Moth Season
“Monster in the woods,” Cody rasped, gripping Hallie’s pantleg, clutching his purple dinosaur stuffie.
“Yeah?” Her brother was obsessed with the woods; ever since they drove by on their way to the hospital, and he said he saw a monster, covered with leaves, duck behind a tree.
Ringing voices, clinking dishes. Hallie pressed her hands against her ears. The minutes expanded, contracted, like labored breaths. There was a rhythm to grief, to sudden laughter, to clattering footsteps. Beneath it all, a weighty mantra, like a bass line anchoring a heavy song, if there’s anything we can do, if there’s anything we can do.
“Hallie? You’re so grown up!” Aunt Louella had taken an Uber from Manchester Airport. Now she flitted around in a tight dress. Her perfume made Hallie’s eyes sting. “Oh, how I missed that view of Monadnock. Texas is so flat.”
Hallie wanted to scream: why didn’t you come sooner? Mom had cancer, dammit, not leprosy!
She grabbed Cody’s chubby hand. Aimed herself dead-center of her father’s bloodshot stare. “Taking Cody for a walk.”
Her dad, Joe. He needed a haircut. A hug. A decent meal.
“Come with us?”
“Next time.” He sighed. “Be careful, Hallie. Don’t go to the woods.”
“We won’t.”
“You know the stories.”
A teenager who went for a hike and never returned. An old man who foraged for mushrooms four years ago. No one had seen him since. Dad lowered a shaky palm onto Cody’s curls, flattening his bangs.
“Mind your sister, little man.”
#
Humid, no wind. Clouds like fists of dirt. Hallie gripped the railing, gulping air like a surfacing swimmer. Cody raced down the sidewalk, still clutching Dino, his stuffie.
They followed the dusty road for a long while, before they made it to Grey Rock, a woodland swamp threaded with hiking paths.
Cody pointed farther in. Pulled on her arm. Strings of light filtered through drizzle. No way Cody could see this far in from the car.
The earth was spongy beneath their feet. Fear snaked down Hallie’s spine. “Here?”
Cody crouched; his index finger mashed against his lips. His head turned in a half-circle, in stealth commando mode.
“That’s a hard yes,” Hallie whispered. They had no phone. No flashlight, either. Hallie swatted at mosquitos. No bug spray. In her haste to leave the house, Hallie only grabbled two bottles of water and couple cookies.
The sudden, loud snap of a branch. Cody froze.
Hallie caught a flash of movement. Something big.
Cody screamed and ran.
It crashed past. Her brain registered it as a horse. No – a deer. With swinging arms? Two legs? Hallie raced after Cody. “It’s a deer!”
Cody’s little legs were pumping hard. He took a sharp right turn. Off the trail. No. No. “Stop!”
Hallie chased him. The ground was deeply rutted. Steeply inclined. She cleared a fallen log.
“Stop!”
Cody slowed. Hallie was almost close enough to touch him – when her foot caught a tree root. She went down -- hard, fast, face first.
#
A scorching light.
A strip of wooden ceiling, torn edges of a room. A young woman came into focus: long hair, big frown. She held a flashlight. “Can you sit up?”
Hallie blinked. Cody was yanking on her arm. Always a jittery force field, Cody. His eyes telegraphed: something’s not right.
“Love for y’all to stay, but I don’t need cops here.”
She bent to tie her hiking boots. “I’m Ariston. We half dragged you here.”
Ariston grabbed keys from a table by the door. Lifted the shotgun leaning against it.
“Wait for my yell, then run for the Jeep.”
“Why?” Hallie asked. “What’s out there?”
Ariston shrugged. Left.
“We saw it,” Cody rasped. “The monster.” Cookie crumbs clung to his chin. He threw his arms out wide. “Way big. And really hairy.”
Hallie got up slowly. Everything hurt. She took Cody’s hand.
They went to the door and looked out. Still air. Cranberry sky. Cody pointed to the porch light. A handful of agitated moths flicked around the single bulb. Most were brown; a few were brilliant white.
“Angels,” he said.
“Yeah. They do look like angels, the white ones.”
“Will they...” Cody swallowed hard. “Die?”
Hallie didn’t know what to say. She opted for the truth.
“Someday.”
“If we turn off the light, they won’t get too tired, and then they won’t die.”
“Good thought.”
Cody’s eyes filmed over. “Momma.”
“Yeah?”
“She got too tired.”
Hallie felt herself cracking. “Yes. But now she’s...an angel.”
“Like that moth?” He pointed to the one that looked silvery in the light.
“Yeah.” Hallie pulled him close, then looked over at the Jeep, where Ariston was swinging the rifle in a perfect arc.
Hallie closed the door behind them.
“Okay! Now!”
They rushed to the Jeep. Hallie lifted Cody onto the seat, then got in and pulled him onto her lap. Wrapped both her arms around him.
