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"Annie? Are you there?"

“You heard it, too?”

 “Yeah, what was it?”

 Annie and I decided to go up in the woods to camp for the weekend. It is a summer ritual that we have been doing for 7 years. Since Annie’s dad died, I am the only one Annie will talk to and we started camping every summer. Annie was diagnosed with depression a year after his death, and she adopted a service dog named Charlie. Annie talks a lot more and it helps her too. Charlie was a 2-year-old golden retriever when Annie first got her, and she turned eight a few weeks ago.

 “Was that Charlie?” I asked.

 “No, she is right next to me. She heard it too.”  

 We both sat there waiting for the animal to pass. It never moved. It sat in front of the tent sniffing at the door. Charley gave it a low growl and the animal slowly moved away.

 “Nichole, we need to get out of here.”

 “I know, but the car is three miles away. What if it comes back?”

"I don't know. Maybe we should pack up and then leave in the morning. We’ll have to stay awake for the rest of the night.”

Charlie settled down again, but Annie and I stayed up. We were quiet and stayed still. Any noise that was heard we would squeeze each other’s hands tight. We only got around four hours of sleep that night.

"You fell asleep too?" I asked.

"Yeah. I figured I could trust Charlie."

"Well, she fell asleep, too. Good morning, Charlie!" I added trying to brighten the mood. Annie and I sat in the tent for a while Charlie walked around and stretched her legs. We opened the tent and walked out to start packing up.

"At least we were planning to leave today," Annie said.

"I know, I'm glad we are getting out of here though. Whatever the animal was it was big. It sounded like we were in its way.”

When Annie and I were done packing up, we put Charlie on a leash and started on the trail. The trail was a narrow dirt path with bright green aspen trees urging you to come down it. There were several campsites along the way. Annie and I always chose the same campsite at the very end of the trail. It was a little open area where all you could see were trees. It always smelled like pine sap.

"Hey Nichole, I know we are only a mile in, but I have to go to the bathroom really bad. Could you hold Charlie for me?"

"Yeah, sure."

I don't mind holding Charlie. I just pet her the whole time and she licks me. This time Charlie looked concerned and started pulling me over to Annie.

"What's the matter girl?"

But then I heard it. It sounded like a little girl screaming, a mountain lion.

"AAAHH!"

"Annie! Where are you?"

By this time Charlie is over with Annie and scared the mountain lion away. I heard a terrifying shriek and saw a tan blur go past me.

"Annie!"

We both sat down for a moment scanning the area to make sure the mountain lion was really gone.  

"Annie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, before it could get me Charlie bit at its ear and it bolted."

"Thank goodness. It looks like Charlie’s okay, too. Are you okay, good girl?"

Charlie let out a little bark.

"Nichole, remember what the park ranger said about if we see a mountain lion?"

"Yeah, he said that we would be lucky and if we did see one it was not for a good reason. It could be stalking us or have a disease. He also said to call him if we saw one."

"Well, if it weren't for Charlie I would have been kitten food."

Annie and I looked at each other. We both laughed uneasily.

"Annie, I'm gonna go with no more potty breaks and let’s hurry it up. Do you have cell service?" I asked.

“No, why?” Annie asked.

“The park ranger said to call him if we saw one. I have one bar. I’ll try calling the station.”

While the phone was dialing we heard the sound of a screaming girl. The ranger picked up and Annie started yelling at me.

"Th-the lion!"

I whipped my head around and saw the mountain lion about five feet away. The only thing keeping it away from us was Charlie. Charlie was barking and pulling at her leash, and the cat had its ears pinned to its side. Every time it took a step, Charlie would reposition herself to keep it back. The lion got closer, and Charlie lunged at it, teeth bared. Charlie latched onto the cat, and when Charlie let go, the cat was clearly in pain and super angry. It just stood there for a second, then leaped into a tree.

"Good girl Charlie!" Annie said with a shaky voice. "Nichole, let's go."

“Umm… Hi, this is Nichole. We just had a mountain lion almost attack us. Our dog bit it and it ran off.”

The person at the other end of the line said they would be right out to find the mountain lion and relocate it along with giving it a checkup.

Charlie led the way for about a mile. We had half a mile left. We heard the scream again.

"Oh come on, really?" Annie said.

"I know. Let's hope Charlie can scare the cat again."

Charlie started off with a low, threatening, growl. Then she started to bark. The cat backed off but had this look in its eyes. Its tail started to twitch. Charlie lunged. She latched onto the cat’s neck and the cat’s eye looked like they could pop out of its head.

The last thing I heard was:

"Nichole run!"

I started running.

I dared to look back and Charlie was running to me, but Annie was looking at the mountain lion. I grabbed the leash trailing behind Charlie and we ran for the last half mile. All of the beautiful green trees seemed to turn to giant green walls. The narrow dirt trail seemed to get narrower. The beautiful sound of the forest seemed to turn off, not even Annie or the mountain lion made a noise. When I looked back Annie was looking at the ground and walking slowly backward. 

When I saw the car I looked back to see if I could see Annie. I couldn’t see her. I picked up Charlie and placed her in the passenger seat. Then I jumped in the driver seat and started the car. I drove right to the front of the trailhead, but the car wouldn’t fit. I remembered that I was about a half a mile away from the end when I ran, so I honked my horn hoping that I would scare the mountain lion. I waited for Annie to come to the car.


May 23, 2020 02:58

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