There was a loud pounding heard from the library of the large three story home, nestled between two traditional brick houses. Samantha was desperately trying to find a way of the stuffy room, banging on the door until her knuckles bled. As sweat and tears dripped down her face, she wondered if her friend Max was still alive. This whole situation started two days ago, two days before the full moon. Samantha thought back to that morning and realized how much had changed.

Two Days Ago...

Samantha woke early on the morning of May 4, dreading the day ahead. She was a sophomore in high school and today was the day of her final math examination. Samantha heard her mother across the hall, listening to a health podcast. Her mother, Gracie had raised her alone since she was about six years old and her father walked out on them to pursue a new career in Canada. Samantha or as her mother called her “Sam” didn’t have many fond memories of her father, and was thankful that her mom was able to provide a welcoming home by herself. 

“Sam! Are you awake? I hear rustling from your room,” Gracie yelled through the walls. 

“Unfortunately…” Sam muttered under her breath. 

She glanced at the clock that read 7:46. She panicked as her school started in barely a half hour and she was completely unprepared for the day ahead. Finding the first outfit that relatively matched, Sam was out the door in a record time of 7 minutes. She lived in a small cul-de-sac that was filled with traditional families and white picket fences. Although they had lived in the area her entire life, Sam felt out of place in her neighborhood. The one positive aspect was that her high school was only about a 10 minute walk from her front door. It was a crisp grey day which wasn’t unusual for this time of year in Salem, Oregon. Sam strolled past her best friend Max’s house on the way to her school. His house stood out from the rest of the block. Large stained glass windows and a dark brown porch contrasted greatly with the neighboring homes. It was a house that children avoided at night, with creaking noises coming from within. Although she had known Max for almost her whole life, she had never stepped foot into his home. Max was a quiet teenager who didn’t have many friends but was tough enough to avoid the attention of the local bullies. He was a straight A student with plans to study abroad during college. He despised Salem and was taking the first opportunity possible to leave. 

According to him, his mother was unwell and would get very angry if he brought home any visitors. Sam believed Max about his strict mother as she remembered hearing stories about their family's past. Redirecting her thoughts towards the upcoming math test, Sam walked through the campus and managed to find her seat in her first period with minutes to spare. Math wasn’t until after lunch, so she had time to discreetly study. 

Max came bustling in after the bell rang for the second period. He was rarely late to class and Sam began to worry when she noticed the redness in his face. She wasn’t able to talk to him as they sat on opposite sides of the room, however when she caught his attention, he gave her a petrified look. Sam’s stomach dropped and her mind began to spin. She hoped he had not found himself in trouble, she usually was the one who needed his help out of messes. 

Her mind was still in scrambles when math class began, not able to get the sight of Max’s face out of her head. She managed to focus her attention towards the paper in front of her, knowing that passing this class was crucial for her future. Samantha searched the school after the last bell rang to find Max, although he was nowhere to be found. She didn’t want to stop by his house looking for him as the overgrown grass and statues on his property made the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She decided her best course of action would be to call his house from the safety of her own home. Samantha quickly returned to her house, greeting her mom who was gardening in their front yard. 

She slammed the front door and quickly ran up to her room. Grabbing her laptop and phone from her school bag, she settled down at her desk. Sam was desperate to find out what was troubling her friend. He was ignoring her texts and his phone went straight to voicemail when she called for the fifth time. She thought that maybe his family was in trouble. Well, she didn’t know if he had a family besides his sickly mother. He was reluctant to talk about his past and his personal life, leading Sam with no leads. 

After what felt like many hours of searching for answers, Samantha decided to call it a night and helped her mom with chores around the house to keep herself busy. The next morning, Max was missing from their first period. She hoped that he was merely late again, but he didn’t show for the whole school day. Samantha wanted to reach out to help, but she didn’t have many friends she felt comfortable discussing this issue with. She instead went to the attendance office, hoping the administrators could help. 