Cody turned to Ariston. Blinked back tears. “You gonna kill it?”
She glanced at him; buckled her seatbelt. “That’s the general idea.”
“But why? What did he do?” Cody whimpered.
Hallie squeezed his leg.
“He did what monsters do.”
“Don’t hurt him,” Cody pleaded. “He’s just different. He can’t help it.”
Ariston maneuvered the Jeep across the deeply rutted path. When they finally emerged onto the county road, it didn’t take long to get to their neighborhood.
She let them out a block from the house.
“Forget about all of this,” Ariston warned, as the Jeep idled. “For your own good.”
When she pulled away, Cody started crying.
“What is it?”
It took Hallie a while to make out what he was saying, he was sobbing so hard. Dino. He’d lost Dino. Somewhere in the woods.
#
Dad pulled them into his arms; he smelled like beer and cigarettes. “Thank God. Thank God. You gave me a scare,” he said, his voice breaking.
All the visitors had left, except for Aunt Louella, who was yawning. Dad lugged her leather suitcase to the spare bedroom, then plunked onto the sofa.
Hallie put together a snack for Cody, got his bath ready. She soaked her scalp in hydrogen peroxide. The bump didn’t seem too bad. She put Cody to bed, promised him they’d find Dino.
Brought her father a quilt and tucked it around him. The mountain of dishes could wait.
Hallie went to her parent’s room, rummaged through her mother’s clothes. Found a soft sweatshirt. She held it close, breathed in its scent. Pulled it over her head.
She opened her laptop. Searched for info about the missing people. An article about the old man. Chuck Parsons. Odd and reclusive. No one even knew he was missing until a blood-stained backpack was discovered in the woods, containing his ID and clothes. After weeks of searching, he was never found.
The girl who disappeared was Natalie Rice, a high school sophomore from Alstead. Last seen hitchhiking along the county road.
Ten years on, her case was cold. Hallie typed the name Ariston. Found Arystan -- an airline in Kazakhstan. Then she searched: monsters in New Hampshire. Dozens of Bigfoot sightings. And something called a Woods Devil. Tall, skinny and horse-faced. Covered in dark gray hair. With a foul odor. They’d been seen in Coos County, but never as far south as the Monadnock region.
Hallie studied the renditions. She was convinced. They had seen a Woods Devil. And for some reason, Ariston wanted it dead.
#
On Saturday morning, Aunt Louella was up early. So was Hallie’s dad. “Taking your aunt to the airport. Be gone a couple hours, maybe three tops,” he said.
“Okay.”
He hesitated, then handed Hallie his phone. “If you go out...stay close?”
Hallie slipped the phone into her jeans pocket. Louella pecked her cheek. They started out the door. Hallie stopped them. “Dad? Know anything about Natalie Rice? That girl who went missing ten years ago?”
He scratched his chin. “We’d just moved here. You were a toddler, Hal.”
Louella frowned. “You must remember, Joe. She babysat.”
She turned to Hallie. “Pretty girl. Sad though. Family problems. Father in jail, that type of thing.” Louella leaned against the door. “That was when your mom had a real estate job. She couldn’t bring a baby with her to showings. You called her ‘Nasty’; you were just learning to talk.”
“I don’t remember her,” Hallie said. “What happened?”
“No one knows,” said Louella. “Girl walked everywhere. Never wanted us to drive her home. Thought maybe she was embarrassed about where she lived. I did see her hitchhiking now and then on the county road.” Louella stared at a spot above Hallie’s head. “Rumors about some guy who was supposedly stalking her. Personally, I think she ran away to start a new life.”
Louella turned to go. Dad picked up her bulging suitcase, He fixed his eyes on Hallie. “I fired her. There was something wrong with that girl.”
Hallie gasped. “Why? What did she do?”
His face was grim. He turned to Louella. “Best we get going.” Soon as his truck disappeared from view, Hallie went to check on Cody. He was wide awake, fully dressed, sitting on the edge of his bed, pulling on his sneakers.
“Ready,” he announced, jumping down, hands on hips.
“To find Dino?”
“To save the monster.”
Hallie checked his laces, re-tied them. “Why?”
“Cause. He’s not hurting anybody. He just wants to be his normal monster self.”
Hallie grinned. “Let’s take our bikes.”
On their way to Grey Rock, a battered Jeep with Vermont tags passed them. Hallie saw the driver glance at them in the rearview mirror.
Ariston. They parked their bikes on the rutted path and went in on foot. Trudged over the ruts for at least a half mile. Finally, the cabin appeared ahead of them. The Jeep was parked in front.
A blood-curdling scream sounded from inside the cabin.
Cody shrank against Hallie. “The monster!”
“Stay here, Cody. I’ll go check.”
Hallie tucked him behind the porch steps. She crept to the door. Memories came to her like the flapping of moth wings. A teenage girl with blonde curly hair, holding her in her arms.
Smiling. Laughing. “Nasty,” Hallie said to her, in a baby voice.
“Don’t call me that! I’m not Nasty! I’m clean! My name is Natalie!”
The door was open a crack. “Hello?” Hallie asked the shadows. She pushed the door open wider. “Ariston?”
A human shape was slumped over a chair. Hallie ran to it. “Are you okay?” The shape grunted, sat up. It was Ariston, in a hooded sweatshirt. Her eyes were dazed.
She clutched a knife. Her hands were covered in blood.
“Ohmygod.” Hallie turned on a lamp so she could see better. “What did you do to yourself?”
Ariston blinked, her eyes starting to clear. “What I should have done years ago.” Hallie got her up, brought her to the sink. Sponged the blood with a towel. “The cuts aren’t too bad. Do you have any bandages?” As Hallie rifled through some drawers, she heard a noise. A moaning sound, coming from behind the closed bedroom door.
She froze for a second. Turned to Ariston. “What—?”
“--You shouldn’t have come. This isn’t your fight,” Ariston said.
“Did you hurt someone? Do they need help?” Hallie started toward the bedroom.
“No!”
“Tell me.”
Ariston’s face was a mix of sadness and rage. “No!”
Hallie’s heart thudded. The moans were getting louder. She thought of something that had been on her mind a while. Decided to try it. “Tell me what you did...Natalie.”
Ariston’s jaw dropped. Hallie pushed against the door, opening it wide. On the floor, in a heap, by the foot of the bed, was the monster. His feet were shackled to the bedframe. Arms tied behind him. He was trembling and covered with blood. “Help me, help me,” he pleaded. As Hallie got closer, she realized what she was looking at wasn’t a monster.
It was a man. In a furry suit that smelled like a sewer.
“Don’t touch him!” Ariston screamed.
Hallie untied the knotted rope behind his neck. Pulled off the horse-mask. He gasped for breath. “Water. Water...please --.”
“I’ll get you some. There’s blood – I just need to see –”
“She’s crazy – she stabbed me,” he said. “My shoulder, my leg.”
“Don’t let him loose, whatever you do,” Ariston warned.
Hallie studied his wounds. “I’m no medic,” she whispered, “but the cuts look shallow. The bleeding...seems to be stopping.” She bent lower and whispered near his ear, “I’ve got a phone.”
She turned to say something to Ariston, when she heard Cody scream. Something hard connected with her head, and everything went black.
A swirl of birds above her, their wings dancing to the wind’s silent music. She reached out a finger, and one of them alighted upon it; she watched it flutter. It wasn’t a bird, she realized – it was a moth. A silvery white moth, its wings intricate as lace.
Cody was there, a wreath of silver moths spinning around his head. Hallie tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out. She nudged him. He looked at her, and then down at her backpack. Hallie did a Vulcan mind meld: grab the phone and run.
She heard someone speaking. It was the old man, telling her to hold on, that the police were on their way. Cody appeared again, holding a cup of water. He gave some to her, and then to the old man.
“Where’s Ariston?” she asked Cody.
“Gone.” He kissed her head.
Hallie gazed at the old man in his reeking monster suit. He was the saddest man she had ever seen.
“Are you...Mr. Parsons?”
“How did--?”
“Good guess.” Hallie sat up. “How long has she kept you here?”
He grimaced, like the truth hurt. “Long time.”
“We saw you...in the woods...you were running away.”
“She never let me get far. She was always close behind, with the rifle.”
The police burst through the door. Hallie saw a brilliant light around them and felt herself slip into the shimmer.
#
She woke in the hospital. Her father and Cody were there.
“Dad?”
“Sweetie, don’t talk if it’s too hard.”
“How...is he?”
Cody spoke up. “He’s not a monster! He’s...nice.”
Her father cleared his throat. “Mr. Parsons will be okay, Hallie. What a thing!” He shook his head. “Thanks to you and Cody. That girl, she...she apparently thought he was...someone else.”
“Tell the police, Dad...Ariston. She’s Natalie Rice.”
He nodded. “They’ve got her in custody. Hopefully now, she’ll get the help she needs.”
Hallie heard a plinking sound. A white moth flickered around the light above her bed. A nurse came in, smiled at her. “Someone must be watching out for you, little lady.”
The woman noticed Hallie staring at the light and made a tsk sound. “I don’t know how those things get in here.”
Cody squeezed her hand.
“It’s okay,” she said to the nurse. “We don’t mind one bit. It’s moth season.”
###
Kate Bergquist’s short fiction appears in Black Cat Weekly #192, Marrow Magazine, Idle Ink, Rock Salt Journal, among others. She won the 2025 Claymore Award for Best (unpublished) Short Story Collection. Kate lives in northern New England with her husband and several old rescue dogs.