Chapter 17

The Hunt

I began searching for the animal very carefully. I wanted to find and stop this strange pig-like thing. At first, I moved slowly and quietly because I remembered how badly Pepper got hurt. But after searching for many hours without seeing anything in the large, empty gardens, I became less careful.

The silence around me was not comfortable. I felt like the animal might be hiding in any place I passed. After a while, I stopped being so quiet and started walking through the small trees, using the end of my gun to push the wood aside. Sometimes I shouted to try to scare the animal into running where I could see it. But I only heard my own voice come back to me.

My shouting did not bring out the animal, but it did bring out my sister Mary from the house. “What is happening? Why are you shouting?” she asked, looking worried. “I saw the wild cat that hurt Pepper,” I told her. “I am trying to find it”. Mary did not look like she believed me. She went back inside, but kept looking back at me as if she did not trust my words. I wondered if she knew something about what was really happening.

I continued looking for the animal all afternoon. I did not want to sleep knowing it was hiding somewhere near our house. When it started getting dark, I still had not seen it. As I was walking back to the house, I heard a strange noise in some trees nearby. I turned quickly and fired my gun at the sound. Then I heard something running away very fast.

That night, after my sister went to bed, I checked all the windows and doors on the ground floor to make sure they were closed. This was especially important because we usually did not lock them. The windows were safer because they all had strong metal bars.

After checking everything, I went to my study. But the room felt too big and empty, and I could not focus on reading. So I took my book to the kitchen where there was a warm fire burning, and sat there instead.

I think I had been reading for about two hours when I suddenly heard a noise. It was coming from the back door. It sounded like something was rubbing and pushing against it. The door made a loud sound, as if something was trying to open it. During those moments, I felt very afraid. My hands were shaking so much I dropped my book. I was shaking all over. Something was trying to get into my house.