He's the One

Tara stepped off the plane, this was it, she was finally here. Tara had been dreaming her whole life about this trip. For as long as she could remember Tara had wanted to take a trip to Scotland. There had always been something about the scenery, the sounds, and her ancestral connection that was driving the want to visit. She had set up the trip for her 40th birthday, the best part of which involved their accommodations. They were staying at Law Castle in North Ayrshire for an entire week. Law castle sat on the slopes of Law hill of the edge of west Kilbride.

After a short drive through the countryside, the large commanding bleach white tower came into view. Tara felt her heart leap at the excitement as they carried their luggage in the front door. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her entire life. She was brought abruptly back to reality when Nate bumped into her. “Oh, sorry Nate.” Tara said as she moved out of the way of the door. She had met Nate when he applied for a job at her company. They worked together for years and had become fast friends. Nate was one of the 10 that had taken the trip to Scotland together. Besides him and Tara, there was, her mom, stepdad, dad, sister and her husband, Her best friend, and her brother and his wife.

Everyone dropped their bags and ran through the castle to pick out their rooms. Tara got one with a beautiful 4 poster bed with deep purple medieval curtains. Everyone was exploring the rest of the castle while Tara headed out to the courtyard to see the gardens. Sitting at the back of the gardens under an overgrowth of vines was a small Chapple. The door let out the expected creepy creak as Tara slowly opened the door. Inside was the second most beautiful building Tara had ever seen in her life. The Chapple was lined with hand made, hand carved pew’s. Tara could tell that the widows were hand made stained glass from the medieval times. Even with the greenery invading slowly through the walls and roof it looked like it had stood the test of time.

Off to the left side of the building was a set of stone stairs that led to the bell tower. As Tara ascended the stairs a great barn owl flew past the side of her face, a half an inch more and their noses would have brushed each other. Even though she should have, she did not feel fear as the heart faced bird glided effortlessly past her. She stood statue still as the world slowed to a crawl, each flap of the great owl’s wings taking what seemed like a lifetime. Suddenly there was a man standing in the corner of the Chapple. The barn owl circle and landed on the man’s shoulder, the owl bowed its head low and started to move its head side to side dipping up and down and hissing in Tara’s direction. After a moment or two the owl sunk into the man’s shoulder, turning into a tattoo of that very barn owl. Once the owl sunk into the man’s shoulder, the man disappeared.

Tara was snapped back to reality when Her sister Nanette walked into the room. “What are you doing in here Tara?’” she asked a little concerned. “Oh um, I was just checking out this Chapple.” Tara replied feeling caught for no reason. “Well come inside it’s getting dark and the staff have shown up to make dinner.” Nanette said. The two of them headed back to the main house, but Tara’s thoughts were still in the Chapple. Who was the man she saw? What did the whole thing mean? The owl looked so real that she was having trouble figuring out what happened. Of course, her dream trip to Scotland would start with a vision. She had not had a vision like this since she was a little girl and she thought they were dreams when she was that small and the only who had paid any attention to them was her brother. Hopefully that was going to be the end of it. She figured that it was the just the energy of such an amazing property that had been standing for hundreds of years.

The rest of the night was uneventful as they played games, ate dinner, and talked about all of the things they wanted to do while they were there. They were all tired, even though it was only 8pm. Their flight had been long, coming from Canada, they had been on their flight for 21 hours and then in their rental car for another hour and half before they reached the castle. Everyone headed up to bed excited for what the next two weeks would bring. Tara slipped into sleep almost immediately with the weight of the jet lag finally landing on her shoulders. Once Tara hit a deep sleep she found herself back in the Chapple, the vision she had replaying over and over again in front of her eyes. All she could gather from the dream was that she needed to remember the man she saw, he was important for a reason she did not know yet. Her thought just went to he is the one, he is the one, he is the one.

Tara sat up in the bed with a gasp, her mind taking a moment to clear and realize where she was. She just sat there for a moment trying to figure out what the dream meant. The sunlight was starting to creep up the wall so she knew it must be morning, she looked at her phone to confirm. “ugh 6am”. She thought to herself as she got out of bed pulling on her house coat and stepping into her slippers as she moved toward the bedroom door.

The staircase outside her room was beautiful, it was constructed from stone and wound down to the first floor, it connected to her floor which wrapped around like a giant loft. Tara followed the smell of fresh coffee to the dinning room where the staff had set up an entire breakfast buffet. “Man am I ever glad we sprung for the staff on this trip.” She whispered to herself. “Me too.” Nanette said from behind her, making her jump a bit. They walked down the large buffet that ran down the wall. All Tara could think of was Downton Abbey which made her grin. There was a waiter standing at the end of the buffet waiting for them to place their fresh omelette orders. As they were setting their plates down, the rest of the travel party joined them.

“Well I am glad that everyone got up so early, that means we can get started with our vacation itinerary.” Tara started out. “I think that we should take a look at the grounds first so we can see what there is to do around here first, I’m sure the guys want to see where there is to fish.” Tara said with an eye roll. “Excuse me.” Tara said to the waiter. “Are there any sites close to here that we should make a point of going to see?” “Actually, you should check out The Glenn its only about five minutes from here and it is a must see in Kilbride. The group finished up their breakfast and headed up to their rooms to get ready to go explore.

The grounds were beautiful, there was a large courtyard that stood between the castle and the Chapple. The courtyard was designed like a maze with hedges, vines, and flowers everywhere. The vegetation looked like it was the original that had been planted there when it was built for Princess Mary as a wedding gift in 1467. Tara felt the shivers of excitement pass over her as they walked. The medieval period was her favorite era because of the romance, murder and most of all the design of clothing, castles, and furniture.

