Owen

"Just trust them, Owen, they'll find you." Young little Owen tried to convince himself as he tries to run. It didn't take a couple of hours before he got tired of running. He is big for a six-year-old boy, he gets teased because he's "fat". The night was very dark and he could hardly see through the trees. He looked behind him and noticed that everything was too quiet.

Maybe the guards did not go in the direction where he ran off?

He sat down below a thin tree, surrounded by bushes and vines. He hid there to rest. Owen does not realize the weight of the chase, or why he should hide and not get caught. He's confused. But all he knows is that he will be in deep trouble if ever he goes back to that orphanage.

He sat there, curled up and humming to himself, trying to believe that it was a usual night and that he will get tucked into his bed soon. The staff and the other kids always tell him not to be scared of being alone or being in the dark because he's a big boy now. But right at that moment, Owen could not help himself but get scared.

But unlike before, no comfort came, no reassurance that there's nothing to be afraid of. It was a night he won't forget.

Sunrise came the next morning, a group of hunters walked down from the mountain after successfully catching a boar. There are five of them, two of the men are carrying the boar while the rest carries their rifles and bags for them. "This is a big one! Let's have a beer together while enjoying it later." one guy named Elias triumphantly planned ahead while glancing at the boar and at his friends. All of them agreed, they all can't wait to go down to their small town below the mountain and bring their food home.

Although Elias was struggling to carry the bag for him and his other friend, his hunter instincts suddenly kicked in when he heard movements within the bushy part of the forest a few meters from where they were standing.

He halted his friends, "Wait, if it's our lucky day, we might bring home two boars." he said.

His friends followed him and stood very still, they even stopped talking. Elias dropped the bag he was carrying and lifted his rifle. The movements continued, this time stronger. He aimed straight, ready to pull the trigger, he just needed to secure the target. However, all of them were startled when a hand came out of the bushes and shove the bushes covering its entirety.

Elias immediately dropped the gun when he realized it was a kid. All of them walked towards the kid who seemed to just have woken up. "Hey kid, what are you doing here? I almost shot you." Elias worriedly helped the kid to get out of the plants and vines around him. He carried him to stand up. "Are you lost? Do you need help to go down the mountain?" one man asked. Owen walked closer to them. Owen remembered that his friends promised to meet them down and then they can continue living together.

"Yes, I need to go down," he replied.

"Alright, you can tag along with us," Elias said, carrying back his stuff to walk. With that, the others continued to travel down, Owen walked behind them, his eyes are fixated on the boar tied on a pole and then carried by two men. He felt pity for it, he wondered if it was still alive.

"Do you need help?" Owen couldn't help but ask Elias who is walking close to him. It seemed that carrying two big bags and two rifles are heavy. The man just chuckled at him and pulled a small bag from one of the backpacks, "Here, carry my lunch box, I'm sorry but it's already empty, I bet you haven't eaten yet." he said and gave it to him. "What time is it, mister..."

"Elias. It's almost mid-afternoon."

Owen could not believe he slept that long, now he understands why his stomach is growling as soon as Elias mentioned food. After a while, they finally reached the foot of the mountain where Owen saw a small town. The men just continued walking, their houses must be somewhere near. The men seemed to have forgotten him because he was too quiet. They arrived at a house where they dropped the boar. It was one of the men's houses.

They decided to go home first and later help to clean the meat and have their share. Owen did not know what to do so he just decided to follow Elias as he goes home. Elias arrived home and a woman opened the door for him, she was smiling but then it gave him a confused look, "Who is that child?" That is when Elias looked back and saw Owen, still carrying his lunch box. "Oh boy! How can we forget you! We were so excited about what we caught." Elias walked towards him and kneeled to get to his level, he gets his bag, "Thanks for carrying this, now you can go back to your parents."

Owen timidly answered, "I-I don't have parents." Elias tried to smile while trying to figure it out, "What do you mean?"

