People only see the Moon as a big lump of rocks floating somewhere in space. Some smart guys studied it, analysed its orbit, they even sent some other guys to go walk up there. But let me tell you something, none of them knows shit about the Moon, or at least they don't know her like I do.

Yes, I said "her" and you're probably curious to learn how I know that the Moon is a she.

Well, you see, I'm a freelance artist -that's the fancy way of saying that I make logos and soulless mascots for commercials. It means I get to work any time I want and I've always been a night-lover type of girl. My computer screen seems more colourful in the dark, I can keep my window open without being annoyed by traffic and the air is fresher.

Anyway, one night, I was working on yet another company who wanted a cute animal with sunglasses and a skateboard because "that's what kids like these days right?" and I was fed up with that. So, I decided to take a break and start drawing something for myself.

I thought for a few minutes before glancing outside. The Moon was full that night. And suddenly I got this image of a small valley with a river flowing through it with that very Moon turning the trees into silver and putting diamonds in the water.

My art teacher back at university would have given me an F for creating something so bland and cliché, but I didn't care, it was my project and as long as I was satisfied with it, the rest of the world could very well fuck off.

I thought I'd be quickly done, but the more I worked on it, the more I wanted to improve it. For a few weeks, any time I could break away from work I'd add some details, redraw some parts, adjust the colours... I became very attached to it.

Now that I think about it, those nights did seem particularly bright, but at the time I didn't think much of it, I was too focused.

Then, one night, I decided I was finished. I didn't want to touch it anymore, by fear of breaking it. I stayed there contemplating my art while I still thought it deserved praises. I was especially proud of how I had managed to render the light of the scene.

My eyes were inspecting each and every pixel on my screen to see if there was really nothing that I wanted to improve when a delicate voice softly said a few centimetres from my ear:

"I think I should be a tad bit brighter."

I immediately jumped from my chair to face the source of the sound. Out of panic, I started speaking before even having processed what was before my eyes:

"What the... Lady, who the fuck are you? How did you get in here?"

Now that it was done spitting out whatever came to it, my brain actually started analysing the situation.

The lady, or the girl actually -I could not quite figure out how old she was- didn't look very threatening. She had long blond hair and was wearing a white summer dress. And for some reason, she was barefoot. And she was slightly glowing. Why would a burglar be wearing a summer dress? Wait, why was she barefoot? No, wait, was she really glowing?!

"Hey, that's not a very nice way of addressing your muse, Lucy, she said, visibly offended.

-My what? I don't even know who you are!

-Oh please, after having spent so many nights observing and drawing me, you're going to act as if you don't even recognize me?"

I was too baffled to answer. I knew there had been some nights that I didn't particularly remember, but I was pretty sure I had never been plastered enough to forget having met a glowing girl.

In front of my visible confusion, she nodded slightly towards my computer screen. I glanced at it, didn't understand and turned my head back to her, trying to comprehend. I thought she looked rather pretty, squinting my eyes she might have looked slightly familiar, but even at gunpoint, I would have been unable to put a name on that face. Was that Christie? No Christie was taller. And she didn't glow.

The stranger sighed:

"I'm the Moon, silly!"

Oh, so that explained why she was glowing, I would have thought if that answer had made any sense. I must say, I was prepared to hear a lot of things, but that sentence caught me off guard. Having taken the time to dissect the sentence and concluded that I had heard correctly, I retorted:

"And I'm Lucy, queen-empress of Atlantis. No seriously, if you don't tell me who you are and why you're here, I'll have to call the cops.

-But I told you, I am the Moon. As you have scrutinized me, I have observed you and your work. I thought you had done a fine job -although we'll have to talk about the fact that I'm a bit too dim on this- and so I wanted to meet you. If you don't believe me, just take a look outside.

-Yeah, right, like the moon would disappear from the sky just like tha..."

I swallowed my words as I peeked outside, for there was no big disk of light between the stars. The sky was completely clear. I knew it was full moon just a moment earlier because I had looked at it to finish my drawing. But now it was just gone... I fell to my chair.

"I... The moon..." I started panicking.

She took my hands.

"Deep breaths. I know, it's a shock, but you'll get used to it.

-But how? The moon is just, I don't know, a small planet or something like that.

-Typical humans, they start understanding one side of your personality and they think they've got you all figured out. I'm way more complex than that you know.

