The messenger

The night started differently. My mom and dad decided to go on a date and I was left home to take care of my little sister. “Sam”, she called me to get her some food. As a college boy, my idea of a vacation did not include taking care of my twelve-year-old sister, Emily, but since I have been two years away from home now studying Psychology, it wasn’t the worst plan. Even though she is a really hyperactive girl, I like hanging out with her. After the stressful semester I had, playing games and watching some movies was something I needed.

It was a cold night, colder than usual. I have prepared some popcorn to watch some horror movies with my sister. While I was in the kitchen, I heard the wind blowing as if someone was whistling outside in the yard. The trees seemed to be moving with the strong current as if they were approaching the house. Otherwise, you could not hear anything else. No dogs, no crickets, no cars or children. We were in absolute silence. I thought to myself: “The perfect atmosphere for a great horror movie”. Emily was getting chilly, so I had to fetch her a sweater from her room. From Emily’s room, you can see the yard, the moon; the view was incredible. Suddenly, I heard something coming from the trees. It was like a cry but I didn’t know what it was; I became a little disturbed. Maybe it was the atmosphere, the breeze outside but something that night was unsettling. I told myself to keep it together and went back downstairs.

Now, I was ready for the movie. “Are you ready to start?” I asked Emily. But I caught her staring out the terrace door. Maybe she was feeling the same way as I did and it was time to act like the older brother. “Hey, come on, the movie is about to start.” But Emily didn’t move. She kept staring outside. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Look”, she said pointing at one of the tallest trees we had in front of us. When I looked, I saw a shadow standing by the tree. It was clearly a man and he was staring at Emily and I did not like that at all. I opened the terrace and shouted: “Would you please leave? You are disturbing my little sister.” But the shadow did not move, just stood there. “Please, if you don’t leave, I will have to call the cops.” The shadow still didn’t move. After five minutes, when I was about to call the police, Emily said: “He is gone. Ok, let’s start watching,” said Emily with excitement. I looked outside and indeed the man was gone. That night was turning out to be aa very weird one.

We sat down on the couch and started playing the movie. All of a sudden, we heard a noise. It wasn’t a common noise you could hear in this neighborhood but it didn’t bother us that much so we kept watching. But I recognized it. It was the same cry I heard when I was in Emily’s room. Not a minute had passed, when we heard the noise again. Filled with curiosity, Emily asked: “What is that, Sam?” I was not sure but went to the terrace door to see what it was. At first, I did not see anything. It was really dark and it was difficult to see out there besides the dim streetlights, which helped us see the shadow of that creepy man standing outside. The noise was heard again and then I saw it. It had pale-white face, as well as a white body, long wings and dark eyes. It stood at the top-branch of the tree where the man stood before. “It’s a barn owl,” I said to Emily. “A what?” She asked. “A barn owl, a bird similar to the owl, but smaller and of a lighter color.”

It was the first time I saw one in my life but I recognized it after we learned at school about the different types of birds there are. I can vividly remember what the teacher said that time: “In some cultures, barn owls were associated with darkness and with death.” Fortunately, I have never believed in these kinds of stuff, but still a cold sweat started running down my spine after seeing the owl. “Why was I so nervous?” I asked myself. “Where is it?” Emily asked abruptly, scaring me a little bit. “Over there.” “It’s beautiful. Ok, let’s continue watching.” “Sure,” I answered. I was becoming a little bit uncomfortable but I knew that I should not show this to my sister. The movie was great and gave us some scares but I could not stop thinking about the barn owl. What was it doing here? Was it lost? Did somebody die? Wait, this is stupid. I do not believe in that. Let it go. It’s just a coincidence. “I am getting some water. Do you want some?” I asked Emily. “Shhh, she is entering the room.” I got up and when I entered the kitchen, I looked outside. The barn owl was still there on the branch and it was staring at me. I got scared. “What was this owl doing here?” I asked myself. The wind kept howling, the trees kept moving, but the owl was still standing…, just staring.

“Sam, come quickly.” I ran to my sister’s aid and she pointed outside. The man was there again. He didn’t do anything, just stood there still. Once again, I threatened him with calling the cops, but he didn’t move. Ten minutes passed and he was still there, motionless. “I am scared,” said my sister. I comforted her but I lost my patience and called the cops, but the line was occupied. I tried again but nothing. The barn owl started to cry again, the wind blew harder, the trees seemed to be surrounding the house and the man still stood still. The atmosphere was getting very weird and the night was getting bleak and eerie. Emily was holding me tight while the owl kept crying and I didn’t know what to do. I looked outside and the man was still there. We just held each other on the couch and I tried to comfort my sister who was as lost as I was and could not understand what was going on.

After a few minutes, we saw some lights entering the street. It was an ambulance and it stopped at the Jenkins’. I told my sister to stay in the living room, while I went to check out what happened. I saw Mr. Jenkins being carried on a stretcher but he was not moving. Then, I understood what was going on when I saw Mrs. Jenkins crying over her husband’s motionless body. I couldn’t believe it but Mr. Jenkins had just passed away. Swiftly, I looked at our yard and the man was leaving. Was the barn owl here to tell us that Mr. Jenkins passed away? Was the man looking inside Mr. Jenkins’ spirit? But why wasn’t the owl left yet? I looked at it and it was still staring at me but, at least, its crying has stopped.

The atmosphere became calmer and the wind was no hurricane anymore. Emily calmed down and told me that she will go to bed. “We can finish the movie, tomorrow,” she said. “Sure, good night,” I replied. She went to bed and I started picking up the leftovers and cleaning up the living room as much as possible. I went to the kitchen and saw the barn owl again. It was still on the same branch, hardly moved. I thought that it would leave while the wind was blowing that hard, but it didn’t. If it was announcing Mr. Jenkins’ death, why hasn’t it left already? Then, it came to me. My parents were running late. They said they would be back an hour ago. Finally, I realized why the owl was here, why it kept staring to us the whole time. This angel of death was trying to tell us that something was wrong. I quickly ran and called the cops. This time the call was going through and the owl started crying again.