To Catch the Owl

What constitutes someone as dead? Is it when dirt covers them or when flames take their body? Is it when their blood stops flowing? Is it when the thoughts and beliefs they once held no longer exist? If a person was known for their smile, were they still that person if they no longer smiled?

For the woman walking beneath a sea of darkness, she knew the answer to all of them. Long ago, people had called her Carmen, and oftentimes, as the sun vanished into the night air, one could hear her parents calling her back inside. Now, the only name she answered to was Mom, and if someone spoke the name Carmen, she would know it was a lie.

Carmen was the girl who’d grown up on a farm, raised to act first, regret later. She spent more time in a hospital bed than her own. Her best friend was the local barn owl who she would spend hours chasing. She never caught it, but her father used to say she’d come closer than anyone else.

Now, what was she? She was Mom. She spent more time planning life than acting in it. The closest she came to an adventure was when she sat down and let her children tell their stories.

Wind whipped at her nightgown, and lightning without light rippled above her head. For Carmen’s short hair, such conditions wouldn’t bother her, but Mom’s long hair continued to find a way into her face. Up ahead of her, an abandoned, red structure stood, and pulling open the door, she stepped inside.

“It’s bedtime.” She called out to no response. “Come on kids. I know this farm like the back of my hand and already looked in the other places.”

“Please, Mom. Can’t we stay here for a little longer?” A voice emerged from the darkness.

“No, it’s stormy outside, and I don’t want to go asleep knowing you two are out here. Get your brother. We’re walking back.”

“What if I’m not here?” Another voice asked.

“Well, look at it this way. I’m heading back to the house. If you’re not in your rooms by then, I can do whatever I like.”

“No!” A tiny, dark shape slammed into Mom, and its arms wrapped around her waist.

“Then it’s settled.” Mom reached out until she felt her daughter’s hand, and with both kids in tow, she stepped out of the barn. “What were you two doing in there?”

“We saw an owl, and we were trying to catch it. Eventually, we gave up and started playing flashlight tag,” they answered.

“You know, there used to be an owl here.” Mom thought back to Carmen’s childhood and her time chasing the yellow-eyed beast. “It must’ve had children.”

“Or maybe it’s the same one.”

“Owls don’t live that long.” Mom patted her children on their heads. “Everything that was alive back when I was a kid is long gone now.”

“You’re still here.” Her son tightened his grip.

“Yeah, although if you were to meet the me from that long ago, I don’t think you’d recognize me.”

“Were you mean?” Her daughter asked.

“Only to the neighbors. I used to steal their harvest so I could eat without your grandparents knowing.”

“That sounds fun! Do you think we would’ve been friends?”

“Best friends.” Mom pulled her children closer. They would’ve loved Carmen. Although, if Carmen were here, she’d probably spend all night playing with them in the barn instead of getting them to bed on time. Everyone loved Carmen, but like all things from thirty years ago, Carmen no longer existed. In her place, a long-haired, cowardly, frail woman stood, and in thirty more years, there’d be another unrecognizable person. For some people, that might be comforting. For others, that would be terrifying. For Mom, that was just a fact of life, no use fighting it.

“Look, Mom!” A high pitch voice caught Mom’s attention, and she followed her daughter’s finger up to the sky where the moonlight had begun to pierce through the clouds. For a moment, she didn’t see anything, but then a shape appeared, soaring down from the light.

It circled above and came to a rest on top of the barn behind them. Old age had taken the color out of its eyes, but Mom recognized the haunting stare the beast gave her. After all this time, it was still alive. While everything else withered and disappeared from existence, it remained.

“Kids, wait a second.” The woman disappeared into the house and returned a minute later.

“What is it?” Her daughter asked, and she smiled.

“It’s an old friend.” The woman passed each of her kids a net. “Bedtime can wait.”

“Are you sure, Mom?” Her son asked.

“Of course, friend.” Carmen reached back and tied her long hair into a bun. “Now, lets go catch that owl.”