No More Missing Sister's

The barn smelled of musk and mildew. It was silent no animals residing inside except the rats that kept to the rafters. The air cold, almost stinging my skin as I sat, scared and waiting. I tried to pay attention after they took me. A left off the road I was on, traveled about 3 miles then a right. When we hit the curves and the temperature dropped is when I finally lost track of the traveling. I slipped into an unconscious state at some point no doubt from whatever they stuck into my neck earlier that night. My head ached and my heart raced as I shivered attempting to free my hands.

My breath hitched when I heard footsteps outside. Someone approaching the barn.

" Dinner. Eat it or don't, you won't be here long anyway."

I stayed silent trying to catch a glimpse of anything outside when the doors swung open revealing nothing but darkness and stars.

The gross man chuckled taking in my figure and watching me.

"Even if you got out you'd never survive out there. So don't bother, my dogs would find you before anyone else"

I remained silent as it seemed to be the best option in this situation. I had a tenacity of being sarcastic or outspoken and I don't think my strong personality will suit me well here.

His body smelled of body odor, stale beer, and crude oil. He was undoubtedly one of the many men from the new oil rigs, who moved into the man camps months prior. So many of my tribe have been murdered or gone missing from men just like him. I wanted to spit on him but I wouldn't.

Leaning down he touched my face causing me to pull back aggressively.

"Don't fret, it won't be me that get's you, but you will fetch a very pretty penny for me." He laughed evilly at his remark pushing my food if that's what you would call the slop on the dirty plate to me with his oil covered foot.

He cut my hands free from their ties but not before clamping a very uncomfortable cuff to my ankle and wrapping it around a nearby post.

Good night princess rest up because your life is never going to be the same again.

I curled into my knees sitting down trying to look for something half edible on the plate.

I looked around my eyes slowly adjusting to the dark.

I was unsure what time it was but could tell it was nearly morning.

I couldn't hear anything nearby, no water, no cars, no dogs I thought to myself at his mention of his dogs.

Then an owl screeched nearby and my heart stopped for a moment.

Many tribes believe owls to be a bad omen's and a screech to be the sign of impending death. I thought, loved owls. How can such a beautiful animal with grace and wise nature be a bad omen?

His or her screech gave me hope.

I began scanning the barn looking for anything that could help me.

My eyes landed on a broken pitchfork only one fork remaining on it and the handle was broken into two pieces.

I was barely able to reach it once crawling across the barn floor trying to be as quiet as possible. I could hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears as I grabbed onto it. I looked around one last time seeing that this was my only option. I managed to wedge it between the cuff on my ankle and my ankle. Pushing outward the rusty metal cuff finally broke free but it didn't stop the singular pitch in the fork from penetrating my ankle. The pain was intense but happened at just the right time as I muffled my scream of agony the owl had screeched again but this time she made her appearance.

Her snowy body bright and her eyes were are wide ,beautiful and full of life. I looked at her to see that she had flown in from a window in the upper part of the barn.

I scanned my surroundings again. The door the man came from was chained from the outside.

Another screech came from the owl and she flew down from her perch and landed near a wall on the opposite side of the barn door. I looked at her confused thinking maybe she was fetching herself a rat. Then I saw it, beams of moonlight shining through a pallet that was leaning against the wall.

I limped over to it and struggled to move the pallet aside but finally got it to budge. After moving it I noticed a small but decent size hole in the side of the barn. The owl hopped through the hole and then quickly took a flight to a nearby tree. I decided to go in the same direction but not before spotting a sickle leaning on the outside of the barn. It's not a spear or a gun I thought to myself thinking of what I might be up against but it's better than nothing. My feet were bare and cold. Somewhere along the lines, I had lost my shoes or they took them.

The owl screeched again and I looked up at it. Dawn was approaching it was time to move. I followed the owl through the thick forest. She flew from tree to tree as I walked as fast as I could with my injured ankle. As the morning light began streaming through the trees. I heard a man scream in anger from a distance. I was likely a few miles away by now but still no idea where I was.

I looked up at my feathered friend. We have to go. I whispered.

She flew off gliding through the air landing on the ground near a tree. She looked up the tree then back to me. Sitting stationary, as if she wanted something from me.

"Come on if we don't keep moving they will find us." I whispered. She screeched while still perched on the forest floor. I looked down at the foot that she was getting closer to. My injured foot and that's when I realized. He can track me from my blood trail. Then I realized. The owl wanted me to climb the tree, so I did. Sure enough within about ten minutes, I heard dogs. They were fast and snarling. Mean just like their owner.

They walked right under me, twice. They gave up after about 4 hours. It was midday. I was tired and cold - I wanted to be home, but waiting until I was sure they were gone and out of the forest.

Hopping down from the tree with my injured ankle was worse than climbing it. It was no longer bleeding but was fixing to get an infection if I didn't hurry up and find some help or get back to my tribe to be able to get medicine.

I watched as the owl that stuck through all of this with me continued her pattern of a tree to tree as I followed through the forest. The morning dew is long gone. I was shocked but overwhelmed with happiness and fell to my knees crying when I came to the edge of the forest and seen things I recognized.

My home. My tribe. My family and friends. I made it. I unlike so many others escaped survived and got back home.

I glanced behind me to thank my feathered friend one more time but she had already spread her wings and left. A single white and black spotted feather falling from the last tree she sat upon landing in front of me. I scooped it up and held it tight as I limped back onto my homeland excited to see my family. Thankful to be alive while also wishing that others that had been taken like me had half the chance I did at surviving and coming home.

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Authors Note:

While the happenings and people in this story are fictional and thought up from my own mind and imagination . I do want to address that I didn't write this to cause offense to anyone, or take away culture from Native people or tribes. I just want to show my support and raise awareness in the only way I can or know how. I appreciate you reading this story and raising awareness with me by sharing it .

I have recently over the years discovered that thousands of native women go missing and are never recovered. I wanted to use this writing challenge as a way to enter the contest and also raise awareness for this devastating occurrence.

In 2018, the Seattle-based Urban Indian Health Institute (UIHI) completed its landmark survey, reporting 5,712 missing Alaska Native and American Indian women and girls, only 116 of whom were registered in the Department of Justice database. Using data from 71 urban cities, the UIHI report exposed the tremendous scale of this problem: thousands of Indigenous women who’d gone unrecognized, ignored, and unprotected.

These women are not invisible and deserve awareness and attention brought to this issue. If you would like to look into it further you can find more information & MMIW here.