Ever since I can remember, I’ve lived alone. I don’t remember anything from my childhood from when my parents were still alive. I don’t know what they look like, what they sound like, what they feel like, I don’t even remember what their names are. All I can remember is that distant memory of having someone who actually cared about me, someone who actually loved me. I have never felt that feeling before. All I know is that they weren’t there when I needed them, that I was all by myself. All I really and truly know is that I survived.

I was left to live in the hollow of a tree all by myself. When my parents first died, I just stayed in the hollow, not what knowing what to do, scared of the outside world and what horrors it contained. I  ate all the stored food that my parents always kept as food for a rainy day. The food lasted for about a week.And one day, when I was just eating and, the thought of what I was going to do once I ran out came to mind. I don’t know why it did, I just did. It scared me so much I just tried to push it in the back of my mind and forget about it. But, that’s not something that you can easily forgotten about. It always finds a way to bubble up, no matter how hard you try to block it out.Then one day I went to the food storage in my house, and there was none. No, I was really freaking out. So, for a few days I just stared out of the whole in the tree watching other squirrels gathering food, and watching them laugh and play with their children. It didn’t bother me because I have never felt that feeling of happiness or joy so I had no reason or thought to envy it over my suffering.

After about three days of miserably starving in the hollow, I decided to try and acquire my own food. One of the things I noticed that seemed to be a exceptionally good source of food was these two-legged creatures. They were very strange creatures, always making weird noises and never, and I’m not kidding when I say never,stop making their obnoxious noises. But, they did have an abundant amount of food that they always left behind or gave to the other squirrels. So, I decided to start there. I was watching these three, two-legs when I saw one of them drop some food on the ground. I wasn’t quite sure what kind of food it was, but I could feel every muscle in my body telling me to just run as fast as I can, grab the food and get out of there. I knew I would get caught so I patiently waited until the bright ball in the sky had gone from being directly above me, to almost touching the horizon.

After another painful wave of hunger went through my stomach, I climbed down the tree to go get that food. I had never been outside the tree in my memory so I had no idea what to do. When I started to climb down the tree, I was so scared I just grabbed the rough bark as hard as I could and slowly inched my way down. I could feel the bark digging into my paws and starting to tear the skin on my paws. Regardless, I fought through the pain knowing if I let go to give them a rest, I would fall down and experience much worse pain than a small cut. After what seemed like an eternity of stress and fear, I made it down the tree alive and in one piece.

I placed my paws on the ground, feeling the of  the give of the dead and brittle leaves that lay down on the forest floor. As I carefully placed one paw in front of the other, I could feel my paws sinking into the moist forest floor, the soil sticking to the pads of my paws. As I was “prowling” towards the two legs,I noticed that if I avoided the crunchy dead leaves that littered the forest floor, and stuck to the dirt, I made no noise whatsoever. Avoiding leaves and zig-zagging across the forest, I finally made it to the Two-legs and observed to see where I could get some food. I noticed a big colorful box that was giving off lots of different interesting smells that seemed worth checking out, but something else got my attention. There was this big pile of fruit on the table that was left unguarded. I carefully padded my way over there to the table. I jumped up on the table and was about to take a bite, when out of no where, this fat, shorter two leg comes running at me, smiling. I was taken totally off guard, and in an effort to flee, fell of the table and got the wind knocked out of me. I just layed there, paralyzed, struggling to breath as the two leg got closer. I finally took in that sweet breath of air, which feels like the best thing in the world when you have had none for a while. And, it’s not like holding your breath under water. If you want to experience what I’m talkin about, exhale very deeply then hold your head under water for a good 20 seconds, it’s not very comfortable.

After I was done gasping for air like I just did an Ironman, I finally got up and just started running. I didn’t care where I placed my feet, I just ran like there was no tomorrow. I could feel the crunching of the leaves under my foot and the snapping of twigs. I didn’t care, I just ran. After I was thought I had lost it, I scuttled up a tree and looked over the remaining landscape to see if I had truly lost him. All I could see is the endless amount of trees rolling across the landscape and all of the dead, dried up leaves and twigs on the ground. Seeing no sign of the two leg in the area, I began my perilous journey down the tree.

The trip down the tree wasn’t quite as nerve wracking as the first. It was much easier now that I knew to run down the bark and then jump off at the last moment. While I was walking  back home, I looked out for landmarks as to find a easier way home then retracing my steps. After a while of searching, I found a very distinct landmark.

It was a giant rock, just to the side of a young tree, with a big chunk taken out of it. The rock looked very smooth, indicating that it has been there for a while, and almost stood above the tree which was next to it. It would provide a very good look out post or just to get  a nice scenic view of the landscape. When I went to find a way up, I found these steps that were carved out into the rock. These did not look natural, and looked like the work of some two legs, so I carefully climbed the steps, alert for any sign of danger. As I climbed the massive steps, I reached the top of the rock, I found that it was a very smooth, flat surface up there, giving me a feeling that I was not the first one up here.

After doing a little more exploring of the rock, I noticed how smooth it was, it felt like something or someone had spent a long time making it like so. As I got to the edge of the rock, I noticed a giant colorful box, just like the ones that the other two legs had. I cautiously approached the box not knowing what to expect next. I noticed that the top was creaked slightly open. I looked inside and found so much food!  This could last me the rest of my lifetime! ( I later realized that this was a XXL cooler)

After finding the food box and eating my fill, I made my way home. I strolled through the forest, happier than I had ever been in my entire life. Being so happy, I walked without a care in the world. All my problems were gone to me at that moment. I was very close to my home when another squirrel who was in front of me greeted me.
“ Hello sir, how are you today?”
Never talking to anyone of my own kind, I had no idea what to do. I simply replied
“Good how are you?”
He couldn’t even start his sentence when I heard a ear piercing screech and claws come in and scoop him up.

Absolutely horrified, I just started sprinting as fast as I could. What the heck was that, I thought? It almost killed me! I continued to run, and I continued to run up a tree again looking into the sky to see if I could locate whatever the heck that was. After not finding it, I just stared into the sky. It iwasa beautiful day, the sky was light blue, looked so bright it looked as if the sun gave it it’s color. There were a few clouds in the sky, just a few puffy balls of whipped cream floating through the sky. I looked up at the bright ball in the sky. My eyes started to burn so I look away immediately. As I was marveling at the clouds I saw it. The giant bird looked at me and saw me too. Oh crud, here it comes, I thought, I slid down the tree as fast as I could, and started running.

I run. I just ran and ran and I didn’t dare look back. Absolutely  petrified, I was just moving. I started to  feel myself tire. I stop and turn around to look into the sky. But when I turned around all I saw were those claws. They had three toes and all ended in a point at the nail. The skin looked like dry paper, yellowed with age. It had lines,creases, and scars all over from previous uses. The last thing I saw was the sun reflecting of the shiny talons, into my eyes.