HEAVEN

Once upon a time, there was a small village next to an enchanted lake, it was surrounded by the tallest mountains and a few fields. In winter, the sky delighted everyone with a sheet of stars during the night, but sometimes storms whipped up the water into waves that people thought they would crash down and take away all the houses. However, in summer there were wild flowers and golden trees.

The sun shone up in the blue sky, warm enough to make everybody feel safe and comfortable. At last, the breeze felt like dozens of cotton hugs. That place was suitable called Heaven. The beauty of Heaven in the summer was only compared with a human creature who was known as Malu. 

Malu was not just beautiful on the outside, with her big green eyes and sparkle yellow spots in them.

She was one of her kind, her courage and compassion were well known as much as her wisdom. She really enjoyed reading stories; her favourite were ancient chronicles that speak of wicked curses. One of them was the Basted curse, which doomed its victim to turn at the stroke of midnight into a vicious and chaotic beast. 

The beast's name was Basted, a monster of nightmares that inhabited the twilight world and hunted at night, forced to create destruction and fear with its mere presence.

Malu was also an only child and had three loyal friends that considered family, Mila, Ciro and Aylin. They lived in the same village and spent a lot of time together, sharing secrets and supporting each other. However, Aylin was not always available to play outside, her parents were cautious and did not allow her to go out at night. Even though they used to organize picnics during the day near the lake and other activities that included her.

One night, Malu, Mila and Ciro were camping next to the magic lake making up ghost stories when they heard a sound coming from the other side of the lake, at first they thought it was a frog but then the sound turned louder and realized it was something else. None of them was afraid, on the contrary, they were curious and decided to go out and explore. 

After walking for a while, the trio found a little path and behind a tree they saw a rowboat. The kids hesitated but then Malu encouraged them to keep moving and approach the source of the noise. Suddenly, the apparently calm lake started to move with violence and the three friends fell from the boat.

They woke up back in the camping zone, safe but confused. They did not remember swimming to the camp, someone must have saved them. A few moments later, Malu noticed a strange figure leaving the place to the lake, she pointed that out to her friends and asked them to follow the shadow. Fearless, they came after the figure until the stranger turned around. 

The creature was as dark as night itself and its eyes were red, it shouted so loud that the leaves of the trees shook fast. The kids were shocked and petrified, the creature approached them but they did not move. Then, voices were coming closer, the creature stopped and flew away.