King Of The Jungle, Metaphorical Me

• Elinor Mackinnell, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2010

The night was dark and I, the lion, king of the jungle, ventured out of my cave, eyes yellow with excitement. The impending prey of the dark and freedom of the shadows filled me with great rapture; I was feared, I was alone. I moved each foot slowly in front of me, testing the ground for any traps my enemies might place for me, they liked to do that.
BAM! Something pointy but strong got me, bamboo perhaps? I funny trick upon my soul.
The ground was soft, grassy plains but if you leaned too long in one spot it imprinted on your paw and hurt, so I moved on a little faster.
THUMP! Something hard, very hard got me straight in the head, blood rushed to the flesh and I dropped in agony. No they would not get me too easily with a silly boulder. I prodded my paw around the boulder I hit, feeling it's size. Tall and skinny, easily avoided but so easily concealed, especially in the dark.
Gently now, I went along till I reached a terrain that was harder and cold to the touch and almost slippery. What made matters worse as I continued as I stepped on something quite small but round, thus I fell straight to the ground, once more, though fortunately not in pain. There were many of these tiny spheres around the floor, my prey was cunning too! With my great mighty paw, I brushed them aside and heard them scurry away.
What other ploys had my enemies set in for me tonight, I wonder. This was answered only too soon when I crawled, belly close to the ground and found that I could not get back up, and was trapped underneath something, a small cave? No that was a silly suggestion, they could not trap me that easily. I was a lion, I lived in a cave! I crawled till I could ease my shoulder and stand tall and fearful.
Alas! I found something! I jumped my front paws onto a rock surface and found some edibles, sweet and smooth to taste. Elated by my find, I jumped away, happy as.... well a lion!
Finishing my tasty delight, I ambled along then, SPLASH!

Alight flickered on, a silhouette putting me in shadow.
“Having a midnight snack, are we?” Said my mum's voice, the dog sitting beside her looking as if he was laughing at me.
My hand was sitting in the dog's water bowl, soaked, and the wrapper of a chocolate bar scrunched up in my other hand, resting on the ground, myself poised on all fours. I had got stuck under the table, rolled on some marbles, changed from the carpet to the timber floor, hit my head against a doorway and hit a heavy wicker basket after leaving my room.

In my lionly way, I sulked back to my cave, lay on my bed of leaves and purred loudly, forgetting all that happened.