In the Dead of Night

My father bashed my head with an axe.

I was 20 years old, and I noticed that if you talk to nature, nature answers you back. I began to pray to the river behind our house, to our apple tree that bloomed such beautiful flowers in the spring, and even to the sun as it shone brightly every morning. I was a good daughter; I cooked, cleaned, and fed the animals. Ever since my mother passed away, I have taken on all of her responsibilities and even more. The only thing I misbehaved about was not wanting to get married, mainly because my father wanted me to be the wife of the man with the ugliest soul in the village. So, I refused. And Father didn’t like me praying to anything other than the wooden cross in our house. Yet the cross never appealed to me. If Jesus truly died on that cross, why would he want us to pray to the thing on which he gave his last breath? I wouldn’t want people to wear an axe around their necks to honor my death.

I saw my body on the ground, my long blonde hair and white dress painted in the red of my own blood. So much blood. I tried to move at first until I realized I was no longer inside it. My father dropped the axe and went inside the house. No tear was shed for me. I couldn’t shed a tear for myself either. Without a clue on what to do, I walked into the forest.

How I have always loved that forest! The trees had wide trunks and rough bark. The greenery was wild and untamed, and the flowers were colorful and spread all over. It was sunny that day, thank God! I roamed around, enjoying myself, and even saw my best friend, Lily. Her copper hair shone so beautifully in the rays! How I loved her. It saddened me that she would cry for my death, so I went next to her and whispered in her ear not to cry for me because I would always try to look after her. She glanced in my direction but didn’t see me. A touch of fear appeared in her eyes, so I went on my way.

When the night came, the shadows came as well. They were dark and cold, lingering through the branches. They saw me, but I wasn’t afraid. I waved and smiled at them, and they left me alone. I guess they didn’t need a friend. I found a family of bunnies and tried to keep them warm. The babies were so tiny that they resembled mice. That’s when I heard it—almost like a scream, but not something my human ears could’ve picked up on. A cry for help.

I left the bunnies and roamed through the trees until I got closer to the cry of despair. My aura vibrated in pain. I approached a dark cave that moonlight couldn’t reach and stepped in. For some reason, even in the pitch darkness, I could see. A tall, dark figure with a long cape and horns resembling those of a ram stood with its back to me. It seemed almost hunched over. I knew it wasn’t human, but I wasn't sure if it could see or hear me. The other shadow figures huddled by the entrance of the cave, but they didn’t dare approach the horned creature. But I did, and I touched its shoulder.

It turned around with such ferocity that I almost vanished. A howling darkness, darker than a starless sky, screamed in my face. But I wasn’t in a human body anymore, so I knew I wouldn’t get hurt.

"I heard you," I said, trying to make the howling stop. "I came to see if you needed help."

I stepped backward but didn’t run away. Now I could see the face of the creature better; it looked like the skull of an animal, with hollow eyes and a long snout. It was way taller than me, but that didn’t intimidate me. I smiled. Anything can be cured with a smile.

Silence. The creature just stood there, analyzing me.

"Death," the creature said. "You smell like death."

I thought for a second before I nodded. He was right; after all, I saw my body on the ground a few hours before.

"You are right," I said, smiling at its remark.

He approached me, probably to get a better look, so I didn’t step away. After all, I was the one who invaded its space.

"Who took your life?" he asked. I assumed it was a male because of its masculine voice. It also sounded coarse and deep, as if he hadn’t spoken a word in decades.

"It was my father. I don’t remember much, but he didn’t like how I prayed to the river."

A static silence took over the cave. The creature froze, but then a laugh coming from his chest shook the whole space awake. The shadow figures laughed too, so I mirrored them. There must’ve been a joke I didn’t get.

"You worshipped the river?" he asked.

I nodded. "Also, the trees, the sun, and the birds."

He stopped laughing and just stared at me with those hollow eyes.

"Why were you crying?" I asked.

He tilted his head, and a long claw with rubies on the fingertips emerged from his cape. The claws were sharp as he pointed them at my face. "Aren’t you afraid?" he asked.

"Afraid? Your claws are beautiful!" I wanted to touch the precious stones, but he quickly pulled them back inside.

"Light being," one of the shadows hissed behind me. "Kill it! Devour it, master!"

I assumed the horned creature was the master, but I couldn’t see how he could kill me as I was already dead. I frowned and thought for a moment.

"Are you the devil?" I asked.

