When Darkness Passes

When Darkness Passes

(Owl Mystery Story)

The sound came to her in the middle of the night … at her most vulnerable moment.

Tears were streaming down her face in terror as she hid in her closet under a plethora of stuffed animals and blankets at her aunt’s house where her mother dropped her off for safety. She was petrified. She could not move when she heard the shrill sounds of horror nightly outside her bedroom window. She was just an eight-year-old little girl, and she knew it would come after her.

…..

“Come on, baby girl. Wake up… get your shoes on. We have to go.” Her mom, Charlotte, whispered to her in the middle of the night a week prior. “I’m bringing you to your Aunt Olivia’s house. You’re not safe here.”

Penelope rubbed her sleepy eyes and did as she was told. She could see the scared look in her mother’s eyes through the welled-up tears that were streaming down her face. As they were driving away on a clear October night out of a small town in Oregon in 1968, Penelope looked up at the bright stars wondering when she would see her brothers and sisters again. She did not know if it would be the last time she saw her family. At that moment, she realized she had to be brave and held back the soft cries longing to escape her mouth and she shed her tears silently in the passenger seat next to her courageous mom.

Being the oldest of her four siblings, Penelope understood what was happening in her childhood home. There was a shadow that lurked at night. It was after her and her mother, but her fearless mom needed to stay and protect the rest of her siblings. Penelope hoped and prayed the shadow would not be interested in hurting them because they were so little. It fed off the strength of them, consuming every iota of might left in their weary souls, until they yielded to the shadow’s power.

…..

Aunt Olivia lived in a small logging town in Bend, Oregon, on the outskirts or the Deschutes National Forest. She was miles away from her closest neighbor, but within view of the beautiful Cascade Mountain range. She lived on a quiet acre of land bursting with Red Alder and Ponderosa Pine trees. There was a charming creek flowing through her back yard with stunning sagebrush and sand lily bushes splashing the land. She had a weathered old gray barn house with a large sliding door in the front. Attached to the side of it was a white two-story farmhouse. Penelope was afraid of what she would find inside the barn when she finally built up the courage to go inside.

For months, she had the disturbing feeling it could hear her sobs through the walls of her aunt’s house as she lay there in her bed. She felt as though she was being hunted in the dark—that she was its prey. Her body was catatonic, and hearing was heightened as she cried silently, listening to the chilling sounds reverberating outside her bedroom window. Penelope knew the shadow had followed her to her aunt’s house. It was lurking around her at night—casting its darkness—moving by the light of the moon outside her window, instilling panic deep down to her bones. Each night, she could see the luminous black figure, clawing at the glass with its long tendrils, shrieking into the night. Penelope closed her eyes and prayed for it to go away. She awoke to sunlight trailing in through the closet door.

…..

Months passed by and fall turned into winter. Picturesque snow settled into the mountain range and shrouded the yard with layers of magnanimous snowflakes. Although it felt and looked like Christmas, Penelope still had an uneasy feeling overwhelming her, clouding her feelings of total pleasure. She felt enjoyment during the day when the shadow was concealed; when she could be a little girl playing in the snow, exploring her aunt’s property, and going to school. She began to settle into a routine and month by month she grew less scared of the shadow lurking around at night.

On a beautiful icy day in late January, Penelope decided it was time.

“Aunt Olivia,” she uttered, “Can you go with me into the barn? I’m scared, but I need to go inside to make sure the shadow isn’t in there. It followed me here, I know it. It comes outside my window at night.”

“Oh Penelope, sweetie pie…you’re safe here right now with me. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Penelope could sense the uneasiness in her aunt’s voice. Little did she know her aunt was just as scared as she was for her sister, Charlotte. She worried she would not survive the shadow’s power. It was strong and dangerous. But right now, Olivia needed to be the strong one for her sweet little niece. She grabbed Penelope’s hand and said, “Let’s go in.”

Olivia slid open the barn door, and as they walked in, Penelope squinted her eyes shut out of fear of what she might see. She slowly opened one eye…then the other, and with big, wide eyes, she gaped in awe at the magnificence of the design. The ceiling seemed to rise to the sky, and it smelled of cedarwood and pine. It was open on the bottom floor with lofts on all the walls except the front wall where they walked in. There were stacks of firewood lining the right wall and old furniture scattered throughout. The smell of cedarwood came from an old cedar chest her aunt had made long ago. It was stashed away behind an old loveseat on the left. Large vertical support beams were holding the loft up and ceiling joists ran horizontal across the inside of the barn. It was cozy and welcoming. She instantly felt safe in there.

Her aunt brought her up the stairs on the left side of the barn. Stacks of hay lined the left side of the loft for the horses her aunt used to have. They walked down towards the back of the barn and that’s when she saw it. She gasped in panic and her eyes grew wide in surprise! It was a large, snow-white, and caramel-colored barn owl perched on one of the stacks of hay, sleeping. Penelope gazed in admiration at this extraordinary animal. Its white, heart-shaped face and sharp hooked beak were tucked down into its puffy white and brown-speckled chest. She should have been scared because of its large talons, but she felt as though it was a guardian. She felt drawn to its presence and at that moment, her fright diminished…and she felt protected.

