STIGINI (The Night Owl)

I hate Johnny’s barn, yet I’m following him in none-the-less. He, “has to show me something super important”. It better be worth it is all I have to say about that! I freaking hate this barn. Just looking at it gives me the creeps, with it’s super dark wooden frame towering up two stories. It doesn’t help that it’s out behind his house on the border of a wooded tree line. It’s begging to be haunted. Yet I’m following him in… none-the-less, because we’re friends. We’ll find out soon enough whether or not we’ll stay that way.

“Come on!” Johnny calls. The look on his face is anxious, just like his pace to get to the barn.

What on earth could be so important in the barn that horror built? I feel like we’re going to open those Satanic doors and a tidal wave of spiders will wash over us. Geez. I’m making it worse on myself here. 12 year old boys are supposed to be into that type of crap though right? It doesn’t seem to bother Johnny. Probably helps that he was born and raised here. I’m not used to all this. My family moved here from a big city last year. Johnny and I became friends on my first day of school, which I’m thankful for. He’s the best friend I’ve ever had.

“My Grandpa moves faster than you Billiam!” Johnny calls from the barn doors. Billiam is a nickname that Johnny calls me. My name is William and old people say that Bill is short for William, which makes zero sense to me because Will is short for William. Anyway! Johnny calls me Billiam when I start acting all Billiam-y… which I guess is now since I’m taking my sweet time to get to the portal to Hell that the barn holds within it.

“Finally,” huffs Johnny as I step to the doors. Johnny slowly opens one of the doors, but stops mid-open and looks me directly in the eye.

“You can’t tell anyone about what I’m going to show you.”

“Okay,” I reply. He’s serious. He’s not often this serious.

Johnny fully opens the door, steps in and then holds it open for me as I enter. My head is on a swivel. I’m looking left, right, up and down. I probably look like a bobble head or something. Johnny flicks on the light switch and the bulbs flicker and hum to life above our heads. He passes me and walks deeper into the barn, stops midway and then turns to me. My eyes are wide. What’s about to happen here? I don’t see anything. There’s nothing suspicious in this barn, it’s actually just a barn. I was all worked up over nothing. Except… Johnny has to show me something. I see nothing except him just standing there staring at me all sweaty like. Is my best friend of just over a year going to murder me?

Johnny swallows hard, “Please promise me you won’t tell anyone.”

“Yeah, man,” I respond. “I promise.” I’m starting to get a little concerned. I’ve never seen him like this before.

“Okay,” he breathes. “I uh… I just learned something about myself.” He starts to unbutton his flannel shirt.

Where is this going? What’s happening?

“Have you ever heard of a Stigini?” he asks.

“No.”

“It’s like a shapeshifter,” Johnny informs.

“Like… a werewolf?” I ask.

“Uh, yeah, but my people believe it’s more… um… I’ll just show you.”

A moment passes as I stare at my best friend. Johnny is a Native American and belongs to the Creek Nation. So when he says -My people- he means his Native American family and ancestors. Stigini seems to be a new word to add to my growing dictionary of Creek words that I’m learning as I go. My mind finally catches up to the words that just left his mouth.

“Wait…what? Are you? Wait! Are you telling me you’re a werewolf?!”

“No. Not exactly.”

“Not exactly? What does that mean?!” Clearly I’m freaking out.

“I’ll just show you,” Johnny informs slowly. His hands are out in front of him as if to try and calm me down.

I take in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I’m trying my best to keep level headed all while keeping an open mind as to what’s unfolding before me. Johnny takes a step back and with it feathers begin to rise up and out of his hair, out of his sleeves, from his face. His eyes widen, his stature changes and just as I cover my mouth to stop the scream from escaping within me, my best friend now stands before me… an owl!

I’M FACE TO FACE WITH A FREAKING FIVE FOOT OWL!

I feel myself begin to black out.

“Hey man! You okay?” he asks.

“Wh-what?! NO I’M NOT OKAY! YOU’RE AN OWL JOHNNY!”

“SHH! SHH! SHH!” He lifts one of his wings to try and quiet me.

“Did you just shush me?! I’ve never even seen an owl in real life before now! Much less an owl as big as me! Much less an owl that was just my best friend! Much less an owl that is talking to me and shushing me!” I feel faint again. “I uh… I need to sit down…”

Johnny motions to several bales of hay stacked against the wall nearest me, “You can sit there.”

