Untold Story The Big Fish

I leapt away from the large creature that had snuck up on me, screaming at him as I streaked through
the darkness. I was a shadow in the night.
I was new here. Didnt expect all of the craziness that came along with living out in the Alabama sticks.
I didnt like the strange rituals, but I was getting used to it. Used to my fellows, used to the old land
lady, used to the bubbling, foul smelling pots. Well, maybe not those. My brief roommate drank from
one of them one time. Then he was a frog.
In any case, that loud monster was it for me! The final straw!
I dont care that he was there to see my land lady; I saw them talking as I crept into the forest. I was
moving on.
My trek to find a new home began today.

My quest for a normal life, fraught with milk and warm fires and luxury, was ultimately a great failure.
I had managed to get lost in the woods.
Trapped without a sense of direction, I spent years scrounging in the forest, hunting for what food I
could and growing filthy from mud and debri.
But all was not lost!
Last night, I came upon what appears to be a small village. After stumbling onto a mess of jumping
spiders the size of my head and sprinting away, I ran out into an open clearing.
Still suspicious after weeks of sullen solitude, I had decided to wait out the darkness and return in the
morning.
Which was now.
I stood up from my makeshift camp and stretched, yawning as my bones popped nicely. The ground
was soft beneath my feet as I padded towards where I remembered the small town to be.
There!
The breaks in the trees were thinning, exposing the sunlight filled clearing, home to several huge
buildings.
As I crouched low to the earth to avoid being spotted and snuck closer, I heard the sounds of other
beings. More humans. Except, something about these particular humans sounded different than I was
used to. Nothing like the cackling or cooing of the witch that was my old landlady.
These people sounded almost happy.
Sincerely joyous and sublimely blissful.
I approached the edge of the trees and peered into the village, now alight with activity and bustle.

And I was met with bright brown eyes surrounded with blonde hair.
Well hello there, little fella! said the tiny human creature.
I meowed my disapproval of the name, but stepped out from my cover nonetheless.
Small hands snaked around my middle and lifted me to nestle against the young girls chest. My back
feet scrabbled for purchase against the material of her dress, and the girl giggled.
She hefted me up further into her arms and started walking into the village. Im gonna take you
home. I could give you a bath, and find you some cream, and well be best friends forever! she
exclaimed.
I just settled into her hold and purred slightly. Whatever got me milk was heaven.
After an enthusiastic welcome from two huge humans, the girl, Jenny as her parents called her, took
me into a small white room.
She set me down in a cold bowl and pointed at me. Now just sit right there a moment while I run and
find some soap.
After quickly discovering that the thing I was in was not climbable, I sat back on my haunches to wait
for Jenny to return, my tail swishing impatiently.
Jenny returned quickly and proceeded to bathe, feed, and pet me. After discovering I was female, she
gave me a name, Maggie, and a home and a place to belong.
As Jenny grew older, I stayed by her side. I met many people in her life, watched her grow sad when
her companion died, and was there when her house was in ruin.
I remember sitting outside, minding my own business on the porch, when out of nowhere, this giant
sneaks up behind me, causing me to shoot off and hide.
I didnt like the man at first. Something about him made me want to blame him for all my troubles in
my early life. However, he made Jenny smile again. He fixed our house and helped her heal.
And years later, when he died, I went with Jenny to his funeral, and watched the man sink into a river
and become a fish, forever alive in his peoples hearts.