That night Penelope stayed up late, trying to be brave. It was a clear night. The stars were illuminating the sky, and the vivid moon cast its light outside her window. Then she saw it—the shadow. Terror welled up inside her as she stared out her window watching it move closer to her, gliding out from the tree line. Then it whooshed down towards the window and let out a high-pitched shriek as it coasted through the night sky with its vast wings extended. When she saw the shadow transform into the owl, she let out the breath she held tight and sighed heavily with relief.

…..

The night shadow was the owl.

She understood this was the shadow at night standing guard as her night sentinel.

She knew she was safe.

Whoosh!

It soared away into the night, and for the first time in months, she slept peacefully in her bed.

…..

Months passed and Penelope had started to make friends at school and settled into a good routine. She had always been an outgoing girl who excelled in school and made friends easily…so she let her guard down. Each day that passed, a little piece of fear faded, and she started to shine bright again, flashing smiles to her friends in the hallway at school. She felt lighter and the dark shadow which plagued her had started to diminish.

The winter snow had finally passed, and flowers began to bloom. She could see patches of green starting to form on the dead grass from the harsh winter snow. The playground at school was no longer dark and cold. The chirping birds and splashes of color gave it a new life—one in which Penelope could get used to after all the darkness. She had hope. Hope that one day soon the darkness would pass completely….

She was unaware of what lie in wait. Unsuspecting of what was prowling in the dark waiting for her.

She didn’t know tomorrow it would show its face…

…..

Penelope became aware of its presence. She saw it out there, standing outside her school window, staring at her with those malicious, sunken-in eyes. The vacant expression on his hollow, sallow, face made him look dead. He continued to fiercely stare at her with an unnerving look on his face—like he was inhuman. The real shadow had found her. Terror resonated through her bones as she sat there staring back at that monster, with tears trickling down her pink cheeks.

She thought it was just her mind playing tricks on her. She closed her eyes.

“One…two…three…four…five…” she counted in her head. She opened her eyes and sat there trembling in her seat. It was gone. She was safe.

But that night, Penelope was scared. For the first night in months, she hid under the stuffed animals in her closet and cried herself to sleep.

…..

SLAM!

The back door of the house flew open in rage in the middle of the night.

Penelope abruptly opened her eyes, frightened, and she knew what she saw at school was not her mind playing tricks on her. She could hear the doors slamming throughout the house and the sound of glass shattering in the halls from the monster throwing pictures off the walls. The monster stormed through the house in search of the girl. Every inch the monster drew near…the more Penelope held her breath in fear. She was scared to make a sound.

Suddenly, the closet door bolted open! Aunt Olivia was stark white, and she was whispering something Penelope couldn’t understand. She only sat there staring at her Aunt Olivia with a blank look on her face…terrified. She could not move. Her aunt bent down to pick her up, but the monster came up behind her with a malicious look on his face; with the intent to kill. A baseball bat came flying at her Aunt Olivia and struck her on the back of the head. She fell to the floor and lay limp on the ground, her eyes wide open in terror, staring up at her. Penelope tried to run, but the monster was lightning-quick and grabbed her by the hair and threw her on the ground. She could not breathe. She was choking back sobs when…

CRACK!

Glass shattered from the bedroom window!

SHRIEEEEEEEEK!

The night sentinel screeched as it flew in to protect the little girl from that monster. Its long talons clawed at the monster’s face. The owl clutched the monster in its claws and pulled it out through the window into the night. Penelope closed her eyes and wearily faded into the darkness.

…..

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw her beautiful mother sitting there next to her hospital bed, holding her hand. She had tears streaming down her pallid face. It was covered in bruises. There were contusions under her left eye and stitches over her right eye and on her left cheek. Dried blood caked her bottom left lip. Charlotte looked tenderly at her daughter with watery eyes. She loved her little girl with all her heart and would have died to protect her. But that would mean he had won; that her husband, Penelope’s father, had killed her. She could not leave her sons and daughters in the hands of a monster.

Penelope realized it was all a dream at her aunt’s house, and she remembered what really happened.

They never made it out of the driveway.

…..

CRACK!

Glass shattered through the driver’s side window of their car. The shadow reached through the broken window and pulled her mother out by her hair.

“RUN, Penelope! RUN!” Charlotte shouted.

“MOM!” Penelope roared as she sat there in the passenger seat paralyzed by fear.

She gasped in horror as the shadow repeatedly struck her mother in the face and ribs. Penelope felt helpless as she watched her mom cry out in pain. She knew had to run but could not move. She sat there terrified and vulnerable.

Her mom snapped her out of her unresponsive state. “RUN, Penelope!” She shouted again.

Penelope snapped to it and opened the car door to run back into the house. Her father was too quick for her, though, and he snatched her back onto the ground with the yank of her hair. The back of her head smashed onto the concrete driveway with a hard thud. Then she blacked out.

…..

She awoke in the hospital bed to the sounds of the heartrate monitor beeping.

“Mom…is the shadow gone?” Penelope asked weakly.

“Yeah, baby girl…your father will not hurt us anymore. He is gone. We are safe.”

They both sat there crying, both in grief and relief. It was not until years later her mother exposed to her what happened in the driveway on that dreadful night. The night she protected her baby girl from the shadow…the monster. The night her father died.

…..

In her dream, the barn owl kept watch over her.

It was her mom.

Her night sentinel.

Her protector.

And then the darkness passed.