The Witch

     Bathed in light, glory, and glamor, the residents of Beacon Street were all extremely gifted and special in their own ways.

     There were twenty-four houses in total on Beacon Street. Despite having similar layouts, each and every one of the houses were decorated and customized uniquely to their owner’s delight. Some had stainless white brick walls, while others were painted neon pinks and greens and even rainbow. 

     The wide pallet of colors on the houses were complemented by different decorations. Mr. Randall’s house was decorated with many spotlights that lit up when it got dark, shining glory upon his forest green home. Mrs. Diagna’s pastel pink house was decorated with lilies, morning glories, violets, bluebells, and every flower you could think of. Lush, green leaves crawled up the side of the walls and made their way from the ground to the second floor balcony. 

     The children loved to play at the fabulously designed playground in Mrs. Falk’s backyard. They followed the stepping stones that led the way to the playground, past apple trees with their flowers in bloom, to the godly paradise where the children could play to their hearts’ content. Beacon Street was an utopia, where everything was perfect.

     Except the Witch.

     The residents of Beacon Street whispered and gossiped to one another, spreading rumors to one another while watering their plants and adjusting their pinwheels, about a gothic lady dressed in all black. Some people brushed it off as a child’s imagination, while others believed in it to the very end. 

     The thing was, when night fell and the stars started to twinkle in the sky, the Witch would come out from her ghastly home somewhere underground and harvest the moonlight.

     Mr. Jackson said he saw her one night, when he was coming home from work, standing by Mrs. Yaga’s home. The witch was wearing an ebony black cloak over a deep purple dress, a hand with a bottle in the sky. She was scooping the mystical magical abilities from the moon in an enchanted flask, planning to use the pure liquid for her evil spells and brews.

     Mrs. Eagleston claimed that she saw the moonlight reach down onto the street, and settle inside the Witch’s bottle one night, when she was getting ready for bed. 

     Peter and Wendy, two of the teens that lived in the neighborhood, reported that they heard her cackle into the cloudy night sky one night, a faint green smoke erupting from somewhere in the darkness. 

     So one day, the residents began to formulate a plan to catch the Witch before she could do any serious harm. 

     The Witch tended to come out during the full moon, when the moonlight was at its peak. The next full moon was six days away, so the civilians had little time to prepare.

     Mr. Thompson weaved tightly-woven nets to catch the Witch in. Mrs. Burdock, the cleverest person in the neighborhood, calculated the two places where the Witch would most likely come out to gather moonlight. Casey and Caroline, a pair of twins extremely skilled in fencing, would lie in wait, in case the Witch acted up or something.

     The rest of the neighborhood were quick to make that night perfect for moonlight gathering. They trimmed away the branches from nearby trees blocking the two sites, released a swarm of bats in the area, and created a system that would turn off all the lights in the neighborhood an hour before midnight. When the clock struck twelve, everyone would be watching at their windows, waiting for the Witch to fall into their trap.

     It was perfect. Foolproof. Mr. Riley, the head of the police department, was even waiting in his car, in case something did go wrong and Casey and Caroline couldn’t handle it. Those whose houses were closest to the two sites had at least one fighter at the front door, armed with a rolling pin or frying pan or whatever they could find, waiting for the signal to rush out, if needed.

     But when the dreaded night came about, nobody remembered to check the lunar calendars for special events.

     At first, everything went according to plan. At eleven, all the lights in the neighborhood went out. At five past eleven, Casey and Caroline were in position. The traps had already been set the day before. By half to twelve, armed fighters were awaiting a possible signal at their front doors. 

     The residents were sure—no, confident that they would be able to catch the Witch. It wasn’t a matter of prejudice, simply a matter of safety. How could they wander around their neighborhood without fearing their childrens’ safety when there was a witch prowling about? 

     At midnight, the moon turned red.

     Nobody moved. Nobody did anything. Nobody could do anything either. They all just stood at their windows and positions, staring at the moon, stunned.

     Instead of a full, large shining white moon, there was a full, shining blood red moon.

     When the Witch stepped out into the middle of the street in a black cloak with deep purple lacing, nobody moved.

     When the Witch extended a hand with a bottle towards the moon, nobody moved.

     When the Witch drank the moonlight, right then and there, nobody moved.

     It was only when the Witch started to levitate into the air, a purple aura and breeze surrounding her, that people started to scream.

The Witch lowered her hood, revealing glow neon purple hair, and demonic red eyes. An angry frown was set upon her face.

"You dare to attempt to capture me?" The Witch hissed venomously. "I have lived here for thousands of years, long before any of your ancestors even set foot on this continent! I will not allow such petty acts of defiance against the Lunar Witch to stop a being as powerful as I am!"

The 'Lunar' Witch stormed off into the deeper parts of the storm that she had aroused, and when the mini-storm settled down, she was gone with the wind.

     The next morning, there was no talking or shouting or laughter. No cheerful greetings to the neighbors, no tag played by the children on their way to school, and not even Mrs. Diagna came outside to water her beloved flowers. 

     What they had witnessed was too great to forget. 

     From that day on, the Witch had a new name.

     Lunar Eclipse.