Lost

• Tiffany Johnston, Grade 6, Broadbeach Independent Public School
• Short Story
• 2015

Excellence Award in the 'The Write Track 2015' competition

I was happily grazing on the juicy, green, grass sprouts growing through the beautiful white snow with the rest of my mountain goat herd when the ground began to rumble and a terrified snow leopard leaped down the mountain as fast as her legs could carry her. Suddenly piles of crystal, white snow came crashing down the huge mountain, crushing trees and smashing rocks!
Straight away the herd was running and stumbling down the steep hill side as the snow crushed everything in its path “COME ON!” I screamed “WE CAN MAKE IT!” but it was getting really hard to run and the snow was flicking up in my eyes, ears and mouth.
I ran to the eastern side of the avalanche and managed to avoid it with the safety of the trees, but unfortunately, my herd wasn’t so lucky. “Mum, Dad, Are you there?” I screamed helplessly “Please respond!” but over the loud grumbles of the avalanche I couldn’t hear anything, though I was safe now or was I.
I turned around to find shelter as a little snow storm began. The beautiful snowflakes gracefully danced through the misty air and gently landed on the frosted branches of the trees and the uneven snow that I was standing on, than something disrupted me from this enchanting moment. I heard growling and foot steps behind me and all I could use as defence was my huge horns.
My heart began beating faster and faster just about pounding out of my chest, when I heard a thud and a little, short, stubby snow leopard cub rolled out from the shadows and gave a little squeak. It was adorable, but the angry mother looked a lot less adorable, in fact it looked more like a nightmare!
My heart stopped and in a split second I was gone. Running and jumping, stumbling and falling. Could this be the end? Hopefully not!
I was sweating through my thick coat of fur as I ran through the snow. I couldn’t see the leopard through the thick mist, and that was really depressing. I stopped and stood in a clearing of small trees, squinting my eyes and smelling the air. My ears flicked up as little noises confused me and footsteps messed with my head.
Then, through the thick mist I saw two glowing, yellow eyes watching my every move. I was face to face with a terrifying leopard that wanted to rip my face off, and I had nowhere to run! The leopard snarled at me with her ears back and her shiny teeth showing.
She leaped towards me with her claws out and her jaw open ready to bite, but before she could, I thrashed her with my horns and she fell to the ground with a loud thud, though I still was wounded. The pain was horrific and just seeing the blood endlessly dripping from my wound was terrifying.
While the leopard was still on the ground I ran and was finally happy and safe.