's blurry vision, it was clear that sharp eyes were looking at her. Ariana knew clearly that those large animals were the wolf packs that lived there. Ariana felt so stupid, was she going to end up there being torn apart by the very animal she was admiring?

There was a terrifying sighing sound from the wolves. I don't know how many there were and they were much bigger than the usual wolves, Ariana's hands were shaking, but her body couldn't get up at all.

"It's true, humans will die with what they like the most. Well, Ariana Christian, a final year student at the Michigan School of Medicine, died tonight being eaten by a wolf.

Both of Ariana's eyeballs closed. The girl felt that everything was dark, only the wolf's howl and the terrifying beast's voice she could hear. Until finally everything was dark, completely dark.

"Is this girl really dead?"

"The wound on her forehead is quite severe. Are humans always so careless? How can a woman walk through the forest at night alone, is she crazy?"

"Probably a breakup. Joseph once told me that humans often act recklessly when they break up."

"From the looks of it, she's a good and innocent girl. What ugly man would make her want to kill herself?"

Ariana heard the dialog even though her eyes were closed. She slowly tried to open her eyelids although it was hard. Her head was completely dizzy and felt like it had been hit by a hard object.

"Hey, she's awake!" someone exclaimed.

There were footsteps approaching Ariana. The girl managed to open her eyelids and tried to see around her. She could vaguely see a middle-aged man examining her carefully. Ariana then blinked her eyes and saw five handsome men standing looking at her and one of them checking her condition w