Nature saved my life

Running through the fog in the early evening, his head is as low as his spirits, his heart sunken down to some hidden place in his chest.

Past the train tracks, so tempting to just stop for a little while. He considers it, looking down the great abyss that stretches off into the distance. He studies the sign beside the track. Call us if you need help. The Samaritans. Does he need help? Yes, but nothing they could offer.

Would it be so bad, to jump on the track and let himself slip into oblivion?

An owl calls from the forest nearby. He raises his head, pauses, dashes over the tracks to the embrace of the trees on the other side. All his attention is on the peeping calls of the little creature. Where? Where are you hiding, dear owl?

His heart races as he spots a little oval silhouette amongst the branches above him. Its a little owl, he remembers. And with one memory comes a flood of clarity. He doesn't need to die. Not yet. Not never. Nature extends her hands and pushes him on, stumbling on his way through the forest. Back homeward.

The train whistles by behind him, but still, above the clamour, he can hear the little owl's calls, ghostly but comforting in the fog.