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Three by Three

The Power Within

By Holly McCullumPublished 3 years ago 20 min read
1

Three nights in a row, around the stroke of midnight, the horses in the barn would begin to get restless. Three nights in a row, I investigated the barn with no signs of what had stirred them from their slumber. And each night. over the course of three hours, their restlessness would get worse, until 3am came, and there would be a horrendous cry from the horses, and then complete silence.

The first time this occurred, I thought perhaps a coyote had found its way into the barn where mother and daughter, Artemis and Aphrodite were housed. The black mares were of an unknown age; saved from a cruel fate three years prior. They were found, neglected and abandoned, and I couldn't bare to see death fall upon these black beauties. I paid for their boarding by offering horse back riding lessons in the nearby town. It didn't make me rich by any means, but it allowed them to live a happy life. Not knowing their true age, I had no idea how long they would live, but one look at the spark in their eyes as they galloped slowly around the pen with a rider on their back, told me I had made the right decision.

My husband, Wayne, was the one who noticed the date on the calendar. "Martha, do you think it is a coincidence? The horses went crazy exactly three years to the day you brought them home?"

I hadn't noticed, but he was right, and he knew my family history so the notion of odd occurrences around me was nothing new. My family history was steeped in origins of witchcraft and the like, and I could usually pinpoint why things happened the way they did. This time was different. There didn't seem to be a reason, other than a wild animal coming down from the trees above the valley the old farm rested in.

Time went by and we found ourselves expecting a baby. We had all but forgotten the incident, preparing for the arrival of our first child. I continued with offering riding lessons, and the horses had no ill effect from the incident. Life had returned to normal and we were excited to be in a new phase of our lives. It wasn't to last.

Three months pregnant, and three years to the day, I'd had a long day in the city buying supplies for the coming winter, and was in bed and fast asleep by 10pm. I was awakened at midnight by a shrill cry coming from somewhere on the farm. Then the horses began to whinny, and banging noises could be heard coming from the barn as Wayne and I made our way across the property.

We entered the barn to find the horses trying to break out of their stalls. Artemis had managed to break the hinges off the door of her pen, and I knew if I didn't get her reigned in on time, one more solid kick would allow her to escape. I was making my way toward her when Wayne grabbed my arm to halt my advance.

"Stop, Martha! She'll hurt you or the baby!"

I heard the words but more concerned for the safety of the mare, I shook free from his grasp and continued toward the younger of the horses. I had reached the stall when something caught my attention from the corner of my eye. Something flying in the rafters above was circling us. As I focused in on it, I realized it was just an innocent barn owl. It had been windy that day and they usually roost in the barn during storms or in colder months.

Suddenly though, the same shrill cry I'd heard before made me cover my ears. I set eyes once again on the owl, just as it began to fly toward me. It dove at my head and I ducked just in time. It circled around and once again attempted to attack. I fumbled for the latch on the stall door and opened it before the owl could get another chance at me. This would prove to be my biggest mistake. As I crawled into the stall, Artemis reared back on her hind legs and before I could react, I saw her front hooves abruptly crash down on my head.

Everything went black. I was aware of pain in my head, and my ears were only picking up muffled sounds. I opened my eyes and tried to adjust to the scene before me. Wayne was forcefully dragging me out of the barn and as we made our retreat I stared in horror as the owl hovered in the air above the stall, its eyes glowing red as the flames of hell. It's cry rang out once more before I passed out completely.

Wayne rushed me to the hospital. On the way I came in and out of consciousness. Finally I woke in a hospital bed and a frail nurse with piercing green eyes was standing beside me taking my pulse. I glanced at her name tag and briefly noticed her name. Alita.

"Welcome back, Dear," she said. "You've had quite the experience."

"Where is my husband?" I asked.

"He went to get some coffee. He should be back soon. You should rest."

I fell asleep. I don't know how much time had passed, but when I woke and saw the concerned look on Wayne's rugged face, I began to worry. He immediately lunged forward and hugged me hard, grabbing my hand and kissing it. He wiped a tear from his face as I tried to sit up and he shook his head.

"I nearly lost you," he said in a gruff voice.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I tried to sit up again but the look he gave me made me think better of it.

"That bloody horse! She was out to kill you!" He was yelling and his face was turning red.

"It wasn't the horse's fault!" I tried to raise my voice to his level. "The owl spooked her!."

"What owl?!" he demanded. "You keep going on about an owl. There is no owl!"

"Calm down, Wayne! You just didn't see it. It dove from the roof of the barn."

