The Silent Night

The night was cold. Leaves slowly fell and cold air breeze through the starless night, only a wistful pale moon bright. It's almost winter, he thought. Leonard made his way, wandered to the courtyard through the hollow dark corridor of the temple. His footsteps echoed with the cold marbled floor as he walked through the empty hallway. The moonlight shone through the windows to his left as his only source of light.

He rushed a little bit until he finally saw a light at the end of the corridor. He found himself in the courtyard, The courtyard was surrounded by the temple cloister. He saw a light coming from the lamppost —The old rusty lamppost is the only source of light that illuminated the courtyard. It stood beside the bench under the big willow tree. He sat on the bench to relief and took a big deep breath to calm himself. As he looked up, the moths and other insects gathered around the lamp, giving him a sense of peacefulness. Unlike when he was in the dorm, he couldn’t bear to sleep and had the same nightmare every night.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps. A silhouette emerged slowly into the lamppost light. “I thought I would find you here,” said the voice as he walked towards Leonard. “Oskari?” Leonard asked. “Had another nightmare?” he asked, Leonard replied with a nod. “Don’t mind if I sit with you?”

"Hmm..."

Like usual, Oskari grabbed a book from within his robe. Leonard glanced a bit at him, looking at his book. The same old musty book that he always brings everywhere.

"Why do you always bring a book?" he asked. “I thought you hate being a monk”

"Never said I hate reading though. Reading is my hobby, I like reading books, especially old ones," he replied. "Also, it was my dream to become a librarian in the capital city." his eyes sparkled bright. "Have you ever had a dream Leonard?”

A sense of déjà vu shriveled up his body, painting a faint memory inside his mind. And for a brief moment, a picture of prairie unveiled upon him. Took him by surprise, at first he felt enthusiastic to answer Oskari's question, but then he remembered what happened to him right now. The smile from his face slowly faded away. "... I don't have any dreams anymore."

The shroud of silence befall upon them, as the time goes on, the night grew colder. Leonard's mind started to jungled with a lingering question, a question that he should be asked the first time after he woke up in the Temple. His mind was already clouded with anxiety and anticipation as the time passed more and more, only to intensify his restlessness even further.

With mixed feelings, he braced himself to ask Oskari about his question. He swiftly shifted his tone to more serious.

“Oskari…”

“Hmm...” He answered him with his aloof tone; uninterested in the conversation.

“Where did you find me?” Leonard reached out his hand to him, lowered Oskari’s book and took a good look at him. The yellow hue from the lamppost reflected on Oskari’s round eyeglasses.

Caught by surprise. He started to sweat himself, as his voice stammered. “W-why did y-you ask all of a sudden?”

“I want to end the recurring nightmare that I had,” Leonard said firmly.

Oskari looked at him, a face filled with determination, he thought. He sighed a bit, followed by taking a long deep breath. Understand the circumstances. Oskari put his book back in his robe. He grabbed an oil lamp within his robe, flicked his match and lit up the oil lamp. He glanced at Leonard, “I’ll show you but we should hurry. It's already past the curfew time to leave the Temple” he added.

Oskari patted his robe and rose up from his seat. He fastened his hat as the atmosphere got chiller. He walked back to the cloister followed by Leonard behind him. They walked through an unfamiliar route to Leonard. For almost two weeks, since he woke up in the temple. He became quite familiar with the Temple. Each day passed, he was getting used to the monks' custom by watching them and sometimes joined them in the daily ritual. Although he was just a mere outsider, they treated him like a part of the monks by giving him shelters and food. Something to be expected from a group of people that dedicated themself for the Gods and its children.

As they walked through the dark corridor, they found themselves a large wooden door leading to the outside through the back of the temple. Oskari grabbed something from within its robe, a collection of keys. He grasped the door handle and pushed it with his might, followed by a loud creaking sound leaking from the door. As it opened, a chill gust of air came out from the door. Leonard caught himself looking at the endless pitch black of the woods, darker than the night itself. “Huft, I wish we could’ve waited for morning,” said Oskari, unsure of the situation. “Why?” Leonard replied.

Oskari retrieved a dagger within his robe and gave it to Leonard. “We don't know what kind of creature lurks in the woods at night. Lucky if we only encounter wild animals.”

“Lucky? Is there something more than that?”

“N-nothing, forget about that,” Oskari added while shaking his head. “Let’s move on!”

They dwelled into the woods with high guard. Leonard unsheathed his dagger and placed his catalyst on his hip. Leonard glanced upward, the leaves covered all the space above him, leaving no moonlight insight. As a result, they had to rely on Oskari's oil lamp as their only source of light.

They continued venturing deep into the woods. Oskari stopped for a while, confused a bit by the path that he took. He licked his index finger and raised it up into the air, hoping for the wind direction. For a good while, he kept repeating licks and raising his finger, desperately looking for an answer but there was simply no wind in motion.

Leonard looked at his surroundings, an eerie silence enveloped them. “The woods were quiet, almost too quiet,” he said.

Oskari took a sudden turn and signaled him to lower down, his face turned serious as if he looked at something that he was not supposed to see. An utter horror was seen from his face. Oskari raised his finger to his mouth, signaling Leonard to stay quiet as they heard something lurking in the shadow, making crackling and rattling noises through the woods.

A sense of dread and foreboding swirled in the air, sending shivers down their spines. Although he had no idea what Oskari was doing, Leonard prepared himself and tightened his grip on the dagger on his left hand while his right hand placed above the catalyst. Meanwhile, Oskari grabbed something from his robe —a vial. Leonard's eyes were widened as he caught sight of the vial. Holy water, he thought.

A voice, a wailing voice of a woman, distorted crying mixed with unhinged laugh, breaks the stillness of the night as the air surrounding them becomes damp and cold. The wailing gradually faded away, yet weighed heavily upon their ears, almost as if they could hear it from the back of their ears.

But, suddenly it grew louder again as its haunting shriek echoed through the woods. Oskari took a quick peek through the bushes to look at the Thing. For unknown reason, Leonard looked at Oskari's face, but he looked relieved. Oskari sighed a bit then he took a twig and wrote something on the dirt.

~ I T S G O N E ~

~ K E E P S I L E N T ~

They continued to carefully walk and not to make any unnecessary sound through the woods with discomfort and fright was seen through their faces. Suddenly, The fire in the oil lamp started to flicker violently, after a few seconds, it extinguished by itself, trapping them in the endless darkness. Oskari knew that he could try to light up the oil lamp but it was too risky to even try to make a single sound. With nothing to see, they had to rely on the dimly lit vial that Oskari had in his hand. It barely lit the path as they walked on.

But unknown to Leonard, any small mistake during such a situation could lead up to an unfortunate event. Without him noticing, he stepped on the dry leaves and made its jarring sound echoed through the woods. A growling voice started to lurk louder from his back followed by the sound of crackling and rattling. A sense of dread sent through his body. He looked down to his feet, his eyes widening as he saw a greenish mist slowly creeping in from his behind. The air surrounding him became colder as he heard slow breathing sounds from the back of his head. A woman's voice started to wail softly.