The Watcher

Cuckoo cuckoo. That was the only sound she could hear, cuckoo cuckoo.

She knew what it meant too, every purple moon that was the sound the owl would make and that meant he was here or close by, but she didn’t see the crows yet.

The twilight air was warm and fresh, as Carris looked up at the sky where the moon was a gentle pastel purple it wasn’t at its full purple bloom yet, but it was close which mean he was close too.

The gentle summer evening breeze caressed her skin and she thought of the first night they had met. She was only 8 years old and visiting her grandmother at the old family barn house. Her grandmother was knocking at deaths door and she didn’t want to leave the place she loved so dearly. So Carris and her mother went to say their final farewells to her.

The house and land was like a mysterious fortress, surrounded by evergreen land and trees as tall as mountains. Carris’ cousins who often visited at the same time would be too scared to go as far towards the woods as she would. She was never scared.

Her grandmother had told her an old story of the watcher of the land, not a man nor a creature, a sprit perhaps, maleficent many of the town folk preached, but grandma assured her that the watcher was not that at all.

The Owl would cuckoo and peek her feathered head at the top of the old clocktower window and the crows would fly as high as the deep purple moon which dominated the sky. Then and only then, the watcher would appeared like a misty fog.

The towns folk were wrong and grandma was right. The atmosphere changed completely, the air felt lighter, the dark sky brighter. Eight year old Carris was in awe of this being, it was like being with her best friend, her favourite food and the best present she had ever received. It was strange, she felt totally safe and comfortable by the presence. It seemed to her that she was there for hours or even what felt like days. She looked up the clocktower and it had only been a minute. As she turned her head around the watcher was gone as if he was never there.

Carris ran back towards the house as fast as she could to find her mother and grandmother. She ran into the room and her mother was crying. Her grandma had taken her last breath.

Carris had told her mother of what had just happened and of course she did not believe a word of it or give her half the time to even listen. No one believed her. She knew her beloved grandmother would but she was gone now forever. With grandmother gone how would she come back here, how would she ever see the watcher ever again?

Years went by and Carris grew up to be a beautiful young woman with dark, silky curly long hair, eyes a deep glowing mauve and a womanly body in full bloom.

She hadn’t been to old barn house since the day her grandmother died seventeen years ago. The property had passed to another family member but now they were gone now too. It was a huge surprise to her, as it was to the rest of the family that she had inherited the house and over 200 acres of forest with it, whilst older and closer relations still lived. She was overwhelmed by the whole thing and could feel everybody’s expectations of her and the place.

As she stood still, gazing up she heard the owl cuckoo. She looked up the clocktower and she saw her glowing eyes and the crows flying high above the sky. The Moon was full and purple.

It was the same feeling she had felt all those years ago, when she was just a little girl. How could she ever forget such a feeling it was out of this world, it was like all the best things of this world all in one, almost indescribable. But it was different this time more intense or perhaps just different for instead of being with her best friend it was like being with the lover of all lovers, the orgasmic movement of the wonders of the cosmos. The unconditional love of a mother at the first and last look of her only child. The refreshing quench of thirst gone after a sip of a deserts oasis. The first sight of a sunrise and sunset from the once blind man.

The watcher was there once more, time no longer existed, and everything made sense. Carris knew the reason she had inherited the land. In an instant the watcher was gone again. The moon was no longer purple, now it gleamed like a pearl in the sky.