Legend On The Loose

• Lydia Tolley, Grade 4
• Short Story
• 2015

There was a strange squawking sound in the air. “Maybe something’s loose?” Mila cried while squeezing me tightly, so tight it was like I was going to explode. “What was that strange noise?” Mila questioned. I stopped for a second to think about what my friend had just asked me, as I looked around.
“It might be the wind making a rumbling sound, since it is windy or, I know, it’s those orangutans snoring like thunder. But, it does sound faint so it might be a different animal somewhere in the zoo.”
“Let’s split up,” Mila suggested. She went one way while I went the other. As I looked around in search of the squawking animal, I came across the lions. They were happily chewing on a juicy bone. They weren’t squawking. The giraffes were munching on the high top leaves. They weren’t squawking. I also wondered past the tigers. They were happily licking their paws after their meaty lunch. They weren’t squawking. When I met back up with Mila, we zoomed straight to the ice-cream truck for well-earned refreshment. We bought chocolate coated soft serves with a flake.
“Be careful girls, there are some dangerous animals that come into this zoo,” the ice-cream lady warned. As I walked to the bin to throw my rubbish away the squawking sound was practically loud, all of a sudden.
“Mila come here,” I yelled out. Instantly Mila was standing directly next to me.
“Can you here that squawking?” I questioned.
“Yes, it sounds like a bird,” Mila answered worryingly. As she was an animal lover “We must get the little fella out of the bin as it’s no home for a little bird,” I cried.
We dug through the bin to find a tiny baby bird. I cupped my hands around the soft animal and slowly pulled it out. It was blue, red, green and purple. It was beautiful. With the bird carefully cradled in my hands we ran through the zoo searching for the vet, while trying not to drop the darling bird. What we didn’t realise is that an evil, red-eyed, sticky-up-furred koala with long sharp claws had watched us as we rescued the bird from the dirty bin. He had climbed down the gumtree right next to the bin the bird had fallen into, and he was following us as we ran through the zoo. People from all parts of the country had heard of this evil, red-eyed, sticky-up-furred koala but no-one had ever seen him. He was like a legend. He was different to other koalas because he ate flesh and drank blood from baby birds instead of eating gum leaves. That’s why his eyes glowed.
We finally found the vet and did our duty by safely delivering the bird to the hospital. We declared it an emergency and took the bird into the surgery room. The vet checked the bird straight away. Within no time at all, the vet come out of the surgery room to tell us that everything was fine. What a relief that was to hear.
As we walked out of the vet hospital, l I noticed something glowing from the corner of my eyes. I turned to see the legendary killer koala. His eyes were glowing in anger and his fur was sticky up like the spikes of an echidna. There he was, right in front of me. “Do you see that?” I asked Mila. “See what?” Mila questioned with a puzzled look on her face. I looked again and he was gone. Was my mind playing tricks on me or did I just see the legendary killer koala. I took a second look around but I couldn’t find anything. Maybe the killer koala does exist. Or was it my imagination?