• You see that there house? The one with grey stoned walls and a crooked bricked chimney? That’s my house. It’s small and slept on a prairie hill. I have cows here. Well, they’re not really mine because they’re wild cows, but they are always hanging around here. Maybe it’s because they love the smell of my mothers’ jasmine flowers growing in the garden.
    It was a sunny day. I walked out of my house to breathe in the fresh, morning air. A slight breeze fumbled my hair forward. I held my bangs away from my eyes and glanced over the field. All the cows were gone. There wasn’t one in sight. I thought this was really strange, so I turned around and headed for the garden in my backyard. Right then, I bumped into my mom.
    “Sorry!” I laughed at my mistake, but she didn’t laugh back.
    I looked up and saw that this wasn’t my mother. It was a tall man in thick leather clothing. He had a long grubby beard that reached past his chest. His eyes were dark and uninviting. I never saw this man in my life.
    “Who…are you?” I asked with a shaky voice.
    The man doesn’t say anything. He just stares down at me. The wind blew again, and I took a step back with it. My hand was clutched over my other hand, held over my chest like I was praying. I heard a whirling sound up in the sky. I saw for a split second, a greenish metal flying bird coming in my direction. At that moment, the man reached out and tried to grab me. I screamed and ran away.
    My heart pumped a hundred beats a second. Fifty beats cause I have low stamina, and the other fifty beats for my fear. I have to hide, but where? I’ve never left home before and there’s only flat plains as far as I could see.
    “MOM!” I scream, “MOMMY!” there’s no answer. Is she here? Or am I too far for her to hear me?
    The big metal bird was loud. It screeched and blew strong air at me. It’s so close, I’m scared. I glanced back and the man was right behind me. He reached an arm forward and would’ve gotten hold of me if I hadn’t fell. I didn’t know there was a hill ahead of me, so I tripped and tumbled down. Dirt went in my eyes and mouth. When I reached to the bottom, the man was halfway down the hill. I got right back up and started running again.
    A ladder fell from the sky. I looked up to see that it fell from the metal bird. Someone was climbing down it. It was a boy. Was he after me, too? I didn’t want to take my chances so I just kept running. I past a big boulder, then a patch of flowers. It took awhile for me to notice where I was. I was headed for a cliff with a drop so big, you’d be dead halfway down.
    I skid to a stop at the edge of the cliff, dropping on all fours. Dirt balls crumbled beneath my fingers and fell down. Footsteps stopped behind me. I turned my head and looked up. The man was there. I’m caught; there’s no where to run now. He rushed to grab my arm but I swung myself back reflectively to dodge it—bad idea. I fell down the cliff. The man’s yell echoed through my ears, then silenced from the air surrounding me.
    I could see my tears float up, falling slower than I was. The cliff was far away now and the man was just a mere speck. I think to myself as I stare up at the clouds, I’m going to die. Then my view was covered by the metal bird. The boy was halfway down the ladder. The bird lowered to get him closer to me. I screamed and try to get away, but I couldn’t move anywhere. The boy put is hand behind my back and pulled me to him. I thrashed and punched in his embrace.
    “It’s going to be ok” he says in my ear so I could hear him in the loud noise. “Don’t worry”
    And my arms dropped. My lips quivered and I cried in his shoulder. What just happened..?