Aven · The Episodes ← www.AvenLost.pet
New · Episode Six 2 min 21 s A poem for his mother Read aloud

For Shirley

A poem I wrote for my mother, Shirley Coplan Kelly, who I never knew, and carry down my arm. Aven acts it out, line by line, as it is read aloud. It ends at her stone, and on the ink.

Play All episodes Is this him? — real footage

Episodes

Six · newest first
Aven, drawn, touching his nose to the carved rose on a flat granite grave marker in warm morning light 2:21 Episode Six · New For Shirley A poem I wrote for my mother, who I never knew, and carry on my arm. Aven acts it out; every line is read aloud as it appears. It ends at her real stone, and on the ink. Aven drawn as a standing Savannah in a dark suit, carrying a baby rhino calf past a white church 4:38 Episode Five · His own telling You’re Right There His own telling, in his own words — nine months of waiting, the doors that closed, the gold coast, the night at the gate. His lines stand between the acts, and it ends with two posters on every pole. Aven and the rhino in human shape, in a black suit and a gray coat, kneeling forehead to forehead on the wet floor of a parking garage 2:15 Episode Four · New Brother Two voices, both mine, in human shape. We meet as enemies — a fight built from what we are, cat above the floor, rhino rooted to it — and end at a chessboard in the church, where Aven tells me what he is afraid of in himself, and the lightning shows him who it is. Nobody wins. The board stays set. Aven drawn as an anime character in an indigo travelling coat, mid-drop inside a stone forge 4:49 Episode Three · A fable The Gate That Had No Lock A fable in six movements, drawn as animation. Aven is the character here, not the subject — and there is not one word of dialogue in it. Illustrated dusk street with porch lights, from Episode Two 0:42 Episode Two · An imagining A Field Dispatch What he might look like, still out there tonight — dusk streets, porch lights, the kindness of strangers. Not real footage; a picture of hope. Illustrated shoreline at dusk, from Episode One 0:46 Episode One · From the record The Shoreline He crosses the dusk the record says he crossed, pauses once at a lit window, and walks on. The closing card carries the only two coordinates that matter.
Real footage 22 seconds No sound

This is actually him

Everything else on this page is drawn. This is not. Twenty-two seconds of Aven at home, cut close so you can see what to look for. The second half is him with Masha, his little sister — she is the small one, and she gives you his size.

  • Round black spots on gold, scattered down the body
  • Stripes on the head, neck and legs — normal, and they do not rule him out
  • Very tall ears, set high — usually the first thing you notice
  • A long banded tail with a dark tip
  • Long legs and a tall build — the length is what reads from across a yard, before anyone sees a spot

Friendly but fast — please don’t chase. A photo from a distance is worth more than a try at catching him.

Walk with him

Playable
Aven drawn as a character, from the family's artPlay Interactive chapter Walk With Him — the corridor The corridor from Issue 03 as a playable chapter: walk him east landmark by landmark, and see how far a night actually is.

Five tellings of one search

Episode One is drawn from the record — the day counts, the dates, the shoreline he crossed. Episode Two is an imagining: a picture of what Aven might look like still out there tonight. Episode Three is a fable, and Aven is the character in it rather than its subject. Episode Five is his own story told whole — Aven drawn as the one who lived it, in my own words, with a small rhino standing where the heart is. Episode Six is a poem I wrote for my mother, who I never knew — it lives on my arm — read aloud while Aven acts it out; it ends at her real stone. Episode Four came back last, and it is the one I was afraid of: Aven and I in human shape meet as enemies in a garage at two in the morning, fight until the guns are on the floor, and end at a chessboard in the church, where he tells me he is scared of something older than him inside him — and the lightning shows who it is. Both voices are mine.

What is real in all of them is how you would recognize him — and that is on film, just above, not drawn by anybody.

— Sehvan

How you’d know him

Round black spots on gold, with stripes on his head, neck and legs. A long dark-banded tail with a dark tip. A cream muzzle and chest. Very tall ears. Long legs and a tall build. A loud, chirpy, bird-like voice.

Stripes on his head, neck and legs are normal — they do not rule him out. Bars or swirls down the body would be a different cat.

Friendly but fast — please don't chase. A photo from a distance is worth more than a try at catching him.

Seen a cat like this?

Call or text 260‑337‑3747 Text a sighting
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Call 260‑337‑3747

If you have seen a cat like this anywhere near Panama City Beach — a photo from a distance is worth more than a try at catching him.