ORIGIN

As she found consciousness, the first thing she felt was a biting cold and the ground under her. The grey fuzz-ball was still for a long time until her long legs slowly moved to lift herself up. Despite emerging mere seconds ago, she had already forgotten about her residence in the chrysalis.

It didn't take long for instinct to hit the hatchling. She scrambled off, scraping up the ground under her and diving into a bush to hide from whatever eyes may be watching - for her own safety. She could barely see - everything was fuzzy.

The creature's stomach was completely empty, and she knew this. But where could she find food? She couldn't see right, and she was in the process of hiding from things that would consider her food.

She decided to sit tight, and wait.

Days passed and there was nothing. The only signs that anything else was around was the mice digging under the ground - and she already tried to talk to them. A fruitless attempt - as soon as she approached one, small and brown, it scurried off wordlessly. Useless.

Or rather, not entirely useless. She managed to chase some mice down and kill them for eating purposes - she could swallow the entire mouse if she tried really hard, though she found herself prefering to eat slowly, savour the taste. She didn't find herself eating much.

At first, the owl only briefly wondered if she was the only one here, but as time went on, the fear began to fester and consume her mind. By now (the fourth day, or so she thinks - not only is it hard to tell what time of day it is, she hasn't bothered to try and keep track) it was all she could think about. Why was she alone? Did she do something wrong? Was she abandoned?

She was scared.

But of course she would be - she was still alone in the bushes. She wasn't sure what she was hiding from, especially when the thought of never seeing another talking creature was practically eating her inside-out. If anything, she craved to see another by now.