New dawn

Wearing a slight smile on his face, narrow eyes relaxed and staring out at the distance, with his features steadily taking on a golden glow, what appeared to be a young man wearing a furry blue hoodie sat down on one of the edges of the old broken bridge. Dangling his legs over the 20-meter drop and staring straight down at his chosen deathbed, one decision away from finally laying down his tired soul. Can I really do it? And even if I did, would it be considered cowardice, or courage? Would my parents, my suffocatingly loving parents be able to recover? Or would me breathing my last be the straw that broke the ailing camel’s back? Would it be the shock that my father has been long waiting for to finally rest?

Unconsciously edging his back forward to get a better look at the drop

The dead are certainly beyond caring, but would I want this to be the ending for my story? Should I even ca-

 ”Hoot? Hoot”

Huh? Swallowing lightly and jumping back slightly after being liberated from the prison of his own mind, after staring blankly at the concrete floor for what felt like hours, Ali turned his head and fixated his new companion in misery with a neutral stare ‘’and what do you want?’’

Standing on one of the adjacent pieces of stone, a bit lower than shoulder height for the sitting Ali, an owl simply stared back at him, confused at the sounds this human was making, was it hungry? Releasing a breath he didn’t know he was holding, he thrust his left hand into his left pocket to eke out a small child’s handful of salted sunflower seeds do owls even eat these? Worth a try at least; cupping the seeds in his hand, he raised it towards the owl and held it there for a few seconds.

“Oh”

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Using his thumb and index finger to pinch the salt off of some seeds to get the precious hearts out and presenting them yet again for his “demanding” new friend, who kept looking back and forth between the human and the tantalizingly delicious seeds on his hand.

It doesn’t trust me blinking once, then twice as realization suddenly hit, and why should it “I suppose that’s fair for the treatment my kind has afforded yours” laying some peeled seeds down on the stone half an arm away in the direction of the owl, the rest he just casually tossed next to his legs. “I suppose I should thank you.”

Rounded back straightening, and shoulders popping back a tad bit more with every accompanying breath, to reveal the outline of a moderately muscular frame. Not too buff but healthy, clearly the gym going is paying dividends.

 “Pfft”

 Stifling a small chuckle, and offhandedly noticing that his breath was colder, and that, that small chuckle caused some white steam to leave his mouth it wasn’t this cold just a moment ago. While taking out his phone to confirm if he was imagining the change in temperature, he noted that, for some reason, the cold breaths seemed to energize him and reach to his brain, relieving some of the fatigue that has accumulated throughout the day and the previous bout of depressive introspection. I'll take that, thank you, this is why I always preferred winter.

Putting his finger on the fingerprint sensor, only to realize a few moments later that his phone was unfortunately dead. Didn't I charge your useless ass fully this morning? Shrugging off his leftover curiosity about the temperature change with a huff, he turned to see the owl having just finished eating the seeds on the ground.

His new friend flapped his wings twice, the force of the motion landing him next to Ali, and then proceeded to ignore him after ascertaining that the blue human wasn’t threatening.

A warm feeling coiled around his heart at the sight of the owl eating, and melted some of his frustration at the world, Pulling his head back and laying his back on the cold stone ground, finding solace in the contrast between the growing cold of the air and the rising heat in his chest. 

I never realized breathing cold air was THIS enjoyable, taking longer breaths that seemed to stretch and invigorate his lungs, he watched the rest of the golden hour set down with vigorous owl swallowing seeds as his chosen background music. 

“I should contemplate death more” smiling contently to himself at his half assed joke, turning to take in the sight of his friend happily munching down the seeds.

”Thanks owl, yeah, I feel like thanking you is appropriate here” 

Embracing the cold, Ali closed his eyes, and not a second later, darkness embraced him back.