By Linda C.
Years ago, I worked at a barbeque place and had to be at work at 4:30 in the morning. On my route I walked by the back side of a big park; it was said to be a special place in the past for the Native Americans with natural springs right off the Colorado river.
One morning I was walking as usual and I passed this place that went under the bridge; it was a little path opposite a tunnel and I heard what sounded like a small kitten mewing just out of sight in the shadows. I stopped and called to it to see if I could make it come out; it wouldn't, so I kept on walking.
For several days this went on, then something started to change. It was the sound the animal was making; it became more insistent; like a cat when it's watching you open a can of cat food. Then the sound it was making turned into a sound an angry cat makes when it growls at you. By then I knew it wasn't an animal, not even close. By this time I was praying when I walked. This seemed to make it more angry, the sound had changed to the sound of a big cat like a mountain lion and it was jumping from side to side of the road behind me, just outside of the pools of light.
Things got worse; it started jumping in front of me even when I made the turn onto the four lane road where the cafe was located (where it was completely lit by street lamps). By this time it sounded like it was screaming but I never saw a thing. On the day before my last day working at the cafe the same thing was happening except it followed me all the way to work. I had to go out back and split some wood for the pit. When I walked out back I heard the scream coming from the back of the parking lot.
I guess I had had enough. I talked with my boyfriend at the time and finally told him what was going on; he asked me why I hadn't told him sooner. I told him because I felt like I had gone mad, the rational part of me thought this couldn't possibly be happening, but my intuition knew otherwise. He gave me a ride the next day, that day I quit.
The story doesn't quite end here. Several years ago when I was going into another level of spiritual learning, I was feeling so out of sorts I didn't know what to do with myself. Without thinking what I was doing, I grabbed my car keys and headed out the door. I ended up at the bridge on the other side where I could look directly at the area where these sounds were coming from years earlier. I waited until the walkers and joggers had passed by and walked over to where I was directly across from the area where that thing lived. In my mind I challenged it to come out-- I told him I wanted to finish this. I waited for what seemed like forever; still challenging it. When nothing happened I turned to walk away. At that exact time the dozen or so ducks and geese that were hanging out under the bridge all honked and quacked in unison. I have heard that a duck's quack doesn't echo; these did. I haven't felt the need to go back; whatever that was is finished.
Linda C.
Austin, TX
cabmove@austin.rr.com