text: “Full moon in the sky, Filled with dreams and hope, Fooling with a guy, See you in my scope. Full moon in the sky, Right above the spire, Hate to be that guy, Three two one fire” Ben was singing this awfully catchy song when he walked to the front door of his house that he had heard from the supermarket and somehow ended up in the radio of his car on his way home. “Honey I’m home,” he announced loudly only to be greeted with a gun pointed inches towards his face. “Woah! Hey! Woah! What is this, Mary?!” he asked, his face was with a combination of shock and confusion. “Shut up and get down on your knees!” Mary ordered. “Who are you?” she asked fiercely, tightening the handle of her gun. “Wha- what do you mean *who* am I? I’m *your* husband!” he replied wearily. “What happened to your eyes? Did they heal? Can you see now?” he asked. “They were never broken! I was concealing my real identity,” she responded. “As a blind person?” he questioned. “Yes, as a blind person, it’s easier to avoid suspicion, no one would ever suspect a blind person to-” before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by Ben. “...to do what Mary? To kill your own husband on the night of his anniversary with his supposedly blind because of an accident that she refused to talk about even after fourteen years of marriage, wife?!” “My husband wouldn’t know that song,” she uttered, “Now tell me who you are before I paint this wall behind you with my favourite *colour,*” she waved the gun lightly onto his face. “What song? The Full Moon song? I heard it when I was shopping for groceries and somehow the radio in the car on my way back was playing it too, I swear, Mary!” he replied in exhaustion. “Oh no,” she muttered. “If this is true, then this isn’t good. They’re here.” “Who’s here?” Ben asked. “Them!” she answered loudly. “Honey, please, calm down, I have no idea what you're talking about. Can you put the gun down now, please? You’re scaring me,” Ben said calmly. “I mean, I’ve been scared since you pointed the gun at me when I walked in, but, whatever." Mary took a deep breath and sighed heavily, “Alright, on our first date, we were at a park, what food did we share there?” she questioned. Her eyes were sharp, they could cut your cheek. “Aha! Trick question, our first date wasn’t at the park. You hated the park,” he assured. “I love the park,” she replied with a disappointed sigh. “No, you said you hated it because of how it smells,” Ben replied. “I lied because I was trying to be someone I’m not,” she said while rubbing the bridge of her nose. “That doesn’t make any sense and undercover for what exactly?!” he yelled. “Can you stop pointing the gun at me and explain what is happening right now, Mary?!” “Mommy, what’s happening?” they heard from the stairwell. It was their six year old son, David. A tiny cute chubby little boy with dark brown hair in his pajamas who has been woken up by the commotion caused by his parents. “Oh David, sweetie. Nothing’s happening, Mommy and Daddy are just- umm- role-playing,” she replied, pretending to be blind again. “Role Playing?!” he whispered in frustration, “Out of all things?” “I’m sorry, I panicked,” she whispered back. “Can I join?” David asked. “Umm, no sweetie, this is for adults only,” she said in a sweet tone. “Adults only?!” he whispered again. “Don’t teach him stuff like that.” Ben whimpered. “Oh, adults role-playing,” the little boy said, his face cheered up a bit for whatever reason. "A roleplay that has a strong erotic element, it may involve two or more people who act out roles in a sexual fantasy and may be a form of foreplay and be sexually arousing.” Stunned by this sudden revelation. “Wha-?” is all Mary could say as if all her vocabulary knowledge was locked and put inside a freezer while Ben was blinking profusely, jaw dropping to the floor, also at a loss for words. "Where did you learned that, David?" Ben asked. “I saw it on Sarah’s laptop, she said it was a school project,” David explained. “David, do you even know what some of those words mean?” Mary asked. “Nope,” David shook his head. “Alright then, why don’t you go back to sleep upstairs?” Mary ordered gently. But before David could even answer, a faint sound of footsteps approached. “What’s all the fuss about down here?” asked a young lady at the age of thirteen. It was Sarah, their firstborn. Blonde like her mother, taller than David. Which would make sense because she is undeniably older than him. “Why is mom pointing a gun at dad?” she asked, but no surprised tone came from this question as if this was a normal occurrence. “Oh no, did dad find out about mom not being blind all these times?” Now this question did come out as a surprise. “What?!” both Ben and Mary yelled in disbelief. “You knew?” Mary asked. “Of course I knew, I’m thirteen, not dumb.” she answered. “Since when did you know?” Mary asked. “I don’t know, two years ago I think?” “You knew all these times and didn’t even bother to tell me?!” Ben