by Annie Song

“Skyler! Skyler wake up!!” I rolled around in my bed and opened my eyes to see my two friends, Diz and Pip, staring at me. Diz and Pip weren’t ordinary friends, they were dust bunnies, a kind of creature that could fly, looked like a bunny, was made out of dust, and were a lot like humans because they could get sick, they weren’t immortal, etc. We had been friends for a couple of days, and during that time, I had hang out with them when I had any time. Since I lived on a farm, most of the time was work, work, and work.
“What is it now?” I asked.
“Look what we found!” Diz cried excitedly. They lead me to the corner of my room where, there were boxes and boxes of old junk. My bedroom was in the attic so there are a lot of random stuff piled in a corner. I followed Diz and Pip as they led me to the corner.
“It’s over here!” Pip squealed. I peered over the sea of boxes, trying to see what was so exciting.
“Found it!” Diz shouted. “Look! Here it is!” They showed me an area where there were pieces of cloth thrown all over. I lifted the layers of cloth and found a bag beneath. It was made of leather and clearly was old. The leather was ripped in some places but it was useable. Three pockets shown from the outside with zippers and on the other side was another large pocket. The inside was very soft, and even more pockets were hidden in the interior of the bag. A leather strap was connected to the bag and when I put it on, it was quite comfortable.
“Like it?” asked Diz.
“I found it,” Pip told me proudly.
“Did not!” Diz argued.
“Did to!”
While they argued I dusted off the dust on the outside. When I was going to dust the inside, Diz suddenly shouted, “Don’t dust the inside!”
“Why not?” I asked.
“You can take us in it!” Diz said eagerly. “Then we could be with you!”
“Then I could see a cow and a potato!” Pip squealed. By the way, Pip’s top ten sightseeing dreams include a cow and a potato.
“Sure,” I said, seeing the potential in the idea.
I pushed the two dust bunnies in the bag. While they made themselves at home, I went down to the 2nd floor bathroom and began to brush my teeth, change, and comb my hair, that sort of stuff. Afterward in the attic, I slung the bag over my shoulder.
“Awesome!” The bag muffled Diz’s shout.
“You have to be quiet!” I told them. “Or else you’ll get caught! I don’t want that to happen.”
“Nobody does,” Pip exclaimed.
“If Raven knew, yes she would want to get me in trouble.”
“Well she doesn’t know so, we’re safe!” Diz pointed out.
“Not really,” I told them. “You have to be quiet.”
We managed to get downstairs without anyone noticing the dust bunnies. I ate quickly. Nobody noticed how careful I was when I walked.
While eating, Mom told me to take care of the cows. “You can milk them too,” she added.
I quickly left the table and once I got to the stable, I closed the door. Diz and Pip flew out.
“Cows!” Pip squealed. She sped closer.
“Pip!” I shouted.
“What is it?” The door swung open. Piper skipped over.
“Piper!” I laughed nervously. I didn’t dare to check if Diz and Pip had gone.
“You called me!” she said. “What did you call me for?”
“I didn’t call you!” I told her.
“You shouted Pip!”
“Your name isn’t Pip.”
“Well my name is like Pip!”
I sighed. “Fine. Since you said I called you, ask Mom if I could teach you how to milk a cow.” Piper practically bounced and hit the celling. She dashed out of the barn.
“Diz? Pip?” I called as soft as possible.
“Yeah?” The two dust bunnies crawled out of the hay pile, covered in straw.
“That was a disaster! Don’t go near cows. They can hit you if they are scared.”
“But I wasn’t scared!” protested Pip.
“Well I was!” Diz retorted, ending that conversation.
Other than that, nothing really big happened. I showed Pip a potato. For Pip, it was the best day ever. For me, it was panic day. Every time one of the bunnies spoke, my heart pounded like a drum.
Later that evening, we were eating dinner and Dad turned to me. “You got the animals in?” he questioned me.
“Yeah, why?”
Dad sighed, “People at the market say that there’s going to be a mighty big storm.”
“And your believe them?” Mom stared at him. “People make mistakes Bill.”
“Well, you can’t be too sure.”
That night, winds howled like a baby and cried like one too. The tears went pip pat, pip pat, which reminded me about the dust bunnies. They had told me that they would keep watch and let me know if things got very bad. I felt reassured, and slept.

“BOOM!!!!! BOOM!! CRASH! CLANG! CRASH! BOOM!”
Those words shouted in my dream. “BOOM!!”
Then suddenly, “BAAAAAA!! MOOOOOOO! NEIGH!!! BAAAAACK! BOOOOOOOOOM!”
Baa? Moo? Baaack? Animals?? What?
My confusion woke me. I looked outside. “Whoa!” Someone yelled. I turned and looked. Diz and Pip were looking fearfully at me.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Look out the window,” was their reply. I jumped out of bed and looked outside. The world screamed, producing a flash of lightning, which was striking very close to our farm. I was asking myself what’s wrong, when FLASH and BOOM. A bolt of lightning struck the farm, erupting a volcano of baa’s, and moos. The animals herded themselves out, out into danger, into a world of blindness, to most likely death. If no one did something that is. Which would not happen.
I ran to my trunk where my clothes were. “What you doing?” Pip fluttered around me.
“Someone needs to do something!”
“We’ll help you do that something,” Diz offered.
“I gladly appreciate it.” I mumbled through a shirt. Once I was properly dressed, I rushed to my parent’s room. “Mom!! Dad!!” I shouted. “Everyone! Wake up, emergency!”
“What the…” Dad rolled over. “Skyler, what is-“
“The lightning,” I told him. “It burned the barn. Animals, escaped.”
“What!?” Dad roared which woke up Mom.
“Billy, what-“
“Animals are on the loose!” he shouted. “Hurry!”
“What should I do?” I asked my parents as they changed.
“You need to get down there, and make sure no more animals escape.” Dad told me. “When I get down, you go and find them.”
I ran downstairs and quickly put on a raincoat and boots. Then I charged outside. The barn was ruined. A horrid crack in the wall stood in front of me. The barn cat prowled worriedly. Only a few animals were in the barn, crowded together, terrified looks on their faces. “Stay there,” I told them. They just stared back. I tried blocking the opening with some wooden boards. As I did, I observed the weather. The storm still raged, but it was calmer, calm enough for Dad and I to find those animals.
Finally, Dad came, all geared up. “Good job.” Behind him, came Andrew. “Andrew will take care of the animals here. We have to get the runaways.”
“You think she can do it?” Mom called from the door.
“Sure she can.” Dad clapped his hands. “So, let’s begin!”
I charged out of the barn. The rain fell refreshingly on my face. Soon though, I felt the cold more than the refreshing part. Dad dashed to the right side of the muddy field. “You herd the ones on the left!” he shouted. “I’ll do the right.” I squinted through the rain. “Hey! Bunnies!” I called to the bag. “Come out.”
Once they did, I told them to try to find some livestock. When they found some, I herded them into a crowd. They huddled against each other. At that time, it was pouring. I couldn’t see or hear anyone else except the sheep. I shouted in the wind for the dust bunnies and Dad. No reply. I was starting to huddle with the sheep. I started to let tears fall from my eyes. If sheep could cry, they would’ve made a river by now. I heard a low growl. I turned. Two amber eyes glinted at me. They were beautiful yet dangerous. The wolf prowled forward.
“Get lost,” I told it, but it didn’t help. The sheep whined. I waved my arms and shouted. No luck. The beast kept on prowling forward. I needed help. To make matters worse, the sheep were running away. “Come back!” I screamed. But they didn’t hear me. At least they were safe. I however was facing death’s door.
I couldn’t fight a wolf nor out run it. Just then, something caught my attention. Two sparks zoomed towards me. They floated right in front of the wolf. It was also distracted. It followed the sparks. I gladly ran away from that spot where the wolf had been.
Turns out, those sparks had been Diz and Pip. They flew right back when they had led the wolf into the woods. Together, we rounded up the sheep, cows and horses. We found our way home where I was greeted like a hero. I drank some milk, told some of my adventure, and climbed upstairs to the attic. I played around with the bunnies. It was our celebration party. Just when I was going to bed, I felt something was wrong. I turned around. Nothing. I told the bunnies my feelings.
“Nothing bad could happen on a night like this.” Pip told me cheerfully.
“Right,” echoed Diz.
I cheerfully told them good night when the door opened. I turned, frozen in horror. It was Raven.