Just Keep Running
Mom and dad both lift me toward the only little window in the dark room we live in. They whisper urgently to me "Jasper do you remember the stories we told you of Stormfang?" I whisper back scared "Of course, Nyra is my favourite superhero" my mom smiles but I can tell she's sad. Why is my mom sad? Did that bad man visit again? She kisses my face before whispering "The stories are real baby, once you're free look for the moon in the sky and run in the direction it's in. Don't stop running until you're safe" I nod but then ask "What about you though?" My mom looks to my dad, who looks at me, I can see he's trying to be brave but it's not working on me. Dad just pushes me out the window then whisper shouts "Hurry, we'll be right behind you" I nod, although he can't see me and run. Clutching my blue wolf teddy in my hands, that's when I hear it, my mom screaming. It makes me stop and turn to look back. I made a promise. I can't stop now. With tears streaming down my face I keep running toward the moon.
The bad wolves are after me. I can hear their paws hitting the ground behind me, I'm scared they're going to catch me and my legs are hurting from running so much. My stomach is grumbling at me, in the dark room we would go days without food and I learned not to be greedy. Mom and dad would always try and give me their food, I wouldn't let them but I knew they would always give me the biggest portion. This is the longest I've gone without food. Blue wolf is hungry too, I whisper to him "I'll find us food buddy" even though I know I won't. I'm too small to hunt yet. I see buildings up ahead. Please Moon Goddess let that be a safe place for me to hide until I can run again. I push past the trees, and keep running straight ahead. Once I'm next to one of the buildings I hide behind it so the bad wolves can't see me, peaking my head around I notice they're not following me into this place. They're just walking up and down next to the trees. Strange, they're not afraid of anyone but the bad man.
Once I've had enough time to catch my breath, still watching the bad wolves, I get up and run again. I see a big house, mom and dad showed me pictures of houses like this in a book they snuck into the dark room when the bad man came to take them out. I don't know what he did to them, but they always cried when they thought I was asleep, I think they're called pack houses. As I'm running while looking at the large house I smack straight into a wall. I tumble backwards and blue wolf flys out of my hand, before I can hit the ground the walls arms catch me. Wait, walls don't have arms...do they? I look up and see a man with dark ginger hair, soft brown eyes and stubble like what my dad used to have before he stopped shaving. He smiles at me and crouches down to my level. I instinctively flinch, bring my arms up to protect my face like mom taught me, the man places his big hands over mine. His voice is soft when he speaks to me "Hey little one, you lost?" I can see the worry in his eyes. I whimper. I don't want to make anyone worry about me. He whispers "Hey, it's okay. Don't worry" I don't know who this man is, but I feel my body go soft for the first time in a long time. Normally that only happens when mom sings to me, she called it 'relaxing'. I look into his brown eyes and nod, trying to be brave I ask quietly "Where am I?" The nice man says "This is my family's pack, you're safe here I promise. Can you tell me your name and how old you are?" I whisper back, too afraid to make noise, you get beaten for making noise in the dark room "Jasper. I-I'm five" I tell him. He smiles again at me "Hello Jasper, my name is Elias. This is my family's pack, Stormfang" I gasp asking to make sure I heard him right "Stormfang?" The nice man, Elias, nods. I smile then everything goes black.
I made it.
I kept my promise.
Mom, Dad, I'm safe. I'm here.
