White Old Woman Of The Night

1.

The cold air felt thick and grew thicker with the door creaking open, breaking the silence. A psychiatric orderly held the door for a man dressed in a formal suit, holding folders by his side. His tie swung back and forth as he made his way to a seat at the steel table.

“Good to meet you, David, the name is Mathew, I’ll be your new caseworker from here on out.”

David sat there motionless with his eyes widened in fear, lightly shaking. Mathew continued while opening the folder, skimming through the loose pages of information and notes.

“I know you know why I am here, and it is my job to move through all of this with you while we figure this out. First, I need your help and by that, I need to know what happened.”

David slowly looked up at him, meeting his worrisome gaze. His dark glossy red and tired eyes unsettled Mathew slightly. Leaving the first impression that David was numb and hollow inside.

“why… didn’t I join them?” David softly muttered with a shaky but coherent tone. “What is going on?”

Mathew leaned in slightly to reassure David, hoping to keep him present. “What happened to the others? what happened that night? I just want to hear your point of view of it all.”

“That night?” David winced, almost on the verge of tears but managed to continue. “They’re all dead, dead, I… I blacked out…right after…!” David jolted up remembering what transpired that night which brought more fear as he began to remember and tell what he had witnessed.

2.

“I knew this was a bad idea! I even told all of you!” Samantha exclaimed in annoyance as she exited the passenger door, shortly after the other three followed her lead. All looked dumbfounded on what to do next as they stood there motionless, glancing at the vehicle which was embedded in the muddy ditch. She continued to bark her point. “See Jackson, I knew taking this detour just to explore these stupid rumors was a waste of time!”

Jackson came to his own defense swiftly. “Oh, come on Sam. First, it is not my fault the road jerked the car into the ditch, and second, they are not stupid rumors. When is there going to be a time we get to drive down a bit of history? It can be much worse than this!”

The moonlight above casted shadows from the thickly wooded trees, with fog that lingered distorting the view around. Edger took note of what was around them all while pulling out his inhaler, taking in a deep breath then putting it back into his pocket before sarcastically replying to Jackson.

“Yup there is much worse than getting stuck in the middle of nowhere late at night, deserted road, and possibly no one for miles? All in search of a haunted tribal settlement damned by evil medicine men. I bet this road to is just as haunted!”

David Barged into the argument between the three.

“Alright, let us just consider our options here.” The others quickly shifted their attention to David as he continued to hash out ideas. “We can go back to the highway and hopefully wave someone down or we can take that road miles back where we came from…which… I have no idea where it leads to.”

The others stood there in silence, pondering on the best option in regards to distance on foot, realizing there was not plenty of options to choose from. Jackson started to walk forward down the road.

“I’m checking out this rumor about a haunted tribal settlement, we been driving for miles so we can’t be too far… but feel free to join.”

“Jackson! Come back!” Edger yelled out. He then dotted his eyes to Samantha and David. “I’m sorry but someone has to go with him.” Taking off in a stride he caught up to Jackson where they walked side by side further into the fog.

“Look, Sam, we can’t stay here, let alone you stay by yourself. Let us walk with them then we’ll be right back, ok?” David asked, trying to reassure her that everything will be fine. Samantha did not say a word other than a sigh and started her brisk walk to catch up with the others. David followed right behind.

The four walked down the muddy dirt road, surrounded by fog and the sounds of the night. Their own shadows danced as they briskly walked onward which seemed to be hours. Jackson anticipated the thrill of unease, thinking about the rumors. He then glanced over to the right side, noticing a drop into nothingness. He shimmied over, unsettled by the drop, not realizing he was pushing Samantha closer to the center of the road.

“Hey! What is the matter with you? You have space to walk.” She said, curious about the reason for his weird behavior.

“Sorry. It's just that I don’t like heights and with this drop, I can only imagine how far down it goes.” Jackson explained while Samantha chuckled, covering her mouth.

“You serious? A big strong jock such as yourself is fearful of heights?” She joked, nudging Jacksons' shoulder. He then went on to ask jokingly in return.

“Yea so what! What is yours? I’m sure it is something silly like forgetting your makeup in the morning before class!”

“Oh Ha-ha, funny but no. It is deeper than that. I’m afraid of feeling lost… abandoned.” The friendly tone in her voice had been replaced with a seriousness that reminded her of her past, but nothing else was said after that. She broke the silence and shouted to Edger the same question, looking back, both were ten-feet behind.

“Edger! What is your fear if you don’t mind sharing!”

