Goodbye, Phoebe

• Alecia Tonkin, Grade 12, Brookton District High School
• Short Story
• 2016

Excellence Award in the 'Top Secret 2016' competition

It is a bittersweet day for me. I can’t believe time has passed by so quickly.
I am standing on the outskirts of the forest with my arms full of a big, healthy ball of fur.
I had named her Phoebe, which now I think about it, was a bad idea.
It’s just going to be harder for me to separate myself from her.
Two months ago I had come across a beautiful baby wolf, hurt and scared as she cowered underneath a small rocky cave that was so small I’m surprised she had even been able to fit herself into.
She has grown a lot since then and become a much more confident pup.
But she is still a pup and she needs to find her pack.
She had cost me a small fortune to treat her, bandaging up her broken leg that she had gotten during a storm one night before I found her.
It was only pure luck that I had decided to take a stroll through the forest that morning.
I know she will be able to defend herself out there if she needed to, but I don’t want to let her go.
She has grown into a family member to me and I just can’t bear to let her go.
But I must.
She needs to be with her own kind.
Gently I place her onto the grassy ground, earning a yip and whimper as she brushes her black fur against my legs and stares up at me with her big blue eyes.
I am really going to miss her.
We stare at each other, growing accustomed to communicate with each other without words.
It is a bond some owners and their pets have. But she is no longer my pet.
She is free to live her life.
She lets out another whimper and reaches up to lick my hand in farewell.
Then she turns to the forest and lets out a loud yip.
For a moment I don’t know what she is barking at, until four older wolves walk into sight, staying inside the safety of the forest.
There is a big black wolf with brown eyes, a smaller one with amber fur and yellow eyes, another smaller one with black and amber fur and the last one is larger but smaller than the little ones. She has amber fur as well with blue eyes and battle scars decorating her body.
She must be the alpha female, the one who protects the pack, which means the big black wolf is the alpha.
This is Phoebe’s family.
I watch with a smile and tears in my eyes as Phoebe looks back at me one last time before yipping and running back into the forest with her family.
I know I am going to miss her, but I will always have great memories of the short time we had spent together.
And she will always be my family.