Ashwood Forest Under the Blood Moon

On the outskirts of Maplewood, a small, seemingly perfect town, lies Ashwood Forest-a thick grove of old trees said to be cursed. The locals stay away from it, especially when the harvest moon is shining and turning a deep scarlet. Legend has it that during the blood moon, the forests are prowled by evil beings who feed on anyone stupid enough to approach them.

Emma is the spirited young journalist in this story who wants to reach the bottom of the truth that surrounds this legendary town. Promising the possibility of a great story, she decides to camp for the night in Ashwood Forest during the next blood moon. Emma is determined to record her experiences and debunk the beliefs that she thinks are only stories meant to frighten kids, despite villagers' warnings.

Emma enters the forest with her camera, notepad, and camping gear. With every step she makes, setting up camp, she cannot help but feel both excited and nervous in anticipation. It is dark by nightfall; thus, the forest comes alive with animal cries heard from far away, leaves crashing, and that particular silent air hanging above her encampment. She starts to notice strange things as night begins to fall, like the trees' shadows dancing around her and an unsettling feeling of being watched.

The blood moon rises, and the woods bath in an otherworldly glow. At first, Emma had turned the camera on and shot its beauty. Then there was a growl rumble across the woods-instant quickening of her pulse. She wrote it off as a foolish whimsy, moving to continue recording her surroundings. Then the growl grew louder, thundering across the forest like a warning.

The night grows darker, and so does Emma's unease. Tree tops blend and swirl, as if they were alive. She remembered what the locals told her-the "Ashwood Beast, the creature people say only shows up on blood moons. Lured by some unexplained tug, Emma travels deeper into the bush to face her demons.

It's as if, with every step she takes, the jungle closes in even more. The branches of the trees seem to whisper secrets to her as she journeys deeper, as though ghostly hands are muttering into her ear. She comes upon an old, ramshackle cottage hidden deep within the forest and is drawn to it. She cautiously approaches it, peering through a grimy window.

Inside, she finds remnants of what appears to be some sort of ritual: an altar with weird symbols and animal bone offerings. Scared but intrigued, she peers inside. Her heart is pounding as she enters the cabin. The atmosphere in it is suffocating, and she cannot shake the feeling that she is not alone.

She searches the cabin and finds a notebook full of crazed writings. The former inhabitant chronicles how they went insane because they believed it was the exact same beast villagers were talking about which was hunting them. "It is not just a creature but the manifestation of our fears and sins," the terrifying last entry reads. The crimson moon awakens its blood-hungry appetite.

It slams shut behind her. In a panic, she reaches for the handle, but it does not budge. That's when the growling comes again, closer and louder. Desperate to get out, Emma rushes toward a window, but the view outside stops her cold: around the cabin, shadowy figures start to form, their eyes gleaming in the moonlight.

Emma recalls the sacrifice that was made on the blood moon and finds herself engulfed with something far more threatening than her imagination could have allowed. Besides blood, the beast wants a tribute. She now realizes the terror in the townspeople's eyes was derived from something real and instinctive.

Emma suddenly remembers her camera. Trying to find evidence of the monster, she snaps pictures of the oncoming darkness. Whatever is out there is annoyed by the flashes and gives her time. She goes back to the door and shoulders it with all her might, and it finally creaks open.

With coursing excitement in her veins, she runs out to make the woodland alive with her. She ran deep into the forest as branches cut across her arms, but she continued running with growls ringing behind her. Fighting her way from whatever pursued her, the light of the blood moon cast an unsettling glow on where she was going.

Finally reaching the edge of the woodland at morning, she collapses onto the grass. The soft murmurs of the morning replace the growls of the creature that vanished into the distance. The event changes Emma, even as she knows she has managed to flee. She is no longer just a journalist but a survivor of an unimaginable act.

When she gets back to Maplewood, she determines she is going to tell her story, and not as an article this time, but a warning. More than superstition, the blood moon above Ashwood Forest is a night when terror takes on physical form, and the stories contain more reality than anybody could have ever imagined.

She knows, as she writes, the power of myth, and the evil residing within every human being. Emma's story is a case of balancing prudence with curiosity, and she knows full well which stories are to be respected, rather than confronted. All that Emma can hope for is anyone who would remember the cautionary tale against going in the woods when the moon bleeds, for indeed the blood moon shall rise again.