Young Writers Society

When I wake up I see trees. Lots of trees. “Where am I?” I mutter. I stand up and notice that this is not the tree that I slept next to yesterday. What if the pack brought me here, yeah, the pack probably did it. They were mad at me yesterday, so this my punishment. I start walking slowly, and a second later I walk into a spider web. “Ack!” I yelp, trying to brush it off me.

“How am I going to get out of this place?” I murmur, walking slowly. Whoever put me here must have known I hate spiders, because now I just see a bunch of webs hanging around everywhere. And on top of that, it’s freezing! I start to bark to see if anyone else was in here to save me, but I don’t hear a sound except a rustle in a bush a few feet ahead of me. On attack mode now I go up to the bush and start waiting for something to happen, something to come out of those bushes and surrender to me and lead me out of the forest. But nothing's there, just a gentle cold breeze and me, all alone. I sit down against a tree and -trying to hide my fear of being in this creepy place- start to doze off.

When I wake up I’m, in the same place I was before. Of course, It’s even colder than it was before as well. I squish myself into a ball to keep warm. The movement of the trees scare me; I feel like something will come up any minute, and I hate it. I look in every direction and see shadows and spiders crawling everywhere, looking like they are ready to attack. I close my eyes and try to convince myself that nothing is there, just me and the trees. Nothing more.

I’m tired of sitting in this forest. I keep hallucinating, and nothing's gonna change that until I get out! I stand up in a split second: if I don’t convince myself to go now, I never will! I start running past all the trees, and it feels like the wind is pushing me forward. Before my eyes, there is a giant hole through a mound in the dirt. I run over to it, hiding from the breeze. Being curious like most dogs, I start sniffing it, and something smells, something good. I keep pushing my head farther and farther through the hole but can't seem to get what I smell. I convince myself that there is probably nothing in there, and if there is, I probably won’t be able to get it no matter how hungry I am. I pull my head backwards, but it doesn’t seem to budge. “Why can’t I get it out?!” I say through gritted teeth. After a few more minutes of doing this, I finally come to the conclusion that I have gotten my head stuck. “What is this?” I growl. My ears catch the sound of something walking around. Is it coming through the hole? No, it can’t be I’m probably just hallucinating again. But the sound just kept coming closer and closer, and suddenly I was shaking. What’s wrong with you, you’re supposed to be the scary one, not whatever's scaring you! Still shaking with fear, I try to imagine something else, and I close my eyes and start to think about the days as a pup. I’m not sure why, but it’s the only thing I can think about to stop shaking. Maybe it’s just thinking about my mum, that makes me feel like I’m safe again. 

When I was a pup mum dug me a hole by a tree and told me to stay put until she came back with food. I fell asleep but when I woke up she was barking at me and saying “I have to go hunny, but I love you!” She was acting frantically. I didn’t understand what was going on, so I said, “I love you too, mum.” And then she ran off in the opposite direction. I heard her barking in the distance that afternoon, and I curled into a ball and closed my eyes to escape from reality, and pretended nothing wrong was happening. When I woke up she hadn’t returned. I just reminded myself that she loved me, and wasn’t scared of being alone. It made me tougher. I wasn't scared than, I was the one scaring everyone else, stealing food, and growling at other dogs. So why am I scared now? I’m a big dog, the one they call Tiny, the dog that always scares others. And yet, the dog that’s stuck in a hole.