THE GOLDEN DAY…ENDS

By

Vicki E Slaughter

​

            It was a beautiful golden day. Perfect for a drive through the shining green hills of northern Scotland. Mary O'Tanner and her American friend, Anna Pierce, were driving through some of the oldest settlements in all of the Scottish Isles. As they drove along the dusty country roads, they sang songs they learned while attending Radcliff college.

           Every so often, Anna would break into giggles, her sea-green eyes twinkling merrily, at the bawdy twists Mary was adding to the normally insipid songs. Anna just knew she was going to enjoy every minute of her summer holiday with Mary. They were both teachers and had the summer off. They’d decided to spend it together in Mary’s homeland. Anna had no reason to expect anything eerie to happen to them on such a bright summer day.

            The two college friends had been in Scotland for three days when they decided to explore a nearby island that Mary hadn’t visited since her youth. They crossed over the sea waters via the daily ferryboat service to the island. Once there, Mary drove them wherever their whim took them. By midmorning, they had reached a part of the island Mary didn’t recognize.

            “We’re lost aren’t we, Mary?” said Anna with a wry smile. She glanced out her window, absently noting the darkening skies. She swung back to her friend causing her long dark hair to swirl about her shoulders in silky abandon.

            Mary grinned and roughly brushed her hand through her short honey blonde hair. “Fraid so.” She looked out her side window, but failed to see any familiar landmarks. She, too, noticed the angry black clouds developing just ahead of them. “Looks like we’re running into a rain storm. Don’t remember anything about rain in the weather forecast this morning,” she said distractedly, her Scottish burr becoming more pronounced. During her four years at the American college in Massachusetts and another ten years working in the United States, her Scottish accent had softened. Now, in her growing concern for their predicament, she was reverting back to the speech patterns of her childhood.

            “Great!” moaned Anna. “Just how lost are we?”

            “A lot,” Mary answered ruefully. “I don’t recognize this area at all. Strange for such a relatively small island, too.”

            “This trip is getting better all the time,” commented Anna with mild sarcasm. “You know, Mary, I really had not planned on rediscovering a long-forgotten part of Scotland. At least, not on this trip.”

            “Hey!” gasped Mary.

            Ignoring her friend’s protest, Anna continued, “Are you sure we aren’t on the map?”

            “GPS doesn’t work on this island too well, so I brought an actual paper map and I checked it twice before we started this drive so I would know the towns we might pass through. The last sign we passed said Petershall Hall. There is not one Petershall on this map.” She poked the offending map lying beside her.

            “Well stop the car and let me look. No reason for us to get any more lost than we already are!”

            “Okay,” agreed Mary quickly. But before she could slow down the car, she suddenly felt an inexplicable ripple of fear cross her spine. Since their rental car didn’t have air conditioning and the day had heated up to 90 degrees, it was unbearably stifling even with the windows open. Still, reacting on instinct, she had her doors locked and her windows half rolled up before she stopped to think about what she was doing. Feeling immensely foolish, she still rolled her window up the rest of the way and began accelerating the car’s speed. Now did not seem like a good time to stop. She waited for Anna to say something sarcastic about her strange actions, but Anna remained unexpectedly quiet.

            Mary’s fingers twitched uncontrollably on the steering wheel. Finally, she turned to her friend in hopes of finding a small corner of sanity, only to discover Anna had also rolled up her window and locked her door. No wonder she hadn’t said anything. She had been too busy locking up herself to notice Mary’s actions.

            Feeling Mary’s eyes on her, Anna shrugged and admitted, “I know it’s silly, but I suddenly got this horrible feeling of evil and I…” She stopped in surprise and giggled nervously when she realized that Mary had done the same thing she had.

            Mary smiled wryly. “I know what you mean. I feel damn silly. But all the same, hot as it is, the windows are staying up and the doors locked.”

            “You’ll get no arguments from me!” Anna assured her friend firmly. “In fact, I’m not budging from this car until that horrible feeling of ancient…” She searched for words that would best describe what they apparently both felt. Then frowned in frustration when no words came to her.

            Mary came to her rescue. “It’s an intangible feeling of”, she paused. “old death. A death that has lingered and hungers for the blood of life. A darkness like the clouds hovering over us now.” She turned to her friend in fear. “Where has the sun gone, Anna? Where has the sun gone?”

            Anna recoiled against her door, fear gleaming in the green seas of her eyes. Edging closer to Mary, she whispered, “There’s a bad feeling here. Like someone just died, or will soon die a terrible death. Mary, I’m more than scared, I’m terrified. This is getting beyond strange!”

           “Yeah, and it’s getting weirder. There’s a hunger for murder lingering here.”

           “You are no comfort,” Anna informed her friend miserably. She tried desperately to think of some way to change the dark mood both were experiencing. But her mind came coming up blank. Mary was the clever one. Why didn’t she change this horrible mood?

Just then the car topped a hill they had not realized they were climbing. Beyond the gloomy valley below them rested a huge old castle sitting on the crest of a hill just ahead. Mary’s Scottish soul was caught up in awe of the beautiful, though foreboding, dark gray stoned castle. As they entered the valley, the sky darkened to the point that Mary had to turn on her headlights. The sun was truly gone and the awful emotions they were experiencing intensified.

          While Mary concentrated on driving, Anna focused on controlling her imagination which she was sure was running wild. When she first glimpsed the castle, she had gotten this crazy feeling that it was the source of the evil to which they had been reacting ever since they had entered this area. She had a prickling sensation on the back of her neck that began to grow in strength the closer they got to the castle.

        “We need to turn around, now!” Anna shouted. She sensed they needed to get away from the castle, but feared they were too late. She had this irrational feeling that they had picked up a passenger. But that was impossible. How could anyone get into their still moving car? Still, finally giving into her jangling nerves, Anna cast an uneasy glance over her shoulder. Something was there! And she began screaming.

        Mary instinctively stopped the car and turned to look over at Anna. “Anna! What’s…” Mary’s mouth gaped open in horror. Sitting behind Anna was a rotting caricature of an ancient Scottish chieftain holding a blood-encrusted claymore. A malicious grin attempted to form on its decaying face. Mary didn’t get a chance to see or think more.

        The old death of those golden country roads claimed two more lives. Too quickly for Mary to protest her death with even a scream.

        An evil laugh filled the car as an undefinable something departed the car, looking more human now. It entered the castle that rose just beyond where their car had abruptly stopped.

        The clock in Mary’s car ticked by the moments until noon day. As the minute hand joined the hour hand at the number 12 spot, the castle vanished. The darkness faded into bright sunlight. The aura of evil passed. Birds suddenly burst into song as the golden day continued.

       Too late...again.