The Warp Between the Moon

Whitby was the kind of town where nothing ever happened , until it did. The moon hung over it like a bad memory. Too bright some nights, too quiet others. Folks said it made the dogs nervous. Said it made the kids talk backwards in their sleep. Said it made the old ones remember things they'd never lived. They called it moon fever. Not in the papers, not in the church bulletins, just whispered over pint glasses and behind drawn curtains.
It started slow. A humming in the walls. A twitch in the hands. A feeling like something was watching from the tide. And then Whitby changed. Not all at once. Not with screams or sirens. Just a slow, soft unraveling. Like a sweater pulled loose by a single thread. Like a town forgetting what it was. The moon didn't cause it. It just waited. And when the time came, it opened something. Something that had always been there.