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I live in a small town that has a woods at one end. Everyone steers clear of the woods, apart from me that is. There are supposed to be dangerous animals in there, or so it is said. I have lived here for my whole life and always played in the woods, never seeing any dangerous animals, well none that I would call dangerous. My grandmother has always told me to stay away from the woods, saying one day I may get hurt, always worrying about me. But I have always ignored her, have always felt safe there, even knowing others have said they have seen a bear and heard a wolf howling.
My name is Summer and I live with my grandparents. My parents died when I was little, in a car crash. The other driver had been drunk and lost control, slamming straight into my parents car. They had both died on the way to hospital. I was 10 years old at the time and lived with my grandparents, my mums parents, since then. I am now 20 years old and I am an artist, making good money from my paintings. I also dabble in photography, I am quite good if I do say so myself. I almost always carry a camera around with me just incase I come across an amazing photo opportunity.
It's a bright and sunny morning and I decide to spend some time in the woods. I have nothing else to do today, having finished my latest painting last night. I grab my blue denim backpack and put some snacks and water in there. I tie my long blonde hair up into a high ponytail and put on my white sport shoes. I pick up my camera, hanging it around my neck by the strap and put my bag on my back. I take a quick look at myself in my full length mirror, making sure I look okay. I am 5ft 4in tall and slightly chubby, but not too much. Today I am wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a big pink heart on the front. I have been told I look like my mum when she was my age, but my blue/grey eyes I get from my dad. His eyes were the exact same, both our eyes changing colour slightly depending on our mood. I sigh a little, I miss them both so much and hope that they are up there watching over me.
I go downstairs to the kitchen and my grandma makes me sit and eat breakfast. I sit at the table opposite grandpa and grab a piece of toast, putting butter and strawberry jam on it, and taking a bite. "Where are you going this morning?" My grandma asks me. "To the woods" I reply, already knowing what was coming next. I hear grandma sigh, "I wish you wouldn't go there, I'm worried you will get hurt" she says. "Grandma, I haven't seen one dangerous animal in there" I tell her, trying to calm her down. Grandma just sighs again and continues with what she was doing. Grandpa looks up from his newspaper and winks at me, making me smile. He has never been worried, always telling me that there is nothing in the woods that would ever hurt me.
After I have finished my breakfast I kiss both my grandparents on the cheek and walk out of the door and walk to the woods. The woods is a actually not far from my home, as I live about a 2 minute walk from there. The day is beautiful and there is no one around at this time of the morning. The only noise is the sound of birds singing. I step into the woods and that feeling of safety I always get in here washes over me. I have no idea why I feel like this when I am here, but I like the feeling. I walk through the woods slowly, taking in everything around me. The sun shining down through the trees makes everything look more beautiful. I take some photos, some rabbits playing, a squirrel running up a tree, and in the distance, a beautiful fox watching me. One of the rabbits actually stopped playing and looked at me and the squirrel had sat on a branch, staring at me before disappearing. I sit in a clearing on a tree stump and take many more pictures and enjoy the peace. Eventually at about lunch time I pull out my snacks and a bottle of water from my backpack.
It is so peaceful here as I sit here and enjoy my snacks. Out of the corner of my eye I see movement. I look slowly in that direction and see a rabbit watching me. I instantly smile, holding out a piece of apple. "Do you want some?" I ask. The rabbit looks at me then looks at the apple, before hopping over to me and quickly taking the apple before hopping back a little. 'I won't hurt you, it's okay" I tell the rabbit in a quiet voice. The rabbit sits and eats the piece of apple while keeping its eyes on me. "You want some more?" I ask when the rabbit has finished, while holding out another piece. The rabbit hops back over and takes it but this time doesn't move away, it just sits near my feet, eating. Just then I see a squirrel slowly come up to me, looking at the rabbit, the piece of apple then at me. I smile at the squirrel. "You want some too?" I ask and hold out a piece. The squirrel takes it, sitting next to the rabbit and eating. "These animals are so cute" I think to myself.
After a couple of minutes both the rabbit and the squirrel run away. "Bye" I call out after them. I swear the squirrel turns and nods its head. I shake my head a little, I must be seeing things, squirrels don't understand people, do they? I am about to put away the rest of my snacks when I see a fox watching me. "You hungry boy?" I ask him. I hold out some fruit staying still. "It's okay, I won't hurt you" I tell him. He is such a beautiful fox, maybe he is the one I took a photo of earlier. He walks slowly towards me and I stay still, not wanting to scare him away with any sudden movements. He sniffs the fruit before gently taking it from me. When he has finished he takes another piece from me. He stands there looking at me and he looks so cute. "Can I stroke you?" I ask him. To my surprise he bows his head down a little while stepping closer to me. "Did he just understand me?" I ask myself in shock. But I slowly reach out my hand and stroke the top of his head. I scratch behind his ear, making him tilt his head to one side in enjoyment, making me giggle. After a few minutes he puts his head up and looks behind himself into the woods. "Do you have to go?" I ask him while I rub his head one more time. "Okay, see you another time" I say with a smile on my face. He licks my hand and then runs off further into the woods. This is the first time any of the animals have actually come up to me.
