They'll Find Me

It’s been a long, long night. But it has been a good one. Her parents make her feel so loved. The country home that they live in, though standing alone for miles and her, Elaine, being an only child, provides her with all the comfort in the world. She’s happy. Though time has dragged on and the wind blows a cold draft into her room, she’s warm. She’s loved. She’s happy.

Hoot

What was that? It sounded like…

Hoot

It is! It’s an owl! But how did it get in? The draft from the window is only due to a small crack in the frame; the rest of the window is covered. The draft picks up. She sees it. The wings of a barn owl are flapping towards her as it perches on a chair across the room. It’s strange, but at the same time, it’s beautiful. The barn owl jumps onto the end of her bed, momentarily startling her.

“Hello,” she says, as if it might understand her.

Hoot-hoot

Then again… Can it? She reaches out her hand, slowly as to not scare it away of course. It closes its eyes and brushes its head into her hand. She feels chosen. She is chosen.

Hoot

The owl jumps again, but this time, it suspends itself over Elaine, the gust of its wings moving the cool air around. Elaine’s hair is taken upward and tossed around in the wind. She laughs, for her inner child finds that she has a new friend to play with. However, the owl moves towards the door.

“Wait!” She calls after her new friend. Although she’s happy with her parents on her farm, a new friend is always an exciting, new addition to the family, and Elaine wants to learn more about her friend, the barn owl.

“Where are you going?” Elaine said. The owl stops and perches. Elaine could swear that the owl was ushering her out. She wasn’t going to pass this adventure up; she hops out of bed and starts putting on her slippers, but as she is only putting on the first slipper, another gust circles the room. The owl is off! Elaine jumps and follows, before she could lose sight of it!

Out of her room, down the stairs, and out the door. The one-footed Elaine chases the owl, whose flying is the most beautiful thing that Elaine had ever seen!

Hoot! Hoot!

“Hoot! Hoot!” Elaine called back and giggled. The thrill of the playful chase had made her forget how cold it was: two degrees. Though she couldn’t tell now, the cold was catching up to her. There is beauty in the Winter, but sometimes people forget that the cold is dangerous.

Into the woods they go! The owl flying above Elaine as she runs! And runs! And runs… and runs… and…

“Where am I?” said Elaine, with only one slipper, no coat, and in the middle of the woods, could finally feel the cold: two degrees. The owl perched on an old stump.

Hoot.

The barn owl made its sound again, but this time, something felt different: mysterious and, to a certain degree, mystical.

“What happened to your hoot? It sounds different.” said Elaine, feeling an ominous presence grow stronger as she hugs herself and pulls her bare foot up onto the other one.

“Do you feel chosen?” the owl says. The sound of English coming from the large bird is terrifying for Elaine, who is knocked back by the sound of it.

“You can talk!” says Elaine, in a mixture of emotion. She isn’t sure if this is something to be excited about or scared of.

“Elaine, you have been chosen as a pure sacrifice for Ta’xet,” the owl’s words send more than a shiver down Elaine’s spine. Perhaps this all was a dream. One of those dreams that starts off really nice and warm, before the twist happens.

The condition of Elaine only worsens. As the owl lifts its wings, the strongest gust of wind swirls around not Elaine, but the visible surrounding area. She looks around, frightened. She tries to call for help, but the sound of her voice is muted not only by the harsh Winter winds, but by other voices that are being carried by the wind.

“Elaine, you are chosen,” the voices in the wind say. Elaine wants to wake up, but alas, this isn’t a dream. What else could she do? The voices are getting louder.

Amidst the chaos, Elaine thinks to herself “I’ll be ok. They’ll find me. I’m warm. I’m loved. I’m ha-” just as she’s thinking, the owl jumps into the air and begins transforming. Elaine can’t think about anything other than the monstrous beauty she sees before herself.

The owl’s head becomes large and its beak slender, and another eye opens on its forehead. Eyes also open on the top of its wings and on its lower belly. Its wings become fine and sharp, like spears, and its talons become like the claws of a bear.

For the third and final time, the owl, along with the voices of the wind shriek “Elaine, you are chosen!”

As this last phrase rings throughout the woods and in Elaine’s ears, the brightest and warmest light flashes around Elaine, but only for a moment. Elaine opens her eyes to see the owl swoop towards her, and with its claws, the deepest, longest cut is made, starting from her waist and ripping all the way up to her throat. The light disappears.

It’s been a long, long night. Her parents make her feel so loved, but now, as she chokes on the blood that runs everywhere, she, only a little girl, is uncertain of whether or not she’ll ever see her parents again.

“They’ll find me,” Elaine says. With her dying breath, she looks around. There is no more wind. No more beast. Only Ta’xet, the god of violent death of Haida. Ta’xet stands high above Elaine.

“You were chosen to save the moon from me, and my wrath from earth. Your innocence has paid the price for the next hundred years,” Ta’xet, the formless god says.

“That’s not true,” Elaine thinks. “They’ll find me. They’ll find me.”

They found her, frozen in a pool of her own blood.

“They’ll find…”

They found her, after the price was paid.

“They’ll…”

They found her, too late.

The End