“Good afternoon, I was hoping you could tell me where Max Steinfield is…” Samantha said rather confidently to the woman working in the office. 

“Let me check my computer dear,” the woman responded. “Well it doesn’t appear that a Max Steinfield attends this high school.” she said after a few moments. 

“What? He is in multiple of my classes and has been going to this school for almost two years.” Sam was losing patience quickly. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you.” the woman said. Samantha stormed out of the office and straight out of the school building. She thought she was going insane. “Is he playing a prank on me? What is going on?” Samantha’s head was full of questions as she rushed home. She took her laptop and began to search the internet for a Steinfield family in Salem. No results. 

Samantha felt helpless, desperate to find her friend. She decided to finally walk to his house, hoping that Max would answer the door. The sun was setting as she reached his home, making her more anxious. She knocked several times before hearing a noise from the upper level of the house. It appeared to be a muffled scream, or maybe that was just her mind playing tricks on her. She didn’t stay to investigate the noise, worried about her own safety. Sam ran all the way back to her home, not stopping until she was safely locked in her room. 

She was running out of ideas quickly. Max seemed to have disappeared off the face of the Earth and Sam was the only one to notice. She didn’t know anything about his family so she was unable to contact them. Sam decided that tomorrow she was going to ask around at school to see if anyone knew anything about him. That night she didn’t get much sleep, but spent hours tossing and turning and imagining the worse. In the morning she skipped breakfast with her mom in order to get school early. Maybe she could talk to some of Max’s teachers before the bell rang. She put her bag in her locker and headed for their history class. Their teacher, Mr. Gell, had absolutely know idea what Samantha was saying about Max. 

“I’m sorry Samantha, I don’t remember him. Did you get enough sleep last night? Is everything okay at home?” Mr. Gell questioned. She knew that this conversation was going nowhere so she decided her next course of action. “Maybe there is something in his locker that could be helpful,” she thought and was relieved when she remembered that Max had given her his locker combination some time ago. Samantha headed to it and quickly opened the cold metal door. Instead there was only one item, a large faded book. The brown cover had white writing that was in a foreign language Sam didn’t recognize. She was hesitant to pick up the object; she wasn’t sure what Max was involved in. A group of students came by and the bell rang shortly after. Samantha hurriedly grabbed the book and ran back to her locker to hide the item. 

After many hours of sitting in her classes, Samantha heard the last bell rang. She could finally focus her attention to Max’s book. She went home and ignored her mother’s greetings, heading straight to her room. She grabbed the book and tried to open it, although she was unable to. There was no lock or any device that seemed to stop the book from opening. Samantha decided to turn her attention towards the writing on the front after she figured that opening it was impossible. The writing, which consisted of different symbols, was scribbled across the front of the book. She turned towards her computer and began searching for different languages. The symbols were too intricate to be latin. She couldn’t find a match to any language on earth. Samantha still had hope that this was all a practical joke and that Max planted this book to trick her. She was about ready to give up when she found a website that explained the history of the Enochian language. “Enochian?” she wondered. After a few minutes of reading, Samantha discovered that Enochian was the language of angels and various spirits. “This can’t be real.” Sam thought, although nothing non-magical seemed to explain Max’s sudden disappearance from everyones’ minds. 

She was able to translate the title of the book after finding a chart of the Enochian alphabet. It read, “Full moons and their magical properties.” As Samantha kept digging, she found herself having more questions than answers. She was able to find out from the website that the book was a guide to creating certain spells. The reason she couldn’t open it was that she did not possess magical abilities and was not trained to handle the information that was hidden inside. Sam became worried about keeping the book. She didn’t know the consequences that could happen from spells or why Max would have this item in his locker. She craved answers and decided that tonight she was going to find some.

