Black Beauty

Alex

Tears rolled down my face and I couldn't stop them. I had ran away from Jeremie and was still running. I thought that I was headed in the way Black had gone but as long as I ran I didn't see her. I thought about my mother and how I lost her, then I thought about Black running in the hay field, free as a bird. I wished I could be that free and for a few minutes I thought about me riding Black, the wind through my hair but then I was pulled back to reality and I stopped my running. I wiped the tears away and stopped my crying too. I looked around and found myself in a forest of some sort but it wasn't beautiful, not even close. The trees were dead, not even a green leaf hung from any branch. Crows screeched close by then stopped. I looked around me some more and was surounded by trees. I wondered how I got there but my sight hadn't exactly been perfect looking through a bunch of tears. I started to walk what i thought was the way back but just led me back to more dead trees. I heard something behind me and I spun around to see something I wish I hadn't seen. It was a coyote pup. Still a baby. I know its harmless now but when it gets older it will be a killer. The reason I was so worried is because momma has to be close, she wouldn't just leave her pup. I backed away slowly and the little pup just followed. I took a step foward, he took a step back. It was like we were dancing a few feet apart from eachother. I turned to walk away but found myself right in front of another, and another. There were four in total and they all looked sad and alone. I heard a cry come from one of the pups then they all started. I tried to shush them but it wasn't helping since I'm pretty sure they don't understand the word 'shut up'. I started to walk through a gap between two pups and once I passed and took a few steps I looked back to see them all following.

"Really" I said, "You're really gonna follow me"

Look at me, I've been in a forest for ten minutes and I'm already talking to the wildlife. Am I already going insane. All of a sudden a loud cry from not to far away ripped through the forest. It was filled with pain and the pups imediately took off in that direction. I shouldn't have fallowed but I did anyway. I would probably run into a pack of adult coyotes but what the heck I'm already insane, why not join the pack. I laughed to myself as I fallowed the pups. They jumped over fallen branched and I stumbled over them. Another cry, much closer came and it scared me so much that I didn't notice a fallen branch and it caught my ankle and I fell forward right on my face. I really had to stop falling. I heard a deep growl that ended with a small whimper. I lifted my head and saw the momma of the pups. I almost let my head drop down so I wouldn't have to see myself getting attacked by a cayote and her pups. Just then I saw it glistning in the sun that peeked through the clouds. A trap, around the mothers leg. She must have stepped on it while she was away. All the pups huddled around there mother as I got to my feet very slowly. Every time I went to fast she would growl a little. Once I had my hands up showing I didn't have anything and I meant no harm, she relaxed a bit. She was lieing down with her trapped leg out to the side. Her puppies stayed close as she said her final good byes. Seeing that made me think of me losing my mom and I didn't want them to loose theirs. I kept my hands up and very slowly and carefully, trying not to trip, went closer to her one step at a time. She tensed a bit but never growled and when I got close enough she even rolled over a bit so I could get at her leg. I knelt next to her and put my hand on her stomach and looked into her eyes. She looked back and then looked forward as to say, do it, quickly. It was gross with all the blood but I got passed that and looked for a way to undo the trap. My hand stayed on her stomach until I had no other choice that to pull it open. Luckily it was new and there was no rust. I found a place for both hands where I wouldn't get stabbed and pulled as hard as I could. Nothing. I did it again. Little progress, i was getting it but my arms would be dead by the time I was done and so would the coyote. I had to do this. I counted in my head 1...2...3... and pull. I pulled and pushed and the trap started to open. Once I got it open enough the mother got her leg out and I let the trap snap shut. The mother got to her feet, slowly. She had trouble walking because she couldn't use her right leg but she started to walk away with the pups close behind. She then looked back and nudged one of her pups to go my way. He looked at her a moment thinking what why? Finally he did and he came right up to my feet. The closest I had gotten to a pup. Even when I was helping their mother they were hiding behind her. He wobbled closer and bit my pant leg and pulled. Of course it didn't pull me forward since the pup was the size of my foot maybe a bit bigger but I could tell he wanted me to follow. Maybe their mother was using their cuteness to lure me in to be dinner. There I go again with crazy thoughts. I fallowed them for a while. The mother would stop for a rest every fifteen minutes then continue on in five. I wondered where she was taking me to. A few minutes later I could see colour, not just gray and white but green. And a fence. The coyote had brought me back to the field where I first saw Black. I looked up at the darkening sky then at momma coyote and at her leg. It was still bleeding and could get infected so I took off my light sweater and rapped it tightly around her leg before I left toward my new home.