I jumped up and growled in alarm. I put myself in a fighting stance, only to find out that the creature that had knocked me over was a smaller gray puppy. the younger dog looked to be a husky that was about two months old.

"Come on!" he yipped playful.

"Come where?" I asked.

"Back to the cabin, of course. By the way do you want some food, you look pretty hungry?"

My stomach growled, answering for me, and I followed to puppy from a distance still somewhat suspicious that this was a trap. It just seemed to good to be true. My doubts soon vanished when, after having walked for only a few minutes, we arrived at a run-down old cabin. Upon our arrival, five more puppies and an older female, who I assumed was the puppies' mother, tumbled out of the door.

After regaining her footing, and wading through a pack of squirming puppies, the mother made her way over to me. "Please come inside and have some food. There is plenty to go around."

I followed her through the door, and saw that the cabin was empty, except for a half torn apart deer carcass. I sniffed it once, and then I immediately started gulping down large mouthfuls. I wasn't used to the raw meat, but I was to hungry to notice it.

After I had calmed down a little, and I began to eat a little bit slower, the other dog spoke again. "My name is Laurel," she said. " What's yours?"

"You can call me," I paused. I didn't want to use the name that my human family had given me after they had abandoned me. "You can call me Phantom."

"Alright Phantom. You look as though you as though you have been struggling to live in the wild. Would you like to stay here with us in the cabin for a little while until you learn some more."

"I would love to!" I replied, eager for the opportunity for help. "I was just wondering if you knew what was happening. Why does the rain never stop? Why does the water keep getting higher? Why has the wind become so much stronger.

"It is called a hurricane," Laurel answered softly. "They happen every year, but this one is particularly bad. A hurricane like this can do damage that can never be fixed. Earlier it killed the puppies' father.

"I'm so sorry!" I choked out. I really didn't know what to say. Laurel had seemed so happy only a moment before, and now she seemed as though she was going to break down crying. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"No, it's okay," she whispered. "I know that you understand how I feel. I can see in your eyes that you have lost those close to you. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know. I only came into the forest recently because I could not live in my home anymore. Before this hurricane came, I lived in a comfortable home with humans. I never had to worry about myself because my family always provided for me. Then they left. They abandoned me. They left, and they didn't take me with them.

"The water started filling up the place where I lived, so I fled. I did not know where I was going. my only goal was to get as far away from the powerful water taking over the only place that I knew as home as quickly as I could. I ran until I couldn't run anymore, and then I passed out. I kept going when I woke up, and that's how I ended up here."

"I am very sorry to hear that," Laurel said softly. "I am sure your family didn't mean to leave you. There probably some very important reason why they couldn't bring you with them."

"I know, it's just that slight chance that they meant to leave me behind that keeps bothering me. I keep having nightmares that my family left me on purpose, and they never wanted me. I just want to know that they really loved me."