It was pitch black.
It was so dark that Aneira couldn’t make out her toes at the end of her bed or even her hand in front of her face. In darkness like this she would never be able to see the monsters creeping up on her and she definitely wouldn’t be able to hear them either, as her hearing aids were tucked up in their charger on the floor by her bed. She thought about reaching down to get them but as soon as she stretched her hand out, she imagined all the creepy things that could be hiding under her bed that would grab her and pull her under. She tucked her hand safely back under the duvet. She was sure a monster would grab her any minute now even through her duvet and she would have no warning.
Aneira was scared. She couldn’t see anything because of the dark plus she couldn’t hear anything without her hearing aids. Seeing and hearing felt like two pretty important things. She could still smell but she wasn’t sure what monsters smelt like so that wouldn’t be much use. Her body felt cold, even though she was lying in her warm bed. She tried to remember that her mum was just downstairs but it wasn’t helping. Her shoulders started to hurt and she realised she had them pulled up around her ears in fear. She felt frozen in the darkness, like the dark had made her body as heavy as concrete and she’d never be able to move again. She needed to get to safety, so she quickly pulled her bed covers up over her head and curled up underneath them for protection.
Then she remembered to breathe. Breathing helped. It was still dark under her duvet but as she blinked a few times her eyes adjusted and she could see her hands in front of her and then her legs and her blue pyjamas. She felt a little bit safer under the duvet and so she let out a big breath which let out some of her fear too.
What had happened? Why had it got so dark?
She remembered saying she didn’t want the Moon and then everything went black. Wait, had the Moon gone out? That wasn’t possible, was it?
Aneira took a big breath to prepare herself and then lifted her duvet cover the smallest amount so she could peek out of the gap. It didn’t seem quite so dark now and she could make out the end of her bed and the window. She looked out the window and she saw… nothing.
There had been a big white shining ball in the night sky and now there was nothing, just a blank black page. She couldn’t even see any stars. Where was the Moon? Wait, had she made the Moon go out? This was not good.
She had to have a closer look; maybe the Moon was hiding. She needed to get closer. Although, getting closer also meant getting out of bed. Keeping the duvet over her head like a protective cape, she moved into a crouching position on the bed. The window wasn’t too far away and if she could jump over to it she could avoid anything that might be hiding under her bed and could reach out to grab her.
She took a deep breath and silently counted to three and then jumped as close to her window as she could. Luckily, she had soft carpet in her bedroom so her jump didn’t make too loud a noise, although she couldn’t really tell as she didn’t have her hearing aids in. She pressed her face up against the window so it squished against the cold glass. The Moon was gone! She could see street lights over houses and then just emptiness. No Moon! What had she done?
Oh no!
There was a lamp on her windowsill, which she quickly switched on. Staying where she was, Aneira peeked out from under her duvet cape and did a monster check. Now the light was on, her room didn’t look scary anymore and there wasn’t anything hiding in any corners that could snatch her. Phew! She put her duvet back on the bed and turned to look back out of her window. The Moon was nowhere to be seen.
Now she wasn’t scared, she was panicking instead!
She had to get the Moon back before anyone realised it was gone. She could get in a lot of trouble. In her science class they had learned that the Moon’s gravity helped the sea have its tides and it also kept the Earth on its course around the Sun. What if no Moon meant no Sun? What if it meant darkness forever? She had to fix this.
She looked around her room for inspiration. Her heart was beating quickly in her chest.
This was all her fault. She looked up at the sky outside her window and it was still empty. No Moon.
What was she going to do now? Should she get her mum and explain?
No, she couldn’t do that. She was sure she could fix this herself; she was ten whole years old. She would fix the Moon before anyone found out and then she wouldn’t get in trouble. Aneira hated getting in trouble but it seemed to happen quite a bit without her meaning it to. Only yesterday, she had accidentally dropped one of her hearing aids in the sink which was full of water and even though she’d scooped it out really quickly, her mum had had to put it in a bag of rice to dry it out. She didn’t know why rice was good at drying things out; maybe it was like a towel for phones and hearing aids. Her mum had been angry with her as hearing aids were really expensive and cost a lot to fix. Luckily her hearing aid was fine but she didn’t want to make her mum angry again so soon. No, she would have to sort this out on her own, but how?
Maybe if what she’d said had made the Moon go out, she could say something else to bring it back. Surely that would work. She twisted the handle on her bedroom window as quietly as she could and opened it just a sliver. The cold night air started seeping into her bedroom, as she put her lips to the crack and said in her loudest whisper.
“Moon, I’m sorry for what I said. I do need you. Please light up again!”
She looked up at the sky but nothing had changed.
Maybe she needed to try harder, so she opened her window wider and really begged this time.
“Please Moon, I’m realllllyyyyy sorry. I promise I will be nicer to you and say that I do need you all the time, if you just come back on.”
She stared at the dark sky, crossed her fingers and hoped that it would work but nothing happened. The sky stayed dark.
Oh no!
“What are you doing, little girl?”
A voice had sprung out from the darkness and made her jump. It was a little strange as she could hear the voice loudly and clearly even though she wasn’t wearing her hearing aids. It was almost as if the voice was speaking from inside her head which wasn’t usually how she heard noises. She turned to see a large owl sitting on the tree next to her window.
“Oh,” said Aneira as she stumbled backwards.
She peered at the owl. “Oh hello.”
At least owls weren’t very scary.
“Wait, owls don’t talk,” said a confused Aneira.
“Well I wish someone had told me that,” replied the owl.
There wasn’t much she could say to that so she decided the best thing to do was to be polite and answer the owl’s question.
“Well… Mrs Owl, I accidentally, sort of, said that I don’t want the Moon and then it went out,” explained Aneira, hopping nervously from foot to foot.
She wasn’t sure why she was so nervous telling the owl what had happened but it looked very wise with its large eyes and very still body and for some reason she didn’t want the owl to be angry with her.
“Ahhhhh,” said the Owl.
“I’m really sorry… Mrs Owl, I didn’t mean to do it. I asked it to come back on and even said sorry,” blurted Aneira.
“Not to worry and please call me Mrs O. Mrs Owl sounds so formal, dear.”
“Oh yes, sorry… Mrs O,” apologised Aneira.
Mrs O nodded her approval.
“I believe I know someone who can tell us how to get the Moon back on but we need to be quick, otherwise it might get stuck like this,” said Mrs O. “You’ll need to come with me, dear.”
Mrs O, the talking owl, landed on Aneira’s windowsill and spread her huge beautiful wings out wide. Mrs O was dark brown and caramel coloured and her feathers looked very soft up close, like a feathery brown pillow.
“Wait, what do you mean come with you?”
Mrs O turned her head round to look at Aneira but her body stayed still! Aneira worried that Mrs O’s head would twist right off but instead she calmly looked at Aneira with her big yellow eyes.
“Woah!”
Aneira backed away from the window.
“Oh sorry dear, I forget that the head-turning can scare humans. I’m fine. It’s actually meant to do that, it’s very useful to see if anyone is sneaking up on you. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to climb on and I’ll take you to turn the Moon back on.”
Aneira just stared at the owl.
A minute ago Aneira definitely would have said that owls didn’t talk and now she was having a conversation with one, without her hearing aid and it wanted her to climb on its back and fly her away. What was going on? She also realised that before tonight she definitely wouldn’t have thought the Moon could go out, yet here she was.
“Hang on. You are an owl and you talk and the Moon has gone out. I know I have to fix it but we’ve only just met and Mum always tells me not to go with strangers,” said Aneira firmly.
“Did she mention owls?”
“Well, no,” admitted Aneira.
“And did she also mention what to do when you turn the Moon off and have to switch it on again quite urgently?” asked Mrs O with her head still facing Aneira and her body facing out of the window.
“Erm… no.”
“Well then, climb on my back dear. I will look after you. Don’t worry, you won’t hurt me, owls are very strong, especially talking ones,” said Mrs O.
“Wait! There’s something else.”
“What is it, child?”
“It’s just that… well… I guess… well, that is to say… I’m… I’m scared of the dark,” blabbed Aneira.
She’d actually mostly forgotten about the dark and being scared of it in all the panic but now she was faced with a talking owl who wanted her to fly out into the very very dark night sky, all the fear came flooding back.
Mrs O blinked slowly over her pointy beak. Aneira realised that it was the first time she had seen the owl blink. Maybe owls didn’t blink as much as humans. Even so, Mrs O didn’t look impressed.
“It’s just that it’s very very dark out there, even darker than in my room without the light on,” explained Aneira.
“I see,” said Mrs O, thankfully sounding understanding.
Mrs O closed her wings and turned her body so that all of her was facing Aneira.
“To me, the dark is home, dear. I sleep during the day, you see. I don’t know how you humans deal with all that bright light, it hurts my eyes. The day is so noisy too and the night-time is nice and quiet which makes my ears happy. We owls have very good hearing, you know.”
Aneira didn’t know that actually.
“I didn’t know that actually. My hearing isn’t very good. I wear hearing aids in the day to help me hear the teachers at school and the phone ringing and things like that. I can hear without them, but I have to concentrate a bit harder especially if there is another noise too.”
Mrs O nodded.
“Ah I see. Well, I am glad you can hear me dear. Talking owls will always be heard, it is just the way of things, a special ability we have. Actually, my eyesight isn’t very good with things close to me, although I’m good at spotting things far away.”
“That’s the same as my mum but she wears glasses.”
“I tried those but they fall off when I fly,” explained Mrs O.
Aneira nodded understandingly.
“You might actually love the night-time, dear. There isn’t much to concentrate on hearing as it is quite quiet. I can hear mice rustling in the undergrowth a whole field away but you don’t need to hear that. I find the dark very peaceful, none of that shouting and those car horns and doors slamming,” said Mrs O.
Aneira stepped closer to the window to listen outside and Mrs O was right. She’d never really thought about it before but there was much less noise in the dark. She’d always imagined that the dark was scary because she couldn’t hear what was going on but maybe it was quite peaceful too.
“I can show you lots of excellent things about the dark. I promise I will look after you, dear,” said Mrs O, bowing her head like she was making a solemn oath.
Aneira looked up at the space where the Moon had been. She was still scared of the dark but she knew she had to fix what she’d done and Mrs O seemed nice. After all, her mum hadn’t said anything about not going with talking owls.
Mrs O turned her body and her head and spread her wings again. Aneira climbed up onto the windowsill next to the owl. She had a better view through her window from up there and all she could see was a black sky which felt a little less scary with the owl sitting beside her.
“Climb on and hold on to me tightly,” said Mrs O, who thankfully kept her head facing the right way this time. “My feathers should keep you warm too.”
Aneira nestled into Mrs O’s back. The owl’s feathers were like cushions around her knees and fingers and she was surprised that she fitted perfectly in between her wings.
“Am I hurting you?”
“Not at all, dear. Now lean in close to me,” said Mrs O.
A nervous Aneira buried her face into the owl’s feathers as she felt Mrs O leap into the air. Aneira expected to feel like they were falling and she gripped onto the owl very tightly but she couldn’t actually feel anything. Something must have gone wrong. She lifted her head from her soft feathery bed and was surprised to see they were flying!
It wasn’t like being in an aeroplane at all. Flying with Mrs O was almost as if they weren’t moving at all, even though she could see the dark outlines of trees rushing past them and feel a light breeze against her cheeks. Mrs O wasn’t flapping her wings like the pigeons in town did to fly, she was gliding with her wings outstretched like a fluffy balloon caught in the wind.
“Wow,” Aneira said. “Flying is awesome.”