The Cursed King” by Ece Ergin

This is the story of when I tried to get a pet without permission. But really, this is the story of how I put an animal into the wild.

I scooped up the little chipmunk in my hands. Abandoned, full of fear, and his body shaking. I knew I had to help him. I just had to. I couldn’t just leave him at the overwhelming pet store. I was surprised that a chipmunk was in a pet store instead of the usual hamster. I didn’t think anyone would want a squirmy, small chipmunk, but I didn’t want to steal either. The chipmunk looked up at me with huge, confused eyes, as if deciding if I was going to leave him there or not.

Eventually, my older “friend” (actually my babysitter) came back for my 8-year-old self. Rebecca was addicted to her phone, like most of the teenagers I know. She narrowed her amber eyes at me while pushing her dark brown hair back. Her huge purple phone was resting in her hand and buzzing as if there was an alarm going off. She was leaning against a goldfish tank and scrolling through Instagram, probably checking if any of her pictures got likes.

“Come on, just follow me already! There’s no time to look at any more stupid animals. We have to go HOME! Drop that puny squirrel!” She tugged on my arm until she was sure I would give in, but I never did. This chipmunk needed to be saved, I wouldn’t let go of it until I decided to. I received another yell from her, I sighed, she was going to report this to my parents.

Oh no, I thought, Now I’ll be in trouble for SURE. I looked frantically around the store. I needed to get out of here, IMMEDIATELY! I glanced at the chipmunk again and held him tightly between my sweaty hands. I could hide him in my small backpack, but did I want to steal? Well, it was just for a tiny bit of time. And anyway, who would see me? There was an entire crowd surrounding me, I didn’t think that anyone would notice an 8-year-old slipping a small animal into her backpack. Would they? I could even open the zipper just a bit for an airhole.

Running from Rebecca would be stupid, I would probably get kidnapped by someone if I went anywhere by myself. I had decided to keep the chipmunk in my backpack momentarily; I would decide what to do with him later. Just when we were walking out of the pet store, I heard a loud SQUEAK. I glanced at the lump in my pack and began to soothe and stroke the poor thing. I bet the chipmunk was not used to close human contact except the occasional