"I saw the entire thing." His voice was calm now. Eerily calm. "There was nothing in that barn other than two horses freaking out. You could have been killed and then I'd have lost both of you!"

"I don't understand." I stared at my husband's face, his blue eyes held such concern and contempt at the same time; his face had a few days stubble on it and his disheveled look made me realize time must have passed since the incident. "How long have I been here?" My hands immediately went to my empty belly. "Where is she? our baby! Where is our baby?!"

Wayne looked at me but was silent. He took in a long draw of breath and then let it out slowly. He took my hand once again and held it with both hands. With a calm voice he said, "You've been in a coma. Brain damage from the impact of the horse. It's been almost two years. We lost our girl."

I felt sick at the words. I couldn't speak. It didn't seem possible.

"The doctors said you were lucky to be alive. They were not sure you'd ever wake again. If it wasn't for the incoherent ramblings about an owl, we'd have thought your brain was too damaged for survival." I could tell he was trying to keep calm, but he was failing. I wanted to tell him again how the owl was real, but I didn't want to upset him. I decided it wasn't the time to bring up the incident and kept quiet about it for the duration of the rest of my hospital stay.

A week later I was back home. Wayne had sold the horses as they were a constant reminder of my accident. I spent the next few weeks in our room, still healing from the ordeal. As my strength returned, I mourned the loss of our child, and every night I woke at midnight to stand at the window and look out at the darkness. The barn stood empty, a haunting reminder of a horrible accident that took the life of our innocent babe. I tried not to be angry with myself, but I knew it was my own careless actions that took her away from us. It was something I'd never get over, I was sure of it.

One morning, I woke and realized I was done grieving, and my silence over the incident was ready to be broken. I got dressed that day and came down to the kitchen where Wayne was making coffee. He turned as he heard me enter the room and smiled.

"Good morning," he said. He closed the space between us and embraced me. A good long hard hug that lasted until I was ready for him to let me go. "I love you," he said softly, holding my face in his hands.

"I love you too," I said. "Do I smell coffee?"

"I will get you a cup. Sit down."

I sat at the table and waited for my coffee. Wayne set it down before me and kissed the top of my head before walking back to the coffee machine. I raised the cup and inhaled the intoxicating aroma of the coffee. As I took a sip, I glanced outside the window to the barn. I blinked rapidly. There, perched atop the barn, was an owl. I dropped the cup; hot coffee spilling on me and the cup tumbled to the floor before shattering. Wayne jumped and came rushing toward me.

"Are you OK? Did you burn yourself?"

My eyes were still focused on the owl. I barely registered the fact that my lap was now soaked and burning from the scalding liquid. I was aware of Wayne speaking to me but I couldn't break my focus. There was my proof, sitting on the barn, staring at me with piercing red eyes. I felt as though my eyes were binoculars. I shouldn't have been able to see the owl so closely, but I was zoomed and focused, and it was staring at me, leaving me in a horrified trance. I felt hands grab my face and Wayne's terrified voice came in loud and clear.

"Martha! Answer me, damnit!" I felt a hot sting on my left cheek and turned toward Wayne.

"The owl," I said with a trembling voice. "The owl is back."

Wayne backed away from the table and nearly stumbled. "There is no owl," he said coldly, before leaving me there in the kitchen.

A week or more passed, and every day was the same. I sat at the kitchen table with my coffee, and started out across the farm. The owl was always there. Wayne never saw it. He took me to a specialist, and they decided I had a dorm of brain damage where I was seeing things not there. They suggested I had it before the accident. They looked at me like I was crazy and I didn't care. I knew what I'd seen and what I continued to see every morning.

Months passed. The owl came back every morning. It didn't matter the season. It didn't matter the weather. Every morning it stared at me from the top of the barn.

"Where are the horses?" I finally gained the courage to ask my husband one morning. His once handsome face had changed. He looked at me now with a tired contempt.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with such things," he said, drinking his coffee from across the kitchen. He stopped sitting with me at the table months before, to avoid conversations about owls, I suppose.

"You killed them, didn't you," I asked, trying to keep a calm voice. The thought had entered my mind often and I'd pushed it away, not believing my husband could do such a cruel thing.

"The Lord knows I wanted to punish the things that nearly took you from me," he said in a barely audible voice. "I looked into their eyes as I put the bullets in that gun. I couldn't do it." His head dropped and I heard him sob.

"Thank you," I said. I stood to go to him and he held the palm of his hand out toward me.

"Don't."

