Midnight (editted)

         There they were singing, dancing, eating, all the creatures having a good time under the moon. Tonight was like every night under the pearly white moon. On everyone's mind was the same thought: nothing could go wrong, everything would continue to go as planned.

Then the crickets stopped their chirpping, night birds stopped flying, and the lake waters ceased their ripples. Then the shot was heard.

         Goblins stopped their laughter, werewolves began snarling, and the mythical music from the elves and fawns was no where to be found. A full five minutes went by, then shadows began to emerge from the woods and more shots were fired. The Unknowns. The beings that all creatures were afraid of, they were here, and they came prepared.

         No one had seen these hunters in many moons, they were suppose to have forgotten of the mythical creatures in the woods, but this ambush proved otherwise. They were armed with guns, nets, and cages. Magical beings began dispersing further into the forest in chaos, screaming and howling. Mermaids sank to the abyss of the lake, goblins ran for their caves , and werewolves started fighting off the Unknowns or headed for safe haven. Fairies swarmed to the treetop hideaways and elves crawled back into the underground burrows. The Unknowns threw nets mainly catching fairies or firing guns and barely missing other creatures. The area was in utter chaos, then the clearing was silent except for celebratory Unknowns. Few were lying dead covered in blood, others captured. Two werewolves were knocked out and had been thrown into cages, several elves and goblins were packed into other ones, a mermaid gasping for water laid under a net, and fairies were barely moving along the ground like swatted bugs. Unknown forces had come into the clearing and began packing up their catches and heading off into the depts of the night. Mourning cries for help were heard throughout the forest, but the safer creatures weren't willing to offer help for fear of capture. Before being out of sight of the moon, caged creatures caugth last glimpses of its beauty, and prayed for its power to aid them.
         Up in the sky, which had been lit by the moon, all was darkened. No stars, no magic, just silence. It was a blanket of darkness and despair. The moon was gone.

         Cree opened her eyes. A moment ago there was music, and it had been helping her drift into calmness. Then the next moment it was just the piercing sounds of screams. She stood up, but saw nothing through the heavy darkness, though she could sense this was worse than anything she had ever known. Her wings began to flap, her feet lifting fro the ground, she flew quickly for tree to tree, growing closer and closer to the clearing. Then she saw it. The scrambling commotion, the hunters and their prey, the unconscience creatures, the dead. She continued to look on unsure of what to do, then a shot was fired. She felt the bitting adn intense pain as soon as she was hit. As if time stood still, Cree fell down the tree, hitting almost every branch on the way down, then the cold ground. Her breaths were raged, and her hand was at her side covered with blood. Her vision started fading, and movement became limited. Shadowy figures loomed over her, staring, their eyes waiting with anger. Hands lifted her up then threw her into a cage. Cree's eyes closed then slowly opened again watching as the moon disappeared. Her mind became blank, everything was blurred, and then faded in blackness. Gone.





         The alarm clock rang with a intense screech of some random metal band. Darian's sleep rudely interrupted by the reminder of school. He reached over, picked up the alarm, and threw it at the wall. Quietness once again. He laid in bed staring at the ceiling decorated with glow in the dark stars that had been there since he was seven. A loud honking noise sounded from outside his window, he got up and starred at the black truck waiting for him outside. A waving hand came from the passenger side window, his friends motioning for him to hurry up and get in the truck. He took a deep breath, closed the window, and got dressed. He vaguely remembered hearing a faint scream in the middle of the night, but he thought nothing of it as he headed downstairs. Dad had not been home all night apparently, a note was left on the counter stating that he wouldn't be back for a couple days, something about much needed work at the lab. Whatever! Darian thought. He grabbed an apple and his messenger bad, and headed out the door.

