06/29/07

                        THERE AND BACK AGAIN 

CHAPTER 1

 STUFFED

 It was a normal morning in Galapagos as I woke up. When I woke up I quickly went and woke all my brothers and sisters up, all 152 of them. We all live under a big warm stone; it is nice and hot under there so it’s a very good place to live. The stone is next to a restaurant where there are lots of flies. When me and my brothers and sisters had all woken up and had a wash we counted every one. But there was a problem, there were only 151 of us. We all split up and started to look for Fred. I went and had a look in the kitchen of the restaurant because he was always hungry. As I came through the door of the kitchen I saw a flash of orange, when I had turned around I couldn’t see anything so I thought nothing of it. Then I saw Fred, I shouted out to him but there was no reply. He was up on a ledge pointing at something. I climbed up to the ledge where I was horrified to find him dead and stuffed. I was just about to pick Fred up when I heard something behind me, it was making a purring noise. I spun around and jumped out of my skin, I was staring into the eyes of a massive orange and white cat. I sprinted over to the end of the ledge, I was trapped. The cat was playing with me, walking slowly towards me.

 CHAPTER 2

THE CHASE

 The cat was about ten paces away by now. I had one chance. I took my chance and jumped off the ledge and caught the curtain and swung over the sink and onto the floor. Before I knew it the cat was climbing down from the high ledge above. I wasn’t even at the door before I heard a quiet thud as the cat took its last leap onto the floor. The chase was on, the cat was hot on my heels as I sprinted through the door. I couldn’t turn around to look where the cat was in case I tripped over something, but by the sound of the collar jangling I thought that the cat must be quite near. I was getting tired now, there was sweat running down my forehead. I knew what I had to do but it would be hard. In the next room there was a mouse hole hidden behind a laws made a deep cut into chair. It was a long way and I could already feel the cat’s hat rancid breath on my back.

 I was getting close to the hole but I couldn’t go much further. I could see it now but the cat was swiping at me with it’s sharp claws. I let out a scream of pain as the claws made a deep cut into my back. There was lots of blood dripping from my back now onto the floor. I made a final leap into the mouse hole, I was in but I was severely wounded. I collapsed onto the floor and found that I had a terrible fever. I knew the fever would kill me if I didn’t get help.

 CHAPTER 3

FEVER

 When I woke up I was in a small cosy room. I was lying on a new straw mat with two thick blankets. There was a raging fire on the other side of the room, strung up next to me there was a hammock. I kicked off my blankets and was about to stand up when I felt a terrible pain in my back, I also began to shiver and get goose bumps. Just then the door opened and an elderly mouse strolled in. She was holding a piping hot bowl of stew, she said ”good you are awake,” in a nice soothing voice. Suddenly the pain over powered me and I fell into a deep painful sleep.  

 When I awoke the next morning the mouse was asleep in her hammock. I found that she had left me a warm bowl of stew by my mattress. After I had eaten some of my stew I felt much better but I was still hungry. I quietly walked pass the sleeping mouse, making sure that I did not wake her. I stealthily ran through the door and passed the sink. I was hoping that the cat wouldn’t see me, and that the restaurant was still closed. Luckily it was closed so the cat wouldn’t be looking for food.

 After I got out of the restaurant I went to break the terrible news to my brothers and sisters. We later went in to get Fred to give him a funeral. After the funeral I went to catch some flies, I soon caught sight of a big juicy fly, I ran after it, it eventually flew onto a big boat. I followed it on over the passarelle, it was just about to fly away when, I jumped and caught it mid air. As I came back to the passarelle I found that it had been brought up, and I could not go back. I didn’t know what to do. I was trapped.

 CHAPTER 4

SAILING

There was a thing that I had been taught over and over again, to hide if you were around people, to hide, so I ran as fast as I could looking for somewhere to hide. When I looked back I could see that we were already a long way from the dock. When I looked forward again I saw some vents next to the cockpit. I ran faster than I ever thought I could and I dived into the vents. When I had brought up the courage I peeked out of the vents. There were two men on watch. When I looked back towards the dock I couldn’t see it any more, it was too far away.

 I still felt hungry and I was a bit dizzy because I hadn’t had much water. I went out to look. I found a small puddle of water on the deck from a recent rain storm. I had a good drink and felt much better. Now I needed something to eat. I heard a fly buzzing around. I saw it, it was in the cockpit. I made a big mistake and went to get it. There were men in the cockpit. As I came into the cockpit one of the men saw me and told the other man to throw me overboard. He grabbed me before I could think. He carried me over to the edge. I was done for.

 CHAPTER 5

OVERBOARD

 I was thrown into the cold murky water; I was chilled to the bone. I swam with all my might. I just managed to swim to the stern of the boat and cling on with my sticky feet. I was tired after having to do all of that swimming. With the last of my strength I pulled myself out of the water.  I had to hold on until I had enough strength to pull myself up. I was coughing and spluttering. It would be very hard to hold on because the waves were washing over me. Night was closing in; it was just going to get harder.

 CHAPTER 6

HOLD ON

 Somehow, I don’t know how, but somehow I had been able to hold on all night and now it was starting to get sunny and hot. I felt that I might have enough strength to get up. As the sun started to get higher in the sky, I felt power surging back into me.

 Step by step I pulled myself up towards the deck. When I got to the last bit I hauled myself over the edge.

 To be continued…