From the heavenly skies of Heaven

To the fiery depths of Hell

Let us destroy the evil hearts of men

And save from which their spirits dwell

Let the lives of the strong be spared

And have weak left to be killed

Cast upon them their last and final prayer

So then we may hear their soul's shrill

Fallen Angels - One Fateful Day

"If you do not hold onto what you have, you will for sure lose it." The haunting words of the fortuneteller rang in Ara's head.  "Both the sun and moon will collide and become one.  By the night of the full moon, they will destroy everything.  I sense a decay of sense and reason throughout your life.  Cling onto your happiness, for they will soon be taken from you.  Keep close to the ones you love, for only disaster awaits you."

Ara stared, heading what she told her.  The words echoed through her head, repeating itself over and over again.  What did she mean by it?  What would happen on the night of the full moon?  Ara tried not to take her words seriously and dismissed the thought.

Ara was your normal, average girl, dark hair, dark eyes, and about 5 foot 5.  Like most teenagers her age, she hated school itself but was very active in its extra-curricular activities.  She attended Madison High as a junior and participated in the school choir since freshman year.  She generally had the highest grades of all of her six classes and was very competitive with test scores.  Overall, she was pretty content with her life.

Ara walked out of the fortuneteller's tent.

"How was it?" Dustin asked.

Blink Blink.  "It was quite an experience.  I don't think I ever wanna do something like this again."

"Haha, it was your idea go to here." He replied.

Ara gave him a soiled look.

"Don't worry if it was something bad.  They're fake." Roen said.  He laughed.  "If it was something bad, then I'm sorry to break it to you."

Ara turned around to face him.  Her eyes flashed like stars as she saw him.

Like most 17-year olds, Ara had that special person she admired.  She's had a crush on Roen since the fifth grade.  Practically everyone on campus knew about it, except Roen.  She made it pretty obvious but he never seemed to notice.

"It was bad.  Don't worry." Ara said.

"Ok."

The three of them took off from the fortuneteller tent.  The streets were busy and the usual crowd mingled on the sidewalk.  The city of Madison wasn't anything special.  The people there were nice and treated each other kindly.  It wasn't a surprise if your neighbor showed up at your house to give you pecan pie.

"What did she say?" Roen asked.

"I forgot what words she used...  But she said something like if I don't hang onto what I have, I'll lose it."

"Oh?"

"Yea...  Kinda creepy."

"It's probably something she tells everyone to make them come back."

Ara gave him a guilty look.  "It works."

"What else did she say?" Dustin asked.

"Well...  She said on the night of the full moon, everything will be destroyed."

The two of them stared at her as they walked down the street.

"Wow, she's really farfetched on her fortunes." Dustin said.

"You know..." Ara brought up.  "Tonight's a full moon."

"Exactly.  She wants you to be thinking about these kind of things." Roen said.

"Wow, she's good." Dustin added.

Ara blushed for falling for the fortuneteller's trap.  She figured that what Roen and Dustin said were true.  She tried to forget those words as she walked down the street. 

Roen, Ara, and Dustin headed for the restaurant Fredericka's.  Roen, Ara, and Dustin liked to hang out there after school, eat all their free appetizers, and leave.

Roen opened the glass doors of the restaurant.  The restaurant was usually empty until dinnertime came along.  Roen looked to the corner of the room at the vacant table.

He looked over his shoulder.  "Well, it looks like our table's still vacant."

The three of them walked to the corner of the room and sat down by the table.

The sunlight shined through the glass windows.  The normal spring air blew in through the restaurant.  The usual birds chirped outside on the railing. 

Ara looked at the empty seat beside her.  Then she sighed.  "It's a shame Trenton couldn't come today." She said.

"Yea.  He said he was busy again." Roen said.

Ara nodded.  "I worry about him.  He's been so quiet lately."

"What are you talking about?  He's always quiet."

"Yea.  I guess your right.  He's so depressive to be around you know."

"Yea I know what you're talking about." Roen added.

