NANOUK

The girl ran.

She ran and ran until she couldn't feel the ache in her legs anymore. She had never run this far in her life. Only in games with her cousins and the other village kids. She was always where she needed to be. At home, where she was protected, where she was safe.

But she had to go.

Tripping onto the snowy ground, she choked on her gasping breath. As she tried to stand, her body quaked with adrenaline and shook from overuse. It was hard to move, but she had to keep going. She needed shelter. With solely the moon as her companion, she didn't want to risk any other company tonight.

The girl willed her legs to work, using her arms to push herself up. The pack she wore across her back made her even heavier. Spirits, she was tired. If she knew it would've been this much trouble, she would've packed lighter. She squinted into the night as she stood, scoping the landscape. There! A snow cave amongst the mountains of snow. She could barely see it in the darkness. From this distance, it was about the size of her fist. The cave was far, but she would make it, then she could finally sleep.

The girl approached the cave at a slow pace, she was far from the village now. She had started running as soon as darkness crept over the tundra. The moon shone high in the sky now, even the stars had shifted their position. Below the magnificent sight, the girl trudged along. Alone amongst the piles and piles of snow and ice.

Once the girl stepped into the cave and set down her pack, she flopped onto the cold ground. Her hand slipped into the front pocket of her pack, which contained the last bit of tiger seal meat her village dried for the season. Content with her current spot, as she chewed, the girl began to wonder, what now? She had left her home in order to help the village, but what could she do now? She had nowhere to go and she couldn't go back. She had only brought a knife, the dried meat, her fishing line and pole, and a fire starter. She would die at this rate. She was only a little girl. The girl clenched the jerky in her hand, it doesn't matter anyways, I'm better off gone.

The word home echoed in her head as she looked across the barren terrain. She no longer had a home, no longer had a family, and she deserved it. It was all her fault, she was a coward! She should have been stronger. Her cousins would've never let this happen if they were in her place. They wouldn't have ran and hid, they would've tried to protect the village! She would be named a disgrace if she went back. She might even get banished! No, it's better off this way. Could she go to another village? No! The girl furiously shook her head to herself. No, she couldn't do that, the soldiers would come looking for her again. They would find her. She can't let that happen. No one else could get hurt by her again. Like how she hurt her village, her family.

She wished she could be more like her cousins, brave and courageous. She was neither of those things. The only things they had in common was their village and their bloodline.

The girl another bite, staring off into the night, wishing to be somewhere else, someone else. Absorbed in thought, she didn't hear the soft footsteps of—

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

A loud rumbling alerted her to the fact that she was not alone. Her heart jumped in her chest. Crunch. The fur from her hood blocked her peripheral vision, so all she could see was the faint outline of a muzzle, and the glare of nocturnal eyes. As she slowly turned her head to fully face the animal, it steadily crept closer, inch by inch.

The moonlight soon slipped over the creature. It was a foxhound. And it was big, bigger than any foxhound that was raised in the village. No, this thing was wild. It was wild, probably hungry, and desperate. That was the worst combination for running into any animal in the South Pole. And its eyes were solely focused on the jerky in her hand.

The girl trembled as her blood began to rush through her body. She knew her mistake instantly. She stepped into the foxhounds territory, with food. She had to get out and quick.

She went to stand, but the thing lunged towards her. Its jaws locked around her calf. "Aggghhh!" The girl screeched in pain. The animal shook its head, her leg following it's movements. The girl was in terrible pain, she had never felt anything like this. She couldn't remember anything her ataata taught her, she couldn't think at all. With a grunt, she dug her hands into the frozen ground for leverage as she drove her free foot into the foxhound's face. The girl had to kick three times before it finally let go. She scrambled as fast as she could out of the cave.

She had only crawled for a short amount of time before the foxhound pounced on her back. She fell face forward into the ground with her breath forced from her lungs. The girl could hear its deep panting breaths under her wheezing. I'm going to die, she thought. She hadn't even survived a day outside of the village. Pathetic. She'll never see her mom, her dad, her brother, her cousins, or even the village, ever again. The last things she would see were ice and snow.

As her face began to numb from being pressed against the frozen ground, and as her vision began to blur, she wished for forgiveness for hurting her family, the village. She wished she was stronger, she wished she would've helped instead, she wished she hadn't messed everything up, she wished—

Everything turned black.

I'm off to a slow start, but he drama is coming soon!