asked quite loudly. “Hey, It’s none of my business.” Sarah replied. “I got home from school one day and saw mom without her glasses, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without any problems, her eyes were looking precisely at the ingredients needed to make them, not randomly looking around like she always does.” “Oh Lord, give me strength, women in this family are sociopaths, I feel betrayed.” Ben cried out. “That’s not what sociopaths mean,” said David. “Sixteen years.” Ben said. “What?” Mary asked. “For sixteen years, you pretended to be blind in front of me,” Ben said in a soft voice, but you can feel the anger building up just by the sentence. “I’m sorry, I- I...” Mary stammered. “All those dishes, I’ve done...” Ben continued. “Hey, I helped.” Sarah interrupted. “Those dirty laundry I did, changing these two little accident’s diapers...” “Wow, what?” Sarah asked appallingly. “Which I... your biological father, love so much without any doubt...” Ben continued, but Sarah just rolled her eyes. “While you just sit back and relax?” Ben asked, finally finishing his point. “I... I’m so...” “I need to go take a walk," Ben said, letting out a huge sigh of exasperation. "No! You can't leave, they know about you now. They'll kill you too." Mary whispered loudly. "Excuse me? Did you say *kill*?" Ben asked. "Mary please, I'm begging you, please tell me what is going on right now. I swear I will manually give myself a heart attack, try me! I swear!" Ben shouted, slammed the door next to him, and walked towards the couch and took a seat. A mix of frustration and anger could be seen from his face, with a little hint of confusion. Mary thinks he looks cute when he does that. "Sarah, David, can you both go upstairs to your room? I need to talk with your father," Mary asked politely. "I'd rather listen to be honest," Sarah said. "Me too," David followed. "Do you want to find out if this is a real gun?" Mary asked rhetorically. "Alright. Fine. Yeesh. Come on David let's bounce, the *adults* are talking," Sarah sarcastically replied. She grabbed David's arm and dragged him upstairs. "Don't forget to lock the windows too sweetie!" Mary shouted. But Sarah just rolled her eyes. A few moments of silence before Mary decided to tell Ben the whole truth. "Ahem! So uh... What's... Uh... What's going on in your life right now?" he joked as if they were on their first date. "Ben, I need your full attention right now. Can you give that to me for a few moments?" Sarah queried. "I'm sorry, yes you have my undivided attention, sweetie," Ben nodded. “I’m going to tell you the whole truth. My real name is Marie...” “Yeah, Mary. I know,” Ben interrupted. “No... Please, let me talk and you just listen okay?” Mary asked. Ben nodded. “And it’s spelled differently.” She added. “ My real name is Marie Stein, my family... My father is a drug lord in Germany. I ran away from home when I was still fifteen after I found out the truth that he had killed my mother because she threatened to go to the local police and spill his secrets if she wouldn’t stop fooling around with other women. But he couldn’t risk his *career* after hearing that, so he put three bullets to her chest and two on the head just to make sure she was dead. I was playing hide and seek with the butler’s son and was hiding under the closet in their room. I saw the whole thing through the cracks. The next day, I packed days worth of clothing, stole a ton of money from his safe, and made my way to the nearest autobahn- I mean highway, and hitchhiked from Rothenburg to Goch. You have no idea the lengths I went to keep myself safe. But I don’t want to get into that now. It took me months to get that far, and I can’t stop there, I had to keep going because my father has connection, people, and the resources at his disposal just to find me. As long as I am in Germany, I could never feel safe. So I sneaked into the Netherlands through a river. After days of begging the people there to sneak me into the Netherlands, someone finally said yes. The boat was small, it had a secret compartment underneath it, but it was filled with water. He said the only way for him to sneak me into the Netherlands was in that compartment. I spent six hours underwater for him to get me somewhere safe. He only gave me a bamboo straw to breathe through my mouth. I swear to you it felt like days under there. He asked me if I had anywhere else to stay. I said no. He told me that his parents ran a farm near where we were back then. They took me in without question, treated me like their own family. So I helped them with their farm work in exchange for them letting me stay there. Things were fine for a few years. But then somehow my father found out that I was there and sent men to retrieve me.” Her eyes welled up and Mary was trying her best not to cry. But she continued her story. “That night was the first time I heard that song used against me. The jingle you were singing while entering the house. I think it was their signature song, they will sing this song before killing someone. They killed his parents like they were nothing.” she started crying. “Like they were nothing, Ben!” she bawled. “I’m so sorry, Mary. I had no idea you went through all of these,” Ben said. He stood up and put his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “You don’t need to tell me anymore if you don’t want to. I hate seeing you cry. In fact, this is the first time I’ve seen you cry,” Ben started to rock their body left and right gently. Mary hugged her back and continued crying. “If I heard the song, would that make me a target?” Ben asked. Mary ceased and snapped back to her senses. Her face went white. “Umm, we have to get out of here. Now!” she dismayed. “Get the kids, I’m driving.” Ben hurried himself upstairs to Sarah’s bedroom only to find her sitting on her bed gun against her head by a man in a ski mask. “Call her up here now,” the man ordered. “Where’s David? Where’s my son?” Ben cried. “I said call her to come up now!” the man screamed. Ben stood there frozen. His leg would not move, his arms would not reach, and his mouth would not open. He had never been in this situation before so his brain could not compute what his next move should be. “Fine I’ll do it myself,” the man said and shot three bullets through the ceiling. Mary rushed upstairs after hearing the gunshots. After seeing what Ben had seen, she immediately pointed her gun towards the man in the ski mask. “Let her go,” she commanded. “Oh lookie here, little Marie has a gun now. You clearly didn’t know what you married into huh, *Ben*?” the man mocked. “Let my family go, it’s me that you want. Let them go!” She yelled. “The song has been sung. Someone has to die. So who is it gonna be, Marie?” taunted the man. “Me,” Ben said. “Please don’t hurt any of my family,” Ben pleaded. “I heard that little story, she told you downstairs, Ben.” the man said. “But that isn’t the full story. Did she tell you what happened to the farmer’s son? Oh boy, he got mad when he found out that his parents were dead and she got away with it. So he did what anyone with a cool villain origin story does. He found out who that girl was and managed to get in touch with her beloved father. He decided that he wanted to work for that girl’s father. You know, because he wanted to destroy things from the inside. Didn’t you notice why your father stopped looking for you, Marie? Because I managed to gain his trust. Can you imagine working for a guy that killed your parents? Thank god he didn’t find out until the last minute of his life. I told him everything about how I met you and how he sent his men to kill my family before putting three bullets on his chest and two on his brain. I decorated that office wall of his magnificently with his pink, pale, and stupid brain. But I didn’t wanna stop there. I had to find the girl who started this all. You. When I finally found you a few weeks back, I had this whole monologue prepared. And at the end of that monologue, I’m gonna find and shoot the one you love most. But then I learned that you had kids. That means I get to enjoy seeing you suffer more!” he screamed. While he was monologuing, Ben noticed that the man’s gun holding hand was pointed to nowhere. His brain finally computed his next steps. And when his hand wasn’t pointing the gun at Sarah, he ran as fast as he could and body slammed the man to the wall. When the man hit the wall, he accidentally fired a bullet. The bullet flies directly towards Mary, penetrating her right lung. “Nooo!” Ben screamed. He threw an uppercut punch to the man’s face, kicked his knee, and snatched his gun. Without even giving it a second thought, he shot the man’s kneecap and foot, Ben would’ve shot the man’s face off, but he is not a killer and couldn’t sleep at night if he did so. The man fell to the ground screaming and groaning and twitching in pain. “Sarah, go find David and I need you to run to Uncle Jerry’s house. Tell them there’s an intruder and call the police. Now!” Ben commanded. Sarah opened the closet’s door and took David, she managed to push David inside the closet when he saw a stranger in her room. Both his arms are clutching his knees, trembling back and forth. She grabbed his hand, pulled him up, and ran downstairs to exit the house and do what her father told her to do. Ben rushed towards Mary. She was sitting on the floor, her body was leaning on the wall, blood on her shirt, slack, and on the carpet. She was gasping for air, her lung had already collapsed. Ben did not know where on earth could he hold her fearing that a slight touch would hurt her more than she was experiencing right then. “You stay put, I’m gonna call an ambulance!” Ben said. “Yeah... no, in my condition, I think I’ll go for a run, haven’t done that in years," Mary replied sarcastically. "Stay here, I don't have much time," “But you’re bleeding a lot! More than when you’re on your monthly thing,” Ben replied with a hint of vibration in his voice, tears welling up in his eyes, and gave her a gentle smile. “Everything is going to be A-Okay. Let me call an ambulance for you.” “No, stay here with me, I can feel the blood filling my throa-” she coughed blood before finishing that sentence. “Alright, I’m gonna sit next to you,” Ben said, kneeling, and grabbed her hand, holding it tight. “I’m sorry I lied to you all these years, I was so scared that my father would find me, I didn’t know he had already died.” Mary said, gasping. “You know my life would’ve been easier if you had told me the truth right?” he replied jokingly. “I could’ve hung out with friends, played some fantasy football, you stole my mid life youth from me.” “What friends?” she asked. They both laughed. Ben didn’t know what to say, so he just looked at her and she did the same. They both knew this was going to be the last moment they’re gonna be together. Mary looked out the window. The moon was really full tonight, decorated with a curtain of stars with a few blurred clouds tainting that image. “I really am sorry, Ben,” she pleaded “After hearing your origin story, I wouldn’t blame you even if you were a villain.” Ben cried. But things got quiet. Her eyes are still open and gazing out the window. But there was no heartbeat, no breathing patterns, her chest stayed the same. She was gone and Ben knew it. He sat there next to his dead wife crying, wiping his tears with his arms and sleeves. He wanted to scream but he had no energy left, he was physically and mentally exhausted. He just sat there crying. There’s nothing more he could do. “Ben!” shouted someone from downstairs. He heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. Jerry then came out of the corner of his eyes. He was carrying his son’s baseball bat. He saw Ben sitting on the ground, nose red, eyes wet, he took a glance next to him to see Mary, but she wasn’t moving, he saw all the blood. He put things together when he saw the man in the ski mask at the other corner of the room. The man wasn’t unconscious, he just sat there quietly, no one knew what he was thinking at that moment. Did he finally find the clarity after killing Mary, or did he feel remorse, no one knows. Jerry rushed to the man and took one swing to his head and rendered the man unconscious. Jerry felt the man’s heartbeat to make sure he wasn’t dead and he gave three good kicks to the stomach afterwards out of anger. “Ben... “ Jerry said, he couldn’t ask if he was okay, and he couldn’t ask what had happened here because he already assumed that this man was a robber trying to rob them. “I don’t know what to do now Jerry, I really don’t,” Ben said, “Mary’s gone,” he quivered. Jerry didn’t say anything after that, he inspected the window the man probably had come from. He saw a ladder straight to the ground from Sarah’s window. “Your kids are safe. They’re with Julia next door. My team will be arriving here soon,” he said. Jerry is a police officer, and Julia is his wife. Ben and Jerry weren’t close but Julia and Mary were since they’re both housewives and spent most of the afternoon together gossiping about other neighbours. “Thank you...” Ben said. It’s the only thing he could say. The police came a few minutes after that. They took Ben outside and tried to ask him a few questions while the other teams were securing that place. But Ben didn’t answer, he just kept gazing through the ground. People came out of their houses to get a glimpse of what was happening. They put Mary’s body in a body bag and took her away to the coroners. He heard tiny footsteps crunching near him, It was Julia. “I’m sorry for your loss, Ben” She said. Ben did not answer, but he nodded. “How’s my kids doing?” he asked. “They’re napping on the couch inside the house,” she replied. “Did you know she wasn’t blind? Mary, She wasn’t blind at all,” Ben said. Julia stood there quietly because she already knew that. She knew all of Mary’s story. A Few hours had passed, and the police, forensics, and all were gone. They had done their job there. Ben went inside his house and he saw the bloodstain in Sarah’s room, so grabbed a bucket full of water, squished some soap in there and grasped the sponge, and started scrubbing the blood stain with soap water. While he was cleaning it, he kept thinking how he grew up an orphan, he had nobody except the people at the orphanage. They helped him get through school, he managed to get a job, and pay for college, and met Mary a few years after graduation. He found out that she also had no parents. He felt like they were made for each other. Together they could fill the void they have been feeling since they were a kid, and promised that that will never happen to their kids. “Hey,” Jerry said, while walking up the stairs. “I’m just checking on you, if you need anything...” “After what has happened to me tonight, they could at least help clean off this blood stain,” he chuckled. Tears welled up in his eyes again.