RIP Story : May 20th, 2024

Henry found himself in a foreign land. The trip had been loud and scary, but it was warm. The ground had moved so fast for hours. There was never a chance for him to poke his nose out and look for an escape from the machine taking him away from home. The loudest noise was replaced by a screech, and the ground stopped moving. The air was warm away from the moving machine was warm. He would not have been on this noise machine in the first place if it was this warm back home. Four bangs shook the machine, and then the noise that surrounded him for the last few hours was replaced with the hum surrounding the machine. He sensed the fresh air beyond the machine. He poked his head out. The ground was not moving, and beyond the fields of grey and black were green grass, trees, and an unfamiliar sound of running water.

I’m going for it, he thought to himself. He bolted blindly across the field of grey. Safely across the first field, he found himself in a field of short grass and huge beasts. Henry was seen by one of the smallest beasts who started to chase him. Henry saw the beast after it started its lunge. Henry still tried to get away, making a sharp turn to the left, but it was too late. Henry would meet his end in an unfamiliar place when the beast yelped and suddenly stopped before it could close its teeth around Henry.

The yelp was replaced with a scream from one of the two-legged beasts and an excited shriek from a different two-legged beast. The first ran from Henry, and the second started to move toward Henry. Henry ran for the sweetest-smelling grass patch. He ignored the smelly brown piles and the smelly puddle he stepped in during his rush to safety. The two-legger shook the ground with each step until Henry found himself surrounded by long grass and multiple paths invisible to the ground-shaking monster. He knew he was safe when the monster cried out and stopped moving. Henry scurried under the dead tree structure that was so kind as to separate him from the four-legged jaws and two-legged monsters.

The flow of water called to him. The sounds that filled his ears for the last hours were far behind him. The sand bank under his paws felt soft, and the pebbles were smooth. The animals he could hear were all gathering food in their invisible way. Soon, the sounds of the ground were the only thing Henry could hear. He found a rotted piece of wood with enough room for him to rest out of sight of any other monsters. He dug out some more room for himself and closed his eyes to rest. He slept for hours.

When he woke, he needed to look for breakfast. A path leading away from the water pointed Henry toward a crop of trees. Trees meant nuts back home; why not check it out? Henry reached the crest of the path, and the secret of the trees was revealed. Never could he have dreamed that the noise machine and the monsters could lead him to this place. What was home was now a distant memory. His home had changed with what he saw there in the trees.

A life he never expected, born from the need to find a warm place to sleep, discovered thanks to the dangers of life.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow.