Cleansing

When the clouds unveiled that bright, massive orb of a full moon, he knew he didn't have to wait any longer. He feared that this moment will never come, but it did. He set off.

He went down by the stream. He stripped off his clothes and dipped his body into the fresh water: Toes first, sinking deeper into his waist, and then his chest and his head, until he was submerged fully into its cold and stillness.

And at that exact moment the night screamed, screamed litanies of scandals revealing his act. The water turned into a river of blood, emitting that stench reminiscent of the body he disrespectfully corrupted. The trees wilted and the birds dropped dead onto the earth. Everything alive around him expired, just like the boy he molested and killed, and molested again---

The screams died and he rose from the waters. Moonlight bounced back from his marble skin, unblemished and once again giving that eerie glow that enticed all that he lustfully and brutally smothered.

The monster was ready to strike again.