Cora's Impossible Mission

The day started like any other. I woke up to the buzzing of my alarm clock, my face buried deep into my pillow. I slowly lifted my head from underneath the covers and squinted my eyes open, taking a moment to adjust to the morning light that streamed in through my window.

I sat up in bed, stretching and rubbing at my eyes with the palms of my hands. I kicked off my blankets and stumbled around my room, retrieving clothing and washing up. After dressing and brushing out my hair I grabbed an apple from the bowl next to my door and walked out into the hallway.

"Dad?" I called out as I opened the front door. "You awake yet? It's just about 8 o'clock."

"Yeah, yeah," he yelled back at me from his bedroom down the hall. "Be right there."

"Alright," I said as I made my way outside and took a seat on our porch steps, biting into my apple. "See you in a bit."

The day was warm but not overly hot for early May; a nice change from the frigid winter we had just experienced. The sun shone brightly overhead, birds chirped happily nearby, and Mother Nature was finally showing signs of life after being dormant for so long. A perfect day for some gardening chores Dad needed to do around our house, which he would take care of in between his shifts at work today while I went off to class at college. As I finished up chewing on my apple, I heard Dad's feet hit the ground behind me as he came out onto the porch. "Morning sunshine," he chuckled as he joined me on the steps.

"Morning Dad," I replied with a smirk as I wiped some juice from my chin with the back of my hand. "So what are your plans for today?"

"Well since it's such a nice day I figured why not get some outside work done?" he explained as he stretched his arms above his head then took a seat next to me on our steps. "I need to trim some shrubs, give the garden some water, and clean up some leaves that've piled up around the house too."

"Sounds good to me," I replied before we both fell silent for a moment, watching two robins peck amongst some fallen leaves on our driveway. Finally Dad broke the silence by asking me how my classes were going so far this semester and how things were going with Phillip and Brian last night when they came over to study for exams coming up soon. We talked about all sorts of things until eventually Dad's watch beeped loudly: it was now 8:30am - time for him to leave for work. He stood up and tossed his empty coffee cup into our trashcan before picking up his cell phone from where it lay on the end table next to his chair and stuffing it into his pocket before heading towards his car parked at the end of our driveway. He turned back towards me before getting into his car, saying goodbye with a wave of one hand while holding his cup of coffee in another hand: "Have fun at college today dear! Love ya!" he called out as he got into his car and sped away down our road.

I waved goodbye to him as well then sat back down on our porch steps again, finishing off what was left of my apple while listening to the radio blaring within Dad's car as it drove away; once it disappeared around a corner further down our road, its sound faded away completely leaving only silence once more. Feeling especially invigorated after that long talk with Dad this morning (and finishing off that delicious apple), I decided that today was as good a day as any other to study for an exam myself; better start early while I still have plenty of energy thought I as I headed inside to get started: first though I'd grab an orange juice from the fridge downstairs before starting on any studying. Halfway down stairs though, noticing how quiet everything seemed all of sudden - no birds chirping nearby or making any other sounds - something felt... Off about this entire situation; usually birds would be chirping loudly outside by now during such a sunny day like this one but instead there was nothing... Except... What is that weird noise coming from outside? Something sounded like it was running across our asphalt driveway way too quickly! And it sounded big too... Way bigger than any dog or cat could ever be! Oh crap! It's probably a bear or mountain lion or something - crap! Crap! Crap! Crap! Panic began creeping in upon me but instead of giving in to fear - reminding myself Mom always told me never let fear control me - I pushed myself forward anyway; after all this is just an animal right? Just an animal? No need to waste any time thinking about it anymore... Just get inside already... And then slam! Before entering through our kitchen door, hearing footsteps creep up behind me just outside it and before turning around altogether - feeling huge boney paws land heavily against either side of me followed by something heavy resting itself down hard against top of me - prepare yourself Cora because now you're going to die -