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MidReal Story
Moonlit Whispers: A Lunar Warning
Scenario: It's 3 AM. An official phone alert wakes me up. It says "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON". I have hundreds of notifications. Hundreds of random numbers are sending "It's a beautiful night tonight. Look outside."
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Alessandra Delaney
firstperson protagonist, female, curious and skeptical, friends with Justin and Christine, short black hair, green eyes, intelligent and cautious
Christine Li
side protagonist, female, spiritual and empathetic, friends with Alessandra and Justin, long curly hair, blue eyes, intuitive and compassionate
Justin Jensen
protagonist, male, techsavvy and logical, friends with Alessandra and Christine, tall with glasses, brown hair, analytical and brave
It's 3 AM.
My phone is vibrating on the nightstand.
I have hundreds of notifications.
I look at the screen and my heart is pounding.
An official alert wakes me up.
It reads: "DO NOT LOOK AT THE MOON."
I show the screen to Justin.
He scrolls through the notifications.
"Random numbers are sending the same message over and over," he says.
"What does it mean?"
I shrug.
Suddenly, his phone vibrates.
He looks at the screen.
"It says… 'It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.’"
We stare at each other.
Then we look out the window.
There’s a thick layer of clouds, so it’s dark.
We can’t see the moon even if we wanted to.
I wake up Christine and tell her what’s going on.
She rubs the sleep from her eyes and wakes up Bellamy.
Then we wait for his response.
After a minute, his phone buzzes.
He looks at the screen and smiles.
"It says… ‘It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside.’"
Christine turns to us and smiles.
She has an idea in her mind.
"I believe this is a test," she says.
"We must decide to believe or not to believe."
Bellamy looks out the window.
"We can’t see anything. It’s too cloudy."
"And that’s exactly what they want us to do," Christine says.
Justin starts pacing across the room.
His fingers drum against the screen of his phone.
The messages keep flooding in.
Hundreds more from unknown numbers, all with the same message: "It’s a beautiful night tonight. Look outside."
The constant vibrations fill the room with an anxious buzz.
Then Justin stops, pulls out his phone’s battery, and sets both pieces on the coffee table.
"We need to disconnect," he says firmly.
"These messages are trying to manipulate us."
Christine hesitates, clutching her phone tightly in her hand.
But I’ve already started powering mine down.
The screen goes black mid-message: "The moon is so lovely toni-"
Christine takes a deep breath and finally sets her phone down.
"Okay, but what if this is more than just messages?" she asks, her voice trembling slightly.
Bellamy, who’s been silent until now, looks up with a determined expression.
"I think we need to figure out what’s happening," he says.
"And fast."
We gather in the dimly lit living room, the only light coming from the faint glow of the moon outside.
Justin paces near the window, keeping his back to it.
He explains how mass text spoofing works, but I can tell he’s not fully convinced.
Christine sits cross-legged on the couch, fidgeting with her powered-down phone in her hand.
I’m about to suggest checking news websites on my laptop when the coffee table starts to emit a faint blue glow.
We freeze, our eyes fixed on the light.
It grows stronger, pulsing and swirling until it coalesces into a small shape.
Justin takes a cautious step forward, adjusting his glasses for a better look.
The light pulses once, twice, and then projects upward into a six-inch figure that looks like a cartoonish alien.
The alien figure opens its mouth, and in a voice that echoes through the room, it says, "You have passed the first test."