"I wonder what he could be doing."

"He said he was working on the physics project."

"Still?  I finished that like, two days ago."

"I guess he likes to procrastinate."

"Obviously..."

"You know, he's probably doing something really secretive but he just doesn't wanna tell us." Dustin said.

"Yea I know.  Haha, I could imagine that."

The waitress came by and politely asked them what they wanted.

"Water." They all said in unison.

She smiled and turned around, hiding her dirty look that she gave them.  They chuckled as she walked away.

"So you're choir audition's tomorrow right?" Dustin asked.

"Yep.  I really hope I get the solo." Ara said.

"I think you will."

Ara smiled.  "Thanks.  I really hope I will."

"Well good luck then."

"I'll need it..."

Then, three of them continued on with their usual conversations.

They day went on and soon, the blue sky was covered with a pink blanket.  The sky was tainted with a few orange clouds, glued onto its pale blanket.

"Wow...  The sunset's really pretty today." Ara said, staring out the window.

"Yea.  The sky's pretty clear tonight." Dustin said.  He turned to Roen.  "Hey what time is it?"

Roen looked at his wristwatch.  "It's 4:45.  Almost five." Roen replied.

"Oh already?" Dustin said.  "I should be getting home."

"Yea, me too." Ara chimed in.

Roen, Ara, and Dustin stood up and walked out of the restaurant.  Ara looked up at the clear sky with the sun sinking over the knolls.  She smiled as she watched the sundrops fall and disappear.

Dustin whispered in her ear.  "Tonight's gonna be a clear night.  You'll be able to see the full moon tonight."

Ara turned around and glared at him.  "That's not funny."

"Haha.  Ok ok, I'll stop."

She gave him a threatening look.

"So are you ready?  Did you forget anything?"

"I didn't bring anything to begin with."

"Ok.  I'll walk you home then."

"Ok." Ara looked at Roen and her face automatically lit up.  "Bye Roen!"

Roen waved back at her.  "See ya tomorrow."

"K!"

They said their goodbyes as they left the Fredericka's restaurant.  Dustin walked Ara home and Roen walked the separate way towards his.

He pulled the keys out of his pocket as he neared his house.  He unlocked the white, front door and walked in.  He threw his backpack down and closed the door behind him.

Roen never had anyone to greet him when he came home.  His aunt Ruth had long working hours, but had a pretty good salary.  She was very dedicated to her work and rarely talked to Roen during the day.  She only saw Roen late at night if he happened to stay awake for homework.  Ruth was taller than average and was close to nine years older than Roen.

Roen sighed and threw himself over the couch.  He grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV.

He yawned as it flashed with blue lights.  "News... that's all that's on at this time of day."

He flipped the channels but the windows were still the same.  On every channel, there was the same report.  "A special report?  I wonder what it's about."

Roen leaned closer to the TV screen, sucked into the story.

"Natural disasters, along with terrorist attacks have occurred in the busiest cities of the world." The newscaster reported.  "Fires, earthquakes, and explosions occurred in Tokyo, Los Angeles, and London.  Firefighters were sent to stop these fires from spreading throughout the entire city.  Search and Rescue are aiding families to move away from their homes, threatened by the fire."

Roen's eyebrows crinkled in confusion.  "I wonder what's up with that...  Oh well, Madison's nowhere close to any of those cities."

Suddenly, the telephone rang.  It startled Roen at first.  He waited for it to ring several times but the caller didn't seem to give up.  Roen grumbled and walked over to the kitchen counter.

"Hello...  Ford residence." He said.

"Roen?" the voice said over the telephone.

"Speaking..."

Roen waited for a minute or so before he was answered.  He was about to hang up but the voice came over again.

"Sorry, this is Trenton."

"Oh hey Trenton."

"Hi.  Sorry I couldn't join you guys today."

"Oh it's no problem."

"Ok."

