Emerald Eyes The hazy fog of dreaming gradually lifted from Sam as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stretched his limbs. He kicked away his bedding and cautiously yet blearily poked his head out of his room and lazily scratched his ear. He vaguely remembered dreams of a more wild existence, the hot sultry air, heat that formed shimmering eddies in the sky and soft unrelenting sand as far as the eye could see. He also vaguely, as the days dreaming subsided, remembered the fear. Constant scanning of the horizon for that black screeching death that could plummet down at any second ripping limb from limb, then carting his bloodied, broken still feeling carcass away to be devoured by cruel beak and unmerciful talons. Now however Sam was hungry. His tummy felt empty and bereft. He bumbled over to his private stash by his bed, but found it empty. He knew he had put some nibbles there yesternight before going to sleep, but for some strange reason it had all gone. This seemed to happen sometimes, the same days he remembered hearing strange grating and scraping noises while he slept and woke to find everything a bit different. Oh well he would just have to make a trip upstairs to the larder, for some reason when his stash got pilfered, the larder was overflowing with new bounties of fruit, seeds and nuts, as if restocked by some benevolent deity. He felt that it might be linked to the pink warm "hand from above" which he was never sure was going to magically produce food and water or swoop down like the thing from his dreams and pull him into the air. It scared him but somehow was safe, as after the terrifying assent, it let him explore new worlds and sleep in that warm nook between the fluffy fibrous thing and its skin. Sometimes it incased him in a bubble which let him run and run almost as if he was free, letting him roam almost anywhere. He liked the see-through rolling thing. Meanwhile, Sam had reached the larder and was delighted to find the cornucopia he desired. Fearful that it might disappear, Sam rapidly began packing as much as he could into his pouches, almost to bursting point so that they bulged out clownishly either side. Happy that he had grabbed as much as he could, Sam scurried back to his room to deposit his gains and have a quick breakfast. Sated, Sam went for a long run before going through his nightly ritual of checking that there was no hole or tunnel that had suddenly appeared leading to "the world beyond" . He had an obsession with "the world beyond" that he simply couldn't explain. Something deep in his soul told him that somewhere beyond the walls of his current existence was true freedom, the open dunes and miles and miles of soft luxurious sand that he dreamed of daily. Maybe even others of his kind, females perhaps, he did want to meet females, although he wasn't sure what they were, or why he wanted them, it was just a yearning feeling deep inside. He was obsessed with escape and running this way and that so fast that no dark foreboding predator with eyes of gold could catch him. While checking the NW corner of his house, Sam noticed something different. A slight gap between the silver bars and the blue base below. He pushed again, his little heart hammering against his chest. Yes, it was definitely looser than normal. He scrabbled urgently widening the gap, repeatedly flattening himself and scrabbling some more until like sauce from a trodden on ketchup packet he burst out. He was free at last. Finally after all those nights of trying. Now he could run wherever he wanted, with no "hand from above" to stop him. He sprinted away, his little legs pumping manically beneath his fat little body. Sam was filled with elation and joy, until inexplicably there was no ground beneath him and suddenly he was falling, madly squirming, spinning through emptiness. Then just as alarmingly all the air was blasted out of his panting lungs and a horrible pain, of which he had no understanding, shot up his leg. He turned whimpering to see what was wrong and saw his little back foot twisted and bent at a disjointed angle. Pain pulsed up and down his leg making him feel nauseous and faint. He pulled himself up and found he could still hobble around if he kept the affected foot of the ground. He swallowed down the pain and scanned the area for somewhere to curl up and recover. Just then he heard an ominous creek and a terrifying mewl. A deep vibrating noise filled the air as death itself slunk into the sight. Sam desperately searched the landscape for some bolt hole his heart rate rocketing and his eyes bulging out of his sockets. Two emerald eyes toured the terrain and with a purposeful glimmer alighted on Sam's quaking form. Sam recoiled in horror as a large pink tongue slid out from a vicious maw filled with razor sharp glittering teeth, to lick its bewhiskered lips. Forgetting his injured leg and filled with pure unadulterated fear and panic, Sam bolted for a hole between two oak units. Images from his nightmare crowded his head, he could almost feel those sharp stiletto claws ripping into his flesh and those scything bitter fangs scissoring through bone and tendon, snapping his head from his body already broken and torn. He could imagine that wicked flickering tongue on his exposed intestines licking his blood then smearing it with one nonchalant paw. Death would not be merciful or quick from the emerald eyed monster, it would draw out every agonising second, having its fun until the end, before presenting Sam's mangled desecrated corpse to the deity who had always protected him. Until now. Heart thundering and legs flying Sam miraculously made it to the gap. With heaving lungs and every breath burning through his mouth and nose like a desert wind, he curled himself into the smallest ball possible, hoping that he would be hidden from those murderous eyes. A howl of frustration ripped through the room , thundering in Sam's eardrums and making him tremble uncontrollably from nose to tail. A monstrous hairy limb forced its was through the opening its devilish claws raking the air in front of Sam's face. Terrified he pressed himself deeper against the wall and whimpered pitifully. The arm was withdrawn and replaced with a huge malevolent eye peering balefully at him through the crack. Suddenly there was a new sharp bellowing cry, obliterating all other noises and making Sam dizzy with fear. Suddenly there was a loud "berwuff" and the emerald eye withdrew rapidly, ears flattened to its greyish skull. With a hiss and a release of breath, that stank of decaying and rotting flesh the beast pelted away, spitting and cursing, before disappearing from sight, pursued by a bigger yellowy thing making deep booming noises. Sam hugged himself tight fearing what fresh terror awaited him that could outmatch the beast. The gap was filled by another fathomlessly large blue eye obstructing all in Sam's view and plunging him into darkness. Then a familiar noise , soothing and calm yet still far too loud, filled the day air. Something gently settled on the cool stone ground in front of Sam's hiding place. It was the "hand from above"! Shaking and exhausted Sam crawled out of his hole to sit on the familiar pink elevator and shortly found himself safely buried under his own bedding, warm and secure. However from that night onwards all his days where haunted by images of that big malevolent eye hovering above him singing to him of painful nerve flaying death.