         Darian sat in class watching the clock slowly tick away the time, waiting anxiously for two thirty for when he would be out of the hell hole everyone called school, more like a prison for kids.
1:30 Tick.
1:31 Tick.
1:32 Tick.
He let out a sigh. This is gonna be a long last block of foreign language class he thought. Just then a note was passed onto his dark brown wood desk. He picked it up looking around for the writer, but no one gave a hint of suspiscion. He settled further into his chair and unfolded the paper reading the writing:
The old abandoned warehouse building at the edge of the woods had lights on last night. Me and some of the others are going to check it out tonight. Wanna come?
He knew who sent it now, he had seen this handwriting before when its sender had written him love notes when they dated. Ariella. He turned his head and rested his eyes on her face, an she gave him a smile. Darian faced back to the front and then down at the note. The old warehouse had been built about seventy five years ago near the Clearing's Cross woods. There had supposedly been a terrible chemical accident that destroyed half the place and people, so no one has ever gone there since. Some older folks in the town had said ghosts were known to inhabit the place and howl at night, but lots of people nowadays doubted the idea. Yet having lights turned on up there was pretty suspicious. Darian thought long about it, knowing the people him and Ariella hung out with, most of them probably were just going up there to get drunk and smoke a bit. They were always asking for trouble. Ever since the party three years and the famous Cross High School incident, their group was always up to something crazy. Finally the idea of not being at home by himself won over his thoughts, it was a Friday night anyway. He turned back towards Ariella and nodded, and her face brightened with enthusiasm. He tried focusing his attention on the teacher, but he couldn't so his focus went straight to the clock again. Where had the time gone?
2:25 Tick.
2:26 Tick.
2:27 Tick.
2:28 Tick.
2:29 Tick.
2:30 Ring!

         Darian had managed to get a ride back home to get changed for the group's little adventure to the warehouse buidling. No messages from dad or anyone else, so Darian heated up some pizza rolls and practically swallowed them whole, and grabbed the keys to his motorcycle. He went outside and started up the vehicle, then drove off towards the edge of the woods. He noticed the small gathering of cars and trucks parked off the side of the road and pulled up beside Stark's black truck. Stark and him had been best friends all through out school, they had each other's backs and hung out every weekend. Once he was off the bike, Stark was already heading down to meet him.
"Darian!" Stark had the stereotypical atheletic build and features. Blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, and scary huge muscles. Yep that described Stark Lee perfectly, but Stark never liked sports, just the working out part.
"Dude, where have you been? We've been waiting for ya."
"Yeah, I got caught up, it's cool."
"Oh damn. Your dad gone again man? Ya know you can always come to my house, mom has been dying to have you over again, it's almost like she thinks your the other son she never had." Stark said jokingly.
"I'll think about it, but last time I came over and Dad couldn't find me, he about blew a couple bolts. Wouldn't wanna cross him when he turns in to an errupting Mount St. Charles." Darian added sadly.
Quizzically Stark asked, "If he gets so blown up when he can't find you or whatever, then why does he go away all the time? Sounds to me he's being an ass."
"Yea well you know Dad, typical asshole. So who else is here?" Dariain added changing the subject.
Stark caught the hint, and changed the subject as well, "Oh well, some the guys had better things to do, then a few of the girls chickened out. So mainly it's just about eight of us, not too bad of a number to go snooping around with."
         Darian and Stark headed up the hill and around a group of trees and found the rest of the group drinking two bottles of vodka. Ariella, Drina, Levi, Jordan, Phoebe, and Kaleb; the right people to have when starting a party. No one ever really mentioned it, Ariella was the slut of the group, but everyone thought it. Drina was Jordan's sister and knew how to get the hook up with the drugs and alcohol; Levi was the inbetween, he usually hung out with us but other times he stayed around with the Goths; Jordan and Phoebe were the couple, Jordan the atheletic guy and Phoebe the bad girl next door type; then Kaleb, the guy that was rumored to get the whole cheerleading squad drunk and sleep with them all in one night. Yep their group was full of some pretty awesome people.
"Yay! I'm so glad you showed up, I was beginning to think you were gonna leave us high and dry." Ariella said to Darian, and he quickly noticed the bottle in her hand.
"Yea, well when are we going up there?" Darian asked ignoring Ariella. He looked further up the hill and saw the looming warehouse building. It was about eight o'clock now, and the buidling looked eerily scary.
"Yea, yea, yea. We're going. Alright, put up the bottles." Jordan announced.

         Ariella headed over the almost empty drink, hopefully she hadn't drank all of it by herself. Drina poured out the last remaining drops of the bottle she was holding, and Kaleb put out his cigarette. They threw the bag one of the guys brought into the back of Stark's truck and then started towards the building.