The Nightmare

A dark tale of a police officer on his way home who hits a barn owl – and how his life changes

It was just getting dark. Slowly and quietly as fog covers it all. Officer James was driving his personal car. He was passing through the woods near the city, so he would soon be home. He reached out to turn off the radio when he felt a thud at the front of the car. James hadn't seen anything at all, so he couldn't imagine what he might have hit.

He stopped the car, took the flashlight from the dashboard, and got off, walking back on the road until he saw something. It was a bird. James turned it over with the tip of his shoe. A barn owl. His first thought was to take it to a vet. Then he thought it was too seriously injured and it would die anyway. The barn owl was struggling and making some strange sounds, probably with pain. He won’t let it suffer. He took out his gun, pointed, and pulled the trigger.

The barn owl stopped struggling, opened its eyes, wide, even too wide, and looked at James. Then a shriek sounded as if from the darkest depths of the earth. The sound struck James like a bolt of lightning. He felt it like drilling through his body from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. The owl suddenly flew away. It flew in circles around James a few times, as if above its prey, and then disappeared into the darkness. James was startled. He was trembling all over for a few minutes.

For the next few days, James felt his anxiety growing. It then turned into panic. Whenever he closed his eyes to fall asleep, he imagined the pain inside him. Like a wild animal in a rage, biting all over.

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