family

Mystery Rescue
Mystery Rescue The Healing Power of a Baby Owl At the wildlife animal hospital, Roberta leaned forward to get a closer look at the baby barn owl sitting on the exam table. She looked into its dark round eyes about the size of peas, set deep within a heart shaped face. White, fluffy down covered the small bird from head to talon. Its beak was long and pointy. In awe, Roberta moved in closer, her white hair nearly touching the owl’s white feathery tuft. Nose to beak, the human and bird stared at each other. Roberta blinked, the owl blinked.
By Renee Crotts5 years ago in Fiction
Without My Wings
Modest, Obedient, Silent, Submissive, are the words her father brought Margaret upon. To be a wife that will someday honor her husband. The day she heard those dreadful words that made her heart feel like it became entwined with chains, “It’s time to fulfill your duty to this family” her father said. Margaret felt like the chains were holding her down, the weight unbearable. Having her wings clipped at 18 when her life was just beginning. Margaret didn’t want this however, She wanted to leave this life behind and follow her mother, traveling the world. To be free of an arranged marriage. Leaving behind her cozy but stifling country home. Tired of being invited to balls having young men with their mothers come up to be introduced to her.
By Diamond Gossett5 years ago in Fiction
Best in Show
On day one of the art show, the Artist stood by his masterpiece. Not in front of it, so as not to block the view, just off to the side, with his rainbow-striped winter scarf loosely around his neck, his just-too-short black pants revealing brightly-patterned long socks, the other end of the socks safely hidden in black shoes, heels together, toes forming a perfect equilateral triangle with the walking stick he sometimes leaned on, but carried for a different purpose.
By Nellie Poppins5 years ago in Fiction
The Untold Story
“Daaaadddyy please please tell us what happened! We can’t take it anymore!” “Yeah dad, you said you would tell us if we won the game.”
By Trinity Rose5 years ago in Fiction
Birds of a Feather. Runner-Up in Return of the Night Owl Challenge.
Wings spread overhead. Scanning. Searching. Gliding. He swoops, ducks and coasts barely above the ground before ascending once again. His uncanny sense of hearing did not fail him. A tiny, incapacitated vole dangles from powerful talons. His virtually soundless hunt due to an underside full of soft down feathers is interrupted by a faint low-pitched call in the distance. A series of single-syllable shrieks is all it takes to avert his attention as he angles his head left, then right, to locate the direction of the noise. Asymmetrical ears allow him to pinpoint its origin, precisely. Following his instincts, he reroutes midflight, flapping a giant set of grey, tan, and white streaked wings as graceful as a pair of synchronized swimmers.
By Mavis5 years ago in Fiction
Nicole’s Owl
“Profits are down, again.” Marcy shared, looking over a spread sheet for a third time. It seemed the inevitability of closing the dairy farm was creeping closer and closer each financial quarter. Marcy looked over to her husband and owner, Stephen, who continued to maintain his stern expression.
By Iris Harris5 years ago in Fiction
Autumn's Long Shadows
Those early autumn nights weighed on my soul with an almost tangible pressure, like a heavy fog pushing down onto my thoughts and my heart and body to an almost crippling effect. I would sit on the porch, the evening dimness slowly giving way to complete darkness, immobile and detached. There was so much feeling that there was no feeling, except the tingling in the pit of my stomach growing and growing like a balloon that would never burst.
By Jason Feulner5 years ago in Fiction
A Dark and Stormy Night
“It was…a dark and…stormy night,” Lydia muttered under her breath as she meticulously pressed each letter on the clunky keyboard. She reveled in the satisfying click clacks the sound of her typing made, proud that it sounded more and more like her mom’s did—a quick, confident staccato—and less like the clumsy measured pace she first kept when she started to learn at seven. Lydia was eight now, and infinitely more capable.
By Lydia Ko5 years ago in Fiction
Carry on, carrion
And when the runaway ferret finally slinks from the cold house out into the backyard, it only takes two minutes of fruitless chasing before the frantic boy witnesses a dozen swooping barn owls dive for his pet.
By M.J. Weisen5 years ago in Fiction
A Dark and Stormy Night
“It was…a dark and…stormy night,” Lydia muttered under her breath as she meticulously pressed each letter on the clunky keyboard. She reveled in the satisfying click clacks the sound of her typing made, proud that it sounded more and more like her mom’s did—a quick, confident staccato—and less like the clumsy measured pace she first kept when she started to learn at seven. Lydia was eight now, and infinitely more capable.
By Lydia Ko5 years ago in Fiction
A Benevolent Omen
“Mum? Would you rather wait out here until it gets dark than say goodbye to me?” Paula turned with a start. In the middle distance, she saw a woman leaning in the building’s doorframe, arms crossed. The woman was neatly dressed, with thick brown hair tucked behind her ears to expose her hard, lined face. It took Paula a few moments to realise she was looking at her daughter. What was her name again? Emily? Amelia? Something like that.
By Ayla Meg 5 years ago in Fiction
The Sign
“Will, come sit with me,” my father said as I walked down the steps to the beach. It was late April, evening and still daylight, although the sun was low over the lake and about to set.
By elliott j. bird5 years ago in Fiction