The little mouse who hid, so her family could live...
Amelia Lorrimore writes a short story, based on current events, to inspire hope and remind you that isolating will pay off and things will go back to normal...
There once lived a little mouse in a little hole in the ground. Her home was dark, damp and derelict - the ruins of an old rabbit hole. There was little to be happy about in her life. She had no companions, no one to call family, no one to comfort or to be comforted by. And to add to her troubles, she lived her solitary life surrounded by the dangers of the forest, where predators roamed in search of a tasty meal. She had to be careful where she scampered in search of tasty plants and meat scraps, wary of the ominous threat of the owl, who had been hunting her since she moved into her hole in the forest. The threat of death was constant and she couldn’t do anything, other than live her life under the cover of her hole in the ground, and be cautious on her ventures for food.
Before her life of solitude and fear in the forest, she was a mouse who belonged in the warm and comfortable walls of a home. She had a family and scampered to the kitchen when no one was around, bringing happy returns of left over cheese and meat to them. She was a free mouse. There was no threat of an owl attack and therefore she could come and go as she pleased, making her ventures to retrieve food effortless. She revelled in the warmth that the house’s insulation provided her, her two brothers and three sisters and lived happily with them. A constant stream of food was brought to them, as the humans dropped crumbs and dusted off juicy leftovers into the bins, bringing a magical wave of sensational smell which drew the mice in and fed them a wondrous feast. They didn’t have to worry about going hungry, leaving them with endless time to pass by in aimless and pointless entertainment. They could journey through the house’s ceilings, causing mayhem for the owners by mischievously chewing at cables and scaring them in their bedrooms, for no good reason other than their own entertainment. However, they would come to know the devil named ‘Karma’, because one day, only two of them returned.
The panic that spread through the little mouse and her brother as they realised their sisters and brother were gone, was immense. They didn’t know if they had left. They didn’t know if they had been in an accident. And so, they began their search for their missing family members. They searched carefully in every room of the house, scurrying between the holes in the walls and the gaps in the floorboards, until they discovered - much to their dismay - that the home owners had brought in backup. A cat. And in that cat’s bed, in front of the fireplace, lay the little mice’s three dead sisters and one dead brother. Death had spread through the little mouse’s family like a plague and she had to stop the spread. There was only one thing to do: escape the house before her and her brother were the cat’s next victims.
They couldn’t be sure whether it was safe escaping together, if they seperated they’d have a better chance of escaping the cat and getting to safety. Even if it meant they would never see each other again. This was the moment that the little mouse knew her only option for true safety would be to retreat to nature, until the threat of the cat had vanished and it was safe for her to return to the warm walls of the house and be reunited with her brother. So she moved to the forest. Although danger still loomed in the forest, at least her little hole in the ground offered some protection from the dangers of the predators that sought her for their empty stomachs.
The terrible trauma of her past made her current lonely existence much more bearable: the dampness offered relief for her aching feet and became an ice bath when the nights ran cold. The darkness of the little hole left her time to dream of the past when she scampered freely through the walls of the house, with her brothers and sisters. The derelict nature of the hole prevented predators from breaching the safety it offered, and provided quiet echoes, which the little mouse often pretended were the comforting voices of her fallen siblings. The little hole which once appeared so miserable and treacherous had become the little mouse’s safe haven.
The little mouse often dreamt of her brother and the isolated life he would be living away from the home they had together with their siblings. Her dreams provided her with relief from the grief she felt from being so alone. She could hold onto the hope that her brother was safe and out of harm’s way, knowing that one day she would be reunited with him and once again be able to scurry throughout the warm walls of the house they once called home, and live in the memory of their siblings. Ultimately, although she missed her brother and the happiness they used to share, she took comfort from the fact that by isolating herself from him in order to flee the threat of the cat, she had saved him and all of the children that he would have in his future, along with her own. The selfless acts of isolating and separating from each other had brought a happier ending to their stories, and saved them and their descendants from further loss, enabling them all to reunite in the warm walls of a home.
