Twice in a Blue Moon

It was an eerie night. The full moon, hanging high above in the cloudless sky, seems to be glowing a mysterious blue. This turned the distant mountains that surrounded the endless wheat fields a beautiful blue. With a single road cutting through the fields, a traveler was able to see the eerie beauty of Goowing Valley. Goowing Valley was a landmark trail for anyone traveling on Route 696. It cut between a section of the Rocky Mountains and traveling on through this valley was said to be the fastest way to get from California to Colorado and vice versa. Goowing Valley was named after the first man to travel it, Arthur Goowing. However, it has a nick name. It was sometimes called Blue Moon Valley on nights like this.

On nights like these, when the sky was cloudless and the moon was full, the whole valley seemed to gain a blue hue. It was as if the entire valley was sparkling with sapphire dust and the mountains were made of sapphire themselves. To anyone this was a beautiful sight.

"This place sucks."

Well almost everyone. At the moment, two young men were driving from their home of Denver Colorado to sunny Malibu, California. They were brothers, three years apart. The oldest, was 20 years old and was at the wheel, chuckling at his brother's blunt statement. He was tall with a muscular body. He had a crew cut, but one could still see the golden sheen of his hair. Most notable about him though was his sapphire blue eyes, something he shared with his younger brother.

"It's not that bad Danny," the older boy said.

Danny looked at his brother, his own deep blue eyes fixed in a glare. Danny, like his brother, had golden blond hair. However, Danny had medium length hair that parted to the left side of his face. His hair was also wavy and was brighter than his brother's. Danny had a slim built from his high school wrestling team. He wasn't buff or anything like his brother, but he still had his own physique. Both brothers wore sleeveless t-shirts and while Danny had shorts, his brother had jeans. Danny's brother also has a black t-shirt under his white sleeveless.

"Nathan, why can't stop at a motel or something?" Danny asked.

"Well, because I want to get to Cali as soon as possible and this is the fastest. Don't you?"

Danny pouted and looked out the window. The two brothers were on their way to California for summer vacation and for a surfing competition. Both boys had lived in California when they were younger, but moved when Danny was 15. Danny missed the surf, so every summer since; Nate took his brother to California for vacation. However, this was the first time they ever passed through Goowing Valley.

"This place is so lame. Nothing but wheat fields for miles." Danny whined.

"There could be worse things than wheat fields Danny," Nate told his surf loving brother. Danny always hated dry land.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and Nate almost lost control of the car. The car came to a screeching halt, leaving skid marks on the road behind them. Danny was clinging onto the door and his seat while Nate caught his breath, eyes wide. Looking out his open window, Nate saw the front tire of on his side of the car was flat. He groaned.

"Like a flat tire out in the middle of nowhere."

"A flat tire? You're kidding right?"

"Would I kid about something like this?" Nate got out of the car to examine the damage. Frowning, Danny got out and walked over to his brother, who was grumbling about their bad luck.

"You got a spar right?"

"I wish."

"Well then what are we going to do?" Danny asked frustrated.

"Calm down, calm down." Nate looked around, hoping to see a building through all sea of wheat. In the distance, Nate could see a small barn. He lightly slapped his brother, pointing to the barn. "See that? Bet you there's someone who can help us. Just stay here and I'll go over and check it out alright?"

Danny frowned, not liking the idea of having to stay in the middle of nowhere. However, he wouldn't argue with Nate. Nate was very resourceful and he some survival training.

"Yeah, ok." Danny said, sitting on the hood of the car. Nate smiled and quickly ruffled his brother's hair, which Danny protested to, and walked towards the barn. Nate disappeared into the sea of wheat, but Danny could just see his brother from the waist up. Nate left a small, narrow path through the wheat, but soon he was gone in the distance. Sighing, Danny looked around him. His ADD would easily make him bored. After ten minutes, Danny got off the hood of the car and started picking wheat from the ground. He pulled them up by the masses, doing random things with them like tying them together, plucking all the seeds, or tossing them around.

Meanwhile, Nate had gotten to the barn, but found it to be abandoned.

"Crap." Nate said. He looked around, seeing if there was a tire or anything. As he searched the barn, he was unaware at how brighter the sky got briefly. Not finding a spare, Nate walked out of the barn and rounded the corner. Out of the corner of his eye, he could have sworn he saw movement. However, when he went to look, all Nate saw was a creepy looking scarecrow. It was dressed in a black, feathery coat with deep blue skeletal arms. Its head was a pumpkin with a crooked smile.

"Weird. I didn't see that earlier." Nate said. He turned around, going towards a shed that was at the side of the barn. If Nate had taken the time, he would have seen the blue slime dripping from the bottom of the scarecrow's coat. Walking towards the shed, Nate found it unlocked, but the door was coated in a clear, gooey substance.