“Water!” He shouted back.

David took note of that, looking at Edger, he questioned with slight curiosity. “water?”

“Yea, a fear of drowning. Long story.” He muttered to David then asked. “Yours?”

“Ah, quite dumb but I’m scared of losing my mind… not knowing who I am.”

Edger perked his eyebrows and nodded. “Interesting but I can not fathom what that might feel like. Living on the edge daily I bet.”

Before David had a chance to respond to Edger’s comment, a Screech Blared unexpectedly, echoing through the forest. Forcing a shiver down their spines. All four of them stood motionless as a second Screech was heard right after, the third echoed once again before the sounds of the night took its place.

“Look! that’s where it came from, an owl, and here we were scared.” David said, pointing at a branch by the side of the road with a grin of relief.

“where? I cannot see anything.” Edger asked, squinting his eyes trying to see what David sees.

“Literally right in front of you, can you see it? It is a darker owl, medium-sized, has a heart-shaped and pale face I think.”

Edger responded while both continued to walk, keeping a distance from the other two up ahead. Perking up remembering what he came across in regards to the owl he began to shed light.

“That would be a barn owl if I’m not mistaken. They come from one of the two families of Tytonidae.”

“Wow, you really did your homework haven’t you?” David chuckled, impressed with Edger’s Knowledge. Edger carried on but in a more serious manner.

“I fell down my own rabbit hole and found out that this barn owl is known to be the white old woman of the night… Cauilleach-oidhche gheal…”

“The Cailleach?” David urged on as Edger responded.

“The Goddess of death…” Edger said as he took out his inhaler, taking an inhale then placing it back in his pocket.

“I’m not feeling so good right now,” David exclaimed, growing nervous and pale to the face.

“Me neither. It does not help that we're going to a haunted tribal settlement where many Native American tribes believed that evil medicine men who practiced bad medicine can shapeshift into owls to steal souls and bring death.” Edger explained, shaking in the tone of his voice.

“Bad omen…”

David muttered under his breath but before he could say anything further, Samantha Screamed hysterically, followed by her calling out to Jackson. The two rushed over to Samantha without Jackson in sight.

“Hey! What is going on? Where is Jackson?” David urgently asked.

“I don… I don’t know but something pushed Jackson over the edge!” She cried out, tears flowing down her face uncontrollably, wrapping her arms around herself in a protective manner. She slowly backed away from the edge as the two rushed over to the edge where Jackson was lost in the pitch-black drop. Uncertain of the condition of Jackson they screamed his name. Samantha led out another Scream which faded to silence. Both Edger and David turned to come to her aid, but she was nowhere to be seen. Lost in the fog and abandoned in whatever awaited her on the other side.

“What the hell is going on!” David yelled out, terrified of the disappearance of both of his friends. Edger began to have an asthma attack, taking out his inhaler from his pocket as he wheezed trying to catch his breath. Nothing came out, he then shook it trying to catch the last little bit but to no avail it was empty. Edger dropped to the ground on his back, with David frantically trying to help but watched Edger’s lips turn blue instead. Grabbing his throat choking for air, Edger struggled till he laid there motionless. David got up, pacing back and forth shocked before blacking out. The fear of not being able to find himself left his being and instead he feared the Cailleach, white old woman of the night would find him instead.

3.

A pair of orderlies slowly escorted David back to his room, where he was seated in front of the window. His pale face and dark widened eyes glared outside. Not blinking once, he continued to rock back and forth, head twitching subtly. Muttered sentences of his was incoherent and had Mathew and the ward manager disturbed as the two stood by the door looking at David.

“He’s been like this for over three months now. Cannot seem to get anything else out of him, just his story of what happened. And when we do hear his side, he becomes frantic like this and shuts down.” The ward manager explained, sighing in defeat.

“He will be good here will he?” Mathew Asked.

“Delve psychiatric hospital is the safest place for him, yea.” The ward Manager said with reassurance.

“Thank you.” Mathew nodded his head and made his way over to David who was still rocking in his seat, peering out the window. He leaned over to tell David.

“I’ll be back when I can, just hope you’ll feel better…” Mathew said, unsure of what to say, for it felt like he was talking to someone that would never answer back.

David Began to shake vigorously, groans escaping his numb lips, fear gripping what cries he tried to get out. His trance-like gaze was fixed towards the forest, beyond the grassy lawn. The Caulilleach-oidhche gheal sat on a branch piercing into David’s lost eyes, waiting, for the omen of death was not quite done.