BEHIND THE FULL MOON

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That night the full moon looked very bright. A sign that it was already the middle of the month. Its light illuminated the dark night. At that time, I was lying down with the full moon clearly visible in the window. It was so quiet, that I could hear the sound of nocturnal animals. It seemed that if I didn't listen with full concentration, the sound would just disappear. The sound continued to bother me who wanted to close my eyes.

Strangeness began to appear, in the middle of the chorus of insects that night my bedroom window began to creak loudly. The glass vibrated almost breaking. The light of the full moon suddenly disappeared. The moon was covered by a large object. I don't know what it was, the point is that the object was very large. My window frame was unable to show all of its parts because the object was too big. Then, the creaking of the window also got louder. It was really scary and I lay down in fear.

I immediately pulled the blanket and hid behind it. I was so scared, I immediately closed my eyes and covered my ears tightly so that the creaking sound wouldn't reach my brain. A few moments later, the creaking sound of the window stopped. The light of the full moon reappeared. Disappeared as if nothing had happened.

“I have to go to bed soon!” It was so scary, I went straight to sleep and hoped to forget the unreasonable incident.

The morning sun was already shining, passing through my bedroom window, and replacing the full moon. Looking at the window, I remembered last night’s incident. The sound of the window creaking and the mysterious large object. What was that large object actually? I was curious.

“I should check the traces in the yard. Maybe there are traces left behind.” After talking to myself, I immediately checked the outside.

My yard is fine but the tomato garden next to my house is destroyed. The destruction looks like it was hit by a storm. Was it true that there was a big storm last night? The yard looks fine. There's no way this was the work of a storm. It must have been caused by a mysterious large object last night that was so big.

The pattern of the destruction of the garden is also very neat. Of all the parts of the garden, only the middle part was destroyed, forming a circular crater. The tomato plants on the edge of the garden were not destroyed. Thankfully this month I can still harvest tomatoes even though only the edges are left.

That day I cleaned up the destroyed plants and saved some tomatoes that were still marketable. I gave the destroyed plants to my beloved cow and sold the tomatoes, the proceeds from the sale were enough to fill my wallet.

"Tonight, I will be on guard, finding out who is the cause of this damage." I said that sentence while clenching my fists as a sign of enthusiasm for revenge.

Night has arrived. The full moon still looks round like yesterday. The moon accompanies me on guard on the porch of the house. A cup of coffee and crispy wafers might be able to keep my eyes awake. This time, what was heard was not only the sound of night insects, but there was the sound of dripping water left over from the rain this afternoon. The sound of the dripping water had a unique rhythm. Making my hands tap the rifle I was carrying.

The sound continued for the next two hours, eh… no, three hours if I’m not mistaken. Until then, I still hadn’t found any signs of strangeness. My coffee had run out earlier, so I was starting to get sleepy. The oxygen in my brain was running out. Making me yawn really wide, absorbing as much oxygen as possible.

“Hoam…” That was roughly the sound of my yawn. While I was enjoying the deliciousness of my yawn, I heard a strange sound. The sound made my eyes open again. Actually, the sound usually appeared at night, what made it strange was the variation.

Auuu… usually the sound was like that, but this time it was different. Auuu…u…u…u…khkhkh… that was roughly the variation. The howl of a forest wolf sounded like it was being strangled. If I paid attention to the sound, it seemed like the forest wolf was in pain. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up, goosebumps from hearing that scary sound. I was no longer interested in staying awake. Even though the culprit hadn’t appeared yet, I chose to give up and go into the house to go to sleep.

Morning had arrived. Today I intend to find out what really happened to the forest wolves. The strange wolf howling sound last night made me curious. It became even stranger since my bedroom window creaked loudly. The culprit also hasn't shown himself again. That made me even more curious, is there a connection between the two? I don't know.

I went to the forest carrying a rifle to guard. I also didn't forget to bring my favorite cow. I will release her in the meadow near the forest. She will definitely be happy. Of course, I didn't just release her. That's just a term for letting her enjoy the grass around where she was tied up.

The sound of a wolf howling usually comes from the rocky hills on the edge of the forest. Wolves will choose the tops of these hills as a place to howl. The high place makes the sound can be heard all the way to my house. That was a little explanation that made it easier for me to find the source of the strange sound last night. I immediately rushed there to see what really happened.

A few moments later I arrived. There I saw no traces. The place was empty, maybe my guess was wrong. I had to look for another peak. When I stepped down, my feet were frozen because after I looked closely, there were bloodstains that could be considered traces. The traces led me to a cave. The bloodstains ended right at the mouth of the cave. There was a dead wolf there. My guess last night was right. Its neck was injured, it looked like it had been strangled by something.

Seeing that made me shudder again. The atmosphere was so creepy. What figure dared to strangle a wolf while it was howling. Was it a forest monster, a ghost, or a fellow animal? Aaaa… I can't imagine it. I'm scared, I better go home. I immediately got out of the forest, towards the meadow where I tied the cow. It would be unlucky if I met that figure, maybe I would be strangled too.

when I arrived at the meadow, I was surprised because I didn't see my cow there. Why did it disappear? The place where it was tied was still there, but the rope and the cow were gone. Could my cow have run away? He couldn’t untie himself. Someone must have stolen it.

“Oh… no, it’s getting late. I can’t look for it now. I’d better go home first.”