"Ew. What the-" Nate never got to finish that sentence. The door to the shed suddenly flew open, slime spattering all over Nate. He growled, wiping the slime from his face with his shirt. Unfortunately, the fabric of his clothes started to unravel, falling apart quickly at the seams. "What the-"

Again, Nate never got to finish that sentence. As his clothes fell apart around him, a slime coated piece of cloth flew out of the shed and latched around his mouth. He tried to scream, but it only came out as a muffled sound. By now, Nate was nude, but he didn't have to worry around that because he was soon attacked by more gooey fabric from the shed.

Meanwhile, Danny was bored. He had ripped out most of the wheat near him, creating somewhat of a semi-circle. It had been an half an hour since Nate left and Danny was growing worried and restless. Sighing, Danny decided he should go and look for Nate. That, and being out there alone was creeping him out. He started for the barn, following the narrow path that Nate had made a while ago. However, when he looked up, Danny saw the barn was gone. He cursed, thinking he had gone the wrong way.

"Nate!? Nate where are you?" Danny called into the night. He turned around, calling out. "Nate! Where are you? Na-agh!" Danny screamed when something grabbed his shoulder. Turning, and expecting his brother, Danny screamed at what he saw. Rather than seeing Nate, he saw a strange grey creature. It was tall and seemed to be wrapped in a bunch of grey, latex-like cloth that was stitched together. One arm was stitched to the monster's side with the other was reaching out towards Danny. Grey slime seemed to ooze out of the seams of the creature. However, the most frightening part was that this creature was actually Nate. Danny watched his older brother as cloth and goo slowly covered his head.

"Nate? Oh my god what happened? What happened?" Danny asked. Nate tried to say something but all the came out was a muffled sound. Nate stumbled toward Danny, grabbing onto his brother's shoulder to stabilize him. The moment Nate's hand touched Danny's shoulder, the goo seeping from the seams of Nate's hand quickly latched onto Danny's shoulder. It quickly started spreading down his left arm, making it go limb. Danny watched in horror as not only part of his sleeveless shirt fall apart, but the goo went down his limb arm, turning into latex-like grey sleeve.

"What the hell!?" Danny screamed. He backed up as Nate tried to grab him. However, Danny felt himself bumping into someone, his limb arm brushing against silky smooth feathers. Turning around swiftly, Danny found himself staring into the glowing eyes of a pumpkin headed scarecrow. Paralyzed by fear, Danny was easily taken by the scarecrow. Its blue arms reached out and grabbed him. It picked up Danny so fast he barely had time to register what was happening until he felt himself hit a wooden pole.

Rope tied his arms and waist to the cross. Danny came out of his shock and stared to struggle, but with one arm limb it was hard to do so. Looking up he saw Nate struggle with his own transformation. However, the only thing left of Nate was the muffled shouts of protest and a single sapphire blue eye. Nate's body walked towards Danny's prone form, good seeping through the seams. And then the scarecrow hovered in front of Danny.

"What do you want from us?" the teen asked fearfully.

"You violated the fields. It's unfortunate you did this during a blue moon, when anything is possible." The scarecrow said. "Let's see how much you'll like the fields after spending the rest of your life watching it."

As the scarecrow said this, slime seeped from its fingers, dripping onto Danny's body. The slime shredded his clothes and turned his skin into smooth, thin latex. Danny could feel his body changing, his muscles fading away as it flesh became limp fabric and his insides became straw. Surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all. It was like his body was just going numb. Nate's controlled body walked over and goo stared to cover Danny's transforming body. It oozed over his body, turning into latex clothing. The grey shirt formed over Danny's torso. Blue overalls made of the scarecrow's slime started to wrap around Danny's pants and newly formed shirt.

"No Nate stop! Stop it please. Help me. Don't do this Nate. Get off me!" Danny continued pleading to deaf ears. The scarecrow covered Danny's mouth with slime, effectively shutting the teen up as his jaw became latex. The good on his mouth crawled up the side of his face, turning part of his head into a scarecrow's face. As a red scarf formed from Nate's goo appeared around Danny's throat, the poor teen could only look on helplessly as his transformation reached completion. His entire body had gone limp by now, leaving him helpless to his two capture's will. As his golden hair became brown, dirty straw, Danny looked over at Nate and saw a single tear roll down his brother's eye.

However, the eye was soon covered up and all that remained of Nate was a mindless puppet who oozed goo. At the same time, goo covered Danny's head and his transformation was complete. Hanging limply on a cross was a latex scarecrow cowboy, stuffed with straw. However, Danny was fully aware. He could see through the stitches of his face. He whimpered as Nate and the pumpkin guy disappeared into the wheat field. He could see their car being taken by said wheat and became scrap metal. And he could see, after years of hanging by the cross, countless of other fall prey to the valley.

Worse of all, he could see miles of stupid wheat.