Aayuman walked down the path slowly, listening to the hooting of an owl in the distance. He had started his journey at a brisker pace in the moonlight, but as the clouds gathered, he had slowed down considerably. The way he saw it, all his hurry would do him no good if he broke his ankle in the middle of the jungle, so Aayuman walked slowly, but no less deliberately than before.
Although he felt lonely, the sounds of the nearby stream and the hooting of the owls helped keep Aayuman’s mind off of the journey ahead. It was an eight-hour hike until the stream met the Bhagirathi river, and another full day journey to Kolkata. Aayuman had made the trip before, but never at night, and never alone.
When Aayuman was twelve years old, his uncle, Pittesh, brought him along on the journey. Pittesh insisted that Aayuman pay close attention the entire time.
“One day, you will make this trip alone, my little warrior. You won’t have me telling you what to do. Now, what’s the one rule of the trek?”
“I know it already, you’ve made me say it six times today!”
“Yes, but I want to hear it one more time.”
“Fine! The first rule is to stay near the stream. I should be able to hear it always.”
“And what’s the name of your mother’s medicine?”
“It’s… uh…” Of course, he had forgotten. The journey was all too easy to disregard when his uncle was with him, telling him which turns to take, which towns were safe to stay in, which fruits were edible.
This trip lacked the luxury of a companion. Aayuman’s mother had gotten worse much quicker than the doctor had expected. Pittesh left six days ago to make the trip alone: at this point, he was two days late to be back, and hoping he would arrive on time had been replaced by hoping he was still alive at all. With very little time remaining, Aayuman left for Kolkata in the middle of the night, so he could return home sooner.
Aayuman kept his eyes down, watching for roots or rocks on the path. He heard an owl hooting again, clearer than before. I wonder if it’s closer. He kept his ear trained for the owl, but for a few minutes, he heard only silence.
Silence… Silence?! Shoot, where’s the stream? Aayuman stopped in his tracks and trained his ear, but the sound of running water was nowhere to be heard. He looked behind him; he was definitely on a path, but if he couldn’t hear the stream, he must have taken a wrong turn in the darkness.
Aayuman turned around to begin backtracking, but three steps in he heard a clear hoot once more. He looked behind him, spotting the white face of the owl in the trees a good distance away. Is it looking at me? Aayuman paused for a second, staring at the bird’s face. I don’t have time for this. He spun back around and continued to retrace his steps. I just need to go until I hear the river.
Still, the thought of being lost in the jungle was ever present in the back of his mind. Even if he found a fork in the trail, he wouldn’t know it was the correct one. No one would come looking for him for days, and if he didn’t find his way to Kolkata, his mother would… He kept his head down and walked quickly forward.
Aayuman almost tripped when he heard the hoot again; it sounded like it was right behind him. He glanced over his shoulder. The owl was perched atop a branch no more than thirty feet away. Now he was sure – it is staring at me! Its white face seemed to glow even though the moon was still hidden away, but its black eyes were darker than the night. Aayuman doubled his pace, watching the bird over his shoulder, but whenever he was forty or fifty feet away, the owl would take flight and land closer, hooting once each time it took to the sky.
Aayuman began to run. He no longer thought about getting to Kolkata, or even finding the stream: his only thought was fleeing, but no matter how fast he ran the owl gained on him, ceaselessly staring at the boy. With every stride he made, the owl came one inch closer.
A root branching across the path caught Aayuman’s foot and he crashed onto the dirt. As he raised his head, he saw the owl looking down on him. The same face stared at him, but as Aayuman followed its body down, a sick feeling filled his stomach- though the owl was standing on the ground, its ghostly white face was at least six feet above his own. It began opening its mouth, but the bottom beak unhinged, revealing a maw lined with teeth and wide enough to eat a man whole. The creature dashed forward with wings spread wide, screeching hungrily. Aayuman raised his foot, placing it inches below the beast’s mouth, and pushed off hard. He scrambled up and began sprinting as hard as he could, harder than he had ever sprinted before.
With every step, he could hear the creature’s hungry shrieks growing closer. He didn’t bother looking back; Aayuman could feel the warm exhalation on the back of his neck. Yet just as suddenly as he began to smell the foul breath, the sound of beating wings was gone, the warm air on his neck disappeared. Aayuman turned his head, but nothing was behind him.
“Whoa, slow down!” Aayuman tried to stop, but instead ran square into his uncle and plopped down in front of him. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It was this owl, it started following me and–”
“You forgot the first rule, didn’t you?” Pittesh sighed and chuckled lightly. “Don’t worry, my little warrior, you’re safe now. Let’s get home to your mother; she’ll be happy to see us.”
Author's Note - This story is not based on an original story, but on a creature which appears in Bengali folklore. The Penchapechi is a spirit which lurks in forests and takes the form of an owl. This wrathful spirit likes to eat human flesh, or in some descriptions, just human blood. The Penchapechi only attacks prey that is alone and well secluded, and will usually stalk its prey until it feels that prey is far enough away from others and civilization. Once alone, the Penchapechi attacks, supposedly eating its prey whole. There isn't a whole lot of information available about this spirit, so I had to stretch some elements of its lore to make sense of them; for example, no source describes how the Penchapechi attacks its prey, so I chose to make it become larger in size and have a huge mouth.
Image Credit - picturesandimages.com