Just one word was all I needed. We weren't the same people we were nearly three years ago. Whether I wanted to believe it or not, we had both been changed by that accident. I began to doubt myself. Maybe they were right, maybe I was seeing things.

I kept my eye on the calendar, and Wayne tried to be discreet, but I saw him glance at it too from time to time. The anniversary was fast approaching, and we were both on edge. We were polite, but incommunicative. I feared we would reach the point where we just couldn't take it anymore and I'd have to let him go, but until that time, I would pretend everything was normal. The anniversary would come, and that would tell our fate. I didn't need to keep seeing the owl to know that; I felt it in my bones.

The day finally arrived. Three years to the day of the incident, six years since the first strange occurrence, and nine years since those beautiful creatures came into our lives. I missed them. They gave me purpose, and I felt it was my responsibility to keep them safe. I could never explain why, but there it was, and all these years later, I felt a hole where they had once resided. The power and beauty of a beast with human eyes could never really be explained. I knew their souls and they still owned mine. I could only keep quiet for so long, and now that the anniversary had come around, I would no longer be silent.

"I know you don't want to talk about it," I said, as Wayne set down my coffee on the table that morning.

"Talk about what." It wasn't really a question. I could tell he was nervous and probably not looking forward to this day.

"The horses. The owl."

"Shut up!" he roared. I startled at the sound of his voice. I'd never heard it sound like that before. His anger was apparent but I wouldn't back down.

"Don't tell me to shut up!" I bellowed as loudly and slid my chair back from the table as I stood. The chair knocked over and rattled to the floor and I barely flinched. I felt my blood boiling in my veins and I clenched my fists against the feeling. "I am not crazy!"

"I would never think that." His voice was calm now, but his eyes were still angry. When I didn't respond, he turned and left the room. I heard the front door open and then slam shut. I turned toward the window, the chair still overturned on the floor behind me, and watched him walk toward the barn. He stood before it and let out a long bellowing cry as he looked toward the sky. Who was he yelling at? The barn? The horses? God? The owl that didn't exist?

The rest of the day crawled on. We passed each other in the house in silence and by nightfall, we settled into separate rooms to sleep around nine o'clock. I wouldn't sleep of course. I laid in the dark, listening to the quiet of the house, hoping Wayne would come back to our bed. I had so many emotions running through me, but the strongest one was the void my husband was making between us. The sound between us was hollow and full of sorrow for an old life we no longer knew, because of an unforeseen event. It had changed both of us, but most of all, it had changed who we were together, and I feared we would never get that back.

I tried to stay awake. Midnight was fast approaching, but my emotional exhaustion took over and I fell deeply into a sleep. I dreamed of the horses. This wasn't the first time. In each dream though, there was a different outcome. They spoke to me. They told me secrets. But it was all whispers and I could never quite understand the message. I don't know how long I'd been asleep, but I was awoken by Wayne shaking me.

"Martha! Wake up! Something's happening!" He was shaking me violently now. I woke and realized I'd been holding my breath. I inhaled deeply and my ears were instantly met with a horrible shrieking sound outside. "There's a storm outside!" He was yelling now. I heard a lighting strike and in an instant later the sound of roaring thunder shook the old farm house.

"It's just a storm," I said sleepily. I looked toward the clock beside my bed to see it was just a few minutes to midnight.

"No! Something is out there screaming!" He was still yelling at me. He stood up and cupped his hands over his ears. "What is happening?!"

"I don't know," I said. I shoved the covers aside and stood up next to Wayne. "Are you OK?"

"Nothing is OK. Nothing is OK!" He was frantic now, pacing the room and mumbling. He turned to me suddenly and grabbed my arms with such force I knew there would be bruises in the morning. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen!" Tears were streaming down his face.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked. I had to ask him repeatedly because he wasn't hearing me. He let go of my arms and began to pace again.

"The horses. I killed the horses! I'm sorry I lied!"

I felt my stomach flip at the sound of the words.

"They have come for me!" He said. He darted over to the window and in the light of the lightening flashes, I could see he was covered in sweat. "Can't you hear them crying?" He looked at me then with absolute fear on his face.

I stood there shaking my head, trying to grasp the situation, all the while holding my arms where his fingers had dug in. I watched as the lightning kept striking over and over again before joining my husband at the window. I watched in horror as the strikes hit the barn again and again. Suddenly the barn alit in flames and between the sounds of the lightning, thunder, and Wayne's terrified ramblings, I heard the unmistakable sound of a shrieking owl closely followed by the disturbed sounds of frightened horses. Wayne and I turned toward each other with equally shocked expressions. As if reading each other's minds, we bolted out the door and down the stairs; out the front door of the house and across the barnyard to the burning building.

