A Myth Come to Life

“What was that?” James asked as a dark shadow encased the car before settling on a nearby tree limb.

“I… I don’t know!” His sister whispered as she peered over the steering wheel to get a better look. The shadow had the body of an owl; yet it was bigger than any owl either of them had seen before. Red eyes glowed from the sky as it took in the small car. It landed in a tree and stared back at the idling car, as if seeing through the souls of the teens within.

“We should go.” James whispered to his sister. “Lydia, come on! We have to go.” He said as he reached over to shake her shoulder.

Lydia’s eyes never left the monster that now sat hunched over on a branch. She jumped as she felt her brother’s hand on her shoulder. “Yeah… You’re right…” she whispered, not wanting the thing above them to hear and fly away. Slowly, the car began to move toward the being. “I just want a closer look.” She kept her voice low, gaze never falling from those glowing eyes.

“Lydia!” his voice coming out louder than he intended.

Hearing the desperation in her brother’s voice, she snapped out of her trancelike state. The car turned quickly and sped down the road, away from the monstrous, unblinking eyes. Eyes that watched the vehicle speed away.

As soon as they were safely away from the monster and back home, Lydia threw the car into park and looked through the windows, her heart racing as she searched for those same eyes.

“Did it follow us?” James asked, his voice shaking as he too looked for the creature. Just the thought of seeing that shadow again made his stomach twist.

“No, I don’t see it.” Lydia said, disappointment evident in her tone. “What do you think that was?” She asked. “Let me see your phone!”

“Don’t you have your own? Besides, we should go inside. Mom and Dad will be worried.” James said as he reached for the door.

“Mine’s dead. Did you get a picture? Please tell me you got one.”

“Are you kidding me? All I wanted to do was get out of there. Come on. Let’s just forget about it. Please.”

“Fine.”

“That’s not a very convincing ‘fine’ you know.”

“I said fine. Its fine. You’re right. Let’s just get inside.”

“Alright, alright, if you insist.” James said with a sigh.

The siblings went inside, quieter than usual. Lydia went up to her room soon after, leaving James alone with their parents. Despite his hands still shaking, he pretended nothing had happened. Luckily, he soon was able to follow his sister and make his escape. Hiding in his room, those same red eyes haunted him every time he closed his eyes. Every little rustle of the wind made him jump. Finally, he drifted off to sleep.

James let out a small groan as he rolled over to see the red glowing numbers on his alarm clock. They displayed the numbers 3:30. Another grunt of complaint to come from the tired teen. Pulling a pillow over his head, he rolled over, only for the phone on his bedside table to light up. As tempting as it was to ignore, he still reached over to see who was text him so early in the morning. “Lydia. Only you.” He mumbled as her name popped up.

He quickly opened the message, which simply read “Hey, you awake? Look what I found!” as well as a link to a website.

“Can’t this wait until tomorrow? Don’t you know what time it is?” he typed back.

A second later, his phone buzzed again. “It could. But look anyway.”

With a sigh, he clicked on the link. “No way.” He mumbled to himself as he looked at the article. Quickly he typed back to his sister. “So, you think what we saw earlier was Mothman? You know he’s just a myth, right?”

“Just a myth? James. Come on. What else could we have seen?”

“An owl maybe? It couldn’t have been some mythological creature. Wouldn’t we know if it existed? There’s no way.”

“Fine then. I’ll find it and get proof! We saw Mothman.”

“Please just get some sleep. It’s 3 in the morning.”

“Alright I’ll sleep.”

“Goodnight” was the last thing James texted before laying back and staring at the ceiling. Could he have really seen a monster of myth? It seemed impossible. Science said that such a creature could never exist. But if not Mothman, then what could they have seen? What if Lydia was right and they had experienced something supernatural? With a sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to forget all about the terrifying experience and the questions that came with it.

All too soon, the alarm went off and James groaned, not wanting to get up. Sunlight peered through his curtains as he got ready for school. When he was ready to go, he looked around for his sister. Lydia was nowhere to be found. After searching the house, James finally knocked on her door. “Lydia, its time for school, come on.” There was no reply from the other side of the door, so he slowly opened the door. “Lydia?” he called out one last time before looking inside, only to see the room empty. Lydia’s laptop was opened. James went over and moved the mouse. The screen sprang to life to reveal article after article on the mysterious creature known as the Mothman.

After reading through several articles, James finally got up from the desk. He left the house, and instead of heading to school, returned to the same forest road that he and his sister had been on the night before. The forest was stifling, making just the act of breathing hard. The back of his neck prickled with the feeling of being watched.

“James? What are you doing here?” Lydia’s voice came from behind him.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that! What am I doing here? What are you doing here? We’re supposed to be at school, not out in the middle of nowhere.”

“I just wanted to come look around in the daylight.” She pulled her brother’s arm toward the side of the road. “I found this already.”