The horned creature, or the master, laughed again but didn’t answer me. I was beginning to sense the mockery in response to my clearly reasonable questions, so I turned around and walked straight through the shadows. They whimpered and hissed as I did, but soon I was back in the forest again. No need to be made fun of; I would return to the family of bunnies and keep them warm through the night. After all, spring was in early bloom, and the nights were still chilly at times.

Just as I was making my way through the trees, the master appeared by my side in an instant. He hovered beside me as I tried my best not to fill the silence with any sentences, although it was hard not to. I enjoyed talking to people. Or whatever he was.

"How can a peasant girl resist me?"

That question surprised me. "What, do you think you’re that irresistible?" I joked. I hoped he wasn’t offended, but after all, he was just a skull wearing a cape.

He pointed his nose forward as his figure loomed over me. He was very tall.

"Fear," he said. "You don’t feel fear."

"For what? It’s not like I can die twice."

He looked at me again, and it almost made me laugh. His face was hilarious because he didn’t have any expressions—just two empty sockets instead of eyes.

"Stop that." I couldn’t help but giggle.

"Stop what?" his voice came.

"Stop looking at me; you’re making me laugh."

That’s when his whole figure moved in front of me and stopped me in my tracks. The screams of anguish and despair emanated from his being again, a cacophony of screeches and deafening noise, but it was more annoying than anything.

"God, shut up! You’re waking the whole forest!" I said, and stomped past him.

I finally found the bunnies again—one mother and six babies. I lay beside them and kept them close to my belly to keep them safe. The creature stood behind a tree, watching me. After a few moments, he floated in my direction, brought his claw to the surface again, and touched one of the babies. I thought he wanted to keep them safe as well, but instead, a drop of red came from the tiny belly.

"What have you done?" I shouted.

The shadows came. They invaded the space around us, hanging from trees. They were laughing, but the master wasn’t. He just looked at me.

I couldn’t believe it! The tiny bunny was no longer breathing. I carefully picked it up and spoke to it softly, "It’s all right, little bunny. I am with you. You are with your family, don’t be afraid."

And the master recoiled, because the bunny started to breathe again. The shadows screeched and ran as far away as they could. I placed the bunny next to its mother and invaded the creature’s personal space.

"You can’t kill the animals of the forest; it’s their home! My father took me away from home too, and I can tell you it’s not a pleasant experience! Do you think it is nice to roam the forest when I could’ve been feeling the warmth of my bed? So, please, stop it!"

The creature exhaled a chill breath, saying, "It’s why I’m here. It’s my only purpose."

"What is?" I asked.

"To bring darkness."

As he stood there with a skull instead of a head and a cape so dark and long, I realized he was maybe just as lost as I was.

"Darkness doesn’t have to mean suffering," I said softly. "It’s what the moon taught me. Sometimes the night is more alive and joyful than the day."

"Without suffering, the world would lose its balance," the creature said in the dead of night.

"And this is why you are here? To make sure the balance is being kept?"

The creature nodded slowly. Then realization dawned on me: "Is that why you were crying earlier?"

He suddenly turned and started to float away.

"Wait!" I rushed after him. He was fast, but I wasn’t human anymore, so I managed to keep up with him. He crossed the river over to my house, but I didn’t notice that at first. "Tell me, what was the reason?"

He came to an abrupt halt, and we collided. But as we did, our bodies merged together, and I had to step away in order to look at him properly.

"You," he said.

"What about me?"

"I was looking for you."

I laughed. He didn’t even know me. I didn’t even know him. "That’s silly."

"Silly?"

"Yes, you’re silly!"

He glanced towards my house, and that’s when I realized where we were. My body was no longer in the yard.

"I will make your father pay."

What did he just say? "No, no, you won’t do such a thing!"

He slowly turned his gaze from the house to me and said, "Balance."

I rushed to place myself between him and my house. "No."

"No? Aren’t you upset at what your father has done?"

Was I? I loved my father, even if he didn’t love me. I fulfilled my duties the best I could and tried to be the daughter he wanted me to be while still being true to myself. It was his choice to take my life, and it was my choice whether the creature should take his life.

"Everything we put out comes back to us, and I don’t want to be the one who has to pay for my father’s death. Let him find redemption for my death on his own."

Was what I said true? It felt true to me. And something shifted in the creature's energy. If he had a mouth, I could’ve sworn he smiled.

"So may it be," he said. "The light has wisdom in it after all."

"After all? Have you ever doubted that?"

He thought for a second before nodding. "...when I was in the cave. But you came, and you didn’t run away."

"I didn’t run away," I repeated.

"So… Maybe stay with me for a while?"

"Are you lonely?"

He thought again, then nodded.

Well, what a coincidence—I was lonely too.