Lost and Found

My wife was struggling through labor with my daughter. The doctors told us it's causing too much stress on our little girl who was to be born, and that one of them will not make it. I didn't know what to do or how to stay strong for my wife while she was battling to keep them both alive. I stayed by her side the whole time, it gave her the strength needed. We had a child, Sova.

My wife was able to survive, so was my daughter. She was the most beautiful child you could imagine; bright green eyes, light olive skin, head full of hair, but the stress had change her hair to bright white with a single strip of black over her right eye. Although my wife was able to survive, she became weak and frail, so we left life in the city to the farm I inherited in the valley.

Six years have passed and three without my wife, it was fun being a father, but hard trying to be Sova's mother as well. We did everything together. I was teaching her everything I knew, and learning with her everything I didn't know. She grew so fast, so smart, so curious; our bond, unbreakable.

Two more years gone and one warm evening in the barn, while we were working on a new ladder for the loft, we heard it....the large rumbling growl of a monstrous wolf, of a size I've never seen before. Already covered in blood from what remains unknown, he had a ravenous bloodlust for my daughter. The wolf lunged, I ran between the two of them, a blinding flash and a piercing ring.

I woke in the field looking up at the eerily clear empty sky, no stars, no moon, no clouds, and no daughter. There was no blood, no remains, the only thing left of her were my memories and a ribbon she had in her hair. The ribbon I have on my wrist to this day. I vowed to destroy every wolf in that valley.

One year alone, with only my thoughts, and my memories of the two women who meant the world to me, to keep me at peace. I hunted every day for that wolf, nothing, not even a track. I cried, and I cried out. I wanted vengeance, but most of all, I wanted Sova.

I started to tend the farm, manage the upkeep; but for eighteen months now, I haven't returned to the barn, I couldn't.

Walking the the fence line I noticed a wolf, it was dead. It looked as though it was carried by a large bird, an eagle, an owl? I do not know, but it had talon marks. Another day, another wolf, and another, this repeated for weeks, talon injuries on every one, but never the one who took my daughter. Then I saw it, an owl sitting at the peak of my barn, watching me, it seemed to be protecting me. It only showed in the late evenings, I was never able to get a good look, but it was the greatest owl I've ever encountered, in size, in stature. It gave me peace, the peace I needed. The peace I wanted.

Two years since I lost Sova. Six months of that barn owl keeping watch over the farm. I still had never gotten a good look, but that was no longer important to me, because I could finally be me with the peace it brought. I started dating, and I met someone again. She visited the farm often. Her love completed me. We married, on our farm. Four years to the day of losing Sova. I wish she could have seen it.

Another year has passed and my wife, nine months pregnant, wanted to see the barn. "I've seen everything else, my love, and I know the pain and memories you have of the barn" she said to me. I wanted to finish the loft that I had started with Sova anyway.

Hesitantly, we walked to the barn, it was the same day as when my precious child was taken from me. I stood at the barn doors, with fear that I had for the first time in years. A loud crashing startled me from zoning out, it was my wife rushing and opening the large doors.

Nothing.

I didn't know what to expect, or why, after all it's been four years. Showing my wife around the barn, we came to the ladder, I asked her, "Would you like to help me finish this? There's not much you can do, you're about to explode." We laughed.

There it was. My heart sank, my stomach curdled.

That same rumbling growl.

I didn't have my gun, I didn't have anything! I turned and I saw him. With the same ravenous bloodlust as the day he took my daughter, I was not going to let it happen again.

Flashed, with that intense piercing ring. NO! Not again, I cannot do this again! Why? That's all I could think, when I woke, this time in the barn. Dazed, I stood, looked around. My wife was unconscious in the hay, alive and she looked peaceful, I was confused. I looked around, under the loft, there he was.

The wolf, lifeless, with talon marks riddled upon his neck.

I looked up, and I saw her, watching us. The most beautiful owl one could only dream. Green eyes, bright white in color, with a single strip of black above her right eye, and a hair ribbon around her foot...Sova