The usual throng of people started to filter in the Midnight Moon Inn as the cold night’s frost set in, all eager to warm by the fire and get a hearty meal. There was never much coin to spare in the village and Jasmine being the charitable person she was, prices for her food were cheap. However for all her good nature it earned her barely more than a nod by the patrons. As always she did the work and it was her brother Aiden who got to sit down with the men and the women sat down on him, soaking up the glory of the busiest establishment in the village. Today though, Jasmine didn’t care. She nodded curtly and brought food and drinks to tables but her eyes barely left the door for more than two seconds, anticipating the moment when Gresham would enter and quell the rising panic in her stomach. What made it worse was that she had no idea what the cause was. No idea why she suddenly felt fearful.
When Farmer Creedy and his son Samuel entered she shot a warning glance at Aiden. She felt a little sympathy when she saw the black and blue bruise that Samuel sported on his eye, which made him squint and the cut on his lip.
He was harmless after all and sweet in his own way. At the same time it served him right for making up stories. With that there was no chance of anything between them, but his friendship was nice because he was so unassuming. He didn’t have the wits to try and coerce her into bed. But now that she thought about it, why would a nice boy like Samuel say that he had bedded her.
Her eyes met with Samuel’s and he gave her a weak smile. The action alone made her panic and she scurried back into the confined seclusion of the kitchen.She didn’t want to deal with the boy that discussed their false relations, nor the judgment of everyone else in the inn. All he did was give her a kiss on her cheek, not exactly something worthy of telling the world. How that has exploded to Samuel bedding her was beyond her, and then she heard it. The high pitched, skin crawling cackled laugh of Elsie Tanner was unmistakable. She was now certain that somehow Elsie had a hand in concocting this story of Jasmine and Samuel being together.
For a reason Jasmine had never known Elsie had disliked Jasmine since the first time the two had come into contact as infants. Over time the dislike became mutual until it teetered on base hatred.She decided to wait by the window of the kitchen, either for them to leave or for Gresham to arrive. Soon enough she was daydreaming.
She had been lost in her own magical world, where on this particular visit she had been riding a mighty steed into battle against a faceless enemy. When the fighting was done and she stood tall as the victor, she felt the pride of being a winner, a champion, a hero. Something that reminded her that all she ever quite managed to do was dream. A movement somewhere in front of her dragged her back to her senses and she peered out into the desolate greyness. It hadn’t rained since the afternoon but the frost had taken hold and transformed the moisture in the air to a thick white fog. She heard a shuffling sound, no doubt carried over a great distance from the thickness of the atmosphere and then a voice. Was she hearing things or was that voice Gresham?
She bolted from her stool, letting it clatter to the floor and ran through the common room. Normally nobody would have noticed her unless she was bringing them more drink, but now every eye was on her. She could not shake the feeling that if she could just see Gresham, somehow everything, every nameless fear she felt would just melt away. She hurried through the people, even daring to push past them and out the door into the cold night. She heard Aiden calling after her and Elsie’s cackle again, but she was away before the door closed.
Outside the fog was even thicker than she had imagined and was forced to slow to a walk. The village she knew every inch of changed so that she couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead. She heard the voice again and was certain it was Gresham, his footfall sounded like he was running.
“Gresham, Gresham is that you?” she called out to the night. The slight whistling breeze was the only reply. She heard footfalls again, closer and more hurried now and moved faster towards it.
“Gresham?” her voice was reduced to a whisper of fear.
And then a deathly whinny echoed in the air.
She ran.
She didn’t know in what direction she was going, or where but all she knew was she wanted to get as far away as possible. She thought she had eventually run around in a circle and was heading back towards the inn so she slowed her pace and chanced a backwards glance. The footsteps and voices had stopped. In fact, there was no sound at all. She turned her head and carried on walking for a few paces until another whinny broke the silence like thunder, right in front of her. The gigantic white beast reared up, its muzzle coated in froth and blood, splattering her as it rained down. Against the mood and the mist it cast a terrifying picture. The white horse hit the cobbles with a sickening thud before it lay still.
Jasmine was stunned, never taking her eyes of the beast it in case in suddenly reanimated and attacked her. She whimpered in fear and slowly moved around its body and then she saw the corpse. Covered in blood was the body of a woman.
Jasmine screamed and turned to run but was held tightly by strong hands. She looked up into the deathly white face of Gresham. She struggled but he held her against him. Soon she gave up, not caring what happened and clung to him as sobs wracked her body.
