Pulled in by the wilderness

Sarong was sneaking through the forest at night, when he suddenly froze.

"What have I just stepped intooo?", he said, cringing.

It was sticky and unpleasant. He lowered his head carefully to sniff the thing, but it immediately flew up and he started to sputter. He didn't want any attention drawn to him, so he was trying to sputter silently. He tried to pull away his paw from the sticky spot, but it didn't want to let him go. Instinctively, he opened his mouth to chew on it.

His mind recoiled.

What if it tastes even more terrible than it smells, his mind tried to alert him.

When he was just about to chew down, he realised that his mind was trying to tell him something.

"That was close," he vented.

He decided to use force and carefully kept trying to wrench his paw away.

You'll probably have to try harder than that, his instinct told him.

Sarong listened and put his back into it. The connection broke surprisingly quickly and it made Sarong somersault backwards, until he landed in a nearby bush. Feeling very discontented, he got out of the bush and tried to act as if nothing had happened. He looked around to check if anyone had seen him. He didn't want to ruin his reputation from the get go.

Fortunately, there seems to be no one around, he thought.

He put on the most confident face he could and tried to leave in a somewhat elegant manner. There was a sudden sound above his head and he quickly closed his eyes in surprise. All his senses concentrated in his ears. He was trying to hear anything that he would consider unsettling.

There's nothing wrong, apparently! his hearing told him.

He concentrated his attention back to his walking body and he was shocked to realise that he'd been walking with his eyes closed and thus had no idea where he was. His imagination started to present him with some very vivid ideas.

Who knows what I might see when I open my eyes!

In the end, he was left with only one thought.

You are in the middle of a meadow and there are hunters all around, pointing their bows at you, his mind tried to convince him.

He was stood stiffly in one place, trying not to give anyone the slightest excuse to do something stupid. His eyes shot open and his body went rigid with the fear of the thought of the hunters pointing their bows at him. His eyeballs started to move quickly from one side to the other, as if they were trying to draw every star constellation he'd seen so far. When he got the impression that he could see no hunters with bows, he carefully looked one way, then the other, and sniffed to confirm his feelings.

"Uh huh, there's no one here," he said victoriously and relaxed.

Suddenly he heard a strong mewl. His body sprung to attention and he immediately stampeded out of there. His mind was busy with the unexpected event, trying to figure out what had happened. The only thing it noticed was that Sarong was running around the same spot in an uneven shape. His heart was beating like a drum and his mind wasn't able to shut down the panic quickly.

"I need to calm down, I'm a wolf, after all! I won't be afraid of a stupid noise," he said and stopped in exactly the same spot he first set off from.

At that moment, the cat mewled again, even more fiercely determined to show that she is really down for anything tonight. His newfound peace was gone again and Sarong's hair stood on end in fear. The drastic urgency of the cat's sounds meant only one thing to him:

She must be tearing another creature in half.

His body sprang to life, leaving behind scattered leaves, and he realised that there's no shame in running away.

He ran for minutes and minutes. He lost count of how many times he got flicked in his face by something he couldn't identify at that time, he had no time to duck. His main goal was to get as far aways as possible from the ongoing bloodbath. He was leaving long stretches of the wilderness behind him and he started to enjoy the feeling of his feet springing from the ground and with every bounce, he felt more and more like a wolf on a hunt. Fear was replaced by excitement and his movement was driven by pure joy. He slowed down to a full stop so he could take notice of his surroundings. He thought that it was as dim there as everywhere else. His eyes were showing him the shapes of trees and the winding countryside all around him, but he still didn't have the slightest idea where he was.

This place confused him greatly; so many new smells, sounds, and the fluctuating liveliness of the surroundings – all of it floored him. He heard an insistent hoot of an owl. His body recoiled, as if there was somebody pulling on the skin on his neck. He grounded his feet firmly to the ground, hunched his back to make himself look taller and stuck out his head.

"I won't run this time!" he promised himself.

