That winter was very still and cold this year. Snow fell more often covering the ground with a blanket of white and the trees stood quietly in their new dressings. The little birds that once danced around my front yard disappeared in vast numbers. It didn’t occur to me why so many of them vanished this year, until they came knocking at my front door.
I can only remember my sister running in my room flustered. She grabbed my arm an threw a hand over my mouth.
“follow quickly and quietly.” she whispered.
I nodded an followed her out my room and across the hall toward the staircase, our tip toes barely touching the ground. At the door I could hear the deep pounding of an angry fist, and someone yelling into the door, it was muffled but so loud. I suddenly felt a rush of fear as my sister opened the cellar door an rushed me down the stairs.
Beneath ground level was even colder, I could see my breath pump out before me in short quick bursts. My hands trembled as the light faded above me. Even though my sister closed the cellar I could still hearing the pounding at the door. As quickly an quietly as she closed the cellar she grabbed me an pulled me through the assortments of canned goods an disaster supplies. We walked to a far back corner, where she pushed aside old tin milk container. Behind that container sit a tunnel.
“sit with me a moment.” she said pulling me down.
I was forced to kneel next to the hole as she hugged me, shaking out of her right mind.
“What ever happens, promise me you’ll keep running, running until you can’t run no more. You hear me?” She was looking into my eyes now, her expression stern.
I nodded in response, an she smiled giving me one last hug before shoving me into the hole.
“keep crawlin’ till you reach the light, wait at the end for me.”
It was so dark in the tunnel, the only thing I could rely on was my nose and my paws to see what was in front of me. My knees and palms grinded into the dirt, occasionally landing on pebbles and bugs. I felt like I had been crawling for hours, my arms grew tired an my body ached, it was then that I saw a spot of light reflecting on the ground ahead. The excitement to get out of the tunnel overwhelmed me and I moved faster. As soon as I reached the light I stood up an placed my paw to the wooden door above me. I was about to push it open when all of a sudden a paw grabbed my tail an tugged me downward.
“I told you to wait!” my sister shook me furiously, “they can still see us from here! They have weapons and not like your walking stick or mommas fryin’ pan! These can kill you! Do you understand?”
I could only hear the pounding of the front door, only it wasn’t the door, it was coming from inside my chest.
My sister stood up an placed an ear to the door and listened close. Then she smiled and helped me to my feet. “This will be the scariest part,” she said, on the count of three we open this door an run for the woods, don’t look back an no matter what happens keep running and don’t stop. One…”
I suddenly couldn’t breathe.
“two.”
I was shaking so bad, but then she grabbed my paw and lifted me to my feet.
“Three!”
Instantly the door was swung open and we scurried out of the hole, the snow on the ground bounced the light into my eyes blinding me, but my sister pulled me toward the forest.
We had made it to the top of the first hill before hearing a horn playback in the distance, continued by mass amounts of yelling. It was at that moment that fear pushed me to move faster. I picked up my feet an sprinted toward the forest wall. I could only remember the sound of gun shots echoing before I reached a safe place behind a tree. Out of breath I choose to look back. I wish I hadn’t.
Several feet back lay my sister in the cold snow. All I could think was to run back to her, my feet carried me quickly, from a distance I could see red seep and stain the purity of the ice. My heart stopped and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Something split the skin of my forearm, closely followed by an angry roar of a gun. Suddenly I was back into reality and knew I had to run. My feet began to move and my arms began to pump, ignoring the stinging sensation I aimed for the trees.
I heard more shots hit close by hitting trees and ricocheting off of rocks and papas old broken farming equipment. My feet kept moving, I knew there was no other option.

I finally came to the creek about two miles out in the middle of no where and stopped to catch my breath. I fell to my knees as tears filled my eyes. I was in utter disbelief to the events that just occurred moments ago.
“I didn’t even get to say good bye.” I whispered to myself angrily. “I didn’t even!”
My fists hit the ground hard over and over again, then I grabbed my hair and pulled as I screamed out at the top of my lungs.
I finally felt a rush of pain shoot thru my arm. There was a lot of blood and minimal clotting tangled in my fur. I was quick to tear my night gown and use its fabric as a bandage. I wrapped my wound quickly realizing after that scream they may find me sooner. I then tore off the rest of my gown placing pieces of it in trees an shrubs in all directions. I then ran down stream through the creek, naked and without a trace.