That night Sam changed out of pajamas, grabbed her bag, and ran downstairs. She had heard her mother go to bed shortly before so she knew that she was clear to leave. She managed to get to Max’s house without seeing anyone around. Sam grabbed a flashlight from her bag as well as a bobby pin. She went to their front door and put the bobby pin in the keyhole. She had spent time that afternoon learning how to pick a lock so that she was able to enter the house unnoticed. The door creaked open once she heard a click from the lock. The entryway was dark, the only light coming from her flashlight. She expected the house to be quiet, although when she entered she could hear chanting from the upper level. 

Acting with confidence, Sam carefully climbed the stairs and saw a door cracked open. The chanting was louder now, and she was about to open the door when suddenly she was pushed into a different room. It happened quickly, she felt a gust of wind and now she was locked in what appeared to be a library. “That was definitely magic.” Sam thought to herself, not sure if she could keep herself from panicking. She began pounding on the door, knowing that someone definitely knew she was here. She felt her body shutting down and she began to sob. The pounding stopped when she noticed a faint figure in the corner. It was a person. “It’s Max.” she thought to herself. 

“Max!” she called out rushing over to him. He looked up at her, his face pale and tired.

“Samantha, you shouldn’t be here.” he said weakly. 

“I came to help you! All of the people at school can’t remember you and I needed to find you.” Sam was becoming angry. Why wasn’t Max happy to see her? 

“You can’t stop it. You can’t stop her.” he said. “She’s already performing the spell. It’s the perfect night, today is the full moon.”

“What are you talking about? Who can’t I stop? Does this have to do with the book I found in your locker?” She asked. 

“I was trying to hide it from her but apparently she has other sources.” Max replied. “It’s my mother. She’s a witch. Why do you think I never have people over here?” he asked.

“Oh... What spell is she performing? Can we escape?” Sam said while desperately looking around the room. 

“She’s trying to bring my father back. He died three years ago and she has spent every day since trying to find something to help.” Max tried to explain although his eyes began to droop.

“She hit me with a sleeping spell but it’s starting to wear off. I don’t want my father back. It won’t be the same. He won’t be the same. There’s a reason everything happens. She shouldn’t be messing with the natural order. There will be harsh consequences. I am just trying to protect my mom.” he told Sam almost as though he has rehearsed this speech before.

“Well, we have got to get out of here.” Sam pulled Max up and headed for the door. She noticed that there was a keyhole and instinctively got out her bobby pin. There was another click and soon Max and Sam were back in the hall. The chanting was still heard from the open door, which Sam pushed open quickly. Inside was a woman, perched over a cluttered desk. The desk held different foreign objects such as plants and what appeared to be an animal skull. Sam looked up at the woman. She looked like Max, they had the same eyes and hair color. She kept chanting, seemingly not worried about the children. 

“Those items are needed for the spell. If we can just destroy one of them then she won’t be able to complete it.” Max whispered to Sam. Sam looked around the room. There was a large fireplace next to a small sofa. On one of the walls was a large glass case, full of sticks and a sword. If only Sam could grab the sword and destroy the spell. Max had a better idea. He went over to the desk, trying to distract his mother. She seemed to be in a trance. He gestured to Sam, who grabbed the dried plants from the desk and went over to the fire. The woman looked over to her but it was too late. The plants went up in flame immediately. There was a scream as Max’s mother realized what happened. 

“WHAT DID YOU DO?” she screamed at Samantha as she held up her hand, trying to produce magic. 

“Mom no!” Max yelled, jumping in between Sam and his mother. His mom put her hand down but it was too late. Max had been struck with a bright light. 

“Max!” Sam screamed running towards his body. He had dropped to the ground. 

“Oh god what have I done?” Max’s mother paced around the desk. 

Sam started crying and picked up her friend. She couldn’t find his pulse. 

“This is all your fault!” Sam cried at the woman. “You erased him from everyones’ minds, no one will even miss him.” Sam realized. Sam set her friend’s body down next to her. She was in disbelief. 

“We were going to move away once his father was back. Have a fresh start. Be a happy family again.” she replied.

“Well how did that turn out for you?” Sam asked, wiping tears from her face.