As they were walking, Tara noticed a man gardening in the house next to the castle. Her eyes immediately shot to the tattoo that was just visible on his shoulder. “The Owl”. Tara blurted out. “What owl?” Lee question. “I had a vision” Tara admitted quietly. “Why didn’t you say anything, you haven’t had one of those since you were little.” He responded. Lee knew what had gone on when Tara was little because he is her brother, he was there for it. “It was nothing.” She said trying to reassure him. “Mom and dad may not have been able to see it, but you and I know that the visions need to be taken seriously, so tell me what you saw.” Lee pushed. Tara took the next few minutes to explain the vision she had and the fact that it was the neighbor that was featured in it. She could see the worry in his face about it. Tara changed the subject to The Glenn using the excuse that they should get going.

The headed off to the Glenn which was to most beautiful outdoor space that any of them have ever seen in their lives. They spent the day there with a picnic that the staff had packed up for them. The was a small cave at the end of the brook that they explored. By the time that they got back to the castle the sun was starting to go down. Tara walked into a beautifully decorated castle. The staff had decorated for her birthday, they had also prepared a massive, beautiful birthday dinner for her. The group spent the rest of the night playing games, eating and drinking. They all headed to bed around 1am. Their second day there had been a wonderful one, but that was about to change.

Tara had been asleep for less then 2 hours when she was awoken by the most blood curdling scream. She knew that voice, it was her best friend Gail. Tara flung her blankets breaking into a run as soon as soon as her feet hit the floor. Gail’s room was all the way at the end of hall. It felt like it was taking a lifetime to get there. Tara flung open Gail’s door to see her slumped on the bed. Tara rushed to her side checking her for injuries. To her horror she found a gash in Gail’s throat. Tara started screaming for Nate, she knew he was in the room just below Gail’s. before she even got his name out of her mouth he burst through the door. Tara was trying to keep the pressure on Gail’s throat to stop the bleeding. “Call 999 and get everyone up here, the attacker could still be in the castle, I’ll take care of Gail.” She shouted.

The group came into the room with Nate on the phone to 999.“They want to know if she is breathing and the bleeding has stopped?” he said. “Yes, yes just tell them to hurry and to send the police as well!” Tara yelled. She surveyed the group to make sure everyone was there. After realising that everyone was accounted for, she relaxed a bit and focused on Gail. As everyone calmed, the noise level lowered, and the sound of the slamming front door echoed up to the room. Nate left the room to check if it was the ambulance, but there was no one there. “What is taking them so long?” Tara growled through her gritted teeth. No sooner were the words out of her mouth that she heard the front door swing open. Nate went out again and led the paramedics to Gail.

The paramedics examined all of Gail’s injuries and let everyone know that they were not life threatening even with as bad as they looked. They wrapped some gauze around Gail’s head and patched up the cut on her throat. The paramedic swiped something underneath Gail’s nose. As soon the paramedics hand ran under her nose Gail awoke flailing and screaming with her eyes closed. “Gail, Gail its us.” Tara yelled. Gail calmed down at the sound of Tara’s voice and opened her eyes. Everyone was asked to leave the room so that the police could talk to Gail about what happened. She told them that she awoke to a man over top of her with a knife to her throat. He told her to keep her mouth shut or he would kill her and proceeded to rip her gown. While the attacker was concentrated on her clothing Gail screamed as loud as she could knowing that there were nine other people in the house. This had startled the attacker, when he pulled away from her, he dragged the knife across her throat. Once the shock passed, he got angry, punched her, and slammed her head into the stone wall knocking her out.

The police came down the stairs followed by the paramedics who had put Gail on a gurney. “I thought that you said that she was ok?” Tara questioned concerned. “Ma’am we are just taking her in as precaution, she has a rather bad bump on the head and she needs round the clock care to make sure there is no concussion. Everyone said their good-bye’s to Gail all of them feeling better that she would return tomorrow. The police stayed behind to get the statements of everyone in the house.

While the police were taking her statement the officer mentioned that just before she lost consciousness Gail had seen a tattoo on the left shoulder of the man that appeared to be a bird of some kind. Tara’s stomach sank making her feel like she was going to vomit. Even though she knew that they might think she was crazy she told them the story of her vision and how she had seen the neighbor in the garden, that he looked like the man in her vision and that he had an owl tattoo on his left shoulder. As she was talking to the officer another came around the corner and let the other officer know that the attacker had come n through the cellar. Apparently, the cellar had a tunnel that led out to the courtyard and the lock on the door had been busted off. With its location no one in the castle would have heard the lock breaking. The officer that Tara had been talking to him told him to go over and take the neighbor into the station for questioning.

No one was able to sleep that night, they all sat in the kitchen drinking tea and taking turns to walk the castle. Around 10am there was a knock at the door. It was the investigating officer. Apparently once they took the neighbor in, he confessed almost immediately. They were charging him with aggravated assault, attempted rape, and attempted murder. The informed them that they were luck to be alive because he was a very dangerous fugitive that had been on the run for years and was wanted for multiple murders all over the country. The officer also let them all know that they may have to testify, but that they were free to return home.

The group decided that it was best for them to change their trip and head home as soon as they possibly could. Everyone agreed, they left without spending another day in the castle or Scotland. The man Allen McCreedy was found guilty of all charges and luckily enough for everyone, especially Gail, was allowed to testify over zoom. It was the only thing that was good about the pandemic that hit shortly after they got back home. In the years since, the group made another trip over seas, but they couldn’t bring themselves to stay in another castle. They opted for a nice hotel in Dublin instead and had the trip they were supposed to the first time.