REMEMBERING
thing I had with me, George, who was a
stuffed penguin.
I looked over the edge of the canyon and
saw what I had expected to see: a whole
lot of nothing with the sun setting and
dust blowing in every direction. There
was nothing interesting about this place,
nothing special. There was no sign of
civilization at all in this valley of death
and desolation. It was perfect. I couldn’t
believe I had found safety. I began to
remember what had brought me here.
He did not answer. I began to
run to the nearest tree, so I could climb
it. Still waiting for an answer, I rushed
up scrambling on the tree for a foothold.
When I somehow made it to the first
bend of the tree, I looked at him with
eyes that demanded an answer.
I had wandered around the
desolate woods trying to find a way out.
I looked around and up into the trees
hoping nothing would come my way.
The sun was setting fast, and I had to
find some sort of shelter. But all I saw
were tall dark trees with orange leaves
the color of a sunset, never ending trees
going on for hundreds of miles. My fear
became more pronounced as I heard
the night creatures of the forest start to
rise from their slumber. I knew that if I
stayed in the open, they would devour
me without a second thought and lose
no sleep over a possibly upset stomach.
“Where should we go?” I asked the only
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“Why won’t you answer? I asked
you a question and you don’t say a single
word. You know that’s rude, right?” I
scolded him.
As usual, he just stared at
me with his big green eyes, asking
forgiveness.
“It’s okay. Just try to be nicer. Go
to sleep, I’ll take the first watch.” I said as
I tucked him into the crook of my arm.
Night stretched itself out into
what seemed like weeks. I didn’t think
that I’d ever see the sun again. I began
to despair that I would be forever stuck
in a realm where darkness was abundant
and light was not. I was going to rouse
George to apologize, but then I saw red
on the horizon. I screamed with joy and
woke everything around me and also
gave away my hideaway. My joy turned
to ash in my mouth as I noticed the red
was coming towards me with flashes of
yellow and orange. I noticed dark clouds
rise above the red as it raced towards
me. I once again felt fear as I scrambled
down my tree with him in my hand. I
dropped from the tree and sprinted in
the opposite direction of the fire.
“I would have thought that you
with huge eyes would have seen the fire
before I did. But no! You insisted I take
the first watch. Just stay low and be quiet.
We’ll get out of this one soon.” I yelled
at my companion over the trumpets of
the formerly fierce animals as they, too,
attempted to escape from the fire.
What happened then, I’m not
sure. I was running as fast as I could, but
then I was in the mud, splattered with it.
I panicked and started to stand up to run
again, but I noticed I didn’t have him.
George was missing. I looked back into
the mud to see if spotted his bright green
eyes. But I didn’t see them. I jumped back
into the mud and started flailing around
trying to find him. Him- the only one I
had as a friend. Him- without the voice.
“Help! Someone help me!” I
heard from another direction.
Thinking he had finally decided
to speak to me, I ran towards the sound
of the voice. I looked around and saw
someone stuck in the mud. It wasn’t him,
but it was someone else. Another person.
“Thank you! Help me! Please!”
yelled the person.
“You’re not him. I have to find
him,” I calmly said to the person as I
sprinted back towards the fire, hoping to
find George.
As I looked among the smoke
and orange trees, I thought I heard
another voice calling for help coming
from the right, but I quickly dismissed
it thinking it was that man again. Smoke
was filling my lungs so I decided to
run against the fire towards the mud
again, hoping I’d find him there. I saw
an opening through the trees and went
for it. As morning dawned in earnest, I
stood in the valley, watching the forest
at the top of the cliffs burn. And so, my
search for George began.
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