An Owl?

An Owl.

By Hana.Mahmoud

Chapter 1

“AAAAAAAAHH!” Nine year old Charlie Watson woke up screaming, sweat dripping from his head. “It was just a dream, no, a nightmare.” He told himself. He looked outside his window, there was no one outside. He kept hearing noises though. All types of noises. Bears, snakes, grasshoppers, goats, and lions. But the loudest noise of them all, were owls. He kept hearing them, hooting, flying, screaming his name. But when he looked outside, he saw nothing.

He tried to go back to sleep but he couldn’t. He was scared he’d have the same nightmare again. He was scared to even get off his bed, maybe something or even someone was hiding in his closet or bathroom. He tried to calm himself down by closing his eyes and putting his pillow on his head. Eventually, it worked.

He woke up after a few hours from his mother’s voice. He smiled to himself. He smelled fresh pancakes on a pan with melted butter. Mmm-mmm-mm he thought. His mom always found a way to make him feel better.

He went to his bathroom, brushed his teeth, changed to his favorite hoodie and jean shorts and ran downstairs. “Good morning mom!” He said while stuffing his mouth with pancakes, but it sounded a lot like ‘Mm orning om’. His mother smiled and blew him a kiss, “I have work today, make sure to take care of your brother. You have a few chores while I’m gone. I put them on the fridge.”

Charlie rolled his eyes and grumpily said, “Fine.”

“Good boy,” she replied as she kissed his head. “Love you!” She said as she closed the door on her way out. Charlie put washed all the dishes in the sink and put them in the dishwasher. Then he cleaned the table, milked all the cows, cleaned the horse’s stable and went to play with his five year old brother, Mikey.

He found his brother outside playing with his stuffed teddy bear. “CHAWIE!” His brother screamed in joy. “Aww well aren’t you an adorable little thing.” Charlie said smiling. He loved his brother. For the next hour he and his brother talked and played and shared secrets. Then I heard something. No, not just something, but a hoot. Please don’t be what I think it is. But who was he kidding, it was an owl. Not only had he heard the owl hoot, but he felt it staring at him. He turned his head and there it was, a dark and huge owl standing behind him on the Barn's door.

He tried to act like he didn't see the owl but who was he trying to fool. The owl just stood there... staring. It felt like an hour passed before the owl finally decided to fly away. He saw his brother as still as a statue looking at the same place the owl was. “Well uh, buddy do you wanna play with Bolt?” Charlie asked. He knew his brother loved their horse, more like was obsessed with their horse.

His brother’s face turned from terrified to excited. “Yeah!” Mikey took his hand and ran to the stables. Charlie put a helmet on Mikey and helped him get on the horse. But while he was walking the horse to the fence he couldn’t help but notice that there was a piece of paper right where the owl was standing.

He quickly walked up to where the paper was and stuffed it in his backpocket. Trying to bring his brother's attention from the mysterious visitor and paper. He continued to walk the horse heading off with his brother to the arena.

Behind them a man was watching from a distance. "Trying to run away from their doom, are they Vic?” The man said.

“We’ll see about that Master Co. I’ll make sure they’re taken care of.” Vic replied. "It won't be long before they realize their father was The Owl of Doom, and that he was murdered for that exact reason. Hopefully the same will happen to them."

A smirk formed on Master Co's face, "I suppose so Vic, I suppose so."