A tail to remember
A mother and her son sat near a fire in the woods one night, the boy shivering because he wasn't close enough to the heat.
"Come and sit by the fire, my son. It's a very cold night." The mother beckoned.
The boy shuffled over and warmed his hands on the fire.
"Mum, is it true that your mother discovered another world?" The boy asked.
"Well, it's odd that you should mention that, because that's the reason I brought you out into the forest tonight. I will tell you the story of my mother and her friends she found, and when I am finished, you may ask whatever questions you want to. But listen carefully, because it's a long story, and I want you to soak in every word."
The boy sighed.
"Ok, mum."
The mother retrieved a big book from her back-pack and opened it up.
"Her story begins, not in her home, but in her old workplace, while she was working."
As she started reading, stars sparkled in the sky and all was quiet in the forest. It was like all the wildlife of the wood wanted to hear the story-teller as well.
Chapter One: The Electric Escape.
'Micklang appeared to be an ordinary red squirrel that lived in a large, very well protected zoo in London. But the squirrel was not ordinary on the inside.
Unlike other squirrels, Micklang had emotions that got him out of trouble in the zoo. Fear was the first emotion he had discovered, when he had almost been killed by a piece of shattered glass thrown at him from strange beings called people. Sadness was another, and disgust was the third, which he used heaps, especially when it came to being fed. He hated the strange round things the 'zoo-keepers' gave to him for food.
Also unlike other squirrels, Micklang could swim for large distances. He could achieve this because there was a pond that separated him from the on-lookers; he would swim through the pond to get food that people were trying to give to him. Not that it was much better than the round things the zoo -keepers gave him, but he had to live on something.
Another thing; and this is the very last difference; was that he had a small, but distinguishable, white point on his tail which caused tons of fake rumours among the visitors to the zoo.
He had spent four years in this prison called a 'zoo', never able to escape and always struggling to survive. He couldn't remember his life before being captured, but he knew he had lived for ten years, and today he was going to try to escape for the final time; he just prayed he was successful.
"Attention all visitors, the zoo will be closing in five minutes, please make your way to the exit as soon as possible." A static voice boomed through over-head speakers.
People of all ages zigzagged through the zoo, trying to find the fastest way out.
Micklang watched them from his small, sad excuse of a tree stump and sighed sadly.
"Today's the day, alright. I can't take anymore of this." He told himself.
A young, inexperienced zoo-keeper named Annie came in and poured water into Micklang's bowl, feeling bored the whole time. Micklang crept down silently from the 'stump' and landed behind the zoo-keeper. Then he sneaked past the woman as the food bowl was being filled.
He dashed out the door in one swift leap from the ground and swept down the path.
"This is it! Don't give up! Keep going. They haven't seen you yet." He encouraged himself.
Even though there were still some people hanging around, none of them saw him dash down the path because he kept to the shadows of other enclosures, jumping out when no-one was near.
"That's it. Dodge, weave, and keep to the shadows as much as possible; maybe try hiding in those bushes in the middle of the path. Keep going, you can do it!"
At one point he had to hide in a bush and wait for some people to cross a bridge which divided him from the fence around the zoo.
Once he saw there were no more people near the fence or on the bridge, he zoomed down the path, over the bridge, past some more enclosures and leapt up onto the fence.
"Squirrel! Squirrel!" A small voice cried, unexpectantly.
Micklang looked back to see a small boy pointing up at him in excitement.
He saw with relief that the child was alone and was not trying to get the attention of his parents because the cry was too quiet.
Micklang knew he couldn't talk to the child and tell the boy to be quiet, so he put a paw to his mouth signalling the boy to be quiet; something Micklang had been taught to do by the zoo-keepers.
The child repeated the sign and nodded happily.
"You escapee, Squirrel, I won't tell mummy 'bout you, me promise." The child vowed.
Micklang nodded and continued to climb.
The boy ran off, still with his finger to his mouth as a sign of silence.
If squirrels could laugh in this world, Micklang would after seeing the little child reunited with his mother.
"Right, that's one problem sorted out. Now to get over this fence and too deserved freedom."
Reaching the top of the fence, Micklang accidentally touched an electric wire without knowing it. He felt a strange sensation course through him and, even though he didn't realize it, his fur and tail had changed from the electricity and he now had grey and black fur and a zigzagged tail that looked like a lightning strike.
Micklang didn't want to stay to find out what it was that caused the strange feeling flowing through him, so he climbed down the other side of the fence and ran along the nice, soft grass.
He turned around to stare at the size of the zoo and was surprised to see how far he had come. He could see the same zoo-keeper that had fed him earlier head up the path to the exit.
More than anything he wanted to free the other animals in the zoo, but he didn't dare go back.
He ran; he didn't care which way or how far; but he just had one thing in mind: get as far away from the zoo as possible.
JustparodiesMan
