La Lechuza- The Barn Owl Who Takes Your Soul

I knew going out that night wasn’t a good idea.

In hindsight, I felt like the universe had given me all the warnings. The strap of my new pink heals broke, my car took a whole 25 minutes to start in the freezing weather and Tom never returned any of my calls.

I still jogged up to the door feeling weary already. I felt like everybody was always having way more fun than me. They seemed to enjoy life and its moments instead of dreading Mondays like me. So, I gave myself an ultimatum: Check out the new bar that just opened right beside that old farmhouse. Life is going by too fast; I’m getting old and before you know it’ll all be too late.

My aunt was superstitious. If you see a black cat cross your path, just stay home. Guess what, aunt? I have a black cat at home that I adore. Nothing has happened to me yet. I giggle. The sound of my laugh startles me out of my thoughts and pulls me to the present.

I’ve been driving this road through the woods for the past 30 minutes. I should have arrived at the pass beside the farmhouse 15 minutes ago. Did I miss it?

My eyes fall on the GPS that was tracking my path, and I almost puke with fright. The GPS wasn’t working. I was terrible with directions without the aid of a GPS. Slowing down, I pull my car to the curb and kill the engine.

I warm my hands by the heater and pull out my phone. It glows in the dark interior of my car.

‘No signal’.

It is then that I start to freak out. Did I come out too far and drive into another county altogether? Where was I and why wasn’t there any signal? This place was giving me the freaks now. Every cell in my body wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible.

‘Coward!’, I told myself. It took so much strength to drive all this way out here and now I wanted to go back to the safety of my house? I wasn’t agoraphobic. I was a young woman, for god sake. I was hitting 35, the clock was ticking, and Jacob must think I’m a recluse.

Yes! Think about Jacob. He would be there in the club, his lean body dancing in the low light, as he looked at me with those dark stormy eyes. He would lean in, whisper a compliment in my ear and I would swoon like one of those heroines in that old romcoms. It would be amazing to go home with him. I had a crush on him since forever, and I adored the idea that we might have a future together.

With renewed courage I start my car and drive forward. There was no way I missed the big sign. Maybe I misjudged the time? Yes, that must be it.

It was around 12.45pm that I start to feel sleepy. It must be the fake lashes, I think. They were too heavy on my eyes, pulling them down, down and down. I'll close my eyes for just a moment.

There was an inhuman screech that jolts me out of a nap I didn’t even knew I was taking. Something white swoops down from the sky, straight for the windshield of my car and flaps its wings widely. There was a moment between the time when my foot crashes on the break and my momentum jolts me forward, that the owl and I stare at each other.

It was a snow-white barn owl, I had seen when I fell in the well at my childhood farmhouse. Even then, he had stared at me with his red injured eyes that were too big in its sockets. He looked at me from behind the windshield mirror. Then a loud crack echoed, as my foot crashed on the brake. The owl fell away disappearing in the trees as I grapple with the steering wheel. My car blessedly comes to a jarring halt a few feet away from a tree.

The Lechuza. It warns you of tragedy to come.

‘’Stupid owl!’’, I mutter, killing the engine and then getting out of the car.

I was sure I had messed up the tires, and the brake. I slam the car door shut behind me and turn on my phone’s flashlight. While I was surveying the tires muttering to myself, thinking how tired I was, a prickling sensation of being watched makes me look up.

There was a snow white owl perched in tree that I almost hit. His red eyes stare un-blinkingly at me as he watched me from his perch.

A wave of anger overcome me. ‘’HEY, you! Stupid owl!’’ I charge at the tree. ‘’You almost made me hit that tree! Go away!’’ I thump the tree with my foot. I almost stumble right into that ditch.

With my heart in my throat, I look down at the pitch-dark pit. I couldn't even see its bottomless depth even with a flashlight. The ground dropped without warning into nothing. It was almost like the road simply ended into nothing beyond the little patch of trees, and I was heading right into it.

‘’Oh my God!’’, I was shaking as I clutch onto the tree with my dear life. I could easily have died if it were not for that owl. I whip my head back, searching for the white owl, only to see nothing.

He was gone.

I take a few moments to calm down and then slowly start the car, praying to any God who was listening that the car was alright. The car putters to life and I sigh. I slowly reverse the car, and drive in the opposite direction, fully intending to go right to home.

Jacob will have to wait.

I would rather be a coward in a new town than dead. I drive silently, checking my phone every once in a while for a signal. Miraculously 15 minutes into driving, the signal comes back.

Oh, thank god! I do a little happy dance in my car as I maneuver the car closer to home.

The forest seems to stretch on forever. My car however seemed to glide smoothly on the road. Not at all, like the bumpy ride in the start.

I flip the phone on and immediately contact my best friend, Tom. He would be home probably watching that new soccer game. If that was the case, I was going to grill him about not answering my calls.

Talking to him would calm the jitters I felt in my bones.

When the line connects and he picks up, I immediately start.

‘’Hey Tom! You won’t believe what happened! I-I almost died.’’ I shiver. ''But this owl swooped in from nowhere. You know my aunt is so superstitious. She believes owls take your soul. Weird right? Sorry, I'm rambling. I was just so scared.'' I finish.

‘’Hello?’’, a tried Tom says back. ‘’Who is this? Please stop calling me and return her phone, whoever this is.’’

‘’Tom, what are you-? It’s me, Jenna. Can you hear me, I’m calling you because something happened. I almost died, Tom.’’ I say my voice pleading now. An unknown fear grips me. I feel like I know what he's going to say.

Still, I drive on.

I hear another voice in the back call: ‘’Who is it again, Tom? Why do you keep taking these calls from her number?'', Somebody sighs. ''It’s been a year, baby. Let it go. She is never coming back.’’

‘’Let go what?! Tom, you’re scaring me. This is not a joke.’’ I say my voice almost hysterical now. ‘’Please talk to me. It’s Jenna. I’m a bit freaked out right now. I'm all alone. I almost fell down the ditch in the woods. I shouldn't have taken that detour. I thought it would be quicker!’’

‘’I know Maria. It’s just, I wish somebody would tell me what happened. Jenna was my best friend.’’ Tom says to the voice in the back. ''I miss her so much that it hurts. She must have been so frightened, all alone in those woods. They say she was alive for 2 hours at least until...'' He suddenly cuts his words off.

His voice sounds so broken.

‘’Hey you!'', His voice comes back into the receiver. ''Whoever the f*ck you are! You keep calling and still won’t talk. Do you get a kick out of this? This is the number of my best friend, Jenna. If you know anything, please tell us. We have been looking for her remains for a year. She disappeared when she drove off into the woods that were shut down 2 years ago. We found her crashed car but never the body. Nobody could have survived that crash but please, if you know anything tell us.’’

Sobs fill the line and after a few minutes of waiting, the line goes dead.

Unbeknownst to him, I had been screaming his name when I was going down.