Nellie The Elephant

• Scarlett Lando, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2021

Nellie The Elephant
By Scarlett Lando

“Mum… where are you”. I thud through the bush, pushing every branch I see away with my trunk. Gun shots echo in the distance, and my heart starts to drop! “Mum…no”. I rush over to see my mum, laying in a puddle of blood.
Her tusks where gone! “Mum… Mum can you hear me”? She was not My eyes welled up with tears. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach. Mum had been my shadow and all that I had known for the past three years. I wanted to cry but I yelled. I stopped myself when I realised how loud I was. My voice echo through the jungle… Oh no.
As soon as I yelled, I heard boots thudding towards me. A shiver ran down my spine. I froze, a gun pointed at me. I was expecting a bullet to pierce my body, but I felt no pain. My squinting eye opened again.
The man lowered his gun, then looked at me than my mum. Why? Why didn’t he soot me? Before he could move, I looked at my mum and said, “love you”. Then I ran away.
It took a couple of weeks for the hunters to go. After weeks and week of trying to find a place to call home, I found one. It had everything… even a family.