Wish Upon the Dark Moon
by Winter

It wasn't the right time yet. The waning moon still showed a sliver of light on its left hand side. Maybe tomorrow. Still, Alexa decided to wait until midnight, in case the light did fade.

Just like the night before, there was no wind, not even the tiniest breeze to rustle the leaves or stir the waters of the pond. Tonight would have been perfect if only the stubborn moon hadn't persisted; the tiniest of winks of light, as if to test Alexa's patience to its breaking point.

She sighed, frustatedly running a hand through her long brown hair. This was the last chance of the year. Next month it would be too cold to dive into the water. If she failed yet again, she would have to wait until spring.

It had been so easy the first time she did it. She had stepped into the water at midnight, and the dark moon had granted her wish. Only until dawn, but still...

...it had been magical.

Alexa blinked, and her body twitched. She had almost fallen asleep, thinking about that night. It had been six years ago, yet the memory was as clear to her mind's eye as if it had happened yesterday. She longed for it to happen again, to once more get to experience that perfect sensation of love. Of belonging. Of pleasure.

Every time she had tried, though, something had been wrong. Too much wind, too many clouds, too many noises, too many distractions. What had seemed so simple had proved frustratingly complex. And only one night every month to get it right. Alexa glanced down at her watch where it lay on top of her discarded clothes. It was half past midnight.

So she had dozed off, or at least been too wrapped up in the past to notice the passing of time. No matter. The moon still showed too much light. With a sigh, she stood up, her legs and her back cramping slightly after sitting still for too long. As she pulled up her panties, she felt yet another twinge; the bare rock had left an imprint on her bare butt. She must remember to bring a blanket or something tomorrow.

Despite her sombre mood, she couldn't hold back a snicker. Last time her buttocks had been this sore had been when she was five. She remembered standing facing the corner in her room, tears running down her cheeks while she rubbed her freshly spanked behind. At the time it had seemed monstrously unfair. How could little Alexa possibly have known that her ball would bounce out of her hands and knock over mommy's favourite vase?

It had been the last time she had played soccer indoors.

Mature and wise present day Alexa held little sympathy for her younger self. Stupid decisions deserve stinging consequences.

Well, if she were to be perfectly honest with herself, mature was a relative concept. She was twenty-one now. An adult, for sure, but maybe the wisdom honed by age and experience still lay in her future. After all, she did believe in wishing upon the dark moon.

Part of her knew it was true, that stepping into the water to break the mirror image of the moon's reflection would invoke its magic. And grant her deepest desire. It had worked, hadn't it?

In the back of her mind, Alexa felt the teeth of doubt worry away at her conviction. Had it really been magic? She knew she hadn't dreamt what happened that night; it had been too real, every sensation too strong, every emotion too vivid. Every moan and cry that shattered the stillness too clear in her mind.

Yet...

What if there were a simpler explanation? What if someone had just happened by, heard a young girl speak her wish to the dark moon and decided to exploit it? To use her? In regard to the experience itself, it didn't really matter. What happened had been wonderful, something Alexa would always carry with her and treasure. But if there had been no magic, then it couldn't happen again.

Maybe that was why she had always failed to recreate that night. That bliss. What if the fault lay not in the execution of the ritual, but in the science fact that the moon was just a piece of rock lit by sunlight?

Reminiscing and brooding had brought her home. Her feet had guided her even though her mind had been six years ago. The house was dark, and she unlocked the back door as quietly as she could. Alexa might be twenty-one, but that didn't mean that mom wouldn't chastise her for staying out late on her own. Also, sneaking in was more fun.

She briefly debated the pros and cons of a hot shower, but bed won with a jaw-popping yawn. Tossing off her clothes, she slid in between the sheets, but not before checking her buttocks, which were still a bit red.

Sleep eluded Alexa, though. Thinking about that night had awakened parts of her body that were not ready to settle down again without some tender, loving care. It was more than just an itch to be scratched, it was an ember than needed quenching before even her deepest places caught fire. Closing her eyes, twenty-one-year-old Alexa allowed herself to become fifteen-year-old Alexa, as she recalled every memory, every detail of that night.

With one hand she cupped her breast, gently teasing the nipple, while the other hand rubbed the inside of her thigh, slowly working its way up to her waiting sex.

* * * * * *

From this point on, the story begins to heat up, thus violating Inkbunny's no-humans-in-adult-situations rule. The full tale is posted at Nifty, and can be accessed freely. See the decription for link.