The Barn Owl Assassin

Aliza Enoc went to Rockefeller high school for her senior year. She has no friends, no siblings, no one to talk to and has been bullied at school since the day she started attending. She cries every night, alone in her room and notices a barn owl sitting outside of her window gazing at her. She noticed for a while, that the same owl watched her every time she cried but the moment she stopped crying, it disappears.

One day during school, a group of her classmates decided to gang up on her and do some unspeakable things. It was so traumatic, that it mentally broke her down completely. That night she cried non stop and made a decision to stay in the house and never come out again. Watching her cry, the barn owl came directly to her window this time. It made a very distinct, slight “screeching” sound, forcing Aliza to look up and see the owl staring directly into her eyes without blinking a single time. Although she was taken aback and frightened, she uncontrollably was drawn to the owl and moved closer to the window.

As she was staring back directly at the owl, its eye colors went from a piercing, pitch black to a pure, cyan blue. In that moment, she could hear someone literally speaking to her inside of her head. She was home alone and there was no one else in the room with her. The owl was speaking to her through her mind by staring in her eyes. “My name is Orion, I can help free you from the pain you’ve been feeling. The only way I can do that is if you give me verbal permission by telling me you're willing to do what I say and you believe that I can make your pain go away by switching places with me temporarily.” Aliza asked, “but how exactly will you be able to make my pain go away?” Orion told her, “ you can be an owl during the day tomorrow and just watch how I change things for you.” Aliza was so traumatized by what happened at school, she thought to herself “how much worse can things get” so she agreed to do it. Looking into Orion’s eyes, she said, “ I give you permission to trade places with me.”

The next day, Orion woke up in Aliza’s body, got dressed and she explained her daily routine of how things are going to go. At this point both Orion and Aliza are fully connected within their minds and Orion sets off to school ready to handle anything. By the end of lunch time, Orion knew exactly why Aliza came home crying every night. Although the kids at school were extremely mean, the owl was tough and stood up for itself. During this time, Aliza enjoyed the freedom of being a barn owl. She had super sonic hearing and could soar freely in the blue sky, overlooking the entire city.

As she was flying at night, her stomach started growling nonstop. The hungrier she got she realized more of her senses unlocked. Thats when fear took over her entirely because she quickly developed a strong taste for human blood, flesh and brains. Hurriedly, she flew back to her house to tell Orion about the situation and asked him, “is this normal?” His reply was, “yes, I've been surviving for centuries by eating human flesh and brains. That’s why I sat and watched you while you were crying. I could see, feel and hear your pain. Now, since I know who’ s been inflicting such negatively harsh emotions onto you, I'm going to help you and feed my hunger.”

They switched places and Orion knew exactly who he wanted for his first meal. The one who made Orion feel the worst while being inside of Aliza’s body and his name was Damien. Orion patiently watched Damien and waited until he was home alone. The moment he was, Orion dived down into the chimney and found Damien’s room. Sitting on a desk in the room, Orion watched Damien, making him jump up with an extreme sense of fear coming over him. In that moment, Orion’s eyes went from pitch black to a flaming red, then he started making these eerie, screeching sounds. It was penetrating and similar to the sound of nails scratching across a chalkboard, starting low to extremely high, “schreeeechhhh”, “SCHREEECCCCHHHH!!!” Then, Orion’s nails extended five inches long, looking sharper than blades. When his wings flew open, Damien screamed and tried to make a run for it but Orion zoomed in, attaching his nails into Damien’s shoulder blades, piercing his skin and locking it in. Orion began to pick at the brain, eating from the skull, to the brain matter, swallowing each eye ball as if they were a delicacy, chomping down, eating viciously and drinking the blood. Orion never had a meal that tasted better than this one, so savory and delicious. Only Damien’s bones remained.

When Orion was done with his meal, he felt a tingling, sensational feeling of satisfaction and flew back to Aliza’s house. He watched her by the window and convinced her that she should go back to school and give it another try because Damien won't be there to ruin your day. Although this was disturbing information, somehow she felt a sense of relief and agreed to give school another try. Ever since that day, Aliza noticed that one by one, each of the bullies from school vanished. Although the situation was unfortunate, it helped her feel better about going to school, knowing that the bullies are gone.

The day of Aliza’s graduation, she walked across the stage and it clicked in her head that Orion was behind all of the missing bullies. When she got home, she was all alone in her room when Orion came to her window again. She asked him by speaking through her mind, “ Are you the reason all of my bullies disappeared? Not just Damien?” Orion replied to her saying, “ Yes indeed, my business here is done because you no longer need me.” Orion flew away, looking to start over with a new chapter and eat to survive by helping the helpless. That's the best way that Orion, the barn owl assassin, could justify its carnivorous cravings. There was nothing for Aliza to do besides moving on with her life as well because who would actually believe that her story was true?