Nocturnal

Wolf Creek has never been the best place to live as a teenager.

It was merely mundane, and a small part of Oregon as a whole was looked over for the big city's.

The vast parties elsewhere, but that was until people started going missing.

It was eerie and sly.

The news reports are coming in constantly like the overwhelming force of a typhoon, suffocating and with so much pressure your lungs could collapse.

I always wanted my town to be known for something, but a couple of missing people and no bodies is not the aura I was hoping for.

But alas, I moved on, and so did the families not affected but for those poor unfortunate souls, they would have to live with a void for the rest of their lives.

School was mundane as can be, but at least I was able to stay out of the political system in the school and that dumbass hierarchy.

I am invisible to my mom, my teachers, and my peers maybe because I don't stick out, but who cares?

I tend to walk towards the gas station, a sweet mom and pop shop, the Moonvale Gas Station.

I basically grew up there; most kids did.

We don't have many big companies out here, and the nearest big grocery stores are like an hour away, and I'm not walking over there.

I am only 16, after all.

I walk into the Moonvale shop, and I hear Miss Wells say, “Hi,” to me from the back, calling my name.

“Ciel, how are you?”

I say, “Good, good, just chilling, you know. Can I get a Dr. Friendly soda and the salt and pepper beef jerky?”

She says, “Good choice. That will be 9.45, mijo.”

I give her 10 dollars; she gives me the change.

I speak up: “Where are Omari and Clara? In the back?”

Miss Wells says yes, but Omari called in sick.

“That’s why I’m here, but I’ll leave at 6 pm.”

I grab my bag with the goodies and say, “Ok, well, take care.”

Little did I know that was the last time in my life that things in Wolf Creek were ever normal again.

The scene switches to Clara.

Clara is cleaning and closing up; it's 11, and she only has one more hour to go, and her coworker Lee should be there to replace her.

Then, all of a sudden, a strong gust of wind pushes against the building.

Clara, confused and curious, heads outside to the front.

At first she sees very little but her normal environment as usual.

Then she turns around and sees a black-fur man with wings flapping on top of the roof of the gas station.

It's a creature of the night Mothman.

He flies directly to her, picks her up, and she hasn't been seen since.

When Lee arrived, the store was open, nothing touched or stolen but no Clara.

Three years later…

It's been three years since then, and I still think about Clara and wonder what happened to her.

Nobody really knows.

There was news about it on the television and in papers, possibly everywhere.

The worst thing is that the police still haven't even found her body.

Her mom is a mess.

Clara was her only daughter, and they were incredibly close.

But I think the one that took it the worst was Omari.

Nobody knew, but Omari and Clara were sleeping around, and since Omari was supposed to be there the night Clara went missing, he blames himself a lot.

He's a shell of the person he was.

I haven't seen him in months.

Mr. and Mrs. Wells retired; they were too old to continue the business, but their daughter owns the business and is the manager, Tessa Wells.

She's the complete opposite of her parents bitchy, attitude problems constantly, and she won't get off her phone.

And you might say, “Why am I telling you about this?”

Well, you see, since Clara disappeared and Omari is AWOL, the only worker they had was Lee, and he usually does the mornings.

But since I recently turned eighteen, I decided to apply, and since my family and the Wells have been family friends for quite a while, I pretty much got the job as soon as I applied.

My family and the Wells have been family friends for a long time, so I basically got the job as soon as I applied.

And today… today is my first day.