I sit. I stare. What feels like an eternity passes between us as I look on in disbelief and Johnny nervously shifts his weight, standing on a pile of his own clothes.

“Say something man,” Johnny pleads.

“Dude,” is all I can get out at the moment.

“I know it’s a lot to take in, but…”

It hits me. I have to interrupt. “THIS IS AWESOME! YOU’RE A FREAKING OWL MAN!”

Johnny tries to shush me again, this time with what seems like a smile. Definitely hard to tell because he now has a beak, but you can tell when people smile with their eyes. And even though his eyes are a solid ten times larger, I know those eyes.

“How’d you? When did this happen?”

“I was out here a few nights ago, stacking that hay right there actually and I transformed or changed or whatever this is,” he explains.

“Wait… is this a puberty thing? I went through puberty last year, and although it wasn’t pretty by any means… It was nothing like this. Is this what Native American puberty is?”

“What?!” Johnny laughs. “No idiot! This is different.”

Johnny shuffles his way closer, and oddly perches himself next to me on a bale of hay. He looks at me, down to the hay, back to me.

“Weird?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry.” He begins to situate himself to hop down off the hay.

“No, it’s fine. I uh… I’ll get used to it.”

Johnny nods, “My parents say that like every 20 or 50 years or something, the ancestors choose a protector or guardian to become a Stigini. The Stigini is a person that is meant to protect their people by shapeshifting into an owl to guard the night.”

“Guard the night from what?” I ask.

“I don’t know.”

“So, your ancestors chose you?”

“I guess so,” Johnny replies, his owl head hanging a bit.

A moment passes. I can tell Johnny is in his head about all of this, but honestly I have no clue what to say. How can I even begin to understand what this is like? It’s impossible! If I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I never would have believed any of it. And yet here we are. Two 12 year olds fresh out of puberty… one becoming a man and the other an owl.

Johnny breaks the silence, pulling me from my thoughts. “I don’t want any of this! I don’t want to be a gigantic owl! I don’t want to be a Stigini!” With each word the emotion builds.

I try to think about what I can say to help. Finally I come to, “But it is pretty cool man. I mean, you’re like a real life superhero! I bet you can fly pretty high with those wings too!

Johnny perks up a bit, looks at his wings and then nods a little, “Yeah.” He shrugs and then sniffles back a tear that was trying to creep out. “So you’re not freaked out?”

I look at him, around the barn and back to him. “I was, but I’m not any more. There’s no way you’re getting out of giving me a piggyback ride through the sky, by the way!” I say with a massive smile.

“Bet,” he responds as he leaps down from the hay bale.

“Now?” I ask surprised.

“Why not?”

“Okay!” I exclaim.

We peer out of the barn. The sun is beginning to set and the coast is clear. I open the door, step out and take one more solid look around. We’re alone. Maybe this barn is a perfect place after all. I mean… if my best friend is going to be changing in and out of animals, we’re going to need a place to lay low.

“We’re clear,” I call.

Johnny hops out, like birds do. Still weird. This is going to take some getting used to for sure. I’m up for the challenge though! He may have a people already with his family and ancestors, but he's my people.

“Okay,” he starts as he turns to me. “Hold on tight, but not too tight. I can’t have you choking me out. And take it easy on the feathers while you’re at it.”

I nod as he turns around and extends his wings. They are massive! They have to be nearly 8 or 10 feet from tip to tip. I step up and firmly drape my arms around his shoulders. He nods. I nod. 1 flap, 2 flaps, 3 flaps and we’re off! I’m freaking flying on the back of my best friend, who is a gigantic superhero owl. This has to be a dream!

I don’t know what all of this means. Seemingly Johnny is having to figure it all out for himself as well. I don’t know what he meant by protector. Does his arrival mean the arrival of something else that will need him to protect against? I don’t know. This is what I do know, he’s my friend and I’m with him no matter what! I’m also down for as many of these aerial piggyback rides as I can talk him into! This is amazing!

Oh and one other thing I'd be down for... if his ancestors decided I was a worthy companion and maybe get a little bit of this animal shapeshifting action myself! I mean come on! Every hero needs a sidekick!