By Amelia Lorrimore, year 12
There once lived a little mouse in a little hole in the ground. Her home was dark, damp and derelict - the ruins of an old rabbit hole. There was little to be happy about in her life. She had no companions, no one to call family, no one to comfort or to be comforted by. And to add to her troubles, she lived her solitary life surrounded by the dangers of the forest, where predators roamed in search of a tasty meal. She had to be careful where she scampered in search of tasty plants and meat scraps, wary of the ominous threat of the owl, who had been hunting her since she moved into her hole in the forest. The threat of death was constant and she couldn’t do anything, other than live her life under the cover of her hole in the ground, and be cautious on her ventures for food.
Before her life of solitude and fear in the forest, she was a mouse who belonged in the warm and comfortable walls of a home. She had a family and scampered to the kitchen when no one was around, bringing happy returns of left over cheese and meat to them. She was a free mouse. There was no threat of an owl attack and therefore she could come and go as she pleased, making her ventures to retrieve food effortless. She revelled in the warmth that the house’s insulation provided her, her two brothers and three sisters and lived happily with them. A constant stream of food was brought to them, as the humans dropped crumbs and dusted off juicy leftovers into the bins, bringing a magical wave of sensational smell which drew the mice in and fed them a wondrous feast. They didn’t have to worry about going hungry, leaving them with endless time to pass by in aimless and pointless entertainment. They could journey through the house’s ceilings, causing mayhem for the owners by mischievously chewing at cables and scaring them in their bedrooms, for no good reason other than their own entertainment. However, they would come to know the devil named ‘Karma’, because one day, only two of them returned.
The panic that spread through the little mouse and her brother as they realised their sisters and brother were gone, was immense. They didn’t know if they had left. They didn’t know if they had been in an accident. And so, they began their search for their missing family members. They searched carefully in every room of the house, scurrying between the holes in the walls and the gaps in the floorboards, until they discovered - much to their dismay - that the home owners had brought in backup. A cat. And in that cat’s bed, in front of the fireplace, lay the little mice’s three dead sisters and one dead brother. Death had spread through the little mouse’s family like a plague and she had to stop the spread. There was only one thing to do: escape the house before her and her brother were the cat’s next victims.
They couldn’t be sure whether it was safe escaping together, if they seperated they’d have a better chance of escaping the cat and getting to safety. Even if it meant they would never see each other again. This was the moment that the little mouse knew her only option for true safety would be to retreat to nature, until the threat of the cat had vanished and it was safe for her to return to the warm walls of the house and be reunited with her brother. So she moved to the forest. Although danger still loomed in the forest, at least her little hole in the ground offered some protection from the dangers of the predators that sought her for their empty stomachs.
The terrible trauma of her past made her current lonely existence much more bearable: the dampness offered relief for her aching feet and became an ice bath when the nights ran cold. The darkness of the little hole left her time to dream of the past when she scampered freely through the walls of the house, with her brothers and sisters. The derelict nature of the hole prevented predators from breaching the safety it offered, and provided quiet echoes, which the little mouse often pretended were the comforting voices of her fallen siblings. The little hole which once appeared so miserable and treacherous had become the little mouse’s safe haven.
The little mouse often dreamt of her brother and the isolated life he would be living away from the home they had together with their siblings. Her dreams provided her with relief from the grief she felt from being so alone. She could hold onto the hope that her brother was safe and out of harm’s way, knowing that one day she would be reunited with him and once again be able to scurry throughout the warm walls of the house they once called home, and live in the memory of their siblings. Ultimately, although she missed her brother and the happiness they used to share, she took comfort from the fact that by isolating herself from him in order to flee the threat of the cat, she had saved him and all of the children that he would have in his future, along with her own. The selfless acts of isolating and separating from each other had brought a happier ending to their stories, and saved them and their descendants from further loss, enabling them all to reunite in the warm walls of a home.
By Amelia Lorrimore, year 12