Roen could hear several noises in the background.  It sounded as if he was moving his furniture around.  The last time Roen visited Trenton, the only large piece of furniture he had in his room was his bed and his desk, but that was it.  He pressed the phone closer to his ear to listen to it.

"Err...  Are you ok over there?" He asked.

A few moments later.  "Yea.  I'm fine." Trenton said.  "Hey do you still have that shoeshine kit your grandpa had?"

"Yea...  I think so.  Idunno, I'll have to check."

"Oh good.  Can you bring it to school tomorrow?"

"What?  Why do you need it?"

It took Trenton a few moments to answer.  "To shine my shoes of course."

"Your shoes?" He asked suspiciously.  "Since when do you care about your shoes?"

"I messed them up during P.E."

"Don't you have your P.E. shoes?"

"I forgot to bring them.  And why are you asking so many questions?"

"Sorry..."

"Well can you bring it tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"Ok, thanks.  Bye." He said briskly.

Trenton quickly hung up the phone.  Roen held the phone in his hand and stared at it for a while.  He was beginning to be quite suspicious of Trenton.  He had to admit, he wasn't acting himself lately.

He sighed.  "Well I should o get that shoeshine kit he asked for..."

Roen glanced over at the TV.  He grabbed the remote and shut it off.  He sluggishly walked over down the hallway towards the basement.  The cold breeze blew in from the basement as he opened the door.  He walked in through the doorway as it slammed behind him.  He flipped on the light switch.  The lamp hanging from the roof cast a dim glow on the basement.  Roen walked down, making his way down the basement.

"I wonder where that old shoeshine kit is anyway." He said to himself. Looking around in the dark room.

He carefully made his steps in the dusty basement.  No one had been down there for years.  The last time someone was down there was to put the shoeshine kit away.  Roen wondered what was still left of it.

He blew off the dust on the cabinets as he opened them.  Most of what he found were old books from his aunt's college years.  He coughed as the dust clouded the air like fog.

"Nope.  Nothing here."

He searched through all the cabinets but he couldn't find the shoeshine kit.  He searched through them a second time but he still couldn't find anything.  They were just the same dusty, old books he had found before.

Roen sighed.  "I guess it's not here anymore.  I'll have to tell Trenton I couldn't find it."

He turned back up the stairs.  He flipped off the switch to the light and turned the doorknob.

Just then, a red light flashed.  He could see the red light reflecting off the dark walls of the basement.  He turned around and saw it coming from the cracks of one of the cabinets.

"What the..."

Roen walked down the steps.  He cautiously made each step towards the glowing cabinet.  He could hear his heart pound against his chest as he neared the cabinet.  The red light grew dimmer as he walked closer to it.

"Did I check that cabinet yet?" He asked himself.  "I thought I checked all of them already..."

He put his hands onto the cabinet doors.  He looked forward at it, debating over whether to open it or not.

"Ok..  What could be in there?" He said, trying to reason with himself.  "What's the worst thing that could be in there?"

He took a deep breath and pulled open the cabinets.  He closed his eyes, ready for anything to jump out and attack him.

He stood there for a few moments, and nothing happened.

Roen's eyes opened one at a time.  He peeked into the cabinet.  The red light had ceased away.  Right in front of his eyes, was the old shoeshine kit.

"What the...  I guess I didn't check here yet."

He picked up the box and rubbed off the dust.  He read the label on the box, which said 'Sunshine Shoeshine Kit'. 

"Yep, this is it."

He looked around to see where the red light had gone, but it had disappeared.  The few light rays coming from the cracks in the door led him back up the stairs.  He carried the wooden shoeshine kit in his arms as he walked up the stairway.  He kicked open the basement door.  He squinted his eyes as the living room lights flashed in his eyes.

He looked over his shoulder back at the basement, but it was just as he had left it.  He shrugged and walked out the basement door.

Thanks for reading, really appreciate it.  (Notice how no one ever says "appreciate" it's always "preciate") Ok anyway...  If you liked the story, please leave a review.  Just a little more effort will go a long way.