Massimo Longo E Maria Grazia Gullo - Quarter Moon

Maria Grazia Gullo - Massimo Longo

Quarter Moon

The Sentinels of Campoverde

Translated by Laura Jurinich

Copyright © 2019 M.G. Gullo – M. Longo

The cover image and the graphics were created and edited by Massimo Longo

All rights reserved

ISBN

ISBN-13:

Table of Contents

Prologue

"Everything will be alright, you're a big boy now...Go back and play with the other kids. We'll meet each other again, I promise!"

The kid watched him with teary eyes as he was walking away; him, the one person who had been playing with him since forever.

The kid ran back towards the rides in the sunny park, where he went back playing with the other children of the neighbourhood, as the memory of his imaginary friend was already fading away slowly.

After making his way among the other kids, he could finally get on the slide finally. He didn't waste any second and he started slipping down the slide, pushing as hard as he could. He didn't even get to slide until the end, when he saw a little blonde girl run sneak away from her mother and run towards his feet. He did not manage to slow down and hit her violently.

The little girl lost her balance and hit her head on the concrete edge of the slide.

He tried to reach the little girl and make sure that she was okay, but he got unkindly pulled away by her mother, who came at her aid. All of a sudden, a crow of grandparents and mothers gathered around the poor little girl.

As he was trying to crawl his away from the adults' legs, he only could only hear

that she had fainted. "Somebody call an ambulance!"

With that voice fiercely echoing in his ears, fears began assailing him. He ran towards the woods at the rear of the park.

Suddenly, everything around him became dark. A cold wind was carrying strange noises. Unknown verses started echoing together with the chattering of the parents in the park. They were coming from behind a group of trees, from which a long shadow was revealing itself. Then, that voice that was propagating from different directions became more and more insistent. He was reaching out to him more and more, until he had the feeling it was whispering in his ears:

"Damnabilis ies iom, mirdo cavus mirdo, cessa verunt ies iom, mirdo oblivio ement, mors damnabils ies iom, ospes araneus ies iom…"

He put his head in his hands to muffle the sound, but it was useless. He dropped to his knees and he closed his eyes...

"Damnabilis ies iom, mirdo cavus mirdo, cessa verunt ies iom, mirdo oblivio ement, mors damnabils ies iom, ospes araneus ies iom…"

First Chapter

He's so elusive when I try hugging him...

"Elio, Elio, come over! Help me with the groceries before the storm comes, please."

Elio was staying still in his brand new shoes and was staring at his mother, who was relentlessly juggling all her errands.

"Elio! Don't just stand there! Take this!" She shook him up and put a big bag full of vegetables in his arms.

Elio was not willing to do anything else. He climbed up the outer steps of the building, turned around and pushed the door open. He began staring at that unbearable red flicking light of the lift. Then, he gave up on waiting, and walked up the stairs to his flat. He placed the groceries on the kitchen table and walked straight into his bedroom to listen to some music on his bed.

Just long enough to go upstairs and his mother tiredly went look for him.

She stood at the door yelling: "What are you doing? We aren't finished yet, come and help me!".

"Yeah, on my way..." replied Elio without moving. He actually just wanted to get rid of her.

Giulia walked away, hoping that this time it would be different. She was hopeless. She was struggling to encourage her own son, who was becoming more and more indifferent.

From the entrance, he could hear the clear steps of his sister that was calling his name with cheerful voice. "Elio! Elio! Move your butt away from the bed and help mum. She's waiting for you downstairs." she yelled knowing that it was going to be in vain.

Elio did not move a single inch. Instead, he turned up the volume of the music and kept staring at the ceiling, as if nothing was happening

Giulia, who was more exhausted from the argument with her son than from the fatigue, ended up unloading the groceries with her daughter, Gaia. As she was walking up the stairs of their five-story building, where the lift seemed to be out of order every other day (and ironically, it always seemed to be not working every time she had to take groceries upstairs), she kept thinking about Elio. The building was painted white and orange, just like every other council estate of Gialingua, the neighbourhood where they were living. Twenty families lived in that estate, distributed in twenty flats facing on the opposite sides of the building itself.

"This is the last time you are doing this!" she yelled at him from the kitchen. "We'll fix this as soon as your father gets home!"

Elio was not even listening to her as he was immersed in that monotonous music. Nothing and no one would shake the feelings of boredom and paranoia that were surrounding him. His dull world was like a shelter to him. That was his personality and the world had to get over it.

Gaia was totally different: she was fifteen years old, with bright eyes and short black hair. Twenty-four hours were not enough for her to keep up with all her interests.

Giulia was a dynamic woman too. But, as opposed to her daughter, she had blonde curly hair, was a bit overweight but was quick and determined. She was the classic forty-two-year-old mother: always on a tight schedule trying to maintain a balance between work and family.

It was dinner time. However, no noises could be heard from Elio's bedroom. In fact, he had not moved since he ran towards his bed and put his headphones on.

He heard the sound of a key in the front door lock. At the same moment, with the door still semi-closed, Giulia's angry voice was already raging on her husband: