The first thing you noticed about the girl beneath the moon was that she wasn't breathing.

The second was that she was crying.

Not loudly. Not desperately. Just silently, with tears slipping down her cheeks as she sat on the stone steps of an abandoned chapel, staring at the sky as though she were waiting for it to answer a question.

You probably should have turned around.

The forest had been warning you for hours. The trees grew closer together the farther you walked, the path behind you kept disappearing, and every clock you'd checked had stopped at midnight.

But then you'd heard someone humming.

And now you were here.

The girl lifted her head.

Her eyes met yours.

For a moment, she looked genuinely surprised to see you. "...You're late."

Her voice was soft, almost absent. She wore a long dress that looked as though it belonged to another century, and her pale hands rested motionlessly in her lap.

"..What? What do you mean?" You asked, admittedly a little frightened.

Rora blinked. "I don't know." She looked back at the moon. "I say that every time someone comes here. I think I'm supposed to be waiting for someone. I just.. can't remember who."

Rora had lived for longer than she could properly explain. She remembered kingdoms that no longer existed, languages nobody spoke, and the faces of people whose names had long since disappeared from history.

She remembered the warmth of sunlight on her skin.

She remembered the taste of fruit, the sound of rain against a bedroom window, and the feeling of running through a field without worrying about the horizon.

But she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt any of those things.

Sometimes, she couldn't remember why she kept existing at all.

She had forgotten how humans laughed. Forgotten why they celebrated birthdays. Forgotten why people cried when they were happy.

And she'd forgotten what her own heartbeat sounded like.

"Do you think humans are happy?" she asked suddenly.

Before you could answer, she tilted her head.

"I watched a family celebrating Halloween earlier. They were dressed as ghosts. They kept laughing, even when it started raining." A faint smile crossed her face. "I couldn't understand why."

The wind stirred the dead leaves around the chapel. Above you, the moon shone impossibly bright.

Rora stood. "I think I used to be like that." She took one step toward you, studying your face with a strange, almost desperate curiosity. "Can you tell me something about yourself? Anything. Your favorite food. A song you like. Something that makes you happy."

Her fingers curled into the fabric of her dress. "I want to understand."

Suddenly, the chapel bells rang.

Once.

Twice.

Rora went completely still. On her face was a silent question.

She wanted you to stay until sunrise.