But It Wasn't Nothing

I miss the wild, but this is ok. I’ll be free soon. I’m sure of it. But I still barely remember what happened. It’s all hazy in my mind. All I remember is the red, the grey, and the… the pain. I wish I could remember the details, but they are all clogged up in my mind.  What had happened that day…?

…It was getting warmer outside. Spring was over. It was going to be a hot day. I opened my large, green eyes and yawned. I had just had just had a long sleep and was well rested. Inhaling the summer’s air, all these different aromas filled my nose, eucalyptus, wild flowers, grass, all different sorts of things. It was extremely satisfying to smell the usual scents of the wild. But something was different. There was a scent that didn’t belong. I shrugged it off and kept on taking in the morning air. I was sure it was nothing.

But it wasn’t nothing.

As the morning progressed I did the usual stuff. You know, waddle around, eat, avoid others. That’s what we do. But the scent lurked in the back of my mind; trying to escape the box it was in, trying to warn me.

At midday I crawled back into my abode and settled down for sleep. The smell was stronger.

It had only been two hours before I woke again. It was extremely hot and the scent now surrounded me, I was no longer able to ignore it. A constant rustling noise filled my ears and I wasn’t breathing as well as usual. I climbed out outside. I needed fresh air.

But outside was different. Extremely different.

The redness was overwhelming. It was devouring everything in its path. I couldn’t see very well, everything was hazy, cloudy, grey. I had to get away. I had to find safety. My first instinct was ‘dig’, so that’s what I did.

The red was catching up with me. Dancing around me, trapping me. I kept digging as fast as I could.

Beads of sweat came rolling from my chest to the end of my short stubby legs. It was extremely hot. The heat was taking lots of energy from me and I couldn’t dig fast enough.

I stopped digging. It was too hot, too hazy, too much to handle. My eyes were clouded and blurry. The red had almost reached me. I took a huge breath in, summoning my courage and strength. I was going to have to run if I was going to survive. So I did.

 I ran as fast as I knew I could, faster than most others could in short spurts (100 metres in 10 seconds). All I wanted to do was get away. 

Fear weighed me down, grabbed hold of me, devoured me. My usual defence, digging, wasn’t working and everything, the red, the smoke, the heat, was getting more intense. I kept running as fast as I could.

I coughed so hard that it hurt. I had to stop running, and let the red catch up. I was coughing and coughing; a hacking cough. My throat blistered and scalded.

My next option for defence was to climb, but all of the trees had either fallen or had red licking them hungrily, so I could really do that.

If I couldn’t hide, I’d fight.

I started to hiss at the red. Long, hoarse, hisses. It didn’t back down though. It kept on relentlessly fighting. I was instantly angered and charged at the red.

It felt as if my skin was being ripped off. My fur was singed and blackened. All there was, was intense pain. It was odd. Strange. First it was excruciating, but then it numbed to a point that it barely hurt. The fact that it no longer hurt made me even more frightened. I no longer knew what was happening, and was extremely confused.

I regretted running into the red.  I try to back away, but the red was eating me alive. I struggled to get away from the red’s grasp.

I tried to clamber away at record speed towards my burrow, but no success was found. Stubbled. Crawled. All I could manage to do was go devastatingly slow.

I was disorientated. My burrow was nowhere in sight. I had travelled to where I thought it should be, but I didn’t recognise anything around me. Frustration, confusion. Why wasn’t it there? It was supposed to be there. Had I stuffed up? No! Surely not. But maybe I did. The trees were cleared and the ground was hard and grey in colour, with a strange, straight, white line down the middle of it. Extremely unfamiliar. The trees started again on the other side.

I stumbled mindlessly across the grey. The pain came back as fast as a bullet, the horrible pain. I manage to crawl to the other side of the grey, but before I reached the trees, my legs crumbled underneath my weight. I had no more strength, no more energy. I wanted no more.  If the red wanted to come after me again, I would let it. I was sick of the fight, the struggle, just sick of everything. Sick. Of. Everything.

Lying on the side of the grey, with my eyesight disappearing and my body shutting down, was surprisingly relaxing. I was happy that it was ending. I didn’t know if I was going to sleep for the last time, or if I was going to wake up for a new day. This relaxed, I really didn’t care. I closed my eyes and slowly drifted off, but not before I heard the blasting sirens…

…“Patient 26, sir. Bare-nosed wombat. Was in a fire, second degree burns. Probably in major shock. Be careful. When she wakes she could be afraid, scared. Yeah, you get it. Oh, she’s coming to now. Good luck.”

I slowly opened my eyes. The light came flooding in. I shut them again.

“Hey little guy. How are ya?”

I opened my eyes even slower then before. The light was extremely blinding, reflecting off the white walls. My eyes adjusted to the light and images come to my eyes. A figure was leaning over me. I stare at him. Glare at him. He just smiled back happily.

I hissed at him. I was panicked, confused, unsure.

“Silly, you don’t need to hiss. I’m your friend,” he giggled. I wanted to claw him with my paws.

“I’m just going to make you sleep now.” He grabbed a needle.  I wiggled and squirmed. Hissed and kicked.

“Aye, aye, aye, aye, aye. Calm down. Shh. Shh. Shh. Shhhhhhh.”

I relaxed a bit, and that’s when he jabbed me…

… And I woke up here. Walls, more figures, not needing to find food. It was weird at first, but I’m used to it now. I lie on top of my bed of leaves, thinking about what had happened. I really want to visit home again, see if the red I still there, if home is even existent anymore. A figure walks into the area.

“Patient 26, bare-nosed wombat, ready to go home.”

Hello there :). This is my first story on Wattpad, so what do you think? This is the full story. It's very short, I know.  I wrote this short story for the Tim Winton competition at school, and I just found out that I'm in the finals! So, I really love this story, so please comment what you think of it :D