High in the oldest oak lived Selene, the owl who never forgot anything seen.
For a hundred seasons she had watched a gentle creature suffer - if things were different -
Oh, if only..
Someone cruel had taken his shining hair and twisted it into hard, hurting knots—
so many knots that from far away they looked like two thick pigtails made of pure pain.
The knots pulled so tight against his scalp and throat he could not speak,
he could only make a low, frightened rumble as he grumbled.
The village children called him the Pigtail Monster and away they would run.
But Selene, those wise eyes, saw everything.
One night a little girl named Asha walked slowly to the edge of the forest.
A small Siamese cat padded quietly at her heels —
With every step Kelly, her constant shadow, her secret-keeper.
His chocolate fur shimmered like a slice of moon, his blue eyes, the color of deep waters.
Kelly always followed Asha, especially when her heart felt heavy.
He could sense when she carried a truth she didn’t know how to voice.
Tonight, he pressed close to her ankle, tail brushing her calf, a silent promise:
Whatever you face, I face it with you.
Asha stopped beneath the old oak because she heard a sound she knew too well:
the swallowed whimper someone makes when they’re trying so hard not to cry that it hurts more with each passing moment.
Kelly’s ears twitched.
His small body leaned into hers—steadying her, anchoring her.
Asha looked up and before her,
there, half-hidden in the shadows, stood the trembling creature everyone feared.
A thin, bright line of tears broke from his eye into the twisted knots of mangled hair.
He lifted a shaking hand to hide it, ashamed.
Asha felt the whimper in her own throat. It was stuck, that whimpering lump, where secrets catch.
She recognized it.
Kelly pressed against her shin, as if nudging her forward, as if to whisper:
"He’s hurting. You know this hurt. Don’t turn away."
The forest went quiet.
Even the crickets held their breath.
Selene too -
Asha looked straight into his frightened eyes and she could see herself, reflected , in their pain.
Small.
Hurting.
Trying to be invisible.
She saw the tears he tried to hide.
She saw how he curled inward to make himself smaller.
Maybe no one would see him. Notice him.
And she understood: he was not a monster.
He was a child who had never been saved, never knew comfort.
Only then did Asha take one soft step forward.
Only then did she whisper, “Your hair looks like it hurts.”
Kelly circled her, then sat between them—
close enough to protect both, far enough not to frighten the trembling creature.
His tail wrapped around his paws like a question mark waiting to be answered.
The creature’s knees buckled.
He sank to the ground, afraid to hope. He feared believing to only be let down, again.
Selene fluttered silently down, her silver eyes glowing
like lanterns of permission for the monster to speak
With small, careful fingers, Asha began to untie the knots.
Kelly watched with solemn devotion, his gaze never leaving the creature’s face.
Each loosened twist let a lost word slip free:
“Stop.”
“It hurts.”
“I’m scared.”
“Thank you.”
When the last knot fell away,
the heavy pigtails of pain were finally free and and strands flowed in the breeze,
like soft shadows the wind was preparing to take flight.
His hair spilled down his back again, silvery magic and shining, light as breath.
Selene settled on his shoulder.
Kelly wound gently around his leg and pressed his cheek to his ankle—welcoming him.
Asha asked, “What is your real name?”
He smiled -the first in 100 years.
“My name is Lior. It means ‘I have light.’
Because of you, Asha… and because of you, Kelly… I finally do.”
From that night forward Lior and Selene walked together.
Every evening when the first star appeared,
Selene left her oak and Lior left his silence behind.
Side by side they moved between the houses (moonlight hair and moon-bright eyes), keeping watch.
When a child felt the first cruel twist or the first heavy secret,
Lior laid one gentle strand across their shoulder.
Selene perched on the windowsill, wings folded like a warm blanket, and kept every dark shadow away..
Children awoke to find a single silver strand on their pillow and two quiet lights fading in the distance and into the trees.
They knew, without words, that they were safe. They were protected. They were Loved.
And then, one night quite a few nights in the future,
after every hurt in the valley had been seen and every small voice had been heard,
Lior, Selene, and Asha (now taller, now stronger, a woman) stood together beneath the old oak.
Asha reached up and touched the place where the knots used to be.
In that moment the entire valley filled with a warm, loving glow (rose, gold, and softest silver all at once).
It rose from the depths of earth, and from every heart that had ever been afraid but healed with Love.
It slipped under every door, curled around every sleeping child like the gentlest blanket ever woven. Every stitch evoked consideration.
You could feel it even with your eyes closed:
a quiet, steady knowing that Love is bigger than any hurt,
that safety lives forever between a guardian’s heartbeat and an owl’s wise wings.
And from that night on, whenever any child anywhere closes their eyes to sleep,
they feel that same glow settle over them (warm, wordless, but absolutely certain).
Lior’s light.
Selene’s watch.
Asha’s hope.
Kelly's protection
Goodnight, little one.
Close your eyes.
The Love's glow is already here.
Be Well.
-----------------
This story is my hat tip to Everything Happens for a Reason. Even the pain.
My mother created the Pigtail Monster for me when I was a child.
She had stories of monsters that were not healed and I've been wanting to help her with it,
the Pigtail Monster, since I was a wee child.
Over the past years I've been battling my own and have been wanting to write about
a wise owl who calms children's fears and keep them safe at night
so they can dream freely without fears of nightmares.
If you've followed my blog or my path elsewhere, then you will know and understand..
Why this tale came about and who my friends who helped to write it are-
There will more adventures with Lior, Selene, Asha, and Kelly.
They've found their feet -their wings.
They are free to roam.
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