"I had to go down the mountain to find my friends here, but now, I don't know how to do it." he bit his nails while saying those due to him being shy.

"Oh..." Elias thought for a while, "And these friends can you trust them? I mean, are they going to take care of you?"

"Yes, we will take care of each other, but I think I will protect them most because I'm the biggest of them all." Owen was starting to become chatty. Elias was getting more appalled as their conversation went on, "Wait I'm not following, so do you know how old are your friends?"

"Yes! Six." Owen raised five fingers.

"And... it's just you and your friends? Is that the plan?" Elias was holding up his jaw from falling. Owen nodded, naive from what Elias was thinking.

"Wow, we should definitely find your friends," Elias concluded.

"And then what?"

He did not notice that her wife, Nora, was standing behind them, listening to their conversation. Nora's arms are folded, she can tell what Elias is trying to do.

"Nora..." he stood up to talk to her, "We found this kid on the mountain, let me just help him."

"And then what are you going to do after finding his 'friends?' don't you dare bring a kid in here, last time you went hunting, you brought a bunny!"

"Oh come on, I know it's going to be a different story if it's a child!" He is still trying to keep his voice down so Owen would not notice the argument. He looked at him and smiled, then he turned to his wife and stared at her in complete seriousness, "I... will be right back." he tried to smile, but his wife is not having it.

He got Owen's hand and they walked together in the middle of the town. Turns out, they ended up dumbfounded on how to find his friends. They have no specific place and time, plus Owen does not know how can he reach out even to one of them. They walked along at the marketplace, and around the foot of the mountain. Finally, Elias had to break the news to him, "Listen, kid, I don't think we'll see them." Owen looked at him in sad eyes, biting his lips so that he won't cry. "So what am I gonna do now?" Elias patted his head, he sighed heavily before uttering the words that would cause him big trouble with his wife later, "You can stay with us for now? And then tomorrow we will continue searching for your friends." he consoled, "By the way, what's your name?"

"Owen." the kid answered. So that is what happened, Owen was taken home by Elias. As expected, his wife, Nora was furious. But then it took several woos and reasoning and she could not do anything with it. Owen receives glares at her ever since he came. He found out they have a son just the same as his age, his name is Brad, he's pretty noisy and always grumpy.

Owen tried to play with him but Brad doesn't want to share his toys. He also does not want to share a room so he and Elias cleaned a small separate room that was used to stock stuff, they turned it into a bedroom with just a small old bed in there, along with a few old stuff. Owen didn't mind, he was very grateful and happy he got his own room.

Within the next following weeks, Owen would go around the town to find his friends, he would also tour around and meet a few people. The town was small and it would be easy to know everyone. He was persistent in finding his friends in the orphanage, but it only lasted a few weeks. As days continued further, he barely even remembered them at all. The town people had distracted him, along with the neverending house chores.

Elias was always on the hunt with his friends, that is his primary job. During the day it was just Owen, Nora, and Brad in the house. Nora had made Owen do most of the house chores, she felt like he is entitled to serve them for letting him stay with them. Owen grew up waking early in the morning to cook breakfast, clean the house, get water from the well, and do anything that Nora and Brad requests. Despite all these, he was always smiling and willing to do those things for them.

Before sundown, Elias would go home with something for the family. Then he would talk with Owen about what happened to his day, he likes telling stories but Brad always finds his stories boring and Nora just rolls her eyes at it. To be fair, Owen sometimes thinks it's boring too because he often tells the same story about five or six times. But he just tries to listen every time. Because he's the only one Owen could talk to as well, even if most of the old people in town adores him, Elias is family.

If Owen tries to look at the outside, he seems to be a part of their family. But on the inside, it hurts him how Brad and Nora keep drawing the line for him, not including him in the family. Treating him as an outsider. But Owen still tries to look for the silver lining-- he still feels privileged. He hopes that one day, Nora and Brad would soften up and will grow to love him just as much as he does to them.