The sounds of petrified animals was horrible! They were burning, but it was impossible. The barn was empty, but the sounds were still there, enticing us to enter the burning barn to save them. We tore open the doors with difficulty as the hinges had seized due to three years of disuse. What met our eyes was unexplainable and we both suddenly froze at the sight. Two beautiful black mares stood regally on the other side of the doors, as if in wait for their rescuers. Artemis, the younger of the two looked straight into my eyes and then bowed her head. Aphrodite, the mother in all her dignity, grace and maternal glory, tapped her hoof three times and then the pair ran toward us. We jumped back and watched them run past into the storm.

Wayne and I stood watching after them, and I tried to make sense of the situation. Suddenly I heard Wayne laughing and I turned toward him. The rain was pounding down on us and I stood watching as he raised his arms up and let out a guttural howl toward the heavens! He dropped his arms to his sides and looked at me. He closed the space between us in a nanosecond and kissed me ferociously as the storm still raged on around us.

Within seconds, the storm grew quiet. I stood wrapped in the warm embrace of my husband, feeling content and safe for the first time in ages. His bare chest rose and fell with big breaths as he released me and we stood staring into each other's eyes. A small sound distracted us and we looked toward the barn to find a frail old woman standing where the horses greeted us earlier. On her left shoulder was perched a barn owl with eyes of fire.

"Three by three they came to be," she said. Her voice was soft and inviting. "Thrice we called to you, and thrice you came. Thrice those horses did remain."

"But I killed them?" I heard Wayne say. "I shot them both between the eyes."

"Did you now?" She laughed as she said it. A genuine chuckle.

"Didn't I?" He asked.

"Oh, goodness no. That was but a reflection of your pain. Our losses in life bring many lessons to us."

Wayne and I looked to each other for answers, but we were still in the dark.

"Three by three they came to be," she repeated from before. "Thrice we called to you, and thrice you came."

"We don't understand," I said.

"Don't you now?" The old crone walked toward me and raised her wrinkled hand to my forehead. "We are three," she continued, "and three we will be." She lowered her hand from my head to my belly, resting it there. I felt something I couldn't describe other than to be the first kicks of life. "All things come in threes for you, Child."

"Explain this, please!" I begged.

She smiled and looked deep into my eyes. "We are maiden, mother and crone. Past, present and future. We exist at once and also apart. I am you and you are me and we are one."

Wayne spoke up, "This has nothing to do with me."

"Of course it does," the old woman replied, "just not as you might think."

"Who are you?" I asked, suddenly gaining some sense of control over my surroundings. "Who the HELL are you?!"

"The question," she asked, "is who are YOU?"

"Stop speaking in riddles!" I yelled.

Suddenly the owl perched on the old woman's shoulder let out a shriek and the sound made me close my eyes and cover my ears. In those seconds I saw a vision of a baby being born. I then saw this child grown with a crown on her head. Darkness was around her, but she held her head high and looked out upon a crowd bowed down to her. Her blue eyes stared out above the crowd and I knew at once she was my daughter."

"This owl has been protecting you for years." The old woman motioned for the bird to come back to her and it once again sat on her shoulder. "She has always been there; watching and waiting to see if you'd notice. She was meant for your eyes only and a test to the union needed to complete the cycle."

"Cycle of what?" I asked.

"For the cycle of three by three to be complete and the maiden, mother and crone to be unified once more. The baby growing in your belly has been waiting. She will make everything clear."

I heard horses behind us and turned to see Artemis and Aphrodite standing regally. At once the owl that sat upon the old woman's shoulder took flight and flew toward the mares. I watched in amazement as the owl transformed into a beautiful black horse. In all this commotion, I hadn't realized the storm had calmed around us and this regal beast was walking toward me. She bowed her head to me and I placed my hand on her head. I closed my eyes and felt a transference of energy flow through my body from my hand. I opened my eyes and all three horses turned and galloped into the night.

I turned back toward Wayne and the crone but the old woman was gone. Once again I felt a kick come from my belly and looked down to find it was full with child. I took Wayne's hand and placed it on the mound, and he looked at me with incredulity.

"Her name is Alita," he said.

I nodded in agreement as the entwined fate of the past and future was revealed in a blinding ray of light.

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About the Creator

Holly McCullum

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