A few months back, on a walk back from the convenience store, I saw this strange creature hanging onto a branch. It looked like something you’d see out of a fairy tale. I was shocked into place. I didn’t scream, I just froze up. The creature looked at me, and made some noises I obviously couldn’t understand. Despite basically not knowing anything, I did pick out one word, “Owen.” I didn’t know if this was his name, or the name of someone else, or just a random sound, but I liked it and referred to the creature in my mind as “Owen.”

From then on I would see him sometimes when I went out. I’ve never even mentioned him to anyone, no one sane would believe me. He could be a new species, or a hallucination, or a spirit, or an alien. I don’t know, and to be honest I don’t think it matters. He’s never done anything malicious to me. In fact, I find some odd comfort when he’s around, he’s like a guardian almost. I even have my doubts of if Owen is actually real or not. I would see him very clearly right next to other people, yet they would never notice or acknowledge him. I thought I was going insane, until one day when I drove upstate to go camping. 

I hadn’t gone camping for years, not because of any good reason, I was just lazy. I just had the urge one day to go explore the outside again, just on my own. I drove a few hours and got to the site. It was nothing special, I had been there once before with friends. It looked like there was no one there either. Then, at the corner of my eye, I saw Owen, I thought he might’ve followed my car here, but who really knows. Now here’s the odd part, it seemed like he was actually messing about with the birds and squirrels. It felt so odd seeing Owen finally interacting with something from my world, after seeing him being ignored everywhere he went.

I finished setting up my tent and firepit for later in the night, and basically had nothing to do. The signal was weak, and I didn’t pack any books. Poor planning on my part. Usually I would mess around with my friends, but this time it was just me and Owen. I was bored beyond belief, and thought that I would go to sleep, but that didn’t work. I decided to just take a hike, there was nothing better to do. Owen accompanied me for a decent amount of time, then suddenly started shouting, making noises, and flying back the way we came. 

After running back trying to keep up with him for a few minutes, we returned to the site to see everything had been ruined. The firepit was messed up, my tent was ripped up, the food was gone, and I had no idea what had happened. My mind jumped to thieves, or a wild animal, but at this point it didn’t matter. What mattered was that everything was gone. I had no idea how Owen knew to come back, but I was in too much shock to think about that for too long.

From there, I didn’t know what to do. My mind started scrambling, thinking about solutions to all the problems I now had, but I couldn’t produce anything. Heat, food, shelter, all gone. I wanted to curl into a ball and sulk, but Owen began shouting again. I looked up and saw him pointing towards the car. I hadn’t even thought about that, but at least shelter was taken care of. 

I went towards the car to open it up, but then Owen shouted again. I couldn’t see him, but I followed the sound. He actually wasn’t that far, but was hidden behind some bushes. He pointed towards some berries and fruits. They looked similar to ones you would see in stores, so I wasn’t that worried. There was quite literally no food, and I was starving, so it was better than nothing. I picked out some berries, and he munched on some leaves. It wasn’t much, but I felt less hopeless.

We got back to the car and I opened up both doors to let him in, but I guess he didn’t want to enter. Instead, he just slept on the hood. I entered the car, closed the doors, and leaned back hard on my chair. Now, my boredom was a blessing. I gave myself some time to absorb everything that just happened, what a rollercoaster of emotions.

Owen was literally a life saver. To be honest, although it was incredibly uncomfortable and scary, it was also oddly fun. It felt like I was in a survival show I would see on the internet. What a wild time, but in the end we made the best out of a bad situation, and sometimes that’s the best we can do. Sometimes, it is what it is.