Purple Moon

Because his classmate George had invited Morphy to hang out at the abandoned logging yard after the exhibition, by the time Morphy returned to his shabby shack at 69 Black Iron Street, the faint silhouette of a Purple Moon had already appeared in the sky.

"Purple Moon..."

Morphy murmured, quickening his pace as he entered the house and shut the door. Only then did he let out a soft, long breath.

In legend, purple moons were often associated with evil. One example was how thugs and murderers always liked to act at night.

Therefore, people in this world simply did not leave their homes after dark unless absolutely necessary.

"Morphy? You're back? Why are you so late? What if you ran into a Black Moon?"

A young woman's voice came from the partitioned room. It was his older sister, Joanne.

The so-called "Black Moon" referred to those days when there was no moon at all. In absolute darkness, indescribable horrors would be born, and those who vanished because of them could never be found again—not even a trace.

"Sorry... Sis, there was an event at school today..."

Morphy instinctively lied as he hastily took off his school uniform and hung it up.

It was the only piece of clothing he had that was still reasonably intact. Every day when he came home, he had to hang it up so it would not wrinkle and become unwearable for school the next day.

"There's still bread in the cupboard..."

Joanne's voice came again. Then she seemed to turn over and went back to sleep.

Morphy opened the cupboard and took out half a loaf of dark bread. It was mixed with a great deal of bran and felt extremely coarse in his mouth; it had to be soaked in hot soup to