I stay in the woods for a long time then I makes my way back through the woods when the sun starts to set, knowing that dinner will be ready in a little while. When I step out of the woods I hear barking. I look around and there is a puppy running towards me. He is a chocolate colour labrador. He looks so cute as he reaches me and jumps up at my legs. I bend down to stroke him and he instantly rolls onto his back for belly rubs. "You're such a cute boy, where did you come from?" I say while rubbing his belly. The town is small and I know everyone and their pets, he doesn't belong to anyone in town. "Do you have an owner?" I ask him, just getting little barks back from him. I stand up and start to walk away but the puppy follows me. "You want to come home with me boy?" I look down asking him. He barks back at me, wagging his tail like mad. "Okay, come on then boy." And we head home together.
When we reach home, I open the door and smell the delicious smell of my favourite food, Lasagne. "Grandma I'm home and I have a friend with me" I call out while removing my bag and camera and leaving them on the table near the stairs. I walk into the kitchen, the puppy following at my feet. Grandma turns around, seeing the puppy. "Aww and who is this cutie?" She asks with a big smile on her face. My grandma loves dogs and cats. "He came out of nowhere and followed me home, but he doesn't belong to anyone in town, I know all the dogs here" I reply. I watch as he walks up to my grandpa, sniffs him then curls up at his feet. Grandpa chuckles, bending over slightly in his chair to scratch the dogs head. "Can we keep him?" I plead with my grandparents. Even though I am 20, it is still their home. My grandparents look at each other then grandpa says "Okay, he can stay." I kiss grandpa before walking over to grandma and doing the same. "But remember if he has an owner then he will have to go back to them" grandma says making me nod and hope that he doesn't have an owner. "Okay, now sit down and eat dinner, I have some meat in the fridge that I will cook for your little friend" grandma says. I sit at the table and dig into my lasagne which is yummy.
Later on after dinner I take the puppy up to my bedroom, where he will be sleeping. I put an old blanket on the floor for his bed, even though he would probably end up sleeping on my bed with me. I walk into my ensuite bathroom, taking a change of clothes in there with me, and jump into the shower. When I have showered, dried and dressed, I walk back into my bedroom to find a black cat snuggled up to the puppy on his blanket. "Huh, where did he come from?" I think to myself. I sit on the floor near them and reach out and scratch behind the cats ears, making him purr loudly. "You like that, huh?" I say to him. He gets up and curls up on my lap. There is a knock on the door and grandpa's head pops around the slightly open door. "So the cat is making himself known to her too" he thinks to himself as he sees the cat. I look up at grandpa who is now sat on my bed. "He must have come in through the window when I was in the shower. I came back in and he was curled up against the puppy" I tell him. He just smiles and says "You should give them names." I look confused at this, "I have no idea what I could call them, any ideas?" I say. Grandpa looks at the cat and puppy who seem to both be looking at him. He gives what looks like a smirk "Archie for the puppy and Taylor for the cat" he says. I look at them and they look away from my grandpa and seem almost happy. So I nod. "Okay" I say. Grandpa gets up and walks to the door. "Take good care of them, they are special" he mumbles this last bit before he is called and walks out of the room. I look at my new little friends. "I wonder what he meant by that?" I say quietly.
That night while Summer is in bed sleeping, the two animals look at each other then both climb up onto the bed. The cat makes sure she is definitely asleep before changing into a shortish man with silver hair. He gently brushes her hair away from her face. "I can't believe she will soon be 21" he says. The puppy changes into a man who is slightly shorter than the first one and has blonde hair with slightly chubby cheeks. "I can't wait for that, then she will know that she belongs to us" he replies with a soft smile on his face. "Justin, Harry and Seth have already met her too. I hope she won't be afraid of the other two" he adds. "She should be fine, she is brave" Taylor says even though he hopes the same thing while he brushes his fingers against her cheek. Summer stirs slightly in her sleep so they change back into their animal forms. Archie snuggling behind her and Taylor curling up against her chest. Soon she would know about them and they would all be hers. Archie just hoped that she would accept them.