“A feather?” He took the feather from her hand and looked it over. “It looks like a normal feather to me. From like a hawk or owl or something.”

“But this is where we saw Mothman last night. It has to be from him.”

“Lydia. We are in the middle of the woods. It could have come from anything. Come on, we need to get to school before we miss anymore of our day.” He returned the feather to her before walking back the way he had come. Lydia trailed behind him, eyes still darting around the forest.

School felt like an eternity for James. After the final bell rang, he made his way through the sea of teenagers trying to find his sister. Among all the chaos, he heard her voice in the science lab. James leaned against the doorframe as he listened to the conversation.

“You really mean this is just a barn owl feather?” Lydia asked her teacher.

“I’m afraid so. It’s a beautiful find though.” He said as he handed it back.

“So, it’s not something unknown?”

“Not at all. Although barn owls are neat. Did you know-?”

“I’m sorry Mr. Anderson, but my sister and I really have to go.” James interrupted. “Have a good night.”

Lydia kept playing with the feather as they walked, not speaking a word. James was the first to break the silence. “Not to say I told you so, but it really was just an owl. Come on, please just drop it?”

“I know what I saw! It was too big to be a barn owl!”

“But it has to be. It was dark and we were far away. It had to have been an owl. There literally isn’t another explanation.”

“But Mothman is an explanation!”

“Mothman isn’t real! He’s like Bigfoot! A story made up by people with an overactive imagination and no life!”

“That’s not fair! Hundreds of people have seen him! That has to count for something. Right?”

“We just got spooked by a big owl in the middle of the night. That’s all.” James tried one last time to reason with his sister.

“Believe whatever you want. But I still think it was Mothman.”

James huffed and went back to silence.

That night, as he was drifting off to sleep, James heard the front door closing quietly. He reached for his phone and typed out a text. “Lydia, why are you leaving the house?”

His phone buzzed a second later. “I’m going to prove that I’m not crazy! We really did see Mothman!”

“Fine. But I’m coming with you. Just wait for me.” With that, he got dressed, tripping over his shoes as he raised for the door. He made it outside only to see Lydia waiting in the car. He jumped into the passenger side. “You did tell Dad you’re taking the car, right?”

“Of course not. He wouldn’t let me if he knew. We’ll be back before he realizes anything’s wrong. Unless you’d like to go back inside.”

“No, just drive. Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

She grinned as she threw the car in reverse and backed out of the driveway. Finally, they were on the road and she was determined to find the truth, one way or the other. They took off through the dark night, both siblings searching for any sign of the same glowing eyes that had haunted them the night before. They went down the same dark, twisted road. Light from the moon hardly hit the ground, leaving the trees illuminated by the headlights. Finally, they reached the exact spot from before. Lydia pulled over and turned off the car. The forest plunged into darkness as they sat there for a long moment.

James was the first one to step out of the car. He shut the door and began to examine the woods around them. Lydia soon followed and searched as well. The night was alive with the sounds of nature. Finally, James came back to lean against the hood of the car, looking up toward the few stars that could be seen through the canopy of trees.

Lydia walked over to join him. “Nothing. There’s absolutely no sign of anything here at all. Maybe I am just crazy.” Tears came to her eyes as she looked to her little brother.

“Hey. No, you’re not crazy. Even if I don’t think we saw Mothman, that doesn’t mean you’re wrong. What we saw yesterday did look like the legend. Even if he doesn’t exist.” They stood, side by side and looked around the small clearing.

“You mean that?” she sniffled and wiped away a tear.

“Of course, I do. You’re not crazy. Well, no crazier than any other teenager.” He grinned gently at her.

“Thank you.” She whispered back to him. “Wait? Do you hear that?” Her eyes lit up with excitement.

“No?”

“Exactly. It’s too quiet. No more night noise. Something doesn’t feel right.”

As Lydia spoke, James felt that all too familiar feeling of being watched returning. A chill climbed up his back as his gaze darted all over the dark forest. In the distance, the same red eyes glowed not too far off. “Look!” he whispered to his sister and pointed.

“Come on!” Lydia whispered and took off toward the glowing eyes.

James had no choice but to follow. They made their way across the road. As they approached, they heard wings rustling and the sound of an owl’s hoot hit their ears. A barn owl sat on a tree branch, watching them curiously before letting out another screech. They stopped under the tree, both staring in disbelief.

Finally, Lydia broke the silence. She pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of the barn owl in front of them. “Come on, James. Let’s go home.”

James nodded and followed Lydia back to the car. The barn owl sat on his branch, watching them go. As the car started, the owl looked across the forest, letting out one final hoot. As the taillights lit up where the teens had been standing not long ago, a giant, winged creature rose above the trees. The owl watched the monster rise across the sky, silhouetted against the moon, then disappear into the distance. The noise of the woods slowly returned as if they had never been disturbed.