My fate was so unlucky today. Although I didn’t meet the wolf-strangler, I lost my beloved cow. After taking a shower and having dinner, I intended to look for it at night. However, my courage was not as great as my enthusiasm, I was still afraid to go there alone. I decided to invite my cousin to hunt for cows at night. If I looked for it tomorrow morning, the thief would have taken it far away and I wouldn’t have time to chase him.

My cousin had brought a night vision device. It looked like glasses but it wasn’t ordinary glasses. It was a block with a glass hole where the eyes could see. I didn’t know how it worked, and neither did the material it was made from. What I did know was that it was coated with metal and fit comfortably on the eyes. Our vision turned green and objects could be seen in the dark. This device was very helpful for our hunting.

In addition, my cousin also brought a sound sensor device. He said that the device would react if it heard the sound of my cowbell. No matter how small the sound, it would definitely react. He planned to follow the device's instructions to the sound of the bell. That way, we would find it faster.

I contributed by bringing two rifles. One for him and one for me. Maybe the rifles would be useful for self-protection. After loading ammunition and other preparations, we immediately moved towards the forest.

We started the search from the last place where the cow was tied. My cousin started turning on the sensor. Then, without waiting long, the sensor reacted. The two of us continued to follow the instructions. We passed through paths, bushes, and rocky ground. Oddly enough, that path was the path I had taken earlier that afternoon. The path to the cave where I found the wolf carcass. Not long after, we arrived. The sensor stopped right at the mouth of the cave. The wolf carcass was no longer there.

"How, is the cow inside?" I asked my cousin.

"Surely, this device can't be wrong," he replied.

We checked the inside of the cave using a night vision device. A few moments after it was turned on, from inside the dark cave, a human-like figure appeared holding my cow rope. It turned out to be the creature that had stolen my beloved cow. I say human-like because he wasn't human. His eyes were large and shining, blue when seen with a tool, red when seen directly. His nose was flat, his mouth was small like a fish's mouth. Even more terrifying, he didn't have earlobes, his ears were just holes.

The creature approached the two of us while dragging my cow rope. Thankfully the cow was still fine, not strangled like a wolf. The creature started talking in its own language. We didn't understand what he was talking about. Putting on a stupid face and scratching an itchy head might be the right description for our behavior at that time. It seemed like the creature understood what we meant because he stopped his chatter. Then he released two spots of light from his mouth. The spots quickly shot into our throats. We couldn't refuse it, it just went in.

For some reason after the spots entered us, we understood what he was saying.

He said, “O King, may I take your cow to be a new species on our planet and we will breed it? The cow species on our planet is extinct, even though its meat is very delicious. By chance, our people discovered that this planet still has the cow species that we crave. Then, my friends and I were sent to take it.

When I arrived at your house, I wanted to steal it. However, I could not open the door of the pen. Because it took too long, my friends left me. Then I looked for shelter and arrived at this cave. However, I did not expect it. It turned out that many wild animals were bothering me. When the animal attacked, I defended myself and was forced to kill it.

This afternoon I was walking in the meadow and happened to see your cow. I made a mistake in stealing it, then I brought it to this cave. After contemplating, I should have asked the owner's permission first. I remembered how it felt when my beloved friends left me. I don't want that to happen to you because of your beloved cow. Until you came to this place yourself. Therefore, while you are here, do you allow it?”

After hearing the creature’s long explanation, I finally understood the reason for the strangeness that had occurred in the last two days. It turned out that he was an alien who wanted to take my beloved cow.

“Um… That’s fine, but how will the cow reproduce if you only bring one bull?” I asked the alien.

“For that matter, we are also still confused about finding another cow,” he answered humbly.

“I have a female cow. You can bring her as a partner for the cow,” said my cousin. He offered his female cow.

I said, “Yes… we will give it to you for free. Because, your efforts not to steal, are very rare and rarely found on our planet, namely sincerity, openness, and honesty.”

“Wow! Thank you very much Kisanak, your kindness will definitely be repaid. We will send the most delicious beef dish ever in the universe for both of you. Thank you.” The creature looked happy as he bowed his head in gratitude.

My cousin took his cow to the pasture to be taken by the aliens. On their planet later, my bull would be mated with my cousin's cow.

When the creature saw his cow, he said, "As I said earlier, we promise you to give you the most delicious beef dishes. With our technology, the cow will be ready to eat once a month. We will accelerate its growth and we will try our best to preserve it." The creature promised to send us food once a month.

"Okay, take good care of my cow! Hopefully it can be useful for your people," I replied.

A flying saucer suddenly appeared above us, the creature had tried to contact his friend with the help of a device from my cousin. Then, he took our two cows through the beam of light from the flying saucer. Then he shot inside. My cousin and I waved to them. The big object sped through the clouds and disappeared behind the full moon that night.

Since then we have been friends with the aliens. Regularly visiting every full moon. Enjoying delicious food together. Sometimes at my house, sometimes at my cousin's house. Over time we came to know their names. The creature that stole my cow was named To. To's friends who left him at that time were named Ne, Ro, and Ba.

Oh yeah... it turns out we haven't introduced ourselves. My name is Hendrik and my cousin is Kevin. Ah, what a profitable barter. Moreover, after a few months, they returned the cow that we had given them. They said that there were more cows on their planet. That way, I could take my beloved cow to graze in the meadow again.