Whe the owl hopped off the branch and he heard the flat sound of her wings, he stood alert. The owl wanted to see who was causing the disturbance. Sarong did not make a run for it, but once he spotted her huge, spread wings flying in his direciton, he flung himself to the ground so quickly that even the owl must have been surprised by it. Sarong's pulse quickened again and it made him feel like his beating heart is screaming out:

"Here I am!"

The curious owl turned around in flight and landed on a branch right above Sarong. Aware of her presence, he held his breath and tried to melt into the leaves in which he was buried. The guardian of the night looked at him curiously.

A small, dog-like creature with silver-blue coat, which still includes some puppy hairs, was her analysis.

It reminded her of her children and her children's children. She was the grandmother of a big, eagle owl family, which was spread around that serene forest. Her heart opened wide when she realised that this little creature might be here all alone. Sarong felt her gaze and it seemed somewhat familiar, calming and comforting. He stopped holding his breath and his heartbeat went back to normal. He was overcome with curiosity and wanted to find out who was gazing at him so soothingly. He stood up cautiously and explored the area in front of him. His eyes were touching the shapes they already knew, but there was no sign of the creature.

"I'm over here!" the owl hooted and waggled on the branch.

Sarong turned around carefully. He didn't want to feel discouraged by the fact that it made his hair stood on end again. He saw her claws and beak and he was awestruck by her stature. Her chestnut brown eyes finally beheld his spirit, which was reflected in Sarong's facial expressions.

What innocence and joyful curiosity, she thought.

"Welcome, little one, I'm Babula." She then said in a voice that was thuderous,t yet warm.

"I'm Sarong," he said proudly and stuck out his chest.

"I haven't seen you around here before, I think," she said, taken aback.

Sarong wanted to reply quickly but he stopped himself. He started to think about what had actually happened. He rememebered sleeping calmly in his kennel at the rescue station, when he was clumsily grabbed by somebody's uncaring hands and shoved into a smelly crate. The calmness of the evening turned into panic and he could hear the startled, muffled voices of some men. All he remembered after that was the stench and darkness, and the squeaking of the wheels of the vehicle which tried to set off as quickly as possible. The dying engine was screeching and he was left in a shaking crate, which was being hurled from one corner to the other. At times he could hear a weak howl, which hinted at some other of his friends finding themselves in the same predicament.

He also remembered a sudden scream of one of the drivers, which startled him: "Watch out for the doe!"

The wheels of the car screeched loudly, trying to desperately avoid the animal. The car went into a skid and almost toppled over. Sarong's crate flipped over several times and it fell down on the quiet road. It took a few moments for his body to stop shaking with fear and for him to decide where exactly he was. All he could see was darkness, far and wide. His eyes were unsued to such darkness and he was overcome with many feelings: fear, confusion and panic. But these feelings eventually changed into curiosity and excitement about the space which he was beginning to be aware of.

The owl looked at him with the patience of a creature which has all the time in the world.

Sarong realised that she had asked him a question and he had yet to answer.

"It's my first time here," he said with the determination of an adventurer.

"Of course it is, little one," she nodded. "Where are you headed, little traveller?" she asked playfully.

"I'm going this way", he said and moved his muzzle in the general direction of where he was planning to go. It seemed even darker there than here and he didn't like it at all. He got all sweaty and nervous imagining what could be hiding in the dark, so he re-considered the situation and confidently nodded in the opposite direciton.

"Nah, I'm going that way, actually," he said calmly.

"You don't really know, do you?" she prompted heartily.

"You could tell?" he said, surprised.

Babula nodded.

"I have no idea where I am. I'm unusually excited and frightened at the same time," he said, resigned.

"You'll find when the sun rises. Come with me, I'll show you a place where you can stay for the rest of the night," she told him and with a single wave of her wings she disappeared into the darkness.

Sarong ran after her as fast as he could. He was quite aware of his surroundings but still cautious.

Maybe I'm in the wilderness I heard so much about, he thought while following the eagle owl grandma.