-But if you're here and not, well... up there, won't people notice?

-Oh no, don't worry about that, she laughed. Most people won't even know that I'm supposed to be visible tonight. Also, humans are very attached to their logic. If an astronomer can't find me with his telescope, he'll prefer to search all night why it is broken, rather than admitting that I have suddenly disappeared from the sky. You only noticed because I pointed it to you directly."

I guess it started to make sense. In a weird, totally irrational way, but still.

"Ok, let's imagine I believe you and you're not just covered in weird paint that lights up in the dark. Why did you come to see me? I'm pretty sure I'm not the first person to draw you.

-Oh no, people have been drawing me, painting me, writing music about me for millennia. And you're not the most talented either.

-That was uncalled for.

-But there was something in your dedication, some kind of innocence, of candidness. You weren't doing that for recognition -not like Debussy, what a show off-, you were doing that for yourself, because you had a vision and you wanted to concretise it. So, I thought you deserved some feedback from your subject."

I felt a bit dizzy from the compliment. Was this all really real? Had the Moon really come down from the sky just to talk about my art?

"Now, let's talk about how you can improve this mess."

Now, this was the good old reality I knew. You can never draw someone without them having something to say about it. I wouldn't have expected someone who spent so much time in space to be so down to earth.

Yet, I have to admit, the Moon had a keen artistic eye and her pieces of advice were really helpful. But she was also very stubborn, and sometimes she would insist that I modify something even though it would obviously make things worse and would only stop when proven I was right. In that case, she would pout and avoid eye contact until I had undone all the modifications.

The more time I spent with that girl, the more I had to admit it was obvious she really was a celestial body. Maybe I was imagining things. Maybe those freckles weren't reminiscent of craters after all. Maybe that light wasn't the same that had accompanied me through so many nights throughout my life. Be that as it may, while I was with her, I was convinced she couldn't be anyone else.

We spent the whole night improving her "portrait". We had our fair share of laughter in the process. But then, the sun started rising. She simply told me:

"I think it will do. I have to go now, take care of yourself."

She climbed onto the window and with a white flash, she was gone.

The next day was... uneventful, to say the least. I started wondering if I had dreamt the whole encounter, if that mix of energy drink and coffee had finally fried my brain.

I slept for a few hours, to try and refresh my circuits, but even after my nap, it still seemed so vivid.

I spent the rest of the day roaming in my apartment, trying to get things done. But my head was somewhere else. Peeking outside the window most of the time. I was waiting for her, but the rational part of my brain didn't want to admit it and just wanted to bury my memories of last night under reassuring routine.

At dusk, clouds started filling the sky, hiding everything above them. I got back to work but I had no way to focus. I kept getting up to look outside. At some point, I even started to consider moving my whole desk against the window.

And then, as I was warming up to lift that heavy-ass desk, the sky cleared just enough for me to distinguish her. I leant outside for a few minutes, just looking at her. And then I started speaking.

"Hey, I don't know if you can hear me... Listen, I guess you intended yesterday to be like a one-time thing, but I really enjoyed myself with you. So, if you want to come back, my window is open."

The Moon shone.

I stayed there, half of my body outside the window, waiting. And then, clouds covered her once more.

I went back inside. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Of course, I had imagined everything! And even if that wasn't the case, did I really think that she would come back because I had asked her nicely? I was furious at myself for being so gullible.

I went back to my computer, turned it on and...

"You know, I never said anything about it being just a one-time thing, said the playful voice at the window.

-Fuck!" said my terrified voice as my chair tipped over.

There was a loud bang as I fell onto the ground, but I didn't care. There she was, sat at the window, radiant, her bare feet slowly swinging back and forth, upside-down. Ah yes... onto the floor...

I quickly got back on my feet.

"I didn't think you'd come. Why did you come back?"

A piece of advice dear reader, if you want people to come and see you more often, don't ask them why they come back.

"Well, you asked so nicely... she answered, I wasn't sure if she was pulling my legs. But mainly, I too really enjoyed myself yesterday. So, what have you got planned this time?"

I had nothing planned this time. But it was fine this way. We just sat on my bed and talked for hours. About the world, about her, about me mainly. I was feeling that she didn't want to talk about herself that much, so I didn't insist.

Dawn was almost there and she told me she had to leave. I asked her if she would come back.

"Not tomorrow, she said. But I will soon, I promise."

And then she was gone.