Chapter One

“Who are you?” 

It was in the middle of the night when Jeff asked the young woman next to him the question.  They both sat alongside each other on a cliff, situated among the many ridges of Moonlight Bluff; located in the sleepy town of Hallow Bay.

“Avalon,” she replied and looked at Jeff, as if the answer should have been obvious to him.  With a sigh Jeff shook his head and continued to elaborate further. 

“Yeah, I know your name.  What I’m more concerned about is that I came up to the Bluffs to meet up with my girl.  But then here I come to find you dancing, naked, and telling me stories about some guy named J’zel, that took Jenna away?  If that’s the case, then why didn’t you do anything to stop it?  Or even call for help?  And, please, for the sake of my sanity, put on some clothes!” 

Distracted by the young lady’s nude frame, her body damp with seawater, Jeff turned his back towards Avalon and pointed to the pile of clothes sitting next to her.  Even though he was captivated by the young woman’s beauty and her earlier performance of twirling around in the fields, Jeff had some serious questions to ask, and he couldn’t afford the luxury of being sidetracked.

“Shy?” Avalon asked, while she stood up and slipped on the blouse. 

“Kind of…” Jeff answered, awkwardly.  He turned back around when she tapped him on the shoulder, but quickly faced away from her again.  “You forgot your skirt,” he pointed out to Avalon, after catching a glimpse of her lower anatomy.  Frustrated with having to cover up her natural form, Avalon let out a wary sigh before she reluctantly slipped into the hemmed material.  The thin fabric didn’t leave much to the imagination, anyway.  Since it had already become semi-translucent after absorbing the water that drenched her body from head-to-toe.

“Better?” Avalon asked in a cheerful tone as she spun around in her completed ensemble.  While the dress fluttered about with each turn she made, the flowers embroidered into the cotton material seemed to bloom in the wind currents she created.  Meanwhile, Jeff, dared to steal a glance at her from the corner of his eye.

“Sort of,” he replied and couldn’t help but chuckle; Avalon’s demeanor seemed so nonchalant and carefree to him.  “But, anyhow,” Jeff continued, after she had reclaimed her seat by his side. “Back to what you were saying before, what did you mean when you said J’zel took Jenna away?  What exactly happened?  Did he take Jenna against her will?”

Jeff’s eyes grew wide in worry, as he anxiously grasped her by the shoulders.  He was swept away by Avalon’s allusions - imagining the worst possible scenarios that could explain his girlfriend’s sudden disappearance with some stranger. So much so, that, Jeff, was on the verge of shaking the answers out of the illusive woman beside him!

“No, she was happy!  She went with him after they talked!”  Avalon answered, trying desperately to pull herself away from Jeff’s relentless hold on her.  After the realization that he had scared the poor girl, Jeff released his grip, before lowering his head in despair; glaring into the waves crashing against the rocks below.

“So, she just left with another guy…” Jeff wondered aloud, while he rubbed the back of his hand against his forehead; thinking about how he stayed true to the promise Jenna had made him keep, after they had been dating for a while. 

“You sure his name was J’zel? And not Rodney?”  Jeff asked her and carefully studied her reaction.

“It was J’zel.”

“Damn it!”

Jeff grunted and pounded a fist into the grass. 

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Don’t be angry,” Avalon consoled him.  She gently took ahold of his clenched hands.  Jeff’s fingers relaxed a little when he felt her touch and he looked into Avalon’s eyes; which shone with a peculiar shade of jade – not unlike the turbulent waters below their dangling feet. 

“It’s okay, I’m fine.” Jeff reassured her with a weak grin.  He couldn’t help but feel at ease around this strange girl’s lighthearted attitude.  Jeff shook his head to clear away any nagging thoughts of betrayal, and then placed a little more emphasis behind his smile.  “You know what?  Let’s start from the beginning, okay?  First, where are you from Avalon?  Because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around town before now?”

“I’m from Avalon,” she stated with a proud grin.

“So, your name is Avalon, and you’re from Avalon?” Jeff asked, dubiously.

“Yes.”

“You’re a weird one,” Jeff chuckled at her abrupt answers before he went on to ask, “you don’t say much, do you?” 

“I do, but nobody listens…”

Jeff sensed she wanted to say more, but Avalon remained quiet; all the while she stared at her feet as they swung listlessly over the edge.  After a moment of silence Avalon stared up at the night sky. 

“Why does the moon exist?”

“Excuse me?” Jeff was completely caught off guard.

“That’s what you call it, right?  Moon?  My kind hunts by its light but they don’t care why it’s there.  Not me.  I want to know why?  Why I’m here, and, why we’re not the same?”

“Well, the only difference I see between us is mostly… anatomical,” Jeff quipped and tried to shake Avalon’s naked image from his mind.  “But, regarding the moon, there are many different theories about its creation.  Although, the one thing most people can seem to agree on, is it was once a part of our planet.  A huge piece of rock that floated away a long time ago, for one reason or another.  Only to be left abandoned in orbit - circling our world as it slowly drifts further away from us.”

Avalon thought over his words for a while; then she scooted in closer to him and laid her head on Jeff’s shoulder.

“I like you,” she stated.  “I could never hurt you.” 

Jeff placed a little distance between himself and Avalon.

“Um, okay… That’s good to hear… You know what?  I think I better go and see if I can find Jenna.”

“Jenna doesn’t love you and isn’t coming back.”

“What the hell!” Jeff froze, completely astonished and held in place by this last remark.  “How do you know that?”

 “J’zel has had his eyes on her,” Avalon looked glumly into the waves beneath them, as she swung her legs back and forth over the bluff’s edge. “What J’zel wants, he gets!  And when Jenna met J’zel, she wanted him too.  That’s why Jenna shed her coverings and left,” the strange young woman finished explaining while she fiddled with the straps of her blouse.  

“What are you talking about?” Jeff asked, agitated, as his nerves had finally begun to unravel.

“Who are you?”

Avalon stared into Jeff’s eyes, and before he knew it, he couldn’t help but feel drawn towards the answers they held behind them.

“Will you hate me if I show you?”  Even though her shoulders sagged in anticipation of Jeff’s answer, Avalon’s eyes sparkled with the hope that he wouldn’t.

“Hate you?  I don’t even know you!” Jeff responded out of shear confusion.  But as Avalon held his gaze, the next words from his mouth surprised him even further.  “But how can I hate you over something of which it seems you have no control…?”

“Then come with me.” 

Avalon quickly took a firm hold of Jeff’s hand and looked down at the dark waters below them, crashing precariously against the heels of the elevated land mass they sat upon. 

“Is this a joke? Go with you? Where?” 

Jeff’s mind screamed ferociously at him to free himself from Avalon’s persistent grip, in order to run as fast and far away as possible as he could.  However, where was he going to run?  Back to the monotony of a hometown full of judgmental sycophants and the contradictions which govern them?  Isn’t that why he left in the first place?  Jeff was lost in thought for a moment; but just before he could come to terms with his final decision, Avalon kissed him tenderly on the lips.

“Come and see what lies beneath the harvest moon.” 

With nothing else to say, Avalon tightened her grip around his hand, and before Jeff could protest, she had already leaned forward and pulled them both over the precipice - into the watery divide below.