Journey In The Wild

1

I'm alive.

Even when I feel moist and wet and cold.

I can't see anything at all.

There are movements on each side.

But I don't know if it's my limbs.

Is it me?

Or is it something else?

But there is more to do.

I start feeling for everything, anything.

Except for soft strands of fur.

And then I feel a squishy bump.

I bring my mouth to it, wondering what will happen, and liquid spills out. They are sweet and calming. And it feels like home. That's Mama, I decide.

After I don't know how long...

I open my eyes for the first time.

I have no idea where I am.

The sky is way too bright for my liking.

Not like the darkness I have been in.

Where it was pitch black.

I'm scared of the figure and shadows on my side.

What is it?

But I am too exhausted to find out.

I let my weariness drag me down, down, and down.

Until I'm in the peaceful darkness again.

Until nothing is around me.

Until I lose consciousness.

However, it didn't last long.

Again I am back in reality where I don't belong.

But this time it's different.

Everything is so much lighter, blinding, even. I close my eyes and huff a deep breath, then squint at the world where I have to find out how to fit in.

I realize that the light is better than I imagined.

I hear sounds and noises that are peaceful and terrifying at the same time I don't know what to feel. That's when I realized things were moving beside me. Tiny. And is staring at me.

But there is something I forgot about: The silhouette.

Fear pulls me up to my wobbly legs, trying to move or do anything except stay glued to the dark flat ground.

The world isn't just black. It has different colors and variations. I look curiously around me at the tall rough poles that have green on the top, at the live creatures jumping and flying away from something.

Me.

That's when I see there is a shadow approaching behind me. I spin around, expecting to find one of the huge gray stuff moving, but see a black body with long fur the same color as my paw. Is that Mama? I scramble to meet her beady eyes, which are glinting mysteriously at me, even though I can see happiness in the midst.

A single point of light shines between her ears, making everything blur as I blink furiously.

I snuggled into the softness between her front paws, where Mama nudged me back with her snout. I curl up deeper inside all the fur as I whine from hunger.

Let's go, Mama growls. But my whole body is numb. Mama seems to have noticed my absence of moving since she is now carrying me by my neck with her snout. Come on, meet your siblings.

Everything gradually gets darker, and the gray stuff is now closing in, I'm going to call them rocks! Also, it forms a circle around us...guess we are in a 'cave' then! Though, trying to distract me from the terror of meeting my so-called 'siblings' is practically impossible, so I just stare at the rocks moving past us as Mama ventures deeper into the darkness.

But somehow, it felt creepy.

Different.

Cool.

I closed my eyes for the rest of the journey.

After an extremely long time, I am starting to lose hope that we will ever reach whatever place Mama's carrying me to, she suddenly stops walking and puts me down. As I was trying to steady myself, two black blurry figures pounced on me, knocking me off my paws.

I feel threatened.

I moan. I feel fragile even after the movements around me stop. I force my eyes open to see Mama struggling to hold back my siblings from attacking me.

After they calm down, Mama turns to me, holding a stare with worry and curiosity.

What's wrong? Mama hisses. Why are you afraid?

I didn't know how to reply to her yet, so I just tilted my head. Mama let it off. Mama turns away and curls into a ball, and I snuggle against her chest, falling resting to the sound of heartbeats and breaths.

After a while, Mama left me with my siblings since she had to 'hunt', whatever that was.

Go play, little cub, Mama told me. Get energetic, like your brother and sister.

But I can't.

It took a tremendous effort just to stand and balance on my legs, which is as wobbly as ever. How come Brother and Sister make it look so easy? Am I ...

I strangled that thought and pushed it to the back of my mind. I need to focus on walking. I try to hop and run like my siblings, but my legs immediately collapse with the weight I put on them.

I was completely worn out by the time Mama got home, and I feasted on the meat as much as my stomach could carry, which was only food the size of my paw, while Mama, Brother, and Sister chomped madly at the strange slithery thing. It happens to be called 'fish'. And they ate it yesterday, too!

How long was I in the darkness?

And why has Brother and Sister been able to get out of it earlier than me?

Why am I different?

I clung to those questions as I drifted off to sleep.