Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A Short Story: The Great Escape

‘Are they leaving me again? Where are they going? Am I going with them?’ Those thoughts rushed through my head as I watched my family prepare to go on a trip. “Rosie!” I heard my two sisters, Nicole and Sadie, calling my name. “Come here!” I ran over to see what they wanted.

“Good girl.” Sadie said. She stroked my fur as I sat and waited patiently for Nicole to grab my leash from the cupboard and attached it to my collar. They grabbed their flip flops, and we headed out the door to go on a walk, one of my favorite activities! As we strolled around the neighborhood, on the third of July, I could not help but wonder where my family was going and why they were leaving.

When we arrived home from our walk, the car was packed and my family was ready to leave on vacation. I was making my way inside the house, but surprisingly, my mom called me over and told me to hop into the car! I gleefully ran over and hopped in the car. ‘Was I going with them?’ I thought. My dad started up the car and we were ready for vacation, but after about fifteen seconds of driving, we slowed down and pulled into a driveway. I did not know what was happening. Everybody was getting out of the car! Nicole even grabbed the leash, which was still attached to me, and picked me up, out of the car. I reluctantly let her carry me to the front door. My dad rang the doorbell and a woman with short, brown hair and kind eyes came to the door, opened it, greeted us, and gestured for us to come inside her house. I suddenly realized that I have stayed at this house on a different occasion. I squirmed free of Nicole’s tight grasp and got re-aquatinted with the smells of this house. After a few minutes of exploring, I went back to the front door to get back into the car with my family, to go on vacation with them, but they were not there! I ran around the house and searched for hours (or what seemed like hours), but they were nowhere to be found. That night, I went to sleep feeling alone, but ready to make the most of my vacation.

The next day I woke up with so much energy! My vacation was off to a great start. My day consisted of mainly sleeping, playing outside, and even going on a walk! Since the people I was staying with saw how much I loved the outdoors, they decided to keep me in their fenced-in backyard when they left to go someplace for the evening. I was having a great time playing in their yard, but suddenly, partway through the evening, just as it was starting to get dark, I heard loud noises, sounding like something was blowing up, and colorful flashes appeared in the sky. I did not know what to do, and I admit, was a little scared. Different scenarios raced through my mind as I thought about what the loud noises and colorful flashes represented. ‘Maybe it’s evil cats taking over earth, or maybe it’s the dog food factory blowing up, or maybe it’s–’ another loud noise and colorful flash interrupted my thought. Now, I was really scared and looking for an escape hatch or tunnel of some sort. Then, I thought of a brilliant idea: I could jump over the fence! I looked it over, then took a step back from the fence, which was about 5 feet tall in human measurements, and braced myself for my great escape. I lunged forward, unsure if this was legal or not, jumped, and sailed through the air. The next thing I knew, I was on the other side of the fence. I made sure I was still alive, then rushed to my home, which was just around the corner, raced up to the steps, sat, and waited for my family to come home. After a few hours, a car pulled up the driveway. It was the other people I stayed with while my family was on vacation! They called my name a few times, but I refused to go with them. I was determined to stay where I was and wait for my family. Then again, I did not know how long they were going to be gone and what might happen if I was to stay out here by myself, so I reluctantly got into the car with them and let them take me to their house, where I could stay until my family came back from vacation.

The next day of waiting for my family seemed to drag along so slowly, I probably could have ran around the world five times! The doorbell rang a couple times, and each time I got up and ran to the door to see if it was my family, but it was only the mailman with a package and Girl Scouts selling cookies. No activity excited me, so I decided to lie down and take a nap.

My nap must have gone longer than I thought because when I woke up I heard “Good morning!” “How did you sleep?” and other typical morning greetings. I ran over, jumped on the couch, and looked out the window to see if it was really morning. It was indeed morning and hopefully the day my family comes home. A few hours into the day, the doorbell rang. I did not think it was my family, so I stayed where I was to save myself a trip to and from the front door. Then I heard a familiar voice. It was my mom! I bolted over as fast as I could and leaped up into my mom’s arms and smothered her with kisses. “Rosie!” Nicole and Sadie pried me out of Mom’s arms and hugged me really tight. I could not describe how great is was to be reunited with my family. They gathered my bone, bed, and leftover food and we all piled into the car to go home.  

I was so happy when we all arrived home, safe and sound. I listened to all their stories about the vacation and it sounded like they had a great time. Even though I do not like to be separated from my family, I know they will always come back for me no matter what happens.
 – By Kate Wetherall

No comments:

Post a Comment