My Mate's Secrets

    Screaming. So much screaming. It’s so loud.      They’re too big to get under the table like me.      There is cake on the floor next to my feet.      But I don’t want any.     The icing has blood on it.      The screaming won’t stop.      One day when I’m big I can help.      But now she tells me to stay under the table.     The screaming stops so I look out.      She’s laying on the ground, but her eyes are looking at me.      A big hand grabs my arm and pulls me. I hit the fridge hard.      He’s coming at me and I’m too small.      But suddenly, he stops.      He stares at me without moving.      Then he falls to the ground. It makes a loud thud.      Hands grab me again, but I like her hands.      They give me hugs and hold my hand when we go on walks.      She puts on a backpack and we run.      She says it’s a vacation. She calls it camping.      We go swimming and catch fish.      She changes into a black wolf and I sit on her back sometimes.      Everything is green.      Then everything is orange and we make fires and s’mores and bacon.      Then everything is white and she shows me how to make a snowman.      Life like this is fun. Camping is fun.     But it makes me tired. There is a lot of walking.      Then there are others. And they’re big too.      I’m still too small.     They smell bad and she doesn’t like them.     I don’t like them too.      She screams at them but there’s no table for me to hide under.      I don’t like camping anymore.      The yelling is back. But it’s not as loud since we are outside.     She pushes me into the trees.      She tells me to run.      I don’t want to, but she yells at me.      I run until my legs hurt.      I find a tree with a hole under it. It reminds me of the table.     I hide there. But she never finds me.     I’m hungry.      If I walk back to her, she can make me more bacon.     I walk but she is not there. I can’t find her in the dark.     Another man appears.      He does not smell. And he does not hit.      I think.     He picks me up.      He says his name is Ben.